I please the Lord to help us
as we continue our meditation in the Acts of the Apostles and
we come to the end this time of the 4th chapter and we will
commence at verse 31 we read here and when they had
prayed very clear is it not that The
Church of God has always been blessed with prayer. And how
important it is. It is indeed described as our
vital breath. Without breathing we die. Without praying we die. And how necessary it is that
we are blessed with the favour of pervading prayer. Now quite
clearly these as they prayed here and when they had prayed
they had a wonderful effect. The prayers had entered in to
the holy place in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ and there
was an effect. And when they had prayed the
place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spoke the Word of God
with boldness. I believe as the Lord grants that
outpouring of His Holy Spirit in prayer, that liberty in prayer,
that nearness in prayer, so there is a wonderful blessing in it
and that We understand in our own souls when we are blessed
with that true prayer, when it ceases to be just a form of words,
just a tradition of phrases and requesting things which we know
are needful. We are blessed when the Lord,
as it were, breaks into our heart and blesses us with this liberty
in prayer, this nearness, so that our prayers are heard. And when they had prayed, the
place was shaken. Not before the Lord speaks and
tells us that He will be inquired of by the House of Israel to
do these things for them. We should never forget to pray. Never forget to pray for everything. It doesn't matter how small or
how big it may appear to be in our estimation. Everything in
our life really requires to be prayed over. Sometimes the Lord
graciously reminds us of the need to pray. Sometimes we may
be trying to do things and not receive the ability or the wisdom
or the availability to be able to perform or come to right decisions
in the things that we need to and it may be then sometimes
that we are reminded that we've forgotten to pray no doubt when
that occurs we're ashamed of ourselves because we've forgotten
to pray for the one who does hear and answer prayer well then
let's never forget to pray and there may be those times in our
lives of great need, like there was in the case of Jacob, when
he feared what was going to happen when he met his brother, a brother
who he'd deceived and run away from and now returning, and he
was very fearful. And he prayed to God. He didn't
give up praying. He prayed all night. And he prayed
that way He said, I will not let thee go except thou bless
me. And a great concern that his
prayer might be heard and answered. And how good it will be for us
today if we have the light prayer, really concerned, really desiring
that God will hear and answer our prayers. And not just words,
but their prayer from our heart. And here we see the answer, and
we see the effect. And they were all assembled together,
and they were all blessed, they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost, the Spirit of God entering into their hearts. And they spake
the Word of God with boldness. See, when the Spirit of God strengthens
us and helps us, then it is that we're bold in the things of God. You know, we can be very timid,
we can be very afraid of what people might think. But when
the Spirit of God comes into our hearts, then you see there
is that humble boldness. Again, not for what we would
do and say, but for the honour and glory of God, that His name
may be lifted up and that souls might be blessed. Well may we
know such an outpouring of true prayer so that we may know that
our prayers have been heard and that we receive answers by the
effect that it produces in our hearts, the evidence of the Holy
Spirit within us, so that we are able then to go forth and
to speak the Word of God with boldness. And we read in the
multitude, you remember there were some 5,000 or so who were
blessed on this occasion, not the Day of Pentecost, but a little
time later, a wonderful time of blessing. And here we read,
and the multitude, a great number of them that believed were of
one heart and of one soul. And when the Church of God is
blessed, when we're blessed individually, then there is that unity of spirit,
then there is that love one to another, then we are like this,
we are of one heart and of one soul because our concern is for
the honour and glory of God and for the salvation of souls. And
in that situation we may know what it's like to be as these
people were on this occasion. Neither said any of them that
all to the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all
things common. And as I have sometimes spoken,
we must always realize that everything that each one of us has, God
has given to us. God has given to us. God has
given us the ability, perhaps, to do things, and it's God's
grace which we are received to do those things. And if the Lord
has prospered us, it's His doing, it's not our doing. And therefore
we should always recognise and be willing to share those things
which God has given to us. Like this example we have here,
them that or to the things that which he possessed was his own,
but they had all things common. Well, it was very similar, you
know, on that day of Pentecost, when we read the very similar
situations. And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of
bread and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles and all
that believed were together and had all things common and sold
their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every
man had need. And they, continuing daily with
one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to
house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God and having favour with all the people, and that
the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
You see, here was a healthy spiritual situation. Here was occasions
when God's name was being honoured and glorified and God abundantly
blessed this situation and then we read and with great power
gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus and great grace was upon them all the resurrection how
vital that is in our Christian religion. No resurrection, no
salvation. Because if Christ had not been
raised from the dead, then he would have died. And there would
have been no hereafter. But the Lord Jesus Christ, in
rising from the dead, he proved he was a conqueror. and he conquered
hell, death and sin. The great and glorious truth
of the resurrection. That's why the apostles spoke
here the resurrection. They did on a day of Pentecost.
It was so vital in their testimony, in their preaching. And it is
so vital today in our preaching and in our testimony to remember
the greatness and the glory of the resurrection and so we read
and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all we see here
great power great grace we may say well of course these were
amazing days well they were amazing days and we bless God for them
But my friends, our God today, He hasn't changed. He is still
the Almighty God. He's still a great God. And we
should not limit our God. The Lord can still do great things
today. And may our faith be increased
as we come to God in prayer. May we be blessed with prevailing
prayer to believe that we come to the God, this same God, and
give him faith to believe that he will hear and answer prayer. And might that then constrain
us to be very careful how we pray and what we pray for. and that we may be truly concerned
that those things that we do seek for come from our heart
and there is a concern, they may be fulfilled, they may be
answered and there may be a wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit
so that we may rejoice together and God's name may be honored
and glorified. Neither was there any among them
that lacked they shared everything out there weren't any who were
lacking didn't mean to say they had an abundance they had what
was needful neither was there any that lacked for as many as
were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices
of the things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles
feet And distribution was made unto every man according as he
had need." I believe very clearly throughout
the Word of God, God's grace in the heart of a sinner touches
that sinner's pocket so that they're not mean, they're not
grudging in their giving. Remember the Lord says, he loveth
a cheerful giver and in any event we only got what the Lord has
given us so really only giving back to the Lord what he's given
us and we know it's more blessed to give than to receive a very
great and true word so we have this statement here and laid
them down at the apostles feet and distribution was made unto
every man according as he had need And then we have the example
of this person called Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed
Barnabas, and of course we read about Barnabas much in his Acts
of the Apostles, how he journeyed with Paul on some occasions,
and which is being interpreted, the son of consolation, a Levite. and of the country of Cyprus.
Now, Levites, they didn't really have their own possessions. They
were given cities to dwell in. But nonetheless, here we have
an example of a Levite. He may have been given something,
he may have had some possessions, may have been from his wife or
something, but nonetheless, we read this, a Levite, and of the
country of Cyprus, having land, sold it. and brought the money
and laid it at the apostles' feet. This doesn't mean of course
we've all got to dash out and sell our houses and our lands
and come, but we should remember the gracious words here, they
are good words to remember, and they're words of exhortation
to all of us in our lives today, to remember the great need there
is for prayer and the great need there is to come, believe in
that our prayers will be answered and they can certainly may be
answered and when they are answered to realise the blessing that
the answers bring and then to not forget the great need there
is always to speak of the wonder of the resurrection because you
see with no resurrection There's no risen saviour, there's no
high priest in glory, there's no way that you and I can pray
and have our prayers accepted in glory by the Father unless
we have a high priest who presents our prayers and that high priest
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so how essential it is that
we recognize the wonder of the resurrection and what it brings
with it and what a favour it is for us today to be able to
come in prayer to a God who does hear and answer prayer. Amen.