Praying the Word / Acts 4:23-31

Introduction: Delight in the Lord and the Purpose of Gathering

Well, good to see you again, church family. For those of you that are guests or maybe joining us for the first time, I want to welcome you. My name is Shay Sumlin, and I am one of the pastors here at The Well. For those of you who have been around and know me, you know I have been gone for a while. I had the precious opportunity, given by the elders here at the church, to take a sabbatical. Brad got to take one last summer, and so they sent me on one this summer. It was a wonderful gift for my family and me to grab our passports, head down to the great nation of Texas for about three months, and dock there.

For a season, I was able to lay aside my normal responsibilities and simply delight myself in the Lord. And I can truthfully say that is exactly what I did this summer. It was great to strip away all social media, strip away email, and just commune with the Lord, connect with my family, and enjoy some sweet rest—along with probably a little bit too much barbecue and Tex-Mex. One of our pastors asked me this past week, “What was it like to get away? Was it nice to not have to write sermons?” I thought about that question for a second, and I said, “You know, on one hand, I didn’t write a single sermon for Christ’s church, but in many ways, I wrote about a thousand sermons this summer for my own heart.” It was so good to drink deeply from that faucet. But that being said, I showed up Tuesday and found out I had to preach this week. So, we are on!

If you are just joining us, last week we started a new series here at The Well called The Gathering. It is an opportunity for us to spend a few weeks as we head toward the fall talking about a theology of why we gather as a church. We want to examine why we assemble weekly like this throughout the year and what makes it so unique. The Scriptures point us toward the reality that what happens in this corporate gathering, when we come together collectively as the body of Christ, is unique, eternal, and Spirit-led. It simply cannot happen for a Christian sitting in their car listening to a podcast or at home praying and singing alone. As valuable as personal devotions are, something distinct happens in this room where corporate, vertical communion with the Lord transforms us into corporate, horizontal communion with one another.

In surveying both the biblical exhortations and church history, Pastor Ligon Duncan highlighted several essential elements that must take place when the church gathers. Last week, Brad walked us through the first three: reading the Word, preaching the Word, and teaching the Word. When we gather under the corporate reading, preaching, and teaching of God’s Word, we are not placing ourselves under the authority or opinions of man, but under the sovereign authority and truths of God.

In the coming weeks, we will look at singing the Word—taking theologically rich, scripturally tethered truths and singing them in praise and thanksgiving for Christ’s redemptive work. We will also talk about seeing the Word through the ordinances of baptism and communion, which visually display and celebrate Christ’s work for us. But today, we want to look at what it means in the corporate gathering to pray God’s Word.

The Vital Role of Prayer in the Corporate Gathering

From the very beginning of the church, the role of prayer in corporate gatherings has been vital. You can trace this all the way back through the Old Testament, where God’s people gathered in humble dependency to seek His intercession, respond in thanksgiving, confess their sins, and ask God to intervene where they could not.

When you turn to the New Testament, you see this same priority. In the early church, the believers were marked by their commitment to corporate prayer.

Acts 2:42 (NASB)

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

The Greek text literally says they devoted themselves to “the prayers”—the corporate gatherings of prayer that the church enjoyed together. Later, the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy regarding the church’s assembly.

1 Timothy 2:8 (NASB)

Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

Paul challenged the men to step up and lead out in prayer during corporate worship. A hundred years after Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension, the second-century apologist Justin Martyr wrote in his First Apology one of the earliest non-biblical descriptions of what took place when the church gathered. He wrote that on Sunday, everyone from the town and country assembled in one place, the writings of the prophets and apostles were read, and the pastor exhorted everyone to imitate these good things. Then Justin Martyr wrote:

“Then we all stand up together, and we send up prayers together. And as we said before, when we finish praying, bread and wine and water are brought up, and the president likewise sends up prayers and thanksgivings to the best of his ability, and the people assent together saying, Amen.”

A century after Christ, the church was gathering and praying together out of utter dependence upon the Lord. We practiced this just moments ago when we read and prayed Paul’s prayer together from Ephesians.

Ephesians 3:14-21 (NASB)

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; [and] that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him [be] the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer has always been central to the life of the church. However, in our modern Western context, we have largely reduced prayer to a transition point. We use prayer as an opportunity to quietly lower a projector screen, or as background cover to get the band back up on stage. It has become a monologue between the pastor and God while the congregation merely watches. But what should corporate prayer actually look like?

Acts 4: When the Church Prays the Word

To answer that question, look with me at Acts chapter four. In Acts chapter three, Peter and John were preaching the Gospel at the temple in Jerusalem. In the opening verses of chapter four, they are arrested and put on trial before the Sanhedrin, the ruling religious council of Israel. The leaders could not find any legitimate crime, but they hated the name of Jesus. So they threatened the apostles and commanded them never to speak in Jesus’s name again. That is when Peter and John gave their famous response.

Acts 4:19-20 (NASB)

But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.’

This irritated the Sanhedrin to no end. Although they released Peter and John for the moment, threats of persecution were escalating rapidly. You can imagine the fear creeping into the young church. They had just witnessed Jesus being crucified, and now their primary leaders were being arrested. If you were a follower of Christ, you would be thinking, It is about to go down; they are coming after all of us. Look at how the church responded when Peter and John returned.

Acts 4:23-24 (NASB)

When they had been released, they went to their own [companions] and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard [this], they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, ’O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM,

The moment they heard that persecution was imminent, their immediate instinct was not to panic; it was to drop to their knees and lift their voices together to God. Notice the first title they use when addressing God in verse 24: “O Lord.” In the original Greek, the word used here is despotes, from which we get our English word despot. While that word often carries a negative connotation today, it fundamentally refers to a ruler with absolute, sovereign control whose authority cannot be contested. That is how the early believers viewed God. They recognized that they were in severe trouble, and instead of relying on worldly schemes, they called upon the Sovereign Ruler of the universe.

Notice what they do next. Rather than treating God like a genie in a lamp and rattling off a personal wishlist, they quote Scripture right back to Him. They pray the Word of God.

Acts 4:24 (NASB)

And when they heard [this], they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, ’O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM,

That prayer comes straight out of the creation account in Genesis. They remind themselves and confess before God that He is the Creator and sovereign Lord over everything. Then, in verses 25 and 26, they quote King David from Psalm 2.

Acts 4:25-26 (NASB)

who by the Holy Spirit, [through] the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, ’WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? ‘THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.’

Psalms 2:1-2 (NASB)

Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,

God had foretold long ago through David that the nations would rage and rulers would gather against the Lord and His Anointed. The church recognized that David’s prophecy was being fulfilled in their very city.

Acts 4:27 (NASB)

’For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

They confessed, “God, this day of persecution is here right now, but You saw it coming all along.” As caught off guard as the church might have felt by their circumstances, they knew God was not surprised. Nothing had escaped His grasp. And in verse 28, they declare a foundational truth that every church must hold onto in times of suffering.

Acts 4:28 (NASB)

to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.

They affirmed that the enemies of God could only do what God’s sovereign hand and purpose had predestined to occur. Even in the middle of fear and confusion, they rested in God’s ultimate sovereignty.

A Bold Request and an Earthquake Amen

Look closely at what the church actually asked for in verses 29 and 30.

Acts 4:29-30 (NASB)

‘And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.’

Notice what they did not pray for. If I had just been arrested and threatened with death, my natural flesh would pray, “Lord, get me out of this jam! Strike down these enemies, protect my family, and get us back to safety!” But they did not pray for retreat. They did not pray for escape. They did not even pray for physical protection. Under the canopy of God’s sovereignty, they prayed for grace and boldness to defy the intimidation of the culture.

This is not a license to overthrow civil government with force. Rather, it means that if the choice is between staying silent to remain safe, or preaching the Gospel and facing arrest, we ask God for grace to proclaim Christ even more boldly. The Gospel is greater than our physical lives. Men can take our flesh, but they cannot touch our souls. Our souls belong to Jesus Christ, and our neighbors desperately need His salvation. The church prayed, “Lord, grant us boldness so that this Gospel might save even the very people who are persecuting us.”

Think about what happens when God’s people come together in that kind of humility and dependence. When an ordinary, uneducated group of believers chooses not to treat God like a cosmic vending machine, but instead approaches Him on His terms, quoting His Word, submitting to His sovereignty, and asking for boldness to proclaim Jesus—what do you think God does in heaven? Look at verse 31.

Acts 4:31 (NASB)

And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and [began] to speak the word of God with boldness.

God responded with an earthquake “Amen!” The believers emptied themselves before God, and the Lord immediately filled the room with His Spirit and empowered them to do exactly what they asked. That is what happens when a church genuinely prays, and that is how our faithful God delights to answer.

Exercising a Weak Muscle

Acts 4 gives us a magnificent vision of corporate prayer, but if we are honest, prayer is a muscle we often fail to use. It is a muscle we struggle to exercise, and many times we simply do not want to use it. I have shared with you before that prayer has often been a struggle for me personally. Just because I stand up here to preach does not mean I have it all figured out.

Early in our marriage, when my wife and I were living in a rental house, I had just started seminary. She was working as a schoolteacher, making about $24,000 a year, and supporting us. At the end of one month, we sat down with our bills and realized we were exactly $600 short—which happened to be our exact rent amount. We were terrified. I thought about having to tell our landlord that we could not pay and feared being evicted.

My instinctive fleshly reaction was not to pray. I opened my laptop, went straight to eBay, and started looking for things I could sell to scrape together $600. While I was frantically searching online, my wife stood in the kitchen in tears and said, “We need to get on our knees and pray. We are children of a sovereign God who provides, and we need to cry out to Him.”

So we knelt together on the kitchen floor and began to pray. While we were in the middle of praying, the phone rang. I jumped up, grabbed the phone, and it was John Bryson, my college pastor for whom I was interning. He was walking through the Atlanta airport and said, “Shay, it just hit me that I forgot to call you. I went before our elders, and they agreed to support you in seminary. They are going to pay your tuition and back-pay you for what you already paid this semester. You’re getting a check for $600 this week.”

In that moment, God showed me who truly provides. Yet even after experiences like that, our flesh easily forgets, and we drift back into self-reliance like wandering sheep. God desperately wants us to commune with Him and intercede for one another.

I believe prayer has often been a weak muscle for us here at The Well. Three years ago, back in 2013, I was preaching a message on suffering from Thessalonians. As I looked out at the congregation, I could see deep pain and heartache written across many faces. I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me: Stop just talking about prayer; actually pray.

I did something risky for our Western church culture. I mentioned Moses on the mountain during battle, whose arms grew heavy until Aaron and Hur came alongside him to hold up his hands. I said, “If you are walking through deep suffering and need the body of Christ to hold up your hands in prayer, would you have the courage to stand right where you are?”

My fear was that no one would stand. But to my surprise, people began standing all across the room like popcorn, openly admitting their brokenness and need. But what broke my heart was that very few people moved to go pray over them. I watched a single mother standing in the back weeping, and no one went to her side. I had to step back up to the microphone and urge our church, “Can we please surround our brothers and sisters and pray for them? You don’t even have to know their exact story—just intercede for them!”

That moment revealed that praying for one another is a corporate struggle. It can feel uncomfortable, but for the believer in Jesus, this is family business. We are children adopted by the sovereign God of the universe. He gave His Son so that we would have direct access to His throne of grace, where we can fall on our faces and see the Holy Spirit transform our lives and our community through prayer.

What Corporate Prayer Accomplishes

When we examine the Scriptures, we see that corporate prayer accomplishes at least four vital things in the life of the church:

1. It expresses thanksgiving. Prayer allows us to respond collectively to God for who He is and what He has done. It postures our hearts to say, “God, You are good, and You have poured out far more grace on us than we will ever deserve.”
2. It leads us into confession. Prayer allows us to agree with God regarding the reality of our spiritual condition, confessing our continuous need for His mercy and deliverance from sin.
3. It seeks divine intercession. Prayer calls upon God to accomplish His kingdom purposes in ways our human programs, institutions, and fleshly efforts never could. We ask the Spirit of God to do what only He can do.
4. It communicates our dependence. Prayer is the active demonstration of our reliance on God.

Simply put, the absence of prayer in a church is a check-engine light signaling the presence of pride. When we do not pray, we are subtly declaring that we are self-sufficient and do not need God’s power. But when a church commits to fervent prayer, it demonstrates that our true joy and absolute dependence rest in Him alone.

Responding in Prayer

My fear in preaching this message was twofold: first, that we would talk about prayer today and never actually pray; and second, that this would be the only Sunday we take prayer seriously. My hope is that The Well becomes a community saturated with prayer, where prayer is never treated as a mere transition between service elements, but as the heartbeat of our gatherings.

When you walked in today, you received a card that says Praying the Word. We are going to do something intentional right now. We are going to take five minutes—which can feel like an eternity in a church service—for quiet, individual prayer. Use this time to write out a prayer to God on your card.

Perhaps your prayer needs to be filled with thanksgiving. Perhaps it needs to be a prayer of confession, admitting your struggles or even confessing that you do not know how to pray.

Romans 8:26 (NASB)

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for [us] with groanings too deep for words;

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us even when words fail. You can write down burdens for your family, your workplace, your neighborhood, or our church.

After we take time to write our prayers, our worship team will lead us in song, and then we will close our service by gathering around one another to intercede and pray as the family of God. Let us seek the Lord together right now.