United Prayer

A Question

Acts 1:6 (ESV)

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

The Answer

Acts 1:7–8 (KJV 1900)

7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Jesus makes a disctintion between “God’s power” and “God given power”

God-given power comes through the Holy Spirit

We are called to martyrdom (Gk word for witness is the same as martyr)

The Response

Acts 1:14 (ESV)

14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

One accord (Gk Homothymadan) - two elements: togetherness and passion

Prayer (Another meaning is a place set apart for the offering of prayer)

As the church grows it doesn’t lose its focus

Acts 2:41–42 (ESV)

41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Conclusion

What Must We Pray For?

Acts 2:4 (ESV)

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

They Began to Speak...

Lord helps us to speak with power

Help us to speak life into those that are spiritually dead

Help us to speak the language of love to those for whom love is a foreign language.

If by beginning to speak my words lead to martyrdom, give me the courage to accept my fate

Can you speak of the refining, ennobling, sanctifying influence of the truth as it is in Jesus?…Have you known, of the power of Christ? This is the kind of witness for which the Lord calls, and for which the churches are suffering.—Gospel Workers (1892/1893 ed.) 103.1