A PRAYING CHURCH
Text: Acts 2:42
42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
1. Prayer And The Church’s Vital Signs (Acts 2:42)
- Prayer is the Christian’s lifeline. It is to the Christian
One of the reasons that we see limited results in churches in America today is because the churches are not breathing - they are spiritually unconscious.
We must check our vital signs as a church. Are we breathing spiritually?
2. Prayer And The Church’s Atmosphere (Mk 11:15-18)
- What made Jesus, the Son of God, so agitated? What made Him so indignant? His house was being prostituted for purposes other than what it was intended for.
Jesus was saying, “The atmosphere of my Father’s house is to be prayer. The aroma is to be that of people opening their hearts in worship and supplication.”
Prayer is the defining mark of the
3. Prayer And The Church’s Empowering (Acts 1:8, 14, 2:1-4)
Jesus Christ empowered His church, not while someone was preaching, but while the church was
JB Philips (speaking of the early church in Acts) said, “… if they were uncomplicated and naïve by modern standards, we have ruefully to admit that they [early Christians] were open on the God-ward side in a way that is almost unknown today.”
- “Open on the God-ward side.” This one brief phrase sums up the secret of power in the early church, a secret that hasn’t changed in two thousand years.
4. Prayer And The Church’s Treasure (Rev. 5:8)
- What is the incense that is so fragrant to Christ? The
- If our prayers are so important to God, then why don’t we pray more?