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.
i. So, they didn’t just say some quick, halfhearted prayer and then leave it at that, but they pressed in and continued to pray for an answer. This is called “prevailing prayer.”
B. Keep On
1. Illustration: Daniel Nash and Charles Finney were great evangelists in the early 1800s. On one occasion, when meetings had begun in a particular city, a group of young men confronted Charles Finney, openly announcing that they were going to break up the meetings. Finney and Nash decided this was best combated with prayer, so they found a grove of trees and gave themselves to prayer until, in Finney's words, "We felt confident that no power which earth or Hell could interpose, would be allowed permanently to stop the revival." That night, the group of young men arrived to find a packed house to hear Finney preach. And Daniel Nash, who was ordinarily a quiet man, was sitting on the back row. He stood and faced them with these words, "Now mark me, young men! God will break your ranks in less than one week, either by converting some of you or by sending some of you to hell. He will do this as certainly as the Lord is my God!" Having said that, Nash dropped to his seat, bowed his head, and prayed. Finney admitted that he thought his friend had gone too far. Yet by the next Tuesday, the leader of the group suddenly showed up, and in tears and confession, and put his faith in Christ. Before the week was out, almost all those young men were converted.
2. A New Testament church fights on their knees!
a. “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matt. 7:7-8).
b. When things get difficult for a NT church, they begin to pray, and they keep praying until they get an answer.
c. You’ll notice that Jesus says to “keep on asking,” “keep on seeking,” and “keep on knocking.”
d. A NT church doesn’t give up and start complaining when things get tough, rather they get tough in prayer!
e. When things get slow, a NT church prays for the Holy Spirit to begin to move.
f. They don’t just give in and resign themselves to the fact that things are going downhill. No, they fall to their knees and say, “God, do something!”
g. A NT church is bold in prayer!
h. “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Heb. 4:16).
i. A NT church doesn’t come to God and say, “Gee, God, do you think maybe you could help?”
j. No, a NT church says, “GOD, WE NEED YOU!”
k. Above all, a NT church is united in prayer. We are laser focused of one mind and one purpose, and that is to see the kingdom of God come to earth.
Transition: Secondly, a NT church is…
II. Guided In Prayer (15-26).
A. Show Us
1. Sometimes we need the assistance of the Holy Spirit to do the work of the ministry. There will be times when we need people to fill important roles.
2. This was even true for the early church. We see this in vv. 15-17, “During this time, when about 120 believers were together in one place, Peter stood up and addressed them. 16 “Brothers,” he said, “the Scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David. 17 Judas was one of us and shared in the ministry with us.”
a. Peter who had taken a leadership role among the disciples during Jesus’ ministry continues in that role.
b. It was necessary to replace Judas as a member of the apostles.
c. Peter tries to put Judas’s betrayal of Jesus into a biblical perspective. He points out that his betrayal of Jesus had been predicted by the Holy Spirit through King David.
d. Now, this in no way excuses Judas of his actions, because like everyone he had a free will. He could have told Satan, “No, I will not betray the Lord,” but that’s not what he did.
e. He did what he did, received the reward of his evil actions.
3. After explaining what Judas did, Peter gets to the point of the matter, Judas had to be replaced. In vv. 20-22, Luke tells us, “Peter continued, “This was written in the book of Psalms, where it says, ‘Let his home become desolate, with no one living in it.’ It also says, ‘Let someone else take his position.’ 21 “So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus—22 from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection.”
a. Peter says that because of what Judas did, he had to be replaced. So, they made a list of people who fit certain criteria.
b. First, they had to have been with them during all of Jesus’ ministry.
c. More importantly, he had to have been a witness of Jesus’ resurrection.
d. In other words, he had to have seen Jesus alive after his crucifixion.
4. Now, this is where the prayer comes in to all this. In vv. 23-25 Luke tells us, “So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24 Then they all prayed, “O Lord, you know every heart. Show us which of these men you have chosen 25 as an apostle to replace Judas in this ministry, for he has deserted us and gone where he belongs.”
a. What’s important for us to see is that they didn’t depend on their own wisdom to fill this position.
b. They didn’t leave it up to a popularity contest. They asked the Lord to tell them who should be the one.
c. If we nominate someone to serve on a committee and we do not pray first and ask God who they should be we have made a mistake.
d. No matter what position it is, it’s a spiritual position and should be decided by spiritual means.
5. After they prayed, Luke tells us, “Then they cast lots, and Matthias was selected to become an apostle with the other eleven.“
a. The process of casting lots, in those days, was usually done by writing the two names on separate rocks, and then they were put in a can or a box and the first one that rolled out was the chosen one.
b. As far as we know this process was never repeated in the NT because the Holy Spirit came to guide them after Pentecost.
B. Trust in the Lord
1. In a time of fear and uncertainty, Jesus disciples were very careful to do exactly what He told them to do. and That’s what we must do if we want to survive and thrive in these days of fear and uncertainty. Anne Graham Lotz says that when she and her husband, Denny, attend football games at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina, thousands of people cram in the parking lots, and she can’t see where she’s going. However, her husband, a head taller at 6’7”, can look over the crowd, so he takes her hand and leads them to their seats. “The way I get from the car to my seat is just by holding his hand and following him closely through the crowd,” Lotz says. In the same way, she says, “I just try to faithfully follow the Lord step by step and day by day.” (Randy Bishop, “Just Give Me Jesus,” Christian Reader, September/October 2000, p.25; www.PreachingToday.com)
2. A NT church seeks guidance and direction from the Holy Spirit in prayer.
a. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” (Prov. 3:5-6).
b. There’s an old saying that says, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
c. Well, I’d like to change that to, “if you fail to pray, you plan to fail.”
d. A NT church recognizes that God is in control, and we need to seek his will in everything.
e. Jesus said that without him we can do nothing! So, we must humble ourselves before God in prayer.
Conclusion
1. 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.
2. 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
3. What’s the point preacher? If we want the same results the early church got, then we need to be as committed to prayer as they were. One of the churches we pastored in Arkansas used to talk about the “good old days.” One day, I asked a lady what made them so good? Her response was, “them were praying saints back then!” Let’s be praying saints!
