Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth, Simply Stated. Thanks for joining us for this message.
Here's Adrian Rogers. but to pray with power, to pray so as to get your prayers answered. Now, I began reading in Acts chapter 4 and verse 23. The disciples, let me give you the background for this passage of Scripture. The disciples had done a notable miracle, and the religious rulers of that day could not deny the miracle, but they tried to keep the disciples from preaching or teaching anymore, and so they forbade them to preach the gospel.
Now, as a result of that, we begin reading in verse 23. And being let go, they, that is the disciples, went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they had heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God, which 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 of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined 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 that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. 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 spake the word of God with boldness, and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I want you to know that it was trouble that brought the church to prayer. The gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was being opposed. Christians were being threatened, and this was the catalyst for this great prayer meeting. Christians, someone has said, are like tea. Their real strength comes out when they're in hot water.
Now, that's true. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ today ought to be praying. I look around, and I see militant marching humanism. I see false cults that are spreading like wildfire. I look inside of this beloved nation of ours, and I see moral corruption in the movies. I see the slaughter of the unborn innocent babies.
I see a drug epidemic, alcoholism, sexual perversion. I see a people that do not know God, millions. God help us billions who have never even heard the name of Jesus, and I am convinced that only prayer can hold back the flood tide of sin and judgment, and only powerful prayer can send revival. Now, it is not just any prayer that we need, but it is prayer with power. It is not the rhetoric of our prayer, how eloquent our prayers are. It is not the music of our prayer, how beautiful our prayers are. It is not the logic of our prayers, how argumentative our prayers are. It is not the method of our prayer, how methodical our prayers are, but it is the power of our prayer that counts. I read in verse 31 that when these disciples had prayed, the place was shaken.
That is, there was power there, such power that it literally shook the place. God said amen with an earthquake. Now, I want us to look at this passage of Scripture and see what are the principles now of powerful prayer, how to put power in your prayer. Number one, I want you to see what I have called the confidence, the confidence of mighty prayer.
Look in verse 24. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is. This was a prayer that saw God as the Creator of all things. God, you're a sovereign God. You're almighty God. Now, this Jewish high court has told us not to preach.
They told us not to teach. But, Lord, you are the Creator. Lord, they are the created.
And, Lord, we don't have to be intimidated by them because all of the forces of nature are at your fingertips. Now, friend, it's necessary that when we're opposed and when trouble comes that we go back and get things in perspective and look beyond the visible to the invisible and look beyond the creature to the Creator and to bring it one more time into focus so that we can pray with confidence. Now, they saw God in verse 24 as the Creator of all things. And so it follows as night follows day, they saw God as the controller of all things. Begin in verse 25. They speak of this God who by the mouth of thy servant David has said, Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? For the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together, now watch this, underscore it, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. Now, these disciples were facing a difficult situation, but then they looked back to the darkest day they'd ever known when all of their hopes and aspirations and dreams were nailed to a hellish Roman cross, when the Son of God was ganged up on by the high court, by Herod, by Pontius Pilate, and all of these people nailed the Son of God to the cross, and they said this, nothing has gotten out of control. They quoted from Psalm 2, and they understood that David had said 700 years before Jesus Christ was born in Psalm 2, this was exactly precisely what was going to happen. And again, I want you to notice in verse 28, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before, that is, before it ever happened to be done. Now, what God showed these people was not only was God the Creator of all things, that God was the controller of all things, that nothing had gotten out of the control of Almighty God, that God foresaw it all, and God knew exactly precisely what was going to happen.
You see, we get all bent out of shape. We think, well, maybe the devil somehow has taken over, and maybe somehow things are not going to turn out as the Bible says they're going to turn out. But, dear friend, nothing, nothing has happened that God has not already foreseen and that God does not control. You need to learn this, that God is still in control. A while back, I had the privilege of having lunch with Corrie ten Boom, that woman who suffered in Hitler's concentration camps and was such a shining testimony for Christ.
Many of you saw the film of her life called The Hiding Place. And I thought, well, this is a rare opportunity for me. I'll not speak so much.
I'll just listen a lot and learn what I can learn. I learned a lot that day, but Corrie ten Boom said one thing that I wrote in the flyleaf of my Bible. She said this. I don't know whether she'd ever said it before or since, but I heard it, and it was like a barb in my soul. She said, there is no panic in heaven, only plans.
Only plans. And I thought, isn't that wonderful? The Holy Trinity never meets an emergency session. Amen? Praise God. Listen, this is what God before ordained. This is what God planned. God knew it was all going to take place. Now, notice the confidence of this prayer. Lord, you are the creator of all things. Lord, you are the controller of all things. And then it follows, as night follows day, if he is the creator, he must be the controller, and if he is the controller, he is the conqueror of all things.
Because if you read Psalm 2, Psalm 2 tells about how the kings would crucify the Lord Jesus Christ, and then in Psalm 2 it says, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. It speaks of how the Lord Jesus Christ is going to rule and how he's going to conquer and how he must prevail. It tells us, ladies and gentlemen, that God is on the throne, that sin cannot win, that faith cannot fail, that our God is the conquering God. I read about a little boy who was up late one night reading a murder mystery, and he was reading a book, and he was in the middle of this thing, and there was a villain, a dastardly villain in this story. He was plotting to do all kinds of mayhem and dastardly things to the heroine in this book, and he was feeling sorry for the heroine and almost afraid of the villain himself. He got so concerned about the thing he couldn't wait, so he decided he would read the last chapter before he finished the book. So he went over and read the last chapter, and in the last chapter he read how the villain got it in the neck and how he was repulsed and turned back and ignominiously defeated and how the heroine was delivered. Then he went back and began to read the book again with a smile on his face, and every time the villain would plot to do some dirty dastardly thing, the little fella would say, if you knew what I know, you wouldn't be so proud and cocky right now. You see, he read the last chapter. Well, friend, I want to tell you, God's children have read the last chapter.
We know how it's going to end. We know how it's going to end, and therefore we can pray with a confidence that God is the controller of all things because God is the conqueror of all things, the creator of all things. Thank God for that. And when you pray, dear friend, you need to get your prayer in perspective. So many of us are whining and groveling when we ought to be praising God and thanking God for the victory and pray with the mighty confidence that these disciples prayed with so long ago. The second thing I want you to notice is not only the confidence of mighty prayer, but I want you to notice the commitment of mighty prayer.
Look, if you will, in verse 29, "'And now, Lord, behold thy threatenings "'and grant unto thy servants "'that with all boldness they may speak thy word.'" Underscore, please, the word servant, the word servant. That speaks of the commitment of mighty prayer. That word is a translation of a Greek word that literally means bond slave, bond slave. Lord, grant to your slaves, your bond slaves, that they might speak your word with boldness. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the reason that many of our prayers are not answered is we've not made that commitment to the Lord.
Every now and then I come behind a car and I'll have a bumper sticker on it that says, God is my co-pilot. No, he's not. No, he's not. Some businessman says, well, I'm gonna open a business, I want God as my partner. He doesn't wanna be your partner. Friend, he is your L-O-R-D, Lord.
Lord, he's not your partner, he's not your co-pilot. You are his slave, and he is your sovereign Lord. Many times we want to use God.
God's not gonna be used. You want God to answer your prayers? Then submit yourself to him totally as Lord. I mean, why should God increase your strength to give you more power to serve the devil?
Why should God answer your prayer unless you're committed to him totally? Here were people who were committed to him. Answered prayer is not for rebels.
It is not for rebels. What did they want God to do? Now, look, first of all, they wanted God to give them power to express God's word.
Look in verse 29. As servants, they desired three things. Number one, to express God's word. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word.
Is that the desire of your heart to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, to obey the Great Commission? Grant, Lord, that with boldness they may speak thy word to express God's word. Now, I remind you, it was the expression of God's word, it was the preaching of God's word that got them in trouble to begin with. They didn't say, Lord, move us to more favorable circumstances. They didn't say, Lord, keep us safe. Do you know what they prayed? They prayed, Lord, give us more of what got us into trouble in the first place.
Now, you think about that. Lord, we're in trouble for preaching your word. Now, God, give us boldness to preach it some more. Amen?
We won't express your word. Jesus Christ did not come to get you out of trouble. He came to get into trouble with you.
And that's exciting. These disciples, as you read the book of Acts, they just stayed in trouble. They said, Lord, give us boldness. Now, this is the commitment of prayer with power to express God's word. But not only did they want to express God's word, I want you to look at it here. They wanted to extend God's hand.
Notice in verse 30, by stretching forth thy hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. Now, Lord, we want you to stretch forth your hand. Well, how was Jesus going to stretch forth his hand?
After all, Jesus had gone to heaven. How was he going to stretch forth his hand? Their hands were to become his hands. What they were saying is, Lord, take our hands and do through our hands what you would do if you were here in the flesh.
Let me show you how that prayer was answered. Turn to chapter 5 and look in verse 12. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people. They said, Lord, stretch forth your hands.
And then the Bible says, by the hands of the apostles were these things done. Do you understand that we are now the body of Christ and that he wants to inhabit our humanity and display his deity through our humanity? Are you available to him? Are you saying, Lord, these hands are your hands? And, Lord, if you want to stretch forth your hands, all you have to do is say the word and my hands will be stretched forth.
Are you committed to him like that? That is the commitment of mighty prayer, prayer that wants to express his word, prayer that wants to extend his hands. I read some time ago about a cathedral in Europe that was bombed in World War II. Some of the Americans were there and they wanted to rebuild the cathedral and they did. And in that cathedral was a magnificent statue of Christ with his arms outstretched.
And underneath it, the Scripture, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. The statue had been broken to pieces. They searched through the rubble. They took all of the parts of that statue of Christ and they assembled them back together. But when they came to the hands, they could not find the hands.
The hands had been destroyed and they couldn't find them. They didn't know what to do until somebody had an idea and he wrote beneath that statue with those arms without hands stretched out, he has no hands but our hands. That's so true.
That is so true. We're your bond slaves. Lord, we're here to express your Word. Lord, we're here to extend your hands. And Lord, we are here to exalt your Son.
Notice the third thing, verse 30. And by stretching forth thy hand be healed and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. Not in our name but in the name of Jesus.
And I've told you that name stands for character in person. That is, when it is done, it'll be obvious that Jesus Christ is doing it and Jesus Christ will get the glory and Jesus Christ will get the praise. Jesus said we are to pray in his name.
That's what they're talking about. Praying in the name of Jesus is not just at the end of your prayer tacking on a little phrase in Jesus' name, amen. It means Jesus with your authority and in your power and for your glory.
Lord, do this. We want you, Lord Jesus, to be exalted. So many of our prayers are so selfish.
We're not concerned with the glory of Jesus. The apostle James says you have not because you ask not, but you ask and receive not because you might ask amiss, that you ask amiss, that you might consume it upon your lusts. God's not some glorified bellhop running up and down the corridors of heaven to find things to bring them to you to satisfy your whims and your wants. God is not a sanctified Santa Claus. God is not a grocery clerk that runs around when you come with a shopping list. Many of us need to understand what prayer is.
Prayer is a means of bringing the power of heaven into our lives and when we are interested in expressing God's Word, when we're interested in extending God's hand, when we're interested in exalting God's Son and glorifying the Lord Jesus, then maybe we'll see our prayers answered. No maybe to it. I was reading recently about a lady down in Miami. They had a hurricane down in Miami. This woman was an agnostic or an atheist or whatever she was and she wrote this to the Miami Herald, the newspaper down there. She said, I've never believed in God, never believed in prayer. I thought it was all superstition, but she said the storm was coming and I thought maybe I'd give it a try to see if it really works. I thought to protect my house from the storm and nothing happened.
My house got damaged, so I just, what do you say about that? All these people say they believe in God and believe in prayer. She wrote a letter like this to the editor.
I thought the editor's answer was pretty good. He wrote back, he said, Madam, I don't know much about prayer either, but it must be that God was busy taking care of his regular customers. Amen? Now, there's so many of us. So many of us think we can just kind of run up to God with a little shopping list.
Are you committed to him? Friend, there is the confidence of powerful prayer, of mighty prayer. That confidence sees God as creator, God as controller, and God as conqueror. And then along with that confidence, not only is there the sovereignty of God, but there's the servanthood of man where we say, Lord, now grant to your bond slaves that we may exalt Jesus, that we may extend the hand of God, that we may express the Word of God.
Now, the third thing I want you to notice. I've talked to you, first of all, about the confidence of this prayer. Then I've talked to you about the commitment of mighty prayer. Thirdly, I want you to think of the consequences of mighty prayer.
I want you to see what happened. Begin in verse 31. 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 spake the Word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.
Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Now, what were the consequences of this prayer? Number one, the Spirit is received. Look, if you will, in verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, they had already been filled with the Holy Ghost in Acts 2, but now they're filled with the Holy Ghost again. And that teaches us a lesson that we cannot operate on yesterday's experience. There must be a fresh filling of God's Holy Spirit, and there must be this time with day after day in powerful prayer that we are filled with the Spirit. But there's another lesson I learned, that I cannot divorce the fullness of the Spirit from the witness of the servant. Now, look at it.
Look at it. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spake the Word of God with boldness. Why is God going to fill you with the Holy Spirit? Not to make you feel good.
Not to soothe you, but to empower you. Acts 1-8, but ye shall receive power after that. The Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me.
Now, listen. You say, oh, Spirit of God, fill me. I want to be a great Bible student. Spirit of God says I'm not interested. Spirit of God, fill me.
I want to live victoriously over sin. Spirit of God says I'm still not interested. Spirit of God, fill me. I want to have peace in my heart.
He says I'm not interested. Spirit of God, I want to express God's Word. I want to extend God's hand. I want to exalt God's Son. Spirit says, is that what you want? That's what I want also.
We'll get together on that. Friend, I'll tell you, the Holy Spirit of God will fill you when you're committed to be a witness to Jesus Christ. Are you committed that way? Listen, they were committed as servants, and the Bible says when they prayed, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, I'll tell you something else. They knew when they were filled with the Holy Spirit so much that they knew the time, the place when it happened.
Think about that. Are you consciously filled with God's Spirit? You could say, yes, that was the time when God's Spirit came upon me in power.
Now, look, what are the consequences? Number one, the Spirit is received. Number two, unity is achieved. Notice, if you will, here in verse 32, and the multitude of them that believe were of one heart and one soul. Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. They were fused together.
They became one. Prayer, more than anything else, unites the church. We're not to be wired together by organization.
We're not to be frozen together by formalism. We are not to be rusted together by tradition, but we're to be fused and melted together by prayer. When the church prays that Spirit is received, that unity is achieved, I hear people talk about what fellowship is, fellowship, and sometimes we say it's two fellows in the same ship. No, no, that's not what the Bible word fellowship means.
That's all external. You and I can be on the same boat and be enemies, but the Bible says, dear friends, that they were of one heart and one soul. The Jesus that's in me is the Jesus that's in you, and there is that unifying power, and the Bible says, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. The Bible says God hates him that sows discord among brethren.
The devil had rather start a church fuss than sell a barrel of whiskey any day. And how is that unity achieved? Through prayer as we pray and seek the face of God. And by the way, if you've ever had a prayer partner or been in a prayer group, you will know that those people that you've prayed with have become friends for life. There is a unity that is achieved in prayer that can be achieved in no other way. And so, dear friend, if we want our church to stay unified and be more greatly unified, then indeed we must practice this kind of prayer. I want to call upon our deacon groups to pray more. I want to call upon our choirs to pray more. I want to call upon our orchestra to pray more. I want to call upon our staff to pray more. I want to call upon our Sunday school classes to pray more.
I want to call upon our divisional directors to get together in this kind of unified prayer while we pray together. Now, the third thing that happens, when the Spirit is received, when unity is achieved, then the gospel is believed. The Bible says in verse 33, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. As a matter of fact, there are three great things that ring through the book of Acts.
Two of them are here, and one's in Acts chapter 5. Great power, great grace, and great fear. That's what we need in our churches today. It just follows that when God's Holy Spirit comes, then we're fused together by the Holy Spirit of God, and there is a unity and a power that causes the gospel to be believed when we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our first duty is not to preach the gospel, but to be ready and worthy to preach it through prayer, real prayer. You say, what does this have to do with my life, pastor?
I'll tell you what it has to do with your life. The time will come, if it has not already come, when for God to answer your prayer will mean more to you than anything else on this earth. I'll tell you what else it means to you. Many of you have loved ones who are going to die and go to hell if you don't learn how to pray and witness.
I'll tell you what else it means. It means that your life, your home, your family, this church, this community, America and our world, will never see the power of God as they ought until God's people learn how to pray, how to put power, how to put power in your prayer. The need of the hour is prayer with power.
Let's pray. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you'll help us to learn from this passage of Scripture that has, in a fresh way, spoken to my own heart. And, Father, help me that this sermon about prayer will not be rhetoric, but, Lord, will be a reality in my life. Teach me more about prayer. Lord, we say, as the disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray. In Jesus' name, amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.
