In The Garden
"The Church That Prays"
Pastor Wayne Clabaugh

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Scripture text: "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with  the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." Act 1:14 (KJV)

I want to speak to you this week about "the church of Christ" - not the denomination, but the body of believers world-wide who are at this time awaiting either the persecution for their faith in the Tribulation, or the deliverance from it in the Rapture. Regardless of which takes place first, the one thing that will distinguish the church more than any of the Apocalyptic events that get bantered around is prayer. Do they pray? Do you Pray?

So many believe that the church began on the day of Pentecost, and I do agree that the events on the day of Pentecost certainly catapulted "Christianity" to a place of prominence. But the upper-room experience on the day of Pentecost was not where the church began. The church began on the day that Jesus told His disciples to go back to Jerusalem an wait for the promised Holy Spirit, and they returned to the upper-room on that day and our text tells us today that upon gathering there, they prayed, "with one accord in prayer and supplication."

They didn't even choose who the successor to Judas would be until they spent time in prayer.

The church today is definitely a praying church, but it has become a "reactive event" (i.e. 911. Katrina etc.,) rather than a body which comes together like the disciples did in our text for today and just get on their faces and seek God.

Oh but brother Wayne, we have so many needs and we have so many who are ill, we are just constantly in prayer for those things and we just do not have time to just seek the Lord.

Let me tell you from my own personal experience that a person who moves on a feeling or an unction they believe to be from God and hasn't sought God's guidance FIRST for that which they are feeling an unction for, maybe ought to do some praying about it before they go forward.

There are a lot of people who will tell you that the Devil just can't work in the life of a believer. They will tell you that if you feel as though you're to go out and build a big church for the Lord or even just start a church for the Lord - you should go forward with that because it's a "good thing" and God will bless it. Then I come along and say, "Sorry, but the Devil could lead you to start a church just as easily" and they're offended at me because they say the Devil would never do such a thing. Well, how about reading Matthew chapter 4 verses 8 and 9 where He tempted the Lord to bow and worship Him and told Him that He would give him "all the Kingdoms of the World". Sounds like a good thing doesn't it? Had Jesus not been the Son of God and had He not come as the "sacrifice once for all" (Hebrew 6:10) to be laid at the altar of redemption, He might have taken ol' Satan up on that offer. But Jesus made it clear, that No man could take His life from Him, but He laid it down of His own free will for the sins of mankind everywhere. But Oh friend, the good news is not only that He would lay down His life of His own Free will, but He declared and fulfilled the declaration that He had the power to take it up again, and that is exactly what He did. (ref., John 10:17, 18)

The point I'm trying to make here is that a church that jumps to the tune of every fire that the Devil sets for them, can easily get burned "out". I have found "after seeking God", that many of the things that I have "wanted" to do for the Lord, He has never required of me. Are they good for the body of Christ? They will be for a time until I am so burned out that I can no longer do what he called me to in the first place. Who gets  the glory when another fire is snuffed out? Oh brother Wayne, get over yourself, God is able to raise up someone else to take your place. That maybe so, but there are fewer and fewer everyday who will answer the call to working full-time for the Lord.

The first step for the church of Christ is to find themselves seeking God so that they have the power and the wisdom to "react" to the situations that arise later on. Think of the POWERHOUSE we would become for the Lord if we began to PRAY for things instead of throwing money at them. I don't believe God is looking for bigger fancier buildings. I believe He is looking for more men and women who are saturated with prayer and have the heart of God and the ear of God. Then we can truly be the church once again.

Let's pray:

Father: I don't deliver this message this morning pointing any fingers at anyone without starting here at the threshold of my life first. Teach me Lord to seek you first and to always seek your way before mine in all that I do. In Jesus Name I Pray, Amen.