Preached at Markham Baptist Church, September 8, 2002

Do you know that when people are asked about the church, 90 percent of the population gives the church the thumbs down saying, "We don't believe in the church." And 9 percent of the population yawns in boredom and says casually, "O yeah, I believe in the church." And one percent of the population open their eyes wide with energy and excitement and say, "We want to be the church!"

That's our desire at Markham Baptist. As we have prayed and met and discussed the future of our church, we have wrestled with the questions of where does God want us to go? What does God want us to do? Why has God called us together, each of us with our different talents, gifts and experiences, why has He called us together at this particular time and in this particular place?

And as we wrestled with these questions the answer continually came back, "be the church, be the body of Christ, be the people of God redeemed by Jesus Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit, proclaiming boldly and compassionately the Word of God."

And so a vision for Markham Baptist was born. We want to be the church. We don't want to play church, we don't want to pretend church, we want to actively be the body of Christ, a living demonstration of his life here on earth.

And so it is this vision that I want to put before you during the next 5 weeks. At the end of the series, on October 6 - I hope you will be here for that Sunday - we will be looking for a personal commitment from you, a decision that says we believe in the work of Markham Baptist and the direction we're heading. I'm going to ask you to stand on that Sunday and by standing say, "I believe in the church at Markham Baptist. I affirm the vision God has given and I want to give of my time, gifts, and resources to help see this vision become a reality."

We want to be the church, as God calls us and directs us by the Holy Spirit and through his Word. Now we understand that the vision that we have been given is not carved in stone. We want to be the church and that means that we are directed by the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ tells us in John 3 that the Holy Spirit is like the wind that cannot be contained or directed. And as any good sailor knows, it is the wind that directs, not we who direct the wind. So we move forward in dependence upon the Holy Spirit. Listening for His leading and following in the direction He takes us.

At the same time we realize that there is no virtue in working in a befuddled haze. It is true in the business world and it is true in the spiritual world - if you aim at nothing you will hit nothing. Nor do we simply want to swing from one innovation to another, from one fad to another. We must understand our purpose.

I love to tell the story of when the Yankees were playing the then Milwaukee Braves. Yogi Berra, who was known as much for his mouth as for his bat, was catching. And he kept talking all the time with the attempt to cheer on his teammates and to frustrate the opposing batters. So here he is catching behind home plate and who comes up the plate but Hank Aaron, the home run king. And Yogi keeps jostling him and says,

"Henry, Henry you're holding the bat wrong."

Hank Aaron doesn't flinch an eye.

Ball one comes.

"Henry," says Yogi, "You're supposed to hold the bat so that you can read the trademark."

The next pitch comes at Hank Aaron and he parks it in the grandstand for a home run and he trots the bases. He places both feet firmly on home plate and says to Yogi, "Yogi, I didn't come here to read."

What was he saying? He was saying he understood his purpose, he was going to concentrate on that purpose. And so we believe that God has called us together for a specific purpose and we are going to concentrate on it until Christ comes again, we fulfill the vision, or the Holy Spirit gives us a new vision.

So we want to be the church - simply put we want to know Christ and make Him known. But what does that look like? What does that mean practically? As we sought to answer that question we turned to the book of Acts and the birth of the church. And there we saw four characteristics of the church, four characteristics of the body of Christ

Equipping, Worshipping, Reaching out and Caring. All of this, we discovered in Acts, is girded and supported by persistent, believing prayer.

During the next number of weeks I want to unpack each of these with you but this morning I want to focus on the power and foundation of these - that is, prayer.

We want to be the church - we want to be the church that prays. Our model is found in Acts 2:42-47.

Just a little background to this text. This is a monumental day in the life of the church. It could be said that it is the birth of the church - it is the day the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples with power and Peter stands up among the disciples and preaches a mighty sermon, about the person of Jesus Christ. It is so powerful that the people, we read in verse 37, are cut to the heart and say, "What shall we do?" And Peter says, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

And then in verse 41 we read that about 3,000 people were baptized and added to the church that day.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Life among the Believers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceedsŁ to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generousŁ hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47) (NRSV)

So here we have the church born. Three thousand people with no budget, no building and no Bible (at least as we know it) - all they have is the Holy Spirit and He sets their priorities for them.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

"The prayers" - the use of definite article here indicates that it was corporate praying that they devoted themselves to. And we see all through the book of Acts that the early church was a praying church.

"As Peter and John were going up the temple at the hour of prayer." (Acts 3:1) (NIV)

“The church raised their voices together to God" (Acts 4:24) (NIV)

and then verse 31 says,

"When they had prayed the place in which they were gathered together was shaken." (Acts 4:31) (NIV)

All through the book of Acts we see the church being the church in prayer. There isn't a decision that is made, there isn't a person that is converted, there isn't a miracle that occurs without first the people of God gathering together and calling out to Him with one voice in prayer.

My friends, the church today often looks for all sorts of novel and new ways to reach our community and make an impact in the world. You read the church page in the newspaper and you will see adds for churches that read -

"Come to the church and experience a wonderful program for your kids."

"Come to the church has a wonderful organ recital."

"Come to the church that that doesn't feel like church."

"Come to the church that sings songs you know."

You'll never read an ad that says, "Come to the church that prays." It doesn't make for good copy. But it is to prayer that God has called us. All those things - good programs for kids, good music, helping people who aren't used to church feel comfortable - all of that is important but they are nothing if the church does not first pray.

And I don't only mean praying as individuals, although that is important. We need to get together as the body of Christ to pray. We long to be known in this community as the church that prays. So when people say, "Markham Baptist Church – oh, I know that church. That's the church that prays. That's the church that trusts God do that which they cannot possibly do in their own strength. Markham Baptist church - that's the church that prays.”

I don't have to spend a lot of time convincing you that God calls us to pray do I?

He says in Jeremiah:

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3) (NIV)

His Son commands us to pray – “Ask, seek and knock.”. And the Holy Spirit encourages us to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. (Ephesians 6:18)

I know that it's not flashy, I know that it doesn't make for great copy in newspaper ads, and I know it may even sound simplistic, but it's the truth. God calls us to pray as a body of believers because it is through the prayers of the people that God's power is unleashed in the world.

It is a great mystery but the truth is that "in prayer we align ourselves to the purposes and power of God and He is able to do things through us that He couldn't do otherwise... God has left certain things open to prayer - things that will never get done except as we pray."¹

It is a great mystery - but hear it again, God has left certain things open to prayer and it is only as the people of God pray that he is able to work in people's lives. Charles Spurgeon called prayer the slender nerve that moves the muscles of omnipotence. Listen carefully, there has never been a person healed, a heart transformed, a marriage mended a community touched by the grace of God, or any spiritual territory gained that wasn't first precipitated by believing persistent prayer. It is so clear. God has called us to pray as a body.

It is through prayer that we confess our dependence on Him and declare His sovereignty in our lives and it is through prayer that God unleashes His power. I was reminded of it this week. In 1998 three of us in my previous church promised to pray for two people who we knew didn't know Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. One of the names I put forward was my niece who was living a life that totally denied the Lordship of Christ. And we began to pray. This past week I heard that that my niece was baptized - not only her but her husband too.

God answers prayer and He calls us to be the church that prays.

Practically speaking what does that look like?

Primarily it means that we begin to dare in our prayer. It means that we dare to ask for that which only He can do. That we begin to call out to Him and ask Him to work in ways that only possible for Him.

It also means that the staff and leadership of Markham Baptist Church will seek to model for you a prayerful life. You need to know that when you share a concern with us it will be taken to God in prayer. You need to know that we believe that God has called us to pray for you and with you. You will not be gossiped about, your concern will not be shared with anyone else unless you so direct.

We want to be the church that prays - it means that we will offer a number of different creative opportunities to pray for one another - you've witnessed some of them already - the 24 hour prayer day - the PrayerPost, the prayer chain, and eventually dial-a-prayer.

But more than this and this is vital - you need to listen to this. We have been called to be the church that prays - not only as individuals but as a body, as a group. We need to meet together to pray. Again, it is a great mystery but God's great power is unleashed when His people get together to pray and with one voice call out to Him. I do not deny the power of one child of God on his or her knees in prayer, but there is even greater power when the people of God gather and in unity with one voice call out to God.

Let me tell you - the vision plainly is that we be a people who meet together to pray not only in small groups, but as a congregation and we begin monitoring the health of our church by our community prayer meetings. Right now we have two primary barometers to monitor the health of our church - one is the budget, and the other is Sunday morning attendance. If we are going to be the church that prays, the health of our church needs to be gauged by attendance at the community prayer meeting. Right now it is called "Let's Pray" and our average attendance is 7 - and I'm rounding the number up. We're looking to change that. I'm not looking to guilt you into coming, all I'm doing is going on record - saying that our vision is that we be the church that prays. And that means that we are looking to grow our community prayer meeting as we realize that there a heart transformed, a marriage mended a community touched by the grace of God, or any spiritual territory gained that wasn't first precipitated by believing, persistent prayer by the people of God.

Ninety percent of the population give the church the thumbs down saying, “We don't believe in the church.” Nine percent of the population yawn and say, “Sure, we believe in the church.” One percent of the population hear the word of God and say, “We want to be the church!” We want to be the church that prays. That is our vision. I pray that you will join us in seeing it become a reality.