A Prayer for Deliverance

A Prayer for Boldness, Acts 4:23–31
Introduction
Hook
One of my fears for a long time has been the fear of deep water. This fear actually has a title: thalassophobia. I don’t know why I have this fear but I do. I guess it’s related to the fact that if you’re in deep water you never really know what’s below you. There could be some massive lake or sea creature, ya know? You just never know. When I was a boy, maybe 12 or 13, I went deep sea fishing with my dad, my brother, and my dad’s friend. We went out probably a couple miles off the coast in the Gulf Coast. During our trip, me and my brother jumped in the water. Who knows how deep it is out there. Me and my brother are just treading water. And my dad’s friend’s who owned the boat turned the boat on and jetted off away from us. And I’m pretty sure me and my brother were just treading water. We might have had lifejackets but to make the story more interesting let’s just say we were treading water. And I remember seeing the boat get smaller and smaller. Now I know it was just a joke and they were going to come back but wow the impression that left in my mind has stuck with me this day. The fear of being left out at sea.
Need
To be afraid is a common experience we all have. When we are young,
You might not have this same fear but we all fears. None of us are not fearful. We are all scared of something or the other. And
Fear can and does hinder our obedience to Christ. Whether
Preview
Context
Remember the Sovereignty of God
Introduction
First we begin with our main defense against fear. How can we combat our fear? We combat our fear by remembering the sovereignty of God. This is what I want us to see first from this text. To combat our fears, we need to remember that God is in control. We need to remember the sovereignty of God. Looking together at the passage. Beginning in v.
Illustration
Romanian pastor Josef Tson recounted a time he was being interrogated by six men. He said to one of them: What is taking place here is not an encounter between you and me. This is an encounter between my God and me. . . . My God is teaching me a lesson [through you]. I do not know what it is. Maybe he wants to teach me several lessons. I only know, sirs, that you will do to me only what God wants you to do—and you will not go one inch further—because you are only an instrument of my God. Every day I saw those six pompous men as nothing more than my Father’s puppets! Tson again: During an early interrogation I had told an officer who was threatening to kill me, “Sir, let me explain how I see this issue. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. Here is how it works. You know that my sermons on tape have spread all over the country. If you kill me, those sermons will be sprinkled with my blood. Everyone will know I died for my preaching. And everyone who has a tape will pick it up and say, ‘I’d better listen again to what this man preached, because he really meant it; he sealed it with his life.’ So, sir, my sermons will speak ten times louder than before. I will actually rejoice in this supreme victory if you kill me.” After I said this, the interrogator sent me home. Another officer who was interrogating a pastor friend of mind told him, “We know that Mr. Tson would love to be a martyr, but we are not that foolish to fulfill his wish.” I stopped to consider the meaning of that statement. I remembered how for many years, I had been afraid of dying. I had kept a low profile. Because I wanted badly to live, I had wasted my life in inactivity. But now that I had placed my life on the altar and decided I was ready to die for the Gospel, they were telling me they would not kill me! I could go wherever I wanted in the country and preach whatever I wanted, knowing I was safe. As long as I tried to save my life, I was losing it. Now that I was willing to lose it, I found it.
Ask God for Courage
Introduction
Expect God to Act