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Intro:
As we continue to pray through the book of Acts, I want to focus on chapter twenty.
Each week, we’ve focused on an aspect of prayer in the book of Acts.
I have preached out of Acts many times.
I have studied and read this book over and over.
One of the reasons is my desire to be a New Testament church.
I thoroughly believe what God did in the book of Acts is to serve as a model for how the church should look and function.
Of all the times I have studied and read this great book, I looked at WHAT the church did.
I focused on WHAT they accomplished.
It was not until this year that I payed attention to HOW they did all they did.
I
But, since we are in a year of prayer, I have preached and taught from the perspective of prayer.
Now, as I look at Acts, I do not see a book of miracles, signs, or wonder.
Instead, I see a book of prayer.
I see how much the church prayed and how God answered their prayers.
Now that we are in chapter twenty, I had this thought, a life of prayer is a life of adventure.
Adventure is defined, an unusual and exciting experience or activity.
Another definition is a daring or exciting activity.
Prayer includes allowing God to do whatever He wants to in and through us.
Sometimes, He does something we expected.
Other times He surprises us by His power.
Regardless, it is always an adventure.
Acts 1 - promise of power
Acts 2 - received power
Acts 3- exercised power
Acts 4 - prayed for more power
Acts 5- people lied and God displayed His power
Acts 6- conflict arose and God used people of power to help the church
Acts 7- Stephen reminded them of God’s power in history
Acts 8- walked in power to spread Gospel in Samaria
Acts 9- Saul was converted through an encounter with God’s power
Acts 10- the power of God fell on the Gentiles as Peter preached
Acts 11- Peter defended Gentiles receiving power
Acts 12- the church prayed and Peter was released from prison
Acts 13- God sent Barnabas and Paul as a result of prayer
Acts 14- Paul and Barnabas took the gospel to new regions proclaiming God’s message with power
Acts 15- they prayed and God gave powerful discernment
Acts 16- Paul and Silas prayed and praised in prison, and God set them free
Acts 17- Paul stayed consistent in the face of hardships because of his prayer life
Acts 18- Paul prayed and God helped him reach the city of Corinth.
Acts 19- Paul put what he prayed for and believed into practice and God answered
Paul’s live was an adventure in prayer.
God used him in ways that could have one time seemed impossible.
As we look at this chapter, think of the adventure Paul enjoyed.
A life of prayer includes, [Unplanned Experiences], [Unusual Expectations], and [Unpleasant Explanations].
Let’s begin
1.
Unplanned Experiences
After leaving Ephesus, Paul retraced his steps to encourage many of the churches he started.
He arrived to Troas, where he stayed for one week.
On the first day of his trip, he went to a home of a local believer to have communion.
While there, he decided to preach.
Because he knew he would not be there long, he spoke for a long time.
In fact, he spoke until midnight.
As he spoke, one of the young ment named Eutychus got tired.
I will not lie, I have dozed off in church.
In fact, I did at youth camp one year.
I learned a valuable lesson though.
I fell alseep and woke up to the evangelist saying, IF YOU WANT TO GIVE IT ALL TO GOD, come down.
I promptly stood and went to the altar.
I noticed none of our youth group joined me.
After a while, it finally clicked.
I went down for a first time salvation altar call.
Eutychus was not as fortunate.
Instead of being embarrassed in front of his friends, he fell out of the window, dropped three storied, and died.
So far in Paul’s life, we have not read of this type of experience.
But when we serve Jesus, we will have unplanned experiences.
However, if we will commit to prayer, we will know what to do!
Because Paul was a man of prayer, he knew what to do with the unplanned.
The Holy Spirit led Paul to pray for the man.
He did just that and the Eutychus came back to life.
Paul then returned to his message and talked until the morning.
What an adventure.
We will have unplanned experiences, but God will lead and guide us into what He wants us to do.
Even when a situation seems dead, we can pray and trust God and He will bring resurrection life and power!
A life of prayer is a life of adventure, which includes unplanned experiences.
2.
An Unusual Expectation
After leaving Troas, Paul passed by Ephesus.
Though he wanted to stop, he knew if he did, he would not get to leave quickly.
Instead, he went to Miletus and called for the Ephesian leaders to meet him.
I wonder what they expected from Paul.
He lived in Ephesus for two years.
I would say that they expected to hear something encouraging and enlightening.
Instead, Paul told them what awaited him.
He planned to go to Jerusalem for the upcoming feast.
However, the Holy Spirit told him when we got there, they would get ready to place him in chains and place him in jail.
What an unusual expectation.
He did not tell them of the family or friends he would see.
He did not even tell WHY he would end up in chains.
However, he did know that the Holy Spirit promised this would happen.
What would keep Paul going to a place where he knew jail was inevitable?
None of it bothered him, he knew a life of prayer was a life of adventure.
On top of that, it would not be the first time he would go to jail, and he trusted God to protect or free him.
Perhaps the crowd grew concerned for Paul, so he explained:
Paul was not worried or moved by the impending hardships.
Instead, he viewed it all in light of what God had for him.
He had one goal, to run His race and do what Jesus had him to do.
That is how he lived.
He knew he would never see the Ephesians again, but that was okay.
Though he was sad, he wanted to stay in the center of God’s will.
I wonder what the Ephesians thought.
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