So this evening, from the book of Acts, we're thinking about this truth, that a healthy church
is a praying church. And we're going to look at various texts in the book of Acts
in a few moments to see that, but it's important for us to remember that prayer changes the world.
That's how Doug Kelly begins his really helpful book on prayer. He says,
A prayer makes good things happen because it gets God's will done and thus brings down his best
blessings. We pray your kingdom come, your will be done. James O. Fraser, a famous missionary in
southwest China to the Lizu people, said, it will only be known on the last day how much has been
accomplished in missions by the prayers of earnest believers at home. Echoing what people in church
history and mission history have said, that prayer is the work of mission. J.D. Greer, in his recent
book, Just Ask, which I know some of us have been reading, he says, prayer is a preordained way
that God has appointed for executing his will on earth. He goes on to say, we were saved to pray.
God's design is that his people's prayers be instruments achieving his purposes. That's the way God has
wired the world. So since all those things are true, prayer changes the world, prayer changes mission,
prayer is designed by God to achieve his purpose, then we need to ask ourselves the question, why
do we struggle to pray? Why don't we pray? Perhaps a moment of honesty, I would have us say, well,
often it's because we're busy. Perhaps we'd say, well, often it just seems really ordinary, or I find it
really awkward. Maybe we would say, well, I pray and nothing seems to change, I kind of give up. Or I don't
seem to change, so it seems pointless. If prayer is the oxygen of the soul, do we find
ourselves tonight as Christians and as a local church gasping for breath? Are we lacking power
because we are not praying? The Bible reminds us over and over that our efforts, even our good
efforts at serving God without prayer and without the Holy Spirit will serve no effect.
A healthy church is a praying church. But we struggle with prayer. The church struggles with
prayer. So to counter our struggles, in part, I want to remind us from the book of Acts of the vital
place of prayer in the church from the beginning, and also to remind us of stories from God's Word and
church history to encourage us about the value of prayer, the priority of prayer, so that we would
pray, that we'd pray together, that we'd be praying often. Spurgeon, the great preacher, said,
asking is the rule of the kingdom, so that we've learned to ask boldly because we understand
that God has made us to pray for his kingdom to come. So the first section of God's Word we're
going to look at tonight is from Acts chapter 1, verses 6 to 14, and our big point that we're going
to see is that a healthy church is united in prayer. So Acts chapter 1, this is just as Jesus is about to
depart. Then they gathered round him, so that's the eleven disciples around Jesus, and asked him,
Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for
you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria
and to the ends of the earth. After he had said this, he was taken up before their very eyes,
and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going,
when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand
here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in
the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill
called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath-stay's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to
the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas,
Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus,
and with his brothers. So that's their pattern as they are waiting for the Spirit. And then
Acts chapter 2, verse 42, after Peter's sermon at Pentecost, after the Spirit has come to the church,
we read, they devoted themselves to the following things, to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship,
to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. So a healthy church is united in prayer, and we see that
because that's the pattern from the beginning. So here's the apostles, and the apostles are appointed
by Jesus as witnesses to Christ. And Jesus has told them, and they know that they need the Spirit.
And Jesus said to them, the Spirit will help you to remember all that I taught.
And Jesus said to them, the Spirit will help you to speak when you find yourself having to
bear witness for Jesus, even in the face of opposition. And the Spirit within them would
cause them to seek the glory of Jesus, because that's what the Spirit wants, for Jesus to be
glorified. So their first task, in verse 4, is to wait for the gift my Father promised.
To wait for the gift of the Spirit before beginning the mission of Jesus, continuing the mission of Jesus
in the world. And so we find them waiting, we find them seeing Jesus ascend, and then they return
back to the city as they were commanded. And in verse 13 and 14, we meet this church, and they're a church
who are praying together, and they're a mixed group, aren't they? So the apostles are there, the 11 disciples,
with the exception of Judas, are there. And we find that women are there gathering to pray.
We find a special mention of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and also the brothers of Jesus. So sceptical
of him, before meeting the risen Lord Jesus, now they're believers in him as Lord, God, and Savior.
And what does it say? They all join together constantly in prayer. So the beginning of church life
was marked by seasons of united prayer. There is togetherness. They are in one place, and they have one heart.
This isn't a one-off thing. This is something they're doing constantly, because they are aware
of the size of their task. Jesus has left.
They need to continue the mission of Jesus. They need to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.
By their preaching and teaching, by the life that they live together, they'll be drawing people into
the kingdom of God. They are representing Jesus, and they know they need the Spirit, and they know
they need prayer. And then after Pentecost, the first church, so these 3,000 people who are converted by
Peter's sermon, what does it say about them? It says they, 242, are devoted to prayer.
Here's how they express their fellowship. Here's how they express their worship in meeting together
to pray. Sometimes they would do that in a formal setting. So chapter 3, verse 1, we read,
one day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer, at three in the afternoon.
So as every Jewish person in the vicinity would gather to pray, so these first Christians would
gather to pray. Their prayers are different, because Jesus said, we call God Father. But other times,
their prayers were informal. In their house meetings, they were still devoted to prayer. So at all times,
formal, informal, this is a church united and devoted to prayer. And that makes sense.
The apostles had been with Jesus. Jesus, the ultimate man of prayer. Remember, they asked Jesus,
teach us to pray. They heard Jesus teach. When you pray, say this. Not if you pray.
Followers of Jesus pray. Instinct. They heard Jesus invite them to call God Father. They know they have
this wonderful new relationship. And so these brothers and sisters prayed together for the Spirit
in order that they would be witnesses. Now let's just pause for breath for a moment.
What connects the Lewis revivals of the 1940s and 50s? There's Duncan Campbell up there. Perhaps some
of us have read the account of the Lewis revivals. Perhaps some of us have heard the stories firsthand.
What connects the Lewis revivals with the growth of the church in Korea?
So we're really used to seeing Koreans come to study and to come to church and we hear about
Korean fellowships. In 1900, only 1% of Korea was Christian. 2000, 29%.
What accounts for the revival, what accounts for the growth of church?
Church is prayer. God answers prayer. We can think about that from God's Word. Perhaps one of the most
fascinating accounts is when we find Moses in the Old Testament pleading for sinful Israel
after they made and began worshipping before the golden calf. And God comes to Moses and says,
these people have rebelled. And do you know what? I'm going to start again with you. And what's
God doing? He's inviting Moses to stand in the gap, to be an intercessor, to mediate for the people,
to claim the promises of God, to claim the covenant. And he prays and God answers.
Peggy and Christine Smith, two elderly sisters on the island of Lewis, praying God's promises for Lewis.
And God answered and revival came. Prayer is God's means of building the kingdom. And he asks his people
to commit to praying together for his kingdom to come and his will to be done.
And I think the question for us is, do we believe that? And if we do, will we commit to praying
and praying together? So we have lots of different opportunities to pray, whether that's online on a
Monday, whether that's Sunday at five o'clock, whether that's at Wednesdays in community group or centrally.
And do you know, if we understood the importance of prayer, this place would be packed out, wouldn't it?
As we'd be calling on God to work in our church and in our city.
It would be a priority for us if we remind ourselves that healthy church is united in prayer
and our prayers change the world. So us praying together is vital to God's work in our community
and it's vital for us knowing God's power as a church.
Will we commit to praying together?
So a healthy church is united in prayer. In a way, building on what we said last week,
a healthy church supports preaching with prayer. That's the second thing I want us to notice,
and that's from Acts chapter 4. So Acts 3 and 4, in a one long narrative, you find Peter and John,
and Peter heals a lame beggar. And this gets the attention of the Sanhedrin, and they eventually
end up being arrested and they're told to stop speaking about Jesus. Chapter 4.
They're then let out and we find the disciples on their release, Peter and John, coming back to the
church. So Acts chapter 4, verse 23 to 31. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own
people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this,
they raised their voices together in prayer to God. Sovereign Lord, they said, you made the heavens
and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your
servant, our father David. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth
rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.
Psalm 2. Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel
in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed. They did what your power
and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your
servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and
wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. After they prayed, the place where they were
meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
So Peter and John are released. They go back to the church and they go back to prayer. This is their
instinct. This is their oxygen. They're in a stressful and a dangerous situation. Just as Jesus faced
persecution, he told his followers they too would face persecution. They are experiencing that in their
arrest and that in their arrest and that becomes for them a reason to pray. First thing they do, though,
is they worship God as they pray. And I think there's a really helpful reminder for us as we
pause. In our anxious times,
when our hearts get all unsettled,
it's an invitation for us to talk to our hearts about our God.
That's where peace comes from. That's where restoration
in the midst of anxiety is going to come from when we talk to our hearts about who
our God is. And that's what they do here.
And again, just as an aside,
we recognize
that these first followers of Jesus, that the way that they pray matches the prayer focus of Jesus.
Concern for the kingdom of God. Concern for the glory of the Father, just as they saw in Jesus,
the Savior. So how do they worship as they pray?
Well, notice that they pray to God, acknowledging him as creator.
Verse 24,
Sovereign Lord, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
And that's good news. They pray to the one who is in charge.
They pray to the God of revelation.
So as they pray, Psalm 2, they are seeing it fulfilled in their day.
Jesus is God's anointed king,
and the leaders and the nations have conspired against him,
but they are powerless to defeat him and his purposes.
In Psalm 2, God laughs at his enemies.
His victory is certain and sure,
and the resurrection is that demonstration.
And they pray and they worship the God of history.
So in verse 27,
they can recognize Herod and Pontius Pilate meeting together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel,
and they're all conspiring against Jesus, God's holy servant.
But, verse 28,
they did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
So these evil acts from evil men fulfill God's powerful, loving will to save sinners through the blood of Jesus.
So as they pray, they remember those lessons that they learned from Jesus.
Focus on God first.
The Lord's Prayer,
Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done.
Because that's a reminder to the church.
It's a reminder to us.
Our God is in heaven.
He does what pleases him.
He is powerful.
He is faithful.
So when we find ourselves with anxious or doubtful hearts,
speak to your heart about God.
But the next thing,
and this is where we're going to focus,
verse 29,
Now, Lord, consider their threats
and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
Perhaps that surprises us how they finish that sentence.
God, pay attention to the opposition that we are facing,
the persecution that we're experiencing.
We might expect and make it go away.
But that's not how they pray.
Because they heard Jesus say,
persecution and suffering is normal.
So they pray,
please make us bold to preach.
And then in verse 30,
they say,
stretch out your hand to heal
and perform signs and wonders
through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.
In the early church,
those miracles were a sign that these were God's men.
So they're praying,
please set your seal of approval on us.
Please show that you are working,
you are alive,
and you are powerful.
And see how God answered.
After they prayed,
the place where they were meeting was shaken,
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and spoke the word of God boldly.
So they pray as a church.
God answers.
The power of the Holy Spirit comes,
and there is more bold preaching that happens.
The church functions as witnesses of Jesus.
Jesus.
John Chrysostom makes the observation
that the room was shaken,
but these disciples were all the more unshaken.
They pray.
They have prayer support.
They have the Spirit.
It made me think of the story
we've probably,
many of us heard about Spurgeon's church boiler room.
There was one time where some visitors came
to meet the famed preacher
and to see around his church,
and he took them to the huge sanctuary
that could see 5,000 in one sitting.
And then he took them downstairs,
and he said,
well, here is the boiler room.
I imagine they were perhaps curious
as to why he would pay such attention to that.
But when he opened the door,
there was 100 people gathering
to pray before the service
for the preaching of God's Word.
Spurgeon always knew
and was happy to testify,
my people pray for me.
And he understood
that was such a significant part
of his fruitful ministry.
In a different era,
William Carey,
famous as a missionary to India,
he had four lifelong friends,
some of whom were in ministry,
some were Christian friends.
And he said of going to the mission field,
so of using the idea of,
I guess, coal mines in the day,
he said,
I will go down into the pits
if you will hold the ropes.
He was relying on those friends'
steadfast prayer ministry
as he looked to preach the gospel in India.
A healthy church supports preaching
with prayer,
is the pattern we find in the book of Acts.
I was reading this week
about some of the prayers
that the persecuted church
ask for themselves.
And again, it's so striking and humbling.
Just as Peter and John,
they want prayer for boldness
to keep preaching.
So my favorite,
this is one of my favorite stories of all time,
but my favorite story this week
from the persecuted church,
from an evangelist
a number of years ago in China
called Wang Mingdao,
who found himself imprisoned
for his faith.
And the church was praying for him.
And so he was downhearted.
He's in prison.
He's an evangelist.
He loves to tell people about Jesus,
but there's nobody else in his cell.
So what is he going to do?
He has a brainwave.
He realizes,
this could be a ministry for some of us,
if he preaches down his toilet,
then the sound will carry along the pipes.
And so he begins
a wonderful gospel toilet bowl ministry,
and he discovers months later
that 96 people were converted
by those sermons.
The church prayed to support his preaching,
and he preached in a novel way,
and God worked and was glorified.
Last week we said a healthy church
is committed to proclaiming God's Word.
That's a Sunday by Sunday pulpit thing,
but that's an everyday witness
from the people of God thing as well.
And that needs us to pray,
to pray for me and whoever's preaching,
but to pray for one another,
that we'd have wisdom and boldness
as we look to share our faith.
So again,
as we think about this principle
and as we look to apply it,
will we commit together
to make time to pray
for Sunday services
and for daily conversations
and for global mission
and for those who desperately need to hear?
So think about William Carey's image.
There are people all over the world
going down into the pits,
engaging in gospel ministry.
Will we hold the ropes for them
by faithfully praying?
A healthy church supports preaching with prayer.
And the last thing I want to say
is that a healthy church
seeks spiritual protection in prayer.
And this takes us to Paul's farewell
to the Ephesian elders.
So Acts chapter 20,
and we're going to read from verse 25 to 36.
Now, so Paul gathers these elders.
He's been with them for three years.
He's been in the region
for seven or eight years or so.
Now he's returning to Jerusalem
and he loves this church
and he shows it in his prayerful concern.
So let's read Acts 20 from verse 25.
Now I know that none of you
among whom I have gone about
preaching the kingdom
will ever see me again.
Therefore, I declare to you today
that I am innocent of the blood of any of you.
For I have not hesitated
to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
Keep watch over yourselves
and all the flock of which
the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.
Be shepherds of the church of God,
which he bought with his own blood.
I know that after I leave,
savage wolves will come in among you
and will not spare the flock.
Even from your own number,
men will arise and distort the truth
in order to draw away disciples after them.
So be on your guard.
Remember that for three years,
I never stopped warning each of you
night and day with tears.
Now, I commit you to God
and to the word of his grace,
which can build you up
and give you an inheritance
among all those who are sanctified.
I have not coveted anyone's silver
or gold or clothing.
You yourselves know
that these hands of mine
have supplied my own needs
and the needs of my companions.
In everything I did,
I showed you that by this kind of hard work
we must help the weak.
Remembering the words
the Lord Jesus himself said,
it is more blessed to give
than to receive.
When Paul had finished speaking,
he knelt down with all of them
and prayed.
So in verse 25 to 27,
we have that testimony
that he has faithfully preached
the whole will of God
among them.
He says,
I'm innocent of
the blood of anyone.
It's the language of Ezekiel.
He sounded a warning.
The warning of sin,
the warning of God's judgment.
He also announced
the good news of salvation
through faith in Jesus.
And then he gives instruction
to the elders.
Did you notice it?
Keep watch.
Be shepherds.
Be on guard.
Using that powerful
biblical image
of sheep and shepherds.
They are to be shepherds
over the flock,
aware, Paul is aware,
that they need to be on guard
from wolves.
They need to be guarding the truth.
There will be threats
from within the church.
There will be threats
from outside the church.
And so no doubt,
as Paul brings this message,
he anticipates
that this will,
at very least,
lead them to pray
for the church
and its protection.
Paul won't be there
to act as shepherd any longer.
So what can he do?
What does he do?
In verse 32,
we see him pray.
It says there,
Now I commit you to God
and to the word
of his grace.
Committing them to God,
the good and true shepherd.
Committing them to the word
of grace,
that word that's saved,
that word that is building
them in faith,
that word that will,
if they persevere in it,
give assurance
of future inheritance.
He prays,
commits them to God
and to the word of God.
And you read the letter
of Ephesians,
and you see Paul's
consistent pattern
of praying
for this church
that he loves
and seeking their
spiritual good.
But he is aware
of the danger
and of their need
of spiritual protection.
It says,
Jesus taught
in the Lord's Prayer,
lead us not into temptation,
internal sinful desires.
Deliver us from evil,
external pressures
and temptations.
Paul shows us,
it says,
Jesus shows us
that we are to seek
the spiritual health
and protection
of the church
as we pray,
as we pray
for one another.
John Knox,
church history,
gives us a powerful
example of this.
As he was dying,
these words of his
are recorded.
He said,
I have been in meditation
these last two nights
upon the troubled
kirk of God,
the church of God,
despised of the world
but precious
in his sight,
and have called
to God for it
and commended it
to Christ,
her head.
A similar language
as Paul used.
I have been fighting
against Satan
who is ever ready
to assault.
I have fought
against spiritual
wickednesses
and have prevailed.
John Knox,
fighting until his
last breath
for the spiritual
health and protection
of the church
in this country.
Paul knew.
Knox knew.
Prayer is necessary
to keep the church
strong,
to keep the church
pure,
so that the gospel
will be effective
in bringing many
to salvation.
So again,
as we think about
our own prayers,
will we commit
as we pray
to pray
for spiritual health,
to pray protection
over our local church,
indeed,
over our
denomination
as well.
Book of Acts
tells us
in so many places
a healthy church
is a praying church.
The Norwegian
theologian
Halsby,
he says,
the essence
of prayer
is opening
the door
of our lives
to the risen
Christ.
Prayer is
asking him
to come into
our human
situation
with his
resurrection
power.
again,
what a wonderful
motivation
to pray,
to know the
resurrection power
of the Lord Jesus
in our own lives,
in the life
of our church,
in the life
of our city.
We pray
because Jesus
loves his church.
We pray
because Jesus
bought his bride
with his own
precious blood.
We pray
because Jesus,
the good shepherd,
is seeking
after calling
other lost
sheep to
himself.
And we pray
because Jesus
works through
his church
and through
our prayers.
Absolutely,
yes,
through our
witness,
but absolutely,
yes,
through our
prayers
to build
his kingdom.
So,
the question
for each
one of us
and the question
we always need
to ask of
ourselves
as a local
church is,
am I committed
to prayer?
And will we
commit to
praying together
for God's
kingdom to
come,
for God's
will to be
done
on earth
as it is
in heaven?
Let's
pray
briefly
now.
Lord God,
thank you for
the wonderful
book of Acts
and for the
way that we
can look
through its
pages
and see
how often
your people
found themselves
praying,
how essential
and vital
and basic
it was
to their
spiritual life.
Lord,
we confess
as a church
and as individuals
often we lack
motivation to
pray.
Often we
don't make
time to
pray.
Often we'd
rather do
anything but
pray.
But Lord,
we ask that
by your
spirit you
would remind
us of
your purpose
in prayer,
of the
privilege and
priority of
prayer,
so that you
might draw us
to your throne
of grace
often,
that you
would draw
us together
to your throne
of grace,
that we
would be a
church united
in our
devotion to
prayer,
that we
would be
supporting
gospel work
at home
and abroad
in prayer,
that we
would be
seeking the
spiritual
good and
welfare of
your church
as we
pray.
Lord,
all of us
will need
to make
changes in
order to
respond.
Give us
wisdom to
know how
to make
prayer a
priority.
Give us
wisdom as
church leaders
to know
how to
keep
prayer as
a priority
for us as
a local
church.
Lord,
without you
we can do
nothing.
Without you
we are
lost.
Teach us
to pray.
Amen.