Prayer

The Book of the Acts again please. Chapter 6 of the Acts of the Apostles and verse 1. This may follow in line with the ministry this afternoon. Verse 1 of chapter 6, And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.

Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason or pleasing that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to ministry, the ministry of the word.

And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased, and the multitude of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Now over again, please, to chapter 12, Acts chapter 12, verse 1. Now at that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, and he killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. And because it saw he pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also.

Then were the days of unleavened bread. Now look down the chapter, please, to verse 12. And Peter, that is, when he had been released, considered the thing.

He came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. I should have read verse 5. Peter, therefore, was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. Now look down the chapter to verse 21.

And upon a set day, Herod arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a God and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory.

And he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. And I'm reading for this expression. And the word of God grew and was multiplied.

Now a final reading in chapter 19, verse 17. This is after the situation regarding the vagabond Jews and this man, Seba, a Jew who had seven sons. And you remember the evil spirits that answered the Lord.

In verse 15, they said, Jesus, I know, and Paul, I know, but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them and overcame them and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus. And fear came on them all.

And the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. Many of them also, which used curious arts, brought their books together and burned them before all men.

And they counted the price of them and found it 50,000 pieces of silver. That's about $5,600 roughly. And it says, so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

Now God will bless his word with what we have listened to. I want to notice for a few minutes this afternoon the three occasions in the book of the Acts that Luke the physician reminds us of this growth of the word of God and the increase in godliness and blessing among the people of God. We've been reminded from chapter two of the Acts of that occasion when about 3,000 souls were saved.

If we had read a little further, my brother had read in chapter four, he could have read the occasion when there were about 5,000 that were saved. And in chapter six, Luke tells us that the believers were more added to the Lord and multitudes of them, men and women, were added to the Lord. But what I want you to think about is what was it that caused the word of God to grow and to be magnified? We read about an occasion in Jerusalem in chapter six of the Acts.

We read about an occasion in Caesarea in chapter 12, and then in chapter 19, it's Ephesus. And so it's a wonderful thing when the word of God prospers. And I want to suggest that this is a result of what we've been listening to at the conference so far this weekend, the ministry, the faithful, accurate, consistent ministry of the word of God and prayer.

That's what God has blessed, and that's what God will bless. Now, just as in our day, in the early church in Jerusalem, Satan was busy. His tactics are just the same.

In chapter five, if we had read from it, we would see that in that assembly, there was internal corruption, and then there was external persecution. A man and his wife, Ananias and Sapphira, who had made a vow to God, and it's a very solemn thing to ever make a vow to God. If you ever do, be sure you fulfill what you promised.

They had promised as they disposed of their goods to give to God, but for some reason, the enemy, Satan himself, influenced them to lie to the Holy Ghost. And they kept back part of their promise, and the result was both Ananias and his wife fell down dead, and it says, young men arose, wound them up, and buried them. Now, Luke's background often comes out in his writings.

In that section, there are two medical terms that he actually uses. One in verse five, when he says they fell down, that's the word to expire. In chapter six, when it says the young man wound him up and carried him out, it means he was bandaged.

And so, a man's background always comes out in his Christian living. There was a preacher I knew as a young teenager. Before he was saved, he was a plasterer, and even when he was preaching, you would think he was still plastering the walls.

That was a characteristic. Another man I knew, he was quite an agile boxer, and when he was preaching at times, you would almost think he was back in the ring. And so, when Luke writes, we get some of his traits coming out.

Now, I would suggest, as in that assembly, this internal corruption, and then the resulting persecution from the outside. Here's these high priests and the Sadducees. They lay hold upon the apostles, and they're cast into prison.

But you know, Peter was delivered the same night, here in chapter five, but that's not what happened later on when he was in prison. He was out the first night. But God is telling us, in that assembly, there were those that were raised up by God.

Now, you notice he says that we will give ourselves, verse four of chapter six, continually to prayer and the ministry of the word of God. And in verse seven, we have the result of it, the word of God increased. Increased.

And so, the word of God increases as a result of faithful ministry of his word and prayer. Now, there's seven qualifications, at least, that are given for these men that I want you to look at very quickly, very simply. Here are men that should be characterized, characteristic of those that lead in every assembly.

First of all, they were men, not women. Then it says, they were among you. They were in that local company.

And we believe in the autonomous assembly. That is, every assembly is accountable to God. What you, brethren, do here in Blue River has no jurisdiction over assemblies in the area.

You are responsible to God. Men that were among them, then it says, they were of honest report. It's good to see men in leadership that the community respects.

They know them. Honest report from the outside world. Then it says, they were full of the Holy Ghost.

The Spirit of God controlled their activities. And they had wisdom. And like Stephen further down in the chapter, they were a man that were full of faith and power.

Now, how wonderful it is when there are men like this that are leading the people of God. And so, when this was happening, we read the word of God increased. It prospered.

Now, notice quickly what we read in chapter 12. Here's an occasion now, not in Jerusalem, but in Caesarea. We read these words down in verse 24.

The word of God grew and multiplied. Now, Herod was on the throne. Herod, this was Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, who was a despot.

He killed his wife, one of his wives, and a number of his sons. And now his grandson is not too much of an improvement, but he's upon the throne. And he kills James, the brother of John, with a sword.

And Peter's put in prison. But you notice when Peter's in prison, the people of God were praying. Prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

Twice over in that chapter. Down in verse 12, it says, many were gathered together to pray. Now, I want you to notice that this was earnest prayer.

It was without ceasing. You see, God wants us to be in absolute earnest about our prayer, not just a casual mention, but to be in dead earnest, unceasing. Then it was united prayer.

Prayer was made of the church. They were all involved in this. It wasn't just select individuals.

It was the church that was praying. And then this was a direct prayer. It was unto God.

And it was definite. They prayed for him. You know, sometimes in our prayer meetings, brethren pray from Dan to Beersheba.

They cover everything, and there's nothing left for others to pray for. You see, God wants us to be definite in our prayerful exercise. That's what took place during this time of persecution when Peter was incarcerated.

But you notice God answered those prayers. The day came, it says, not the same day, but sometime later. After this earnest, effectual, united prayer for Peter on the part of these believers, there's Peter in that dungeon.

Look at how incarcerated he is. Chained to two soldiers, one on either side. A quartering of soldiers, it says, that were sent to guard him.

In verse 4, four quarterings of soldiers. That's about 16 men. And there he is, two soldiers.

He was sleeping between them, bound with two chains. Then there were keepers at the door. Then there was the first ward and the second ward and the iron gate.

How could he ever be released from that? Well, the angel we read, we could have read, the angel appeared to him, a light shone on the bottom and the angel spoke Peter on the side and raised him up and the chains fell off. And he goes out between the soldiers and passed the first ward and the second ward and the iron gate. And now he's out in freedom and he goes to the home of the believers where they were praying.

Many were gathered praying. And when Rhoda heard the knock on the door and she went to the door and saw Peter, her prayer was answered and she didn't recognize him. Isn't that the way you and I are at times? God answers our prayer, but we're unbelieving believers.

She couldn't take it in. Peter was standing there and they said to her, you're mad. It was this angel you saw.

And finally, they recognized that the Lord had delivered him. But in that day, they were seeking to put this despot Herod upon the throne. They were saying, he's a God.

And they were trying to give him a place that should have been God's place. And the result was that he fell down dead and he was eaten of worms. But it says the word of God grew and was magnified.

How wondrous when God's people are praying and exercised about God's interests and about the assembly. I knew a man over in Iowa, he's in heaven now. And he regularly prayed for every member of the assembly that he fellowshiped with.

Not generally, but individually, he mentioned their names. And so God honors prayer. You remember Samuel? He was a man that was marked by a prayerful attitude.

The psalmist tells us that he was a man that was characterized by a prayerful interest. Again, think of Elijah, that prayed that it might not rain. And then he prayed again in a time of drought that there would be rain.

And you remember he sent his servant and the seventh time he saw that cloud about the size of a man's hand. And soon there was abundance of rain. Can I say, dear brethren, maybe you've been praying for someone or for a circumstance for a long time.

And you haven't seen any indications yet. You haven't seen the cloud the size of a man's hand. Will you keep at the praying? There's so many that we know that are afflicted with dreaded disease.

I was reminded recently of the late Mr. William Rogers in Ireland, a godly man, a man that brethren went to when there were difficulties in the assemblies. And when he died and went home to heaven, there wasn't the same conditions among the people of England. But he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

There was no chemotherapy or radiation treatment in those days. But that x-ray plate showed the malignancy on his lungs. And all over the British Isles, the Lord's people were asked to pray for him that God would heal them.

And when he went back in six months to the doctor to be re-x-rayed and for a report, that x-ray plate came back absolutely clear. No medication, just the prayers of God's people. I want to tell you, brethren, we have a God who still hears and answers prayer.

And then finally, just notice what we read about Ephesus. There's evidence of the working of God in that day. Again, we read those words.

The word of God, it was blessed, it multiplied, and the people of God magnified that this was God's doings. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. How wonderful it would be if in our day we would see evidence of God's workings as a result of the prayer and the spiritual exercise of us as people as we wait for the Lord from heaven.

The Lord bless his word and what will follow.