TOPIC:‌“The Power of a Praying Church”

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌Acts 12:1-7

 

“Peter, therefore, was kept in prison; but prayer was made without ceasing by the church unto God for him” (Acts 12:5)

 

‌Alan Redpath, former pastor of Moody Church, in his book, Victorious Praying, wrote the following in the preface: “There seems to be a tendency for many Christians to imagine that a Church can be conducted and led in the same way of a business concern. Publicity, sales talk, propaganda, and a big front are all essentials in business; but the Church of Jesus Christ can only be led in blessing and power by men,” and I might inject, by women too, “who have been humbled and broken at the cross.” And then he goes on the write these important words: “and who, through many experiences of their own failure and nothingness, have learned an utter dependence upon God, and have been taught by the Holy Spirit to lay hold of Him at the Throne of Grace.”

 

‌Now right here lies the basic problem of many churches. People who believe that the Church is nothing more than an organization which is run like a business. The more the people, the higher the profit. The ministry is only a trade by which a man makes a living. What a warped view of the Church and its ministry. Surely nothing can be further from the truth. And yet, I know of scores of believers who have this concept of the church.

 

‌Get this down and don't ever forget it. You can't carry on the work of the Church after the fashion of the American businessman. It won't work. The Church of Jesus Christ is not an organization, but an organism with life within itself. And such a Church must be governed and guided by people who have been taught by the Holy Spirit to lay hold of God at the throne of grace. They must know how to pray, when to pray and what to pray for. They must know the living reality of prayer. They must know how to get in touch with God.

 

‌Such was true of the early Church in Jerusalem. They knew the revolutionary power of intercessory prayer and they used it as a powerful weapon and as a great force for God. An illustration of what I am talking about can be found in the words of our text as rendered by the New American Standard: “So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.”

 

I.

 

‌Consider, to begin with, the OCCASION as to why we find the Church praying. The early Church at Jerusalem was now facing a grave crisis. It seems that Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, with the power of Imperial Rome, was now carrying on a personal vendetta against the Church.

 

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