I invite you to take your Bibles tonight and open up to Acts chapter 2. We will at least be starting there. It's been a busy Sunday evening. There's a lot going on. I appreciate your patience and grace. But it's exciting stuff. We just interviewed a Perspective member tonight and we have a full schedule of perspective members that Lord willing will be coming into membership in our October business meeting. So please do pray for your elders as we interview these new members. If you recall back when I did a series on 1 Peter chapter 5, one of our responsibilities is to be protectors of the flock. And let me tell you, There are need of protectors in the local church. In a day where many people pose as believers when in reality they are not and bring great harm and deception and corruption to the church. It was true in the day of the first century and Paul had to instruct Timothy about it and it's true in our day. and every church needs undershepherds who are going to take their responsibility seriously to protect the flock. So we protect it on the front end and who we let in, and we protect it on the back end and who we let out, excommunicate. So please pray for your elders, and we appreciate that. Acts chapter two. This is really in some sense the thematic text for Grace Covenant Church. And the reason why is because in this text, Dr. Luke says that the early church devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. What are those four things? Those four things are the means of grace. And if you haven't heard that term since you've been here, you've either been sleeping, or I don't know, you have short-term memory loss. But we talk much about the means of grace, and the means of grace are God's channels through which He communicates grace to us. He communicates grace to us through the preached Word. He communicates grace to us through the sacraments, Lord's Supper and Baptism. He communicates grace to us through prayer. And that's what Luke is getting at here. And you know what's interesting is, it's not like Luke is saying this is some type of sacramental or spiritual buffet. There's the apostles teaching and the breaking of bread and the fellowship and the prayers. And the fellowship guy comes in and he says, oh, I just love fellowship. I just love being with God's people. I love lingering before and after the service. And so I'm a fellowship guy, but the sacraments and the prayer, I'm just not that into that. And then, of course, the doctrine person comes in and they say, Oh, I love good doctrine, especially reformed doctrine. That's good, solid doctrine. I'm a reformed Christian, and I love to talk about doctrine, day in and day out. I like to get in online chat sessions and just talk until the wee hours of the morning. I love to read Birkhoff and Gresham Machen and Turretin and all these guys. I'm a doctrine guy, but the sacraments and the prayer, I'm just not into that. Or the prayer person comes in, they say, I'm a prayer warrior. If you look at my knees, they're calloused because I'm constantly on my knees and I'm giving myself over to prayer. And what's more, I love the corporate prayer of the saints, but you know, the fellowship and the doctrine and the sacraments. No, Luke tells us that the church devoted themselves. You know what that word is in the Greek? It's basically a word that means stickiness. It's a word that means they clung to. What did they cling to? They clung to these four things. You know what that means in modern terms? Listen to me very carefully. They made it their priority. From what I understand, when this place was Kempsville Chapel, their theme verse, does anybody know? What was the theme verse? Yeah, come on, Mr. Ruth, tell us, what was it? That's right. You know, we sometimes say that in kind of like a religious way, but I wonder sometimes if we realize what we're saying. You know what that's saying? That's saying the priority of my life is the kingdom of God. I have a question, and this is interactive. Somebody tell me, where is the clearest and most manifest manifestation of the kingdom of God in this world? Somebody tell me. The church, it's that simple. It's the church through which the means of grace comes, primarily. I'm not saying that God doesn't deliver grace in other ways, but I am saying God has made it such that the normative way and the primary way, the primary channels through which grace comes to us is through the church. One time when I was in my systematic theology class in seminary, somebody asked the professor, Where do we see the kingdom of God? His answer shocked me. You know what he said? He said, I'll tell you where you see the kingdom of God. When the minister raises his hands and gives the benediction at the end of the service, that's the kingdom of God. And I thought about that for a long time. I'm like, what is he getting at? The benediction is something you can only get in the church. The benediction is a pronouncement and a blessing of promises, typically, that God, through the mediation of the minister, is giving to the people. He's basically pronouncing blessing on you, pronouncing promise upon you. You can't get that at work on Monday morning. You can't get that at a theater on Friday night. You can't get that at a basketball court and a tournament on the weekend. You can only get it in the Church of Christ. The church of Christ is the most vivid manifestation of the kingdom of God in this world. And Jesus says, not Berkhoff, not Calvin, not Pastor Josh or any pastor here, Jesus says, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. I encourage you to think about that next time you plan your Sundays. May all of our Sundays manifest a people who make the Lord's Day the priority no matter what. None of this is in my notes, but anyways, Dr. Luke says in Acts 2.42 This is what they devoted themselves to. They made it a priority in their lives. Now, the apostles' teaching, obviously it's talking about the doctrine of the apostles. The fellowship, I believe that that is just simply talking about the fellowship of saints. Now, what you may not know is koinonia, the word, the Greek word for fellowship in the Bible, most typically is used for Saints giving of their own resources to help out the needs of others. That doesn't exclude the table with cookies and punch after service, it can be that too. But it primarily has to do with sharing our resources with one another when somebody is in need. That's the fellowship of the saints. It's what we here call life together. The breaking of bread, anybody know what that is? The Lord's Supper. He's talking about the Lord's Supper. And finally, prayer. They gave themselves over to prayer. For this reason, I must say at the outset that both as a Christian and as a pastor, I feel very strongly about corporate prayer, and I hope that you do as well. Church prayer meetings, mark this, church prayer meetings according to the Bible are not optional. They're not optional. And I don't like to come from the lens of, God says this, you shall do it. I can, we should, we do that to one another. My question is, why would you not wanna be at a prayer meeting? Why would you not wanna be with God's people and lifting up petitions to Him? What is more important than that on the market day of the soul that we call the Lord's day? What's more important than that? I would like to know, what has a higher priority than the kingdom of God? So church prayer meetings are not optional. They are incredibly important for the well-being of the church and for the communities within the church, and I would say for the whole world. And that's an audacious claim, isn't it? If you say that prayer meetings are important for the whole world, that means that you have a very high view of prayer, doesn't it? It actually means that you think that the things that you pray about will actually be answered by a God who is sovereign over the whole universe. Even the beginning student of church history can tell you this, and if you've just read one book on church history, you know this. If you study what precipitated every single reformation, every single revival, not only in this country, but internationally, you know what you will find? Virtually every revival and every reformation was precipitated by the people of God getting together and engaging in corporate prayer. They beseech the Lord of the harvest to send missionaries. They beseech the Lord of the harvest to send bold heralds to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. They beseech the Lord of the harvest to send the Spirit, because you could put the Word out there as much as you want, but unless the Spirit comes and sows that Word into the heart of His people, there will never be revival. And you cannot concoct the Spirit's working. Jesus says in John chapter three, the Spirit is like the what? The wind! You don't know what it's going to do next. That's the Spirit. But through prayer, we can beg the Lord of the harvest to send the Spirit and bring revival and just cause regeneration to break out in a place, not only in a county or a city, but even upon a whole nation. And I am convinced, please listen to me, I am convinced that if we are serious about revival and reformation, desiring revival, desiring reformation, not the kind of revival that if we had a church marquee out there on the road, we would say revival all this week. No, we don't plan revival. Revival comes through the Spirit of God. But if we are serious about seeking the Lord of the Harvest to bring reformation and revival, and can we just start with more modest claims, like starting even in our family? We will take prayer seriously. These seats will be as filled on Sunday evening as they are on Sunday morning, and maybe even more. We will not make this ridiculous distinction between morning and evening service that says, well, it's an option. It's not. God calls us to pray. And our Sunday evening vespers are prayer meetings. Somehow, somehow, prayer meetings have fallen on hard times, kind of like family worship, and people have gotten it in their mind that it's okay to be a church member and not attend them. So what is church membership all about? If you can't spend one hour a week in prayer together with the people of God, I'd say that we need to look inside ourselves and ask ourselves, what's wrong with me? Now, I'm not saying that there aren't legitimate reasons for not attending. Okay, sometimes, you know, your pipes break in the basement, right? And you're like, you're in your galoshes and you're walking through the basement and there's water everywhere. Okay, you can't come to service, all right? The proverbial ox is in the ditch, right? We get that, okay? But sometimes, you know what people do? They push their ox into the ditch. You understand what I mean by that? They push their ox into the ditch. I planned a party on Sunday. You've pushed your ox into the ditch. The ox didn't fall in. You've pushed your ox into the ditch. And it really comes back to Matthew 6.33. What is a priority for us? Do we seek first the Kingdom of God on the Lord's Day and every other day of the week, but primarily the Lord's Day? Or are there other things that we put before that? But as a general rule, I would say this, and by the way, I know I'm coming off strong. I do not simply as a pastor I believe these things before I ever became a pastor because I believe in corporate prayer. But I would say what we need to get in our mind is this. I just determine as I look at my calendar. And I look at all those boxes on the left-hand side of the calendar, I just cross them all out and I say, this is the Lord's Day. It belongs to Him. Do you know that the reference to the Lord's Day in Revelation 1.10, it's the only place it's used in the New Testament, John says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. Follow me here. The Greek construction that is used for Lord's Day is typically, you know, the day of the Lord, it's possessive in English grammar, okay? It's typically, in Greek, a genitive. A genitive is a possessive noun, okay? Not so. In Revelation 1, 10, when it says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, it is a very special use of a particular form and particular declension of this noun that is only used to describe one other thing in the whole New Testament. And you know what that other thing is? Does anybody know? The Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper. And why do we call the Lord's Supper the Lord's Supper? It's a supper that is exclusively His. We don't use it for anything else. You may on New Year's Eve have a few drinks, maybe have maybe more drinks than you should, okay, because it's just a common meal, but you would never do that at the Lord's Supper, would you? In fact, some people in Corinth were doing that and they were rebuked for it. They were rebuked for taking something holy and making it common. But Paul says that the Lord's Supper and John says that the Lord's Day are not common. In fact, that same construction was used by the Roman government where they would put as a seal on a document on something that was official that said, official property of the Roman government. That means it could not be used for anything other than the Roman government. Well, Jesus does the same thing with a meal and a day. And he says, this day is mine, and this meal is mine, and if you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you love me, you will make the most use of them. You will give your soul over to this day and to this meal, and you will glorify me with it. Charles Spurgeon once said, we shall never see much change in our churches until the prayer meeting occupies a much higher place in the esteem of Christians. Some of you know that Charles Spurgeon attributed the effectiveness of his ministry to the praying saints in the church. I think he called it the boiler room, if I'm not mistaken. But while he was preaching, there were saints in a back room somewhere that were praying specifically for the purpose of his preaching. And there were saints that would meet during the week, and there were saints that would meet in the corporate prayer meetings, and they would pray for the ministry of the Word, and Spurgeon attributed the effectiveness of his ministry to prayer. But today, less than 10% of church members across this country meet for prayer in churches. churches that once had vibrant prayer meetings. In many churches, prayer meetings have become cold, informal, and boring. In other churches, they've never developed the tradition of meeting regularly for corporate prayer. It's high time that we be reminded of the importance of prayer meetings, for the church that does not pray together cannot really hope to see great reformation and revival. So just as we begin tonight, and I've gone longer than I expected, I just want to leave you with a quick question. Do you want reformation and revival? I know some of you are thinking I thought I came to a reformed church we don't talk about revival maybe reformation but we don't talk about revival. Oh yeah. If you look I mean you think of George Whitefield you think of Jonathan Edwards you think of all these great reformed luminaries that the Lord used. to bring great revival to a nation, okay? The church is the place where revival should start. Not revival prayer meetings, not Billy Graham crusades. I don't have any problem with it, but revival should start in a church. That's where revival should start. It's where we should be bringing our unbelieving friends and unbelieving neighbors so they might hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's where we need to be hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ so that we can be being reformed daily in our own sanctification. You know, as I always say, John Murray would always talk about the process of sanctification. Listen to me very carefully, and please don't hear what I'm not saying. John Murray would talk about the process of sanctification as many salvation experiences. What did he mean by that? What he meant by that is sanctification is really just a long line of I am confronted with sin by the law, I see how horrible it is, I repent, I confess my sins, and where do I go to get forgiveness? I go to the cross. And so I believe in Jesus Christ. And then I get up Monday morning and I do it again. And then Monday morning at 9.05 I do it again. And at midday again. And in the evening again. There are many salvation experiences because isn't that how we originally came to the Lord? We were confronted with our sin. We were overwhelmed by it. We realized that we had no works that could commend us to God. And so we also knew that our sin deserved punishment. So we have this punishment hanging over our head, and this requirement of perfection that we cannot meet, and where do we go where we can get both of those needs met? We go to the cross. And He takes my punishment, and I take His righteousness. So sanctification is a long line of many salvation experiences, and my question for you is, have you had something of that many salvation experience in your sanctification recently? Or are you in a season, a season in a dry, arid desert where the Lord, it seems as if, is not speaking to you? Can I tell you something? It's not that the Lord is unwilling to speak to you. It's not even that the Lord hasn't spoke to you, because He speaks to us every single Sunday two times through the preached word of God. And so the question is, am I making use of that means of grace? Am I, even before Sunday, praying on my face before God saying, Lord, would you use the preached word tomorrow? Would you use the sacraments on the first Sunday of the month to minister my soul, break up the fallow ground of my heart and give me repentance so that I can see the cross like I saw it on that first day that you opened my eyes. Glorious, resplendent, and your renown shining over every dimension of it, and me loving it, clinging to it without nails because I love you. Have you had that recently? because that's what sanctification is. Sanctification is constantly coming back to the cross, being driven there by the law, and then the burden being dropped as you come to the law, just as it did with Pilgrim and Pilgrim's Progress. So, why are church prayer meetings important? Come back next week, and I'll actually start the lesson, okay? So we have five minutes before we go into prayer, And sometimes we do this. So I want to do this right now. Does anybody have questions about anything that I just said? All right. So for the next few Sunday evenings, we are going to be talking about why church prayer meetings are important. I don't know how many Sundays it's gonna be, but can I just encourage you to come, and can I encourage you to exhort your brother and your sister, as we are told in Hebrews 10, 24 and 25, to come as well, not to forsake the assembling together of the saints, but to encourage them all the more as they see the day approaching. Can I encourage you to encourage your brethren to come and pray for us, with us, You know, the last two Sunday evenings I think have been some of the most encouraging times of prayer that I've had in a long time. And they've been with you. And not only that, but there has been a level of transparency that elders have been seeing in these evening Vesper prayer meetings that we haven't seen in a long time. You know, there have been people in this congregation on Sunday evening that have revealed some things to all of us for which they have asked us to pray that they have not revealed to people in this church publicly for 23 years? Could it be that the Lord is doing something among us? Could it be that the Lord is binding our hearts together in a greater way than we've ever experienced before? And you know what? I'm just speculating here, but could it also be that maybe he's doing that because he's about to send something pretty massive our way? I don't know. I don't know. But I do know this. I do know this. Prayer is a means of grace, and I want more grace. Do you want more grace? If I ever meet a Christian that's like, I'm good on grace today, I'm Phil, I'm like, I don't think you understand grace. Because I need grace every second of the day. And when I have a day where Jesus says, hey, listen to me, listen to me very carefully. Jesus says, I have good news for you today. You don't have to work. You don't have to mow the lawn. You don't have to do schoolwork, teenagers. All you have to do is feast at this table of grace through word, sacrament, and prayer, and fellowship with the saints, and mingle with them. Isn't that liberating? I've been a student most of my life, still am a student. Hopefully I won't die as a student, but I will tell you this. On Thanksgiving Day, something that was so liberating to me, even though I had finals coming up, is I don't have to study today. I'm just gonna eat turkey and everything else, and I'm gonna watch football games. That's all I'm gonna do. I'm gonna give myself over to that. How much freedom and liberty is there in that? And on Sunday, that's what you get to do. The rat race that keeps us held captive to its devices Monday through Saturday is broken by Jesus on the Lord's day. We don't have to enter into the rat race. I want grace. So come next week, grace, and let's talk more about grace and how the Lord gives us that grace through prayer. Last Sunday we entered into an open season of prayer and I want to do this Sunday evening something of a mix.