Fully Devoted - 3

Subject - Fully Devoted To Prayer

by Rick Welbourne

　

Acts 2:42-47 (NIV) 

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 

45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 

46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

– Changing the order in the verse we will look next week at the breaking of bread on Communion Sunday.

– Today we will look at how the early church fully devoted themselves to prayer.

– So that we’re all on the same page: Prayer is talking to God, waiting, then hearing Him talk back. We usually just do the first part butstruggle to do the last two.

- We hate to wait! How many of you have been to a waiting room? Isn’t it funny how you come on time and still have to wait? Not too funny. Have you ever been tempted to just get up and leave?

- Here’s the deal: prayer is a waiting room. If you aren’t willing to wait on God, you won’t encounter Him!

1. Because of the instructions given by Jesus we should be fully devoting ourselves to prayer and waiting for Holy Spirit.

Luke 24:49 (NKJV) 

49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry (wait) in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."

Acts 1:4-8 (NKJV) 

4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to waitfor the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me;

5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

–The 120 obeyed Jesus and went to Jerusalem to wait for the promise of the Father. What did they do while they waited? Waiting room...Ten days a long time to wait.

Acts 1:14 (NIV) 

14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

–They were constantly in prayer, they were praying without ceasing, they were praying to receive what God had promised to them...they were waiting.

–Well, Pastor Rick, that’s the problem, it was promised to them (120)! Really? I thought the promise of Holy Spirit baptism was for everyone.

Acts 2:38-39 (NIV) 

38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."

–The 120 prayed and obeyed and all of them were baptized in Holy Spirit power.

Acts 2:1-5 (NIV) 

1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 

2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

–They were all praying, they were all together, they all received a flame, they all were filled with Holy Spirit, they all spoke in tongues (praying in Holy Spirit).

Scott Wilson and John Bates - Clear the Stage: The Spirit didn’t come upon those in the upper room to make them happy and self-absorbed. He came to empower them to fulfill God’s bold calling to represent Him in every situation and in every corner of the earth. The disciples in the upper room were united in prayer and focused on God’s Word. That’s the fuel of the Spirit’s power. When we aren’t reading, studying, and responding to the Word of God, we have no fuel to burn.

–The new converts, 3120 now, were praying and all of them were praying to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit.

2. Because of the climate of persecution and threats we should be fully devoting ourselves to prayer for boldness.

–It is so amazing to me that the world was trying to shut the Christians up back then and they are still trying to shut us up now.

Acts 4:17-20 (NIV) 

17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."

18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

19 But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God.

20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." 

–God give me some Holy Spirit filled believers who just can’t help themselves...people who cannot help but to speak of what they have seen, heard, and experienced.

Acts 4:23-28 (NIV) 

23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.

24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.

25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

26 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.

27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.

28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 

– You see, if you’re in the waiting room, it’s because you realize your need for whomever you’re waiting for. You’re in the waiting room because you need that job or you need that doctor or you need that assistance.

- We’re in the waiting room of prayer because we need God! We need His help!

- Maybe the reason some of us don’t pray is because we don’t realize our need for God.

–Notice their first instinct when they were threatened was to pray...they also acknowledged that God had created everything and He was more than able to take care of them.

–They also proclaimed in their prayer that the enemies of God could not do anymore than what He permitted...what his power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

–They prayed that God would supply all that they needed to be able to propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ...I wonder how much prayer goes up like this now?

Acts 4:29-31 (NIV) 

29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

–Can you please pray for your pastors and other pastors that we will preach God’s Word with great boldness...with no fear?

–Can you please pray that God will stretch out His hand to heal and to perform miraculous signs and wonders in these last days?

–Can you please pray until Life Church is shaken and that everyone here is filled with Holy Spirit and they are speaking God’s Word with boldness? Talking about growth!!!

3. When we are fully devoted to prayer salvation comes to entire families.

– We can get so frustrated in the waiting room. All we see is what we see with our own eyes. We see no movement. We see nothing happening to us. What we don’t realize is that the doctor is working in the background. He’s not sitting on a lounge chair sipping sweet tea. He’s helping people! 

- When you pray, God is working in the background whether you see it or not! He’s working on people’s souls, He’s working on your body, and He’s working on your family.

Acts 10:1-2 &9 (NLT) 

1 In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment.

2 He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. 

9 The next day as Cornelius’s messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray...

–What is so amazing about this story and about so many stories we hear is that God was working on both ends of the situation.

–You have Cornelius hungering to know the way and the plan of salvation and what do we find him doing...He is praying.

–Then you have the apostle Peter who was waiting on lunch to be prepared and what was he doing...He was praying.

–We know he was Pentecostal because he was hungry and he fell asleep and dreamed about food...real spiritual guy.

–One of the beautiful truths that we learn from this story is that when people are praying God is working...why? Because He loves people...Jesus died for people.

–You know that it is God working because Peter is told to go with people that the Jews do not normally associate with...Gentiles. Peter first questions but then goes.

–What would you do if God asked you to step out of your comfort zone and share the gospel with someone who is a different color, someone homo-sexual, someone not like you? Would you do it? Peter did. Why? Because he was praying!

– In the waiting room, your intent is to hear the doctor’s voice. You might have a magazine in your hand. You might be scrolling through Facebook but the whole time your ear is inclined, listening for the doctor.

- Our intent in prayer should be to hear God’s voice! And when He speaks, we should act!

- Some of us have the doctor calling our name, "Rick Welborne, Rick Welborne, Rick Welborne…" and we are just sitting there, not responding!

- Have you prayed and waited so long just to not respond? When you hear His voice, get up and respond; whether it’s comfortable or not!

–Cornelius shares with Peter his story and shares how open he and his family are to what he has to say:

Acts 10:30-33 (NLT) 

30 Cornelius replied, "Four days ago I was praying in my house about this same time, three o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me.

31 He told me, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God!

32 Now send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.’

33 So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you."

–Talk about being set up by God...because Cornelius was praying...because Peter was praying, "Now we are all here, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you."

–Pastor Rick, do you believe witnessing can be as easy as praying and seeking God and for God to set you up? Absolutely!

–Peter begins to preach the simple gospel to them realizing God shows no favoritism: Jesus died on the cross, He was buried, and He rose from the dead. Forgiveness of sin.

–Because Peter was praying and because Cornelius was hungry and praying look what happens:

Acts 10:44-47 (NLT) 

44 Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message.

45 The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too.

46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter asked,

47 "Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?"

–When we devote ourselves to prayer God will cause divine set ups that will bring people to Christ.

–Story: Missions trip in Mexico. We had a day of ministry where we said we would be led by Holy Spirit to go and share where He wanted us to...we prayed.

–We drove from where we were staying a few hours on a narrow asphalt road in the middle of nowhere. Turned on a rough dirt road for about another hour.

–We came to a village and thought this was it...Holy Spirit said this is not the place.

–We traveled another hour and to another village (we are praying) and Holy Spirit says not here. The team is beginning to wonder if I have lost my mind.

–It is getting close to dark as we continue to drive on this dirt road and people are getting nervous but remember we prayed...We arrive at a village at the base of a mountain.

–Everyone is waiting in the streets when we pulled up...thru the interpreter I asked what were they waiting for? Someone ran thru our village and said good news is coming today

–We have been waiting for you...we set up the lights and equipment and one of our layman preached a simple salvation message and everyone responded.

–After praying with them I asked them if they wanted to be baptized in Holy Spirit fire? They all said yes! We prayed and I counted to three and said receive the Holy Spirit!

–Prayer erupted throughout the crowd...I asked the interpreter were they praying in Spanish and he said he could not hear any of them praying in their native tongue!

–They were all saved and all baptized in Holy Spirit! Why? Because we prayed!