"What happens when the Church prays?

Well, investigating that New Testament document called the Book of Acts, and the clear and powerful demonstration of what happens when the church prays -

what happened when the church prayed in that time and place -

As we look at the opening chapters - of ACTS.

Just notice the highlights here.

Acts chapter 1 verse 14 tells us that they - how many? - they ALL joined together constantly in prayer.

They - that means the core of believers, the disciples, who had lived with Jesus for 3 - 31/2 years. And they, the others who closely followed - you read the verse just afterwards and it says there were 120 of them.

Prayer was a vital element of the experience early on.

Which placed that group on a JOURNEY that they could not anticipate.

At the beginning of chapter 2 we notice that the Bible points out again,

that when the DAY OF PENTECOST came, with its time of worship, and spiritual focus on the heritage and on the spiritual history of their culture -

They were ALL TOGETHER in ONE PLACE.

That is, they were in an ATT ITUDE, they were in an ATMOSPHERE of spiritual focus and of PRAYER.

And what they experienced that day, they had never personally encountered before.

The PRESENCE of GOD, through the HOLY SPIRIT permeated and empowered them to speak to the residents and visitors in Jerusalem.

And through a variety of languages they proclaimed Jesus of Nazareth, who had been crucified, but Who was NOW LIVING, - because there was an empty tomb -- and there was an atmosphere of the presence of God upon them so that a sense of conviction fell upon thousands and thousands of people.

And eagerly they came out of the crowds.

And almost compelled, laid their lives before the public, saying:

"I want to give my life to this Jesus of Nazareth!" "I want to place my life under His teachings!" "I want to place my WILL under His Kingdom Authority!"

"Because the GRAVE is EMPTY!"

Now when you read Acts 1 and Acts 2 it seems as though PRAYER is a vital door way. It is an inate element through which THAT EXPERIENCE occurred."

Bob's BACKGROUND and COMMENTARY: This is the sermon I have been waiting a long time to hear from an Adventist preacher, although I've heard it MANY TIMES from Pentecostal preachers.

It's almost like the Bible is carved up into various Territories, and Adventists assigned the Old Testament, but especially Daniel, and New Testament Revelation. ....And after 1888 the story of Jesus and His parables....... But Pentecostals get to preach those first six chapters of Acts, expect new miracles to happen when they pray, and expect to be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in "unknown tongues."

Adventists needed a chart they inherited from William Miller to have something to preach about.///// Numerology and the Beasts of Daniel, and watch out for the "International Sunday Law", and get ready to run for the woods when the president of the United States turns out to be the Antichrist!

Meanwhile, the Pentecostals were going a few at a time into new towns, especially in the South, and healing people by the power of prayer.......And in a month or so they had a new church going........ Just like Pastor Bryan Aalborg was here reading about very inthusiastically to his Asheville, North Carolina, congregation.

In 1984, I got to know a Pentecostal Missionary from Jamaica named Jack Cates, and I went to Jamaica with him on some of my off-duty time as an Emergency Room Physician at the other end of North Carolina from Asheville.

Sometimes we preached, he and I, in Adventist Churches.... And sometimes we preached, he and I, in Pentecostal Churches. ..........And we discovered to our mutual satisfaction that "God" likes people who are willing to do that.

Something that Pastor Bryan Aalborg is just now discovering 20 years later. //////That God gets a BUZZ out of people who PRAY, LEARN NEW THINGS, and venture out into new territory............Even if such territory is risky, and predictibly brings on persecution by those with a lot to lose if the old ways and old beliefs are disgarded!