FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: Acts 4:23-31

3. There Is a Desire to Evangelize

Acts 4:29 is probably the most challenging verse in this Scripture. “Now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.” As these disciples praised God who had brought the release of Peter and John, the burden of their prayer did not become a plea that He would now keep them safe. They pleaded to the Lord that He would enable them to go on proclaiming the gospel with greater courage. They didn’t pray, “Lord, don’t let it happen again.” They prayed, “Lord . . . grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.” In a praying church, we want to make salvation known to sinners.

It is relatively easy for some of us to stand before a group and tell them that Jesus saves. It seems to be more difficult to speak to one person and witness to that person about Christ. Yet many souls are won to Christ, one-on-one, as we speak to our family, our neighbors, and our friends about Jesus.

An associate of Billy Graham writes, “I’m an evangelist, and I have been witnessing and sharing my faith since I was fourteen years old. I’ve preached to crowds of 60,000 people, and, yet, I still get nervous when talking to an individual about Christ.”

In a praying church there will be burdened hearts, burdened soulwinners, burdened sowers, and burdened reapers. Members will have a passion for souls and an earnest longing to make Christ known. The psalmist recorded the promise, “He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6).

The great preacher Henry Ward Beecher once stated, “The longer I live, the more confidence I have in those sermons preached where one man is the congregation.” Mr. Beecher was talking about witnessing to the unsaved, seeking to win the lost to the Savior one individual at a time.

4. The Holy Spirit Manifests His Presence and Power

When the church prayed, the Holy Spirit manifested His presence and power. Luke records, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). Prayer is the secret of every Pentecostal outpouring. We aren’t just now considering what happened on the Day of Pentecost. The account in Acts chapter 4 is something that happened on another occasion after Pentecost. We are not told that the disciples were meeting together to pray specifically that they might be filled with the Holy Spirit. What they did was to get on their knees and ask the Lord to help them to be obedient to His commission and to be pleasing to Him as they sought to make the Lord Jesus known in the quickest possible way and to the largest possible number of people with the greatest possible results. As they prayed, the place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. This can happen again and again.

There may never be another Day of Pentecost. But, there can and must be Pentecostal power and Pentecostal experiences in our lives and in the life of every church. We need the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We have no power, no anointing without that outpouring. Why are we so slow to realize the importance of prayer and prayer meetings and praying as a church?

The Holy Spirit will move in miraculous ways in our midst. If you and I begin to pray individually and as the body of Christ, we will see miracles in the spiritual realm. We will see physical miracles, yes, but the spiritual miracles are eternal. We will see people being saved. In Genesis 18:14 the question is asked, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” When the church prays, God steps in and does great and mighty things (Acts 4:30).

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Acts 4:23-31

1. There Is a Continuous Desire to Pray

A praying church recognizes the supreme importance of prayer, and always desires to pray. This is illustrated in the lives of the leaders of the Jerusalem church. Peter and John went up to the temple to pray. Later Peter and John were in prison, and while they were there the church prayed. When Peter and John were set free from prison, they immediately hastened to join the church meeting to let them know what happened to them (Acts 4:23).

When the Christians heard their report, what did they do? “When they heard . . . they lifted their voices together to God” (Acts 4:24). This church recognized the supreme importance of prayer. The leaders prayed, the people prayed, and the church meeting was turned into a prayer meeting. 

We must recognize the supreme importance of prayer. All of us must have a continuous desire to pray. We need to be like Hudson Taylor who once stated, “The sun has never risen upon China without finding me at prayer. In forty years I saw 700 missionaries and 1,000 native workers in China.”

2. The Eyes of Faith and Expectancy Are Toward God

When the Jerusalem church had problems, they turned their eyes away from humankind and from the problems on hand; they looked to the Lord who can solve any problem and who is always in control of every situation. Luke recorded that these Christians “raised their voice to God with one accord and said: ‘Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them’ ” (Acts 4:24 NKJV).

This was the approach of the psalmist as he wrote, “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him” (Psalm 62:5). Whatever problems face us, whatever problems we encounter, the only thing that ultimately matters is our fellowship with God, our being in touch with Him, finding His will, and being available to Him to come in with power and to work in and through us.

Sometimes the outlook may be bad, but it is the up-look that counts. In a certain cotton factory, there are cards on the walls of the workplace that read, “If your threads get tangled, send for the foreman.” One day a new worker got her threads tangled; she tried to untangle them but only made them worse. Then she sent for the foreman.

He came and looked, then he asked her, “You’ve been doing this yourself?”

“Yes,” she said.

“But, why did you not send for me according to instructions?”

“I did my best,” she said.

“No, you did not,” the foreman said. “Remember that doing your best is sending for me.”

The eyes of a praying church are on God. He is the sovereign, self-revealing, and seeing Lord.

Scripture Reference: Acts 4:23-31

Acts 4 is an account of a church at prayer. What wonderful things happened! An earthquake shook the building. Christians were filled with the Holy Spirit. Boldly they began to witness. There was unity in the church. The church had great power, and grace was upon every member of the congregation.

Have you ever seen God’s power released in and through a church—a local assembly of His people? If so, that church must have been a praying church, for the power of God operates through a praying church. We can pray, believe, and receive, or we can pray, doubt, and do without.

There is a church in Seoul, Korea, that has been marvelously blessed of God. The pastor teaches the people to do two things: pray and witness. They are short in every other area, but they are long in prayer and witnessing. What is the result? The church has nearly 500,000 members. The first Sunday service begins at 6:30 A.M., and the last service begins at 12:00 midnight. The sanctuary seats over 17,000 people. In every worship service there is standing room only. Often the members are asked not to attend the following Sunday so visitors can come and be saved. That is the power of a praying church! That is the pattern of the New Testament church in the Book of Acts.

It’s time for the church to have a new emphasis and a new entering into the spirit of corporate prayer. Just as individuals are to pray, the church is to pray as a body.

Problems have always faced Christ’s church:

• getting the gospel to the outsider;
• securing spiritual results from our ministry;
• finding the right leaders for the various activities of our church;
• finances;
• the lack of love and unity;
• discipling new converts; and
• some people failing to be submissive and giving themselves to spiritual authority and leadership.

But these are not the critical issues. The real problem is the prayer life of the church. If that problem is solved, every other problem will find a solution. Difficulties will soon disappear; obstacles will be removed when the prayer life of the church is powerful and effective. A praying church quickly becomes a revived church, a worshiping church, a soul-winning church, a giving church, and a spiritual church.

There is only one real problem in every church, and that is to get the members of that church together on their knees before Almighty God.

Luke recorded:

“And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).

So the church needs more than anything else to be a praying church. What are the marks of a praying church? The answer is found in our Scripture text in Acts 4:23–31.

Next we will discuss the attributes of a praying church.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: John 19:28-30

Concluding Thoughts

From Last Lesson: There is no real and sincere wisdom, righteousness or true love among men unless it comes from Him who so loved His creation that He was willing to be forsaken of His Father for each of us.

There are among us some churches that would make men believe that the work of Christ was not yet finished when He spoke those words on the cross.

My prayer for each and everyone who reads this may be able to say to themselves, “It is finished” for me personally. Jesus, my Savior and Redeemer bore the penalty that was due to me, the wages I had earned for my sin, for my transgression, for my iniquity. Christ Jesus has sent His Spirit to testify with my spirit that I am now a child of God, reconciled to the Father, a fellow-heir with Christ of eternal life.

Satan will still try to sift each of us as wheat as he sought to sift Peter. He would have you imagine and believe that, even though we are not all were we ought to be at this point in life, loving the world, having our own way, doing what we want to feel good, if we are “good” enough then we are still able to escape from it all at the end into a better life, a life of which God will still approve.

I don’t mean to be harsh, but if this is your feeling today, then you are like someone adrift in a leaky row-boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You may recite all the modern-day mantras that tell you are safe and loved, because God loves everyone and a loving God wouldn’t demonstrate His wrath on His own creation. You may even convince yourself that you are a good enough person in and of yourself and therefore you are not a sinner and thus a loving God will not punish you.

Don’t let Satan deceive you. Don’t deceive yourself. Look at Jesus as He hung on the cross accomplishing the work that we couldn’t begin to accomplish. Say to Him as did one of the criminals hanging at His side: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42), and you will be saved. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to sincerely cry out to Him, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner. I deserve to be cast forever out of Your presence, but Jesus, by Your Spirit help me to realize and say that You, Lord, were made a curse for me because of Your love for me. I accept that truth and I accept Your gift. Now I am redeemed from the curse of the law. Now I am Yours and You Lord, are mine.”