DEVOTED TO PRAYER, Acts 1:12-14

The last thing Jesus told his disciples to do before ascending to the Father was to stay in Jerusalem and prayer.  He had given them the task of witnessing to the ends of the earth.  They were told to make disciples, as they went through their lives, of every nation.  The job was clear, the question remained how.

The world they inhabited was hostel toward the gospel.  It had not yet been 50 days since Jesus was executed.  Opposition to the young church was strong.  The small group of followers were scared and outnumbered.  They had talked with the risen savior on a number of occasions, but now he was gone.  There was not a good track record on the part of Jesus’ followers.  They had deserted him in his hour of need.  The disciples on the road to Emmaus did not recognize him at first.  Thomas refused to believe in Jesus until he saw the wounds and touched them himself.  So they on the one hand had been with the risen Christ, but remember they had walked intimately with Jesus for three years and they still crumbled under pressure.  What was to say that it would not happen again?

Jesus promised that they would receive power for ministry when the Holy Spirit came upon them.  His presence would make all the difference in the world.  But for that to happen, the disciples needed to pray.  Not just cursory formal prayers, not liturgical prayers said during temple worship as important as they might be, but heart felt prayers that sought answers to the question, where do we go from here.  They were devoted to prayer.

Not knowing what to do next they turned to the Lord to seek his guidance and strength.  This was their life.  The church and the message and the commission to go were central to who they were as the people of God.

When the world is hostile to what you believe it has a way of galvanizing you for the tasks ahead.  The church grows when it is not too comfortable in the surrounding environment.  The culture of the day wanted to bring and end to this group that they saw as a threat.  The disciples were gathered together in an upper room.  They were fearful and uncertain about their future.  Being few in number, uncertain about what to do and where to go and feeling disconnected from those around them they took the only road open to them and that was prayer.

We have a different reality in many ways, yet the message remains the same, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, and believe the gospel.”  The commission is the same, “Go and make disciples of all nations.”  But often the conclusion we draw is different.  The disciples were driven to God.  We are not always.  The message and the urgency of their commission sent them to their knees.  They were a community in need of strength to walk in obedience to their savior Jesus.  They needed the wisdom of God and the power of God to walk in obedience to God.

Is it different for us?  I wonder who gathered here this morning would define their Christian journey and one devoted to prayer.  I would like to be wrong about but I am not sure.  As a people do we pray?  Our national loyalty is sometimes confused.  We are not always clear as to which kingdom our primary allegiance is directed.

In spite of the fact that Jesus clearly stated that his kingdom is not of this world we live under the myth that this is a Christian nation.  That being the case our cause in not to convert the lost, but to reclaim the conditions of the nation, to get back to our Christian roots if you will.  We become uncomfortable when we see non Christian things happen around us.  We are concerned that mosques are appearing in our community.  It is unsettling to see people of different cultures sharing our space.  Our initial reaction is to seek to change the laws or fight to prevent certain laws from being changed.  I get e-mails all the time asking be to join this or that cause.  Facebook debates rage as to whether or not we are or ever were a Christian nation.  The talk is endless, but are we talking to God?

The urgency of the Great Commission is often lacking in us.  Since we don’t see the need to take the gospel to the lost in our community, to the people in our building, on the job, or in the gym we feel no need to pray.  People ask for prayer when a loved one is sick, or they are out of work and looking for a job.  Prayer is asked for when people travel, but I can’t remember the last time someone asked me to pray for a coworker who needs Jesus.  We are not engaging the lost in conversation like we should and so there is no felt need for the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We as a body have sensed that God is calling us to minister to people in and around the arts.  Are you asking God to bring you personally into contact with the people of that community?  We go about our lives thinking the ministry at the church is a good idea and we hope someone picks up the ball, but we have our own lives to live.

For the early believers the gathered body the church was central to their lives.  It wasn’t a once a week occurrence as it is for many.  Why does one come to church?  Because it’s Sunday and that’s what you do?  Because you need you spiritual fix to get you through the week? 

Jesus said, “Go!” and they took him seriously.  He tells us the same thing and you ask, “When is the preacher going to get off of this topic?”

I guess I have a problem of priorities.  I think Jesus is very important in our lives and deserves our all and all.  Didn’t he go to the cross for us?  Didn’t he die so that we might live?  Shouldn’t he be a higher priority in our lives over family, work, and play?

I hear often from people that they don’t know what to do.  They would like to witness but they don’t know how.  They would like to be in ministry but there are priority issues and time constraints.  People want to talk about the church, have meetings, complain and lament.  Everyone has ideas of what should take place and everyone feels powerless in light of the obstacles before us.  But do we pray?

The disciples were gathering behind close doors in an upper room.  They were just commissioned to change the world.  They were well aware of their shortcomings and their past failures.  They were no different than you and I.  Confronted with all of this they went to prayer.  They were devoted to prayer.  It was a lifestyle decision.  Prayer is the beacon by which the thrust of one’s life can be seen.  The person that takes the time and makes the effort to pray has gotten their priorities in order.  No pray is the evidence of an undisciplined life.

The disciples were so unsure of what was before them that we are told that they devoted themselves in pray and because of that saw the results.  We are here in Acts 1.  By Acts 2 the power of the Holy Spirit falls in response to prayer and the disciples are no longer found in the upper room but are out in the streets declaring the grace of God.  The result of answered pray is an active body of believers working for the spread of the kingdom and thousands coming to faith.

Here we sit in the midst of a mission field that if reached the effects would be felt worldwide.  We have all been placed by God into places of influence on our jobs or in our school.  Opportunities are all around us.  We lack the power that comes with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We don’t pray.  We don’t pray because we don’t see the need.  Prayer is only for those times when we feel helpless, and since witnessing of our life in Christ is not seen as a pressing need we don’t feel the need to pray.

One thing is different for us than the disciples in our text.  The Holy Spirit has come upon the church.  He is already in our midst and dwelling within us.  We are not waiting for him to come.  We are not informing God of the needs we face because God by his very nature knows all things.  We have the long history of the church that witnesses to us the power of God. We are not the first to find ourselves in a situation like this.  Or job is not to call down God as if he is not already on the scene.  Our job is to get in step with what God is already doing in this place.  We have in a very real way sought the Lord about our calling as a church and Steve has down a good job of leading the discussion and clarifying the vision, but it doesn’t stop there.  The vision sets before us the task ahead, now its time to get to work.

Jesus set the task before the early disciples and he has set ours before us.  What we need is to tap the power of the Holy Spirit in our midst.  Jesus waits for us to join him.  I believe that there is a bit of confusion on where to go from here I sense it myself.  This is a hard city and the people of this church don’t stay around very long and that is just the nature of the city.  This is God’s work and so we need him to point us in the right direction and to empower us for the work of the ministry.

Paul reminds us of a very important point.  When we don’t know what to pray the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings that can’t be uttered.  When we don’t know what to pray or how to pray all we need to do is come before God even in silence and let the Holy Spirit intercede, to pray for us.  It is not something we should take for granted.  We need to get before God in silence and let the Holy Spirit do his work.

The city pulls us in many directions and the people in this city like to get things done.  This work we are called to is the work of God.  We don’t need to get things done we need to walk in step with the one who has called us to declare is gospel. 

I am confident that God is at work here.  He has done great things for us.  Each week we gather together to hear him speak and as we partake of the sacrament we declare the gospel a fresh and are built up in our faith.  What we fail to do is take this message out into the streets with us.  When the early disciples received the Holy Spirit they took to the streets and told everyone the Good News that Jesus died for their sins and through faith in him they too could be saved.

We have the Holy Spirit.  We don’t have to wait.  What we need to do is to walk in the assurance that the promise of God is real and the Holy Spirit is among us.  We need to live our faith out loud.  This city is lost and we have the answer.  We draw our strength from spending time with God.  We need to be devoted to prayer.