Sermon Notes: When The People Come Together To Pray

First of all, let me thank you for praying for our church this past week. (See here and here).  Your prayers were very important to us, and I believe God heard and is answering.  It has been a very difficult week in many ways for our little congregation, beginning last Sunday with the illness of our pastor (who is still recuperating at home), and then one of our key couples in the church had a car accident last Sunday night...thankfully not seriously injured but enough to keep our pianist from being able to play the piano for a while. Several others in the church had battles with illness and personal heartaches, and then most sadly, a very special man passed away very unexpectedly from a heart attack while at work.   Needless to say, all of this caused much sorrow and concern for our flock, and a feeling that we were actually being subject to a kind of attack from the enemy of God's people.   My husband was preparing his sermon in the midst of all of this...and felt led of the Lord to change his message at the last moment to bring about encouragement and hope for a sorrowing and bewildered group.  Here is what God impressed on his heart to share:

We read from Acts 12:5-12

The two key verses were:

Verse 5:  "Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church."

Verse 12:  "So, when he (Peter) had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying."

There's a lot of activity between those two verses...Peter had been locked in prison by King Herod, with four squads of soldiers to keep him there. (see verses 1-4)

While Peter was kept in prison, the people of the church were in constant prayer for him. Peter was bound with two chains between two soldiers, while the guards were keeping watch over the prison door. (see verse 6)

But God had other plans for Peter!  If you read verses 7-11, you will see that God sent an angel of the Lord to rescue Peter.  Peter wasn't sure if he was dreaming or if this was for real, but followed the angel and did just as he was told to do. Once they were safely beyond the first and second guard posts, the iron gate that led to the city opened of it's own accord (verse 10), and Peter and the angel went out and down the street...and then the angel departed from him.

Verse 11 says that "when Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people."

Once Peter arrived at the door of his friends, he knocked (verses 13-17),  and they were astonished that he was actually there in the flesh.  They had been inside praying for him, and God delivered him right to their doorstep! They couldn't believe their eyes!  But God had indeed performed a miracle that day.

Now here are some key points for us:

• Great things happen when the people of God come together to pray.
• Every time the church is persecuted...it grows stronger...in faith and in number
• When people are alone and feel afraid, and they go to God...God's people come together and the devil has to back off
• We are here to serve God together...through our prayers, our giving, communion, helping one another and lifting up the hurting and wounded and sorrowing.

When Jesus would travel from village to village, the people would get all excited because they knew that Jesus would bring change...good changes...

Jesus would:

• heal
• help
• encourage
• strengthen

Blind Bartimaeus was a good example of this...(see Mark 10:46-52).  When Jesus came to Jericho, a great multitude followed him, and Blind Bartimaeus sat by the side of the road begging.  When he heard that Jesus was coming he began to cry out and call on Jesus to have mercy on him.  Many people warned him to be quiet, but he cried all the more, and Jesus heard him, and called him to Himself...and He healed him right then and there.  Blind Bartimaeus was no longer blind...and he followed Jesus on the road from then on.  

People followed Jesus because no man had ever spoken like Him.  He came to rescue us from our sins and give us an everlasting relationship with God.

Back to the story of Peter...when he came to the door and knocked, a young girl named Rhoda answered and saw him and ran and told the others that Peter was there.  Even though they were praying for him to be rescued, they didn't believe it when it actually happened. They thought it must be his angel. (Acts 12:15)   But when they opened the door and saw Peter standing there, they were astonished.  God had actually answered their prayers!

This story has been given to us so that we would have confidence that what we pray for is heard by God.  He hears our prayers, and He is ready and willing to answer us. He may have already dispatched His angels to come to our aid even while we are still on our knees.  Do we have the faith to believe God?

Because of these difficult things that have happened this past week, we felt led to spend some extra time as a body of believers praying, inviting people to come to the altar to pray on their knees, or to pray right there in the pews. The Spirit of God was very strongly present in our midst today. He was there in our prayers, in our time of worship and praise, our singing, and definitely in the hearts of the people.  When the people of God come together to pray, the devil can't hang around. He has to go.  May we stand strong in the days to come as there are still some difficult hurdles ahead for our church, our Pastor, and our denomination as a whole.  We are praying for God's Holy Spirit to be in total control and power against the fiery darts of the enemy.  Thank you for standing with us in prayer.

May Jesus Christ be glorified in His Church!

One of the hymns we sang today was "Change My Heart Oh God", and this is certainly my prayer.

So, what happens when the people come together to pray?  God hears and answers...so have faith and be prepared for Jesus to come bring about good changes!!