Acts of Prayer: Snapshots from the Prayer Life of the Early Church Snapshot 1, The Way Forward. Acts 1: 12-26

- Before we begin, I need for us to keep in mind something very important about the New Testament which is simply this: contrary to popular belief the early church was not the perfect church. On this side of eternity there's no such thing.

- The New Testament does not give us the ideal model for church life as some suggest or we often assume. No, the New Testament records the life of the church as it actually was in all its frailty and brokenness, as well as, all its unity and Spirit empowered words and works.

- The very reason that we have much of the New Testament is because of the imperfection, the sin of the church.

- The church in those days was very much the same as the church today. She may be broken and sinful, but she can also be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and bring much glory to God. That paradox is a sign of God's amazing grace.

- The church was and is made up of people capable of feats of triumph and tragedy.

- So as we begin to look at the prayer life of the early church that we find in the book of Acts, let's remember that these were real people bringing to God their real concerns about the life of the real church and the expansion of the kingdom of God.

- In Acts 1:12 - 26, we are about to look in on the church the same day that Jesus went back to heaven, Ascension Day, and examine what followed immediately afterward, especially their prayer life together:

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.
13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.
14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said,
16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”
18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.
19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “ ‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “ ‘Let another take his office.’
21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
22  beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”
23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.
24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen
25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”
26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.  Acts 1:12-26 (ESV)

- For the next several weeks were going to be looking at some snapshots from the prayer life of the early church. My hope and prayer is that we as the people of God will take this examination very seriously and apply what we have learned to our lives and to the life of this church.

- Immediately after Jesus ascended into heaven, Luke tells us that the disciples walked the 15 min. they were allowed to walk on the Sabbath day from the Mount Of Olives back to Jerusalem.

- In his gospel following Jesus' return to heaven, Luke tells his readers that Jesus' disciples were "continually in the Temple praising God" and here in Acts, Luke tells his readers that they were constantly praying in the upper room.

- In the 24th chapter of Luke's Gospel and the 49th verse, Jesus commanded his disciples to remain in Jerusalem, saying, "And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high" Luke 24:49 (ESV).

- So far, Luke has given us a snapshot in the life of the church before Pentecost and he has shown us two simple things.

- First, Luke shows us that the 120 were obedient to the command of Jesus to stay in the city.

- Second, Luke shows us that in the 10 days immediately after Jesus ascended into heaven that the group of Jews who witnessed the resurrection were continually together and constantly in prayer both in the Temple and in the upper room.

- Were we to ask the question, "Why did Luke tell his readers the 120 disciples initially gathered to pray," then the simple answer we would have to say would be in obedience to the Lord's command to wait in the city for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

- Certainly, the 120 prayed that they would receive the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus.

- Now, what was happening during those 10 days from when Jesus ascended into heaven prior to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit?

- Prayer & worship aside, what was happening?

- Nothing. Without the Holy Spirit, nothing happens in the life of the church. We do not grow in our faith. The kingdom of God is not built up. No new believers were added in those 10 days.

- That is the single most important reason why I believe the church must persevere in prayer because without the Spirit of Christ we can accomplish nothing.

- The early church may not have been the perfect church, but the first thing they did, they did right. They stayed in the city. They waited for the Holy Spirit and they prayed.

- Verse 14 of our passage for this morning says that, "All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer." Translation, the NLT says, "They all met together and were constantly united in prayer," and The Message says, "They agreed they were in this for good, completely together in prayer."

- They were completely sold out to Jesus. They wanted to experience his kingdom power in their lives. They wanted to see God take the upside down world and turn it right side up again. And they wanted it badly enough that they remained together in prayer until God poured out the promised Holy Spirit upon them.

- They prayed as one with one mind, one heart, and one purpose.

- If we would learn the forward way, then the answer is to pray.

- Now, it was at some point during all this prayer and worship in the Temple and in the upper room that the church realized, "Hey! Wait a minute. We don't have 12 apostles anymore. We need to choose the 12th to replace Judas." Well, maybe it wasn't quite like that, but maybe it was, who knows?

- The point is that while the church was praying for the most important event, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, they also needed to pray for something else, an important decision in the life and ministry of the church.

- It is significant that in these early days before the Spirit's coming that the church had approximately 120. That was the amount adult men required by Jewish law to establish a community.

- So the new community of faith needed to have an elder over every 10 men by law, but the church didn't just count the men, they also counted the women.

- Jesus had also appointed the 12 that they would one day judge the 12 tribes of Israel. Judas had to be replaced.

- Another thing we need to take note of here is the fulfillment of Scripture in relation to their prayer. The church sought to replace Judas also because, "the Scripture had to be fulfilled"(v. 16). As Luke recorded, "Let another take his office." Obeying the Scriptures was a very high priority for them as they sought to become the renewed people of God.

- Common sense also told the church that the apostolic replacement of Judas required someone who was an eyewitness of Jesus ministry and an eyewitness of his resurrection.

- So after coming up with two candidates, the church was not merely unable to choose between the two, but felt it was not their right because the choice of replacement of Judas belonged to Christ alone. Therefore, the church prayed together and cast lots with the lot falling to Matthias. They prayed and allowed the Lord to make the choice by rolling the dice, as it were.

- So the disciples went to the upper room, as well as the Temple, for the purpose of being united together in prayer as they waited for the Holy Spirit and sought the will of God in choosing Judas's replacement.

- In the 10 days that followed Jesus' departure to heaven, they were constantly spending time in the upper room in prayer and in the Temple praying and worshiping God.

- They understood that they needed to be totally dependent upon God.

- Are we in the place where we understand that we need to be totally dependent upon God?

- If we wish to see a renewed work of the Holy Spirit among us in our communities today then the answer is to pray.

- If we would learn the forward way, then the answer is to pray.

- In our modern world with our modern assumptions, too often our first response when dealing with the tragedies and seeking out the triumphs of this life is not prayer. Prayer has become a last resort so to speak.

- Because of the advancements of modern technology in every field of science, we feel like we can go about our daily lives completely independent of God, without having to turn to him in surrender and dependence.

- But the pendulum can also swing too far the other way. In seeking to be dependent upon God, quite often we fail to use the minds that we have received by not examining the Scriptures and not using common sense. We think prayer is all there is. Too often we conclude that prayer is the only answer when prayer itself is our relationship with God which helps us to arrive at the answer.

- If we would learn the forward way, then the answer is to pray.

- You see, prayer is not about getting answers; rather, prayer is about growing deeper in our relationship with God, centering our lives on him.

- Prayer is about moving forward in our life with God.

Never Found Time ~ Author Unknown

I knelt to pray but not for long. I had too much to do.

Must hurry off and get to work, for bills would soon be due.

So I said a hurried prayer, jumped up from off my knees,

My Christian duties now were done my soul could be at ease.

All through the day I had no time to speak a word of cheer;

No time to speak of Christ to friends, they'd laugh at me I feared.

No time, no time, too much to do. That was my constant cry;

No time to give to those in need--at last was time to die.

And when before the Lord I came, I stood with downcast eyes;

Within his hands he held a book--it was the Book Of Life.

God looked into his book and said, "Your name I cannot find,"

"I once was going to write it down, but never found the time."

(Tan, 7700, p. 1040)

- The early church understood that prayer was about moving forward with God in the life of his kingdom and in the life and work that he had planned for the church.

-The people of God today also need to hold that understanding.

- If we would learn the forward way, then the answer is to pray.