Cited in sermons
Walt Chantry
2 sermons · All people cited
Acts 4:24-31
Acts 4:24–31 records the corporate prayer of the Jerusalem church after Peter and John were threatened by the Sanhedrin for preaching Christ. The passage is examined in four movements: the congregation's unity in one accord, their confidence in God as sovereign creator, sovereign revelator, and sovereign governor, their specific requests for divine justice and boldness in proclamation, and God's immediate answer in the shaking of the place, the filling of the Spirit, and the resultant boldness. The sermon draws out that a high and uncompromised doctrine of divine sovereignty — God's decree extending even to the crucifixion and to all opposition against his church — is the very ground of Christian courage in the face of persecution, not a source of passivity.
The Throne Room
Revelation 4–5 answers the suffering and persecution catalogued in the letters to the seven churches (Revelation 2–3) by drawing back the curtain of heaven to reveal the throne room of God. Chapter 4 grounds worship in the doctrine of creation, while chapter 5 grounds it in definite atonement — the Lamb who was slain has redeemed a people to God by His blood out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. The vision presses the church to respond to earthly trial not with despair but with humility, worship, and mission, because the Lion of the tribe of Judah has already prevailed.