December 2024

1st December 2024

ADVENT SUNDAY

The Great Commission - Sue Cross

Readings: Acts 4: 23 - 35 & Matthew 28: 16 - 20

For many reasons I love the Advent season. It’s the lead-up to the most amazing story of the birth of Jesus – how everyone involved in that story were all, ordinary people, who believed in God, listened and obeyed Him and prayed to Him. Its lovely to do an extra daily advent study – and to pray additionally every single day!

Today I’m going to talk about THE POWER OF A PRAYING CHURCH

Prayer is so important to the Christian life, so it’s no surprise that many Bible verses remind us of its importance – prayer itself is mentioned between 322 and 547 times depending on the version of the bible you use but there are no less than 650 prayers in the bible.

Every week we read from our service sheet

Father direct our thoughts, teach us to pray.

Now I am not an expert in prayer – far from it!

But I do feel that God is encouraging me to develop more prayer in our church.

There are so many passages in the bible that tell us what and how we must pray together but today I’m using the message from Acts 4:23-37 that Marie-Helene read for us and on this first Sunday in Advent, having lit the first candle of Hope – our Hope has to be that God hears us as we pray – remembering that if we don’t pray how can he possibly hear us?

Let’s start with a prayer

Lord, take my lips and speak through them;
Take our minds and think through them;
Take our hearts and set them on fire with the desire to pray

We pray in the name of  Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The section from Acts 4 tells the story following the imprisonment of Peter and John.

They had just healed a lame beggar man which had been seen by many people - because of this they had been put into jail by the Sadducees

They tried to persuade them to stop teaching about Jesus but of course Peter and John refused so because so many people had seen and heard them the Saducees decided to let them go.

Verse 23 told us "On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God."

1.In a praying church there has to be a recognition of the absolute importance of prayer, so that there is a real desire to pray together .

When the other Christians heard Peter’s and John’s report of events did they hold a conference or throw a party?

No, they prayed - recognising that prayer was absolutely fundamental, and they all felt the same way about it.

Did you know that our church has a prayer group which meets on the first Wednesday of each month? The first monthly prayer meeting was held in October and there were four of us.

The second monthly prayer meeting was held in November and there were 6 of us (would have been 7 but one person couldn’t make it - so – it’s growing!

We shared many examples of answered prayer and spent time  thanking God – something we don’t often do enough! We need to share with each other in fellowship and let each other know how things are with people we are praying for.

Again - If we don’t pray for it – God cannot answer! Should we be limiting God in this way?

We ask ourselves - do we truly recognise the importance of prayer, and have we a real desire to unite in prayer?

In verse 24 we are told "When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them."

2. In a praying church the eyes of faith and expectancy are towards the Lord

They turned their eyes away from their problems, to the Lord who could solve every problem, and who is in control of every situation, whatever problem faces us, it is God who matters!

Not the meetings, not the fellowship meals, nor the money.

These are all, always, always secondary.

So The eyes of a praying church are upon God who is seen in three ways

1. As The sovereign Lord God is the all-powerful creator and sustainer, the One who knows the end from the beginning and who has His great plans which no-one can hinder.

2. As The self-revealing Lord. Verse 25 tells us that God has spoken, not only through the prophets and in His word, but primarily through His Son.

3. As The seeing Lord (verse 29). God sees all, and waits to intervene and accomplish His will in answer to the prayers of His people.

So God’s answer to our prayers are always with His will – sometimes its not what we want as the outcome and certainly the timing is God’s timing and not ours - as I found out with the sale of the Café but he’s really developed patience within me and I trusted that it would happen, but in His timescales!

See how they prayed in verse 27 - 29!

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.  They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 

3 . In a praying church there is an overwhelming desire to obey the Lord’s commission to evangelise the world.

They didn’t pray ‘Grant that we may be kept safe’ or ‘Grant that Peter and John may be protected’ or ‘Lord, don’t let it happen again!’ – but they prayed, ‘Lord, help us to get on with the job of proclaiming the gospel!’

In a praying church this should be the overwhelming desire of the members.

In our second reading – known as the Great Commission which Janet read for us – the church is given its marching orders! Jesus’ is directing his followers to make disciples.

Pray that your church would make disciples.

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

Does this characterise our church? Do we go out and about and tell people about God?

Is there a constant effort being made – to witness and to bring people into the family of God?

Do we as a church pray about it?

We shouldn’t assume that if we ask people they won’t want to come – we should pray about it and name those we want to invite – IT WORKS! God works!

The Chariots of Fire evening was a great example of that – personal invitations were given and we had a great turnout and a great evening – many are waiting for us to show the sequel to it -  in the New Year.

4 . In a praying church there is faith to demand miracles.

In Verse 30 we heard "Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

Which is exactly what Peter and John had done with the beggar.

Where prayer is exercised God acts.

The fact is that when the Church prays miracles really do take place.

God is pleased to heal the bodies and minds of His children.

Just some recent examples through our prayers – Eleanor and Antonin, Sharon, Ben, Julien’s mum, my Mum, Eoghan, Mally, Dalton, all making real progress in their lives

God does act!
  

5. In a praying church the Holy Spirit manifests His presence and power

In verse 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."

We are not considering what happened on the Day of Pentecost: this happened after Pentecost.

There may never be another Pentecost  – after all, Pentecost was truly about the birth of the church.

So, yes, when we celebrate Pentecost we celebrate the coming of the Spirit and the birthday of the church - but there can still be – and there are plenty of Pentecost moments through the work of the Spirit!   Prayer is the secret Prayer is the secret!
  

It has been said that “Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God.”

Ask ourselves - Is there anything in our lives that is holding us back from being bolder in our witness for Him?  If so, we need to turn it over to Him today - so pray about it! Ask for prayer from the group, join the group and get support!

If we want our church to grow – we have to PRAY MORE!

Just a week or so ago I sent someone a link to the Lectio APP and as I was praying that evening they wouldn’t find it too much to take in – at that very moment in the ,midst of my prayer I had a message from the person I was praying for – confirming that it wasn’t too much at all and WOWING when I told them I was just in  prayer for them!

IT WORKS!

After someone begins to recognise Jesus, they need to learn about faith, which is exactly what Jesus says in verse 20. Jesus tells his disciples to “teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

The church’s primary mission is to teach everyone what Jesus taught, and in order to do that, the church must teach the Scriptures, study His word together, pray together.

To enable this to happen, there is an incredibly important prayer that we must all pray - for those people who have been called by God to teach and preach.

We should pray for Martin to find support on a regular basis so that he doesn’t become burdened with leading and preaching every week – it’s not easy and it’s very time consuming! Hence he’s having a well deserved rest this morning!

So

Will you do your part, knowing God will be there helping you, to make your church a praying church?

Our next prayer meeting is on Wednesday 4th December – so this Wednesday– you are all very welcome to join us!

Do not feel that you have to pray and say anything – listening is good too!

We have also  recently formed a WhatsApp group for those who would like to be more involved in our church prayer life.

It’s a caring and confidential place to seek prayer and to pray for others – have a chat with me later if you’d like to join.

Mother Teresa said

“Prayer is as necessary as the air……….., as the blood in our bodies,…………….. as anything to keep us alive ……………..to keep us alive to the grace of God.”

We can also think of Prayer as a plant, the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian,

IF it is well cultivated and nourished it will produce fruit, but if it is neglected, it will wither and die.

Let us Pray

Lord on this first Sunday of Advent, Help us to live lives of hope.

Help us to remember that our hope is found in Jesus.

Through prayer we can enter into God's presence and ask Him to prepare our hearts, the way He prepared all of history to receive the gift of His Son.

Christ gives us hope to know that He is with us in this life as well as in the life to come.

No matter what may happen, our hope is entirely found in Him.

So Lord as we just think back on Your word today.

Help us to recognize the absolute importance of prayer.

Give us eyes of faith and expectancy towards You Lord.

Give us the desire to obey Your commission to evangelise and witness to the world.

Send Your Holy Spirit with His presence and His power amongst us.

God of light, shine forth, show us how  to bring hope to others. Amen.