What a wonderful hymn based on Isaiah 53. How
many of you sang it for the first time this morning?
Quite a few of you. One of the great ones. We
enjoy singing it. I especially like the last
verse. It talks about all the victories of his
cross. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was
not defeat, but it was victory. Today, billions
once dead now live again through faith in him,
and myriads follow in his train. We are today
looking at some of those who were the earliest
to follow in his train in the book of Acts, the
fourth chapter. The early church faced a critical
situation as we come to our text. Two leaders
had been jailed, tried, and threatened to be
silent. They were then released, and according
to verse 21 of Acts 4, they went back to their
own, after they had been threatened, in verse
23 rather, they went back to their own and reported
all that had been said to them. This is a little
bit encouraging to me because it tells me that
even two mature men like Peter and John looked
for the support and encouragement of those of
kindred spirit. I don't know about you but I
need that. I feel sorry for those people who
professing Christians who think that they can
get along on their own. We weren't created that
way. God has saved us to be a part of a body
of people. We see Peter and John as soon as they
were released from prison heading to the assembly
where they knew the other saints would be. After
they had related what had taken place, how would
these people respond? Would these believers quietly
acquiesce? Would they submit to intimidation
of the religious rulers? Or would they go underground?
Would they move to a different city and start
all over again? Perhaps they would start a revolution
and overthrow the leaders? No, none of these
things. When they heard what Peter and John had
to say, they called a prayer meeting. Let's read
about it. Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples
devise futile things? The kings of the earth
took their stand, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against his Christ.
For truly in this city there were gathered together
against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst
anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along
with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel.
to do whatever thy hand and thy purpose predestined
to occur. And now, Lord, take note of their threats,
and grant that thy bond -servants may speak thy
word with all confidence, while thou dost extend
thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders take
place through the name of thy holy servant Jesus."
When they had prayed, the place where they had
been gathered, together was shaken and they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
speak the word of God with boldness. The church
was born in prayer. In Acts chapter 1 verse 14
we learn that during those days as they waited
for the Holy Spirit to come they were with one
spirit, one mind gathered together for prayer
in the upper room. It is then appropriate and
only natural that these believers, on this occasion
of the first opposition to their faith, should
meet for prayer. Prayer is the most potent, far
-reaching power in the universe. And that is
because it interacts with the very power of God.
Prayer changes things and people. and sometimes
the prayer himself. A praying church is a powerful
church. That is the main point I want to get
across to you this morning. A praying church
is a powerful church. The early church was a
praying church. There are three observations
that I want to make regarding their prayer meeting.
And as we study these, we'll learn something
about what it means to be a praying church. First,
observe with me the nature of their praying in
verse 24. It was in the first place audible praying.
That is, they lifted their voices and prayed
together. The manner in which they did this is
not described to us, but it does say that together
they lifted their voices with one accord to God.
Perhaps it was in a conversational way. style
of prayer. Perhaps they were all praying at the
same time. We are not told, but the fact is that
all together they lifted their voices more than
one to God in prayer. I wonder if this prayer
recorded for us might not be a composite of the
prayers of a number of people who expressed a
petition to God on that occasion. Perhaps that's
the case. Nonetheless, notice that the prayer
was spoken. Prayer can be silent. We do not have
to verbalize it with our mouths, but normally
in a group we verbalize prayer so that it's audible
and all can share in it. Granted, that is a little
bit frightening for those who are newer Christians.
We wonder if we're going to say the right things.
Use the right words. What happens if we cough
in the middle of the prayer? And all kinds of
these thoughts come through our minds that make
us hesitate to pray out loud. But I want to tell
you something. It is a real step of victory in
your life when you are able to pray with other
people. And if today you are scared and fearful
of praying with someone or someones else, May
I encourage you to get over that fear? There's
only one way that I know to do it, and that's
simply to start some time praying. Actually,
the more that you become conversant with the
Lord in prayer privately, the easier it becomes
to do so publicly. As you pray with others, try
to focus your mind on the one that you're speaking
to and forget those who are around you. So, what
if you stumble? So, what if you say something
that might not be technically correct? God knows
your heart. That's the important thing. And frankly,
those people around you, if they're mature believers
at all, will simply rejoice in the fact that
you are talking to the Lord with them. A few
weeks ago, we had a new believer in our Wednesday
night prayer meeting. In our little group of
four or five, he prayed for the first time out
loud. He stumbled a little bit. His voice was
a little bit squeaky and shaky because he was
scared. But I want to tell you that did something
to my heart to hear him pray. None of us who
were there in that prayer group condemned him
or thought less of him. In fact, we thought more
of him because he was praying out loud with us.
We tried to encourage him afterward. The nature
of their prayer was in the first place audible.
Secondly, it was unified. They lifted their voices
with one accord to God. Literally it means the
same mind. Luke uses this phrase in the book
of Acts ten times. We've seen it twice already.
This is the third time. He emphasizes throughout
the book the oneness of the people in the way
that they thought. Do you know that it is essential
for meaningful, effective prayer for there to
be unity in the fellowship? That unity reflects
the unity of the Godhead and His unity with His
people. This unity does not reflect that. In
fact, it denies God's unity. And this unity prohibits
effective praying. It is when we gather together
with nothing dividing us that we have effective
prayer. I don't know what your circle may have
been like, but I know when we gathered for prayer
a week and a half ago as families here in this
auditorium, that was one of the most moving prayer
meetings I've ever been in in my whole life.
And in our circle of 12, there were people who
were 50, 60 years of age on down to small children.
And all of us shared together in prayer. Went
on for an hour and a half and moved quickly.
We did different things. But there was such a
wonderful oneness that developed in our group.
I want to tell you that is essential for effective
praying. Let me show you an example of that on
a personal level. Turn back to Matthew chapter
5 for a moment. Unity is essential for praying.
There cannot be division, for division hinders
effective praying. Matthew 5 verse 23. Jesus
says, if therefore you are presenting your offering
at the altar. By the way, that's the way they
used to do it in those days. When they would
bring their offering to the temple, a plate was
not passed as we do it, but they brought the
offering to the altar in public so everyone saw
what the other person was bringing. I wonder
how that would change our offerings and our patterns
of giving if we did that today. He says, when
you bring your offering to the altar, He goes
on to say, and you remember that your brother
has something against you. In other words, there's
not unity between you and your brother. He says,
leave your offering there before the altar and
go your way. First be reconciled to your brother
and then come and present your offering. So he
says, don't offer your offering yet. Put it beside
the altar. Don't take it with you. Leave it there.
as a testimony to the fact that you have something
you have to do before you can offer it. What
a tremendous testimony that must have been. To
the other people who were watching, that here
was a man going out to make something right with
his brother, and having made it right, he would
come back, pick up his offering, and put it on
the altar and give it to God. What is the significance
of that? It is that when we bring our offerings
to the Lord, when we bring our prayers to the
Lord, There must not be anything that divides
us from another brother. If there is a division,
if there is a problem, that problem needs to
be cared for. Unity is essential if our prayers
are going to mean anything. That's on a personal
basis. But let's look at a marital basis back
in 1 Peter chapter 3. This should sober up every
married couple. 7. You husbands likewise live
with your wives in an understanding way, as with
a weaker vessel, since she is a woman, and grant
her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life,
so that your prayers may not be hindered. Men,
treat your wives the way they ought to be treated.
Because if you don't, it will create problems
in your marriage and your prayers will be hindered.
So once again we see that unity is essential
for effective praying. I think we see it again
on a church -wide basis in Romans chapter 15.
Look there what he says. Romans chapter 15 and
verse 5. Now may the God who gives perseverance
and encouragement Grant you to be of the same
mind with one another according to Christ Jesus
That with one accord you may with one voice glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ He
says to the Romans look be of the same mind with
one another so that with one accord So that thinking
the same thing, you can then with one voice glorify
God. How sad it is when churches are divided
over one thing or another. It is sad not only
because of what that does to the testimony of
the church, but because it absolutely cripples
the prayer life of that church. The Jerusalem
church was a praying church and therefore a powerful
church. As we look at the nature of its praying,
we notice that it was audible. They spoke together.
They shared together in the praying. But then
that prayer was as well unified. They thought
the same thing. They had the same purpose, the
same vision. They were all moving in the same
direction. The idea, athletically speaking, might
be pictured. They were all in the same team.
They may have had different concerns and responsibilities.
But they were all going the same way. And it
is that kind of unity that we're jealous for
in our church. The Spirit of God produces it.
We are responsible for keeping it. We'll talk
more about that next week. But let's go ahead
now and look at the second observation regarding
prayer. That is the element of their prayer,
the elements of their prayer. There are four
of them as I look at. It's what is recorded here
from that prayer meeting. The first element is
worship. They worship God because of who He is
and what He's done for His nature and His works.
Notice how they address Him. They say, oh Lord.
You say, well, that's not too different than
they normally do, is it? Well, as a matter of
fact, it is because they use a word for Lord
here that is rare in the New Testament. This
is not the usual word for Lord. It's the word.
which comes into the English as despot. Now that
has a negative connotation to us, doesn't it?
We usually think of a tyrannical ruler whose
evil as a despot. But the word did not have that
connotation in that day. What it referred to
was one who was absolutely sovereign, a master
who had servants under his control. And notice
how that theme follows through here in our text.
In verse 24, he speaks about David being the
Lord's servant. And then in verse 27, he speaks
about Jesus being the holy servant of the Lord.
And in verse 29, they call themselves the Lord's
bond servants. So you can see what they had in
mind. They called him the master. the one who
had absolute sovereignty, the absolute ruler
of all things. In saying this to him, calling
him despot, they were recognizing God's final
and total control over all their circumstances.
They illustrate this by quoting from the Old
Testament, referring to God's creative power.
They say, You made the heavens and the earth
and the sea and all that is in them. God's power
is revealed in His creation in nature. The church
has always professed this. Now some today are
changing their minds a little bit, being influenced
unfortunately by the evolutionary hypothesis.
They're not so sure anymore that God did make
all things, but the Bible's not questioning that.
God made all things in heaven, earth, and in
the sea. And these people, as they pray, worship
God because of His great power. They ascribe
to Him glory that is due to Him as the Creator.
And so the first element of their prayer is worship.
The second one is the word. Do you notice how
they quoted in verse 24? from Psalm 146, verse
6. And then in verses 25 and 26, they quote again
from the Psalms, this time Psalm 2, verses 1
and 2. They incorporated the Word of God with
their praying. That is an important observation
for you and for me. Effective praying is based
upon the Word of God. You say, well, why is the
Word so important? Well, in the first place,
because in the Word, God speaks to us. And so
it's only appropriate that as we see Him speaking
to us, we say something back to Him. It completes
the conversation, you see. But secondly, I think
it's important to include the Word in our praying
because it provides a basis for proper phrasing
of our words. As we read the Word, it aligns
our thoughts with God's. We know how to formulate
our prayers because we get God's perspective
on situations as we read the Word. I just kind
of wonder if this wasn't a scripture song. That
as they were praying there together, someone
broke out and began to sing from Psalm 146 and
someone else began to sing from Psalm 2. And
so Luke records for us those scriptures. I kind
of like that idea of incorporating the singing
of the scriptures along with their praying. Let
me show you a verse in John chapter 15 that struck
home afresh to me this week regarding the word
and prayer. John chapter 15 verse 7. He says,
if you abide in me and my words abide in you,
ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for
you. I was impressed anew this week with how
important it is that in our praying, as we ask
what we wish of the Father, that first we be
in the Word so that Jesus' words abide in us.
For as His words abide in us, They begin to formulate
our prayers so that then as we open our mouths
and speak to God, we begin to say the things
that we should in praying. We can more nearly
pray according to the will of God when Jesus'
words, when the Word of God abides in us. And
it goes right on to say in verse 8, by this is
my Father glorified that you bear much fruit
and so proved to be my disciples. I have preached
a good number of sermons on what the fruit is
in John chapter 15. The one thing I somehow have
overlooked is the fact that in the context here,
verse 8 seems to refer to the fruit of our praying,
results from our prayer life. He says, abide
in me, let my words abide in you. Ask what you
will of the Father, it will be done for you.
The Father is glorified in this that you bear
much fruit. And what is the fruit? The result
of our praying because we know how to pray because
the Word of God is abiding in us. And so the
second element of their prayer meeting was this,
it incorporated the Word of God and so must ours
if we're gonna have a prayer meeting like they
had. There's a third element we need to see going
back to our text now in Acts chapter four. That
is the element of faith. The God that we worship
is actually in control of things, and He ordains
our circumstances. Do you believe that? Well,
you say, yeah, I think I do. The early church
did. There was no equivocation with them. They
saw that God's purposes are actually marked out
beforehand, and that what God purposes, what
God predestines to occur will occur. That is
something they believed with all of their heart.
Now we see this in part because they quote from
Psalm 2 where the Gentiles and the peoples and
the kings and the rulers are pictured as together
in rebellion against God. Now the picture here
is quite graphic. He pictures them as wild horses.
kicking and stomping their feet. Notice that
he includes four groups. Gentiles, peoples, kings,
and rulers. And again, this week, for the first
time, I saw that in verse 27, he identifies those
four groups. What about the Gentiles? Well, he
mentions the Gentiles in verse 27. What about
the peoples? Well, again, in verse 27, he talks
about the peoples of Israel. What about kings?
He mentions Herod in verse 27. What about rulers?
Pontius Pilate in verse 27. What is he saying
here? He's saying that that prophecy from Psalm
2 was exactly fulfilled in what happened to Jesus
Christ. The Gentiles, the peoples of Israel,
the kings, and the rulers were all gathered together
against him because that was God's ordained plan.
Now their faith seemed to go beyond that to be
implying this That the opposition they were now
facing The suffering that they were about to
endure was also from God's hand It was no accident
That in some way this too was the outworking
of God's purpose. That was their faith Can you
by faith See that in your own circumstances.
I don't know what you may be facing today, but
can you in those circumstances believe that God
is in control? Can you believe that the same
God who prophesied so exactly the sufferings
of the Lord Jesus Christ and brought them to
pass. Could also, even before you were born into
the world, charter out your life so that what
is happening to you is not an accident. The circumstances,
the situation in which you find yourself today
is not something that was by chance, but that
the hand of God is active in your life. As these
people went to prayer, they believed that with
all their hearts. I'm sure they weren't too excited
about the fact that suffering was on the horizon.
But they knew that God was in control and that
faith carried them through and it allowed them
to pray with the freedom that we see here. And
that brings us to the fourth element of their
prayer and that is the petitions involved. Notice
that they see themselves in verse 29 as bond
servants. That word means those who have no rights.
They saw themselves as servants who had nothing
to claim for themselves. All they had to be concerned
about was the Lord, their master, their kurios.
That is the name, by the way, for Lord in verse
29. It's the more common name for Lord. There
are three petitions. Notice that they ask of
Him. They first ask, take note of their threats,
verse 29. Behold their threats, they say. Discern
what they're threatening to do. If we were to
put it into vernacular today, I think we'd say
it something like this, Lord keep your eyes on
them. Then they say, grant your servants that
they may speak thy word. with all confidence.
Notice that they did not request permission to
be silent. They did not ask for relief from the
persecution that was threatened. They did not
say, Lord, would you please send some other missionaries
to this city? They said, Lord, give us boldness,
confidence that we may speak your word. That
word boldness or confidence is rooted in a word
that means freedom or unreservedness of speech.
It means to be able to speak freely. It came
to mean a cheerful kind of courage. That's what
they were asking for. They said, Lord, let us
have a freedom of speech, a cheerful courage
as we minister your word to these people. And
their third petition, was that God, by supernatural
acts, would authenticate their speaking. Of course,
that was in keeping with what was taking place
there in those early days as the foundation of
the church was being laid. They said, Lord, as
we preach your word, give us boldness, and then
would you stretch out your hand and heal people
and do other signs and wonders through the name
of your holy servant, Jesus. And so the final
element of their prayer was petition. These people
knew how to pray. It's interesting to me that
they did not have confession of sin here. Not
that that's wrong. There's an appropriate place
for that. But we don't always have to confess
our sins, especially if we've not been living
in sin for that past little while. What they
did here was to begin by praising God, worshiping
Him, tying that together with the Word, believing
God is in control, and then saying, Lord, here's
what we ask. They asked from God's perspective.
What they asked for was boldness. That the Lord
then would take care of their threats and would
do miracles to authenticate their preaching.
Then the results of their prayer. Frankly, I've
never seen results like this. It says that when
they had prayed, the place where they had gathered
together was shaken. Maybe that was the upper
room. We don't really know. But the place, wherever
it was, was literally shaken. This is not figurative.
This is a literal thing that took place. The
building shook with the power of God. I like
to say that after their petitions, God simply
nodded his head yes, and the whole place shook.
It may be similar to the earthquake that took
place in Acts chapter 16. You remember Philip,
excuse me, Paul and Silas? were in the jail in
Philippi, and they were praying and singing praises
to God. And God shook the whole place with an
earthquake. Now, this may have been an earthquake
that took care of the whole city. It may have
been a localized miracle that took care of the
house. But one way or another, God indicated
His powerful presence by the place shaking. And
then their request was granted, for it says they
were filled. with the Holy Spirit, empowered
with the Holy Spirit, and that enabled them to
speak boldly the Word of God. I think we need
to clarify something here for the sake of some.
What does it mean to speak boldly the Word of
God? That does not mean to be crude or crass
or brassy. It doesn't mean to be Guilty of finger
pointing at other people. That is not boldness.
When he talks about boldness, he is saying that
they were able to give, with freedom of speech,
a clear, compassionate presentation of the Word
of God. That's what boldness is. A clear, compassionate
explanation of the Word of God. with a freedom
of speech, a cheerful courage. The filling of
the Holy Spirit gave them a new awareness of
the Spirit's presence in their lives and His
power. I tell you, a praying church is a powerful
church. This is the high water mark for the Jerusalem
church. They began to slip from this point, but
here we see the church functioning as it ought
to function. Powerful, filled with the Spirit
of God because it was a praying church. As we
bring the message to a close, I'd like you to
notice with me four convictions which strengthened
this church in this time of crisis. The first
conviction was regarding the power of God. Now
when we talk about a conviction, we are talking
about something that's more than an opinion,
okay? An opinion is something that I believe,
and I'll argue for it. But a conviction is something
that I give my life to. And frankly, a man is
not worth living if he does not have something
he's convicted about, if there's not something
that he's willing to give his life for. Are these
people willing to give their lives, it seems
to me, for four things? First of all, the reality
of the power of God. They were convicted about
that. All of nature is under his command and
care. Martin Luther believed this. He saw God
in all of his power. On one occasion, a papal
envoy threatened Martin Luther with what would
follow if he persisted in his course. and warned
him that in the end he would be deserted by all
of his supporters. Where will you be then, demanded
the envoy of the pope? Luther answered, then
as now, in the hands of God. You see, it does
not take you and a thousand other people to bring
a victory. As someone has said, you and God are
a majority. Not because you are so great or I'm
so great, but because God is all -powerful. These
people knew the power of God and they were convicted
of it. Are you convicted of that? Are you convicted
as was the prophet in the Old Testament, they
that are for us are more than they who are against
us? They knew something of the power of God and
they knew that that power could be experienced
in their lives as they yielded to the Holy Spirit.
and allowed him to live through them. There's
a second conviction they had, and that is the
futility of man's rebellion. They quoted from
Psalm 2. I say again that man is pictured in
Psalm 2 like a herd of wild horses, tossing their
heads, stamping their feet, neighing, biting,
kicking, bucking. And today, mankind is still
the same way—snorting, trampling. But ultimately,
mankind will be broken like a wild horse. Man's
rebellion is futile. It cannot accomplish its
ends. Man, as pictured in Psalm 2, is lifting
his fist in the face of God and crying out in
rebellion against Him. And God's response in
Psalm 2, my friend, is not one of concern or
worry. Let me tell you, He sits in the heavens
and He laughs. And God must be getting a lot
of laughs these days. Whether communism or Islam
or secularism or humanism or atheism or materialism
or any other ism, asm, or spasm, whatever form
rebellion takes, Man's rebellion against God
is doomed to fail. You say, okay, but what if
the church is destroyed in the meantime? That
can never happen because Jesus Christ has guaranteed
the church to be victorious. And He said not
even the gates of hell will be able to prevail
against the church. The church will ultimately
succeed and be victorious, whereas man and his
rebellion will fail. A third conviction regarding
the suffering of Jesus. They saw him suffering
as God's holy servant. So often we think that
suffering is the result of some sin. We are like
the three miserable comforters that came to Job
and said, Job, you must be a terrible sinner
for all the sufferings that you're enduring.
They were convicted in that early church that
Jesus Christ was God's holy servant, sinless,
and yet they observed that He underwent tremendous
suffering, indeed suffering for them. And so
their conviction was that if Jesus as God's holy
servant suffered, then is it not appropriate
that I who am His servant and still struggle
with sin should suffer? Am I better than He?
Do I expect less severe treatment or more acceptance
in the world than He gained? Of course not. God
was glorified in Jesus' suffering, and He was
glorified in the suffering of that early church.
He is glorified today in the sufferings of His
people as we suffer as Christians. There is a
final conviction, and that is the reality of
prayer. These people did not see prayer as a
hard duty, as some legalistic repetition of phrases,
but rather we see that prayer to them was an
emotion -filled, natural expression directed
toward a person who is alive, hearing, knowledgeable,
and able to act on their behalf. They did not
follow some required format. They did not close
their prayer in Jesus' name. But their prayer
was rather spontaneous. It was the joyful exercise
of their access into the presence of God. I think
one of the ways the devil defeats us in our praying
is that he puts us into bondage. to prayer lists
and certain methods. Now, I want to be understood
on that. I'm not against prayer lists. I'm not
against using methods or following outlines.
There's a place for all of those things. But
so often when we get locked into them, our prayer
life loses its spontaneity and its joy, and it
becomes drudgery. We're often told that we should
begin our prayer time by confessing our sins,
and I don't disagree with that, but I also know
this, that when I begin by focusing on my sins,
I can so often get carried away focusing on my
problems and my sins that I never really get
around to lifting my heart in praise to God.
There's a time to confess our sins. We are commanded
indeed to do that, to acknowledge and agree with
God regarding what we have done. But folks, remember
this. Remember this. Satan loves to take all
of your past acts and whip you with them and
depress you. Remember this, that through the
blood of Jesus, you are forgiven of all of your
sins, past, present, and future. And at any time,
you are welcome into the presence of your Heavenly
Father. You can come running into his presence
like a little child waiting to see his father
and leap into his arms and know the hot tears
of his joy as you pray and express your love
to him. Realize that God wants you to come to
him. He desires your presence, your communion,
your fellowship. Don't allow other things to
get in the way. Keep your prayer life fresh.
Use that access that God has given to us so graciously
in His Son. That access is provided through the
wonderful working of the Lord Jesus Christ at
the cross and what He did as He offered up Himself
on our behalf and opened the way into the very
presence of God so that now we may come boldly
to the throne of grace, obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in the time of need. I think I
left back here an illustration of prayer. I don't
see it there either. Did someone get in my Bible
and take that out this morning? I guess I'll
have to depend upon my memory, which is a little
scary. A couple of friends of mine in Ghana,
West Africa, wrote a prayer letter a few weeks
ago. in which they related what they had to go
through to get a telephone call from Accra, the
capital of Ghana, to Michigan, Noreen's home.
There's only the telephone in Accra for them
to use, and to get there they had to drive 250
miles. Days in advance, they had to make an appointment
to use the telephone. And they had to put down
a deposit for the number of minutes that they
expected to talk. They had to put down a $50
deposit on the telephone. And so they got down
to the city of Accra, went in for their appointed
time. They tried to get an operator, long -distance
operator, to get them to the United States, and
one was not available at that moment. So they
lost their place in line. They had to wait a
couple of hours. They got back in line. They
were able to get the operator and they finally
heard the telephone ring all the way over in
Michigan from West Africa And nobody was home
They lost their place after waiting for a number
of hours in line They lost their place got their
deposit back and drove 250 miles back home And
he said in his letter you complained about that
contraption called a telephone don't ever do
it Do you realize that you and I, in an instant
of time, can as it were pick up the telephone
and talk directly to the God of the universe?
No waiting in line. No static on the line. Do
I have to put a deposit down? All we have to
do is speak to Him and we have His attention.
What a marvelous thing that is. That early church
was convicted about the reality of prayer. That
conviction made a difference. We've been talking
this morning about the fact that a praying church
is a powerful church. When we know something
of the convictions that that early church knew,
then we will know something of the power of God
in our church as they knew it in those early
days. If our church is going to be a praying
church, it depends not just upon me and three
or four other people, but upon all of us. For
to the extent that you are a praying Christian,
and I'm a praying Christian, and he's a praying
Christian, and she's a praying Christian, to
the extent that we are praying individual Christians,
to that extent, we are a praying church. Let's
pray together. Heavenly Father, I thank you for
the example which the early church gave to us
in this prayer meeting. My prayer is that you
would teach us to pray and that you would call
us. intimately and personally to a deeper prayer
life. Father, you know which ones of us spend
minutes in prayer each week and which ones of
us spend hours each week in prayer. I pray that
wherever we are in our prayer commitment, They
would challenge us today to do something more.
In Jesus' name, amen.