Making Room for prayer

Passage: Acts 12:1-24 Series: Making Room

WELCOME: Welcome to Foundation Church - If it’s your first time we want to give you a special welcome and let you know we are so glad that you’re here. Our mission is simple but aligns with what Jesus told us to do: Love GOD, Love Pople, Change the World. INTRO: It’s so great to have you here today.

We want to make room for what’s really important - and what can be MORE important than our relationshipw/ God -

making HIS priorities OUR priorities.

We want invite you to go on a journey to read the Bible as a family

Using the method called soap

Scripture: As you read each chapter,

Observation: What is God speaking to you today through His Word?

Application: How can you apply what you have read to your life?

Prayer: Ask God to help you use this scripture

Today, we’re going to talk about making room for prayer. Not just individually but also corporately.

Powerful things happen when the church prays.

· Unfortunately, some think that Because prayer IS powerful, that they can simply stay home and pray by themselves.

· They reason that they’ll get the same results praying alone as they will w/ the Church Family.

Ø ‘not true.’

· There is a time & place for us to pray alone.

· We shoulddo that. We need regularly pull awayfrom the noise and get alone w/ God.

· However, there are also times when we need to come together and pray corporately w/ one another. Things happen when two or threeor 50 or 100's begin to storm the throne room of Heaven TOGETHER.

Matthew quoted Jesus in

Matthew 18:19: Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree(sumphoneo) about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

· The word ‘agree’ comes from Greek Word: (sumphoneo).

· Where we get our English Word: Symphony.

Jesus wants us to come into agreement (in prayer) like a great orchestra. * There is something beautiful& amazing that happens when all sorts of instruments come together(the string section, and the brass section and the woodwindsand the percussion).

· An orchestradoesn’t work well when the violin stays at home, or the trombonedecides they can’t make it.

· Or the trumpets can’t get along w/ the french horns.

· Some ppl, love to play SOLOS. They get out their instrument and start playing by themselvesw/ no other instrument. (and it’s true) There’s some beauty in that.

· But they’re missing out on the incredible exhilaration& excitement of the symphony.

· When we get all tuned to the same frequency. And start playing together in the same key /reading the same score & set of music.

It’s one of the most beautiful sounds.

(Illustration) - let me show you what I mean. we’re gonna play violin solo of VIOLIN - Ode to Joy (by Beethoven)

SYMPHONY Ode to Joy.

Ø See the difference.

The solo was nice. That instrument plays an important part, but when you put it all together, it’s music at an entire new level.

There is power in agreement.

In Deut. 32:30: Moses said: When God is in it: If 1 can set a thousand to flight, 2 can set 10,000to flight.

Traditional math,

· would say if 1 can put a thousand, 2 can put 2 thousand.

· But that’s not how it works when God gets in the equation and when unity gets in the equation.

· There is something powerful that happens when you & I come togetherin agreement, under the blessing of God and pray HIS priorities.

It exponentially increases the WORK of God AND the POWER of God in our lives, and in our circumstances. That’s why when you have a prayer need,

· Send us an email

· Not only will YOU be praying, but many others will be coming into agreement with you and pray together. ( symphony )

Why would you want to miss out on that kind of power?

( that is why the last Wednesday of every month starting in June we are going to have a night of worship and prayer healing, baptism of the holy spirit, etc)

Turn in your Bibles to Acts Ch. 12

Acts 12:1: It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecutethem.

When you read the NT (the gospels & Acts in particular)

· we see the name ‘Herod’ a lot.

· There are actually several different men named ‘Herod’ in the NT.

· The most famous Herod was of course: “Herod the Great.” He’s the one that tried to kill baby Jesus and had all the young boys in Bethlehem killed.

· He was crazy. He was insecure, He was a maniac who murdered 3 of his own sons. He married no less than 10 wives, Was fine w/ polygamy, and had some of his own wives & in-laws killed.

Rome had put Herod Agrippa in charge of overseeing Israel.

· To keep favor with Rome and peace with the Jewish leadership

· the way you appease the Jewish leadership, is you snuff out this new Christian religion and persecute the followers of Jesus. So Herod is a bad, evil man.

·

· Acts 12:2-3: He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also.

Ø So James is martyred.

· This is NOT James the brother of Jesus who wrote the book of James.

· This is James (the brother of John) they were two of the original 12 disciples

· So James is executed and Peter is apprehended w/ the intentto

execute him as well.

Acts 12:5: So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

· Other translations say “ferventlypraying” “constantly praying”

“praying w/o ceasing.”

Ø When the Church hears about Peter’s imprisonment, WHAT do they do?

· They went right to fervent & earnest prayer.

( think about this )

· Now Peter had already been arrested twice before.

· And God got him out of those jams.

· The Church ppl could have gotten complacent about the situation.

· It’s just Peter again - things seem to always work out…. He’ll be alright.’

OR they could’ve had the attitude:

Well Herod just executed James, he’s probably gonna get Peter too…

All hope is lost. Our prayers won’t do any good.’

· They respond at all; they start earnestly praying to GOD.

· The understand that powerful things happen when we pray & come into

When we are Agreement:

If you’re taking notes. We want to give you Three things that happen when the Church prays:

1. Miracles Happen.

· When the church comes together w/ one mind, one purpose, united together w/ the goalof seeking God and His hand, there is potential for miracles happen.

· In fact, Some things may only happen when the Church prays together. Many fall for the trap that: If it’s GOD’s will, then it willhappen. If it’s NOT God’s will, then it won’t happen. ‘My prayers don’t make a difference.’

That’s not Biblically accurate.

(let me give you an example) The Bible says: It’s NOT God’s will that anyone perish, but that ALL come to repentance. Yet everyday, people perish w/o coming to Jesus.

(another example) God wanted to wipe outall the nation of Israel, but Moses prayed, and God changed His mind and sparedmillions of people.

So Peter is arrested and The Early Church moved quickly into prayer. Let’s see what happened.

Acts 12:6: The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.

Let’s stop right there for a moment. - James was just executed- Peter was arrested and was likely to be next.

And WHAT is he doing?

-He’s not stressing, -He’s not trying to wiggle out of custody. -He’s not trying to bribe the guards.

No - HE IS SLEEPING!!! He has such peace - That he’s able to sleep. What about us?

Are we having that kind of peace ?

Even in the storm?

· we can have peace even when everything else around us is chaotic? —

Acts 12:7-10: Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

So Miracles are breaking out left & right here: -An Angel appears to Peter

-Chains fall off of Peter while he’s in between guards.

-He’s able to pass byguards ( no one is stopping him. he’s like invisible)

-Gates just start swinging open on their own for him.

Miracles were happening everywhere! When the Church prays, (1) miracles can happen.

#2 - When the Church prays,

2. God does more than we ask.

· When we pray according to HIS will,

· we are MAKING Room for God to do what ONLY He can do,

· God works in ways that go beyond our prayers.

· He knows what we need even more than we know (what we need).

When we pray - “Your Kingdom come - Your Will be done.” We’re asking God to do something that we can’t even fully comprehend. We are praying that the things& the ways of Heaven, would become the things & the waysof Earth.

· God’s WILL is so big & so grand, that it extends BEYOND what we can ask or even know.

That’s why Paul said in Eph 3

Ephesians 3:20: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

We can’t even comprehend how much God CAN do and how much He WANTS to do. When we pray & come into alignment with what HE is doing, God has this amazing way of doing exceedingly abundantly MORE than what we ask or think.

He’ll not only take care of the things you’ve been praying about, but He may just take care of things that you weren’t even thinkingabout.

Jesus said:

Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

· When we put God’s business first,

· He makes sure that Our business is taken care of too.

· So many times I come to God with all my needs,

· all my concerns, my list of things

· I need Him to do for me & my little world.

Meanwhile - God is saying - Seek ME First. Seek MY Kingdom First. Liftour eyes higher to the eternal things. When we start seeking His Kingdom first - When we start praying for the Gospel to be Advanced - When we pray - Your Kingdom come, Your will be done -

When we pray for the YTH, or the Kids - When we pray for missionaries - When we pray for the lost to become found -

When we pray for a great awakening to come,

We get our prayer focus OFF our priorities, & on to HIS priorities, When we do that - All the other stuff gets taken care of. Seek FIRST the Kingdom of God, Thennnnn all the other things are added unto you When the Church Prays, God does MORE than we askand #3 When the Church Prays,

3. The Church Grows

Powerful prayers = A Powerful Church. If a church isn’t praying, it’s not growing.

The Church can’t go any further than their prayers take them.

We are only as effectiveas our prayers are effective.

When we pray and come into alignment with God’spurposes & priorities, Hewill GROW His Church.

vs 24 Acts 12:24: But the word of God increased and multiplied.

Acts 12:24(MSG): Meanwhile the ministry of God’s Word grew by leaps and bounds.

God’s Word Translation

Acts 12:24(GWT): But God's word continued to spread and win many followers.

The Early Church continued to grow. By leaps & bounds.

That didn’t mean: no more persecution or hard times. Jameswas still martyred - Peter was imprisoned. In fact, all the early apostles would die as martyrs.

Ironically, it was the pressure & the persecution, combinedwith the prayers that was a catalyst for growth.

(Listen), -Gov’t may pass laws that adversely affect the church. -Culturemay try to cancel the Church b/c they don’t like that we stay true to scripture,

BUT God’s Word will go forth.

The Church will advance (even the gates of hell shall not prevail)

Let’s believe that as we as a church pray, the Churchis going to GROW.

Not so we can say: “Look at us, aren’t we great.”

but so we can say: “Look at God - He is Great!”

It’s so very important that we stay connected to the Church.

You need to be hereand in agreement with the Church body. Paul talked about the fact that each of us are members of the body of Christ -

1 Cor 12 He said that the body isn’t made up of ONE member, but of MANY. The footcan’t say to the hand I don’t need you.

The earcan’t say to the eye: I don’t need you. There’s INDividuality - but not INDependence. God’s made us different, and given us different rolesto play.

But those roles are only useful when we are connected to the Body/ Church.

We all play a very important part in the Church.

When you’re not here, you’re missing out. But you know what else? We all are missing outtoo Hebrews 10:25: not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

-God’s Word puts a priority on coming together!

Because When we come together, great things happen.

It’s more than a violinhere, or a clarinet there, it’s a great Symphony.

I don’t want to miss out on the symphony. I don’t want to miss out on the opportunityto come together.

- and pray together for one another.

Every week, ppl come in here in need of a touch. in need of a miracle. What if your prayer combined with their prayer, & hers & his was the catalyst for God to do something amazing?! We will see great & mighty things as we pray together. And as a result,

1) Miracles Will Happen 2) God will do MORE than we ask and

3) the Church will Grow.

4) The Kingdom of God will advance.