“The Vision of Passionate Prayer”
Acts 1:12-14
Acts 4:29-33
Hebrews 4:15-16
Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida in the summer of 1974. Disneyland in Anaheim, California had been in operation already for almost 20 years. Disney was a 47 year old man, already a successful film producer, director, animator, and entrepreneur when he began to work on his ideas of a Magic Kingdom. He had a dream of having a magical park where families could go with their children to have clean fun. World War II stopped the building of the park but not the dreams in Walt’s mind. All that six year delay accomplished was to expand the dream from an 8 acre park to an 165 acre park which now grosses $2.1 billion through the combined five world magical parks. After Disney passed away Mrs. Disney was sitting beside Walter Cronkite at the opening of Walt Disney World in Florida.. Cronkite wanted to say just the right thing to Mrs. Disney, so he leaned over to her and said, “Wouldn’t it be great if Walt were here to see this today.” Mrs. Disney wisely replied, “If Walt had not first seen this you would not be seeing it today.”
Isn’t it strange how the world has so much vision for the temporal things of life and the church is struggling to see just a little bit of how to build the kingdom of God on earth? Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Wouldn’t it be sad to start a new church and that church die within two or three years because of a lack of vision? That is not going to happen to Aletheia. By the grace of God we will not let that happen. Three other churches started in this building right here where we are meeting and they no longer exist. Did you know that? That ought to shock you and shake you.
As I pondered this past Friday night the message that God was laying on my heart for this day I began to hear from the Lord about this thing of having a vision. I was reminded of the Lord three things: 1) A pastor without vision is a blind pastor; He is not in touch with God or his motives for ministry are extremely questionable. 2) A people who won’t follow a vision are a threat to church growth. They are like cancer in the body. It is only a matter of time without treatment till the body will die. 3) A vision without pursuit of its goals is an hallucination. Churches that sit still and think that prosperity, growth, and blessing will fall out of the sky just because they meet together need to have their heads examined. They’re befuddled in the worst sort of way. It is my responsibility as the pastor to hear and share the vision of God with you. I cannot expect you to have any greater vision for God’s work than I have. That is why the Bible calls the pastor in the Bible, the Overseer. Peter says, “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.” It is my job to take the oversight. I am called of God to see more than you perhaps see from the Lord and to share that with you as God’s appointed leader. That does not make me any better than you. It just means I have a different calling than you and a different responsibility. Paul preaches in Acts 20:28, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” That word “overseers’ is the Greek word “episkopos” which literally means to scope over, to look over, to be the Christian officer who is in charge over the church to lead that church in the ways and directions of God. If I don’t do that I will answer to God. If you don’t follow that, you will answer to God. It’s that simple. If we don’t do it we need not expect to have much of a church or any church in a short while. God blesses the churches that follow Heavenly vision. God lets a church die that doesn’t. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
I could not think of any part of these vision sermons to your heart that would take precedence over The Vision of Passionate Prayer. Prayer is the single most important thing in obtaining the favor of God on your church. Prayer is the match that lights the dynamite of church growth. Prayer is not just a good option for building a dynamic church. Prayer is the only option for seeing the mighty move of God on your church. A church without a strong prayer base is a church without a future. I want to talk seriously with you about that reality this morning as we share three symptoms of the passion for prayer. How do you know when you really have a passion for prayer?
Elevated Participation in Prayer
A passion for prayer is seen in an elevated participation in prayer among the believers. In Acts 1 Jesus Christ has already ascended back to the Father and has told his disciples to go and tarry in Jerusalem until they are filled with power for their mission. But I want you to notice a special word in verse 14 of Acts 1. “These all continued (that’s the word) with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.” That same word is repeated in Acts 2:42, “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” The word is proskartereo in the Greek language and it means to be persistent to something over a period of time, to attend to rigidly and faithfully, to be faithfully motivated, or to be engaged in something constantly and diligently. If ever there was a word that described what was going on in the first century church but is not going on in the 21st century church that word is it. There on the Mount of Olives Jesus had given the instructions to tarry to eleven disciples. And amazingly so, Acts 1 says all eleven disciples plus the women who followed His ministry (Mary Magdalene and others), plus His mother Mary, plus His four half brothers. That is at least twenty people and the next verse says that grew to 120 people. Let me ask you this. If Jesus were to suddenly show up in visible form any Sunday in a Baptist church and strictly tell 20 people to do something and stick with it how many of those 20 people do you think one year from the date would still be doing what Jesus told them to do? I can answer that for you. Jesus has told every Christian in this church and all the world to tithe but do they stick with it? Jesus has told every Christian in this church and all the world to go witness but do they stick with it? Jesus has told every Christian in this church and all the world to cease not to pray but do they stick with it? Men and women, we lack a passion for prayer that was strong in the early church. That word continued (proskartereo) is found again in Acts 6 where it says the apostles would give themselves continually to prayer and to the study of God’s Word. Prayer was the first thing on the list of priorities for the apostles. It ought to be the first thing on every Christian’s list.
Aletheia, I want us to be a church that lives prayer, eats prayer, smells prayer, tastes prayer, believes in prayer, sleeps prayer, wakes up praying, praying while we work, praying while we rest, praying through every conflict, praying while everything is going good, praying about every decision, praying in the night, in the day and in the middle of the night when we wake up. Too many saints use prayer like that sign on the special door in some buildings that says, “For Emergency Use Only.”
Leonard Ravenhill in his book, “Why Revival Tarries,” wrote, “No man is greater than his prayer life…Poverty–stricken as the church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of PRAYER. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few PRAYERS. The ministry of preaching is open to few, the ministry of PRAYER- the highest ministry of all human offices is open to all." Peter Marshall who served as chaplain of the United States Senate for 47 years prayed one day on that floor of the prestigious branch of American government, ““Lord, forgive us for thinking that prayer is a waste of time and help us to see that without prayer our work is a waste of time.” Let me tell you something church. Our work here at Aletheia is an absolute waste of time if we will not buckle down and be a people of extraordinary, passionate, dedicated prayer.
How are we going to do that? Here’s how! When you ask the average Christian if he has a special daily quiet time with the Lord for prayer most will tell you, “Oh, I pray every day.” Do you see what is wrong with that response? It is sidestepping the question. You need to pray throughout your day but you also need to have a set-aside time to draw away from the world and get with God every single day of your life. Jesus did. He is in the spirit of prayer while he is in the crowd healing and also discerning the evil intent of the hearts of his critics. But He goes to the mountain to be with God all night. He gets away from the crowd and Peter has to come looking for Him. Peter knew where to find Him. Would people know where to find you because they know you have a place and a time you set aside for God every day? I’m asking every born-again believer in this congregation to make a covenant promise to God and your church that you will continue or you will start a daily prayer time of 15-30 minutes so that our church can be a powerful force for God this year. That is not much to ask. Do you know why you need to do this for not only God and yourself, but also your church? My friend, if you are negligent about prayer in this way you are letting your church down. I read this week about a horse-pull in Canada where they hitched this one draft horse and he pulled 9,000 pounds. They hitched another strong horse up and he pulled 8,000 pounds. So, they figured the two of them together could pull 17,000 pounds. They loaded the sled with 17,000 pounds and hooked the two stout beasts to the sled and they almost ran away with the load. They were surprised, so they kept adding fertilizer bags and testing their strength. Do you know how much those two horses pulled together? Those two mighty steeds pulled 30,000 pounds, over three times what either horse could pull separately. I’m telling you that Aletheia will see God work three times or more powerful on our behalf if we surrender our individual freedom for corporate intercession.
We are in a battle between the spiritual forces of the universe! We dare not let our fellow soldiers down and let them get shot by the enemy. We dare not sacrifice lives, the lives of the lost, upon our neglect to pray that God would soften their heart so we can witness to their heart and they can be saved. We dare not be halfhearted about praying for a piece of property and our sacrificial commitment to rise to the task of building a new church. Have you ever thought of the possibility that we could be dismissed at any time from the building in which we now meet? I have. There could be several reasons that potentially could happen. I dare not waste time in mentioning them though I have pondered several. If we sit on our laurels thinking we are just satisfied with our present position rather than faithfully praying for tomorrow’s advanced direction we could be dumped out as a just penalty and wake-up call for our prayerlessness. 1 Samuel 12:23 is the alarm call to the church today, “God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you.” Elevate your participation in prayer.
Experienced Power in Prayer
I will move on to tell you the second symptom of a passion for prayer is experienced power in prayer. Elevated participation in prayer and experienced power in prayer marks the church that has become serious and passionate about prayer. The second scene of our scripture today is in Jerusalem. Peter and John had healed the lame man at the front gate of the Temple. Peter had preached that the people had killed the Prince of Life but Jesus Christ has arisen from the grave and that all men needed to repent of their sins. That’s a good message but the Sadducees didn’t like it and had the two apostles arrested. Peter and John are finally released from prison after they are threatened and they joined a prayer meeting. That’s a pretty good place to go when you’ve met up with the devil. Acts 4:24 says they “lifted up their voice with one accord.” There is your elevated participation. They all got in this thing and what was the result of dedicated praying together. Verse 29 and 30 says they prayed for boldness to preach and for signs and wonders of God’s power to be shown. The result is found in verse 31, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” Oh boy, how the church needs to be shaken today. We need the power of God to hit. It will if we are praying the way we should.
Let me tell you something church. I got saved when I was six years of age. God called me to the ministry when I was 19 years of age. I have been pastoring now for 27 years in full-time ministry. This is my seventh church and maybe for sure that is a perfect number. But I’ve never changed my position or belief on this truth. There is absolutely no reason why God cannot act upon our behalf as He did for the first century church. God is not dead. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. God has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. God has not all of a sudden taken a selfish streak. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” He is the God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. He healed person after person after person in the first century. Why is that not happening today? I’ll tell you why I believe it is not happening. We’re not given to prayer like they were 2000 years ago. He did amazing miracles like walking on the water, raising the dead, casting out demons, giving sight to the blind, and throwing the chains off of Peter in prison with an angelic escort right past the guards out of his cell. Why is that not happening today? We can’t even get a good hallelujah in church today. Here is why! We are not given to prayer like they were 2000 years ago. I’m telling you this. If we’ll get back to the praying, God will get back to giving the power.
A little boy prayed one day, “God, bless my mommy and daddy...and dear God, take good care of Yourself. If anything happens to You, we’re sunk.” Church, we are living beneath the power of God. Sinners should be flocking to our doors to hear the gospel of Christ and getting saved. Cancer and all manner of disease should be scared to enter the household of church members because they’ve fervently stayed on their knees declaring the healing blood of Christ over all affliction. Satan should be bound and frightened of the average Baptist congregation but he’s probably sitting on the front row of most because we’ve left him a choice seat due to prayerlessness. Martin Luther said, “The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.”
George Muller was not afraid of the devil or prayer. He walked along the streets of Bristol, England and saw hundreds of orphaned, homeless and hungry children playing on the street. He reached in his pocket and had two shillings which amounted to fifty cents. He said, “Well, God I don’t have anything to give so therefore I will build you an orphanage for these children. He kept a diary of over 3000 pages of what God did by prayer alone. One day there was no food in the pantry for the hundreds of kids in Mueller’s orphanage home. He committed himself to pray all night for food. At 3:00 AM a baker called him and said he could not sleep and was going down to the bakery to bake bread and would it be alright if he brought a load of fresh bread to the orphanage. One day a milk truck broke down right in front of the orphanage and despite all efforts the mechanics couldn’t get the truck running again for hours. The delivery man rushed into the orphanage, found Muller on his knees praying and asked him, “Sir, the milk on my truck is going to ruin; would you be able to use it for your kids.” With fifty cents in his pocket George Muller took care of over 10,000 orphans in Bristol, England for 60 years. One of his policies was that never in his organization would they ever ask for funds from anyone and yet benefactors gave over $7 million to help George Muller with his God-sized task. How did he do it? His diary records over 30,000 prayers answered. Aletheia, are we prepared to pray like that for the power of God to fall on this church? Only if we have a passion for God in prayer.
Extraordinary Position in Prayer
I must close this morning’s message to tell you that the last symptom of a passion for prayer is an extraordinary position in prayer. “Come boldly to the throne of grace; Come boldly to the throne of grace; Come boldly to the throne of grace for help in time of need.” We’re as weak as newborn kittens, timid as mice, and cowardly as couch-raised sissies. Do you know why? Do you know why our faith in prayer is so weak? We don’t understand our position with God or we have compromised that position by wicked living.
According to the Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., a dense fog covering seven city blocks to a height of 100 feet is composed of less that one glass of water. One glass of water, and that amount of water is divided into about 60 billion tiny droplets. Yet when those minute particles settle over a city or the countryside, they can almost blot out everything from your sight. It doesn’t take much to shut down the forces of evil. Just a small glass of pure water shuts down traffic over a whole city. But it has to be pure water. The weight of water vapor is severely increased if it is dirty water and it will fall out of the air. It is pure water that is suspended in the fog. My dear friends, are you willing to clean your life up through prayer and become a powerful force for God in this age? Do you understand that God delights to answer the prayers, big prayers and give amazing wonders to those who pray from a pure heart?
Let me share this story to show you the position we have with the Lord in prayer. Billy Graham shares this story of an African mother who came to Christ and grew in her commitment and devotion to the Lord. She was a woman that prayed all the time and talked of her Jesus. As so often happens, however, this alienated her from her husband, and over the years he grew to despise and hate her new devotion to Christ. His anger and bitterness reached a climax when he decided to kill his wife, their two children and himself, unable to live in misery of conviction in his home. But he needed a motive to kill his family. So He decided that he would accuse her of stealing his precious keys - the keys on his chain were to the bank, the house, and the car. Early one afternoon he left his bank and headed for the Tavern. His route took him across a footbridge extended over the headwaters of the Nile River. He paused above the river and dropped the keys. He spent all afternoon drinking and carousing. Later that afternoon, his wife went to the fish market to buy the evening meal. She purchased a large Nile perch. As she was gutting the fish, to her astonishment, in it’s belly were her husband’s keys. She wondered how they could have gotten in the fish? What were the circumstances? She did not know; but she cleaned them up and hung them on the hook. Sufficiently drunk, the enraged African man came home that night and pounded open the front door shouting, “Woman, where are my keys?” Already in bed, she got up, picked them off the hook in the bedroom, and handed them to her husband. When he saw the keys, he was so shocked that by his own testimony he immediately became sober and was instantly on his knees sobbing, asked for forgiveness, and confessed Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. That African mother saved the life of her family because she understood her glorious position in prayer. Boldness before the Lord. My friends, Aletheia Baptist Fellowship will not grow because of good administration. Aletheia Baptist Fellowship will not grow because of good music or good preaching. Aletheia Baptist Fellowship will not grow and be the church God wants us to be because of programs or activities. If Aletheia Baptist Fellowship ever amounts to anything great for God it will be because we have had a vision to be passionate in prayer. Do you see it? I want you to hear this last thing. Vision without action is an hallucination. What will you do?
