Acts 4:29-31 (NLT), “And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.”
In the picture: a group of Cuban Pastors serving in forced labor camps named by the government "Military Units to Aid Production" (UMAP)
Living as a Christian in Cuba in the 1960’s
· Cuba made a formal profession of atheism in 1960.
· There were implications of that declaration for the entire educational system, and for the rights of Christians to exercise their faith.
Things we were not allowed to do as Christians in Cuba
· No faith sharing through the media.
· No faith sharing in public spaces.
· One-on-one “proselytism” in favor of Christianity strictly forbidden.
· No access to higher education.
· Not allowed to participate in public service.
· Retaliation on those practicing Christian faith, attending churches, baptizing their children. They were fired from their jobs.
· No foreign religious personnel allowed. About 100 US missionaries serving in Cuba were called back home.
· No Christian schools, clinics, orphanages, etc.
· No US dollars allowed to come to the country, and the church had to reach financial viability in a matter of months.
As a result…
· Membership rolls dropped down from almost 10,000 members in 1959 to 1800 in 1973.
· Very few professions of faith and baptisms. Few children and youth.
· All of the US Missionaries were expelled out of the country.
· 85% of Cuban pastors left Cuba for fear of retaliation against their families.
· Many of the remaining pastors and lay leaders were sent to do forced labors in the sugar cane fields or went to prison.
· People were fearful to be seen attending a church.
Before the reality of a shrinking church…
· We didn’t really know what to do… The Church was not ready to do the mission of God in a communist country.
· So we started with PRAYER: prayer vigils in local churches.
· Christians began fasting and crying out to God for guidance on what to do, how to survive and thrive.
· Youth Camps became opportunities for spiritual growth and re-commitment to Christ.
· This prayer environment eventually got to all our national meetings, including Annual Conferences.
God’s answer to prayer…
· The Holy Spirit showed up with power and might.
· Deep spiritual experiences with God.
· “Flames of fire settled on many of us”, Acts 2:3.
· People were “filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues”, v. 4
· More important – were able to overcome fear and gain passion and boldness to share Christ with the Cuban people.
Peter & John before the Sanhedrin
· “By what power or in whose name have you done this? (proclaiming that through Jesus there is resurrection of the dead)”, 4:7
· Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly said: “There is salvation in no one else… No other name under heaven…” (4:12)
· They were amazed by the boldness of Peter & John, “for they could see they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures” (4:13)
· The Sanhedrin ordered the disciples: “Never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus” (4:17)
· Peter & John – “We cannot stop talking about everything we have seen and heard”, and went with the other believers to pray (4:20)
GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS
· They said – “Lord, hear their threats, and give us great boldness in preaching your word” (4:29)
· “The meeting place shook and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (4:31)
· “THEN THEY PREACHED THE WORD OF GOD WITH GREAT BOLDNESS”
My Experience after 21 years in the USA
1. This is a great nation and we are deeply grateful for the opportunities we have received here to fulfill our ministries in an environment of freedom.
2. We were told that in the US, you don’t speak publicly about politics or religion – While the disciples in this Scripture boldly declared: “We cannot stop talking about we have seen and heard”(4:20)
3. We were told that religion was a private matter – In this text, we see that “the apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (4:33)
4. We declare our mission “to make disciples for the transformation of the world”, and we believe that our parishioners will be able to do just if they have “the right training.”
· People don’t get the power of God through training.
· People don’t get boldness to share Christ through training.
· People don’t get passion for the lost through training.
· We Methodists get on fire for Jesus and the mission of God when we ask and receive the fire of Holy Spirit burning in our hearts.
Our # 1 problem in the US
· We spend too much time to fight the political and cultural wars. We get easily derailed from doing the mission of God.
· We have placed too much emphasis on academic accomplishments and ministry degrees (the mind) while relinquishing our responsibility to have a powerful and close relationship with God through the Holy Spirit (the heart.)
· We blame each other and the institutions for our failure to live on fire for Jesus.
· Our main problem is that we are not making disciples of Jesus Christ, and we are not transforming the world. The world is not our parish… The parish has become our world.
· We are not emphatic enough in proclaiming that the grace of God has been made available to all human beings through the blood of Christ.
· We have become mostly irrelevant and have very little to nothing to offer to the next generations, to people who are different from us, people who come from other countries and were raised in a different culture and a different language. We have failed to understand God’s purpose for the church: to be God’s mission agency in the world for people of all races, cultures, languages, genders, ages.
Let’s push for a shift…
1. The apostles “could not stop telling others about what they had seen or heard.”
· Have we actually seen something we can share?
· Have we heard?
· We need more than academic knowledge! We need the power of God!
2. People get engaged in evangelism when they have the fire of God burning in their hearts. They don’t have to be asked, because the fire burning in their hearts would compel them to the outside and to connect with people who are not related to any church.
· What if we start offering our people more opportunities to connect with the Holy Spirit? More prayer, fasting, spiritual disciplines? God still answers prayers!!
3. Pastors are not often times a living example of faith-sharing (evangelism) or being “burning heart” Christians. Our religiosity is sometimes just a cold, dispassionate acceptance of dogmas.
· What if we don’t just ask our people to make disciples, but start model this for them by making disciples ourselves? And by having a spiritual revival in our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit?
· People do learn more by example than by words.
4. We need to pray harder and humble ourselves before Christ to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
· People filled with the Holy Spirit are equipped to preach the word of God with boldness.