“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.” Acts 2:42-43 NKJV.
“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” [James 5:16] The explosive, intense, and spirit empowered begging of a righteous Christian brings supernatural results!
As the early church gathered together they studied the apostles’ doctrines; they responded and affirmed God’s Word through mutual fellowship [edifying, encouraging, caring, and helping each other as a group]; they faithfully united together for communion [love feasts according to Jude]; and prayed together with intense crying to God with all their hearts to expand His Kingdom through His power.
For example, Luke reports in Acts 4:23-31 (NLT2):
23 As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said.
24 When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—
25 you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, ‘Why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans?
26 The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the LORD and against his Messiah.’
27 “In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed.
28 But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will.
29 And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.
30 Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.
Like a four legged table or a cake mix of various ingredients, God blesses the church when all four elements are operating together (constantly studying the apostles’ doctrine together, constantly helping each other through fellowship, constantly gathering together to break bread together and sharing communion, and repeatedly gathering together in prayers). This is the secret of explosive spiritual growth and blessings. Acts 4:33 (NKJV) reports, “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”
A Call to Care!
“For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:20,21 NKJV Even Paul found it hard to find sincere, mature saints who would focus on obeying Jesus.
God’s will for every believer is a ministry to the church and a mission to the world. We are needed to care enough to serve the body of Christ and be a united team reaching out to the lost world of people. We must keep ourselves strong and healthy and love God with all our strength in expanding the Kingdom of God. We must work together to mature and help others grow up spiritually. Also, we must love God enough to follow His will and unite our efforts with the other Christians in evangelism.
A Call to be a House of Prayer!
Our one and only source of spiritual power is Almighty God. That renewing power is only released through much fervent prayer. The hypocritical heartless type will not move God to action, only the heart rending, soul stirring emotional outcries of a desperate people will. If we need a miracle we must ask, seek, and then KNOCK! And then continue pounding on Heaven’s door until He rises up and answers! Jesus taught it this way…
Luke 18:1-8 GW
Jesus used this illustration with his disciples to show them that they need to pray all the time and never give up. [2] He said, “In a city there was a judge who didn’t fear God or respect people. [3] In that city there was also a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice.’
[4] “For a while the judge refused to do anything. But then he thought, ‘This widow really annoys me. Although I don’t fear God or respect people, [5] I’ll have to give her justice. Otherwise, she’ll keep coming to me until she wears me out.’ ”
6] The Lord added, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge thought. [7] Won’t God give his chosen people justice when they CRY OUT to him for help day and night? Is he slow to help them? [8] I can guarantee that he will give them justice quickly. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Our Lord looks at saints who keep praying under hopeless conditions as the ones who really have faith. Did you notice that in verse 8? It is not those who sit back and “accept their fates” that Jesus is looking to bless. And He certainly is not blessing those who “trust” God by accepting injustice.
We have been warned that when Christ comes back it will be like the days of Noah. “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days of the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matthew 24:37-39 NKJV
It does not matter that the Bible predicts that the end times will be filled with godless people, doing godless things while living, drinking, marrying, working, and simply ignoring God. They will be so consumed with their selfish pleasures they will not realize their wickedness is angering God.
You are to be on the narrow road with Christ Jesus your Lord. You are not to accept this, tolerate it, or join them in heartless, self-centered living. Despite the warnings from Noah, all the people ignored God’s call to repentance. ALL the people died and entered hell.
Jesus rebuked the Jews in Matthew 21:13 (NLT2) because they did not care for the people all around them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” And Paul reveals in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT2) that we, the church, are God’s temple today! “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
The Almighty expects us to act like Noah, by joining with other Christians and warn the perishing wicked, AND be a House of Prayer by gathering together and wearing out the Father with our cries to have mercy and turn them from their sin. We must continually come to God with requests for rebellious sinners. He will bring a herd of “lost souls” into the safety of the church. He promised! Those who Christ finds crying for souls to be saved at His coming are the ones who really have faith.
Will the Lord Jesus be able to say that you really have faith?
A Call to Share!
“The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God.” Psalm 9:17 NKJV “When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.” Ezekiel 3:18,19 NKJV
The Apostle Paul is our example. He stated: “Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” Acts 20:31 NKJV. Do you notice the heart felt caring, persistent warnings, and emotional outpourings Paul confesses he had for the city of Ephesus. This went on for three long years of obeying his call to preach the gospel. It was not heartless, like we see in America today, but an agonizing experience of love. And here is his call…
Acts 26:16-20 (NLT2)
16 Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future.
17 And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles
18 to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’
19 “And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven.
20 I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do.”
With a passion, he cared for the lost, warning everyone about their danger of God’s wrath that will come to them. In sinful rebellion, men will perish, which is an unpopular belief in our day of tolerance and atheism. Our new scientific knowledge puffs up our world leaders in such pride that they think they do not need the Living God. Our culture has thrown off the shackles of God’s Laws and made their own rules! But the Creator of life will not tolerate their rebellion, and His justice will be fair and everlasting.
Final Warnings
God judges this way … “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you…” 1 Samuel 15:23 NKJV Partial obedience is rebellion against His Law.
His established Ten Commandments are the foundations of His holy nature and character. Any move from these is seen as a threat to God’s sovereign rule. Iniquity is the bent heart of stubbornness, of ignoring God’s will, that leads to actively living out your will instead of God’s will, no matter what you claim you believe with your mouth. Stubbornly not thinking about God’s will for you, and self-willfulness, are just as evil as outright anarchy through witchcraft and idolatry. This is what must be seen today! Do you see it?
It takes genuine love to care enough for others to risk rejection and harm, while you try to warn them. It takes a true love to spend hours of your time praying for those around you. Real heroes are always those who risk it all to save others. Hollywood is built on fables and myths of invented heroes, but God’s kingdom is built on real, eternal heroes. Will the Lord come back and find you full of care, full of insistent faithful prayer, and the eagerness to share the Good News?
E. M. Bounds wrote, “That which has been done in spiritual matters can be done again, and be done better. This was Christ’s view. He said: ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on Me, the works that I do he shall do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.’ The past has not exhausted the possibilities nor the demands for doing great things for God. The Church that is dependent on its past history for its miracles of power and grace is a fallen Church.”
“God wants elect men – men out of whom self and the world have gone by a severe crucifixion, by a bankruptcy which has so totally ruined self and the world that there is neither hope nor desire of recovery; men who by this insolvency and crucifixion have turned toward God perfect hearts.”
“Let us pray ardently that God’s promise to prayer may be more than realized.”
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