And I titled this sermon, Prayer Unites Us. We're going to actually start at Acts chapter one. So just to be thinking about that, I'm going to move through Acts one, a couple of verses I'm going to show you, and we're going to land at Acts chapter four. And we'll continue with what we were talking about this morning. So this morning we were talking in Acts chapter four earlier about Peter and John, they cannot but speak. And then we want to look at the life of the early church in the latter part of chapter four. And so what we have before us this afternoon is the early church. And when I say that, I'm thinking really of the church described in the beginning of the book of Acts. What is going on in the life of the early church? What do we know about this church? You know, Christ at this point has already ascended into heaven and he's left his followers behind. And I don't know if you can, but just try to put yourself in that position. Like here's Jesus with you. He's teaching, he's doing miracles and all of a sudden you're his follower and he's not around. He's gone. What's going through your mind? Well, I'll tell you one thing that I really believe is going through the mind of these early Christians was they were confused. Honestly, I mean, they were like, what is actually going on? What is our future? What is going to happen to us? They were being persecuted, some put in prison, but the scriptures tells us that they were meeting together to pray. That's amazing. You know, Jesus is gone, and these followers of Jesus, this early church, is meeting together to pray. What would you have thought if you were part of the early church? You listen to Jesus' teaching. No one taught like him. I think we read that earlier today. He taught with authority. No one taught like Jesus. He taught with authority and he gave real hope. And now he's gone. What would you have done? Would you have just given up? Maybe. Would you have said, well, I gotta find some new friends. I'm gonna hang out with some different people now. would you have renounced your faith in Jesus Christ? Have you ever been confused about your circumstances in life? I mean, I think we'd all have to say at some point, right? And you say, Lord, what are you doing? But that's exactly how the early church felt. They were confused, they weren't sure. What is going on? And what we have before us today in the word of God, I think it's such a beautiful picture of these saints persevering and doing so with an incredible sense of unity. Persevering with a sense of unity. And that came specifically through prayer. Prayer unites us. And if we look at Acts chapter one and verse 13, Acts chapter one, verse 13, we read, and when they had entered, they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas, the son of James, all these with one accord, were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers. All these with one accord, they were of one mind, they agreed. And what were they doing? Devoting themselves to prayer. Verse 15 in that same chapter, chapter one says that in those days, Peter stood up among the brothers, the company of the persons was in all about 120. This is the early church. They were gathered, they were numbered, they knew who they were, and they were meeting together in one accord, praying. They were a gathered, identifiable group. And verse 24, if we look down further in that chapter, chapter one, it says, and they prayed, said, Lord, you Lord know who the hearts of all, so show which of these two you have chosen. They're selecting, they're choosing leaders for the church. And what does it say? And they prayed. Turn to Acts chapter two, if you're following with me. You don't have to be, but if you are, Acts chapter two. Just wanna give you a sense of this early church. Acts chapter two and verse 42. Acts chapter two, verse 42 says, and this is the fellowship of the believers. This is the early church. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers. This was really the hallmark of the early church. The believers, the early church, they devoted themselves to prayer. Prayer was a distinguishing mark of the early church. And then let's turn over to our text for the remainder of our time, Acts chapter four. And we're going to jump down to that part that was beyond what we looked at this morning. I want to read verses 23 through 31, and that's where we will spend the remainder of our time. Acts chapter four, beginning at verse 23. And when they were released, Peter and John, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, and while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God, with all boldness. When they heard it, what? What did they hear? Well, they heard that their friends, Peter and John, had been released from prison. They had come through this trial, and when they heard it, they lifted up their voices together. This is really A harmony. This is not everyone just simply yelling out together. This is what was being talked about in Acts chapter 1 when it said, of one accord. Did you ever notice when you pray corporately together, you're not necessarily the person praying, but you are praying with them, right? There's that sense of unity. And this was not everyone just doing something in a disorganized manner. This was a wonderful harmony. This was one accord. And my point to you this afternoon is simple. Corporate prayer unites us. The early church knew it, they were devoted to it, and you should be too. What was uniting the early church? Yes, it was prayer, but what was it that they had in common that upheld them in prayer? You know, people can be united by a lot of things. I was thinking about, Long ago when I was in business, I used to be a member of the Rotary Club. It's a service club. A lot of people join things like that. There was a uniting that we had together in that club. Maybe it's interest, it might be you like to hike or hunt or fish or you like to read. Those things can unite us. Maybe it's some particular cause, could even be abortion. People are united for abortion, are united against abortion. Abortion, so many things can unite us, but what was really uniting the early church? And in order to understand that a little bit better, we have to ask this question. What was the foundation of this unity? What was it? Three things I wanna say to you this afternoon. One, a common doctrine. Secondly, a common love. And then finally, a common action. Now we saw it earlier this morning when we looked at verses 10 through 12 of chapter four, because they all believed and upheld that Jesus was crucified, he was buried and raised from the dead, he was the cornerstone, and there was no other name by which we must be saved. And I will tell you, if you spend a little bit of time looking at verses 10 to 12 in chapter four, the rich doctrine That is just through all of that section about who Jesus Christ is, about the saving work that he does. And this is the truth that united them in this rich doctrine. This is the gospel. This is the good news. There is no other way. And they were united in this. They held this in common. And I think this is an amazing thing when we think about the early church. Everything that had just happened to them and they're united in doctrine, they are united in the truth of the word of God. And this common doctrine, it's really so life-changing that what did Peter and John say? They said, we cannot speak about it. We heard that earlier. They can't help themselves. It's like, I don't know if you ever had, maybe dads, if you said to your kid, hey, it's mom's birthday, and we're gonna buy her this present, right? But don't tell mom, right? They can't help themselves. They gotta tell mom. They end up telling her, why'd you tell your mother? That's what's happening here. They can't keep it in them. They have to speak. This is this common doctrine, this common love they have for truth that is keeping them together. You know, we know this common doctrine whenever we see a new believer baptized, don't we? I don't know about here, I'm sure it is exactly the same. When someone stands in the waters of baptism to testify about what Jesus Christ has done in their life to save them, We're all united together. I do not care whatever issues you might be having, but when, if you're a true believer, and that happens, you are united and rejoicing together that Jesus Christ has saved a sinner, and then we think about our own selves, what he has done for us. We're united in these things. It's unusual, I think it's unusual at baptisms. And in Acts 4 in verse 24 and 25, we see really it's Psalm 2 being pushed back. The early church together actually recalls the scriptures and they push the truth of that, this common truth they know. They knew the scriptures, right? If you go to Psalm 2, it doesn't say a Psalm of David, but at least you know it from this passage that Psalm 2 was written by David. It says it here in our text. The early church together recalled the scriptures. They pushed it back through their prayers. They rallied around the word of God in their prayers. Are you doing that? You know, one of the things at our church we have, we take, we split the kids up in the evening, so the teenagers, I love, I love taking the teenagers out. Teenagers are so great, I love them. And taking them out to pray and just talking to them about, I'll often talk to them about, do you pray the scriptures? Do you push the scriptures back through your prayers? The truth, if you don't know what to pray, pray the scriptures. Push it back through, the truth, push it back through your prayers, this early church and they had this common doctrine, this common truth that they held together. But not only that, there was a common love that they had, and that common love was really for each other. Look at verse 23 there, it says, when they were released, right? When they were released, they went to their friends. When they were released, Peter and John had gone through much difficulty here. They had this trial that they had to go through. God put them through, and where did they go? Their friends, their own company, or companions, really their fellow believers. They went to the church. That's what they did. They said, we want to be with the people of God. That's where they wanted to be. And maybe you've been through some severe trials in your life, maybe physical ailments, and when you're well enough, Believer, where do you want to be? I mean, I have heard it. I've heard it. I've seen it. People say, I want to be with God's people. And there are people that I know that so long to be with God's people, but physically they can't be there. And they say, I want to be with God's people. And when they were released, when they went through this trial, what did they say? They said, we want to be with God's people. And you know, sometimes in churches there are difficulties, difficulties that arise. And you might be saying, well, I don't know, I'm gonna get out of that church. And I'm not here to make a, depending on what it is, maybe that is the right decision. But our confession of faith in chapter 26 and paragraph 13, it tells us to wait upon the mind of Christ. And I'm just saying sometimes when difficulties occur amongst the body of believers, Be patient. Wait upon the mind of Christ. Again, you may have to make that decision. You have to leave a particular church. There could be good reasons for that, but I think sometimes we're just too quick to do that. Understand that we're a family here together. This is the congregation of the believers of Jesus Christ, and you should want to be together. This is really this idea of bearing one another's burdens. Love for the brethren. But we need to remember to share our joys together too. We often say, oh, we'll bear each other's burdens. That's great. We ought to be sharing our joys. Are you sharing joys together? Are you? That's what was happening here. They'd been released. They were happy, they were thrilled. And the people of God shared their joys together, released from their physical trial. And as soon as they were able, they returned to their church fellowship. And that's often the case when God has put us through trials. We have the desire to be with the saints of God. Galatians 6.2 says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Romans 12.15, rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony together. They had a common love for each other. But it's not enough just to say that they had a common doctrine and a common love, that then has to push them to a common action, a common action, and really that is the worship of God through the unity of prayer. And we see it again in verse 24, together they were of one mind. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God. Again, that idea of being of one mind. And they prayed. Sovereign Lord, who made the heavens and earth, why do the nations rage? I mean, what they were really saying is to the people of the world, don't you know God's in charge? Did you ever say that as a people? Do you ever think that of telling the world, don't you know God's in charge? Aren't you able to see that he is ruling and reigning? You just wanna say that sometimes. And when we don't get it, it really doesn't matter because God's reigning. Sometimes we don't get it, but he is reigning, and he is doing what is right. Why do the nations rage? And we see it in our day, don't we? Nations are making a lot of noise. Leaders are pushing for position, threatening the very lives of their citizens. There's meetings, there's summit talks. We're gonna solve all the world's problems, right? There's gonna be world peace. But no mention of God. No worship of God. They're God haters. And they deny that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the savior of sins. And they say the last thing we would want to do is worship God and the nation's rage. But the early church says, sovereign Lord, creator of all, Jesus, you are the Lord's anointed in their hearts. were united together in worship to God through prayer. And we see their common doctrine, don't we, here in Psalm 2, was pushed through here. We saw that, and we say they are praying the scriptures. That leads them to this common action But one other action this leads the early church to is there in verse 29. Did you ever come to a time of prayer and you're saying, well, we wanna have prayer requests? Well, in verse 29, we see a prayer request from the early church. And it's this, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants, here's the request, grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. They didn't ask for healing of their illnesses. They didn't ask for the persecution to go away. They asked for boldness. They asked for boldness to speak for Jesus Christ. Is that your request today? I'm not sure that would have been my request, given everything that was going on here in the early church. And yet, he said, give us boldness to speak. Now look, I get it. We come to prayer meetings sometimes, and there's a lot of requests. A lot of it focuses around the physical. And that's fine, because we deal with a lot of physical things, and God cares about those things. But we're all gonna die. You, we know that our life is only, it's limited on this earth. We ought to be thinking about, thinking a little higher maybe in these requests. Boldness to speak for Jesus. Know how we need this attitude in our prayers. It's hard to imagine with the early church all these things. that this was actually their request. But then in verse 31, this is so great. I love how it actually shows their prayers were answered. Look at that. Verse 31, and then when they had prayed and the place that was gathered was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and what happened? What did they ask for? They said, we wanna be able to speak with boldness. What happened? And they continued to speak the word of God, what? With boldness. They asked for it, God gave it. And their hearts, through prayer, were united together. Jonathan Edwards, and he was speaking about corporate prayer here, but more thinking of probably multiple churches that might be praying at the same time, but I think it really applies here. Jonathan Edwards says this, it would mightily encourage and antimate God's saints in humbly and earnestly seeking God for such blessings which concerns them all. Hear the corporate part there? And that it would be much for their rejoicing of all to think that at the same time such multitudes of God's dear children far and near were sending up their cries to the same common Father for the same common mercies. Together, uniting in prayer. And Jonathan Edwards knew the importance of corporate prayer. He knew there was something special about this in the life of the church. Now, you look around the church, perhaps, and think about some of the people who have plowed the ground before you. If you're younger here, now see, if I say that, I've gotta let you decide. I'm not gonna make that call. If you're younger or older, it's up to you. Some have plowed the ground before you, and they've been dedicated to praying. They've come together to pray. And I just wanna say, if you fall into that younger category today, ask yourself what will happen to the corporate prayer life of this church when the older saints are gone. My son Tyler was looking for colleges. This is years ago. And I think one thing, if you're going to look for a college for your kids, the first thing for us was, is there a good church? That was the first thing. Not so much as, well, what's the academics? And OK, those things are fine. But the first thing was, is there a good church? So he wanted to go to Juniata College. And we went around. We drove around through the town. And one thing I looked for was, are there any churches that have a midweek prayer service? I couldn't find one. I could not find one church that had a midweek prayer service. He didn't end up going to Juniati, he ended up going to Grove City. But that was one of the things we thought about. And you know, the health of the local church in some ways, in some ways, at least in part, is measured by the corporate prayer life of that church. of the believers who gathered together in unity to pray to God. You know, many times I hear from people, well, you know, Phil, I wanna serve the Lord. Great, go, do it, I love it. Can we start this particular new ministry? Can you support me to go on a missions trip? And all of those things can be great and the list can go on. These are maybe good things to do for the Lord, but are you willing to meet together to pray? Oh, we want all these things, but are you willing to meet together to pray? Don't misunderstand me. God doesn't say you got to meet at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. That's not what the scripture says. But the scriptures does say that they met together to pray. That's what it says. That could be different. You know, maybe it's in your small groups or your cell groups where you meet together to pray. I was so encouraged just the other day, there were some members of our church that said, hey, we've been praying for the elders, appreciate that, right? But geographically, unbeknownst to us, several of these families got together to pray. I didn't even know it was happening. That may be a way. At my daughter and son-in-law's church out in Kentucky, they have a prayer service before their actual worship service. So I'm not trying to say it's gotta be Wednesday night at seven. The Scriptures doesn't say that, but the Scriptures does say you need to meet together to pray. This is the roll up your sleeves work. This is the rowing the oars together. This is being committed to the common cause. And it's one thing that has eternal value. There's so many things you could be united in to do together. Do this, pray together. Do you want to be united and be part of a cause that has eternal value? I remember when I was leader of youth group, so over 20 years, Carol and I did this, and I broke things down into like the service projects and the social. Well, you'd think the kids, they did, they loved it. We'd go to amusement parks, they loved that, it's all fun and stuff. But the service projects, where we met together, where we worked together is where the unity really happened. I mean, at Dorney Park, where we took the kids, you know, some would go off here and some would go off here, and they had nothing, you know? When you serve the Lord together, when you pray together, there is a uniting of our hearts. In prayer meeting, after prayer meeting, we share our concerns. our prayer requests with our brethren by expressing in prayer our common doctrine, our common love, which leads to a common action. We had to redo our website several years ago. And so for some reason, I don't know, maybe I wasn't paying attention. I was tasked with that job. And that was when everybody was putting sliders up at their website. You know what I mean? Like a picture comes up and slides to the next, slides to the next. So we decided we were going to have four sliders. Now think about that. You've got to have four things that pretty much say what your church is all about. The first one, we actually took a picture of a man sitting in a pew of our church holding the Bible. We wanted people to understand that the Word of God was critical. The second picture was a pulpit with the Bible laying open. saying to anyone that looked at our website, preaching of the Word of God is central to what we do. And the fourth slider was about our Christian school. The third slider was prayer meeting. I couldn't find a picture on the internet that really suited for prayer meeting. It was maybe bowing on a mat somewhere, raising hands in the air, whatever it was, but never a collective group of people together praying. You know what we did? We actually asked certain members of the church, put them in a pew. If you go to our website, you can see it. Took a picture of them praying together. Hard to even find a picture of that. And at our website, there's a quote that says, praying together trains the desires of our hearts to be united in faith, united in hope, united in love. Prayer together trains the desires of our hearts. Philippians 1.27 says, standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving, get that strive, that's what we're doing together, we're striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. For about 50 years at our church, the elders and deacons have been getting together to pray on Friday mornings at 7 a.m. at the church. If you've ever been an elder, ever been a deacon, you're welcome to this prayer time. I've been going to it for about 40 years. I remember when I was a deacon, I'm sure this has never happened in this church, but if you're a deacon here, that the deacons are saying, what is going on with the elders? Like, I don't know what they're thinking. You know, that's, sometimes I had those thoughts. And I would go on Friday morning, and I would pray with these men, and I would hear them pour out their hearts to God for the lost, for the ministry of the church, for the families that were in need, all the concerns, all the issues I thought I had. It just melted away. When you saw together in prayer how our hearts were united, Well, may we be encouraged by the early church's commitment to corporate prayer, and may it cause us to do the same, to be united in common doctrine. Isn't that wonderful? Be united in common doctrine, have a common love for each other, and may that then motivate us to a common action of praying together. Let's unite our hearts together in prayer. Our Father, we thank you so much for, again, the Word of God. These things direct us and point us to things that we need to consider from you. Lord, please make us a praying people. Help us to understand that coming together to pray as a corporate body, it will unite us, it will help us against the fiery darts of the evil one, How often we've been so encouraged, Lord. Renew our strength in this area. We need your help. Help us, Father, to be a praying people that loves to come together and pray corporately. Bless these times, we pray in Christ's name, amen.