Threatened into Silence?

What do you do when obedience gets you in trouble?

In Acts 4, Peter and John are arrested, threatened, and commanded to stop speaking in the name of Jesus—all because of a miracle. But instead of backing down, they respond with one of the boldest prayers in Scripture.

They don’t ask for safety.
 They don’t ask for protection.
 They don’t ask God to remove the pressure.

They ask for MORE.

More boldness.
 More miracles.
 More power in the name of Jesus.

This episode breaks down a powerful truth: when your life is fully committed to God’s purpose, fear loses its grip. The early church understood something many of us forget—God’s glory is always greater than our comfort.

And when they prayed? God answered immediately. The place shook, they were filled again, and they spoke with even greater boldness.

If you’ve been facing pressure, opposition, or resistance, this episode will challenge you to shift your prayers—and your perspective.

What if the answer isn’t less pressure…
 but more power?

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Transcript

Press means to apply force. When God said press, prayer reaches every single situation. He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through.

And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us. Welcome back to the Press Movement Podcast. Thank you for joining me today.

As we continue in the book of Acts chapter four this week, last week, we looked as Peter and John were used to heal the man who had been lame from birth at the gates of the temple. He thought he was there asking for money and alms, but they didn't have any silver and gold. So they gave him what they had.

They had the name of Jesus. And that miracle created quite the stir to the extent that the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees, they came together and they were grieved that the people were being taught and that Jesus name was being preached and the resurrection from the dead. The Bible says in Acts chapter four and three, that they, the priest, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees laid hands on them.

Now that's not what we think of when they say laying hands, like praying for them and they're worshiping. No, they put their hands on them. They arrested Peter and John and they put them in prison until the next day.

But it was too late because the message they were preaching had already reached about 5,000 people. So as they get to the next day and they're trying to figure out how to quelch this uprising that is coming because of this healing in this name, they recognize they cannot deny what has been done. So these leaders, the rulers, elders, scribes, Annas, the high priest, Caiaphas, they call Peter and John to come and answer for what has happened.

And when they do that, they asked them in verse seven, by what power, what name have you done this? The Bible says, then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost. He's full of this Holy Ghost. Now y'all, it's not something that's just coming upon him.

It's not there to visit. It is there to stay. And it's there to stay and feel him.

In the Holy Ghost, he says to them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God hath raised from the dead, even by him, that this man stand here before you whole. Now you would think in the face of all this opposition, that Peter would somehow shrink back or feel nervous because they've done thrown you in jail over healing somebody. You know, they're against you.

You know, they have no limits. You understand that this is not even probably legal, but they want to shut you down. And you're going to have the audacity to stand there and tell them that I want to make it very clear that the name of Jesus, the one you crucify, who was raised from the dead, it's him that did this.

It's his name that's still working. Peter flat-footed preached to these people that Jesus is alive and well and his name is working. He even takes it a step further when he says to them, this is the stone which was set at not of you builders, which has become the head of the corner.

That statement is referring to Psalms 118 and 22, where the Bible says the stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. It is a prophetic utterance from the psalmist of Jesus Christ. And Peter is not just quoting this by happenstance.

He's speaking to a people who would have understood the scriptures. And at that point, the scriptures would have been the Old Testament. He's tying the Old Testament into the experience that they just lived through of seeing Jesus live and die and resurrect among them.

He's letting them know you missed who he was, but this is the one that the prophet spoke about. And not only is he doing it to say he was the man, he is the basis for all things. He's the chief cornerstone.

He's pointed out even now that there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. He's telling them the name never died and death never kept its owner. The Bible says when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they thought them to be unlearned and ignorant men.

I love everything about the way Peter and John are preaching because not only are they willing to tell these people the truth, no matter what's going to happen next, they didn't preach to sound eloquent or to sound like they knew it all. In fact, after hearing them, you think they're unlearned and they're ignorant, but you know what you can't do? You can't deny. In verse 16, they say it, we cannot deny it, that something has happened here.

This has been a notable miracle. Isn't that like God where he uses people that just get him the glory? He wants not just those that are articulate or not just those who are poised. He wants somebody who doesn't care how it sounds, but they're willing to show him off.

He wants somebody who will make his name undeniable. The resolution that they come to is that we can't deny what has happened. Let's just make sure that this thing does not spread amongst the people.

So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than to God, you judge. They go on in verse 20 to basically say we have to talk about what we've seen. Has God done anything for you that you just say you have to get it out? I can't stop telling it.

I can't stop representing it. I can't stop showing it because he's done it. He's done it right in front of me.

I saw him do it. The Bible says they continued threatening them in verse 21, but after they threatened them, they let them go because they couldn't find a way to truly punish them because of the people. For all the men glorify God for that which was done because the guy who was healed was over 40 years old.

As much as the high priest and the Sadducees and all of them came together and wanted to shut down what had happened, it was undeniable they couldn't push under the rug what the Lord had done or what his name had done. And so they let them go. And you see Peter and John returned to their own company, their own people.

And they told everybody, the church, what the Lord had done. They told them what the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And the Bible says that they lifted up their voice with one accord.

And here's the prayer that they pray after being arrested, after being publicly shamed, after being threatened. This is what they're going to say. Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is.

By the mouth of thy servant, David has said, why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child, Jesus, whom thou has anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

This is their prayer. You were God when they gathered together against you. You are God now.

You knew it was coming. You let the prophet David even utter it, but you did it because you let them do whatever your hand and counsel determined should be done. God, you decided to include this in the story of you.

You'd already written it. They're not serving in this prayer, a God of happenstance or a God who doesn't know what's going on or does not have a plan. This is not the intro of a prayer of somebody who's panicked because they're facing a case, so to speak, or threatenings.

Rather, they're talking to a God who they trust has been in control and is in control now. And then they go on to ask in verse 29. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching forth thine hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

They said, God, pay attention to the way they're coming for us. But what they ask for next is not revenge. It's not that God paid back the scribes or the people against them.

But rather, they said, God, the thing that got us in trouble, our boldness, your name. We want to talk louder. We want to talk with more confidence.

We want to preach your name stronger. God, we want you to do more. If miracles got us in this, stretch forth your hand to heal, to do more signs, to do more wonders by the name of your holy child Jesus.

You see, they didn't just ask him to do stuff for them. They wanted his name to get the glory. God, get more glory.

Be more glorified. Be more magnified. God, get all the attention.

Be lifted up. Who asked for this when that is what just got you threatened or in trouble? How do you pray God do more when what he's doing seems to have such a high price tag to your personal life? I submit to you, they didn't even take time to really inventory their personal life. We don't see that anywhere.

Their lives were built and dedicated to the name of Jesus being great. You mean if his name is exalted, if his name is glorified, if more people know him because of my pain or because I went through it, then I want him to do more? Yes, that's exactly what they're saying. They're saying, God, be glorified.

Don't slow down. Show off in us. Be louder than the enemy.

When the enemy says, be quiet, God, get louder. When the enemy says, we can't have that miracle here, do twice as many. Do three times as many.

Show your hand. Be glorified. They're not inventorying the cost to themselves.

They're trusting God to be God, the God he's been, the God he will be, the God who resurrected, the God who was spoken of by the prophets, and the God they want to be glorified by his name and his name alone. It's amazing to me the things that hell can't shake, and one thing it cannot shake or break is someone who's truly committed to the mission of glorifying God. You see, a person who lives to glorify God starts to figure out things like, when I am weak, then is he strong? They start to figure out his grace is sufficient, and then they begin to tie into things like learning to glory in their infirmities, because the power of Christ then rests upon them.

That's stuff Paul would later write in 2 Corinthians 12 and 9, but that the disciples were walking out before Corinthians was ever written, and God responded to their sacrifice. God responded to their yes. He responded to their willingness to be used, and their willingness to see his name be glorified, and the way he responded in Acts chapter 4 verse 31, the Bible says, and when they prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

He responded, giving them exactly what they asked for, boldness and more of his presence and more of his power. I pray today that we understand that that's more than an even exchange, that what they would have to go through and what they would have to carry was still less than what God would do and be in them. I pray that the church continuously find it worth it, find him worthy of the sacrifices that we do make, and I pray that we get the boldness to ask God, do more, because I just believe there's more he wants to do, and he will do everything he's purposed to do, and even more than we can imagine when we pray, because prayer reaches every single situation.

Join the movement. Join the community. Like, share, and subscribe to this podcast.

Visit us at PressToPray.com or find us on Instagram or Facebook. Did you know that when you are quiet, your voice is missing to God's ears? I know some of us have prayed and we're wondering, how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if God already knows? How will I know God is answering? And what do I do when I feel like God's not listening? But God is listening for your voice. It's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have.

You have to raise your voice, and God wants to hear from you. It's too quiet, a book about prayer is designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith. Visit PressToPray.com