United In Prayer Series

United In Prayer

Text: Acts 1:12-26

Introduction

1. Illustration: In the 1850s, the United States was in a weak spiritual state, as people were preoccupied with concern for material things. In 1857 a quiet forty-six-year-old businessman, Jeremiah Lanphier, felt led to start a noon-time weekly prayer meeting in New York City, in which businesspeople could meet for prayer. Anyone could attend, for a few minutes or for the entire hour. On the first day Lanphier prayed alone for half an hour. But by the end of the hour six men from at least four denominational backgrounds had joined him. Twenty came the next week and forty the week after. Soon they decided to meet daily, and the group swelled to over one hundred. Pastors who came started morning prayer meetings in their own churches. Soon similar meetings were being held all over America. Within six months there were more than ten thousand meeting daily in New York City alone. This was the start of what is now termed “The Great Awakening” in North America. It is estimated that in a two-year period (1857–1859), two million people were led to Christ (out of a population of thirty million). (Ajith Fernando, Acts, The NIV Application Commentary, 80–81).

2. Oh, how we could use some of this today!

3. Well, that’s what they had in the early church. One of the things you’ll notice about the early church as you read the Book of Acts is that they were a praying church. And their prayers got answered!

4. In the Book of Acts, when there is much prayer, there is much activity of the Holy Spirit; and when there is much activity of the Holy Spirit, there is much prayer.

5. Prayer was very important to them. There are two things that we notice about their prayers in our text. They were…

a. Persistent In Prayer

b. Guided In Prayer

6. Read Acts 1:12-26

Proposition: If we are going to be a NT church, we need to be a praying church.

Transition: First, they were…

I. Persistent In Prayer (12-14).

A. Constantly United in Prayer

1. The disciples find themselves in one of those “what now” moments.

a. Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

b. Then Jesus left! He just floated away into the heavens.

c. The disciples, at first, did what you and I would probably do, they stood there and stared into heaven.

2. Then we see a new type of reaction for them. In vv. 12-13 Luke tells us, “Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. 13 When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying. Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James).”

a. The first thing we see about the disciples after the Ascension of Jesus is obedience.

b. He told them to wait in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from the Holy Spirit.

c. So, they went back to Jerusalem to the upper room.

d. Luke tells us some of the people that were there, which included the disciples, Mary Jesus’ mother, and his brothers.

e. An interesting thing about Jesus’ brothers is that before his resurrection they didn’t believe in him as the Messiah, but after the resurrection they followed him.

3. But the key here is not who was there, but rather what they did. In v. 14, Luke tells us, “They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.”

a. Prayer was one of the key characteristics of the early church. In fact, in Luke’s writings it appears 31 rimes and in 20 of its chapters.

b. When they were afraid, they prayed. When they were confused, they prayed. When they needed an answer, they prayed.

c. When they were waiting for God to fulfill his promise to them, they prayed. This is what was the case here.

d. They were waiting for God to fulfill his promise to empower the church, and so we see them praying.

e. Something we need to see here is the unity they had in prayer. The word translated “together” means “to be with one mind or passion.”

f. In other words, they were tracking together. They had the same mind and purpose. They didn’t all have separate agendas. They were focused on the promise of the Holy Spirit.

g. Another thing that we need to see about their prayer is the tenacity in which they prayed.

h. The word “constantly” carries with it the idea of being obstinate or persistent.