Let's turn together in God's
holy word to the book of Acts, reading chapter one. The book of Acts, reading chapter
one. The former treaties have I made,
O Theopolis, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, unto
the day in which he was taken up After that, through the Holy
Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion
by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking
in things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together
with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have
heard of me. For John truly baptized with
water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore again the kingdom to Jerusalem?' And he said unto
them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which
the father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.' And when he had
spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and
a cloud received him out of their sight. and while they looked
steadfastly towards heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood
by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which was taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner, as ye
have seen him go into heaven. then returned they to Jerusalem
from the Mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem about
a Sabbath day's journey. And when they were come in, they
went up into an upper room where abode both Peter and James and
John and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James
the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotis and Judas, the brother
of James. All these continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the
mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And in those days,
Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, the number
of them, the number of the names together were about 120. Men and brethren, this scripture
must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth
of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them
that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us and
had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field
with the reward of iniquity, and falling headlong, he burst
asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it
was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem, insomuch as that
field is called in their proper tongue, Akaldama, that is to
say, the field of blood. For it is written in the Book
of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell
therein. And his bishopric let another
take, or his position let another take. Wherefore, of these men
which have complained with us, accompanied with us, all the
time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning
from the baptism of John, unto that some day which he was taken
up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his
resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph
called Barsebus, who was surnamed Justice, and Matthias, And they
prayed and said, Thou Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men,
show whether of these two thou hast chosen, that ye might take
part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression
fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth
their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered
with the 11 apostles. And so reads the word of God. I'd like us to consider this
evening a verse 14. And all these continued with
one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother
of Jesus and with his brethren. as we have been looking at over
the past few weeks, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into
the world and how he was born of the Virgin Mary. We know that
he continued living up to the age of about 33. and fulfilling
the will of the Father and revealing himself as the Son of God through
the parables that he spoke, through the miracles that he did and
through his teachings. And then came the time when he
laid down his life for his brethren. and he was crucified upon the
cross. But we know that he laid in the
grave for three days but the grave could not hold him and
he rose again from the dead and then revealed himself for those
40 days as he mixed with those who believed in him and then
he ascended up into heaven. And there was a period of about
10 days when the apostles were without Christ and without really
the full manifestation of the Holy Spirit, the full anointing
or baptism of the Holy Spirit. And so there was great changes
underway in their lives as they waited for this promise of the
Holy Spirit that had been given to them. So it was a time in
the lives of these 120 who had been following the Lord Jesus,
it was a time of great change. And as we have come to the end
of one year and we are today on the first day of another year,
none of us know what this year holds for us. And it is looked
on as a time to reflect and a time to make changes. a time of when
we can look back over the past year and we can think, well,
maybe I didn't do this right and I didn't do that right and
the first day of the year is a time to almost set everything
straight and to make changes. And so it was a great change
that was taking place in the lives of the followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ had ascended. And they
were now waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that the Lord
Jesus had promised them. Jesus had ascended up into heaven
and he was beginning his new work. his work of their High
Priest, of our High Priest as the mediator of the New Covenant. He was seated at the right hand
of the Father. He is praying for his people. He had finished his earthly ministry
and now he was ascended up into heaven. He had gone from them
and they were his disciples. They had sat at his feet. They
had learned from him for these three years. They'd listened
to his teachings. They had seen his miracles. They
had seen him crucified. They had seen him, some of them,
ascend up into heaven and now they were waiting. They were
waiting for the Holy Spirit of God. Luke chapter 14, Jesus tells
them that he would come after he had ascended, that he was
going to go away. He told them as we looked at
it the other day, let not your heart be troubled. You believe
in God, believe also in me. And he gave them that promise
of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. I will pray the father and he
shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever
even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because
it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth
with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you. And so the Lord Jesus promised
beforehand that as he was going to leave them he was going to
give them another comforter, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit
of God. And he was going to be with them
and he was going to be in them. And they were told that this
spirit would be given at a certain time but they had to wait. They
had to wait for him. And so as they saw Christ ascend
up into heaven, they were now waiting. They had proved all
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells them, I have told you
so that when it happens, it will not be a surprise to you. And
so as Christ ascended up into heaven the apostles and the disciples
having listened to the words of Christ now waited in expectation
for the Holy Spirit of God. In Luke 24 verse 49 he says and
behold I send the promise of my Father upon you but tarry
ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from
on high. And in the beginning of the book
of Acts, in the chapter that we have just read together, that
is repeated. And being assembled together
with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have
heard of me. For John truly baptized with
water, But ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. And so as they waited for this
promise that had been given to them they came together for prayer. And as I thought of it I thought
well this is like their default position. This is their natural
position in trouble. a natural position in waiting
for the Christian. It's like a protective meeting. The Lord Jesus has gone and they've
got this period now of waiting and so what do they do? Instead
of going here, there and everywhere, they come together, they meet
together and they meet together for prayer. And this is the first
thing. they did. The first time that
the church met together it was for a prayer meeting. What a
good thing it is. for the church to meet together
for prayer, to commit their way unto the Lord, to plead his promises,
to wait for his appearing, to lay hold of the kingdom of God,
to plead with him for greater manifestations of the Holy Spirit. And this is what the church did.
They had been promised. this Comforter, the Holy Spirit. He was going to come. And so
they came together and they pleaded. They continued with one accord
in prayer. They came together. Part of the
church, we know the name of the church is the Body of Christ.
church themselves are the called out ones, the assembly, those
who have been brought to assemble together. James tells us that
one of the signs that we have been born again is that we have
a love for the brethren. We have a love for the church. In John's letter, first letter,
chapter 3, verse 14, he says, And we know that we have passed
from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that
loveth not his brother abideth in death. And so part of the
evidence is that we are one of the Lord's people is that we
have a love for the Lord's people and that we delight to be together
at this time of year. Families meet up, they may not
have seen each other for the whole year and so they take this
opportunity where we have these two weeks off to meet together
and to enjoy one another's company and so that is similar for the
church. We come together as brothers
and sisters in Christ. We have a love for one another. We come together and we are united
in one spirit. We've been brought in to Christ
by one way, by one spirit, through repentance and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have entered in through the
door the Lord Jesus. We have gone through the same
ordinances of baptism and through the Lord's Supper and we are
united and we know that we have passed from death to life because
we have a love for Christ as our elder brother, big brother
but also fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and so it was
natural in this period of waiting, this period of uncertainty for
the early church to come together and to meet together and to continue
together. He says, and these all continued
with one accord in prayer and supplication. Verse 15 says,
there was 120 of them, both men and also women. They were together as a mixed
congregation, brothers and sisters in Christ, continuing with one
accord and in prayer. They continued. They persevered. I didn't give up. I didn't have
15 minutes and say well we haven't had an answer yet, Jesus must
have not told the truth. They continued in prayer until
they received the answer. They laboured. They constantly
petitioned the gates of heaven for this Holy Spirit that had
been promised them. They were with one accord. It means they were one mind. In
chapter 2 and verse 1 the same word is used. And when the day
of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord. and
in one place. When they had the answer to their
prayers they had been pleading for the gift of the Holy Spirit
and when he came they were still together in one accord and in
one place and suddenly there was the sound from heaven as
of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where
they were sitting. And at the end of that chapter
also and from verse 46, and they continued daily with one accord
in the temple and breaking bread from house to house and to eat
their meat or food with gladness and singleness of heart. They were with one accord. Even
in families there is not that type of unity. There is that
different minds. When the early church was together
they came together and they were of one mind. They were united
in spirit. And if we move on to chapter
6 we see then that there became some discourse, murmurings as
the widows were neglected. But the early church when they
came together they were united, they were of one mind. They were of one mind when they
came together. Ephesians tells us that it's
something that has to be strived over, struggled over, prayed
for. Unity of the spirit, Ephesians
chapter four. Verse two, with all loneliness
and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love,
endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of
peace. There is one body and one spirit
even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above
all and through all and in you all. And so there is to be that
striving for unity. each deeming each other greater
than themselves with loneliness and meekness and patience, forbearing
one another, endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit
and the bond of peace. And so the early church had that
mind, had that attitude. They had one mind. They were
continually pleading the throne of grace for the gift of the
Comforter, the Holy Spirit. They were praying for the same
thing. They were not in disagreement
or not in harmony with their prayers. They were all united
with the pleadings of the brethren regarding their petitions. There
was no arguments amongst them. One was not praying for rain
and another one praying for sunshine. They were in complete unity one
with another. As one prayed they all were able
to say Amen, Amen because they were knit together. They loved
one another. They had been brought together
by the Lord Jesus Christ. They'd been brought together
through faith. They were able to see each other
as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they continued
together in the same mind, striving for the unity of the spirit in
prayer. When they came together, they
knew what they had to do. They were disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They sat at the feet of the Lord
Jesus. They had watched him for three
years. They knew what he did. They knew when he was going to
choose his apostles, he went off into the mountains to pray. They knew that when he was facing
the crucifixion, he went to Gethsemane to pray. And so they knew, this
is what we ought to be doing. as our leader, as our head, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was a man of prayer. So we
also are going to be men and women of prayer. And so in this
period of uncertainty, this period of waiting, we are going to give
ourselves to continued prayer. And so that's what they did.
They followed the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. They petitioned
heaven for the gift of the Holy Spirit and prayer prepared their
hearts to receive him. As a plough ploughs up the ground
to prepare it for the seed, so prayer ploughs up the heart,
breaks open pride and self-confidence and selfishness. It breaks open our hard hearts
and makes it acceptable or prepares it to receive the answers to
our requests. And so they were praying. And
whilst they were praying they received the fulfilment of the
promise. As we have sung that Christ's
word, it never changes. This world changes constantly,
but Christ is the same. His word is the same. And as
he has promised. So he will fulfill. And he promised
to them, when I go, I will give you, I will send you the Holy
Spirit, the Comforter, that he will be in you and that I will
be with you. So it's something that you and
I can pray for because Jesus tells us in the book of Acts,
if ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit unto
them that ask of him? And so as the early church was
knit together, they continued in prayer together. They were
of one mind together, both men and women united in the cause. They petitioned heaven and heaven
answered. And this is what we need for today and for this year. Not that we as believers do not
have the Holy Spirit of God for he is the one that was given
to us to enable us to believe but we need greater manifestations
of him in our prayer, in our promptings as we pray. How often
it is that we fall into a rut and we just almost recite the
same thing Some things obviously need to be recited but are we
suppressing any leadings in prayer? Maybe I shouldn't pray for that.
There's a prompting and you suppress it. We need greater light upon
the scriptures and it's the Holy Spirit who gives light. He gives
understanding to the scriptures in our song. As we sing the praises
of God, it is the Holy Spirit who gives us understanding to
know what we are singing. And myself and others in the
ministry study to show ourselves approved of God. It's the Holy
Spirit who grants us that ability and that gifting to be able to
rightly divide the word of truth and to preach the word. And so
what we need is a greater help from the Spirit of God in preaching. As we read the Holy Word of God,
we need the Holy Spirit to take the words and to apply them to
our hearts so that they bring comfort, they bring help, they
bring guidance and direction and rebuke. It's the Holy Spirit
who rebukes us when we have sinned or when we're walking in error.
Our conscience is our prick. the Holy Spirit who can be grieved
by our sinful behaviour and our coldness and lukewarmness. So
we need him to enable us really even to walk worthy of our calling
in our lives. And if sinners are going to be
converted, it's not going to be our intellect, it's going
to be the work of the Holy Spirit of God. not by might or by power
but by my spirit saith the Lord and the early church proved it.
as they were given the baptism of the Holy Spirit and they preached
on that day of Pentecost and those multitudes there that were
converted, they were transformed not because of an amazing sermon
but because of the power of the Holy Spirit working through those
words that were spoken. They were brought to conviction
over their sin and they were appointed to the Lord Jesus Christ
and if saints are Going to persevere in the Christian pathway is going
to be by the keeping of the Holy Spirit. We need the Spirit of
Christ, the Holy Spirit of God. As I was thinking of that, by
saying we need him, it could be thought that we don't have
him. So is it this? Do we need more
spirit or do we need less self? Is it self that hinders the work
of the spirit of God in our lives? John says, he must increase and
I must decrease. Before the apostle Peter was
to be used of God, He had to be sieved, didn't he? We saw
on Sunday. He had to be shown, here is your
sin. You are filled with pride. Then he must be brought down.
But then, when he is down, he is restored. Then he is used. And he's used not because of
his ability, but because he had been anointed, been baptised
with the Holy Spirit. of God. And so as we come to
the Lord today in prayer, it's not a futile effort. We are coming to the throne of
grace. We're coming to a living God through a living high priest,
through the living power of the Holy Spirit. May he guide us
and direct us each in prayer and may he guide us and direct
us and keep us today and through this coming year and may we be
able to continue with one accord, united in prayer, united in one
mind in prayer and supplication, requests to God with the women
and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. They were
all there together. Well we're all here this night
and let us come again to the to the throne of grace. May the
Lord add his blessing. Amen.