We're going to begin by singing in Psalm 9, as we begin our worship. Psalm number 9,
and that's on page 208, the tune is Argyle. We're singing verses 1 to 9.
Lord, thee I'll praise with all my heart, thy wonders all proclaim. In thee, most high,
I'll greatly joy and sing unto thy name. When back my foes were turned, they fell and perished
at thy sight, for thou maintain'st my right and cause on throne sat judging right. Verses 1 to 9,
in Psalm number 9, Lord, thee I'll praise with all my heart. Please stand if you're able to.
Lord, thee I'll praise with all my heart, thy wonders all proclaim.
Lord, thee I'll praise with all my heart, thy name. When back my foes were turned, they fell and
and perished at thy sight. When back my foes were turned, they fell and perished at thy sight.
Lord, thee I'll praise with all my heart, thy name. When back my foes were turned, they fell and perished at thy sight.
For thou may take thy light and cause on throne sat judging right.
The heathen love renewed in us, the wicked overgrown.
Thou hast to doubt there in such way,
In heaven or beyond.
O heavenly love, destruction, O heavenly love, destruction, O heavenly love, destruction,
O heavenly love, destruction, O heavenly love, earth, and earth.
By the heart, thy name.
The heaven and earth.
Thou hast to doubt there in such way,
And there in such way,
In heaven or heaven,
Thou hast to doubt,
In heaven or heaven,
Thou hast to doubt there in such way,
O challenger for any love,
for judgment set his throne,
in righteousness to judge the world,
justice to give each one.
God also will a refugee for those that are oppressed,
a refugee shall be in times of trouble to discuss.
Let's all unite now in prayer.
Let's call upon the Lord in prayer.
Gracious and eternal God, as we gather once more in your presence,
we give thanks for the encouragement these words have given us,
that you always prove to be a refuge to your people,
and that you remain to be the God who is constant, who endures forevermore,
who deals justly with all the circumstances that we find ourselves in,
and especially with us in all our circumstances,
as indeed everybody else in the creation.
And we give thanks, Lord, tonight that we gather before you as the God who is sovereign and wise
and all-powerful and loving in his loving kindness continues to remember us as your people.
Lord, we thank you for every opportunity we have to gather together in your name,
for every way in which we find encouragement mutually with each other,
to bring before the Lord our concerns in prayer,
to sing his praises and to hear his word.
And we thank you tonight that we form part of a great number throughout the world,
and that we indeed, O Lord, also are conjoined with those who are already in heaven,
for their praise of you, their worship of you,
is essentially the same as that we have for ourselves,
although theirs is perfect, while ours is still flawed.
We thank you that they sing your praises as the God of redemption, as we do here,
that they are conscious of you as the God whose worthiness
far exceeds our ability to contemplate in its entirety,
and we thank you tonight, Lord, that as you are worthy of our worship,
so we are pleased to render to you this sacrifice of praise.
All power and glory belongs to you.
There is none else who has the rights that you have to be praised,
and there is none else to be worshipped but the Lord God.
Lord, we give thanks that you have impressed upon us
these aspects of your own being as they are revealed in your word,
your own sovereignty and holiness and love and affection and commitment to your people.
Indeed, everything, Lord, that you have revealed in your word about yourself,
we know is entirely true.
And we ask tonight for grace to receive the teaching of your word about you and about ourselves.
Help us also to read the events of our own lives and our own time in the light of your word.
Help us, Lord, to once again appreciate that the principles that apply to each generation of the world
as it goes on in its course until you return,
that they are all opposite and all relevant to our age also.
And we thank you tonight, O Lord, for every way in which you deal with us,
different to what we deserve.
We give thanks that you are the God who forgives sin,
who receives repentant sinners to yourself,
who establishes them, Lord, in your family.
For it is one thing for us to consider that our sin is forgiven,
that our guilt is no longer held against us.
But it is a step further for us to admire the fact of your adoption,
that you receive your people, those whom you save, into your own spiritual family,
and that you continue to provide for them in that regard as their Father in heaven.
Bless us, Lord, we pray every announcement of the gospel.
Help us to appreciate that through the preaching of the gospel you have promised great things,
that it is through hearing of your word that faith comes.
And we pray that our faith tonight will be strengthened as we meet together here in your name.
Bless us, Lord, we pray, in all that we engage in as a congregation.
Bless us in all our efforts to make your name known in our community.
Bless us in all the activities that we engage in,
that we seek, Lord, to be a means of furthering the gospel,
of furthering our own knowledge of you.
And to that end, bless, we pray,
all the activities and the services that we anticipate on this coming week.
We pray that they be blessed to us in all ages.
We pray again for our children.
We ask for them, O Lord, that you would establish them further in your ways and in the way of following you.
And help them, Lord, we pray, as we pray for them to be characterized in their own lives by the fear of God,
by respect for you and by faith and trust in you.
Lord, bless to them the teaching they receive in their homes,
in Sunday school and Bible class and in tweenies and in other ways.
And we thank you for all who give so willingly of their time to teach our young people.
We thank you for all our youth leaders and pray that you would bless them, O Lord,
as they commit themselves so willingly and diligently to this work.
And we ask that you bless all who contribute to the well-being of the congregation in different ways.
We thank you for the variety of gifts that we represent,
acknowledging that they are by your appointment,
by your blessing, by your own arrangement and wisdom.
We pray that by your grace we might be able to use our individual gifts
in conjunction with one another,
so that we will, as we should,
function as a congregation of your people
in holding forth your word as the word of life.
We pray your blessing, Lord,
tonight on all whom we know who belong to us
as a congregation who has special needs at this time,
especially in your providence,
as we find many in the congregation who are ill at this time.
Bless them, Lord.
We pray at home or in hospital or in hospice.
Grant your blessing to them, Lord,
as they wait for further developments.
And bless those, we pray,
who are recovering from treatment,
from surgery of various kinds.
Bless those who are ill with mental health issues as well.
We commit them, Lord, to you and ask us,
we pray for them,
that you would help them in these situations
in which they find themselves in their minds,
that you would grant to them, Lord,
a sense of assurance in knowing yourself.
We pray, too, for those who mourn loved ones,
those who have lost loved ones in recent days
and in times gone by.
We pray that your blessing, Lord,
will comfort them and establish them
in the knowledge of your ways
and in the grace that is able to upbind
their own broken hearts.
We pray, too, for those who are nearing death,
who are seriously or even terminally ill.
We ask, O Lord, for your blessing
to prepare them as we all must be prepared
to take that great step out of time
and into eternity.
We pray that you would furnish them
with the necessary grace, O Lord,
that that journey may be taken in peace
and to the everlasting rest
of the Lord and of his kingdom.
We pray for our world at this time, Lord,
and the various ways in which turmoil
and anxiety and distress
is found in so many places.
And we pray especially tonight
for those, Lord, who are beset with war
and with the tragedies of war
and the difficulties
and the deprivations that war brings.
We think of the situation in the Middle East
and we commit that to you
and ask, O God,
that you would bring about a means of peace,
a means by which people will be established
not in hatred for each other
but in the ways of peace and of righteousness.
Remember the Jewish people.
We know that while all the peoples of the world
to some extent have the gospel set before them,
whether they be Islamic or Jewish or otherwise,
Lord, we pray especially for them as a people
for so many of your promises
are bound up with them and in them.
And we pray at this time
that even the troubles that they experience
as a nation, Lord,
that by your blessing
they might prove to be a means
by which they come to recognize their Messiah
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we ask for all who are active
in mission toward them
that you would be pleased
to bless their efforts.
Bless all the agencies, Lord,
that we know of
who stand for the principles
and the values of the gospel
and of those moral values
that emanate from it.
Remember the Christian Institute.
Remember Christian Concern.
Remember the work of Road to Recovery
here locally
and in other places in the country.
Remember Safe Families.
Remember every other similar agency, Lord,
that seeks to do good to those around us,
to those who are in need.
And to be pleased, we pray,
to bless all who are engaged in that work.
And so continue with us now
as we wait upon you here.
And as we, Lord,
seek to set these things before you in prayer,
we confess our sins,
we confess our unworthiness,
we confess our need,
we confess, O Lord,
that once again we need to know
the assurance of our sin forgiven
and to continue in a repentant frame of spirit
throughout all our days.
Hear us, we pray,
for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
Now we're going to praise God once again,
this time in Psalm 57.
This time it's in the Sing Psalm,
Psalm 57.
That's on page 74 to Tune Selma.
And we're singing verses 1 to 5.
Have mercy on me, Lord,
to you my soul holds fast.
Your covering wings will shelter me
until the dangers pass.
I cry to God most high,
to God who answers me,
for he fulfills his purposes
for me most perfectly.
Psalm 57 and verses 1 to 5.
To God's praise.
Amen.
Have mercy on me, Lord,
to you my soul holds fast.
Your covering wings will shelter me
until the dangers pass.
I cry to God most high,
to God who answers me,
for he loses his purposes,
for me most perfectly.
He sends his help from heaven
and saves me from the heart.
I cry to God most high,
to you my life,
for senses to come above.
I live with savage peace,
I dwell with thy own strong,
with men whose keep with piercing words
a sharp sword is their tongue.
above the highest end,
O God exalted be,
and over, holy and below,
display your majesty.
Now let's turn to read from God's word
in the book of Acts,
Acts of the Apostles,
in chapter 12.
And let's read down through
the whole of the chapter.
Acts chapter 12.
About that time,
Herod the king laid violent hands
on some who belonged to the church.
He killed James,
the brother of John,
with the sword.
And when he saw that it pleased the Jews,
he proceeded to arrest Peter also.
This was during the days of unleavened bread.
And when he had seized him,
he put him in prison,
delivering him over to four squads of soldiers
to guard him,
intending after the Passover
to bring him out to the people.
So Peter was kept in prison,
but earnest prayer for him
was made to God by the church.
Now when Herod was about to bring him out,
on that very night,
Peter was sleeping between two soldiers,
bound with two chains,
and sentries before the door
were guarding the prison.
And behold,
an angel of the Lord stood next to him,
and a light shone in the cell.
He struck Peter on the side
and woke him, saying,
Get up quickly.
And the chains fell off his hands.
And the angel said to him,
Dress yourself and put on your sandals.
And he did so.
And he said to him,
Wrap your cloak around you
and follow me.
And he went out and followed him.
He did not know
what was being done by the angel,
that what was being done by the angel was real,
but thought he was seeing a vision.
When they had passed the first
and the second guard,
they came to the iron gate
leading into the city.
It opened for them of its own accord.
And they went out
and went along one street,
and immediately the angel left him.
Now when Peter came to himself,
he said,
Now I am sure that the Lord
has sent his angel
and rescued me
from the hand of Herod
and from all that the Jewish people
were expecting.
When he realized this,
he went to the house of Mary,
the mother of John,
whose other name was Mark,
where many were gathered together
and were praying.
And when he knocked at the door
of the gateway,
a servant girl named Rhoda
came to answer.
Recognizing Peter's voice,
in her joy,
she did not open the gate,
but ran in and reported
that Peter was standing at the gate.
They said to her,
You are out of your mind.
But she kept insisting
that it was so,
and they kept saying,
It is his angel.
But Peter continued knocking,
and when they opened,
they saw him and were amazed.
But motioning to them
with his hand to be silent,
he described to them
how the Lord
had brought him out of the prison.
And he said,
Tell these things to James
and to the brothers.
Then he departed
and went to another place.
Now when day came,
there was no little disturbance
among the soldiers
over what had become of Peter.
And after Herod searched for him
and did not find him,
he examined the sentries
and ordered that they
be put to death.
Then he went down
from Judea to Caesarea
and spent time there.
Now Herod was angry
with the people of Tyre and Sidon,
and they came to him
with one accord,
and having persuaded
Blastus the king's chamberlain,
they asked for peace
because their country
depended on the king's country
for food.
On an appointed day,
Herod put on his royal robes,
took his seat upon the throne,
and delivered an oration to them.
And the people were shouting,
the voice of a God
and not of a man.
Immediately
an angel of the Lord
struck him down
because he did not give glory,
God the glory,
and he was eaten by worms
and breathed his last.
But the word of God
increased
and multiplied.
And Barnabas and Saul
returned from Jerusalem
when they had completed
their service,
bringing with them John,
whose other name
was Mark.
May the Lord again bless to us
reading this portion
of his word.
Before we turn to
some aspects of this passage,
let's sing again,
singing Psalm 142,
142,
that's on page 186,
singing to a tune,
Finart.
I cry for mercy to the Lord,
to him I lift my voice in prayer.
Before the Lord I bring my plea,
to him my trouble I declare.
Each time my spirit faints in me,
you are the one who knows my way.
For in the path on which I walk,
a hidden snare for me they lay.
Singing on to the end of the Psalms,
Psalm 142,
I cry for mercy to the Lord.
I cry for mercy to the Lord,
to him I lift my voice in prayer.
Before the Lord I bring my plea,
to him my trouble I declare.
Each time I sit,
it hints in me,
You are the one who knows my way.
For in the path on which I walk,
a hidden snare for me they lay.
To my right and landing note,
There is not one God sent for me.
I love no refuge,
No one cares for me in my adversity.
I cry for mercy to the Lord.
I cry for mercy to the Lord,
I cry aloud to you, O Lord.
You are my hiding place in sight.
You are the one sustaining me.
You keep me in the land of life.
Lord, listen to my guide for help,
For I am an extra strategy.
Save me from those who seek my life,
Because they are too strong for me.
So that I may give thanks to you,
From prison's darkness set me free,
The righteous men will gather round,
Because you've shown your love to me.
Well, let's turn for a short time to Acts chapter 12.
Acts chapter 12,
Particularly the words of verse 12,
Though we can read verse 5 as well.
So we'll read verse 5 and then verse 12.
So Peter was kept in prison,
But earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
In verse 12,
When he realized this,
He went to the house of Mary,
The mother of John,
Whose other name was Mark,
Where many were gathered together
And were praying.
You recall last time,
As we continued this short series of studies
On the gathered church
And certain aspects of what is
True about the church,
As gathered together in the name of Christ.
We saw last time how important it is
That our gathering is in order to listen
To the voice of God.
One aspect among many,
But an important one nonetheless,
As we saw last time.
That we are gathered to listen to the voice of God
Speaking to us from his word,
Through the blessing of the Holy Spirit we trust,
So that we hear the voice of God
Preeminently not the voice of any human being,
Though that of course is the means,
The conveyance of the Bible's teaching.
But there are other aspects of our gathering together
In God's name,
Such as we are this evening,
That are important and mentioned for us frequently
In the scriptures.
There are two especially,
And that these two are prayer and praise.
And we are going to look at these in turn,
Looking at tonight,
The importance of the church gathered together
For prayer or in prayer.
And we are looking at this chapter especially
As the context in which we are seeing
The church at prayer.
That will be our first point.
The church at prayer and the circumstances
In which we find the church there together praying.
And then secondly we will look at a couple of the benefits
That come to us from gathering together
For prayer and in prayer as God's people,
As God's church.
Now it is significant here,
The church at prayer is significant in the chapter
Twice here you find in these verses
We have mentioned verses 5 and 12
That it is the church that is mentioned as praying.
It is not just individuals,
Obviously the church is comprised of individuals,
But the emphasis here is very firmly
On the church as the church.
Gathered together for prayer.
And that is important in the context of Acts especially
You will find it elsewhere in the Bible
But Acts as you know
Is the book that tells us about the development
Of the early New Testament church.
The spreading out of the gospel
Beyond Jerusalem into the regions around
And eventually really into the world
Into the Gentile world.
And in the difficulties that were faced
By the church at that time
It was so important that prayer was emphasized
As an essential element in the church's gatherings
And that prayer is seen in these passages
This one and others
To be a feature of the church gathered together.
It wasn't enough that they would go home
And pray in their own homes
As they undoubtedly did.
It was important that the church as it was seen
And living as the church of God
That it was a church engaged in prayer.
The gospel message met as it did here
With much opposition, with persecution
As we will see in a moment.
But that was all the more a context for prayer
For the church at prayer
To actually engage in prayer
As they sought to present the gospel
And reach out with the gospel
To the world around them.
And you can see this elsewhere
In the book of Acts as well
That prayer was so important to the church
Chapter 2, verse 42
Chapter 4 from verse 24 onwards
Chapter 6, verses 1 to 6
The election of what came to be known as deacons
Chapter 13, verses 1 to 3
The appointment of those who were going to mission
To go into a specific mission
All of these activities and situations
Were times not just for individuals to pray
But for the church to be together in prayer
The gathered church at prayer
Now of course here we have a specific context
As one of persecution
Here is Herod exercising his authority
And first of all causing James
The brother of John to be put to death
To be killed with the sword
And then he set his sights on Peter also
He was the next in line to be killed
But meantime he just couldn't go through
With it immediately
It was a time of unleavened bread
So instead of killing him on the spot
Or putting him to death
He put him into prison
Caused him to be guarded in prison
And this of course is part of the context
Of the book of Acts
That indeed all the way back into
The time of Jesus himself as well
That the figure of Jesus
The teaching of Jesus
The authority of Jesus
The way that Jesus was attracting so many
To follow him
For the state
That was a great challenge
And here now in the days of the apostles
The political world of the day
Sees the church as a great threat
A threat to its authority
A threat to its hold on people
And along with that you have
An obvious spiritual hatred
For the king of the church
As he is presented in the gospel
It is that spiritual hatred of the heart
That really comes to the fore
As much as anything political
And you can translate that
Into the world in which you and I
Are living today
Because that same threat
Or at least is perceived as a threat
By the state
When the state becomes
The controlling factor over people's lives
And we are not against actually
Complying with the state
When that is biblical to do so
The powers that be
As Paul says in Romans 13
Are ordained of God
And we have to give due place
To the state
To those powers that God
In the civil and political world
Has appointed
But then the state
Very often steps out of line
It is not true to God
Sometimes it is a persecuting state
Sometimes it comes to express
It is hated for the church
And for the gospel
And for what the church stands for
Even to the extent
Sometimes of persecution
And you will find it very difficult
In our own context today
As a nation
In some places at least
To actually stand out rightly
For the gospel
It is going to meet
Not just with hostility
But what really
Amount to persecution
And some people
Have ended up being imprisoned
And some people find
That even authorities
Like the powers of law and order
And the police service
Sometimes overstep the mark
And actually cause
That kind of difficulty
For people who are simply
Being through
Without in any way
Being violent
Or seeking to press
People into decisions
They don't want to take
Still it is the gospel
It is Jesus
It is the voice of God
It is the church
Presenting the claims of Christ
And the world does not like that
And never will
As long as it is the world
And there are of course
Thousands throughout the world
Today in prison
Because they are Christians
Because they are true to Jesus
Because they want
The message of Christ proclaimed
Because they are concerned
That people will come
To know him for themselves
That they will come to have him
As their saviour too
And that of course
Is met with great hostility
Especially as a secularist view
Of life increases in our own nation as well
Well that is in a sense by the way
But that is the world
That is the context
In which you find this chapter set
And these incidents
But you see here in verse 5
Peter was kept in prison
But earnest prayer for him
Was made to God by the church
The church made it its business
And exercised its privilege
To pray to God
You see the contrast very clearly
In that verse
Peter was kept in prison
The state had the power
Of closing the gates of the prison
Of keeping Peter imprisoned
Of actually shutting him up
So he couldn't speak publicly at all
So the prison was closed
The gates were shut
It was firmly held fast
But the gates of heaven were open
And the church knew
That the gates of heaven were open
And how did the church exercise
Its knowledge
Of knowing that the gates of heaven
Were open
By praying
By coming to exercise
Their right and their privilege of prayer
They gathered together
For earnest prayer
Specifically for Peter
At that point
That is what the church did
That is what the whole
Of the church at the time did
And so you find the same in verse 12
When Peter had
By the agency of the angel
Come to be released from prison
He went to the house of Mary
The mother of John
Whose other name was marked
And then notice
Where many were gathered together
And were praying
Where many were gathered together
And were praying
It's obvious from the way it's put there
That that meeting
That that meeting was specifically for prayer
That that gathering was for prayer
For Peter particularly
But I'm sure they prayed for other things as well
But it's a meeting specifically for prayer
They were gathered together
And were praying
They were in the act of praying
They were busy praying
They were praying together as a church
As a people
Collectively
They were praying
I remember one of my
Most wonderful experiences
Was in Korea
At the time of attending
An early morning prayer meeting
And that early morning prayer meeting
Is a prayer meeting
They have every single day
In the congregations in Seoul in Korea
And the congregation that we went to
Had something like 90 or 100 people
If I remember rightly
That had gathered at that time in the morning
At half past five in the morning
It was still dark
And they all gathered in the church there
And the pastor led them
For the opening prayer
Then he knelt down himself
Behind a lectern
Or a pulspot at the beginning
At the one end of the church
And as he knelt down
All the lights in the church
Were then switched off
And prayer started
And everybody prayed
Where they were
It seemed strange to us
Who were there
Because we don't normally pray
Where everybody prays at the same time
And for a start
It sounds a little bit disorganized
But actually you get used to it
And what really strikes you
Is the fervency of the prayer
That's going on around you
And we of course ourselves
Attempted to be engaged in prayer as well
And prayed for various things
Before the Lord
But the remarkable thing is
That at that time in the morning
These people had a burden
To gather together for prayer
It was their practice
It was their custom
It was the church in prayer
And that's all that went on
For that whole hour
Or however long it was
When people finished prayer
Their own prayer
They went out quietly
But the meeting carried on
Until the last person
Finished praying
If we set a prayer meeting
For 5.30 in the morning
From tomorrow onwards
Would you and I
Be burdened enough to attend?
Would we come to that meeting
That meeting
That regularly?
There's a question
But this church here
In the days of the apostles
They were gathered together
And were praying
And it appears from
All that you read in this chapter of Acts
That this was not something
They did every month
And it wasn't even something
That they did with regard
To a specific need
Such as the imprisonment of Peter
It was something
That regularly
They engaged in
As time went on
Week by week
Day by day
And that's the kind of thing
We must attend to ourselves
I'm absolutely persuaded
That it's a mark
Of the health of any church
As to how frequently
They come together to pray
Not just how frequently
People pray in their own homes
Or individually
As I hope we all do
But how often
And how much
Do we come together to pray?
We have meetings
Specifically for prayer
Set on the first Monday
Of each month
We have one each Saturday
On a weekly basis
But we need to actually attend
To how many attend
Why we don't have so many attending
As we should
Why is there just a few
Out of the membership
Of the church
That you have less than 20 people
At a monthly prayer meeting
Even when it's conveniently
Held on Zoom?
Is it because it's not the right time
For most people?
Is it because the time
Isn't just suitable?
Or is it that we don't have
In our hearts
A sufficient burden
To be together
To pray?
To pray
I'm putting that as a challenge
To myself
But it's a challenge
To us as a congregation
Isn't it?
That we really need
To focus
More than we're doing
On being gathered together
Specifically to pray
I know that our Wednesday meeting
Has a limited time for prayer
Because there's also
Bible exposition
Which in its own right
Is important
But the meetings we have
Specifically for prayer only
And for people to be together
To pray
Whether it's in person
Or by means of Zoom
Or whatever
The point I'm making is
This friends
We will not go very far
Unless we have this desire
This burden
To be gathered together
To pray
To pray as a people
To pray congregationally
To pray
With corporate prayer
As much as we do
In gathered prayer
In individual prayer as well
So there's something
To consider from this passage tonight
Where is my own desire
In relation to what I find
In this passage
Of this church
In the days of the apostles
The days of the apostles
Actually burdened to be together
Specifically to pray
The more we do that
And it's not a matter of just doing it
For its own sake
We have to pray that the Lord
Will give us the burden to be there
We have to pray that the Lord
Will impress upon us
How important a feature that is
Of the life of the church
It's basic to our spiritual health
It's basic to our growth
As a congregation
Growth not just numerically
But especially growth spiritually
And as we'll see later
That's such an important issue
In the book of Acts itself
So there's the first thing
The church at prayer
Is it a specific situation?
Yes
It's specific to the needs of that time
But all of that impresses upon us
How much we ourselves should
Have this as a principle
And as a practice
That as a church
We come together
Not just to praise the Lord
In singing
Not just to hear and listen
To the voice of God
But also specifically
To pray to Him
To let our voice be heard in heaven
And to come to place before the Lord
As is our privilege
The things the Lord lays on our hearts
To pray for
To put before Him
The church at prayer then
So what are the benefits
Of the church being gathered together for prayer?
Well I'm going to mention two
That are more than that as well
First of all
It contributes to our unity in the faith
We read in Ephesians chapter 4
From the beginning of the chapter
Again there's Paul as a prisoner of the Lord
And saying
Bear with one another in love
Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit
In the bond of peace
And so on
He says there to maintain the unity of the Spirit
The Spirit of God creates the unity that God's people enjoy
But we are charged to maintain to look after that unity
The unity that the Spirit creates
The unity certainly that we are dependent on the Spirit for the maintaining of
But it's not without prayer
And one of the beauties of prayer is that we urge the Lord
We pray to the Lord
To maintain that unity
To bless us as a people
As a corporate body of people
As witnesses to Christ in the world
So you see as we come together to pray
Yes we pray
As I keep saying individually
At home that's a great privilege for us as well
We pray at times when we are gathered virtually
And I know that that's a means by which people are able to
Take part in meetings that they can't otherwise physically be at
For good reason and of course we accept that
But wherever we can and whenever we can be gathered together physically for prayer
Here is one great advantage of it
That it actually contributes to our unity in the faith
Because there is where we pray together
As we pray together
What are we praying for?
We're praying for growth
We're praying for others besides ourselves
We're praying together for specific needs of the church
Or of the congregation
We're praying for the advance of the gospel
We're praying for the church at large
We're praying for the congregation in its settings
We're praying in confession of our sins
We're listening to others
And joining with them as they confess their sins
And we confess our individual sins to God
We pray for our children
We pray for the blessing of God on our children
We pray as we collectively gather together
It's a wonderful thing to hear together of people
Actually engage together in prayer
Even if it's just one person that's actually speaking
We're collectively engaged in our minds along with that
And setting out our desires and putting out amen to that
We're praying for the nation
We pray for all the things God lays upon our hearts
What a great privilege it is for us
To gather together specifically to pray
To be able, as God has enabled us
To give that time
And it's
Amongst all our other burdens
Amongst all our other duties in the world
It's not
A large portion of our time
That we are to give to prayer collectively
It's only an hour
Or at the most
Or at the most two hours a week
Or at the beginning of each month
Where is that in relation to
The time we give to other things
Even things other than our necessary duties
And family or whatever
Maybe a good exercise for myself
And for yourselves
To draw up a little sheet
And put down in that sheet
The number of hours we spend doing certain things
Whether it's actually watching television
Being on Facebook
But put a column there
As to the number of hours we spend
In a month let's say
In collective prayer
That will be quite revealing I'm sure
And quite challenging as well
Well what we're saying is that
That collecting
Collective prayer
The gathered church
As it gathers to pray
Is such an important feature
In its health
In its witness to God
And in our building of one another up
Collectively in the faith that is in Christ
Now the issues
The issues that are most emphasized in the Bible
And especially in the New Testament
The issues that are specified
Most or most specified
As issues for prayer
Are actually spiritual
Not material
You look at Paul's epistles
Look at the glimpses he gives us
In these passages in some of his epistles
That tell us about what he was praying for
And he's revealing to these churches
And whether it's Ephesus or Colossae
Of the kind of things that he was praying for
Again let's just think of Ephesians
In chapter 3
And from verse 14 onwards there
Where he says this
For this reason
I bow my knees before the Father
From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named
That according to the riches of his glory
And then he goes on to specify what he's praying for
That he may grant you to be strengthened with power
Through his spirit in your inner being
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith
And that you being rooted and grounded in love
May have strength to comprehend with all the saints
What is the breadth and length and depth and height
And to know the love of Christ
That surpasses knowledge
That you may be filled with all the fullness of God
You see the things he's praying for
He's praying for
He's praying for the church's strengthening
For the church's growth in their appreciation of the love of Christ
And all the way through
He tells us these spiritual things
That he sets before God in prayer
And is now revealing to the church
This is what I'm praying for
And he's saying this is what you yourselves
Are actually to be committed to as well
So it contributes to our unity in the faith
But secondly, the benefits of gathering together
Connects us with God at work
It connects us with God at work
Because God answers prayer
Now just in passing
I want to mention verse 15 there
It's interesting there, it's quite revealing
That when news was brought to the meeting
That Peter had actually been released from prison
They told Rhoda, you're out of your mind
No, that's not possible, he's in prison
No way he's getting out of prison
Just now, how could he possibly have gotten out?
Of course, they were praying for one thing
They were praying for Peter
And yet when it came to the point of his release
They weren't prepared to believe it
That it was true
And it reminds us that we are to pray expectantly
As God enables us
That we're not to pray certain things
Leave them with God
And then not exercise our minds believingly
Or expectantly
He was a church at prayer
And yet, even in the days of the apostles
They weren't prepared to accept
That their prayers had been answered
Or answered that quickly
That's in the passing
But it's important
But what is it that follows from their prayer?
How did God answer the church at prayer?
Well, in two things
First of all, in Peter's release
And then secondly, in the death of Herod
The man who had actually organized
And in his authority
Had taken pleasure in putting James to death
And Peter in prison
As you go through the chapter
As we read through it
All of a sudden he died
Just as he was in the midst of
A great oration
And in his pomposity
And in the regal splendor of his gowns
As he spoke there to the people
He was struck down by an angel of God
And he was eaten of what I'm saying
Some internal
Condition
Which led very quickly to his death
Here he was
The voice of a God
And not of a man
And this is going on as the church
Was praying for their situation
And praying for Peter
And praying for themselves
And all of a sudden
The person who was most instrumental
In putting Peter in prison
Is dead
Is part of God's answer
They didn't pray that
Herod would just fall down dead
Doesn't appear to be the case anyway
Some of them might have wished that
But in any case
That's the result
That's how God
In his wisdom
Answered their prayers
And Peter was free
And Herod is dead
And both of these
As elements in answer to prayer
Fit the purpose of God
And what is the purpose of God?
Well it's in verse 24
But the word of God
Increased and multiplied
You see the contrast
That word but
You find it there in verse 5
Peter was kept in prison
But
Ernest prayer was made by the church
Here is
Herod's threatening
But the word of the Lord
Increased and multiplied
That was God's purpose
That is actually what happened
And many revivals in the history of the church
Have come about
Through times of persecution
That were accompanied by or involved
The church turning to prayer
People gathering together for prayer
One of the greatest
Tragedies or events
In the church in our own nation
Took place in 1662
What's known as the Great Ejection
When nearly 2,000 Puritan preachers
Were ejected from their congregations
Because they weren't prepared to sign up
To what was called the Act of Uniformity
Where they would have to comply with the state
In terms of what was set out in the Book of Common Prayer
And other things that accompanied that
Well, I don't need to go into detail
But that's what they were
The state trying to force them to do that
They said, no, we can't do that
So they were ejected from their congregations
But you see that led to a great volume of prayer
And it didn't just happen that immediately God answered these prayers
But many take the view that the revival
The evangelical revival that broke out
Especially in the 1730s to 1740
Not just in this country
But also in North America as well
The Great Awakening as it was called
Out of the view that that itself
Was an answer to the church at prayer
And the church at prayer following a time of persecution
God hears his praying people
Worldly persecution
Cannot prevent the gospel's advance
When it's in the mind of God to advance it
Nothing is going to actually interfere with that
Nothing is going to prevent that
What happened here
The word of God increased and multiplied
You see, that's the very thing that Herod was trying to prevent
That's what he was trying to stand against
By putting James to death
And putting Peter in prison
There was Herod exercising authority
And saying pretty much that
I'm not going to allow this message, this gospel
These people to interfere with my reign, with my authority
With the state's power, with the secular state's power
This is gone
Herod's gone
God's listened to his people
The very thing that Herod tried to prevent
Is the very thing that happened
In the providence of God
The word of God increased and multiplied
Not only was Herod
And those who helped him
Unable to prevent it happening
But it was just the opposite
Of what he was trying to do
He was trying to stamp out the influence of the word of God
And of the apostles and of the church
That advance
And it didn't just fail
It actually led to an increase
In the word
Multiplying
Throughout these regions
But it didn't happen
Without the church gathered for prayer
And that's the point that I want to finish on
That's the point we've been laboring
All the way through our study tonight
Everything that happened here
The word of God increasing
The demise of Herod
None of that happened
Without the church at prayer
And the lesson for us is that
When the church is collectively
And wholeheartedly engaged in prayer
Things happen
Because God hears that volume of prayer
God hears every individual prayer
That's sincerely offered to him
Thanks be to God
But here and elsewhere in the Bible
The church gathered to pray
Is something that is emphasized
Something that's significant
Something that has historically led
By God's blessing to results
To further blessing
To the gospel's increase
To God's church being strengthened
Friends, I need not tell you that
The days in which we are living
Are perilous times for the gospel
There are so many things that
Are being brought out as threats
To the gospel's advance
And yes, we need to go home
And pray about that individually
We need to be doing that all the time
But the more the church sees the threat
Of the world to the gospel
The more the church sees the world
The state seeking to clamp down
And indeed to bring the gospel
To nullify its effects
The more you and I should be persuaded
We need to get together to pray
We need to be like the church
In the book of Acts
That actually come realizing that God
Hears his people as they pray
And expectantly set our concerns
Our prayers, our desires before God
As the church at prayer
The church engaged in prayer
You know, prayer is
Surely one of our greatest privileges
And being collectively gathered together to pray
Is a privilege along with that
It's our privilege to come individually
And speak to God
It's our privilege to be together
To share together
To hear together
To have all of that
Those features of gathered prayer
What a great privilege that is
When the world is concerned
To be together so often
For worldly purposes
When today you would have had
Thousands of people
Gathering together
At different sporting events
I'm not decrying sporting events
Though we would rather
They were not on the Lord's Day
But there's the commitment of the world
To following their agenda
Where is ours
For the agenda of the gospel
For the church's proclamation
For the truth
For God's name to be glorified
For ourselves as a church
To be strengthened
By the grace of God
Well, may God bless these thoughts
On his word to us
Let's conclude by singing again
In Psalm 57
I'd given verses 1 to 3
Which is a mistake really
It's Psalm 57
But the final verses
I'm sorry
If that complicates things
For the presenter
It's the same
The same psalm
So it'll fit the tune that he's chosen
The tune is Martyrdom
But if we sing from verse 5
Sorry, from verse 7
Verse 7
My heart is fixed
O God
I'll sing and praise
My glory wake
Wake, wake, psaltery heart
Myself I'll early raise
I'll praise thee among the people
Lord
Among nations sing will I
For great to heaven
Thy mercy is
Thy truth is to the sky
O Lord
Exalted be thy name
Above the heavens to stand
Do thou thy glory far advance
Above both sea and land
These verses 7 to the end of the psalm
To God's praise
My heart is fixed
O God
I'll sing and praise
My glory wake
With saundry heart
Myself I'll early raise
I'll praise thee among the people Lord
My nations sing will I
For great to heaven
Thy mercy is
Thy truth is to the sky
O Lord
Exalted be thy name
O Lord exalted be thy name
Above the heavens to stand
To love thy glory far
To love thy glory far advance
Above both sea and land
I'll go to the main door after the benediction
Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
The love of God the Father
And the communion of the Holy Spirit
Be with you now and evermore
Amen