Prayer.com III, When You Need A Breakthrough

I kind of feel in one sense, don't you, that we could just close in prayer and go. Do you really? Okay. Just wondering how far we might be able to take that. Well Robert Bella in his book Habits of the Heart describes a culture much like ours and calls it individualistic. And in his book he talks about societies, cultures that are more individualistic, tend to stress the role and the achievement of the individual over the group. And this isn't all a bad thing, but it's easier for us as a more individualistic culture to stress the individual. And probably even as American churches we tend to do the same thing. It's easier for us to see how God works powerfully through individuals to make his presence known, to accomplish his will, to minister to the needs of others. All of us would desire that our lives be somewhat like a melody, you know, that's being played. Who doesn't wish for their life, you know, to sing out? I do. You know, who doesn't want their life to sing out a melody that God's creating with power? But you know, as much as God uses individuals, we might even say although God uses individuals to sing out melodies, God is fond of using groups of people. And no one can deny that when you put a melody in something larger than itself, it's really enhanced, isn't it? Individual in one sense, they were meant to be blended together in community, in groups of people. Now, let's take this a step further. Consider what we've been talking about beginning last week on Sunday mornings, the practice and cultivation of prayer in our lives. It's probably easier for us to see prayer as an individualistic thing as well. Me singing my melody to God or listening as God sings back to me. We probably tend to think of prayer as something that I do, something individualistic, that I cultivate my prayer life. But in fact, we're going to see today that God always uses groups of people to accomplish things through prayer. In fact, we should never underestimate the potency of groups that pray, groups that pray. God seems to unlock his power in a unique way when groups come together and pray. And we're going to look at two stories this morning in the book of Acts that will teach us what it means, a little bit more of what it means, as groups of people across a community about prayer and what prayer looks like and what God does when groups pray together. So if you have your Bible, turn to the book of Acts, fifth book in the New Testament, Acts chapter 12. Remember that this book is about the formation of the church. You know, over 2,000 years ago, we can really say that now, over 2,000 years ago, there was a formation that took place of people who chose to live the life that Jesus had laid out when he was on earth and by his spirit would now guide them into. And the book of Acts are stories that are told about the church as it was forming. And a lot of stories in the book of Acts have to do with prayer, prayers of individuals, but this morning we want to see prayers of groups. So let's start reading in chapter 12, verse 1, and we'll see this story and what we can learn about groups that pray together. It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death by the sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. Ah, polling data. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by the four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him, Peter, out for public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and centuries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick, get up, he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said to him, put on your clothes and sandals, and Peter did so. Wrap your cloak around you and follow me, the angel told him. Peter, verse nine, followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself. That's the first remote control in the Bible. And they went through it. When they walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. That is cool. Then Peter came to himself and said, now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me. Oh, Peter, sharp as a tack there, I mean, you can't put anything by Peter. He sent an angel, rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything that the Jewish people were anticipating. When this dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. People knocked at the, or Peter, knocked at the outer entrance and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that she ran without opening the door and exclaimed, Peter is at the door. You're out of your mind, they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, it must be his angel. So get this now, the church is praying for Peter's release, and then Rhoda comes and says, he's at the door, and they say, of course he's not at the door, we're praying for his release. That's why we're here. Come on, Rhoda. But Peter kept on knocking, Peter's just out there, just knocking. And when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. Quite a story. And it teaches us something about how groups pray together. We might call this communal intercession, or groups that ask. That's the first thing that we want to talk about for a few minutes this morning. Groups that ask. We call that intercession. And there are a couple things implicit in this passage that we learn about groups that ask of God certain things. The first is release. When groups pray, when groups ask, when groups of people get together and ask in the name of Jesus, divine resources are released. Divine resources are released into that situation. Now this is a mystery, how this works. We dare not presume on God. We dare not try to manipulate God. Because remember, the two rules of the universe, one, there is a God, and two, you are not him. Therefore we cannot presume on God. And groups often will do that. They'll presume on God that, hey, if we say whatever it is we say in the name of Jesus, well, we're going to get it. Well, I dare you to ask for a BMW, you know, you probably won't get it. Because there's more to it than just simply abusing a sentence and asking God to cover it. But, even though some people get whacked out about how they ask for things, or what they ask, it doesn't negate the reality that when groups of people get together to pray, there are real, unseen, divine resources that are released into that situation. They're really there. They're really at bear when we pray. This is so important that we see this. It's so important that we understand it. In fact, it's interesting to me that the people who were praying that night were somewhat taken back that it really happened. And we've probably all experienced this. And it's somewhat natural, you know, that, wow, if something really supernatural happened before me, I'd be sort of taken back by it. But it's also somewhat dangerous when we stop and think about it. If we were sort of pushed to answer, of course most of us would say, yes, I believe in God. Yes, I believe in divine resources. Yes, I even believe that He releases them. But how about when you're in a group praying? Do you really believe it there? Or are you kind of like, well, you know, this is just group prayer. Or is there really something to a heart belief that there are true resources God is waiting? Somehow, mysteriously, God has inserted us in the process of the unfolding of His will. And without trying to explain it, because it is somewhat of a mystery, God inserts our asking in His unfolding. It's amazing. It's amazing. In the groups that we'll be meeting, you know, over these weeks as we're looking at prayer, lighthouse groups, cell groups, any kind of group that you might be in, my challenge to all of us would be to cultivate the real heart belief that when groups pray, divine resources are released. You're cultivating that expectancy. But you're also cultivating a humble heart so that you don't try to presume on how God's going to do that. And you're also cultivating a watchful eye to see, hey, how is God going to do it? And then you're also cultivating a readied hand to say, we will participate in what God reveals. So this first piece in the book of Acts, that we see in chapter 12, teaches us to pray expecting for divine resources to be released, but to not manipulate them, to watch for them, and then to participate with them when they emerge. As this is happening, you know, as groups are going through this process, something else takes place in their midst. First, they see the release of divine resources. But secondly, they're reminded about divine reality. They're reminded about divine reality, that God is really here. He's really in our midst. As Bonhoeffer said, He is the beyond in our midst. God is the beyond in our midst. And we need to be reminded again and again that the divine resources come from God. And these become sort of markers along the way in our group experience. Imagine what happened to the people that night who were praying, when they saw Peter at the door. What do you think that did to their faith? How do you think that affected them in their life? It probably caused them to be more risky for God, and look for ways to activate the real faith that God had placed inside of them. So we need to be reminded again and again, these are like markers of faith. When we see God work in a group, and we've been praying, we see Him work, we see His will unfolding, then we need to be reminded, in fact, that God is really here. We need to celebrate that together. We need to be astonished about that together. We need to be overjoyed that, in fact, God is putting another marker down of His faithfulness. I remember when I was growing up, my dad was president of a small college, a small Bible college. And like most Christian organizations, they always needed money, and it was a hard thing, you know? It was hard to get that money, especially in the summer for schools. And I can remember working at the school in the summer, and my dad calling a group of people together, faculty and staff and administration, and saying, you know, today is D-Day. We need $200,000. We need it today. And we just need to pray that God is going to release resources. And I can remember being in that circle with people. And I can particularly remember a time when my dad called people together and prayed, and when we were done praying, and it really was a sum of money like that that was needed that day. My dad said, after the mail comes, I'd like you to all come back so we can celebrate what God is going to do today. And I'm like, whoa, Dad. Kind of stepping out there, aren't you? I mean, like, what if it doesn't happen? And a few hours later, I can still see one of the secretaries come running in with a check for $200,000 that nobody knew was coming that day. Now, I've got to tell you, that does something to you, you know. It provides sort of a marker. And I still remember those things, and I've seen those, and not just monetarily, but relationally and circumstantially. And when there are difficulties, and we see as a group, God pushes through those kind of circumstances. There are markers in our lives together. And we even look back and celebrate God's faithfulness, and then look forward and trust Him more wholly, more completely, because we've seen Him work. So group praying is very powerful. It releases, mysteriously, under God's grace, it releases divine resources, and then it reminds us of the faithfulness of God along the way. When you're praying in your groups, ask boldly, but humbly, and with a watchful eye and a willing hand, to be able to participate in what God is doing. And then celebrate, as a group, what God is doing in your life. There was some party the night that Peter showed up at the door. Celebrate that. The second story is just next door in chapter 13, and this is a fascinating story. Let's read it together. Chapter 13, verse 1. In the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. Man, I'm glad that verse is over. I practiced that for quite a while, actually. It sounds like the back of a medicine bottle or something. Verse 2, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them, because I can pronounce their names. No, no, I'm just kidding. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. Now this is another kind of praying. We might call this communal worship, or groups that worship God, or if you want an A word, groups that adore, groups that adore God. Teach us something about how God releases His will into our lives. It's interesting that at the time they were worshiping, God revealed major direction for these two lives. I want them to be set apart for this. This is their life call. Happened right there as they were worshiping. It's interesting. Do we see worship like that? Where worship could become a place where God could actually reveal a direction for one's life while worshiping in a group. This is so important that we learn to adore God together. And again, I want to encourage you in your groups to spend time worshiping God, to spend time adoring God. You may sometimes do it through singing. You may sometimes do it through speaking. You may sometimes do it in silence. You may sometimes do it through scripture, but I want to encourage you to spend time worshiping God, adoring God, because it's so important that a group has that worship as their focus when they pray. Because I'll tell you, a group prayer, if you've been in just one group prayer time, you know it can quickly degenerate. Can I get an amen on that? Whoa. And there are a couple things that can happen. I've seen it again and again. I've done it again and again. The first thing that can happen in group praying is agendas come out. Have you ever noticed this? Like I want to tell the group something, but I want to make it sound really spiritual. So I'll pray it. And I'll pray what I'd really rather just say to everybody, hey, I really think we ought to do this. But I'll turn it into a really, none of you have done this. Okay, well, let's go on. I say my agenda when I'm praying. Or I analyze somebody else's agenda. Maybe it's not really even an agenda, but I kind of take it as an agenda. And have you ever been in a prayer group and you're listening? I'm not in on that one, all right? Kind of missed the whole point of prayer at that point, haven't we? You know how many agendas there are in a group who's praying? As many people as there are in the group who's praying. Everybody comes with an agenda. Well, not me. There's your agenda. Everybody comes with an agenda. The other thing that can happen is very easily we can let the attention of the group get focused on us. Oh, boy. Either by the way we pray or, you know, some people preach in their praying, I don't know if you've ever noticed that, or one of my real pet peeves, and I've been guilty of it too, is people who tell stories while they're praying. They want to tell a story, you know, that's happened to them, but they want to make it sound like it's part of the prayer and how it fits in everything. So they act like they're telling God the story, like he forgot. You know? Like, you know, God, remember yesterday when I was a giant eagle and we were walking up and down the aisles together? Now, what does God think at this point? Well, no, not really. What were we doing before that? You know, of course, we don't need to remind God of what happened yesterday, but we do this in our prayers. And, Lord, I was walking down the one aisle and I saw all the refried beans right there, you know, and I saw the one that said, fat-free refried beans, and you reminded me right there in that moment, Dave, you need to live a spiritually fit life. No fat in your spiritual life, you know, and the rest of the group's like, huh? How about just say it and get out? You don't need to tell a story. That's a cool story. Maybe God really spoke to you in that moment. Just share it with the group. Hey, time out. I want to share something that I think we should pray about. Or just say, Lord, thanks for, you know, teaching me that we need to be spiritually fit. End of the story. We don't need to draw a lot of attention to ourselves when we pray. That's not the purpose of prayer. Now, agendas and attention being pulled away from where it was meant to be get remedied when we take our agendas and our attention and we submit them before God. That's worship. See, when a group submits their agendas, Lord, you know, whatever, whatever you want to do, when a group focuses their attention on God, then those kinds of things that are, that can quickly degenerate a group when they're praying, happen much less frequently. Much less frequently. So groups that worship together, they create a climate of receptivity for God to speak. It may not be what I want to say is what you need to hear. I may need to lay down my agenda. It may not be that what you want to hear someone pray for you is what you need. I mean, how many of us want someone to pray something really cool for us? Who would want someone to say, you know, I'm sensing as we're praying here that God has you in this difficulty and He's not going to let you out of it because He's trying to shape your character. Who wants that? That's the elder down front I want to avoid, okay? I want to stay away from that person. I want the person who's only going to pray the things that fit my agenda, you know? But what if my agenda's wrong? What if my agenda's wrong? How does the group discover God's agenda? Well, one thing that creates a receptivity to God's agenda is worship. It creates a good soil in a group for God to deposit something. It creates a corporate receptivity for the people praying. And that's what they had, you know? They heard something because they were open. They were receptive to what God wanted to share. The second thing it does is it creates an openness. It creates an openness to the possibilities of God. When you worship and you learn to be still and you learn to put your attention on God and you learn to surrender your agenda, it creates an openness to new possibilities that the group had no idea were out there that God wants to share with the group. Kierkegaard said this, Possibility is a hint from God. I love that. Possibility is a hint from God. How do you learn to hear these hints from God? You'll learn to hear them in worship. You'll learn to hear them when your agenda is submitted to God. And when you're open to what God wants to say, and he can deposit a hint. This is what I want. This is where I want this group or the people in this group to go. And it comes from groups that adore. Groups that learn to put their focus and their agendas before God and say, Do what you want with it. Just a few months before my family and I moved here to Pittsburgh to become part of the team here at North Way, we were involved at a church in Maryland, helping plant a church in Maryland. And about a year into the process of planting the church, it became evident that that's not why we were all together. And the church was going to probably fold into another church or take the resources that we had and move into another church. And it just didn't seem like it was the right thing for us to stay, for Kelly and I and our boys to stay. So we started looking. And sort of an offhanded comment at one of our group times, we were strategizing a little bit, was, well, let's really hope that Dave can have a job in about 35 to 40 days. Wow. And that immediately put pressure on me. It made me feel uptight, like, oh boy. And then this particular person in the group, every time that they would see me, they'd say, hey, how's it going? You know, how's it going and trying to find a job? And Kelly and I, you know, we were looking to go west, to go home. I mean, much more west than Pittsburgh, okay? You know, Denver, Phoenix, Hawaii, anywhere, you know, west of here. And so we came to a night, and I was already feeling somewhat of pressure. And this other person was feeling pressure because we're sort of sustaining Dave and Kelly, and we can't do that much longer. So there was just, when we got together, there was tension. And so we decided to stop and just pray and worship. And as we worshiped, you know, everybody could kind of just feel the tension over this. What was going to happen? And the person who had been the most vocal about the whole ordeal, you know, hurry up, come on, we've got to get this thing on the road. During the time of worship, they stopped and said, I really feel like God is saying to us right now, we need to back off. We need to relax. God's got something in store for Dave and Kelly. He's got things in store for those of us who are going to stay here. But we're trying to push, I'm trying to push. We need to just, we need to stop and relax. And the whole room went, you know, like it was a directive from God. Just relax. Three days later, I found out about a church in Pittsburgh called North Way Christian Community. And a month later, we were here. Just because people were willing to put their own agendas down and let God work the way He wanted to work and relax into that, relax into God's will. Then God was able to say, okay, now I can show you things you haven't been able to see. I can show you things you haven't been able to see because now your agendas are down. Your agendas are down. When you pray as a group, worship as a group, and let worship, whether it's singing or silence or speaking or scripture, let worship get your heart agenda right and your attention in the right place. And then perhaps God will drop a hint in that group life of what He has for you. Groups that ask, you know, groups that ask. Groups that ask in the name of Jesus find that there really are mysteriously divine resources at hand. Sometimes, and I don't mean this really in a mystical way, but sometimes out of thin air comes the resource needed right in that moment. Other times it's a process. But groups that ask God are somehow mysteriously a part of how God works to shape His plans, His purposes in our lives. And then groups that can stay open, stay receptive, stay pliable to what God is doing through worship are able to hear things and see things they wouldn't be able to without submitting their agendas and focusing their attention. So when you pray in these days, in any group you might be in, be a group that asks boldly but with humility, ready to take your hands and participate in what God is doing and be a group that worships. In fact, here's what I would encourage you to do in your groups. Why not worship your way into God's will? Why not worship your way into God's will? There's a place for strategy and there's a place for planning and there is. Those are good things and Scripture commends those as noble virtues. However, there's also a time and a place to simply worship your way into God's will where we say, it's not about me figuring it out right now. It's not about me striving really hard to plan it out. It's about putting my agendas aside and my attention on the Lord and listening and worshiping my way into God's will. Groups that pray experience the power of God in their midst in a unique way. And I hope that we'll experience stories during this time of how God inserts his resources and a receptivity in the groups that are praying all over our community. Let's stand and pray together. Lord, it is in your name that we come right now and thank you for the grace that covers us and sustains us and prevails for us. Help us as groups of people, as a community to stand firmly in that grace and to allow you to shape our lives, our destiny as a group. We are dead.