Praying through the Book of Acts- Chapter One

Intro:

Acts 1:14 NKJV

14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

Tonight, I want to share for a few moments on the idea of [Praying through the Book of Acts]. We will pray through Chapter One.

As God settled it in my heart that 2021 is to be a year of prayer, it was as though I looked, listened, and learned through a different lens.

I shared with my Sunday School class the first week back that we will review where we were before Covid stopped our classes. I explained we can read a passage, chapter, or book in the bible one time and reread it again and find something we have not noticed before.

I find that to be the case with the book of Acts. If we were to describe what the book of Acts means to us, especially as Pentecostals, we might say:

Holy Spirit

Miracles

Healings

Church History

Apostles

And all of those would be correct. But I heard something a while back that gripped me,

The book of Acts is a book of prayer. Everything God did in the early church was built on the foundation of prayer.

Why was prayer so important to them?

Think about the leaders of the church. They walked with God. Not in the sense that we walk with God, for God is with us by His Spirit. But the disciples and the early church literally WALKED with God because they knew Jesus.

They went from speaking to Jesus everyday to not seeing Him at all. But Jesus had a plan, even thought He would ascend to heaven, they could still speak to Him and He would answer through the Holy Spirit.

So the Early Church understood the discipline of prayer, not as a means to get their needs met, but as a method of communicating with the one who called them friend.

Therefore, the foundation of everything God did in the book of Acts was a people who knew they needed to pray and seek God for His Spirit and will!

Tonight, as we turn our attention to our church, I want to share my heart. I long for:

The Holy Spirit’s activity

To see miracles, signs, wonders, and healing

To have God help us make history in our community

To walk in Spiritual authority.

But God will not do this unless there is a consistent prayer emphasis in our lives and our church.

So looking at Acts 1 through the lens of prayer, I have four areas where I believe God wants us to pray this evening:

Pray for Holy Spirit Power

Pray for Men, Husbands, and Fathers

Pray for Women, Wives, and Mothers

Pray for Godly Leadership

Let’s begin

1. Pray for Holy Spirit Power

Acts 1:4–8 NKJV

4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

After the resurrection of Jesus, He spend forty days with His followers. He continued to prove that He had risen from the dead and taught them truths of the Kingdom.

One of the lessons Jesus taught them was on the importance of being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Like any good teacher, Jesus used an object lesson. He reminded them of what John the Baptist ministry. He baptized people in water, but Jesus would baptize them in the Holy Spirit.

But there was a gnawing question in the back of His follower’s minds— when will you free Israel and restore our Kingdom?

They were less interested in the spiritual and more focused on the natural. Jesus’ answer was simple.

God sets dates and times. It is up to Him. Instead, you should focus on this promise: the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will be seized with power and you will be my messengers.

Jesus did not want them to get consumed with the cares of this life. Instead, He wanted them to seek God for the Holy Spirit, who will bring supernatural power.

When we pray tonight, we need to pray for Holy Spirit power.

2. Pray for Men, Husbands, and Fathers

Acts 1:12–13 NKJV

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. 13 And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James.

After Jesus ascended to heaven, His followers returned to Jerusalem. The trip was less than a mile and they went to the second floor of a building, known as the Upper Room.

What was their purpose in this room?

To pray for God to fulfill His promise. I find it interesting that they did not know what would happen when God fulfilled His promise, but they went in faith.

Sometimes it is easy to skip over these Bible names, but they are in there for a reason. All of the disciples went to pray.

Within this group were men, husbands, and fathers.

The gift of the Holy Spirit was necessary for ministry, but also for marriage and parenting.

God desires for the men of the New Testament church to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. For when husbands and fathers are Spirit-empowered, they have supernatural:

wisdom

knowledge

insight

discernment

and help

But the men were not alone...

3. Pray for Women, Wives, and Mothers

Acts 1:14 NKJV

14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

The disciples were not alone. Included in the room were Jesus’ brothers, His mother, and the other women who followed Him.

The fact that the brothers were there is remarkable. They did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah before He rose from the dead. But now, they followed their brother’s instructions.

Furthermore, they did not walk around saying, I AM the brother of Jesus. They viewed themselves as His servants.

But I love the fact that the women were there. In Judaism women were often separated from men. But Jesus begins to destroy that separation as they pray.

The same women who were there at the empty tomb are now in the upper room praying and interceding.

Notice the word, supplication. It means, that which is asked with urgency based on presumed need—‘request, plea, prayer.

They felt an urgency to pray and seek God for His direction for their future. God gave a promise, they needed the promise fulfilled in their lives.

4. Pray for Godly Leaders

Acts 1:16–17 NKJV

16 “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; 17 for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”

Acts 1:24 NKJV

24 And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen

As they prayed, Peter stood up and discussed the elephant in the room. Throughout the gospels, it was about the twelve disciples, now there were only eleven.

Who was missing?

Judas. He had betrayed Jesus and now he was dead.

Therefore, they needed to replace him, but they were very careful and selective about who should replace him, so they prayed again.

They wanted God’s will in selecting the next leader in the church.

God answered their prayer and showed them His plan, so they chose a man named Matthias.

I can’t help but wonder what would have happened had they rushed through this and just picked someone. It could have caused major problems. But they sought God in prayer and He helped them.

Close:

We’ve looked at the origins of the New Testament church. The foundation of what they did was built on prayer.

As I think about church, something I want to remember, is every church has their own personality. Our church is unique, we are not like other churches.

Therefore, we have to seek God and ask Him to show us His will for OUR church. Though there is not another church like Vulcan Assembly of God, we can look to the book of Acts and see what God wants in His church.

So we are going to pray about four areas tonight and I encourage you to pray about this until next Wednesday evening. I KNOW as we pray, God will answer!

I will pray for the Holy Spirit’s Power

Let’s seek God for a personal encounter with Him through the Holy Spirit

I will pray for the men in my family and church

Pray for yourself men, that God will help as we lead in our homes. We cannot delegate spiritual matters to our wives!

When husbands lead the way spiritually, the rest of the family will follow.

I will pray for the women in my family and church

If you are a lady, pray for God’s help and power.

I will pray for my wife that God will touch her!

I will pray for Godly leadership in my family and church

Let’s seek God for His help on the leaders in our church:

Pastor

Deacons

Sunday School

Teachers

But also for future leaders in our church!

We can do everything God wants us to through our willingness to pray and partner with God through the Holy Spirit.