Praying through Acts- Acts 17
Praying through Acts • Sermon • Submitted
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6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
Tonight, we will continue Praying through Acts, focusing specifically on chapter seventeen.
I have made this point nearly every week, but the book of Acts is a book of prayer. We often look at the supernatural signs, the sermons, or the establishing of churches found in the Acts.
But EVERYTHING they accomplished was built on the solid foundation of prayer.
Of the twenty-eight chapters, twenty-one of them have a direct reference to prayer. But what about the seven chapters where the word prayer is not mentioned.
When we pray, I mean really pray, spending time with God on a regular basis, we will not have to tell people we pray.
For instance, I do not understand electricity. I could not wire a building. I can barely change a lightbulb. But I do not need to see the electrical work to know electricity works.
I do not have to watch the meter, or test the outlets or sockets to see if I have electric. When I flip the switch, I know there is power.
Likewise, when we pray, people might not ever hear us pray, but they will see the effects of our consistent prayer life.
Acts 1 - promise of power
Acts 2 - received power
Acts 3- exercised power
Acts 4 - prayed for more power
Acts 5- people lied and God displayed His power
Acts 6- conflict arose and God used people of power to help the church
Acts 7- Stephen reminded them of God’s power in history
Acts 8- walked in power to spread Gospel in Samaria
Acts 9- Saul was converted through an encounter with God’s power
Acts 10- the power of God fell on the Gentiles as Peter preached
Acts 11- Peter defended Gentiles receiving power
Acts 12- the church prayed and Peter was released from prison
Acts 13- God sent Barnabas and Paul as a result of prayer
Acts 14- Paul and Barnabas took the gospel to new regions proclaiming God’s message with power
Acts 15- they prayed and God gave powerful discernment
Acts 16- Paul and Silas prayed and praised in prison, and God set them free
Acts 17 is one of the chapters where the word prayer is absent. But the effects of their prayer life are on display.
When we diligently pray, we stay ready to display God’s power regardless of what we face.
In this chapter, we will see that Paul and his companions faced a variety of obstacles and victories. But notice that they remained constant and steadfast no matter the response of people.
Why? Because they committed themselves to pray.
Let’s discuss this in three parts, [When People Reject Us], [When People Receive Us], and [When People Ridicule Us].
Let’s begin
1. When People Reject Us
1. When People Reject Us
1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”
After Paul and his companions were released from prison in Philippi, they left town, looking for a new place to share about Christ.
They ended up in Thessalonica. Paul went to the synagogue to share his message of Jesus. Some in the group followed Paul and Silas.
But many of the Jewish leaders rose up in anger. They kicked them out of the synagogue. A man named Jason opened his home to those who accepted Christ.
A crowd gathered outside of the home and were ready to cause physical harm. Notice their indictment.
6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
They accused Paul of being with a group that turned the world upside down. Think of how the same story continues to repeat itself.
Over and over, be it Peter or Paul, the Jewish leaders tried to stop the church. But they kept moving forward.
Why? They prayed. Rejection could not stop them. They were among those who turned the world upside down for God!
Notice the word prayer is not mentioned. But spiritually, they took the then-known world by storm.
Rejection will come as we live for God. Through prayer, we can continue to build His Kingdom, regardless of spiritual opposition.
Prayer helps us when we face rejection. But we also keep on going...
2. When People Receive Us
2. When People Receive Us
10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
The new followers of Christ in Thessalonica knew the threat against Paul, so they helped him escape to Berea.
Per his custom, he went to the synagogue. Unlike previous places, this group was receptive. They took time to study the scripture to confirm what Paul shared.
To their surprise, Jesus really was the Messiah, the Savior of the world! Many of the Jews accepted the message and many of the Greeks were saved as well.
Paul had a choice to make though. Since everything looked to go great, would he coast on his accomplishments, or would he stay spiritually vigilant.
He chose to stay prayer. Good thing he did too. The Thessalonians found Paul in Berea and was ready to harm him.
Here is the point, we have to stay prayerful when people reject, but also when people receive and welcome us.
Satan wants to destroy us. Therefore, he waits for us to get comfortable and spiritually negligent to swoop in and cause problems.
We must stay prayerful even when everything seems to go our way.
Notice, prayer is not mentioned, but God gave Paul wisdom and favor when people rejected and recieved him...
3. When People Ridicule Us
3. When People Ridicule Us
16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.
Paul’s group was separated. Timothy and Silas stayed behind, but for the sake of his life, Paul ended up in Athens.
He waited for his spiritual sons. But while he looked around, he notice Athens was littered with idols. There were idols on every corner.
His spirit was troubled by the idolatry. Does it mention prayer? No, but people of prayer will get bothered by Satan’s grip.
So Paul spoke up to preach. In my opinion, Paul’s message to the Athenians was the best and most eloquent we can find in scripture.
He compared their idols to dead gods who could not help them. They were so superstitious, they had an altar to the unknown god, just in case there was a god they did not reverence.
Paul told them, there is an unknown God, but I know Him.
28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.
30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.”
33 So Paul departed from among them.
The crowd listened to Paul. But everything changed for them when he discussed the resurrection. How could someone who died live again?
Their displeasure in Paul’s message was not because of doctrine. They just found the idea to ridiculous.
So they ridiculed Paul. They told him, don’t call us, we’ll call you!
When we know the truth, we will not allow ridicule to keep us silent from telling others about Jesus.
We will not cover it tonight, but Paul kept going forward in the face of ridicule and God used him supernaturally.
Close:
In life it is not about what people do to us, but it is about our response to them.
When we remain constant in prayer, we will not overreact or get bent out of shape.
Instead, we will remain even more dedicated to God and consistent in prayer despite our circumstances.
I mentioned this a two Sundays ago, but we must remember we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.
Therefore, when people reject or ridicule us, they are not the problem. Instead, it is an intimidation tactic from Satan to get us to stop praying.
Likewise, should people receive us, it is not us they’re receiving, but Jesus!
So what is our aim. I love the way Paul explained it:
17 but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.
We are here to stay ready to defend the Gospel.
Only through prayer can we face anything that comes against and come out on the winning side.
Therefore, we keep on praying! Let’s pray that we will live so close to God, we will not have to go around telling people we pray. We will just pray and people will notice!