- Chapters: - [[Psalm 2]] - [[Acts 4]]:23-31 # Cancel Culture - Cancel culture is fairly common today -- the desire to marginalize people because their position was objectionable - In the past, Christians once held great influence in public culture in the [[United Kingdom]], and pioneered many cultural institutions - This influence has now been eroded and it now feels increasingly difficult to express any Christian worldview without repercussions - The Christian faith can now often be seen as off limits in "polite" discussion # How the [[Apostle]]s reacted - [[Peter]] and [[John]] are returning from their own cancel culture moment, cancelled for speaking publicly against [[Jesus]] - v. 18: "They commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of [[Jesus]]" - What's our natural inclination to this? To withdraw to allow ourselves to be silent? To dig in and tough it out? To try to reoppress back? - The [[Disciples]] chose none of this ## 1. Come Together and Pray - v. 23: immediately on their release, they return to their household, their own people, and in v.24 they "raised their voices together in prayer to [[God]]" - Corporate prayer is the response to determined opposition - As [[Shakespeare]] said: "Two households, both alike in dignity in fair [[Verona]] where we layed our sin" - Two opposing houses of [[God]]: the [[Temple]] (where faith, the empire, the city, etc have all converged), and the newly formed house of [[Jesus]] - The conflict: the first house has been declared obsolete by [[Jesus]]. The [[Temple]] is no longer the centre of what [[God]] is doing in the world - Rather, a new house has arisen, centered on [[Jesus]]' rule - Throughout the [[Mission Impossible]] series, we've been stressing the importance of this house and being together in it - As [[Jesus]] brings people in relation with him, he is simultaneously supergluing these people to each other via the [[Holy Spirit]] - Vertical relationship with [[Jesus]] and horizontal relationship with each other are both being nurtured - On [[2025-11-09 All Souls 1130 -- Mission Unstoppable]], [[Simon Dickson]] mentioned some advice for speaking in the workplace: "It is always wise to start by asking [[God]] for wisdom" - So on what basis should we pray? ## 2. In prayer, we acknowledge [[God]]'s sovereignty - [[Revelation 4]]:11 "You are worthy, our [[Lord]] and [[God]] to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things" - We are utterly dependent on him - So the starting point of prayer is to acknowledge that fundamental fact: This is [[God]]'s world, and he is in control of it - [[Jonathan Gillepsie]] finds that reassuring -- headlines these days can be crazy, and we can be tempted to fall into despair, or try to take things into our own hands - Much like back in the day the [[Apostle]]s felt that they would either have to storm the [[Temple]] or despair ([[Mission Impossible]] vs Mission Unstoppable) ## 3. [[Jesus]] is lord, and I am not - As creator, [[God]] has full autonomy to do whatever he wants, but we do not - Last week was remembrance Sunday, and in many ways this would have been the perfect passage for that, since it describes the frustrations for living in a fallen world - [[Psalm 2]] reframes this power struggle and gives us a peek behind the scenes: It tells us that the nations are not fighting with each other, but fighting against [[God]] - v. 25-26 quotes [[Psalm 2]] - Recall [[Genesis 3]] w.r.t. the offspring and the [[Serpent]] in conflict. In a specific sense, it speaks of a particular offspring: [[Jesus]] - [[God]] can swipe aside the plans of nations and rulers like we swipe away flies - Many great book have plot twists where a good guy is actually revealed to be a bad guy - Similarly in [[Acts 4]] -- the offspring of [[Abraham]] are now rejecting [[Jesus]] and calling for his death. [[God]]'s people have joined with the nations - Yet in plotting together they have actually fulfilled [[God]]'s plan rather than thwarting it - Similarly to story of [[Joseph]] in [[Genesis 50]]: "You intended to harm me, but [[God]] intended it for good" - So if [[God]] does all, what role do we still play? ## 4. In prayer, we ask for boldness - Prayer in v. 29: "Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness" - [[God]] uses the [[Holy Spirit]] to enable them to do so - Boldness isn't necessarily an innate personal trait - As such, even the quietest personalities can be fearless when speaking on [[Jesus]] - As think of inviting friends to a [[Carol Service]], we should also think to pray for boldness2