“The Church’s Thermostat”
Acts 1:12-14
Sermon Series: “The Church”
Introduction: Our fifth core value at True Life is, “We believe that prayer is to be the basis of all that we do as a church and that praying in faith will be the foundation that enables us to take bold risks in obedience to the will of God.” I wonder if that statement is words on a page or if that is really a foundational, driving conviction for us as a church? Warren Wiersbe has written, “Prayer is both the thermometer and the thermostat of the local church; for the ‘spiritual temperature’ either goes up or down, depending on how God’s people pray.” When we speak of prayer, we are referring to talking to God, which includes asking God for things (which is the meaning of the word, “supplication,” that is used in our text).
Main Idea: In a healthy local church, prayer is a first priority instead of a last resort.
What does it look like for a church to pray like that?
1. We are to pray confidently. Jesus told them to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. However, they waited actively instead of passively. They prayed with confidence based on the promise that Jesus gave instead of just sitting back and waiting on God to do it all. We need to learn that we lay hold of the promises of a sovereign God and bring them into our experience through believing prayer and acting on what God tells us to do. We can pray confidently as a church based on the promises Jesus has given us.
2. We are to pray corporately. We are certainly to pray individually as well, and there are multiple examples of this in the book of Acts. However, we must pray together as a church. By corporate prayer, we mean that:
A. Everybody prayed. Verses 14 says they “all” continued in prayer and supplication.
B. Everybody prayed in unity. Verse 14 also says they were praying “with one accord.” This means they were of the same mind, unanimous, and all together. They lived in unity, and they prayed in unity, which is a very powerful combination.
3. We are to pray persistently. They “continued” in prayer, which means they persevered in it. Acts 2:42 says that they continued steadfastly in prayer. It was not an occasional activity for a few people. It was not a last resort after everything else had been tried. It was the driving force of the early church. It was first priority before they did other things. They prayed, they were filled with the Spirit, and then they ministered with power. If we want to minister with power, we must first pray and be filled with the Spirit. When we pray persistently as a priority, we get what God can do through us instead of just what we can do on our own.
4. We are to pray dependently. They lived in such a way that required them to pray like everything depended on the Lord. Unfortunately, we often live such comfortable lives that prayer seems unnecessary unless we have a problem and need to be bailed out. Here are some examples of what the early church depended on God through prayer for:
A. The power to speak His Word boldly in order to fulfill the mission He had given (Acts 4:23-31).
B. Direction and knowledge of God’s will (Acts 13:1-3).
C. Healing (Acts 28:7-10).
D. Help in the midst of problems (Acts 12:1-24).
Conclusion: What is our spiritual temperature? Let’s raise it with the thermostat of prayer.
