WITH ONE ACCORD - Acts 1:12-14

Lord today isn't it? You ready? We're gonna worship God and we're gonna start with a call to worship from Psalm 95 where the psalmist says, Oh come let us sing to the Lord. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving for the Lord.

He is a great God. Hold on just a second, go back to that slide. For the Lord is a great God. That's right, that's right. Let's go on. In his hand are the depths of the earth. The sea is his for he made it.

Oh come let us worship and bow down for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture. Amen. All God's people.

Said, the Alpha, the Omega. Our scripture reading today is, it's actually our.

Text for today that we come to in our study in Acts and it's it's going to be verses 12 through 14 of Acts chapter 1 but I'm gonna start reading in verse 9 to get the flow of the thought here from Luke.

In verse 9 he writes, and when he had said these things, this is when Jesus had had finally given his last words to the disciples there, as they were looking on he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight, that that glory cloud, the Shekinah glory, the the glory of God that covered Jesus as he ascended.

And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white robes, those two angels, the messengers of God, and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away and when they had entered they went up 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. What a great what a great account of what the early church was looking like as soon as Christ ascended.

And we worship this morning an ascended Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. We worship the triune God, the one that Christ came to bring us into union with, right? Christ came, God came to redeem us, to buy us from him and to him.

You get that right? Christ came to buy us, to purchase us from the wrath of God and bring us and present us into the glory and union and perfect holy righteousness with the triune God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

Praise God. So let's pray a prayer of adoration this morning to that great God. Oh Father we bow before you now we come as your children gathered. I pray that we have been a people that have been communing with you this week.

I pray that we have been your children, your sheep that have been gleaning from your word, communing and speaking to you our needs and prayers of praise that our lives have been an act of praise to you through the righteousness of Christ.

But this morning we come together. There is something beautifully unique about your children gathering on your day to worship you, to encourage one another all the more. Well we pray that today would be honoring to you.

Lord I pray that our lives would be a reflection of your grace to a lost and dying world, that it would be a reminder to the rest of the saints that are here in this building today that each one of us is fully and completely and thoroughly dependent upon your grace and your providence in our lives.

You are the sustainer. He who began a good work in us will see it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus and we all stand in that righteousness, the very alien righteousness, the righteousness of Christ and all God's people said.

Let's sing of the love of the Father. Baptism displayed where we get to see the imagery of the gospel. You know there's there's nothing special about the waters, we all know that. There's nothing unique about actually going through the act of baptism and the fact that it's it's not it's not saving you, it's not actually washing away any sins, it's it's a symbol.

It's a symbol and it's it's it's showing something of spiritual significance. It's showing that that person is saying I've been made new, I've been washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ and he has called me in a sanctifying act of obedience to walk in this and be baptized just as our Savior exemplified in his life of being baptized and so today we have two baptisms.

We're gonna have one later on in the service but I get the privilege of baptizing one of my children today. Lorelai, you come on up here. This is Lorelai and most of y 'all know her. She stays quiet in the background watching little children because she loves the little kids.

Lorelai just turned 13 this week so had a birthday and and so I've been watching and talking with Lorelai now for probably a year. She has had a tender heart towards the things of the Lord. She has had a spirit that longs to be obedient to Christ.

She has had a understanding of the gospel but just as as any parent we want to make sure that we're not putting words in their mouths. We're not influencing too heavily and I waited for her to come to us because I think I've seen a regenerate child for quite some time now.

The goodness of Christ saving and so she she took the initiative came and chatted with me and then eventually went and chatted with Pastor Jeremiah and Pastor Jeremiah said oh I think that girl saved.

We need we need to baptize her and she has longed to be baptized and she's expressed a desire to be baptized here in front of y 'all with with her church family and actually be transitioning into being part of us.

Being a member here at 12 .5 Church what an exciting thing and it's a blessing for me to be able to baptize her today. So come on let's climb in here. I'm gonna ask you again. Have you put your faith in Christ and Christ alone?

Is he your righteousness? Yes. It is my honor sister to baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptized. Buried with Christ. Raised to walk in newness of life. What a celebration.

Anytime we get to see anyone baptized but you can imagine that was near and dear to my heart. So let's stand let's keep singing together singing praises to our God the God that saves.

Hears of our God and King. Lift up your voice and with us sing. Oh praise Him. Hallelujah. Thou burning sun with golden beam. Thou silver moon with softer gleam. A copy of God's.

Word with you go ahead and open it. You feel it feels like I'm jumping the gun here doesn't it? We'll open it to the passage that I read a moment ago Acts chapter 1. We're gonna be looking at verses 12 through 14 as we go into a week 4 of our study through this eyewitness account of the acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles in the early church carrying out the mission in the heavenly ministry of Jesus.

Today is going to be looking a little bit different. Our order of service our structure you can tell it's a little thrown off. We like to change things up around here a little bit. The elements of worship are there but they may be in a different order.

I was originally going to preach through verses 12 through 26 that entire section of the new Apostle being chosen and I was going to do so in a two-part series but providentially this week I believe it will turn into as we see today a three-part of those texts.

For I want us to be sure to be doers of the word and not just hearers only. Y 'all hear me say that a lot I quote James and that quite often because that is important. Many many of us today in Christian subculture we we have a tendency to be hearers of the word.

We hear it every week, we get Bible studies, we get all this stuff but very little doing of the word and I do not want us to fall prey to this and here in a moment that will hopefully make some sense as to where we're going today.

Here in the text we have the disciples they've just experienced the ascension of Christ. They've just seen their Savior, their friend, their their teacher ascend wrapped in the glory of God and then two angels come to them as we read a moment ago in verse 11 and what do they say they say men of Galilee.

They're looking at them like disciples, men that have followed Christ so far. Why do you stand looking into heaven? Essentially what are you doing? There's a bit of a rebuke here actually. These angels they're rebuking these men.

They're saying what are you doing? You've been given orders. Why are you simply standing around right now? And what were those orders? Well back in verse 4 we saw that Jesus had ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, right?

To stay. Stay in Jerusalem and for what? And wait for the promise of the Father. The promise that was to come, the Holy Spirit that the Father would send for them to have power to carry out the mission that he's laid before them.

So their orders were to wait in Jerusalem for the power of the Holy Spirit and then look at verse 12. It says then they returned to Jerusalem. They returned to Jerusalem. This is what they've been told.

They've been said, Jesus said wait in Jerusalem. And they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day journey away. So we see a couple of things here, okay?

First, they weren't yet in Jerusalem. They were close but they weren't quite in Jerusalem where Jesus had told them to be and to wait. They weren't far. There's a Sabbath day's journey. Y 'all ever heard that phrase?

This is a phrase that they would have put together, you know, when God gives them rules, like the Levitical law, he gives them regulations, you know, there to keep the Sabbath day holy and his moral law.

We read that. And then so what do the Jewish leaders do? They put parameters around that to make sure you don't get anywhere near breaking that law. And so a Sabbath day's journey was what they would have been referring to which was roughly about three-quarters of a mile, okay, in our terms.

So about three quarters of a mile is a Sabbath day's journey. And that's all that a Jewish person would be allowed to travel and walk on the Sabbath so that they weren't extending themselves and doing too much.

So very arbitrary number, right? A Sabbath day's journey. But Luke writes this in here. They weren't far from Jerusalem. They were roughly three-quarters of a mile there at the Mount. These details are very Luke-esque.

He's very precise with his accounting of this landscape, of geography. This probably points to the fact that that the person that he's writing the letter to, if you remember the introduction, Theophilus, this probably a high-ranking Roman official, he's writing this fact to him.

He's not familiar with the layout of the land. He's probably familiar with the customs of that land, but he's not familiar with the area. But second, it gives us insight into where the ascension of Jesus took place, the Mount of Olives.

There's significance here. There's a lot of speculation as to why Jesus would have ascended at this particular place, this region. It does. It has significance all the way back into the the time of David in the Old Testament.

We see many acts of God taking place there. However, to focus on that loses, in my opinion, the forest for the trees. So we're not going to focus there. I believe that Luke here is giving us the information to point to how the disciples are being obedient to what Christ has called them to do.

And what is that? Wait. To wait in Jerusalem. And look at verse 13. And when they had entered Jerusalem, right, when they finally got to Jerusalem, what did they do? They went up to the upper room where they were staying.

Most scholars believe that this is the same upper room where the Last Supper took place. We have no reason to think otherwise. This is a place where they're staying. After all, it had not been that long since the upper room experience.

So you can imagine the emotions. Put yourself in their shoes. The memories, the heartache, the joys, the the anxiousness. They had just watched their teacher ascend. He'd given them commands and they're making their way up those stairs to the upper room.

And I could only imagine that they have the very words of their teacher, their Savior, their Master, running through their heads. It's just replaying his teaching, his sacrificial actions. Think of the upper room at the Last Supper.

What did he do? He washed their feet. This is replaying in their minds as they recall him saying as recorded in John 13. Jesus saying, what I am doing you do not understand now. What's happening right now you don't understand.

And they didn't, did they? They had no idea what was happening in the upper room in that moment. As Jesus is washing their feet, they're like what is going on? He says you don't understand. Oh but afterwards you will understand.

Can you imagine recalling that statement as you're walking back up into that same room and you're remembering the experience of what you have gone through and all that you have just seen? Recalling how Peter says you're not washing my feet and Jesus says if I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

That probably made no sense to them in the moment, did it? Oh but all of a sudden the pieces are starting to come together with him. As he goes on later he says I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me.

Oh it's almost like lightbulb moments are just hitting these men as they're going to this upper room and then in chapter 14 verse 12 of John he says truly truly I say to you whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater works than these will he do because I am going to the Father.

Can you imagine going we've seen you raise people from the dead. We've seen you heal the blind and the lame. We've seen you do some unbelief. Then we've seen you raise from the dead and ascend in the glory cloud to the Father as you had told us you're at the right hand of the Father interceding for us and and then thinking back to those words and going greater works.

How is this possible? This is running through their minds. You know that those words were reverberating in their heads but but I can't but think that what Jesus said next in John 14 was one of the most impactful things on these men.

In verse 13 he told them whatever you ask in my name this I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son if you ask me anything in my name I will do it. As they go back into that upper room and they're reminded of those words I think this must have resonated reverberated into their minds and their souls because it's the very thing that they go and do in the midst of their waiting.

You notice that that's the one thing they do in verse 14 of Acts 1. All these right the 11 apostles he had just listed that we read a moment ago notice Judas wasn't in there there's another Judas that's a different one but Judas Iscariot wasn't in there because he's gone we'll talk about that in a couple of weeks but it says all these with one accord with unity they are all brought into perfect unity were devoting themselves to what?

Prayer. Now it wasn't just those 11 though look at what it says next together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers as a matter of fact verse 15 later tells us as a total of a hundred and twenty disciples all devoted to eating together so what it says all devoted to singing.

And what were they devoted to? Prayer. In their waiting they're reminded of what Jesus had told them in that very upper room if you ask anything in my name and boy do they have a lot to pray about don't they?

They're devoted to prayer this small group as a side note very I feel like I need to address this because we're here notice that Mary the mother of Jesus is not leading any of this Mary's not in charge.

They aren't looking to her for answers they aren't trying to communicate through her to bend the ear of her son. She is in no way according to these men women a co-redeemer in any way she is just another one of the hundred and twenty disciples one whom Jesus had asked the men to look after.

He did care for her but she was just like them. Rome would have you think otherwise. But you must be prepared for that when someone wants to to try and tell you that we must pray to Mary that that she is a co-redeemer that she is sinless.

Take them to her Magnificat in Luke chapter 1 verse 46 and 47 this is Mary's song of praise. What does she say. She says my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God your Savior. Is that. So what she said.

No she said my Savior my Savior. Mary was not sinless. She like every other person needed a Savior. So when Rome tries to tell you that she was sinless that she was an eternal virgin. You can point to these texts.

Okay I'm giving y 'all some some Jeremiah apologetics here you can point to these texts where that virgin had other sons the brothers of Jesus James being one of them. As a matter of fact you realize that his physical brothers his brothers Mary's children his her other sons they didn't buy into this whole Jesus thing in his earthly ministry.

They didn't buy into it. They didn't believe until his resurrection that changed everything they saw with their own eyes the truth of what Jesus had done. As a matter of fact I think James is the only person if I'm not mistaken James is the only person that Jesus appeared to singularly alone in after his resurrection.

It points to him coming to James and James sees his his brother. But now he knows he's his Savior and it changed everything. Here's here's brothers willing to die now. So that's just a little side note.

Right here is the early church a small band of nobody's a hundred and twenty people hiding in an upper room waiting for the promise of the father boy. They've got a lot to pray about. Don't they. Because they remember his words.

Whatever you ask in my name I will do. Corporate prayer is referred to I believe seven times in the book of Acts. Today we are going to be doers of the word and not hearers only here in a moment we will sing another song and go into a time of intentional corporate prayer.

I've asked a few men to lead us and some specific prayers. And then we will give a moment for all of us to pray together. You know this is unfortunately a very uncomfortable thing for most Christians today most church goers today.

And that is very unfortunate. If you notice a lot of churches use prayer as a filler time. Time to get the band off the stage. Time to transition the layout time to to to kind of fill in the gaps where we need to fill in.

I love what Mark Dever says about corporate prairie says we should pray so much in our church gatherings that the non-believers get bored. I encourage you to ask yourself why this feels unnecessary or why it feels like a waste of time.

If you're feeling right now come on pastor. I wanted you to give me a little bit more meat. I wanted the sermon to be a little longer. Why do we have to all go quiet and pray. I don't want you to ask yourself why you feel that way.

Because Jesus himself promised this essential necessary powerful means of molding us conforming us to his will strengthen in our faith as we see him answer those requests. Because this is what these this small band of people not any different than this size gathered in a room waiting for the promise.

And that small group you're not long from this day will receive power from the Holy Spirit that will turn the entire world upside down completely changed everything. And God used the means of prayer the prayer of his Saints.

Now make no mistake that prayer in that upper room is not what caused God to send the Holy Spirit. Prayer never changes God it changes us. God used that he laid that on the hearts of those Saints to pray so that when he did answer the prayer it strengthened their faith it encouraged them it allowed them in those moments to see God work and that they are a part of that work by the grace of God.

As we start off a time of prayer I encourage you to to spend a moment in reflection. I'm going to start us off with a prayer of confession and an assurance of pardon as we do each week. And in this confession there is there is individual confession that I am not praying enough.

I am not. I'm not trusting the Lord enough. I am not living as I ought to but then resting in that assurance of pardon that in Christ even those sins are paid for. But then corporately also. And then we will sing together the old hymn be thou my vision and time of prayer together.

So please bow with me. Heavenly Father we come before you now and we we confess God. I confess that so often I believe that I need to do the things I need to accomplish stuff. And I do it in my own power and in my own timing according to my own will.

Lord I ask that you would change my desires. I ask this for all of us as a church corporately that we would be a people that trust in your providential timing in hand that we would be a church that says there is more power in prayer than in anything else that we could possibly do.

May we be a praying people. Lay it on our hearts. Forgive us for not praying as we ought. May we confess that to you acknowledge our frailty in this. But God we also know that your grace is sufficient for us.

God. We know that even in our failings and in our impatience you have covered that sin by the righteousness of Christ by his blood that purchased us. And we have an assurance of pardon. Help us to rest in that so that we can come boldly into your throne room once again with our petitions with our needs with our prayers that we would pray diligently and trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us as a people.

May you be honored in our lives. And in this time of prayer today we thank you for your goodness and your grace. We pray all of this and the wonderful and glorious name of our Savior Jesus Christ. And all God's people said let's stand and sing this great hymn.

We are saved by grace. That we are kept by grace. And that we are a people that get to walk not in condemnation but in grace on top of grace on top of grace. And we now get the privilege to come into the throne room of our Father with our petitions.

He doesn't hear the prayers of the unrighteous the world. They can. They can scream up to the sky. They can bow their knee and try and pray all they want. And he hears none of it but he hears yours every moment and every time.

Let's lean into it saying so now here I'm going to ask Pastor Keith to come up and and lead us in a prayer for the church. Here's the way this is going to work. I'm going to have men come up and lead us in a particular prayer.

And I want you to pray as they pray. But you can go ahead and be seated if you would like to as soon as Pastor Keith leads us in this prayer. What I'd ask is that you would spend a moment in prayer for this congregation for your brothers and sisters here and prayer that God would be honored in our lives as a church and as a ministry.

And that he would use us for his glory and his will and for his purposes if you would like to circle up right where you're at if you want to move chairs move chairs. You can gather up. You can pray together.

We're going to give you a moment before we move on and we start praying for another particular need. So we're just going to spend some time today in prayer. Pastor Keith if you could lead us in a prayer for the church.

Concerning prayer I would like to see a show of hands who here was with 12 -5 church when we were over in the shop building. If you'd raise your hands I think you're gonna remember what I'm talking about.

We had received news that we no longer could hold church in the shop building. Right. The Lord was moving us if the timing was perfect most people agreed. It was time to step out from being a startup church to being a church and there's not a lot of difference but there is some.

It was time for us to go out on our own to support ourselves to depend on the Lord right. We had a place that we had found that we were going to move to. Everything seemed to be falling into place. We were excited about it.

We had made plans drawn up what we were going to do how we were going to do it the walls everything how much it was going to cost. We had voted on it and we went back to the guy that's going to rent it and all we heard was crickets.

Nothing. We couldn't get him to reply to anything any of our phone calls messages text emails. We heard nothing. And we finally over about two weeks came to the point that we God had slammed the door.

Basically we came to realize. But it was hard. We were heartbroken because this was it. But it wasn't so we regrouped. And what did we do. We're gonna go on. A week of prayer is what the the leaders decided we need to meet every day in this building and pray to the Lord for his direction for his supply for him to give us and lead us and where he wanted to go.

And we started praying. We prayed Monday. We prayed Tuesday. We prayed Wednesday. Thursday I got a call from from Nathan and Jeremiah that the person that was leasing this building was looking for somebody to sublease it and we came and met with him.

And it was unbelievable. We were going to get this place for about a third starting out of the rent that we would normally have to pay because there's no way we could afford it for rent in this building.

And the guy was. It was just miraculous what the Lord did. And I kept on saying to Nathan we haven't finished praying. It's just Thursday. We were gonna pray to Saturday. We haven't even finished. And the Lord is already blessing us way more than we were before thought we were blessed before.

And our prayer of need turned into a prayer of rejoicing. Three days prayer of need Thursday Friday and Saturday a prayer of rejoicing and thanking the Lord. So if y 'all would pray with me father it is by your hand that we stand here today gathered together as one as your bride is your church we recognize your hand.

It wasn't of us. It was because of you your great mercy. Father we humbly come before you. Normally I'd pray that you would work through us. But today I pray that we would work through you. Then everything that we do would not be because of us our desire our will.

But would because of your direction would all bring glory to you. Where we walk would be according to your will. Where we speak we would speak the truth according to your word. Where we sing would bring honor and glory and praise to your holy name.

When we go out into the world people wouldn't have to ask. They would know there's something different about us as we go about doing your business not our business. Lord we trust in you father. We trust that you will supply our needs that you will supply our direction.

And you will show us where we're to work through you father we come through acts. Lord we just ask that you show us the wisdom and how we can apply your word how your church began to what we need to be doing in this building in this body that we would come together like the Apostles the disciples the wives came together in that room every Sunday in unity seeking you in prayer recognizing that it's not by our will it's not by our power.

It's not by our direction. It's about nothing that we could give on our own. It's because of you what you have done in us. And I am so thankful for that help us always to remember that the love that we have is because you loved us first.

I pray this in Christ's name Amen.

Writes to his protege he says. First of all then I urge the supplications prayers intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people for Kings and all who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life godly and dignified in every way.

What about you. But I long to see change in the culture. Long to see it. I want to see your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. How often do I pray for that. How often do I actually pray that God would bring about revival.

I'd like for us now to spend a moment praying for the leaders of this city the leaders of the state and this country. They may not be our leaders because we're foreigners here we have a king. We still pray for them for the sake of our neighbors.

Let's pray for their salvation. Let's pray that they would rule well and that they would bend the knee to the king and he would kiss the son lest he be angry. I've asked Blake Davis to come up and lead us in this prayer.

As soon as Blake is done we can do just as we did a moment ago spend a moment praying for those men and women that are providentially placed in those.

Positions and that God would bring about change in this culture. Dear heavenly.

Father God we know that you are the ruler of all the earth we know that you God are sovereign that you nothing God goes beyond your plans but at the same time God we pray and you call us to pray for our leaders here on this earth again you are our king and you are our ruler God but you we are still here left on this earth.

God and I pray that when we lift up and we intercede for our community leaders God here in this community our leaders at the state and leadership over this country. God that first and foremost God that you would save them because we know God without a truly regenerate heart without a true heart of repentance and faith in your son God that no true obedience can be had.

And so God we first and foremost pray for their salvation that you would turn their hearts to you God that you would break them so that they can be made whole again God and that that would trickle and affect our society God and that it would align itself more to your will in your word and how you've called us to live.

God we know that it is your power to save we know that it is your power to change and that your will will be done but God we pray that that their hearts would be changed and that that would make this community state country and world a more peaceful place and that we would be more honoring to you God that your glory would shine more and more and that even if we have peace in this community in this world that we can joyfully and excitingly and prayerfully and praiseworthy that it would go back to you God and recognize that it is nothing in and of us it is nothing in and of our leaders if that is changed but it is all by your power it is all by your gracious hand and mercy given to us.

And so God I am so guilty of not praying for our leaders. Please forgive me. God and I pray that you would grow us as a people to grow in our faith in you grow in our obedience to you and to intercede for our leaders as you've called us to God we thank you God that we can trust in you.

We thank you that you are faithful. We thank you and we pray that all of this would happen and that a revival that a an awakening God would spread God that you would be honored and that it would be overwhelming not feelings not revivalism not trying to muster up these things God but it would be a true working of your Holy Spirit and a deep abiding revival God that is by your power by your spirit and that it is according to your word God and I pray God that you would do that he would give us faith to believe and trust that you have the power to do that and that it would be for your glory and your glory alone.

And we thank you God again for your son who gives us this opportunity to come before you. God gives us the righteousness the cleanness the forgiveness that we can stand before you because it is not anything of us God and we thank you for your mercy and your grace and it's in his name we pray.

Amen.

We see that King Herod had killed James with a sword. He saw how it pleased the.

People so so what did he do. He arrested Peter of course planning to do the same to him. But but as Peter is in chains awaiting for a sentence like this what happened if you remember the story. Angels came and they freed him from his chains.

And then verse 11 says when Peter came to himself he said now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angels to rescue me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting. When he realized this he went to the house of Mary the mother of John whose other name was Mark where many were gathered together and were praying.

They were gathered together when when Peter gets released they don't know he's been released. He shows up and there they are praying. They were no doubt praying for Peter. Once again God used the prayer of his Saints.

We have brothers and sisters today those who could not make it with sickness or difficulty. We have others all over the world right now who are suffering. You realize that like we have heat comfortable chairs good coffee.

There's literally no threat coming in through those doors to us. But this very day this very Lord's Day all over the world there are people just like the disciples hiding in an upper room fearful and suffering.

We forget about those Christians. Often don't we. And we need to pray for them. I don't know. We pray for our brothers and sisters here we pray for those around us in the community. We pray for the ones that could not make it that are suffering with different things now.

But we pray for all the Saints all over the world in the midst of this suffering. I've asked Bobby Clark he would come and lead us.