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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
He
would go off to a lonely place to pray.
Upon His return He would preach and
teach in the towns of Israel and the
power of God would erupt through His
ministry. The blind received their
sight, the deaf could hear, the lame
walked on His command, the sick got
well, the demons were cast out; even
the dead received new life. I
think the disciples began to make a
connection between His prayer life and
the power in His ministry. So they
asked, "Lord, teach us to pray..."
In
other words, they "wanted in on it."
They wanted to be able to tap into the
power of God just as Jesus
did. This,
of course, was exactly what Jesus
wanted. So He taught them to
pray. They
learned their lessons well. As the
early church emerges in the book of
Acts, we see evidence that it continued
the ministry of Jesus. The lame walked
(Acts 3:1-10); the sick got well (Acts
5:12-16); the demons were cast out
(Acts 16:16-18); even the dead were
raised (Acts 20:9-12). On
the day of Pentecost, 120 people
received the Holy Spirit. A few days
(and only two sermons!) later the
church had grown to more than five
thousand -- and that was just counting
the men! I
believe the church in Acts moved in the
power of God because it was a church
given to prayer, a church that lived a
life of prayer. In
Acts 2:42 we are told "they devoted
themselves . . . to prayer." Indeed,
some form of the word "pray" appears in
20 of the 28 chapters in Acts. And in
the eight chapters where the word
itself isn't used, there is some
reference related to prayer in six of
them, leaving only two chapters in Acts
without any reference at
all. The
early church was a church at prayer --
able to move in the power of God
because they were willing to
pray. Jesus
never claimed to do anything on his
own. On the contrary he said in John
8:28-29: "I do nothing on my own but
speak just what the Father has taught
me. The one who sent me is with me; he
has not left me alone, for I always do
what pleases him." Jesus knew that His
power came from His union with the
Father. The
power of the church is directly related
to its union with Jesus, and its union
with Jesus is directly related to the
time spent in prayer. Several
years ago we spent some time focusing
on prayer and made something of a
corporate commitment to prayer. Have we
stuck with it? I'll
leave your personal prayer life to you
and God for now, but I need to meddle a
little bit with your commitment to
corporate prayer. Are you in a prayer
group? I'm not talking about praying
for personal needs, although that is
extremely important, but a group that
regularly prays for the church, for
revival and community
transformation. Our
men's group that meets in my office on
Wednesday mornings at 6:10 a.m. draws
only three or four. At the Wednesday
evening prayer meeting, we usually have
8-to-12. If
you can't come to one of these, perhaps
you could you
start
a prayer group. With conference
calling, several people could have a
regular prayer meeting on the
phone! I
still believe any church can begin to
move in the power of God, not unlike
what we see in the book of Acts -- but
only if it is willing to pray and
obey. "Lord
Jesus, teach us to pray." In
all the uncertainties of living in a
fallen world there are two things you
can count on: God loves you and so does
the preacher. See
you in church Sunday!
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
Ministry
of the
Word:
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Our quarterly e-magazine
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Today
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The
Gateway
Blog
(online
newsletter)
FROM
THE PASTOR
From
Gateway
Today
The
e-magazine of
Gateway Church
FALL
2003
Prayer,
the price of power
One day Jesus was praying in a
certain place.
When he finished, one of his disciples
said to him, "Lord, teach us to
pray…."
(Luke 11:1)
The
disciples of Jesus had noticed a
pattern in His life.
by
Jerry
Sermons
Power
in the church
As
a result of this outpouring of Holy
Spirit power, the gospel spread like
wildfire and the church enjoyed
tremendous growth.
A
prayer check-up
