Lessons From The First Church: Corporate Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Acts 4:23-31
Acts 4:23-31
Introduction:
Introduction:
Illustration: The newspaper said heavy rains were headed to south Louisiana that weekend in August 2016, but it was nothing unusual for us. Louisiana is a wet place, especially in summer. The weatherman said we could expect three to six inches over a five-day period. By the time the rain stopped, the deluge had dropped over thirty inches of water on the greater Baton Rouge area. Places that no one ever imagined would see high water disappeared beneath the muddy torrent as rivers and creeks hemorrhaged and burst their banks. People fled their houses and made it to high ground with minutes to spare. Some had not even that much time and were lucky to clamber with their families onto their roofs, where rescuers found them. I spent the Sunday of the flood at a makeshift shelter in Baton Rouge. My son Lucas and I helped unload the rescued from National Guard helicopters, and we joined scores of other volunteers in feeding and helping the thousands of refugees flowing in from the surrounding area. Men, women, families, the elderly, the well-off, the very poor, white, black, Asian, Latino—it was a real “here comes everybody” moment. And nearly every one of them looked shell-shocked. Serving jambalaya to hungry and dazed evacuees, one heard the same story over and over: We have lost everything. We never expected this. It has never flooded where we live. We were not prepared. These confused and homeless evacuees could be forgiven their lack of preparation. Few had thought to buy flood insurance, but why would they? The Great Flood was a thousand-year weather event, and nobody in recorded history had ever seen this land underwater. The last time something like this happened in Louisiana, Western civilization had not yet reached American shores.
The same thing could be heard in October 2016 when Hurricane Matthew came through Carolina. Places that had never flooded were underwater, and for many homes…sandbags or no sandbags, they lost everything.
Dreher, Rod. The Benedict Option (pp. 7-8). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
We Christians in the West are facing our own thousand-year flood—or if you believe Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a fifteen-hundred-year flood: in 2012, the then-pontiff said that the spiritual crisis overtaking the West is the most serious since the fall of the Roman Empire near the end of the fifth century. The light of Christianity is flickering out all over the West.
Dreher, Rod. The Benedict Option (p. 8). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
But American Christians are going to have to come to terms with the brute fact that we live in a culture, one in which our beliefs make increasingly little sense. We speak a language that the world more and more either cannot hear or finds offensive to its ears. Could it be that the best way to fight the flood is to . . . stop fighting the flood? That is, to quit piling up sandbags and to build an ark in which to shelter until the water recedes and we can put our feet on dry land again? Rather than wasting energy and resources fighting unwinnable political battles, we should instead work on building communities, institutions, and networks of resistance that can outwit, outlast, and eventually overcome the occupation.
Dreher, Rod. The Benedict Option (p. 12). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
My conviction is this, the political tide, and cultural abandnment of biblical foundations, is not something that a new preisdent or political party can fix. It runs much deeper. And instead of looking to our nation and world to rescue us from the darkness and evil we see, you are going to have to come to grips with this…its going to get worse before it gets better, and is your faith strong enough, and convictions deep enough to endure. Are our churches fortified with the word of God and by the power of God, that we don’t allow the tide of the world to come in?
Christians must turn their attention to a different kind of politics. Part of the change we have to make is accepting that in the years to come, faithful Christians may have to choose between being a good American and being a good Christian. In a nation where “God and country” are so entwined, the idea that one’s citizenship might be at radical odds with one’s faith is a new one.
I am not saying there isn’t a place for politics, but your resources, time, energy, needs to be spent making sure your family, your homes, our churches are where we need to as the world tries harder and harder to lead us and the coming generation away.
I read this, and here is what I believe, many churches (not buildings but fellowships of belivers) are not going to make it as the world becomes more hateful and divided, unless something drastic changes. Atleast for Baptists, we have a hard enough time getting along and not being divided when things are going well..create a national, finaciancial, social, global, and spiritual crisis..and we may buckle under the pressure. We may resort to fear, worry, trust in political strategices and social justice, instead of divine restoration through Jesus Christ.
Dreher, Rod. The Benedict Option (p. 89). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Something is going to have to change. Ole said to me after worship practice Wednesday..you know, I don’t know what I would do if I would have had internet. Implying, gotten into something I wouldn’t have supposed to get into. And like it or not, your kids are going to have to be..Have to BE, Have to Be, scripturally, biblically, more rooted..out of neccisity amidst all of the temptations in our world today.
The single most important organization which will determine the spiritual well being of our families, communities, and country, is the church.
Matthew 16:18
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
This is not a building, remember, it is the ecclesia, the body of believers. A fellowship of faithful Christian followers. And as Brother Manny mentioned, the church is unlike any other organization, or institution because it is covered by the blood!
So hear me, the problem with our country is not fundamentally political, its spiritual. And the spiritual collapse of our nation has a great deal to do with the spiritual collapse of our churches.
I wonder, as I look out at a community filled with churches, and so much abundance, why are our families falling apart. Why are so many young men and women dying of addiction and sucide. This is not to point the finger at one church or one person, its to point the finger at us.
If the world is divided, the church must be united. If the world is putting all thier hope in politics, the church must put its faith in Jesus. If the world is looking to a king or president, we must look to Jesus.
Richard C. Halverson—“In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centered on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise.”!
Churches, and as a pastor my responsibility is to this church, but we need to be prepared for the cultural battle, spiritual battle that our country is in. And the church needs to be rooted in the word, or we will fall!
And even us, at Berea, have to honestly reflect and acknowledge our part in the condition of our community..and our part to play in restoration.
So I want to share with you lessons learned from the first church
The church age began at pentecost upon the recieving of the Holy Spirit. We see this is Acts 2 starting with verse 1
1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
This happened in Jerusalem, and fulfills the words that Jesus said in Acts 1:8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The point was that the Holy Spirit was going to come, and the church would would start in Jerusalem, and spread to Judea, then Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.
Right after this we read of Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost, and at verse 14, here is the response
41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
So thousands are coming to Jesus, and they are meeting together in fellowship.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
So by the time you get to Acts 4 the church is growing and functioning in the Spirit. God is moving and there is incredible transformation among the people. Peter and John are preaching the gospel and end up in prison, and preaching boldly. But they were released when their persecutors saw how the people were praising God because of the power of God working.
So, Peter and John return to the church, and here is where Acts 4:23 begins.
23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— 27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
It says they collectively cry out to God for boldness against their persecutors. They quote Psalm 2, and the place was shaken and the Holy Spirit it says responded and moved. It filled and empowered them to speak the word with boldness.
As I read this, and throughout the book of Acts, something became evident to me, which it was the church’s first response to crisis, which was corporate prayer. Prayer saturates the book of Acts, and the church repeatedly, consistantly, responds to crisis around them with corporate prayer.
Lesson 1: Corporate Prayer/Prayer Meeting was the womb by which God birthed the First Church
Lesson 1: Corporate Prayer/Prayer Meeting was the womb by which God birthed the First Church
Go back to Acts 2. When the Holy Spirit was given to the people at Pentacost, the people were already together..praying! Praying! The Church age began while the people were in corporate prayer, together, crying out to God!
When I say corporate prayer, I mean the people coming together to one place, at one time, seeking the Lord together in unity.
Is this significant?
Remember Jesus quotes Isaiah and says, HIs house shall be called a house of prayer
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
That was the marker, that was the label, that was the name..a house of prayer. My point is this, a church either lives or dies by prayer.
If we are going to forify our churches and communities against the spiritual tide of this world, we must return to prayer. We must return to corporate prayer.
Our abundant prayer life will be our womb for growth…but our lack of it..will be our tomb .
Churches live or die by thier prayer life.
The Church was birthed in prayer, and will die without it!
There are seven total ‘crises’ experienced by the church in Acts, and each one represented a crisis that threatened to derail the church from God’s agenda:!
• Peter and John are threatened to stop preaching Jesus (4:17-18, 33)!
• Ananias and Sapphira violate the holiness of the church (5:9, 14)!
• The apostles are arrested and beaten (5:40, 42)!
• The widow conflict poses a potential church split (6:1, 7)!
• Persecution breaks out after Stephen’s stoning (8:1, 4)!
Herod kills James and imprisons Peter (12:1-11)!
Jews and Gentiles at odds over circumcision (15)!
When the enemy could not dismantle the church by external circumstances, he tried to destroy the church through internal strife. And each time, corporate prayer was an integral part of resolving the crisis and keeping the church focused on her main objective!
In my opinion, it is a tragedy that churches today have lost corporate prayer meetings. When crisis comes we usually seperate to plan, they came together to pray.
“No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.”
― Leonard Ravenhill
The smallest church meeting numerically, is the prayer-meeting. If weak in prayer we are weak everywhere.- Leonard Ravenhill
He died in 94, so he said this 30 years ago..30 years later, the words sound prophetic, and as a pastor, cut me to my core.
“We shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.”-C.H. Spurgeon
I want you to see the prominence of the prayer meeting within the book of Acts, and how repeatedly throughout the book of Acts the people meet together to respond to crisis with prayer.
Lesson 2: Corporate Prayer/ Prayer Meeting was the engine by which God empowered the First Church with His Spirit.
Lesson 2: Corporate Prayer/ Prayer Meeting was the engine by which God empowered the First Church with His Spirit.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Let the fires go out in the boiler room of the church and the place will still look smart and clean, but it will be cold. The Prayer Room is the boiler room for its spiritual life.
In Acts 12:5 when James was killed and Peter was imprisoned. And God rescued Him.
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
And God rescues him.
Then in Acts 13:5 when Barnabus and Sual are sent off, and they come together to pray for wisdom and blessing for their ministry.
Over and over again..the people pray, and pray, and pray, and pray…together.
And we see something important, corporate prayer is not an extension of what the church does. It is embedded in the very DNA. It goes to the heartbeat.
There is evidence in Acts as well as in church history that the Holy Spirit wills to use such prayer meetings to pour out his power again and again on local churches:
Here is the pattern, prayers go up, power comes down, and people go out!
I have read over and over about this.
I read a book called “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire” by Jim Cymbala the pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle Church. You might know something about them, they are known for thier choir. It is incredible. They have dozens of people in this choir, and even people who would come off the street. The thing you might not know though is how this church began to see revival. He was looking for an answer to how to lead this church and God gives him an answer. He gets up on stage Sunday after spending some time away and says this.
“From this day on, the prayer meeting will be the barometer of our church. What happens on Tuesday night will be the gauge by which we will judge success or failure because that will be the measure by which God blesses us. In prayer!
In the begining they started with 15-18 people, but as the weeks, months, and years went by..this small church grew, not simply numerically, but spiritually..and week by week hurting people would come in off the street and be drawn. He says they weren’t drawn to fancy sermons or organization polish..but love.
Revival came, power came, life change came for the church and community, when prayer became the heartbeat of the church.
The Church was birthed in prayer, and will die without it!
Corporate prayer puts us in position to recieve the power of the holy spirit because it acknowledges our weakness before Jesus!
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Lesson 3: The Prayer Meeting is not about duty, but desperation.
Lesson 3: The Prayer Meeting is not about duty, but desperation.
We don’t pray because we think we don’t need it. We recieve no power because we think we are powerful. But the prayer meeting, is corporate desperation and longing for the love of Jesus.
If you hear all this, and all you think is, “well I ought to pray. We ought to do that” but you can think of other things you need to do, well you have missed it entirely.
There is nothing we need more than Jesus, and nothing we need more as a church than to cry out for his help through this crisis. Through our lives!
I’ve said this before, when we were working through the transition and Pastor Chris left, we had a church meeting to talk about significant issues in regards to service time, number of services, and what church was going to look like moving forward. And I saw at this meeting, what was 70 or more people. And theres nothing wrong with that..but the Lord revealed to me this, for our 24 prayer vigils we have 3 or 4 times a year, we have not even half…maybe not even 25 different people who come and pray…and I couldn’t shake it. I knew then that the future of the church was not going to be determined by what time our service started, or how many services we had..but how we were petitioning God for His power and help!
Thats it. Church, I am grateful to be back, grateful to be a pastor and to serve this church. But I hope you are not putting your faith or hope in me…I am desperate for the help of Jesus. And we need to cry out to Him! Period.
What I didn’t tell you about the prayer meeting that happened at Brooklyn Tabernacle was the comment of a minister which encouraged and confirmed Jim Cymbala’s conviction of prayer..an Austailian minister was invited to come up to speak after the sermon one day and he said this
“You can tell by how popular a church is by who comes on Sunday morning. You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night. But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to your prayer meeting.” And he just walked off the stage.
This church is my heart, and desire for us.
I am going to continue on this text in two weeks, but I wanted to begin here.
Starting Tuesday, every Tuesday, we are going to have a prayer meeting at 6:00-7:00. It will be in the sanctuary and we are going to cry out to God together. We’ll be distanced, but I do want this to be the spiritual barometer of our church. And as a pastor, if were not praying, we may as well shut our doors.
Not just church, but I want to encourage families to bring prayer together into your homes! Show your children how much you need Jesus. How much we need Jesus.
And corporate prayer is a replacement for personal and private prayer.
I don’t think I can overstate it. This is not a “you ought to pray sermon” ..this is a “We need Jesus sermon!
I have nothing else church. No one else. Can go nowhere else..have no programs, plans, or answers for this season, outside of Jesus.
To say its only prayer is like saying its only God.
If you will recall I preached on Luke 11 and the lessons on prayer we learned from Jesus. And in Luke 11:13 He says this.
13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Its funny you know, because it says ask and pray so God will give you good gifts, but then it goes to the Holy Spirit. And I remember thinking, wait God..I have the Holy Spirit..I’m asking for something else. I know you’ll give me the Holy Spirit God, but I need peace right now..I need protection right now, I need joy right now..
And God said this..when you pray for peace I give you the Spirit because He is your comforter. When you pray for Joy I give you the Spirit because the joy of the Lord is your strenght, when you pray for protection I give you the Spirit because He is a guide and protector. When we pray, God gives us Himself, His Spirit, because in His Spirit we find everhting else we need!
Are you desperate for Him today? What are you praying for? Know what you need? The Spirit.
1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?