Call to Prayer 7

Call to Prayer

Part 7

“Critical Mass”

“Again I tell you this: If two of you agree on earth about anything you pray for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven” (Matt. 18:19 NLV).

I want to talk to you today about CRITICAL MASS, and how CRITICAL MASS relates to prayer.

Critical Mass is reached when you have a size, number, or amount of something large enough to produce a particular result.

For instance, if you start blowing up a balloon, it will explode when a critical mass of air is forced into it.

Or, steel will melt when a critical mass of heat has been applied.

Or, a plane will lift off the ground when a critical mass of speed is achieved.

____________

Spiritually speaking, a revival, spiritual awakening, or powerful breakthrough happens when critical mass in prayer has been reached.

And corporate prayer is one way critical mass is achieved!

______________

Jesus promised, “If two of you agree on earth about anything you pray for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven.”

Jesus places a premium here on corporate prayer—corporate prayer helps achieve critical mass where things begin to happen!

We think of the verse, “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken” (Ecc. 4:12 NLT).

As it is in the natural, it’s the same in the spiritual.

_____________

Now, the Greek word we translate into the English word “agree” is the same word from which we get “symphony.”

In a symphony everyone is playing the same chord, all the instruments unite together to express the same song.

In prayer it means everyone is calling out for the same thing, carrying the same burden, making the same request in one unified mind and heart.

When 2 or more Christians come together to pray for something, to symphonize in agreement for the same thing, it has great power!

_____________

We see the power of agreement played out over and over in the NT.

The Early Church didn't just have prayer meetings—The Early Church WAS the prayer meeting.

In fact, in the Early Church, every Christian was a prayer-meeting type of Christian!

If there was a prayer meeting, they were there!

And when the early church had a problem, they always came together to pray corporately—and over and over again their prayers reached critical mass resulting in a breakthrough.

____________

Let me give you 3 examples today. First...

The disciples exercised corporate prayer...

When they were persecuted

In Acts 4 we find the disciples arrested for preaching the gospel and healing a crippled man.

They are commanded by the religious rulers that “from now on they speak to no man in this name (the name of Jesus)” (Acts 4:17 NKJV).

From there the Bible says, “being let go, they went to their own companions (the church) and reported all that the chief priests and elders said to them...so when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord (the prayer of agreement)...”

Now, watch how this corporate prayer of agreement reached critical mass:

“...and when they had prayed the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (4:23-24; 31 NKJV).

In this mighty prayer of agreement, God shook the building they were in, filled them with a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit, and gave them the boldness they needed to continue in their ministry.

So when PERSECUTED, the early church prayed together and this was the KEY to their city shaking ministry!

_____________

Then secondly, the disciples practiced corporate prayer when:

II. Things looked hopeless

We read in the book of Acts that the day came when wicked king Herod “stretched out his hand to harass some from the church” (Acts 12:1 NKJV).

We’re informed that he had already “killed James the brother of John with the sword” (12:2 NKJV).

______________

You’ll recall that the first four disciples Jesus called to follow Him were two sets of brothers—Peter and Andrew, and James and John.

Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt 4:19 NKJV).

These first four immediately left their livelihoods, family, and friends to follow Jesus.

Of these first four, Herod killed James and now is determined to kill a second one—Simon Peter. We read:

“Because he saw that it (James’s murder) pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also...He put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him...”(12:3-4 NKJV).

Four squads of soldiers equaled sixteen!

Herod had also bound Peter with two chains in between two other soldiers. (Vs. 6)

The Bible says that Herod had planned to keep Peter imprisoned for the duration of the Days of Unleavened Bread, which lasted 8 days.

Afterward, Peter would be forced to take the perp walk in front of the angry crowds of Jews, be tortured to their liking, and then killed.

____________

In the natural Peter’s fate looked HOPELESS—locked up in prison, surrounded by sixteen guards, chained to a wall, and his death sentence had already been pronounced.

The church knew that James had already been martyred, what would stop Herod from doing it again?

_____________

But the Bible says they didn’t sit wringing their hands, or giving into the inevitable, or collapsing in fear for their own lives...

They said, “We have eight days to pray, eight days for God to turn this thing around.”

The Bible says, “Constant (strenuous, heartfelt, persistent, around the clock) prayer was offered to God for him by the church” (12:5 NKJV).

And God heard it!

On what was to be Peter’s last night on earth, critical mass was reached in prayer!

The Bible records:

Acts 12:7-11 “All at once an angel of the Lord was seen standing beside him. A light shone in the building. The angel hit Peter on the side and said, “Get up!” Then the chains fell off his hands. 8 The angel said, “Put on your belt and shoes!” He did. The angel said to Peter, “Put on your coat and follow me.” 9 Peter followed him out. He was not sure what was happening as the angel helped him. He thought it was a dream.

10 They passed one soldier, then another one. They came to the big iron door that leads to the city and it opened by itself and they went through. As soon as they had gone up one street, the angel left him. As Peter began to see what was happening, he said to himself, ‘Now I am sure the Lord has sent His angel and has taken me out of the hands of Herod. He has taken me also from all the things the Jews wanted to do to me.’” (NLV)

Herod should have killed him immediately because when he gave the church 8 days to pray, it was 8 days too long!

A satanic assignment that would have crippled the church at this time in its early growth was canceled!

So...the early church prayed together when PERSECUTED, they prayed together when things looked HOPELESS, and...

_____________

The church prayed corporately when:

III. They waited for the Holy Spirit

Before returning to heaven, Jesus had told His disciples to stay in Jerusalem “to wait for the Promise of the Father...for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4-5 NKJV).

The Bible says that “they returned to Jerusalem...and when they...went up into the upper room where they were staying...14 The apostles were all together. They were constantly praying with the same purpose” (1:12-14 NKJV, ERV).

We’re told that 120 people prayed together non-stop for the power of the Holy Spirit to fall as Jesus had promised.

Notice, Jesus had promised it, but they still had to pray it down!

You know the rest of the story...on the Day of Pentecost their prayers reached critical mass:

”When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting...4 And they were all filled with Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues...” (Acts 2:1-2,4).

The church was born in a corporate prayer meeting!

The power of God fell upon them when they joined together in corporate prayer!

______________

So let’s say together: The early church prayed corporately when 1.) persecuted, when 2.) things looked hopeless, and 3.) when they waited for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.