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Waiting for the Promise

Acts 1:14

The disciples were told to wait in Jerusalem for the baptism with Holy Spirit which was promised to them. History tells us that they waited 10 days between the time Jesus went up to heaven in the clouds and the time they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Scriptures tell us that they did two things during this time. First they Prayed together. Then second they chose a man to take the place of Judas who had committed suicide.

Today we want to focus on verse 14. there are two points we want to talk about today. The first is that the disciples gave themselves to steadfastness in prayer and the second is that they joined together. They had one purpose. This gave them strength and God answered them by giving them Power that shook the whole house were they were meeting. The disciples obediently waited in Jerusalem and during this time they were together and Prayed much. This is the secret of the mighty working of God in the lives of other people. We need to wait on God. Lamentations 3:25,26 says, "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him: it is good to wait quietly tar the salvation of the Lord." Many people want God to answer their prayers but they do not want to spend time with God in prevailing prayer. in several weeks we will see the results of this prayer time. Much of the secret of the early church lay in that the leaders gave themselves to Prayer and preaching the Word. When the apostles got busy they sought to get rid of many of the small details they had to take care of by appointing others to take over and they gave "their attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

Time spent with God is the secret of all successful praying. The powerful a-aver of the righteous man is the result of much time spent with God. The short prevailing prayer cannot be prayed by one who has not spent time with God in a mightier struggle of longer duration. We don't get to know people by the occasional quick phone call. Unless we spend time together we cannot get to know earn other. We need to spend time with God to get to know him. God doesn't normally give his supernatural power on the casual or hasty caller.

A man became a Christian but five months later he had given up his faith. He explained that he had left his car lights on and the battery had gone dead. He turned the key and prayed that God would start the car. Nothing happened so he figured that God did not answer prayer. The pastor asked the man if he had prayed regularly or whether this was just something that he had done on the spur of the moment. The man admitted that he seldom had prayed. Jokingly the pastor suggested that God probably answered the prayer but he got the wrong car. We will receive answers to prayer as we spend time with God in prayer.

If you had some very old and expensive china would you give it to a careless child who you did not know? I don't think so. God knows us all and w0l give his power and special gifts to those who are faithful and trustworthy. We must be faithful in little things before we can expect God to entrust us with larger more important things. We must be constant as well as earnest. We would not give even one stick of dynamite to a little child but we would give a truckload of dynamite to someone who is building a road through the mountains. Christ spent much time in prayer. He often went off in the morning early or went off to pray all night long. He had a habit to spend much time in Prayer. He was the Son of God. if he needed to spend time in prayer with the father, how much more do we need to be spending time in prayer if we want to be effective in our ministry.

Martin Luther had a motto, "He who has prayed well has studied well." He felt that if he spent time in prayer the Holy Spirit would guide him into the truth.

How is your prayer life? Have You prayed daily this week? Do you set aside time for prayer and being with God? The passage we read this morning says that the disciples gave themselves diligently and steadfastly to prayer. God worked mightily in their midst. It we want to see God work mightily in our midst we need to give ourselves to prayer. God is a God of miracles but we must be in communion with God if we want miracles to happen in our church. We want to be faithful in spreading the gospel to people in this community as we read from verse 8 last week:. Christ wants us to be witness to those in our community and God will give us the power to be bold witnesses if we pray.

The second important point that we want to emphasize from this passage this morning is the importance of unity. Some groups emphasize that unity is when everyone has to think the same. 'That is not unity but uniformity. Verse 14 talks about everyone having the same heart or purpose. We must have the same goal in mind when we work: to build God's kingdom here. If everyone has their own idea the church will be pulled apart. We each have our own ideas but we must work together.

The expression "they were of one mind" is only used 12 times in the New Testament, of these is in the book of Acts and when the church was united we read of great things happenings.

Philippians 1-.27 gives us one reason why we must be of one mind. We must be of one mind so we can strive together for the faith of the Gospel. We cannot walk our Christian life alone and hope to grow spiritually and be effective. John 17:21 gives a second-reason why we must work together. The world will only believe our message when they see the love we have for each other in the congregation

If there is selfishness and conflict in the congregation unbelievers will not come to know God's love and the church will I not grow as God commands. We need a love which will forgive and help even when things are difficult. I Peter 3:8.9 encourages us be kind and loving.

What should be our response to today's passage? We need to pray together and intercede for our family and community with steadfastness and diligence. Of course we need to have a repentant and humble heart before we can expect God to answer our prayers. The bible tells us that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. When we do not bring everything to God it is as though we say to God that we do not need him. Let us commit our time to God and resolve to spend more time in prayer.

Let us always seek unity. If there is not love and forgiveness in a congregation God cannot bless. If ever, you find that someone is cold to you examine your relationship with that person and try to make sure that there is nothing which stands between you. Otherwise you will become a stumbling block and hinder the spiritual growth of others.

May we seek to be obedient to God's word and join together with one heart in constant prayer.


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