The Power of Prayer | Jason Martin

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I was.

Let to share something in continuation to what I shard previously,

but I wanted to start off is with this question,

the same question which I started previously. How does your

ideal church look like? How does your ideal church look like?

Anyone?

No one has any idea of ideal church. You're not there.

Anyone.

So the last time I asked this question was nobody

answered because you know, it like a trick question. You know,

it's like, Okay, where is he going with this question?

I know there's a reason because a lot of times

when we ask this question, because I caught myself asking

this question as well. All right, I caught myself asking

this question because it's like, hey, there's your kid, there's

your church. Have a very good worship team. We have

an awesome worship team. Thank you again to the worship

team for leading us worship. You know, you know, do

we have like a full band? Do we need a

full band?

Uh?

Do we need the best electric guitarist, best drama?

Do we need the best preachers?

Do we need the best hospitality cornor do we need

the best screens, and.

Do we need, you know, a huge building on our own.

So a lot of this.

It is not wrong, but a lot of times we

get caught up in thinking that that is what church is,

you know, that is what church is. And sometimes we

look and it becomes like the church becomes like a club.

You know, Hey, I want to join this club. This

club is more happening. I want to join this club

or this this place, and we sort of lose focus

on what actually the church is. Okay, so we'll recall

what is church. I shed this last time I preached.

I will forgive you all if y'all don't remember, because

it was about close to a month back, gathering of

God's people. Okay, maybe i'll put up the first slide.

Don't want to put you all on the spot too much.

But church, the Greek word is acclesia, right, acclesia, and

it is not primarily a religious word at all. So

when Jesus used the word church, it just meant a

group or a called out group. So we are a

group of people that Jesus has called out because we

believe in him and we have received him as our

personal Lord and savior. Okay, so we are a group

of people. So when we take that back into contexts,

what does your ideal church look like? The facilities, the capabilities,

the building and all that nothing falls into the definition

of this church. Can you see that in describing the

latter group of his followers and disciples, Jesus deliberately choose

a word without a distinctly religious meaning. So even for

Jesus he didn't choose it as a religious meaning.

It's just that what he meant the church to be.

It's a group.

Of people who He has set apart because we have

accepted Him as our personal Lord and Savior. So if

you believe that God has called you to this church

for this period of the time, then this is the

ideal church for you. The ideal church for you is

where God has called you and placed you at this

point of time. It has nothing to do with the

external circumstances of the church, but it is where God

wants you to be. Right and what do you do

in the church? What do you do in the church?

So last.

Summon, when I shed, it was all about this word next.

So it was about the word fellowship. Remember, So when

I shed, what is the first time that comes the

first thing that comes to mind when you I mentioned

the word fellowship, What do you all say.

Food?

Right, let's fellowship when you say fellowship, when I say fellowship,

It's true even before, when before I prepared this the

first time, when I or every time I use the

word fellowship, I would think of the word food. So

the food, the word fellowship is the Christian version of let's.

Go, mama.

You know, if you're not if you're talking to your

colleagues or your friends, is we're saying let's go mama.

You're talking to somebody from church, you'll be like, let's

go fellowship. But actually, fellowship has much much more deeper

meaning than that, you know. And it is from the

Greek work coin onia, its honor. It is here is

where we develop honor. We encourage each other, we stir

up each other for good works, we admonish, and monish

is actually to to bring people up to a higher standard,

you know, and it is to love. So when the

first church did fellowship right, the first church grew.

Grew crazily, you know.

And that was why I was I embarked on this

journey of discovering how did the first Church do Church

because after the First Church had their first service.

They immediately grew by three thousand. They immediately grew by

three thousand.

None of them went to Bible school, none of them

had any training, they had no reference point.

They had whatever Jesus.

Taught them, and it's the same thing that we have

right now, which is the Bible.

Right. So that is where my first sermon and the

last time.

In terms of fellowship, the First Church, they did fellowship well,

and fellowship.

Is much more than just food. Right.

So today I wanted to go into the second point. Actually,

the key text for my scripture right is Acts, chapter two,

verse forty two. Now you can turn to that later,

but today I want to touch on another point that

the First Church did very well.

Okay, and that point.

Maybe Jacqueline, can you bring up the slide with X

two forty two. I think it is slide, okay, Yes,

So this is my key text, you know, the one

highlighted in yellow. And they continued state fastly in the apostles, doctrine, fellowship,

in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. So these

were four things that the First Church did well, and

the First Church saw as very important, and that is

what caused the church to grow. So we have touched

on fellowship. So today I wanted to touch on another point.

Which point do you think I'll be touching on?

Prayers? Wow? Awesome? Correct on the dot prayers? It is prayers? Okay?

It is again this why is it? Okay? So it

was prayers. So the question is.

Why pray? Why pray? So how many of y'all have kids?

Or you have done Sunday school before, you have taught

Sunday school before, or you have gone to or Ashley

trip or Mission trip and stuff, and you try to

encourage the kids to pray.

Have any of y'all.

Got?

The kids respond and it's like, huh, why must pray?

Why do I need to pray? I mean, we have

it all the time in a home and so in

terms of so my kids will be like why must pray?

You know, and stuff like how do y'all answer? How

do y'all answer this question when somebody when you just

getting people together to pray, and somebody asks you why

do we need to pray? How would you answer? Connect

with God? Communication with God? Okay, if you answer it

to a kid, how would you answer the only way

you can talk to God. Okay, that's good. There is

something that a kid would understand because a lot of times,

especially if you have grown up in church, when you

hear the word pray, I give you another phrase, right, guys,

I think we need to pray?

What is the.

When I say that sentence? Right, guys, I think we

need to pray?

Serious? What else?

What other thought comes to mind when you hear that

phrase important?

Huh? Urgent?

Yeah, it seems like a dad end right. Everything else

is failing. The only thing there we can do is pray,

you know. So our understanding of prayer is like, okay,

something that I'm forced to do, but I don't like

to do.

You know. That's why a lot of the.

Kids, or even adults, they'll be that prayer not really

a priority.

Okay.

But also on another sense, when you know that everything

else fails, you'll be like, guys, I think it's time

we pray.

You'll be like desperate.

You also know that it's the only option when you

are desperate, but when you are not desperate, it is

the last option.

Right. So, But as I was preparing, as I was

thinking that, was this the same perception that the first

church had about prayer?

You know was it the same perception, Because if my

perception of prayer is like what I explained just now,

it's not interesting at all.

You know it.

You use it like a fire extinguisher. When do you

use a fire extinguisher when there's a fire. When there's

no fire, you will forget about the fire extinguisher, right,

you forget about it.

You'll be like, hey, I have no idea. Does it work?

I don't know, but when there is a fire, you

want the fire extinguisher and you want it to be working.

But is prayer is supposed to be that?

No, because if prayer is supposed to be that, then

I think the First Church they had a different understanding

of the word prayer.

So I wanted to.

There is so many angles that we can explore on prayer,

but today I wanted to just explore how did the

First Church do prayer? Okay, again, this is not exhaustive,

but I have just put it down into three three

piece and let's go through it. Okay, So the first

one first point is priority to prayer. So the First

Church gave priority to prayer. It was one of the

things that they needed to do. It was compulsory. It

is as similar as they come together. The first thing

that they do, they will pray.

Okay.

So the verse again, Act two, So you see right,

Verse forty one was then those who gladly received his

word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls

were added to them. And they continued stayedfastly in the

Apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and

in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many

wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all

who believed were together, and all things in common, and

sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all

as anyone had met. Okay, So this is it, so

you can see, right, continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine.

I think, Lisa, I will probably go into it in

another summon. But that is basically what re doing, what

the Bible tells you to do. In a nutshell. That's

a continuous stead fastly in the Apostles doctrine. Fellowship is

how we interact with each other, and we also interact

with God. Fellowship with God and men breaking up bread

is they fed everyone. They made sure that no one

was hungry. You meet everyone's needs. The church is supposed

to meet the needs of the church and those around

wherever the church is placed, and in prayers. So prayer

is the only thing that is solely between you and God.

So they gave priority to that.

You imagine it this way, right, If today exclaim suddenly

you have three thousand people here, why is the first

thing you will do?

Run away?

Okay, you might run away. We need more wholes, some

need more food, we need think about it?

Is it just.

Imagine space on? Everyone has to do more. So the

one three thousand and one, that's another question, right.

But.

Nobody said I think we need to pray, because right

after three thousand came in, prayer was one of the

top four things they did. They were not caught up

with anything else with the logistics of it. Prayer was

still the If three thousand people suddenly come to this church, right,

you'll be thinking.

That, Wow, this church is very successful. So we don't

need to pray anymore. Brought in the house.

Ready, you know, I'm just thinking again this I'm not

saying about you. This is thoughts that will go through

my mind. Right, it's thought that will go through my mind.

So don't worry.

I'm not hitting out anybody. I'm hitting it myself.

I prepared this sermon as an introspective look at do

I have my thoughts aligned to what the first church ship?

But you can see after they had three thousand, they

still committed prior and prioritized prayer.

That is key. You know.

They didn't care like, oh, what kind of music was

these three thousand people?

Like? What kind of food were they?

Like?

What kind of stuff?

Like?

Prayer was key? Right?

And I take you to the next verse, Acts chapter six.

So the church grew and grew and grew kept on growing.

So three thousand was how it started by it ended

up much much more. It ended up much much more

that the disciples couldn't handle it anymore. They couldn't handle it.

So the twelve. The twelve is the twelve Disciples called

a meeting of all the believers. They say it, we

apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God,

not running a food program.

Not running a food program.

And so brothers select seven men who are well respected

and full of the spirit and wisdom. We will give

them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time

in prayer and teaching the word. So you can see, right,

no matter how successful they were in the eyes of men,

prayer was still a priority.

You know.

It's not about popularity, bye, It's about prayer and a

lot of times, right, when we get whatever God has

blessed us with, when we got God gives us our testimony,

He blesses us. All right, do we still continue in

prayer or you feel that?

Okay?

I until I need my next testimony. Now bring out

my fire extinguisher. You know, but the disciples, prayer is

a priority. Whether I am twelve, whether I am or eleven,

because after Juda's kill example, whether they were eleven, whether

they were twelve, whether they were three thousand, whether they

were more than three thousand, prayer was still a priority.

Okay. So that that's the first point. Prayer is a priority,

you know. Right.

Last week I went for the standard Chattered Kale Marathon.

Okay, So I went for the marit. It started at

three thirty in the morning. Three thirty in the morning.

Uhbout run forty two km, okay, run forty two km.

So at around five thirty, around five thirty, I was

at about the nineteen km twenty km mark and as

I was running right then I saw to the left

and right there were a lot of people. It was

about five thirty five forty five in the morning. And

when I look closer, these people were actually Muslims who

stopped their race mid race to do their morning prayers.

I was like, wow, I think if I get down,

I can stand up already.

But but for them, they were fully prostrate in the

middle of the highway. In the middle of highway, it's

just a road. It's just road there. I think the

bombard they put some taps or whatever. There were hundreds.

There were hundreds of people who are prioritizing prayer in

the middle of a marathon because of who their perspective

of God was.

They didn't care about time. I mean, for me, I'll

be like, want to hit my time, lad, you know,

but they'll be like, hey, you know, God comes first.

And then right when I went on Facebook and checked

those who didn't stop a prayer or got crucifier in

the Facebook comments, Yeah, so, but there's a different storyline.

But but it's it's like a norm.

It is a norm that prayer comes, you know, and

we serve the Living God and if we don't prioritize prayer,

then who is our God?

Who is our God? You know? So that really like

got me thinking.

As well, because the First Church had that perspective of

God that no matter what, God, I need to pray

to you. And you know, the Jews, So the disciples

are Jews, FYI, In case you all forgot, the disciples

were Jews. Jesus was a Jew as well, So aga

with bid I'll study.

Right.

The Jews they pay pray three times a day, one

at nine am, one at three pm, one at six pm.

So if you look at the scripture, right, they will

say during the fifteenth hour, during the ninth hour they

went to the temple to pray and stuff that.

So these three periods of.

Time, right, the Jews will always commit in prayer every

day three times, you know, and they held it very closely.

Right now, how often do we commit ourselves in prayer?

Maybe three times as well? Thank you love for the food, blessing,

serventified food.

It just may me pray, amen, you meet three meals

at Dayla.

Again, I'm not hitting anybody.

This is I am being hot on myself as well

because this is uh, this is the journey that I'm on,

s all, but I want to go back to a

place where when it when the church prayed, the first

church they grew, they did achieved what God wanted them

to achieve because they prayed.

And prayed.

Is about communicating with God and having the perspective that God,

you are God and I am not. Do we have

that perspective? You know, God, you are God and I

am not? So that was that's the first point, okay,

priority in prayer, and a lot of times that's why

Jesus when he visited Mary and Martha, a lot of

us are Marthas. When three thousands, if three thousand people

step through these doors, we will be like Martha's I

me included, because we'll be thinking that, how are we

going to find space?

How are we going to do this? How are we going

to do that? How can.

But what did Mary do? Just sat at the feet

of Jesus and just listen to him, communicated with him.

And that is what prayer is.

Do we come to a place where we just sit

at the feet of Jesus and prioritize Jesus over everything else. Okay,

So that's the first point priority of prayer Okay, second point,

prayer precedes action. Prayer precedes action. So if you look

in the Book of Acts, why are there so many

miracles in the Book Books of Acts?

And why are there so.

Many many, so many, so many less miracles in the

church right now? Again, it could be a multiple factors, right,

could be various other things. But the fact of the

matter is we still serve the same God. The same

God that we serve yesterday today, is the same God

that we serve yesterday, today and forever. He can do

the same things that we have done before, He can

do it again. But you see in the Book of Acts, right,

it was testimony after testimony, miracles after miracles. So what

brought about the miracles in the Book of Acts?

It was actually prayer. A lot of us we want

our breakthrough, We.

Want our breakthrough without sewing in prayer. So you want

the harvest without sowing the seed. And the seed in

this sense is prayer because God will take that prayer.

He will use that prayer and build you up and

then give birth.

To your testimony. So let's look at a few scriptures next.

So the first one is ex Chapter one, so X

Chapter one, verse fourteen, So they all met together and

were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary, the mother

of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.

So this was after they chose Matthias as the twelve disciple. Okay,

So after they they chose Matthias as a twelve disciple,

what they did do? They all met together and were

constantly united in prayer, constantly united in prayer. X Chapter two.

On the day of the Pentecost, all the believers were

meeting together in one place. When they were meeting together

in one place, what were they doing, we can assume

that they were constantly praying, because that's what was said

in Acts Chapter one was fourteen. Okay, Suddenly there was

a sound from heaven like the roaring of a ninety windstorm,

and it filled a house where they were sitting. And

then what looked like flames of tongues of fire appeared

and settled on each of them, and everyone present was

filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other

languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. So

before the three thousand, the church was constantly sewing in prayer.

And then the Holy Spirit came upon them and gave

them abilities to just glorify God without prayer, do you

think the three thousand would have happened? Because prayer prepares

our posture. When we pray, you're focusing on communicating with God,

and that postures ourselves to listen to what He has

to say and to receive. When we receive, it means

that we are listening to what He has to say,

and then when we are ready, he will pour out

his spirit on us.

Right. So this is the first example. Next light, Okay,

next light is Ax chapter eight. So Acts chapter eight.

When the apostles in Jerusalem that the people of Samaria

had accepted God's message, they sent Peter and John Dare.

As soon as they arrived, they prayed for the new believers.

You see he right.

They didn't feed them, they didn't do anything else. The

first thing the priority right for the disciples anytime, at

any time is prayer. They prayed for the new believers

to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not

come upon any of them, for they had not only

been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then

then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers,

and they received the Holy Spirit. It happened in Acts

chapter two. It happened again in Acts chapter eight. When

the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you know the

Holy Spirit, right, it comes upon you, right it everyone

will know because the Holy Spirit has what power dynamite

dunamis right, when the Holy Spirit falls upon you, you

everyone will know. And then they'll be like, whoa, what's

so different with you? You know, but you have to be

committed in prayer. And again, prayer is communicating with God

and listening to him, okay, third verse X, chapter four.

So Acts chapter four proceeds from Act chapter three. Was

after Peter and John they healed the.

Lame Man by the beautiful Gate.

Then they were caught by the authorities and they were

threatened to be beaten up. And all this right because

they were preaching about Jesus. But as soon as they

were freed. So after Peter and John were freed, they

returned to the other believers and told them what the

leading priests and elders had said. So the elders and

priests warn them not to preach about Jesus. You imagine, right,

these are fishermen, uneducated, and you have people who have

high education, high influence coming and threatening you.

What would you do? How many of us will just

keep quiet? Most likely? I mean I'll be scared.

People of high authority, high influence, they can throw you

at jail at any whim or fancy they come and

threaten you.

What will you do.

When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their

voice together in prayer to God.

Can you see how amazing that is? The ad was?

None of them said, whoe is me?

I think I think we should strategize, and maybe we

reach out to people who are softer, or we only

reach it out to fishermen, or we don't ruffle any feathers.

You know.

Sometimes we strategize, and I'm so very good at this.

I'll strategize find ways around it.

But sometimes God wants you to go through. But we

will only know if we pray, and God says, go true.

So he says, Oh, Sovereign God, creator of heaven and earth,

the sea, and everything in them. Then fast forward to

verse thirty one. After they prayed this, After this prayer,

the whole the meeting place shook, and they were all

filled with the Holy Spirit. And they preach the word

of God with boldness. How did the church grow, They prayed,

they seek God despite or in spite of what they

were going through, and the Holy Spirit came upon them

and they were filled with boldness. This is the Church

today bold If we are not, then are we filled

with the Holy Spirit? Do we need a new touch?

Fresh new touch from the Holy Spirit? Because that's the

only way that we can reach others. And why would

people want to reach others if they see that, Hey,

y'all are scared or so? Because right, people of other

faith seem to have more boldness.

Than us.

Here I shard about the marathoners praying in the middle

of the highway, right, how many Christians will do that.

You'll be like, hey, don't after make people feel bad awkward?

Or we think a lot about what other people will

think about us rather than what does God think. You

will only know what God thinks if you communicate with him,

which is prayer. So because of that, the church in

a Book of Acts had multiple miracles. It's because they

sold in prayer. They communicated with God, they understood God's heart,

they knew what he.

Wanted him them to do, and they did it. Okay,

all right?

So now the third point, I know it's very quiet

but it's fine because it's it's I don't expect you

all to be yeah, because it's it's supposed to convict

our hearts. It's supposed to convict our hearts, all right,

in terms of it. And the final point is persistence

of prayer. Persistence of prayer. First, you prioritize prayer. Then

you know that it precedes action. You pray before anything happens.

Pray proceeds action. And you have to be persistent the

persistence of prayer. We have to be persistent in praying.

Okay, So.

How persistent do you think that disciples were in praying?

How persistent? I'm going to give you.

An example next line, Acts chapter twelve. About that time,

King Herod of Agrippa began to persecute some believers in

the church. He had the apostle James, John's brother killed

with a sword. When Herod saw how much displeased the

Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. This took place during

the Passover celebration. Then he imprisoned them him, placing him

under the god of four squads or four soldiers each.

Herod intended to bring Peter out for a public trial

after the passover. But while Peter was in prison, the

church prayed very.

Earnestly for him.

Do you think first question, do you think the church

prayed for James?

Yes, they prayed for James, but he.

Was still beheaded. He was still killed with a sword

by Herod. Do you think the church gave up praying. No,

they persisted in praying, and that's why Peter was delivered

from prison. So prayer right again, God is not a genie.

Our perspective of God is that God, you are God

and I am not. Why did God deliver James? Why

did God deliver Peter and not James. To be honest,

I don't know, but that is not for me to know.

That is God, who is almighty, has a divine plan

and purpose for everything, and I have to submitted it

to him. But what I do is I will be

persistent in praying and communicating. So at times we hear

I stop believing in God because I didn't have my

prayer answered. Right, It's true, it happens, But then who

is God? Because then it's like, okay, I'll just throw

away the lamp because this genie is not working. I

need another genie. And then we are looking at people

who will fulfill our needs or our ones, but we

are here to fulfill God's plan.

In our lives.

Right, So they were persistent in prayer even as I

draw towards the close. So we need to pray like

our lives depended on it, because if not, we will

be living like every decision that we make we don't

actually need God. We just do it based on our

own wisdom, our own understanding.

And probably I will share this.

So this past week we had we had leaders retreat

for for the church plan coordinators in in in x

So we were discussing about the different church plants and

stuff like that. So so I.

Was sharing about x x Clang.

Here I say, we have awesome people, we are we

are doing a lot of stuff and all this, but

we are praying for more campus students because there's no

campus students in x Clang.

Look around.

I don't think you see any campus students. So a lot,

uh we have why was we have families? We have, yeah,

we have kids, but we don't have campus students, you know.

And then I was saying that, hey, we are trying

this strategy, that strategy or trying to and then right

after that then people were all like, oh yeah, agree,

true or true very true?

You know.

Then Pastor Sandra was just like, hey, guys, you all

need to pray, you know, you all need to pray,

you know, because this is if you believe that God

has placed exclaim here, then you have to pray for

his strategy. You have to pray that He will lead you.

How did three thousand people suddenly get saved? Was it

by targeted Facebook messaging?

No? Was it by the best flyer or YouTube videos?

No.

God's plans require God's rategies, and God's strategies can only

come through prayer when we communicate with him and ask him, God,

what do you want me to do? And who is

a church?

All of us are the church, So it's not my responsibility,

it's all of us.

To do what God's to do God's will.

We have to ask him for his plans, and then

when we pray, it precedes action, right, and we have

to be persistent in prayer. So even as I go

to us close the final slide. So the church is

supposed to be a movement, not a monument. That's why

it's not about the bill. Right now, in Europe, there

are a lot of monuments there are You say, there's

a lot of churches.

That are empty. No, there are a lot of buildings

that used to house churches that are now empty.

Because what is the church? The church is not a building.

The church is the people. And we are not supposed

to be a monument. We are supposed to constantly move ahead.

So why did I put this picture? Because as asking God, God,

what is this? What is the one illustration that can

just emphasize the importance of prayer? And then I think

God placed this on me.

So this is a.

Picture of an archer showing and shooting an arrow. So

we are the arrows. Okay, we are.

The arrows without the archer. We fling ourselves. How far

will the arrow go? You fling yourself?

That's about it. How far can you go an errow

by itself? You know, you can't do much. You can't

do much. But in the handsome an archer. When we

retreat in prayer, God aligns and aims us in the

direction he wants us to go, and he lets go,

and we will fly in the direction that he wants

us to go, and we will hit the targets that

he wants us to hit.

But without the archer. It's like important, the church without

God or the church without prayer.

Will become a monument. It will miss the targets. You

will the arrow looks very good. You'll be like, wow,

this arrow is awesome.

But that's all. It's like the arrow is just taken

in there. But the arrow in the hand of a

skilled archer.

When we the three points again, when we let me

just bring it up here.

Yeah. So when we prioritize prayer, prioritize prayer, we retreat

back into our prayer closet. When God pulls us back,

that is when it precedes action when we retreat, because

most of the time we want action straight away. We

are you face a problem, try and solve it on

your own name, Like, hey guys, we need to pray,

then you need you retreat. You retreat because you like

try and throw yourself. You're not going anywhere. It's the end.

And we have to be persistent in prayer because the

more we are.

Used by God, the more we are aligned with Him,

the further and further we will go. And that's the

power of prayer.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as church org. We

are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

this week is going to be a good week ahead

for you. God bless