Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. I want you to turn to Acts 16, if you will. Acts chapter 16.
And um I want to share just a couple things and then Um we're going to have um An interesting time of prayer tonight. I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited about it. Each of our staff is going to introduce a particular area, topic, I guess you would say, what we call our prayer guide. And uh we're going to give um all of us time to pray.
About these particular things. Acts chapter 16, we have been begun a series in Acts chapter 16. on um Christians that create change. And I wanted to Take this chapter since we're in this in a series. And the famous story in this chapter, obviously, is Paul and Silas.
Um in prison. But I wanted to look quickly, if I can, at this chapter at the three prayer meetings. In Acts chapter 16. This tonight is a prayer meeting. It's during our revival, but this is simply.
a prayer meeting. And we should have these more, we should pray more, we should. do this more and I'm just excited how God has laid all this out. Because I don't know that there's anything better for a church and the church core to do. than to spend an evening in prayer together.
I want you to notice in the Acts chapter 16, let's look at verse 13. And the first prayer meeting we find in Acts chapter 16 is the Riverside. Prayer meeting. What's interesting here in Paul and Silas as they're coming through towards Philippi. In verse 13, it says, And on the Sabbath we went out of the city.
by a riverside. Notice this, where prayer was wont to be made.
So here we have a group gathered outside the city to pray. What's interesting is that it was basically a group of women. Philippi was a Gentile city, and so there was not a temple in Philippi.
So Paul and Silas are going outside on the outskirts of the city. to teach and preach and they find a group of Worshipers, those who worship God by a river. And they're having a Prayer meeting. It's interesting that God was answering their prayers. Little did they know, the greatest Christian that ever lived.
Uh in my opinion was heading their way. They probably didn't even know what they were praying for, but they were just praying. Among those women was a lady named Lydia. And the Bible says that she worshipped God. But she wasn't a believer yet.
And so they have this prayer meeting, and Paul and Silas show up and they begin to pray. What's interesting is this. impromptu prayer meeting by a riverside. It produced a couple of things. It produced the preaching of the gospel.
And here they are just having a prayer meeting, and here shows up a preacher, probably the greatest preacher and evangelist that ever lived, and he begins to preach the gospel and teach the gospel. I notice secondly that this prayer meeting produced the opening of Lydia's heart. The Bible says that she worshiped God, but God began to open her heart. to the truth that Paul was sharing. And she received it.
She became a believer. And so, just this impromptu prayer meeting produces the preaching of the gospel, the opening of a person's heart to the gospel. And Lydia became the first convert. in Philippi. And we believe the first church member in Philippi And we believe that her house became the meeting place for the first church.
in Philippi and it all started by a small prayer meeting. By a river. And the truth that you would find in this is simply this: that quiet prayer meetings often. become the birthplace of great spiritual movements. I believe anything that God does great starts with prayer.
It just does. It really doesn't start with anything that a man or an individual does. It starts with prayer. It starts with communication with God. And you might say this, that prayer prepared the heart.
As they began to pray, God began to open her heart. And here you have the gospel given, the gospel received. and the first convert in Philippi. Secondly, I want you to see the midnight prison prayer meeting in Acts chapter 16. Um Paul and Silas go from a wonderful, quiet, peaceful prayer meeting by the river.
And next thing you know, they have a convert, the gospel is received, what a wonderful experience. And then in verse 25, You'll notice, and at midnight, Paul and Silas And sang praises unto God. This prayer meeting happened under the worst conditions. They had been beaten. They were chained.
Not only that, they were put into the inner prison. And I'll be sharing with kind of the meaning of that, why that was important in the days ahead in our Sunday morning series. And yet, here they were beaten, they were chained, and they were put in jail. Yet they prayed. And they praised God.
You know what that tells me tonight? You can have a prayer meeting anywhere you want to. Yes, sir. Listen, if you can have a prayer meeting in a jail like this. You can have a prayer meeting anywhere.
And if you can have a prayer meeting after you've been beaten, chained, and thrown... into a horrible, horrible jail. then you can have a prayer meeting anywhere you want to. I find that their prayer meeting produced something too. You know this quiet, peaceful Riverside prayer meeting produced The gospel and conversion and the heart being opened, but this prayer meeting produced a supernatural earthquake.
The prison doors were opened. The Bible says it didn't just produce an earthquake, it produced the doors being opened. And yet Paul and Silas stayed right there content because they weren't done with their prayer meeting yet. And a jailer becomes A Christian. I believe this is, and we'll explain it here in a minute.
I believe this is the third convert. in the first church there at Philippi. You would say that the truth would be this: that the darkest circumstances. often can produce. the most powerful prayers.
You know, a quiet Simple prayer meeting often begins the greatest spiritual movements. But I want you to know in your life that. the darkest circumstances. the most difficult things that you face it can produce the most powerful prayers. Because when God sees you pray.
in a prison. And God hears you pray. when you have chains bound upon you that you didn't deserve. God sees something. that he doesn't see when everybody prays.
He sees a heart that wants to pray. And when you can pray in difficult circumstances, some of you tonight might say, Hey, we're here for a prayer service. I got to be honest with you, preacher, I'm not in a real big mood to pray. You don't know all that's happened to me this week.
Well, this is probably the perfect time. for you to have a prayer meeting tonight. Because it's in the difficult times. that God can shake things up. Yes.
As he did with an earthquake here. You would summarize this: that Riverside prayer meeting, prayer prepared the heart in this. prison prayer meeting, prayer shook the prison. Then we have another prayer meeting, a third we'll call it, in verse 40. And this is after they got out of jail.
And here, here's an earthquake. Jail doors are open, and I'm sure other inmates took off. And yet Paul and Silas stayed right there. And yet when I read, it says we're all here.
So probably maybe all the prisoners stayed put right there. I don't know. And this jailer was really thinking about suicide because as a jailer, all these prisoners get free. You're the one that's going to get in trouble for that. And here he is right at the moment of that.
And Paul and Silas reach out to him, give him the gospel. He becomes a Christian, which I believe literally obviously is the next convert. And then his family gets saved and they're baptized.
So, you know, here we have the next converts. But when they get done, And they get out of there. They go. I want you to look at verse 40. And they went out of the prison.
and entered into the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them. What we believe is they had a prayer meeting here. And now there is a gathered group of believers meeting in Lydia's home.
Now, imagine this: Lydia's the first convert, and now her house. Is the place for really the first group prayer meeting, and here this is probably going to be the church at Philippi, and they're meeting here in Lydia's house, and so. You know, you just think about this here. You have Lydia, who is a well-to-do lady, then you have a jailer who is a rough individual, and then you know about the demon-possessed woman that had followed them. And as they, obviously, Paul cast that demon out of her, we believe she became a believer.
So already you have a pretty vast, diversified church. By the way, we ought to have a diversified church. We uh all of us shouldn't look the same, act the same. That means we're not doing our job if that's the case. But you know as I look at this Um What started with a Riverside prayer meeting now becomes a house church.
Prayer meeting. In prayer that begins in small gatherings. can lead to the birth of great things. Here it led to the birth of a church, and you could summarize this: that in the Riverside, Prayer opened the heart. In the prison, prayer shook.
the prison but in This prayer meeting prayer built the church. And a summary would be this: the prayer by the river. was seeking God. The prayer in the prison was trusting God. But the prayer in the house was celebrating God.
Thanking God for all He's done. Thanking God, despite Satan's best efforts. Here they all were. gathered in a house, the beginning of a church. You know, Satan tried to kill Paul, kill Silas, beat them, everything he could do, and yet.
God said, I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Acts 16 shows us that prayer works. By a river? Prayer works in a prison.
Prayer works in a home. Because prayer is not the location. It's the God who hears it. And that's what I believe God's going to hear our prayers. tonight.
Now, I know it's I know it's dark and we want you to feel that you have some privacy as you pray tonight but I want to Show you one other thing because I believe there's a fourth prayer meeting. You say, Why did you make an outline that says? You know, the three prayer meetings, and well, it's because that's just the way I wanted to do it, all right?
So. I'm going to do a little twist at the end, alright? If you have your Bible and you're open to say, I want you to look at verse 15. And this isn't, don't have this on the screens, just want to talk to you about this briefly before we begin. and jump into our prayer time.
Verse 15 it says, And when she was baptized to Lydia. First convert, Riverside prayer meeting. Boy, God's good. Look at how God's already working. She was baptized and her household.
So there you have more and She besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house. And abide there, and she constrained us.
So Lydia immediately turns into a hospitable person. Her household becomes believers. They are baptized. That's the core of the first church. But look at verse 16.
And it came to pass as we went to what? See, this is a fourth prayer meeting, but here's what's interesting. They just finished a prayer meeting by the river and you have miraculous results. And as they're heading through the next prayer meeting, notice what it says: a certain damsel possessed. with a spirit of divination met us.
A demon-possessed woman shows up. Satan is already at work. after the first prayer meeting. And what I want you to understand is this. Prayer works.
And you can have a prayer meeting anywhere you want to have it. And you can desire to pray anywhere, no matter what the circumstances are. But I do want you to know. That When you and I gather together And there are strength and numbers in praying. I believe that with all my heart.
I'm just telling you. The demons are going to be unleashed. God began to work in our church through four or five weeks ago in a unique way. And Satan has fought. And he's going to.
And I want to encourage you tonight, it's very, very important, probably more important than we realize. And you say, hey, preacher, I can just sit at home and pray. Sure, you sure can. And um You know, I hope that you do, but I believe that it's biblical. to have corporate prayer.
And we're going to have a time tonight. I want us to pray and ask God to continue to prepare our hearts. Brother Jacob's going to come and begin our first section, and I just encourage you tonight. Um Just kind of I wouldn't say pretend, but just... Picture is just you.
As we pray, don't worry about anyone else. Let's call upon God tonight in a unique way. Lord, I love you. I thank you for what these every prayer meeting in this Chapter produced something. produced conversion.
Produced Earthquake, it... produce the church. and it also produced demonic attack.
So, Lord, I prayed that you would help us to understand how serious this is. We love you. Thank you for a church that'll come out. to praying. In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. All right, Brother Jacob. Our first section tonight that we're going to pray about is personal revival. Uh not long ago I was working on my truck and I had to take the battery out and do a few things. And I went inside to go clean up and wash my hands.
I washed my hands real good and realized a little bit later that I had some dirt still on my hands and I went to the bathroom later and looked in the mirror and I had some smudges on my face from where I touch my face from the stuff from the engine of my truck.
Now I realized that there was some things that I cleaned that were the obvious things. But there are some things I missed. In this passage, we're going to look at tonight. It's exactly that. It's saying there's some sins in our life that are the obvious sins, the things that we pray and confess often.
But it's asking God to show us the things that we miss.
some things that we may not have seen. Because for us To really see power with the Lord, we need to have a clean heart for our God. Psalm one thirty nine, verse one, says, O Lord, thou hast searched me. and known me. Thou knoweth my downsitting and mine uprising.
Thou understandest My thought afar off. Thou compasseth my path and my laying down. and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before and lay thine hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. it is high I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me. and thy right hand shall hold me. For I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
For thou hast possessed my reins, Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. Verse 23 says, Search me, O God. and know my heart, Try me and know my thoughts. and see if there be any wicked way in me. and lead me in the way of everlasting.
In this first section of time of prayer, we're going to take a few minutes to pray. And if you'll draw the little bubble around yourself, if you want to come to an altar, if you want to stay in your seat, it's entirely up to you. But would you help us to focus on this one thing? Confession let's get clean before the Lord. Let's surrender.
Let's submit ourselves before the Lord. and ask God to do a reviving in our hearts. We're going to pray, we'll have some music play, and then I'll come up and finish and close in prayer. Lord Jesus. We've brought our sins.
We've brought our things before you. And I thank you that you open your arms to us and that you forgive us. And nothing more you desire to be close to us. And so, God, we want to thank you for forgiveness. God, I pray that you will prepare us.
for what you have to come. Lord, I pray that you continue to work in the service to night. God, I'm so thankful for your goodness and mercy in our lives. And we bless you in Jesus' name. Amen.
For our second prayer focus, we're going to be looking at our church. and praying for our church this evening. Um as Pastor had already mentioned Uh a couple weeks ago There was a sweet spirit that came across our church, and God was doing some special things, and it was ministry-wide. It's just been awesome to be part of that. And uh it's Even coming into services, people were coming up to the pastoral staff and asking about salvation, and even after services, kids have been asking about.
Um the gospel and getting saved. And it's just been a wonderful thing. But whenever God moves like that, Obviously, as Pastor had already mentioned, Satan doesn't like that. He's going to fight against it. And during this time, as we look at the focus number two on prayer, we're going to look at our church.
And if you want to turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 4, here in Acts chapter 4, we see. that the First Church of Jerusalem was experiencing this. The church was about 120 and it blew up to about 5,000 people, and God was working in a mighty way. And here the the religious leaders, the government officials, didn't like this whatsoever.
So they were threatening John and Peter, and we see the results here. of this church, what they did. Did they Running high, no. They bound together in unity and in prayer.
So let's look at that real quick. in Acts chapter 4, starting in verse 24. And when they had heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord. and said, Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven. And earth and the sea, and all that in them is.
Who by the mouth of thy servant David has said, Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For a truth against the holy child Jesus, whom hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, and with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determine before to be done. And now, Lord, behold, their threatenings.
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word. by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and the signs and wonders may be done by the name of the holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, they had placed the place was shaken, and they were assembled together. And they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness, and the multitude of them believed. were one heart and of one soul.
Neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had all things common, and with great power gave apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. See, we here we have a church that is spirit-filled. We have this church here who they were challenged by the religious leaders, by the local government. And they didn't like it whatsoever that all these people.
Ran away from this religious system and started following the Lord Jesus Christ. And because of this, they went under great persecution, but they came together in unity. What a beautiful thing. We see they became together in unity with prayer. Verse 24 says, And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord.
Verse 32 says, And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. And I think that's a wonderful challenge. I believe here at Kirwan Baptist Church, we have a special unity. We have a special bond here at this church. And And I encourage you tonight that we pray specifically that God can strengthen that bond, that God can strengthen that chord that we have together in unity.
But what's our common denominator? As Pastor said, we're praying for us to be a diverse group amongst each other. Not a group of division, but a group of diversity. What's the common factor? Jesus Christ.
And as we talked about just recently, maturing in the gospel, as we're maturing and learning more about the Lord, we ought to grow stronger together in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think it's beautiful throughout this chapter, it's talking about they're of one heart and of one mind. But last of all, it said that God blesses us. That it was a great multitude after this, that they grew in this challenging time.
So, as we pray in just a few moments, we have a list of things here. I want you to break this up in different categories. First of all, that we could come together even stronger in unity. Stronger in unity. Also, we have secondly, spiritual hunger in our unity, that we're always centered on Christ, not about ourselves, but only in Him.
That anything we do, no matter what ministry we're involved in, whatever we sing, whatever we serve in, that everything is not about ourselves. But about Christ as we serve one another and with one another. And we have here a list of things of praying for more workers, more choirmen. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast.
The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192. or via the web. at Kerwin Baptist Church.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app.
Thank you for listening to the Kerwin Broadcast today. God bless you.
