The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Acts 2:42-47 (day five)

“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.” vv. 46-47a

When we read about what the early church did together in this passage, it tells us that they gave themselves to doing four things. Those four activities are fairly ordinary in the grand scheme of things. They may not be the four things you would have done if you were starting a movement or beginning a new religion. Chances are that we might overcomplicate things to get going. Often, we can overcomplicate the gospel and the methodology by which we share it with those that need to hear it. We can overcomplicate our salvation through Christ, thinking that we need to jump through hoops some hoops to be in good standing for our salvation. We can also overcomplicate how we grow as a church.

As Aaron said earlier this week, we don’t need to wait for a church-sanctioned function to get together and to live life. The first church grew because they sought the Lord in their everyday lives together. Their circle of people spurred them on in the Biblical things they should be doing. It is much easier to grow together and to grow in Christ if we allow Him to permeate the ordinary moments of life, rather than just the Sunday morning or occasional church function. What are the ordinary moments that you can invite others to join in with you? How can you allow the Lord to use those moments to help you grow closer to the family of God?

Jimmy Gunn
Associate Pastor, Preschool & Elementary

Re:Verse passage – Acts 2:42-47 (day four)

There are many times when church life in 2023 reflects this description of the early church. I have enjoyed breaking bread with many of our FBCSA family where that spirit of gladness and sincerity of heart was present. I have experienced the generosity of our members when they have given selflessly as I or my ministry had need. I have experienced that sense of awe as I’ve seen the Spirit move in miraculous ways in and through this body of believers. In fact, in the middle of writing this, the Lord used a coworker to give me an encouraging word right when I needed it.

And then there are moments – and often they’re just that, moments – when a ministry isn’t going the way you want it to, or you read a troubling headline about a pastoral or denominational failure, or the reality of having all things in common is a little grating, and you begin to wonder if the church has drifted from this vision in Acts.

But let me tell you, if we continue to devote ourselves to teaching the Word, to fellowship, to breaking bread, and, chiefly, to prayer, the Lord will continue the good work he started in the early church. He will make himself known to us just as he did with them. With Christ as the head of the church and our great high priest, that devotion will never return void.

Re:Verse passage – Acts 2:42-47 (day three)

“Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe.”

“Everything is awesome” can be a pretty irritating statement to hear from others because you experience many, many circumstances that are not awesome in the least. And it’s not just the way you’re looking at those circumstances. Suffering happens, pain exists. Well, it’s a good thing the scriptures don’t actually claim everything is awesome. What the believers in Acts 2 experienced was not the awesomeness of everything, but the reality of the good, the presence of the beautiful, and the nearness of wonder. Those who count on Christ will feel a sense of awe as they find that their deepest longings – to be welcomed and treasured by others, to mend broken friendships, to learn that they matter in this universe, to live again with loved ones they’ve lost – are the very things God desires for them.

Re:Verse passage – Acts 2:42-47 (day two) 

Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, vs. 46

Breaking bread is mentioned twice in this passage that we are studying. It is likely that one referred to the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, and the other to simply spending time together at a dinner table. Don’t you find it easier to pray for people that you spend time with? Isn’t it more natural to lift up needs of others that you have had an opportunity to actually hear their heart? Is there a better activity to get to know others than eating a meal together? And, hey, it’s food! In a church like ours which represents a very large geographic area, it is incumbent on us to find ways to get to know our brothers and sisters, so that we may better pray for them. You don’t need to wait for an Area Fellowship. Everybody eats, find a friend, share a meal, and pray.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 (day seven)

Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified.

As Scott asked you to pray on Friday, I want to invite you pray for our students at Impact Camp, just as this scripture commands.

We will be taking 114 students to camp (a record since I have been here). Many of you have watched these students grow up through the halls of these church. You may have even changed their diaper in the nursery. If you know these students, I ask that you pray for them by name. Would you pray that they will encounter King Jesus this week and their life will be forever changed? We are also bringing many first time guests and friends of our students. Would you pray that the lost would meet Jesus for the first time and submit to Him as King? Would you pray for our awesome sponsors and leaders to be filled with the energy and love of the Holy Spirit as they guide these students through the week? Would you pray that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly this week, but also as we return and tell of all the great things King Jesus did for us? Pray with us!

Re:Verse passage – 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 (day six)

But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. 2 Thessalonians 3:3

Perhaps the most basic reason for prayer is that God does; he does all the work. He strengthens, he guards, he does. Paul believed that God had a vested interest in preserving the Thessalonian church-the full expression of God’s love resulting in the spread of the Gospel.

Remember, we pray because God is faithful. He is faithful to do above and beyond what we ask for his namesake. There is no greater commitment than that.

Church, we pray because we are in good hands. God does. He is committed to finishing what he has started.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 (day five)

“Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you;”

Paul is asking these believers to pray for the gospel to grow God’s Kingdom in strength and number in the days ahead. To guide their prayers, He reminds them of how that had happened in them and to them.  The gospel had a distinctive intensity and energy. They witnessed it. Experienced it. Believed it.

This Monday begins Youth Camp for our students and their leaders. A week that has been near and dear to my heart for decades. Those of us that have attended Camp before- remember how personal and powerful the gospel was?  Preaching. Worship. Bible Study. Fellowship. Salvation. Conviction. Repentance. Rededication. Surrender to ministry. Call to deeper faith.

As you remember your camp experiences, will you join me in praying for the students and sponsors from FBCSA in the days ahead? “That the word of God would spread and be glorified just as it did with you.”

Re:Verse passage – 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 (day four)

The life of a prayer doesn’t have to end when it’s answered. Paul is asking his readers to reflect on how God has moved in their lives, and pray that that would multiply. Part of the practice of prayer is reflection – this helps turn our prayer life into a dynamic relationship with God, rather than a list of to-do’s for God.

When we reflect on what God has done and how he has answered our prayers, we begin to see that the impact of that answered prayer could be far bigger than we ever imagined. Part of the work of the Spirit is using that answered prayer to minister to the whole body, the whole community. When we spend time in reflection with the Lord, we’ll see how the Lord’s faithfulness to us is meant to be multiplied.

This is witnessing, isn’t it? We share what we experience of God – in real time. Witnessing is more than telling our salvation story, though it’s not less than that. We’re meant to continually witness to what we have experienced of God, trusting that he will multiply his faithfulness. An answered prayer is bigger than we realize.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 (day three)

“Finally, brethren, pray for us…”

A closing prayer, or, as in this passage, a closing request for prayer, seems unremarkable. It’s almost perfunctory, routine, rote. It’s expected in a customary sense, like the credits rolling after a movie concludes. Some people remain in the theater to look at the names scrolling by, though for most, that list serves as the signal that the movie has ended (unless there’s a surprise post-credits scene, but whatever). When understood in such a way, a prayer is simply a marker of finality: “This concludes our communication.” But Paul’s closing request for prayer was no formality. It was a solicitation of energy from the spiritual realm – power to continue gaining a hearing for God’s goodness, and strength to recover from the discouragement evil brings. A call for prayer is a plea for heaven-sent confidence.