 Today we're in Acts chapter 2. I'm going to share with you concerning the church that Jesus builds and Today we're going to look at the subject of prayer So in verse 42 it says it continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers Now as we've been seeing in this passage here when we come to the Lord We will openly identify with him in baptism We'll be open to receiving instruction concerning the things of God We become part of a new community of like-minded people and We celebrate Communion together. Those are the initial elements of beginning our walk with the Lord That's what I learned when I first came to Christ. I learned that when I first came to Christ That there were some essential things that would help me to understand What it means to be a Christian see prior to coming to faith in the Lord if you'd have asked me What is a Christian and what does a Christian do? I wouldn't have had an answer for either one of those questions But as I got saved and I began to be discipled and encouraged in the things of the Lord I was told that there were certain things that would help me to grow in my faith in Jesus Christ These are the basic things that every person in this room who has saved Already knows I was encouraged for example to read the Bible. I was encouraged to have Christian fellowship I was in Chris. I was encouraged to share my faith. I was also Encouraged to learn to pray So prayer was an essential part of my earliest days of following the Lord and prayer obviously remains So I mean it is so common in the church It is such an essential practice that none of us in this room even notice how much prayer goes on even during a service Think about it for just a moment. You know how we began this this Wednesday night study It began not with singing it began with prayer and prayer punctuated the entire worship service Even as I'm coming up here. I begin with prayer. It is such an essential It's such a basic thing. I be honest. I'll be honest with you Many of us don't even realize how much we pray even in our Bible studies and regular services That's just part of what we do. It's part of being a believer It's something that we as Christians have been taught to do from the very beginning and so the early church had certain earmarks that distinguished it and and these things like like the teaching the Desiring of teaching by the way, and I want you to see that in verse 42 And it says they continued steadfastly in the Apostles Doc, and there was a desire for teaching And I I could go off on that I'm not supposed to because that's not what I prepared today But even as I'm sharing that right now that that idea that there's a desire to be taught the word of God That is an essential that really I didn't have that identifies us as being Christians I I did a wedding a while back now and and somebody Complained about the wedding now. That's interesting and people complain about a lot of things But to complain about a wedding, but you want to know it was interesting that their complaint was it was too religious Yeah, that in that trivia. I mean But but that's what has happened in our time And so see a lot of times guys when I'm talking to you It's like I'm saying you already know this and you do and you do this is not some kind of Revolutionary study. You've never all of this is let me take notes. This is just really impactful Now these are things that you know, but sometimes we need to rehearse those things We need to revisit those things and sometimes we need to return to those things Because they're the things that we can walk away from over time thinking we already know that I've already heard that and when we get to the point where we say I've already heard that tell me something new And something fresh that's when we've come open to false teaching That's when we become open to error Because we want to hear something novel and very often the novel is not true And so they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine That was the essential. It's from that place That they were able to grow in their faith in Christ. There are people today who will knock on your door and Or we'll stand in front of you know winchels or whatever with magazines and They will argue with you things about God They'll say things like Jesus Christ is Michael the archangel Or they'll say Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer they'll say things like that to you and a lot of believers a Lot of believers will buy into that But I would I would encourage you in this I would encourage you to understand That those things that they're saying to you cannot be found in Scripture You can read the Bible from cover to cover and you can read it a hundred times and you will never find Anywhere in the Bible that ever says that Jesus Christ is Michael the archangel You'll never find anywhere in Scripture and you can read it from Genesis to Revelation or Revelation to Genesis if you want Or anything in between and you will never find that Jesus Christ is proclaimed to be the spirit brother of Lucifer You'll never find that But why do so many people believe those kinds of things they believe it because they're not they're not remaining steadfast in the Apostles doctrine Because somebody is imposing those things on Scripture and then telling people who don't read the Bible that these things are so and So what keeps you safe guys? Stay in the Word of God and that's what they did they read their Bibles They were actually they would read the Word of God, but they also had it taught to them in apostolic instruction That was just simply part of what they were learning That was the essentials of the beginning of the walk with the Lord and so there were things like that they desired teaching They desired fellowship if you don't want to hang around with Christians because we're boring and We are sometimes We can be just to some You're so boring and maybe Maybe we're drinking water from the from the wrong well And when when you don't really care that much About the other things that are so important to the Lord The the communion service or it doesn't matter whether you've been baptized That's that's something to really think about you see the desire For these kinds of things is one of the ways that a person can know that they're saved It reveals a transformed person one who has a new a new nature and because they have a new nature they have a new hunger and The most dominant hunger that they have that everything else is going to be built on is their hunger for the Lord Like it says in Psalm 63 verse 1. Oh, God you are my God Early will I seek you my soul thirsts for you my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is No water So teaching and fellowship the break-in of bread Naturally would include times of prayer. Those are the most basic marks of a Christian congregation believers in God would naturally be lovers of prayer and the Bible is filled with examples of this kind of expression of Faith there's a a writer by the name of dr. Herbert Lockyer Some of you perhaps have heard of him. He's written Various books that are called all the all of the and then the subject is found is that for me? Hope that's Jesus, bro Dr. Lockyer wrote a book. It's called all the prayers of the Bible in his book he counted 650 prayers that were prayed that are recorded in scripture So obviously prayer was it is an essential expression of faith and our relationship to God. I Was reading just today that every book of the Bible contains prayers that have been recorded Acts is what has been called the blueprint for the church It records the birth of the church and it gives the foundations of the early church and the book of Acts Verily very clearly reveals that the early church was a praying church Even before the day of Pentecost. It was a habit of the early Believers to pray faithfully if you looked even at chapter 1. I'm not necessarily encouraging you to but it's just a Page away in Acts chapter 1 verse 14 Notice it will say there these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication You see it's interesting to note Prayer is such an essential and so powerful and and I'd encourage you to think of it like this that When you look at Jesus and you look at his disciples and you look at their relationship Jesus and his relationship with his disciples you you can look from the Gospel of Matthew to the Gospel of John and You can look for requests that were made of the Lord Jesus Christ and It's interesting to note Nowhere do you ever find the Apostles ever saying to Jesus? Jesus teach us to preach Nowhere Jesus teach us to To do communion To perform weddings The only thing you see them ever asking Jesus to teach them to do and you know what it is Jesus they said Lord teach us to pray Now isn't that interesting? They didn't say teach us to preach They didn't say teach us to teach because that's what they're supposed to do right I mean when he gives a commission he says go out. He says make disciples Teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you, but it's interesting. Yeah, if you think about it for a moment It's interesting that they never said to him teach us how to do that But they did say Lord teach us to pray Prayer is that essential and the disciples saw that in their master There was something about his connection with his father that these men wanted also teach us how to pray Prayer in the book of Acts was made So very often that I just want to show you a few things Prayer was made for example for a successor to Judas who vacated his apostolic office. You see that in Acts 1 They prayed regularly Regularly as is recorded in Acts chapter 3 when they went to the temple to pray Acts chapter 6 verse 4 says that they gave themselves continually to prayer in the ministry of the word Acts chapter 7 55 through 60 record Stephen praying that Jesus would receive his spirit when he was martyred Acts 8 records how the apostles prayed for the Samaritans to receive the baptism of the spirit Acts 9 speaks of God telling Ananias to minister to Paul who was at that time praying Acts 9 speaks of Peter praying for a woman named Tabitha as she was raised from the dead Acts 10 Cornelius prayed and God brought salvation to his house acts 12 Peter was put in prison But prayer was made for his safety and release acts 16 at midnight Paul and Silas prayed well in a Philippian jail Acts 20 Paul prayed with the Ephesian elders as they wept and grieved that it was his final goodbye to them You see prayer all through the book of Acts Prayer is a very heartbeat of the church and is a blessing and is also a privilege It is not the last thing that we do when we're in need. It's the first thing that we do always So as Christians, we know that prayer is a conversation that we have with the Lord It's one of the things that God calls us to do and it's a privilege and we need to understand that sometimes sometimes we don't realize the privilege that it is Children can be spoiled. I know none of ours are I'm just speaking hypothetically about Not part of our homeschool ministry for sure. There are no spoiled kids in that, you know, Pastor Chuck Smith my pastors Very blessed man and anybody who knew him would know that I'm just saying some things obvious God use them in tremendous ways Billy Graham is an amazing man Preach to more people in his lifetime than anybody in history But do you think that Pastor Chuck's kids knew he was Pastor Chuck Smith? That they could go to their dad at any time that they wanted Didn't make an appointment didn't stand in line Just walked into his room wherever he was and said dad Want to talk to you for a minute Billy Graham You know Franklin and his sisters Do you think they made appointments to see their dad? Do you think they ever really realized that their dad is Billy Graham? No, he's just dad and you can take that for granted. You can take it for granted That you have access He's your dad You can walk into his office anytime See my kids when they grew up they grew up in the church When they grew up they don't make appointments to see me. They don't knock on my door even I wish they would sometimes but they don't They just barge in They just barge in they'll swing the door in and they bring their brats to that's really their ticket to get in so Do they realize I'm busy. I've got things I'm doing I Have to study. I have a church that I run I've got ministry that I have to do. Do you think they ever think about it? They don't They don't why don't they they're my kids Well, my heavenly father runs a universe a Universe Billions of people that he oversees and you and I Call him dad and we barge into his throne room through the blood of Christ all the time All and then we even get mad at him He didn't listen you're not answering stop think about it for a minute. It is a blessing and a privilege To call God our father and his door is open to us his ear is open to us In Jeremiah chapter 33 verse 3 call unto me and I will answer thee and show the great and mighty things Which thou know us not it's an invitation to pray Psalm 50 verse 15 call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you and you shall glorify me Matthew 7 verses 7 and 8 ask it will be given to you seek you will find knock it will be open to you for everyone Who asks receives he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be open Those are promises and amazing Amazing you call the Lord you don't get a this is a recording You call upon the Lord and his ear is open unto you Bible says that prior to us coming to faith in Christ before we were saved our sins had made a separation Isaiah 59 1 and 2 says behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear But your iniquities have separated you from your God your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear But when God drew us to himself We had to pray We had to pray for forgiveness And when we did he heard I still remember the day I got saved And I never realized I even as I'm remembering as I'm speaking to you right now about it. I never realized I Just thought this was true for every every single person. I never realized that may be a bit different How that after hearing that gospel message and having the invitation given and Being convicted by the Spirit that I needed Christ Having that moment of honest prayer before the Lord silently in a sea of three or four thousand young people seated on a carpet and After hearing the invitation if you want to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior stand to your feet and There I am one spack amongst so many and I pray and say God I know I need you But I'm too shy to stand But if somebody would stand with me I would stand and As God is my witness no sooner add those words form themselves in my mind in the form of a prayer Arthur blessed the evangelist said perhaps you're afraid to stand by yourself But if somebody stood with you, would you stand? Nobody's ever been able to tell me God doesn't hear prayer. How do you explain that? How does the cynic explain that I didn't make that up? It was just honest. I just said God. I'm afraid to stand up If someone stood with me I would Why did Arthur blessed say that you know I met Arthur blessed a couple years ago on my birthday I was on I was on TV. He has a show and he invited me to come on and I spent some time with them When I told them that story when I told them how that happened As I was looking at him because he's only three feet away from me his eyes tears sprung into his eyes when I said that He was so touched by that That he knew that at that moment the Holy Spirit had spoken to his heart a word He wasn't even aware that he was speaking and that it impacted me and that all these years later God had done so many things because of that one moment of obedience. God answers prayer God here's our prayer and he gives to us opportunity to come to him Access to heaven is granted because of a relationship that we have through Jesus Christ Hebrews 4 16 says let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need Jesus in John 16 24 says until now you have asked nothing in my name ask and you will receive that your joy may be full So as Christians we know that God answers prayer because we know that God cares about us and God has made it clear that we can bring our Concerns to him Psalm 34 15 the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous his ears are open into their cry Now I was told when I got saved I mentioned this at the beginning and many of us can relate to this I was told you know again They're basic things that will help you to grow and be consistent in your faith in Christ getting to the word of God Have fellowship with Christian people I'd give your faith away share your faith with other people and pray When I went into the military, I was three months old in Christ. I got saved in December. I got I went into the army in March March 15th and When I went into the military, I was only three months old in Christ I was just learning the essentials and the basics of walking with Christ And so some friends of mine and I in Fort Ord got a weekend where we were able to come home One of my friends had this old Buick, I think it was like a 56 Buick it was big enough to put several of us in it and we started making our way from from Fort Ord up there by Monterey and we started coming down to to the alley County one of my friends lived in Huntington Beach and I Lived in Norwalk and my friend Bill and I were coming home just for the weekend got a pass And I remember this very well Remember as we're driving in this old car that the car broke down ten miles to the north of Santa Maria broke down and it's late at night and At that time if you go up up in that area ever it's a lot different now than it was then it was kind of like a two-lane kind of place it was you know empty and And there we are broken down on the side of the road and it's like eight or nine at night and Who's gonna stop for you know six or seven men on the side of the road? Nobody's gonna do that. It'd be crazy if you did right and So there we are standing on the side of the road, and I'm speaking to my friend Bill. I'm saying how we're gonna get home. I Don't know how we're gonna make it home Santa Maria we had seen a sign ten miles. I Thought we're gonna have to walk to Santa Maria find a bus, you know, I'm already planning it out and So I tell Bill, you know, I don't know what we're gonna do and Bill says well, you know And we're just talking so I went and I stood on the side of the road no cars And I start to stick my thumb out to try to hitch a ride in case a car comes by Bill says to me we're Christians Now this was what when Bill thought he was a Christian then he thought he wasn't when he came back to the Lord later on But anyway, we're Christians Why don't we ask God for a ride? I've that made sense to me. Why not ask God for a ride pray about all things? So I said yeah, so we're like, you know, we and we got these unbeliever friends I mean, there's a few of them none of them were Christians except for me and and Bill was a professing Christian And so we bowed our heads on the side of the road Jesus in your name, you know, we'd like to go home. Would you please provide a ride for us? I still remember a simple prayer then we waited. What is he gonna do because listen in the Jesus movement when I got saved? God was moving in marvelous ways. Why not trust him? Why not? Would it was is it gonna hurt us to ask doesn't hurt, right? What's he gonna do? We had this excitement. Here comes a Volkswagen down the road towards us and They proceed past us stop Back up and it's a young woman young woman. It was a girl. She was 16 17 years old and She had her little brother who was probably 12 13 she rolls back and Stops and they roll the window down. This is what she said. I've never forgotten. She says I wouldn't normally do this but I'm a Christian and God told me to stop for you and so Bill and I ha we did the hallelujah dance. Oh, you know Like Snoopy and so we piled our friends in her car three of them We had a lot of guys with us three of them climbed in her car She says I'll drive to Santa Maria drop them off at the bus stop I'll make you you turn and come back and if any of you others need a ride Then I'll give you a ride to the bus stop too Praise God Now we're all excited Here comes another Volkswagen a Volkswagen van a hippie limousine and he pulls over and They roll the window down to hippies Well, actually one guy The other guy his buddy was laying in the back because that's what you do He was napping while this guy was driving here. Where you guys going man? We say we're on our way to Norwalk in this world. Here's going to Huntington Beach That's where we're going So we pile into this Volkswagen the guy in the front driving was in a Christian My friend Mike Feeney starts visiting with him. They had fellowship as two unbelieving pagans And The guy in the back was a believer So we talked about the Lord Until we fell asleep They pulled over in Norwalk coming out of Santa Maria Let us off by the five freeway and Imperial Highway We walked home, which was only half mile They drove my friend Mike all the way to his doorstep in Huntington Beach God was beginning at that time to teach me that his ear is open to my cry And that's when I was a brand-new believer 20 years old and the Lord said no You ask you call unto me I will answer thee and I will show thee great and mighty things No, it's not in other words. I'm going to blow your mind And so that's a privilege that we have the Lord has a way of answering our prayers And so throughout acts prayer is revealed as the heartbeat of the early church The the believers would pray for miracles. They prayed for healings. They would pray for God's direction They interceded they prayed as they sent people on ministry trips They prayed when they appointed elders and sometimes when you're reading about their prayers They did they're just praising and thanking God as they pray Now I want to give you an example of this by turning you to chapter 4 here in Acts And let me show you a few things About prayer that we find as an example in Acts chapter 4 verses 23 through 31 in Acts chapter 4. Let me read to you beginning at verse 23 Being let go they went to their own Companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them So when they heard it when they heard that they rate heard that they raise their voices 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 Who by the mouth of your servant David have said why did the nation's rage and the people plot vain things The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ For truly against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius pilot With the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done Now Lord look look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness They may speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus And when they had prayed the place where they were assembled together was shaken and they were filled They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness I'll look at the first portion of verse 32 the multitude multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul I want to look at this with you for just a moment just to give you a background By the time you get into chapter 4 verse 23, there are things that have already been reported That you probably would want to be aware of as we look to use this as an example of what caused them to pray There had been a great miracle that had been performed. There was a man who had been crippled for over 40 years It's recorded in Acts chapter 3 as well as into chapter 4 and he had been miraculously healed When this man was miraculously healed that caused a great stir among the people and they were according to chapter 3 verse 11 exceedingly amazed Now these people Witnessed a miracle, but even though they had witnessed this incredible Miracle this man who couldn't walk was suddenly walking leaping and praising God even though they had witnessed this incredible miracle. They remained unsaved And the reason that they remain unsaved is this we need to just remember this miracles by themselves do not Automatically save people Jesus performed many works But the people didn't always come to trust in him as a matter of fact in Matthew 12 24 It reads the Pharisees said this fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzeb, but the ruler of the demons And so just because he did some powerful work doesn't mean that people automatically will receive him as Lord and Savior You see miracles Were intended to draw the attention of people so they could hear the message of salvation and so Peter had insisted on preaching both he and John and They were placed in custody the next day if you were to read this the next day They were brought before the Jewish high the High Court called the Sanhedrin It says in chapter 4 verse 10 that as he stood before the Sanhedrin Peter gave glory to Jesus for the miracle And he reminds them that it was they who had condemned Jesus to death now He wasn't condemning them in a judgmental way. It was really a call for them to be accountable for their actions Well as he's speaking to them and they have this notable miracle before them They don't really know what to do So their solution was to command them to be quiet, but that wasn't possible How do you get quiet about what you're seeing God do you just can't and that's why it says in verse 18 of chapter 4 They called them commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus But Peter and John answered and said to them whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God You judge or we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Somebody says pastor David can we have classes on how to give away our faith and answers? We do have classes to help you to learn to share your faith. Of course we do but You have the power of the Holy Spirit and you've seen God do things and you've heard plenty of Bible studies You know how to do it if you simply open your mouth watch what God will do and That's what they were doing. They were simply reporting what was very obvious at least to them Well, there was nothing they could do except to threaten them and release them. That's what it says in verse 21 So in verse 23 it says being let go they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them now After a night in jail and after boldly preaching they had to be physically drained So what do they do to recover their strength? I want you to notice they lifted up their voices in prayer Let's look at how they prayed. This gives you us an example in Verse 24 when they heard that they raised their voices to God with one accord so one in Prayer they prayed in one accord They fervently took the problem to their heavenly father Together these believers raised their voices to God with great fervor They raised their voices it has been said a prayer that is not felt as seldom heard And so they prayed with great fervor. They raised their voices to God. Why because God is their father and God cares for them When we are saved we have a personal relationship with a heavenly father and we cry out to him We cry out with our needs with our concerns with our sorrows with our hurts And he hears And he hears us James tells us in chapter 5 or 16 the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much Psalm 130 verses 1 and 2 out of the depths. I have cried you oh Lord Hear my voice let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication Some things let me talk to you about this for just a moment some things can drive us to our knees and Some things can compel us to cry out with great emotion to God There are some things that we experience that can cause many sleepless nights They can cause in our life things that are so deeply painful that we don't know how to deal with it That there could be sorrow And there can be grief that is so immense So immense That it drives us to God there are things there are things Not everybody I have to be careful because I always assume everybody everybody has gone through things like Deep loss and all and I think that's a human condition and if we haven't yet we will we will Sometimes when we haven't we don't understand those who have Sometimes Sometimes when we have Gone through something deep We really don't have anybody around us who understands what we're going through anybody here understand what I just said There's times There's times It's it's not that you're looking for some human kind of help But it's nice to have somebody who can say been there done that understand it God will be with you that's There's so much comfort sometimes in the fellowship of suffering Where somebody's able to put their arm around you and say you know what been there walk through that valley God is with you And I'll be with you too, but you call on him. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. He will never disappoint you How do you know I've been where you're at? It doesn't require that I experience everything that you have of course we all have our own types of pain But I can't say this God is with you that that happens And and and it's you're not weak when it does and you're not a bad Christian when you hurt I Think that sometimes we who love the Lord the most can be the most disappointed sometimes Because it causes us great confusion because but Lord I thought and It's Jesus's words. I memorized these a long time ago. He said what I'm doing now You don't understand but you will later But you will later There are things that he teaches you sometimes through the crucible of suffering that you don't even realize you're learning until later on You say so that's why you allowed that in my life So that's why so I could be able to help others So I wouldn't have this self-righteousness isn't the church sometimes has this incredible incredible sense of of inability to to weep with those who weep I Was given a message one time many years ago now I was given a message and in the message I said something or other that triggered a response of some man an older man and And I still remember he is off to my right I still remember as I heard him And it and a sob came it came from deep within it's one of those those cries that come from the Deep part of you and it and it and I heard it it came out in such a painful way I'll never forget that Because right behind him two young people stood immediately Walked out and hurried out the doors and left it disturbed them so badly When this man did what he did scared him. I ran off the stage myself. No scared him Later on I was told that his son had died and I had said something in my message That drew that pain out of him It drew the pain out of him and he couldn't help himself Listen if you can't cry in church, where can you cry? If you can't cry in church Where can you cry? Isn't this supposed to be a safe place for human beings to say hey, I've been hurt I've been bruised. I've been broken. I've been messed up I'm hurting. I'm alone if you can't do it here What can you do it and you know what crying isn't bad And it isn't a lack of faith. It's human and my savior Jesus wept. I guess I can too. I Guess I can too But it's not hopeless It's not a hopeless See I make my cries to the Lord and he hears me and he hears me and he soothes In Psalm 77 verses 1 through 4. It's a psalm of asaf. He says I cried out to God with my voice to God With my voice and he gave ear to me in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing my soul refused to be comforted I remembered God and was troubled. I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled. I cannot speak You ever been there? if you haven't you will if you haven't you will and That's when you discover that there's nothing so deep that you go through that God isn't deeper still Your His under his hands are underneath you lifting you up and you will discover that and you Will praise and love God deeper than ever before because he never left you and he never Forsook you he was there with you all the time He has your tears in a bottle and he remembers keep that in mind Keep that in mind. So we pray What a privilege to be able to come to my father who understands and to say this is where my heart is right now and To know that he welcomes me in You know, you can pray for things like I don't know only or God help my marriage God help my children. God touch my grandchild. God be with my parents my friends And sometimes it can be so overwhelming that you want to give up The psalmist said three words that I want to give to you before I move on Three words that you might want to remember psalm 18 verse 46 the Lord lives The Lord lives in the midst of your loneliness the Lord lives in the midst of your financial stress the Lord lives in The midst of your child who's not doing so well the Lord lives in The midst of a marriage that's that's just having so much problems right now You're not sure what's going to have the Lord lives in the midst of a time when you're looking for work and you can't the Lord lives He's alive and his ear is open and don't give up hope Because he's there and he will deliver you he will walk with you You walk through the valley of the shadow of death you fear no evil one because you are with me I don't walk through this by myself That's what keeps me going I'm not alone. I'm never alone. He's with me And he's alive They said Lord you are God who made heaven and earth in the sea Lord you are able you are in complete control. I can trust you The word Lord is a word that speaks of an absolute master. You are in complete control everything Including my own suffering is within your will You're in control of all events and therefore I trust you. I can trust you to do what is right When you pray be aware of the fact that God is aware of your situation And when you pray remember to trust him no matter what the outward circumstances may be in Verses 25 through 28 they appealed to scripture. They prayed with knowledge concerning God's will for them That's why again, it's so important to know your scripture that you can pray according to it They said who by the mouth of your servant David has said So opposition was foreseen in scripture. So it should not come as a surprise to them even though enemy joins forces they can only accomplish what God has determined and You need to remember that in your spiritual warfare you fight from the position of the victor not the victim You see prayer is not trying to get God on my side Prayer is me moving on to his side and I use the scripture to guide me as I pray in Verses 29 and 30 they pray with boldness. They say look on their threats grant To your servants that we might have boldness. They prayed with boldness. They prayed with faith Because they knew that God would move on their behalf They're not saying we need a place to hide They're saying we need courage to continue We've received orders we have a great commission And we want to be faithful to that Somebody has asked me in the past and even recently as it's been asked many times What gives gave you the boldness to share the gospel with your family? Why did you do it? And the reason I did it is real simple. I believed what God said and I acted on what I believed The gospel is truth Truth sets men free and boldness is simply a combination of God's word God's spirit obedience just acting on it It goes on in verse 31 When they had prayed the place where they were assembled was shaken the result is a visit of God's power They were filled with the spirit. They spoke God's word with boldness the persecution refined them and Thrust them on the one who could and would help them And so what happens verse 32 the multitude of those who believe were one heart and one soul Wherever the spirit of God moves, there's going to be unity. There's going to be concern for others Here in this fellowship, and I'll close with some practical things for you There are opportunities to put this Bible study into practice. You can do it immediately We'll be doing it in a moment when we close with prayer But for those of you who would like to pursue becoming more and more involved as people who pray here in our fellowship We have what we call our men of prayer our men of prayer every Sunday We'll meet it in room 523 from 7 to 8 a.m. And they pray we have couples ministry prayer the first Sunday of the month in room 405 during first service We have women's inaccessory prayer every Monday in room 524 from 9 to 11 a.m. We have compassion ministry prayer every Thursday in room 522 from 10 a.m. To noon We have Friday night prayer meetings on the last Friday of the month in room 524 from 7 to 9 30 We have missions prayer and updates quarterly the first Sunday of the month in room 305 after third service We have prayer that's going on right now as I'm teaching and We have as a as a church the opportunity to gather for prayer on the national day of prayer on May 7th in the Chino City Hall at 1145 and if you can't make it Then we'll be here At 7 p.m. That night Somebody said this and I'll close with a couple last words This is something to think about The first prayer it would seem that is recorded in the Bible is when Adam said This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. He wasn't talking to himself He was speaking to the Lord at your first prayer is Adam as he was blessing God that God gave him a Woman and I'm pretty certain he prayed for the rest of his life because God had given to him a Woman that's a good prompt for prayer But what is interesting is the last promise in prayer that you find in scriptures revelation 22 verse 20 Where it says he who testifies to these things says surely I am coming quickly. There's your promise and the prayer Even so come Lord Jesus. I am coming quickly even so come Lord Jesus Someone asked the question What does it say about our churches today that God birthed the church in a prayer meeting and Prayer meetings today are almost extinct Think about that The church was birthed in a prayer meeting But if you have a prayer meeting Many people are too busy to pray. Is it a small wonder that? this nation Isn't such bad condition When the church has forgotten the power of prayer and It's forgotten the power of the God that we worship who answers prayer It's an earmark of a believer to talk to the Lord To have that moment with God Please feel free to exercise that privilege talk to him often