Pray Desperately

In this message from Acts 2:42 David Platt encourages us to rely on God's wisdom for the success of the Church's mission.

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You're listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author, and teacher David Platt.

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If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, let me invite you to open with me to Acts chapter 2. One of these days we're going to move on to something else, but until then, we're going to stay in Acts. If you know it with me, let's let's quote verse 42 together. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Over the last couple of months, we've been looking at each of these priorities in the early church, how they devoted themselves to the word and the centrality of the word in the early church. It's what made them different. How they devoted themselves to the fellowship, to the way they cared for each other, how they devoted themselves to worship, exemplified in how they participated in the Lord's Supper. And we've looked at that last couple of weeks. We come to that fourth one this morning. They devoted themselves to prayer. And what

Acts 2:42 And A Church Disease

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we're going to see this morning is that prayer was the driving force behind everything the early church did. It was fundamental for them. It was the air they breathed. And one of the diseases I'm convinced of the modern evangelical church in America today is we have taken that which was fundamental to the early church and we have made it supplemental in our churches. And prayer has become an optional program for the faithful few instead of the driving force behind everything the church does. And so what we're going to do is dive this morning into the book of Acts, which is the book that talks more about prayer than any other book in the New Testament. We're going to see the role that prayer played in the early church and what it means to be devoted to prayer. They devoted themselves to prayer. That phrase in the original language of the New Testament is actually used three different times. Let me encourage you to underline those three times just before we even go any deeper. Acts chapter 2, verse 42 is one of those times. They devoted themselves to prayer. So that's one point where we see prayer mentioned as something they were devoted to. Back in the first chapter, though, Acts chapter 1, verse 14, and let me encourage you just to kind of get your pens or pencils ready and just mark all over the book of Acts in your Bible this morning where you see the importance and the centrality of prayer in the life of the early church. Look at Acts chapter 1, verse 14. This is before Pentecost, after Jesus has ascended into heaven, and it says in verse 14, they all joined together constantly in what? In prayer. Same words there that's used in Acts 2.42. They joined together constantly. They devoted themselves. They continued steadfastly in prayer. So we see it in Acts 1.14. We see it in Acts chapter 2, verse 42. They devoted themselves to prayer. And then you go over, get over to Acts chapter 6. Look at Acts chapter 6 with me. Look at verse 3 and 4. We'll see it at the end of verse 4, but just to kind of get the picture going. This is when they're choosing those who served basically the deaconal function in the early church, which is a passage we've studied. Brothers, it says in verse 3, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. And we will turn this responsibility over to them, and we'll give our attention to what? To prayer and to the ministry of the Word. We're going to give our attention, we're going to devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. So those are the three times we see this phrase, they devoted themselves to prayer, or something like that in the book of Acts. So what I want you to do, I want to invite you to pull out those notes from your celebration guide at the top. You've got a picture. They devoted themselves to prayer. And what I want us to do is I want us to take a tour through the book of Acts and ask some basic questions about prayer. Questions that are answered over and over again in the book of Acts that may seem fairly basic for us today, but are often ignored in the church today. So we're going to kind of take a bird's eye view of the whole book. But before we even dive in, I want to show you two stories in particular that highlight the role of prayer in the early church. So turn to Acts chapter 4. Look at Acts chapter 4, verse 23. Let me set the context for this story, because these two stories are going to kind of serve as a foundation for all of our time together this morning. In Acts chapter 4, the apostles begin to experience persecution, and they've been brought before the ruling body of the day, and they've had accusations made against them, and they're having threats made against them and their families and against the church. And so they gather together to pray. Look at Acts chapter 4, verse 23. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in what? In prayer to God, and they said, Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. This is the prayer of early church as they were experiencing persecution. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our

Three Times Devoted To Prayer

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Father David. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his anointed one. Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilas 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, they prayed, to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. That's a passage that we had the opportunity to study together last April when we had four brothers from the Sudan here and we talked about the relationship between prayer and persecution. We see the early church united in prayer as they begin to experience persecution. Now I want you to turn over to the right a few chapters to Acts chapter 12. Similar circumstances in the middle of persecution. I want you to see how they gathered together in prayer. Look at Acts chapter 12, verse 1. This is a great story in the book of Acts. There's humor in it, there's the power of God all over it. Just listen to this. It was about this time, Acts chapter 12, verse 1, that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. So the passage starts off, and James is beheaded. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, Herod proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly doing what? Earnestly praying to God for him. So we see the church in prayer. Look what happens. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Now I want you to get that picture. This is the night before Peter's about to experience what James has experienced. And Peter is not devising a plan for prison break. Peter is not working with Chuck Norris on how he can get out of this situation. Peter's fast asleep. I want you to see the peace of God that comes when you're confident in the victory of God. Isn't that an incredible picture of Peter just snoring away as he's about to face trial? So listen to what happened. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick, get up, he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrist. Now don't miss the humor there, too. You've got this picture, almost movie-like. Peter in prison, snoring away. The angel shows up. There's this bright light that shines. You can almost picture a Charlton Heston type type image here. You've got this bright light shining in the cell, this majestic moment. The angel's there. Oh, he has arrived on the scene. And Peter's Peter's just sleeping right there. And so Peter gets struck on the side. Wake up, Peter. We're gonna leave now. And so the angel said to him in verse 8, put on your clothes and sandals, which was a good reminder for Peter. And so Peter did so. Wrap your cloak around you and follow me, the angel told him. So Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. He passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city and opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself. You know, that's why we love Peter. Peter's slow, you know. You've woken up, angel told you to put on some clothes, you've gone past all these guards, you've had a gate open in front of you, now you've walked a street, and it just hits you. Hey, I'm not in prison anymore at this point. So Peter comes to himself and says, Now I know without a doubt the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating. When this had dawned on him, isn't that a great phrase? He went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark, where people had gathered and were praying. So Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda entered Rhoda into the scene. Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, Peter's at the door. Now put yourself in Peter's shoes at this point. It's finally dawned on you that you are an escaped convict. And you're in the middle of the streets trying to find a place to go in. Finally, you get to where the church has gathered and knock on the door. Hey, I'm here and I'm here. Rhoda, bless her heart, comes to the door and she's so excited she leaves Peter hanging out in the road and goes back to tell everybody. So they come back, Peter's at the door. Verse 15, you're out of your mind, they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said it must be his angel. You get that picture? Here's the church huddled around, gathered together in prayer. Little Rhoda comes running in. Hey, Peter's at the door. Peter's at the door. Be quiet, Rhoda. We're praying for Peter. She keeps yelling more. No, no, you don't understand. Peter's at the door. They're yelling at Rhoda. If you don't, if you don't stop interrupting us, God's never going to answer our prayers. God, we pray for Peter. God, we pray for Peter. Finally, well, let's go to the door. Peter, still hanging out outside the door, knocking on the door. Look at what it says. Peter kept on knocking. When they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. Tell James and the brothers about this, he said. And then he left for another place. In the morning there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. And Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea, stayed there a while. He had been quarreling, quarreling with the people of Tyran, Sidon. They now joined together and sought an audience with him, and having secured the support of Blastius, a trusted personnel, personal servant of the king, they asked

Prayer Under Pressure In Acts 4

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for peace because they depended on the king's country for their food supply. And on the appointed day, Herod, wearing his royal robe, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, This is the voice of God, not of a man. And immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. Not a good way to go. The word of God, though, continued to increase and spread. So there's another picture of the church praying. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna use these two stories, Acts 4, Acts 12, as foundational stories for us to launch into a tour of what it means to be devoted to prayer in the early church. First question we need to ask is who do they pray to? Who do they pray to? There's a lot of people who pray in the world. People of all different kinds of religions pray. It's not a matter of whether or not you're devoted to prayer. Really, it comes down to who you're praying to. Who do they pray to? Two characteristics of the God they pray to that set him apart from every other claim to deity in the world. Number one, the God who is sovereign over everything in the world. They prayed to the God who is sovereign over everything in the world. Now, that word sovereign literally means the God who is in control, the God who has a plan, the God who has a purpose and will accomplish that purpose. The God who is over all and through all and in all. Psalm 24, verse 1 says, The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. Psalm 65, Psalm 66 talk about how all the nations and the kings of the earth bow down to God. Psalm 47 talks about how dominion, all dominion, belongs to the Lord. All the rulers of the earth, all the people in the world, all bow down to him. He is sovereign over everything. The early church knew this. Did you catch that in Acts chapter 4, verse 23 through 31? When they came together to pray, here they are experiencing persecution, and they come together, and what how do they address God? Do you remember? It said, Sovereign Lord, sovereign Lord. It's in verse 24. Sovereign Lord, they declared. The word literally means despotate, despot, the one who has all authority and all dominion and all rule. And that was huge for them. When you're experiencing persecution, when your family is being threatened and you're experiencing attacks from different sides, it's good to look up and see that God is still in control, that he's still on the throne. It's the same picture we see in Acts chapter 12. You've got the king, Herod, pitted against the true king, the king to whom all kings bow down. And you've got the power of King Herod and him having Peter put in prison and have James beheaded, all his power exemplified there. And on the other hand, you've got a small band of believers, and the only power they possess is found in prayer to the sovereign God of the universe. And they know as they gather together in prayer that King Herod can do absolutely nothing apart from the will of a sovereign God. They can do nothing. King Herod, persecutors, can do nothing to them apart from what God and his sovereignty would allow. And so we see this battle, in a sense, in Acts chapter 12, between the powers of this world and the powers of God. And we see God reign victorious as Herod falls because he did not acknowledge the power of God and the sovereignty of God. This is huge in prayer. Isn't it good to know that when we pray, we pray to the God who is in sovereign control of everything that's going on in the world? Isn't it good to know that when the marriage is falling apart, or when the cancer is at its height, and when things are confusing and they just don't seem to make sense and things aren't going right in the family and things aren't going right at work and you just can't understand why things are happening the way they are, isn't it good to fall on your knees and look up and see that God is still on the throne and that he is in control? He is sovereign over everything in the world. How much more so for our brothers and sisters today who are in China and North Korea and sitting there in chains in prison? How much more so for those who have been separated from their families, maybe never to go back to them, to know that God is sovereign and he's in control. And there is nothing that a captor in North Korea can do to them apart from that which the sovereign hand of God would allow for his glory, the God who is sovereign over everything in the world. This changes the way you pray. You even get into other parts of Acts. You come to Acts chapter 16, and they are praying that God would open people's eyes to salvation. See how the sovereignty of God affects the mission of God. In Acts chapter 18, verse 9 through 11, Paul is in Corinth and he's really struggling. He's wondering if he needs to stick around there anymore because it's a really tough mission field. And Jesus comes to him and he has an encounter with Christ, and Jesus says to him, Stay where you are, Paul. Keep preaching. Don't be silent, because I have many people in this city. I want you to think about that statement. For Paul to hear from Jesus in this encounter with him. I have many people in this city. I'm in control here, and there are some people, I know it may seem tough, but there are some people in this city who are going to come to faith in Christ. You stay here. So the next verse says, Paul stayed and he preached for a year and a half, and many people came to faith in Christ. I've just got to believe that there are many people that God has in Birmingham, and in his sovereignty, he wants to open people's eyes to salvation. And as we pray for people who are on our hearts

Peter’s Rescue And Rhoda’s Surprise

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that we want to come to know Christ, whether they're in our family or friends or our workplaces to pray, God open their eyes to your salvation. You have the power to do that. We pray that you would do that. That changes how you pray. I remember when we were in East Asia and I was spending most of my time in underground house churches, and the first time we had gone, Heather and the rest of the team were on a college campus in this city, predominantly unreached city. Many people have never heard the gospel. They were working hard all week long for two weeks, just trying to share the gospel in any opportunities they could without being too overt that would get us kicked out of the country. They shared the gospel, and there were some people that they had built a relationship with that we were praying for over and over and over again. We got to the morning where we were packing up our things to leave, though, and nobody had come to faith in Christ. We wanted to see people come to faith in Christ, but nobody had. In this unreached area, surely somebody God was working in their lives to open their eyes to salvation. We prayed that all week long. While we were packing up, we've got our stuff outside, we're about to leave. Another team has come in. They're having a devotional inside this apartment complex that we were standing outside of. As we're putting our shoulder, our bags on our shoulders to walk away. This girl that Heather had been developing a relationship with comes running up and she says, I want to believe in Jesus. I want to believe in Jesus. And so Heather goes aside with her and prays with her. And this girl places her faith in Christ. And then aside the background, I was sitting there just thanking God and this devotion that was going on in the apartment room. They were reading a verse of scripture and it resounded outside. You know what the verse was? Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in all the earth. That's a good verse to hear when you're seeing evidence of God opening eyes to salvation in an unreached part of the world. He will be exalted. He has a purpose and he will accomplish it as a result. We have great confidence when we pray. Who do they pray to? The God who is sovereign over everything in the world. And number two, the God who supplies everything we need. The God who supplies everything we need. Now I want to let you in on a little secret that the early church knew that we need to know this morning. I want you to turn over to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. This is not a verse that directly talks about prayer, but it does fill us in on a secret that affects the way we pray. Look at Acts chapter 17, verse 24 and 25. This is Paul talking on Mars Hill, a bunch of people that were completely opposed to the gospel. Look at what Acts chapter 17, verse 24 says. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. Now here's the verse I want us to think about, verse 25. And he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything. Because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. And that's the secret. I want you to think about it with me. The God who made the world is not served by human hands as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. Here's the secret that the early church knew. The early church knew that the secret to seeing the power of God in the church is not found in serving God. The secret to sing the power of God in the church is found in being served by God. I want you to hang on to that. The secret to seeing the power of God is not found in serving Him, but in seeing being served by Him. Think about it with me. Great things that happen as a result of God's work in the early church here. It's not found when the early church gathered together to provide for the needs of God. We see God moving in mighty ways when they fell on their faces and they asked God to provide the needs for them and to serve them and to work through them. Don't miss it. Great things that the church of Brookeels happen not when we come up with some great plans and great ideas and we go out and we try to do a bunch of great things for God. Great things happen when a church falls on their face and says, God, we want you to do some things through us. We need you to supply for us and do some things that only you could get the glory for. Into us, and the result is God gets the glory for what happens. The God who supplies everything we need. And that's the testimony of the rest of Scripture. What does Scripture tell us? You have not because you what? You ask not. The poverty of our prayer lives is overwhelmingly due to the fact that we fail to realize that there is a God in heaven who is ready, stands ready today to supply us with everything we need. They prayed in Acts 4, and they knew God was ready to supply them with boldness and he gave it. In Acts chapter 12, they prayed, knowing that God was ready to supply them with deliverance of Peter, and they saw God give it. They prayed for eyes to be open to salvation and God gave it. They prayed for the advancement of the church and God gave it. What would happen if we asked God to work through us instead of coming up with all the things that we could do for him? He is ready. He stands ready today to supply everything we need. So that's the God we pray to, the God who is sovereign over everything in the world and the God who supplies everything we need. Second question: why did they pray? Why did they pray? Well, number one, they were utterly dependent on God's power. They were utterly dependent on God's power. Here's what I want to do. I want to take us through a quick tour of a few different passages in Acts, and I want you to see that every major breakthrough of the church in Acts is due to the fact that they were falling on their faces and praying. I want you to turn back to Acts chapter 2. Look at verse 41. This is a passage we've studied a lot. We know well. Look at Acts chapter 2, verse 41. This is the day of Pentecost. All these people gather together. They hear the gospel preach. What does Acts 2, 41 say? Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. They go in from 120 people to 3,000 people. A good day. Why did that happen? Well, if you turn back to Acts chapter 1, verse 14. We know they were all gathered together in Acts chapter 2. What were they gathered together to do? They all joined together constantly in verse 14. We read it just a second ago. They joined together constantly to do what? To pray. So you got these people gather together on their faces before God. The Spirit comes down in a mighty way. Stand up and preach. And 3,000 people are added to their number. Look in Acts chapter 4. Look over in Acts chapter 4. Look at verse 4 there. This is kind of the second outpouring of growth in the early church. It says in Acts chapter 4, verse 4, many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about 5,000. So we got over 5,000 folks growing. How is that happening? Well, it all started back in Acts chapter 3, verse 1. One day, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of what? At the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. They go up intentionally to pray. They heal this man. They stand up and preach, and the number grows to over 5,000. Look in, we read just a second ago, Acts chapter 4, verse 31. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They're speaking the word of God boldly. That's a direct result of prayer. Look over in Acts chapter 6, verse 7. Acts chapter 6, verse 7. Listen to what the Bible says there. The word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. So the word of God is spreading. The number of disciples in Jerusalem is increasing. Why did that happen? Well, we read it just a second ago, verse 3 and 4. They chose seven from among them who were known to be full of the Spirit of wisdom, turned responsibilities over to them so that the leaders in the church could give their attention to what? To prayer and the ministry of the Word. Look over in chapter 9. This

Praying To A Sovereign God

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is probably my favorite one. Look at chapter 9, verse 18. This is the story of Saul, the great persecutor of Christians, going out and just going house to house and persecuting believers and their families. Well, he comes encounter with Christ. Verse 18 says immediately something like scales fell from Saul's eyes. He could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus, and at once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. Now get the picture. Saul, who was persecuting Christians, is now proclaiming the gospel and is the author of most of the rest of the New Testament. This guy had a huge impact on the kingdom. How did this happen? Look back in Acts chapter 7, verse 59. Acts chapter 7, verse 59. How did this happen? Look at Acts chapter 7, verse 59. It says, While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. They're praying as stones are flying at their faces. Then he fell on his knees and he cried out, Lord, do not hold the sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And who was there? Saul was there giving approval to his death. And Stephen had prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Do not hold the sin against them. And that who was the greatest enemy of the church became the greatest advancer of the church. Two chapters later. One more. Let me show you chapter 10. Chapter 10. Look with me at verse 47 and chapter 10. Up until this point in the book of Acts, the gospel's only gone mainly to Jewish people. Now it goes into this Gentile's house named Cornelius. Acts chapter 10, verse 47. Peter says, Can anyone keep these people, these Gentiles, from being baptized with water? They've received the Holy Spirit just as we have. So we ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. For the first time, Gentile converts come into the church. Why did this happen? Look back in Acts chapter 10, verse 9. What had happened to precede this? It says about noon, the following day, as they were on their journey and approaching their city, the city, Peter went up on the roof to do what? Pray. It was his prayer time that led him to this Gentile's house. I said that was the last one. Let me show you one more. This one's too good not to show you. Acts chapter 16. Look at Acts chapter 16. Are you seeing a trend here in the book of Acts? Are you seeing the link between the power of God and the prayers of God's people? Look at Acts chapter 16. Verse 26. We got Paul and his buddy Silas in prison. Peter would have been asleep, but Paul and Silas were awake. Verse 26 says, suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken at once. All the prison doors flew open and everybody's chains came loose. The jailer woke up. When he saw the prison doors open, he drew a sword, was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. He had learned the lesson from Acts chapter 12. But Paul shouted, Don't harm yourself. We're all here. The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, Sir, what must I do to be saved? And they replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. You and all your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all the others in his house. And at that hour of the night the jailer took them, washed their wounds, then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them. He was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God, he and his whole family. What an incredible story. How did it start? Look at Acts chapter 16, verse 25. About midnight, Paul and Silas were doing what? They were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Every major breakthrough in the book of Acts is coming after the people of God are in prayer. They were utterly dependent on the power of God, and it drove them to their knees because they knew they knew they would never see the power of God apart from dependent prayer before it. You know why they knew that? Because Jesus had told them that. John chapter 15, verse 5 apart from me, you can do nothing. The church ever kills apart from the power of God. We can do nothing. And if we believe that, it will drive us to our knees in prayer. They were utterly dependent on the power of God. Second, they were utterly desperate for God's grace. They were utterly desperate for God's grace. Over and over again in the book of Acts, we see evidence of the grace of God. Now I know we're doing a lot of turning in the book of Acts. I kind of warned you at the start we were going to do this, but I got to take you on another tour. But go back to Acts chapter 6, verse 8. Isn't it good to hear the pages turning in the scripture? It's an act of worship. Look at Acts chapter 6, verse 8. I want you to circle every time you see grace mentioned, because the whole advancement of the church is going to come by grace. So circle every time you see grace. Acts chapter 6, verse 8. Now, Stephen, a man full of God's what? Alright, we're going to participate in this one together, okay? Just to keep everybody together. Audience participation, okay? Back up a second. Okay, now when Stephen, a man full of God's Oh, very good, and power, he did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. He did those because he was full of grace. Look in chapter 11, verse 23. Look in chapter 11, verse 23. This is the church in Antioch. It's actually a passage we read a little bit last week. Look at Acts chapter 11, verse 23. The growth of the church in Antioch. When Barnabas arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. The church is growing. I'm seeing evidence of God's grace. Look over in chapter 13. Look in chapter 13, verse 43. Chapter 13, verse 43. When the congregation, this is Paul, after they've gone out on missionary journeys, they're starting churches in verse 43. It says, when the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. Next chapter, chapter 14, verse 3. Different place. Iconium. Verse 3 says, Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace. He confirmed the message by grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. Same chapter, verse 26, 14, 26. From Italia, they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. A few more. Look at chapter 15, verse 11. Chapter 15, verse 11. All these Gentiles, nations coming to repentance, know, they say, we believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. Same chapter, verse 40. When Paul and Barnabas

The God Who Supplies Our Needs

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part companies, they had such a sharp disagreement in verse 39, they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. Alright, three more. Look at chapter 18. Chapter 18. Look at verse 27. I want you to see the repetition over and over and over again here. Look at chapter 18, verse 27. When Apollos went, wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. And on arriving, he was a great help to those who, how had they believed? By grace. Two more times. Acts chapter 20. Look at verse 24. They believed by grace. They went forward by grace. They were sent out by grace. Look at verse 24. I consider my life worth nothing to me, Paul says. If only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. Paul says, I'm going to give my life to making this grace known. One more time, same chapter, verse 32. 32. Verse 32 says, Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, because that word of grace can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Over and over and over again in the book of Acts, the gospel is moving forward. The church is advancing. People are giving their lives, and it's all happening as a result of grace. Don't miss the picture here. The early church didn't grow because they got a new young pastor. They didn't grow because they got a new hip worship service. They didn't grow because they came up with new methods to reach people with the gospel, new plans and programs to reach people the gospel. They grew over and over and over and over again in the book of Acts because of grace. Why is that emphasized so much? Here's why, because the one who gives the grace gets the glory. And if the reason why the church grows is because they get a new young pastor, then the young pastor gets the glory. And if the reason why the church grows is because of a new hip worship service, then everybody goes away talking about the new hip worship service. And if it's programs and methods that we have that we bring to the table and that's why the church grows, then everybody looks at the programs and methods and says, that's what we need to do. However, when it's the grace of God that falls upon his people and advances the church, then everybody sits back and says, only God could have done that. The one who gives the grace gets the glory. That's the picture in the early church. God may it be the picture at the church at Brook Hills. May we be a people who are desperate for the hand of grace upon us. God, let your word go forward with grace. God, pour out your grace in our worship services. God, pour out your grace in us as we go out this week and we share the gospel. May we see your grace in action. And may we see that it's not us, it's we're desperate for your grace. That drives us to prayer. Isn't that good? See, it's worth the tour, okay? It's worth the tour. They were utterly dependent on God's power. They were utterly desperate for God's grace. And third, they were utterly devoted to God's mission. They were utterly devoted to God's mission. Don't miss this. God has given us prayer. Why? Because Jesus has given us a mission. The prayers of God's people are intricately linked, intertwined with the mission of God's people. My favorite book on a theology of mission is called Let the Nations Be Glad by a pastor up in Minnesota named John Piper. I want to share with you a little quote. He talks about how prayer is a wartime walkie-talkie for the church on mission. Here's what he says it is though the field commander Jesus calls, called in the troops, gave them a crucial mission, go and bear fruit, handed each of them a personal transmitter, coded to the frequency of the general's headquarters, and said, Comrades, the general has a mission for you. He aims to see it accomplished. And to that end, he has authorized me to give each of you personal access to him through these transmitters. If you stay true to his mission and seek his victory first, he will always be as close as your transmitter to give tactical advice and to send an air cover when you or your comrades need it. Isn't that a great picture of prayer? It's a walkie-talkie that we use because we're on mission and we need constant contact with our general. We call him to send an air cover. That's exactly what the church was doing in Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 12. They were calling up to the general and saying, We need your grace to pour out on us. We need strength here, we need boldness to proclaim your gospel. This battle's not easy. We need you.

Breakthroughs That Followed Prayer

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I think it's interesting that in the church today, so many of us ask, Why is prayer necessary? I know we don't ask it, but we really don't show with our lives that prayer is necessary, and so we show with our lives that we're asking why is prayer necessary. And you know why I think we ask that question? Because you don't need prayer when you're watching TV. And we don't need prayer when we're mindlessly surfing the internet. You don't need prayer then. You don't need prayer when there's nothing at stake in your walk with Christ. You don't need prayer when there's no risk in Christianity. You don't need prayer when Christianity consists of a monotonous religious emotion of routine week in and week out. You don't need prayer for that. You can do that on your own. But when you risk everything to glorify Jesus Christ, you need prayer. When you sacrifice your possessions and your dreams and your hopes and your career, and you lay it all on the line and you stake your reputation down on your allegiance to Christ, you need prayer. When your longing day in and day out is to lead people to faith in Christ, you need prayer. You rely on prayer, you are desperate for prayer because you're devoted to his mission. And when the aim of your life is to affect as many people with the gospel of Christ for the glory of Christ, you will find yourself given over to prayer. What that means is for the church at Brook Hills, if we are content to have religious activity week in and week out and do this drill week in and week out, then we won't need prayer for that. However, when we enter into, as a church, a battle week in and week out for our souls and the souls of a billion people who have never heard the name of Jesus, we will need prayer. I remember in India, this predominantly unreached city, mostly Muslim. I remember the Muslim background believer we were working with named Zamir. Zamir, a guy who had been kicked out of his home because he placed his faith in Christ, abandoned by everybody he grew up with. And he's in this city. And it's not a city where it's easy to go out and just proclaim the gospel. You have to be careful where you go. And I remember our team would be at different places, and I'd be around with Zamir, and Zamir had this motorcycle, and I would ride with Zamir on this motorcycle, which will increase your prayer life. Riding on a motorcycle in India, and they're just everywhere. And so you're riding, and I'm just thinking, Lord, I don't want to go this way. I'll go another way on the mission field, but just not on the motorcycle. So you pray. But then every place you go, Zamir would stop and say, Let's pray before we go there, because there might be people who would be against what we're doing, and we need to pray for that. And everywhere we would go, we would stop before we went there and we'd pray. Because you need prayer in India when you're sharing the gospel with Muslims who are opposed to Christianity. You need prayer then. That's why we need prayer. That's why the early church needed prayer, and that's why the church at Brook Hills needs prayer, because we're not going to settle for a religious motion of activity week in and week out. We're going to give ourselves to a mission and we're going to find ourselves longing for God in prayer. They were dependent on his power, desperate for his grace, and devoted to his mission. Okay, we got to speed up here. Third question. How did they pray? How did they pray? I do want to, we're going to fly through a couple of these things. I just want to make sure we have some practical handles on this thing this morning. How did they pray? They prayed with structure and they prayed with spontaneity. They prayed with structure and they prayed with spontaneity. Now, here's what I mean by that. When you come to Acts chapter 2, verse 42, and it says they devoted themselves to prayer. That's what it says in most of our translations. In the original language of the New Testament, it actually has a definite article before prayer. In other words, they devoted themselves to the prayers. And some have debated what exactly that means, but it definitely shows that there was in the early church a structured time of prayer. That there was a structured, they would pray passages from the Old Testament. They would pray different prayers during their worship service. They had structured prayer. At the same time, we see them spontaneously praying throughout this thing, praying as needs arise, as things come up, they pray spontaneously. And so we see both. And I think we need both. We see both in early church, and I think we need both. If we say, well, I just pray whatever comes to my mind, our our prayer life is destined to be shallow if that's the case. I think it's important to have some kind of structure in our prayer lives. If we're going to be devoted to prayer, personally, I have a prayer journal that helps me remember what to pray for day in and day out. I would encourage you, if there's no structure in your prayer life to say, how can I best make sure that I can pray for all the things that I've got the opportunity to pray for? So there was structure, but then there's spontaneity. If all we do is go to our prayer journal day in and day out, and that's all our prayer life is, then our prayer life becomes wooden and becomes a chore instead of the joy that it's intended to be. So there's structure and spontaneity here in the early church. Where did they pray? Or when did they pray? Well, they participated in concentrated times of prayer, in concentrated times of prayer, but they also participated in continual prayer. Chapter 1, chapter 4, chapter 12, all of them, times where the church gathered together to spend concentrated time before God in prayer. It wasn't just a one-minute prayer here, one minute prayer there. They got it fell on their faces for days in Acts chapter 1. In Acts chapter 4, they gathered together and they said, Let's get on our knees. Let's cry out to the sovereign God who is in control of this persecution. Chapter 12, gather together. We've got to meet together in concentrated time in prayer. But then there's also continual prayer that's going on as well. And we need to have both. Some people say, Well, I just pray continually. I pray when I feel like it. God help us not to let our prayer life be based on our emotions when we feel like it. We don't pray. Because we feel like we pray, because we're commanded by God and we have a duty to pray. We've got to spend that concentrated time with Him. And if there's not evidence of concentrated time in our prayer lives, then I would challenge you this morning to make some concentrated time for prayer. Remember the whole Five Love Languages book? You know, that book that wives like to talk to their husbands about. What's your love language, that whole thing? One of those love languages, quality time. I think that's one of Heather's love languages. It's not enough for me just to call her every once in a while, say, hey, just want you to know I love you. Do that all day long, but never spend that quality time with her. Call her up, hey, this is what's going on in my life. Talk to you later bye. That's not going to work in this marriage relationship. There's got to be some quality time there. Who are we to think that we can just pray continually without some quality time? Concentrated time. Fifteen minutes, half an hour, an hour, two hours, half a day, a day devoted to concentrated prayer. It's what the early church did. It's what we need to do. Concentrated and continual. Where did they pray? Where did they pray? Well, they gathered together for prayer. They gathered together as a church for prayer. It wasn't just something they did on their own. They gathered together all the instances, most of the instances we've seen in the book of Acts. They've gathered together, but they also scattered apart to pray. One glowing example of this is Acts chapter 13. They gather together there. In Acts chapter 13, verses 1 through 4, they gather together to pray. All the leaders of the church, and while they're praying, the Spirit comes down and says, Set apart Saul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas to go on some missionary journeys. And so they prayed and they fasted and they laid their hands on them and they sent them off. And the first missionary journey of Paul came about as a result of concentrated time of gathered prayer in the church. And that missionary journey had a pretty huge impact. This really started the whole mission movement that we see throughout the rest of the book of Acts. Churches being started everywhere as a result of gathered prayer. All these books that we have written in the New Testament to those churches, all coming as a result of that time in prayer where they gathered together and corporately

Grace That Gives God The Glory

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made prayer a priority. Throughout history, great movements of God have occurred when God's people have gathered together in unified and devoted prayer. Let me give you two instances. New York. New York, mid-19th century, 1857. Crisis in the city, about 30,000 men losing their jobs over just a few months' span. Very difficult time. A guy named Jeremiah Lamphier comes on the scene, and he's a missionary in New York. He's commissioned there. All he is is a quiet quiet businessman, a layman in the church, and he comes on, and what he decides to do is to set a noonday prayer meeting every Wednesday. So he sends out an invitation to businessmen and says, if you'd like to pray, here's a place where we can do that at noon every Wednesday. First Wednesday, gathers there. He comes in, sits down. Five minutes, nobody shows up. Ten minutes, nobody shows up. He starts to pace the room, wondering if he's going to be alone all day. 15 minutes, nobody. 20, 25, 30, still nobody. 30 minutes into this prayer time. He hears footsteps coming up the stairs. One person comes in. Two, three. By the end of the time, six businessmen had gathered together for prayer. The next week, it was 40. And those 40 men said, We don't need to do this just once a week. We need to do this every day. And so they start gathering together for prayer. Within six months, 10,000 businessmen were gathering daily for prayer in the middle of New York City. 10,000 of them. And within two years, a million converts were added to American churches. It became known as the Great Prayer Awakening. What happens when ordinary average people of God gather together for prayer? It's the same thing in Korea. One in the United States, one in Korea. Many of you may know that the church, over the last recent period, I don't know exactly how many years, has basically grown from close to 0% Christian to about 50% Christian in South Korea. Just an amazing growth. Pastor Yonggi Cho, listen to this. He attributes his church's conversion rate of 12,000 people per month. Okay? Let me repeat that because you think you heard me say 12,000 people per month. I said 12,000 people per month, their conversion rate. And he says it's primarily due to ceaseless prayer. He says, our people pray all night. Or it's normal for church members to go to bed early so they can arise at 4 a.m. to participate in united prayer. One of my colleagues down at New Orleans Seminary who taught on the faculty there talked about going to Korea one time in the middle of the morning, about four o'clock, he wakes up and there was a stadium right near his hotel. And the stadium was just filled with people, and they were yelling and they were shouting out all kinds of loud noises coming from the stadium. And he thought, what kind of sports go on at 4 o'clock in South Korea? And so he got up and he looked outside. Then right later in the morning, he asked, What was going on there? And he said, That was the church gathering together to pray. God, what would happen in Alabama if we gathered together in stadiums to seek the face of God? 12,000 people coming to Christ a month. They gathered together for prayer and they scattered apart to pray. What did they pray for? I'll close out with this. They prayed for, I want you to see in the things they prayed for, I want you to see how this linked to the other priorities in the early church. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and a prayer. Think about how prayer affected each of those three. Number one, the apostles' teaching, they prayed for the success of God's word. They prayed for the success of God's word. They prayed for the success of the apostles' teaching. We saw it in Acts 4. God, enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. You get to the end of Acts chapter 12, and what does it say? The word of God continued to spread. God has bound up the success of his word and the proclamation of his word with the prayers of his people. They go together. If we're just always preaching but we're not praying, then we'll never see the power of God's word. If we're always praying and we're not preaching, then we missed out on this part of advancing the gospel. They go together. Prayer is the weapon that wields the power of God's word as it's proclaimed. It's why we pray when we gather together and when we're coming to worship, we pray for God to pour out his spirit on his word. They go together, prayer and the word. And here's the deal: every time we pray for the success of God's word, we are guaranteed that God will answer. You want to have success in prayer? Pray for the success of God's word. Now, this is not how we pray. What we do is we come up with great ideas and plans for our lives and our families and the church. We come up with some great plans and then we ask God to bless them, and we hope that maybe He will. Nowhere has God promised to bless our plans and our ideas for our families or for our church. However, he has promised every single time when we pray for the advancement of God's word and God's will, he has promised every time to bless it. That's why he

Prayer Fuels Mission And Risk

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said in John 15, 7, whatever you ask in my name will be given to you. Based on verse 6, which said, If my words remain in you, and you remain in me. The success of God's word. So we see how it relates to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship. Pray for the needs of each other and the world. We've seen over and over again how they are one in heart and mind. How do you get to be one in heart and mind as a church? You do that by praying for each other, for the needs of each other and in the world, and praying specifically for that. Notice in Acts chapter 12, the church had not gathered together and prayed, Lord, somewhere, somebody's in prison, and we need to pray for, we want to pray for him. No, they prayed for Peter. They knew where he was. God deliver Peter. God strengthen Peter. God wake Peter up. They prayed specifically for Peter. We need to pray specifically for the needs of each other and the world. I want to turn you on too, and we're ordering a bunch of these so you can you can buy these out in the lobby. This is a book. I could wish that every single one of us at this church had this book. And they're not paying me to do this, I promise. And we're not making any profit on this, but it's a book called Operation World. And this book basically is a prayer calendar that if you start in January and you go to December and you pray every single day, you will pray for every single nation in the world. For every nation, it's got different needs in that nation, it's got different prayer requests, it's got evidence of what God's doing in that nation. For every single nation. Nations you've never even heard of are in this book. Just to give you an example, this last week, one of the nations was Somalia. So on October 11th, you would have come together and all across in our individual prayer times we'd have been praying for Somalia, and you would see that Somalia has about 12 million people in there in the country, over 99.9% Muslim. Over 99.9% Muslim. So you would fall on your knees and you would pray because Somalia, it says, is the most lawless country in the world, and they're desperate for peace and restoration of civil order. We know that there's been a civil war there. It's ravaged the country. The population is traumatized by suffering, death, famine, and the savagery of fighting. Over 300,000 have died, and over 25% of all children under five have died. A quarter. One of every four children under five has died in Somal over the last few years. Somali Church, how can you pray for the Somali church? The Somali church has been driven underground. At the time of this, this book's printing, it was 25th on the persecution index. In other words, the 25th most dangerous country to be in as a believer. It has now risen to number four on the persecution index. Somalia, a number of believers have been martyred. Others have been publicly named as targets for execution. Globally, there may now be 2,000 Somali Christians, 12 million in your country, and there's only 2,000 Christians. Do you think they need our prayers? God help us not to isolate our brothers and sisters in Somalia by not praying for them. Pray for their protection, growth in the faith, boldness to witness. That sounds pretty New Testament when opportunities arise. Pray for Somali Christian families to be raised up and strengthened in the country. We need to pray for the needs of each other and the world around us. I would encourage you. We'll have some of these next week. But they've got a CD version, they got kids' versions. You can pray with your kids through the nations of the world. It's great. I don't I don't normally do that, but what would happen if our church was gathered together day in and day out and praying not only for our own needs, but for the needs in the world? What did they pray for? For the success of God's word, for the needs of each other in the world, and third, for the spread of God's worship. We saw how the breaking of bread was the center of their worship, how they identified with Christ and worshipped a risen Christ and celebrated him. Out of the 36 references to prayer in the book of Acts, over half of them talk about how prayer was advancing the church, spreading God's worship. When they came to Acts chapter 4 and they quoted from Psalm chapter 2, it's a psalm that goes on and it says, Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, as your possession. You see, they knew. We don't have time this morning, but Habakkuk 2.14. There's some good stuff in Habakkuk, believe it or not. Habakkuk 2.14 says this the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the seas. And see, here's the deal. The early church believed that God wanted his glory and his worship to be spread all over the earth like water covers the seas, and so they prayed for it, they longed for it, they asked for it, and God gave it. Do you see what's going on here in the book of Acts? It's these eleven guys, a small group of a hundred beyond that, turned the world upside down for Christ. One of my favorite preachers from the past is a guy named Deal Moody. I shared this story with the staff in our retreat. Deal Moody, great preacher, inner city of Chicago

How To Pray With Depth

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in New England, and then overseas in Europe. God poured out his spirit in mighty ways through Moody. One time he was preaching in England near the start of his ministry, and that morning he got up to preach, and he said it was one of those moments where it seemed like nobody was listening. Preachers have those moments where it's kind of like, is this thing on kind of deal? Is anybody really listening to me here? Not here at Brook Hills, but other preachers have those kind of moments. So he was scheduled to preach that Sunday night. Wasn't really excited about coming back to preach Sunday night. Sunday night service usually isn't more exciting than Sunday morning service. He came back that night and he started to preach. And he said it was a completely different atmosphere. People were sitting on the edge of their seats. They were interested. They wanted to hear what he was saying. He got to the end and he said, if you'd like to place your faith in Christ, I want to invite you to stand up where you are. And people all over the room stood up. Well, Moody was puzzled. What happened between Sunday morning and Sunday night? He said, Maybe they don't understand what I said. So he told him to sit back down. And he said, Let me share the gospel another time. So he did. He shared the gospel. He said, Now, if you really want to give your life to Christ, let me invite you to stand where you are. Or more people stood up the second time than the first time. Moody was still not convinced, though. He said, wait a minute, sit back down. He goes to the gospel another time. True story, goes to the gospel another time and says, if you really want to give your life to Christ, meet me and the pastor of this church in a room by the side, and after the service, you can give your heart to Christ. So they dismissed the service. They go into the side room, standing room only. It's packed full. Moody's still not convinced. What happened between Sunday morning and Sunday night? And so he said, now if you really want to give your life to Christ, I want to invite you to come back tomorrow night. You can meet the pastor here tomorrow night and you can give your life to Christ then. They dismissed the meeting. Moody got on a boat the next morning and sailed somewhere else. Well, a few days later, he got a telegram from that particular pastor. The pastor had said, Moody, you need to get back here. More people showed up Monday night than weren't here Sunday night. People all over this town are wanting to give their life to Christ. Moody came back and he preached there for weeks, and hundreds of people came to faith in Christ and a mighty outpouring of God's Spirit. Now, Moody was an inquisitive guy. He wanted to find out what had happened between Sunday morning and Sunday night. So he began to do some research and he found that there was a woman, a bedridden woman in that area, who was not at church that morning because of her illness. And her sister, who had been at church, brought her lunch that day. And the bedridden woman asked, How did the service go? And her sister said, Well, it went okay. This guy named Dio Moody preached, nothing much exciting happened. Immediately the bedridden woman's eyes lit up. And she said, I read about that man in a magazine. I've been praying that God would bring him here because I believe God wants to bring about a mighty revival and awakening through him. She said, Put my food aside. I'm going to fast and pray all day for what God wants to do through this man in my town. Ladies and gentlemen, we are fools if we think we can accomplish this mission as a church apart from prayer and the power of God. The early church was a people who believed that God wanted his glory to be made known among the nations. And they gave themselves to it and they prayed for it over and over and over again. And this is exactly

What To Pray For Together

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why I think it would be far too small a prayer for us to pray at the church of Brookhills. God give us 10,000 members or God give us 20,000 members. God give us the nations. God use us to show your glory among the nations. And let's trust that history belongs to those who fall on their faces before God, just as they did in the book of Acts, and cry out for him to use them, to fill them, to supply them with everything we need to impact the world for his glory.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:30

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