Given to Prayer and Study I

Prayer and the Ministry of the Word in Acts 6

Welcome to the Whole Council Podcast, I'm Jon Snyder and this week you have a real treat. You get to hear from a pastor from Cape Breton that's in the far eastern edge, the Maritimes of Canada. Hugh is a pastor who is with HeartCry Missionary Society and he was with us just a couple of weeks ago and he preached while he was here on the theme of prayer.

You can find a link to all those sermons in the show notes. But today you're going to be hearing his talk to men in leadership positions or those who are aspiring to leadership positions taken from the book of Acts chapter 6 where the first kind of proto-deacons are chosen and the reason that these men are chosen is to free up the apostles for focusing on two areas.

Verse 4 of Acts chapter 6 says, but we, the apostles, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And Hugh gave a talk that evening only on the first of those, to prayer, and I hope that you find it beneficial.

There certainly are principles throughout that apply to all Christians. Now when Hugh was with us the talk was long enough that we're going to need to break this into two sections. So we'll give you the first half today and next week we'll follow it with the final half.

Well, we're going to be in Acts chapter 6 and as John said, speaking on prayer and you know, as we, as we turned there, you know, prayer is something that a person always feels like it's, it's ahead of you and you fall short in it.

And so that's generally how a person can feel about it because there's always more praying to do and, and no one has arrived. And so I speak from that place tonight and yet there is a call of God and especially to pastors and leaders and I want to share from this passage toward that end.

So in Acts chapter 6 and I'll just read verses 1 to 7, in those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

So the twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom.

We will turn this responsibility over to them and we'll give ourselves, we'll devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.

Also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread.

The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Amen.

Devotion to Prayer in the Apostles’ Pattern

And so this little verse in verse four, you know, we will give ourselves, or give our attention to, devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. And I want to, you know, speak on that and that's the disciples, the apostles saying.

This.

And I'm just going to read a quote from Spurgeon and, you know, if I were to ask you, are you devoted to prayer? And this is the call of God upon our lives. And Spurgeon says, this is in lectures to my students, of course, the preacher is above all others distinguished as a man of prayer.

He prays as an ordinary Christian, else he were a hypocrite. He prays more than an ordinary Christian, else he were disqualified for the office which he has undertaken. It would be holy monstrance, said Bernard, for a man to be highest in office and lowest in soul, first in station and last in life.

Over all his other relationships, the preeminence of the pastor's responsibility casts a halo. And if true to his master, he becomes distinguished for his prayerfulness in them all. As a citizen, his country has the advantage of his intercession.

As a neighbor, those under a shadow are remembered in supplication. He prays as a husband and as a father. He strives to make his family devotions a model for his flock. And if the fire on the altar of God should burn low anywhere else, it is well tended in the house of the Lord's chosen servant.

For he takes care that the morning and evening sacrifice shall sanctify his dwelling. But there are some of his prayers which concern his office. And of those, our plan in these lectures leads us to speak most.

He offers peculiar supplications as a minister. And he draws near to God in this respect, over and above all his approaches in his other relationships. I take it that as a minister, he is always praying.".

Amen.

That's quite a quote. And we know that Spurgeon lived out, you know, what he was speaking there. So, if we notice in verse 4, prayer and the ministry of the word, we will devote ourselves to prayer. And just to notice the order of that, it might, we might actually want the order kind of reversed and say the ministry of the word and prayer.

And I think in the circles we're in, practically, I think it's often that way. And yet the Spirit of God, God himself, put it in this way, this order, and puts prayer first, in the order of this verse, where often it can come last in line or to the back of the line.

It's easy for prayer to take that. And I think one of the reasons is, is we can believe that the ministry of the word is sufficient in and of itself to accomplish what God intends. And I think in the back of our hearts and minds, there can be that subtle thought.

The ministry of the word being prominent and is sufficient in itself to accomplish what God wants to accomplish. And yes, I should pray, and we might say that, but as long as the word is front and center and you know, we're faithful to the word, then we've been faithful.

If we faithfully exposit the text, God will honor his word. And where is prayer? Well, I just want to, you know, maybe challenge that a little. If we notice our passage, that God puts both prayer and the ministry of the word.

So if God thinks differently, if God puts two things there that we are to give our attention to and devote ourselves to, will we only devote ourselves to one? And I think largely just, I mean, in the circles I'm in, generally, I think that is actually true.

The ministry of the word is devoted to, and if we believe we're faithful to that and to teach it faithfully and to, you know, exposit it, then that's good. And yes, we pray, but are we devoted to prayer?

Can we say, as we are devoted to the preaching of God's word faithfully, are we devoted to it? And God obviously believes both are essential because the word of God puts them both there. God says prayer and the ministry of the word, and he mentions even prayer first.

So let me ask you, are you devoted to prayer? Well, what does it mean? So, you know, a theological dictionary, here's, you know, a sense of what that word devote means. To attend constantly. So do you attend prayer constantly in your life and ministry?

Do I? Another definition, to persist obstinately in. Do I persist in prayer? Let's say while others, you know, go their way and do this and that. Am I persisting in prayer? Is it at the forefront? Or like so many, does it slowly move to the back of the line?

And yet I'm preaching, I'm visiting, I'm seeking to share the gospel with people, but prayer is kind of taking a back bench. Or do I persist obstinately? I'm determined, I'm set in this direction and nothing's going to move me from it.

One more definition, to adhere firmly to. And I think we could say, oh, we adhere firmly to the, you know, the word of God, to the doctrines of grace, to, you know, certain, you know, the sovereignty of God and these things.

But do we adhere firmly to prayer? Would we say that of ourselves? Would someone else say it of us? They persist obstinately in prayer. They're devoted to prayer. They're always praying. And whatever else, you know, people get led astray in this direction, you know, our pastor, this leader, he's a praying man.

Is that what someone would say of us? And would we say it of ourselves? You know, there's a phrase or there's a word here and it says, we will devote ourselves. There's a will, there's an intention. And I actually believe, unless there is an intention like that, we will, you know, we could say, well, I know I should, you know, devote myself to prayer.

And, you know, I'd like to be at it more than I am. And, but do we say, can we say, like the disciples have said, and we might think, well, that's, you know, almost presumption. Well, you know, we might not.

But no, they say we will. Jehoshaphat, when the vast army, in 2 Chronicles 20, the vast army was coming against him. The Bible says this, that he resolved or he set himself to inquire of the Lord, to seek the Lord.

He resolved to do it. And that is that this word here, we will, we will do it. There's a certainty, there's an intention. And unless we intend to devote ourselves to prayer, it's not going to happen. There are too many things pulling at us, just like here, you know, you know, something had arisen and things needed to be taken care of.

And we get pulled in this direction or this is going on over here. And we're pulled in that direction. And unless we set ourselves and resolve, everything will pull against devoting ourselves to prayer.

And it will, it will take us away. It will snatch away our time. And we will find prayer snatching, you know, moments of prayer here and there throughout the day. Or maybe at the end of the day, we get on our knees.

And, and yet we could, we say that that day we were, we had set ourselves to prayer and were devoted to it. And, you know, I think like the disciples, we need that wisdom of God to see so many things are taking my attention.

Okay, I need to hand them over to capable men that can do those jobs. But Lord, let me be about these two things. Prayer and the ministry of your word, both together, not just one. You know, some, oh, they're much in this direction and they're weak in the word.

Others, oh, all about the word and preaching it faithfully. And, but where's prayer? No, scriptural obedience is prayer and the ministry of the word both together. And indeed they need to be both together.

The ministry of the word without prayer, it will not accomplish what we're hoping it will accomplish. And prayer without the ministry, you know, weak ministry of the word. Yeah, then the Lord himself, you know, the Bible says the scripture is the sword of the spirit.

We will not find the spirit helping us. Um, you know, in, in what we're doing. And so, you know, what does it look like? And, you know, as I've read through the scripture, you know, the Bible doesn't just leave us to ourselves in this.

It actually gives us examples. And, you know, I've written a few down and one is David in Psalm 55, 17. It says evening, morning, and noon, I cry out in distress. Psalm 55, 17. So of David, here was a man of prayer evening, morning, and at noon.

Can we think of somebody else? Daniel in Daniel chapter 6, 10, three times a day, he got down on his knees and prayed. That's what the word of God says. Says it about David says is about Daniel. Now these weren't men that just, you know, had nothing better to do and their lives were kind of given to ease.

And, you know, here's the King David, you know, with a whole nation to, to rule over and battles to go out. And yet evening, morning, and at noon, Daniel administrator over the whole province. Yet three times a day, even at the threat of his life, what value and importance did he place on prayer?

If even, okay, you can, you can kill me, but I will not, you know, neglect this place of prayer. You know, what did he found in that upper room? As he opened his windows toward Jerusalem, as he got down on his knees, what kind of place was that for him?

What strength did he draw there so that, you know, okay, you're going to kill me. That's not going to stop me. I need God so much in my life. It would be better for me to die than to neglect the place of prayer.

That's Daniel's heart. Is it our heart? Do we find ourselves that needy of God that we cannot, we must not neglect the place of prayer. And then we have Jesus, our Lord. You know, we want to be like Jesus in all aspects.

And the spirit of God is, is going to form us into his image. In Luke 5, 16, it says he often slipped away to lonely places and prayed often. This was his habit. Where do people see us slipping off to?

Our master, if we were to follow in his footsteps, and the Bible says we are to, we will find the same spirit that rested upon him and led him to slip away. And you think of the busyness. I mean, who made up their moments like Jesus?

Who was continuously in the will of God? No moment was lost. There were no regrets of a wasted hour here, or, you know, minutes there or days here. No, every moment was taken up in the will of God. And one aspect of that is often slipping away.

Just like, you know, in Mark chapter 1, where, you know, people are gathering and the disciples are looking for him.

And where's Jesus?

Oh, he rose a great while before day, found a solitary place and was praying there. That's where they found him. Where do people find us? Do they find, oh, you know, where's Huey?

Where did, where did he go?

Oh, we've slipped away. We're slipped away for secret communion with God. Or our hearts are burdened and we've slipped away from that meeting. Just, you know, casual conversation or, you know, this little event or where's, oh, we're giving ourselves to prayer.

Jesus in the, you know, the busyness of his life found those moments. Rose a great while before day, spent whole nights in prayer to God. This is our Lord and master. And the spirit that led him in this direction, if the same spirit rests upon us, will lead us in the same directions.

In Colossians 4 .12, Epaphras. Paul, you know, gives this account of Epaphras. He is always wrestling in prayer for you. Here's a man of God. Here's a leader in the church. And what's he found doing? Always wrestling or earnestly laboring, some translations, in prayer for you.

Here's the great work. Epaphras had found something to do and something that others weren't doing. But as a pastor, a leader, as an evangelist, he gave himself to this great work of wrestling for the people of God.

And who is it today, brothers and sisters or brothers? You know, who is wrestling for the people of God? I mean, many people are doing all kinds of things. But who is up to this work that Epaphras was up to?

What did he know? And what was his desire? That they be found perfect in all the will of God. And how is that going to be accomplished? And we do a lot of things that think, well, that accomplished. You know, Epaphras, what would we learn from him?

He wrestled in prayer. This was the avenue and the means of calling upon God to do in his people what the Bible says that we're to be up to. And so there it is. And what about Paul, 2 Timothy 1, 3? He says this, you know, he reminds Timothy, he tells him that night and day, he constantly remembered him in prayer.

Night and day. And so what would you find Paul doing? And this is, you know, in the letter to the Thessalonians, a similar thing is said in another letter. Night and day, he was constantly bringing Timothy and then the Thessalonians, the people of God, lifting them before the throne of God, that God would be amongst his people.

And so Paul was a man of prayer. And we see in all of these, we can say the hand of God was upon them. The spirit of God was working through them. And yet they were men given to prayer, men given to, you know, the ministry of the word, proclamation of, you know, who God was.

And yet God was with them. They had success. But both were there together. And if we go to the book of Psalms, I just want to show you what the Bible says of different ones throughout the Psalms. Sometimes it's David, other times it's, you know, the Psalmist, whoever it is.

Prayer in the Psalms and the Examples of the Saints

In Psalm 6, 6, and I just want to run through a few passages. We're going to see or hear the heart of men who were given to God in prayer. Psalm 6, 6. And can we ever say it of ourselves? Do we identify with the Psalmist as men who walk with God?

That this sometimes is how we, what we would say in Psalm 6, 6. I am worn out from groaning all night long. I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow. They fail because of all my foes.

Now, do we ever find it? Don't we have a great enemy? I mean, one greater than, you know, these that were against David. Don't we need the strength and the help of Almighty God? Don't we need him to draw near?

Don't we need him to rise up and defeat our enemies? Or the enemies of the people of God that are amongst us? Don't we need God stepping into the midst of that? Well, how's it going to happen? Well, David gives us a little glimpse.

All night long, flooding his bed with tears, crying out to God, you know, losing, putting sleep aside that, that crying out to God is so important that he's not giving himself the opportunity to sleep.

No, this is more important. This is what I must be up to. The people of God and me or myself, I only need God to step into this. And so, you know, do we ever relate to that? Can we relate to that? Look at Psalm 69 in verse 3, another passage.

And all through the Psalms, a person can go through and highlight every time, and I've done in my Bible, every time prayer is mentioned to highlight it. And you can just go through and read the theme of it.

And, you know, it's, it's quite stirring. In Psalm 69 in verse 3, I am worn out calling for help. My throat is parched. My eyes fail looking for my God. And I know it's easy to, to begin there, but do we continue in this kind of way that, you know, there is the continual need of our own hearts and the need of God's people, the need of the lost world?

Do we find ourselves worn out calling for help? That we persevere in this, that this is, you know, our first year in ministry, our 10th year in ministry, our 20th year in ministry, that we can say we're worn out.

This is one of the work that we're wearing ourselves out in is seeking the face of God, is calling upon the Lord.

Lord, help us.

Lord, come. God be amongst us. Lord, work in this situation. Save that person. And we're worn out calling for help. When is the last time you'd, you'd save yourself? You know, I'm just, I'm just worn out.

I've been seeking God. I was up all night or, you know, I, you know, set apart a day for fasting and prayer and, you know, that we can relate to David. If we go on from there to chapter 86 in verse 3, 86, 3, here's another little aspect.

And notice in verse 1, he says, I'm poor and needy. And that is a theme through the scripture in my distress or in my great trouble or here I'm poor and needy. And then in verse 3, have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long, all day long.

Is this part of the, you know, the, the men of God in our generation? Will we be men who call to God all day long, that there are days that we call all day long, that we can't leave that place, that we need God's help.

Lord, I'm not getting up. I can't get up, Lord. I need you now. I need you to step in. I need you to save my child. I need you to work in that situation. I need you to reconcile that marriage. Lord, we need you.

The enemy is, is gaining ground. God, you know, for us, our island, less than 1 that are born again. Lord, unless you move, Lord, it's not happening. We're not going to reach our island. The majority of 130 ,000 people are going to be lost.

And we can pride ourselves on preaching the word of God faithfully or this or that. But the reality is that 129 ,800 people are on their way to an eternal hell. And how are we going to reach them? Well, at the rate we're going, we're not going to reach them.

We need an outpouring of the spirit of God. We need God to step in. We need God to, to come and revive his church and the work of God on our island. Otherwise, it's not going to happen. And I can't pat myself on the back and say, well, long as I do.

No, if the spirit of God, you know, in Paul, he was groaning for the Jews to get saved. He could wish he was, you know, cut off and cursed for the sake of his brothers. That kind of heart. And where does it lead us?

It leads us, I call to you all day long. And it ought to lead us there. There ought to be days or hours that we find ourselves, Lord, I just, I can't get up. I need you, Lord. If we go to 88 .1, look at this verse, Psalm 88 .1, the sons of Korah.

Oh Lord, the God who saves me day and night, I cry out before you. May my prayer come before you. Turn your ear to my cry.

Why?

For my soul is full of trouble and my life draws near the grave. And you find that theme, you know, right through scripture. Just a few more, 109 .24. And this is just a sample of, you know, the Psalms, 109 .24.

My knees give way from fasting. My body is thin and gaunt. You know, there's a testimony. In verse four, he says, I am a man of prayer. And then we find this little testimony from my knees give way from fasting.

My body is thin and gaunt. That's not typical in North America, amongst pastors and leaders. Fasting is not so popular anymore. And then just lastly to Psalm 119. And there's a number of verses, but I'll look at just three.

Psalm 119. And in verse two, blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. So, you know, we're fully in. It's not just a token thing. I'm going to seek the Lord with all my heart.

Verse 62. At midnight, I rise to give you thanks. At midnight. And then Psalm 164. You know, do we wake up in the night and, you know, do we, you know, is our prayer, Lord, help me to get back to sleep.

Or, you know, at midnight, we rise and we get down on our knees and we say, Lord, let me seek you. Let me cry out to you for the needs of people. And then in verse 162 or 164. I mean, just think of this.

Seven times a day, I praise you for your righteous laws. Seven times a day. That's something, isn't it? But obviously here's a man, you know, dedicated to seeking God, to praising him, to giving him thanks, and he can say seven times a day.

That's intention. That doesn't just happen. And that you can make a statement like that. You know, someone is dividing up his day. Do we ever think through our days and are we ever dividing up our day and saying, you know, I can seek the Lord here, here, and here.

And being intentional and setting things in place that we would devote ourselves to prayer. Like I said, it's not just going to be, well, hopefully today I devote myself to prayer and I'm going to find spots here.

No, like anything, like meals in a day of three times a day, we're going to eat. Oh yeah. Well, we generally eat, you know, breakfast, let's say at whatever time, eight o 'clock and lunches at noon, suppers at five.

Let's say, oh, why are they set in certain times? And we generally know it so that we plan our day around those times that we not miss our mealtime. Well, is prayer as valuable spiritually as food is physically to us?

Do we feel the need daily to regularly and intentionally set aside times to seek the face of God, to commune with our God, to cry out to him, to give him thanks, to adore him,.

To worship him?

Is it that important that we would actually think through a day and say, okay, Lord, I'm going to give you this. I'm going to rise at six in the morning and I'm going to seek your face from six to seven or Lord, my noon time, I have this amount of time and I'm going to give you this spot here and toward the evening or the latter part or before I go to bed, God, I'm going to go to bed seeking your face.

And so that we know our days, generally speaking, and that we can set these times because they're that important to us. And God calls to us and the Bible says, and here, this is what we find biblically, what men have done in the past.

So won't we take their example? Wouldn't we want to be like David or Daniel or our Lord and savior or Epaphras or Paul? You know, Paul says, imitate me as I imitate Christ. And aren't these men worthy of imitation?

And why wouldn't we imitate them when we look at their lives and see the spirit of God upon them and how God greatly used them and the victories that God won through them. And they give us the, you know, the testimony, the prayer was a key, you know, a key in their.

Life.

Historical Examples of Prayerful Men

And I'm sure if they could speak to us, you know, they would tell us and bring it out of, you know, how they sought the face of God, but also in Christian history. And I want to read a little testimony or, you know, that Ian Bounds in his book, Power Through Prayer or the Preachers and Prayer, he gives examples of praying men.

And so many of the men that we, you know, esteem from the past and, you know, we're like Jonathan Edwards or Robert Mary McShane or Whitfield, or they were all characterized.

By prayer.

David Brainerd, Hudson Taylor, they knew God. Well, and we like their lives and their preaching and this, but behind and underneath was they were men of prayer. And so I'll just read this. The examples he gives, it says, Bishop Wilson says in Henry Martin's journal, the spirit of prayer, the time he devoted to the duty and his fervor in it are the first things which strike me.

Payson wore the hardwood boards into grooves where his knees press so often and so long. His biographer says his continuing instant in prayer, be his circumstance what they may, is the most notable fact in his history and points out the duty of all who would rival his eminency to his ardent and persevering prayers must no doubt be ascribed in a great measure, his distinguished and almost uninterrupted success.

I wonder, is that the way we think? Or do we, would we give other things the reason for people's great success today? The Marquis de Renty, to whom Christ was most precious, ordered a servant to call him from his devotions at the end of half an hour.

The servant at the time saw his face through an aperture. It was marked with such holiness that he hated to bother him. His lips were still moving, but he was perfectly silent. He waited until three and a half hours passed.

Then he called to him. When he arose from his knees, he said that the half hour was so short when he was communing with Christ and he had actually spent three and a half hours. Brainerd said, I love to be alone in my cottage where I can spend much time in prayer.

William Bramwell is famous in Methodist annals for personal holiness and for his wonderful success in preaching and for the marvelous answers to his prayer. For hours at a time, he would pray. He almost lived on his knees.

He went over his circuits like a flame of fire. The fire was kindled by the time he spent in prayer. He often spent as much as four hours in a single season of prayer in retirement. Sir Henry Havelock always spent the first two hours of each day alone with God.

If the encampment was struck at six, he would rise at four. Earl Cairns rose daily at six to secure an hour and a half for the study of the Bible and for prayer before conducting family worship at a quarter to eight.

And then one more. Dr. Judson's success in prayer is attributable to the fact that he gave much time to it. He says on this point, arrange your affairs, if possible, so that you can leisurely devote. So arrange everything, leisurely devote two or three hours every day, not merely to devotional exercises, but to the very act of secret prayer and communion with God.

That's what he says. And I find, you know, these things are often foreign and they seem like way off in the distance to many people. But, you know, has God changed? You know, and has the call of God, you know, changed for any one of us?

Is this actually what it means when we say, when the Bible says and the apostles say, we will devote ourselves to prayer? Is that what it looks like? Why wouldn't it look like that? Isn't it to be beyond where the average Christian, you know, prays?

And aren't the things that are facing us and the, you know, the sheep under our care and, you know, the salvation of the lost, you know, isn't it in such an extensive way that we must give much time to bring these things regularly, consistently to God and to nurture our own souls and communion with God so that we come out of the closet with the fragrance of the Lord with us, so that it sprinkles everything we do.

And when we read through the Bible, it's like Ezra and Nehemiah, and they, you know, they sought the face of God. And then, you know, all through, whether it's Ezra, Nehemiah, you have this phrase, and the hand of God was with him.

But at the start of it, he gave hours and days to prayer. He sought the face of God. He fasted and prayed. He mourned and wept. And then this phrase all through the book, the hand of God was with him.

The hand of God was with him. And brothers, don't we want that? The hand of God with us? I know I do. And don't we need it? Don't we need the Spirit of God with us? Can we really go forward in the work?