The Evangelistic Power of a Praying Church (2)

The Evangelistic Power of a Praying Church

Acts 4:23-31

I. Introduction

A. David E. Fitch, Seven Practices for the Church on Mission

B. Context – Peter and John have just been arrested and released for preaching Jesus. They were sternly warned to stop, but they told them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

1. Acts 4:8 – Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them….

II. Prayer unifies us (23-24a)

A. Exegesis

1. After all that happened to them, they did not run and hide but went straight back to their church family for prayer

2. To go anywhere else would have been to deny the power happening all around them.

3. When they were released they went to the church family and relayed what had happened, including the miracle (proof of the power of the Holy Spirit)

4. When they heard it, they lifted their voices TOGETHER

B. Application

1. Prayer draws together different people under the one purpose and power which is the Holy Spirit

2. When a church prays together, they all plug into the same Holy Spirit that empowers and guides the church

3. A church can't fulfill the great commission where there is no prayer

4. If a church does not pray together, they are not fulfilling the Great Commission together – it fails to be the purpose of the church

III. Prayer empowers us (24b-26)

A. Exegesis

1. The amazing thing about this group is that in earthly terms, they have no power – it is a small band of outcasts taking on world powers

2. Yet they know that the power of God, whom they serve, is infinitely greater than any world power

a) Sovereign Lord – the word in Greek means one who is in control and has authority over persons

b) They know that God is the one in control, even when they are confronted by the highest of earthly authorities

3. From Psalm 2:1-2

a) From David declaring that the world fights in vain against the chosen one of God

b) Luke, here, devotes the thought to the cause of Christ

4. They know that if God has appointed them to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ, nothing in creation can stop them

B. Application

1. The early church had no real power to affect change except in

a) God as creator

b) Christ their resurrected redeemer

c) And the Holy Spirit, their helper

2. In themselves, they would still be the band of scared hideaways that they were before Pentecost

3. But, in the power of the Holy Spirit, they were changing the world

4. We have that power if we would only use it

a) We must pray together for power in the church

b) We must be willing to depend on the Holy Spirit in prayer through prayer meetings, prayer ministry, prayer walking, etc.

c) We must become pervasive in prayer and call upon the real power to change lives and the world

IV. Prayer realigns us (27-28)

A. Exegesis

1. Often, we see something only in the physical and not in the Spiritual realm

a) Have you noticed that God can bring good out of bad situations? – Unwed pregnancy, yet there is a beautiful child

2. We are slow to see that God ordains everything

a) Luke identifies that in Jerusalem there were powerful figures gathered against Jesus: Herod, Pontius Pilate, gentiles, and the People of Israel

b) These people were specifically there to oppose Jesus

c) Yet God had predestined them to do just that

d) What appeared to be the end of Jesus at the hand of powerful government and national forces turned out to be the very hand of God

B. Application

1. Often when we are faced with the difficulty of continuing in God’s plan we face opposition from various forces

2. We tend to try to combat it with our own abilities

3. We never assume that God is doing something behind the physical circumstances that He would be glorified

a) David and Goliath

b) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

c) Ruth

d) Most stories in the Bible involve difficult circumstances in the physical realm that God was working through and using behind the scenes.

4. When these church members pray they are reminded that there are very real physical forces in front of them while God is working in the Spiritual realm

a) 2 Kings 6:17

V. Prayer emboldens us (29-31)

A. Exegesis

1. They were threatened by very real-world powers, but they lifted it to God

2. Their request

a) Boldness - grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness!!!

b) Supernatural power – signs and wonders be performed in the name of Jesus

3. They knew that their only real power was available through the Holy Spirt as they prayed

B. Application

1. We should remember that Christ is still building His kingdom through the church – that is us!

2. We should be praying for power in our church and in our evangelism

3. We should trust that though He may not do the same miraculous wonders through us (though He can if He wishes), He will still do miracles in the hearts of lost people

4. As evidence of the power of God and approval of the prayer (3 things)

a) the place where they gathered was shaken!

b) And they were filled with the Holy Spirit

c) They continued to speak the word of God with boldness

5. We should believe that God wields such power as we are willing to go and share

6. We need the faith to pray for the lost and believe that the Holy Spirit still works

VI. Conclusion

A. Tony Evans – Meals on a Cruise

B. What should you pray for?

1. Boldness

2. Opportunity

3. Unity in our church

4. For one another

5. For revival

2 Kings 6:17 (ESV)

17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Crime-Ridden Neighborhood Transformed by Praying Church

David Fitch shares how the prayers of a church vanquished Satan's grip on a neighborhood:

In 2010 a group of eight people from two churches felt called to the Detroit Boulevard neighborhood of Sacramento. It was known as one of the most notorious crime-ridden neighborhoods in all of Sacramento. Each house in that neighborhood was a place of danger. Nonetheless, this group of eight decided to walk through the neighborhood praying over each home and praying for the presence of Christ to reign over violence, addiction, and satanic oppression. They began walking through the neighborhood, praying over each home and rebuking the demonic strongholds of addiction and violence.

One of the eight, former Sacramento police officer and gang detective Michael Xiong, reported that "each time we prayed over the houses, we felt the weight of oppression becoming lighter." A woman from one of the houses confronted them. When she discovered they were praying for the community, she asked for healing, and God healed her.

The group soon physically moved into the neighborhood and started what they called Detroit Life Church. A couple of years later a local newspaper, the Sacramento Bee, reported that there were no homicides, robberies, or sex crimes, and only one assault in Detroit Boulevard between 2013 and 2014. Detroit Boulevard had been transformed by a small group of people who began their ministry in the neighborhood by praying around houses, streets, and parks for the power of Satan to be vanquished. Kingdom prayer in body is what it means to be faithfully present to his presence in the world.

Source:

David E. Fitch, Seven Practices for the Church on Mission (IVP Press, 2018), pages 120-121

A Sailboat Is Useless without Wind, So Is a Believer without the Spirit

Imagine that you've decided to go sailing. The problem is that you know next to nothing about sailing. So you to the store and you purchase several books to find out what's involved. You carefully read them and then you talk to a veteran sailor who answers questions for you. The next day, you rent a sailboat. You examine it closely to make certain that everything needed for a successful sailing experience is present and in good working order. Then, you take your boat out onto the lake. Your excitement is at a fever pitch, though you're also afraid. But you follow the instructions you've read and the counsel received from the experience sailor, and you launch your boat into the water. You carefully monitor each step and hoist the sail.

At that precise moment you learn a crucial lesson. You can study sailing. You might even be able to build a sailboat. You can seek from the wisest and most veteran of sailors. You can cast your boat onto the most beautiful of lakes under a bright and inviting sun. You can successfully hoist the sail. But—and this is a big "but"—only God can make the wind blow!

Possible Preaching Angles: Sam Storms adds, "You and I can study the Bible…. We can orchestrate a worship service according to biblical guidelines. We can do everything that lies in the power of a Christian man or woman. But only the Spirit can make the wind blow.

Source:

Sam Storms, Practicing the Power (Zondervan, 2017), page 34 (Note: A version of this story originally appeared in When I Don't Desire God by John Piper)

Meals on a Cruise

Tony Evans gives an illustration of a man who has saved for many years to go on a cruise. He has every dime, but has nothing left to eat on. Throughout the cruise he watches people fed lavishly from delicious tables full of food. On the last day his curiosity gets the better of him and he asks a steward what a meal like that costs. The steward looks at him with shock and answers, “it is all provided with your ticket.” How sad to have such resources available to us and never enjoy them, yet many of us do the same with prayer.