As a pastor, I have been preaching through the Book of Acts at the church week by week, trying to reapply the message of the Gospel in contemporary terms to the living situation of the 20^th century. It is a more difficult process than sometimes we really recognize or admit. One reason why I was eager to teach the Book of Acts is that, in the reapplying of the message to each succeeding generation, there sometimes can come to be some distance between the original and the application. So it is instructive to go back to the original, to go back to the church in its foundational period – to look at its methods, look at its mes­sage, look at its organization and then again check ourselves to see how we stand in relation to the original. What were the points of emphasis among the early Christians? What were their priorities? What was the message they preached? How did that message compare with the message we preach today? I have found repeatedly that we do not always measure up very favorably to the message as it actually stands in the text of Scripture itself.

A number of the commentators suggest that because there is no original title in the book of Acts, it really should be called the Continuing Acts of Jesus Christ rather than the Acts of the Apostles. It is not just an account of the apostles. It is to some extent an account of Peter and Paul, but even so it is really an account of the ongoing work of Jesus Christ, more than it is an account of the apostles. In Acts 1:1 Luke speaks of "the first account I composed Theophilus about all that Jesus began to do and teach." The implication is that the Gospel is the account of what Jesus began to do and Acts then is the account of what Jesus continued to do. Some of the commentators even suggest that there was supposed to be yet a third account, an ongoing account of the work after Paul had arrived in Rome. So we have here the continuing work of Jesus Christ as He governs and guides His church. His ministry continues through the agency of the apostles as the church moves from Jerusalem, to Judea, to the ends of the earth, the ends of the earth being represented by Paul's arrival in Rome and the ministry that he conducted there. Howard Marshall says, "the Gospel of Luke tells what Jesus began to do and teach. Acts relates what He continued to do and teach through the agency of his witnesses." Richard Longenecker in his commen­tary says very much the same thing. So we have here a source book on how Jesus continues His ministry – the means and methods that He uses. I would not say it is a textbook on the growth of the church, but it is about the closest thing that we have to a textbook on church growth.

It would be simplistic to say that everything we find in the book of Acts is meant to be normative for us today. I do not think even the charismatics would say everything is normative. After all, in Acts 1, in order to receive guidance they cast lots. Is there any suggestion that should be normative for the church in its decision making process? Ought we to roll the dice every time we are deciding whether or not to build, or hire a minister? No, there is no reinforcement of that through precept or by repetition. Even those who believe that the gift of ton­gues is ongoing and normative for the life of the church do not look for a mighty wind or tongues of fire. The tongues of fire, the rushing wind, and the noise are not normative every time that the Holy Spirit is poured out. How about church discipline? Whenever God wants to purify His church does He strike people dead as He did with Ananias and Sapphira? No, that does not seem to be normative either. The filling of the Holy Spirit is normative, guidance is normative, discipline is normative, but some of the externals attached to those things are not normative. So we would want to maintain that where we have reinforcement through repetition or through precepts, there we have the apostolic pattern for the life of this church. We have its mission, its life, its organization, its priorities, its message and its methods. Here we have the original and apostolic form of the church.

Now what I want us to see in particular is that in Acts, the progress and the growth of the Church comes basically through three means:

1. It comes through the sovereignty of God;
2. It comes through the proclamation of the Word; and
3. It comes through prayer. It is the first and the third that I want us to consider now.

Growth comes through the sove­reign action of God. In Acts 2:2, the Holy Spirit is poured out at the time which God determines sovereignly. To be sure, the disciples are in prayer. But God determines the moment at which the Spirit comes. The Spirit comes suddenly and virtually unexpected at a time which God alone determines. In Acts 2:39, Peter says that the promise is for as many as our Lord our God shall call to himself. That is a clear statement of the sovereignty of God in calling sinners unto himself. In Acts 2:42 it was the Lord who was adding daily to the number of the Church. The conversion of the Ethiopian, the conversion of Saul who was called a "chosen instrument" in Acts 9:15, the conversion of Cornelius – all these are clearly sovereign actions of God. Repentance is called a gift that is granted in Acts 5:31 and 11:18. Then most clearly – in Acts 13:48 – Luke says as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. The Greek word translated "appointed" or "ordained" can even mean "enrolled," F.F. Bruce says, as if enrolled into the book of life. As many as had been enrolled, believed. Clearly there is an emphasis on the sovereign activity of God in converting sinners and bringing them into the number of the Church.

Yet, at the same time, it is also clear that every major advance in the work of Christ is preceded by or takes place in the context of prayer. God is sovereign and yet virtually every single event is explicitly stated to have taken place in the context of or is preceded by prayer. That is true not just for the Acts of the Apostles, but it is true for the Gospel of Luke as well.

This emphasis on prayer is a distinctive feature of the Gospel of Luke in comparison to the other synoptic gospels. Time and time again, events that pass without comment in the other synoptic gospels, are related by Luke to prayer. In Luke 1:10 the people are in prayer when the angelic visitation occurs with Zacharias. In Luke 3:31, it is while prayer is taking place that the heavens are opened and the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus. In Luke 5:16, it says that Jesus went out into the wilderness to pray. In Luke 6:12, prior to the calling of the twelve, Jesus spent the whole night in prayer. In Luke 9:18, prior to asking Peter "Who do men say I am?" Jesus was in prayer. It was while Jesus was praying in Luke 9:28, 29 that He was transfigured. It was while Jesus was praying that He was asked, "Lord, teach us to pray." In Luke 11:9: "Ask, and you shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened to you; seek, and you shall find." Jesus goes on to say, "Ask and the Holy Spirit shall be given to you." It is distinctive to Luke to say that the Holy Spirit is given to those who ask. Then the two parables beginning in Luke 18 show that we are always to pray and how we are to pray. Luke, in other words, in contrast Matthew and Mark, is making a point about a role that prayer plays in the progress of the Kingdom of God. Jesus, alone or with the apostles and disciples, is in prayer at each of these critical junctures in the progress of His ministry.

We can see the same emphasis in the book of Acts. In Acts 1:14, the disciples are continuously in prayer awaiting Pentecost. In Acts 1:24, prior to the selection of the twelve apostles, they are in prayer. In Acts 2:42, Luke characterizes the life of the early church as continually devoted to prayer. After Peter is released by the authorities in Acts 4:24-34, the believers turn immediately to prayer.

They pray for boldness and they are filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 6:4 the apostles say "we must devote our­selves to prayer." In Acts 6:6 they pray before they lay their hands upon the seven. In Acts 8:15 it is the prayers of Peter and John that lead to the Samaritan Pentecost. In Acts 9:11 Ananias is sent to Paul as Paul prays. In Acts 9:40 Peter prays prior to raising Dorcas from the dead. In Acts 10:9 Peter's vision of the unclean animals a critical juncture in the progress of the gospel to the Gentiles – takes place in the context of his prayer. In Acts 10:4, 31 the vision given to Cornelius is in response to his prayers and his alms. In Acts 12:5,12 fervent prayer is being offered up for Peter's release. In Acts 13:3 Paul and Barnabas are set apart for the first planned missionary jour­ney to the Gentiles by prayer. You can just go on through the book: Acts 14:25, 16:25, 20:36, 21:5, 22:17, 28:5. Luke is making the point that at each critical juncture in the progress of the Kingdom of God, you find the people of God in prayer. The apostles are continuously in prayer. Everywhere that you do not have a specific reference to prayer, you do have this blanket statement that they were continuously in prayer (Acts 6:4). That was characteristic of the life in the church.

Now what are we to make of this? Let me draw some conclusions. First it seems clear that prayer is the context in which spiritual progress is made. I would say this is the very least that you could conclude. Even if you do not see a casual link between prayer and events, then you would at least be able to say that it is in the context of prayer, that it is in the environment of prayer that God is pleased to bless. There is something about prayer in what it does to us and what it does in the perspective of others that creates an environment that God is pleased to bless.

What do I mean here? There is no time at which we are more weak, more dependent, where we are more humble than when we are on our knees before God. And when we are weak, God is pleased to bless. His power is perfected in weakness.

It is often said that prayer changes us and that is exactly right. We need to pray because we need to be changed. When we do not pray, we become distorted in our perspective. It is too easy for us to assume that the Kingdom of God progresses because of our great gifts and abilities. We become con­fused about our self-sufficiency. We become confused about our ability to accomplish things in and of ourselves. We become guilty of pride. But prayer is an admission of our inability. It is an admission of the futility of our own efforts: that we cannot accomplish these things on our own, that we are de­pendent, that we are needful, that our efforts are completely futile and worthless apart from the blessing of God. So even if you do not see a casual link between prayer and the event, the least that you could say is that prayer creates the environment – the position of the heart – that God is pleased to bless, as His people take the stance of weakness and humility before Him.

In addition, prayer says something to others. It creates an environment where others look at us and look at our churches and see what God is pleased to bless. Prayer changes us, but it also shows what God wants the world to see and wants the rest of the church to see. You see, when we are involved in other activities, people can attribute the progress of the church and the growth of the church to those activities. They can attribute the progress to a great preacher with great gifts of communication, wonderful il­lustrations, or marvellous oratorical skills.

Or they can say a church is growing because of beautiful buildings or a wonderful gymnasium. Perhaps the church has a beautiful sanctuary or a great steeple and a fellowship hall that is just peerless. It has this modern nursery and all the young couples are so pleased to bring their children into the nursery.

Or they could explain the growth of the church by the programs it has. It has something there for everybody: something for the singles, something for the divorced, something for the young and for the old and for the in-between. It has programs for everybody. People can conclude that the church's programs are the reason for its growth.

Or, people may attribute progress to the wonderful creativity of the pastor. He has such a creative mind as he tries to minister to his people. What a powerful fund raiser he is. The tech­niques and methods he is using are the sources of success.

You see, people can look at all of the means that we use except prayer, and explain the growth and progress of the church in terms of all of these things that we are doing. But, when we are on our knees before God, and God blesses, that creates an environment in which He alone gets the glory. People cannot but conclude that it is by His doing (1 Cor. 1:13).

Our first conclusion, then, is that prayer is the context in which spiritual progress is made because it creates an environment where God is pleased to bless. But I want to go a step further. Our second conclusion should be that prayer is the cause of the spiritual progress that is made. I think there is a casual link so that prayer is the means by which results are produced. Jesus said in Luke 11:9, "Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you." What is that but saying that prayer is the means by which you do receive and you do find. Prayer is the way that doors get opened. James says, "You have not because you ask not" (James 4:2). What is that but to say that you would have had it if you had asked. But you did not ask, so you do not have. Is that not a statement of cause? If you would have asked, you would have; but you did not ask, so you do not have. Prayer is the cause of the opening and receiving and of the blessing that God is there ready to give, but He did not give because you did not bother to ask. "Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

How is it that people are changed? How is it that circumstances are changed? Why does Paul pray at the end of Colossians or tell his people to pray that a door will be opened? Does that door open because they pray? That certainly seems to be the implication. You pray and God opens the door. Why is it that he prays at the beginning of Philippians and Colossians and Ephesians that God will open up the hearts of people, that their minds will be enlightened, that they will be illuminated by the Spirit, that they will grow in wisdom and knowledge? How is it that sanctification takes place in the hearts of the people? Is there a connection between prayer and the spiritual growth of a congregation? Is there a relationship between prayer and people coming to spiritual maturity, being sensitive about their sins, coming to a solid and firm understanding of the gospel as implications? Unless Paul is just perpetuating a pious fiction, there must be some casual link there. It must be that prayer is a means, that there is an effectual quality to prayer, and that through prayer God actually changes people.

How, you may ask, does that connect with the sovereignty of God? Is God not sovereign in all of these things? If God is sovereign, why bother to pray? But that is an arbitrary question. It is just as logical to ask: if God is sovereign, why bother to get out of bed in the morning? Right? If God has ordained whatsoever comes to pass, has He not ordained that my shoes will get on my feet? Why do I have to put my shoes on my feet? If He ordained that I will get out of bed and eat break­fast, then can I lie in bed until He gets me up? You see, once you answer the question how it is that God could be sovereign over every molecule of existence and ordain whatsoever comes to pass, numbering even the hairs on our head and the sparrow who falls out of the tree – once you have answered that question and realize that ends are ordained through means, you realize that it is arbitrary to raise it at the point of prayer. Prayer is just another one of those means. How do people get saved? We preach the gospel to them and we pray for them. Prayer is as much a means of grace as is the proclamation of the Gospel. Prayer is the means by which those hearts are opened.

This point is the emphatic message of Acts 2. Jesus had told His disciples to wait until they were clothed with power from on high. Now those disciples had been with Jesus for three years. They had been trained. They were convinced of the resurrection. They had all the tools they needed. They had received all the instruction that they needed. Yet Jesus said, "Wait." Is that not a clear, ringing message for the church that in spite of the training, in spite of the knowledge, in spite of all that they had received, that they were not ready until they were clothed with power from on high? The means by which they were to be clothed was their continuously devoting themselves to prayer.

The Holy Spirit came to a prayer meeting. As the disciples were praying, the Holy Spirit descended upon them and clothed them with power. Only then were they ready to go out and preach. The Lord taught them and teaches us that prayer is a means by which the Spirit is given and by which the preaching becomes effectual. Hearts are changed and people are built up through the means of prayer.

Why is it that in this twentieth century we have time for everything under the sun, so it seems, except for prayer. We have so much activity – we have it coming out of our ears – but we seem hardly to have any time whatsoever for prayer. We remain unconvinced that it is important. When will we ever learn this lesson that is so emphasized and emphatic in Luke and Acts, that prayer is given both as the environment in which God blesses, and also as the means by which God brings about spiritual progress for His church.

I am convinced that there is no more necessary lesson for the church of the twentieth century to learn than this one: that prayer along with the preaching of the gospel is the primary means by which God blesses His church. If we learn that lesson, we will see the church make progress in the twentieth century. We look around at our world and what do we see? We see the continuing tidal wave of secularism, of humanism, of amorality, of heathenism that threatens absolutely to overwhelm us. How is that tide ever to be turned? How will we ever see a great outpour­ing of the Spirit in a reversal of the trends of the last two hundred years? We have no reason to believe that we will see it at all until we are devoting ourselves continuously to prayer. I believe that God will not bless our church. He will not do it. And, we have no reason to complain about it until we as a people are continuously devoting ourselves to prayer. By prayer we can create an environment in which God's blessing will not be attributed to our cleverness. Rather God himself and God alone will get the glory.

As we pray together: Our Father in heaven, we pray that we might be humble before you and that your Spirit might move mightily in our hearts so that we would see a great outpouring as your church did in the first centuries. We pray that the Spirit might come again, even as He does in other parts of the world, that He might come again to this nation in great power so that we might see the masses of people in this country who do not know You and do not care to know You – that we might see them turn to You in repentance and faith. Through Jesus Christ our Lord: Amen.