Place of Prayer

Acts 16

Wouldn’t it be good if there was a book of the Bible

That gave us insights in how to be the church?

A little bit of doctrine but not too much

To get us confused;

A little bit of church government

But not too much to get us arguing;

A little bit of conflict resolution

But not too much, to worry us;

A little bit on stewardship,

A little bit on prayer life,

A little bit on community

But not too much

To overwhelm us.

A book that is realistic about the church

But with an attitude of optimism and thanksgiving.

A book that gives us comfort in a world

That is increasingly uncertain and unsettled.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians is such a book.

So for the next four weeks we will be looking at the church

through the eyes of Paul and Silas and Timothy

And through the lens of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

To start our study of Philippians we must turn to the

Book of Acts because Acts describes Paul’s encounter

With the people of Philippi to whom he later writes.

We’ve already hear of Paul and Silas encounter with Lydia,

the seller of purple but we need to go back a little farther

to see how Paul gets to Philippi and it isn’t an easy

journey- physically, emotionally or spiritually.

Look at Acts 15:36- Paul is planning out his itinerary with

Barnabas and they begin to fight over John Mark.

John Mark had left the ministry when Paul and Barnabas

Were in Pamphylia. Paul didn’t trust him and

Didn’t want him on the next journey.

Barnabas (the encouraging one did) and so

Paul and Barnabas parted company.

Not a very encouraging start to this treatise

On being the church together

but the good news is that

when Paul and Barnabas split into two groups

they got twice as much ministry done and

they eventually reconciled.

So Paul heads out with Silas instead of Barnabas

and picks up another youngster- Timothy along the way.

That is a great image for the church-

Silas was an older gentleman-

people thought he looked like Zeus,

Paul was middle aged

and Timothy was a youngster.

The church is when the generations come together,

Work together and mission together in a world

That often breaks the generations apart

By music, culture, clothing.

Now Paul wanted to go on a mission trip to Asia

But the text (Acts 16:6) says that he was forbidden

By the Holy Spirit. This is the spiritual struggle.

We sometimes think of the Holy Spirit as this

gentle breeze blowing us where we want to go.

We should know better in Kansas.

It is a powerful wind the blows where it wills.

Sometimes it takes us where we want to go

But most times it takes us

where God wants us to be.

Paul succumbed to the Spirit.

And that’s the Physical part of the journey.

Look at your maps. Paul is starting out in Syria

We have heard a lot about Syria in the news lately.

He heads to Derbe and Lystra

to pick up Timothy

and apparently Luke as well.

Notice that the text shifts from third person

“Paul did this and Paul did that”

to the first person “We”.

“When he had seen the vision,

we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that

God had called us to proclaim

the good news to them.”

He wanted to go to Bithynia and Mysia

but was told NO by the Holy Spirit. By God.

So he goes to Troas, Samothrace, Neapolis

and finally Philippi.

It was a long journey, especially in that day and age

The text doesn’t talk about the travel time but

it must have taken months to get to Philippi.

I heard a wonderful saying at the pastors

conference “God works in centuries.”

He was in a different country than he had planned;

with different people that he had planned;

and yet he was in the right place and time

because he was following God’s plan.

And that where our story picks up again.

What’s the first thing Paul and Silas do in Philippi

They seek out a place to pray.

We already heard the first part of that

Story, but then the trouble starts.

Listen to the next part of God’s story unfold:

Acts 16:16-34

Notice, Paul and Silas were again seeking out

the “place of prayer” in the second day as well

but the results weren’t as good as the first day.

Instead of meeting and baptizing Lydia

And being invited to a good meal

They are thrown in prison

For healing the slave girl.

It is a real testimony to the power of the marketplace

And money then and now.

You can join a prayer group with a bunch of women

Which was against the culture of the day.

Men and women were separated in synagogue worship

They could proclaim a new religion in contradiction to

The myth of Zeus and Greek God’s by which people lived

But when they tampered with the slave girl

And jeopardized her owners ability

To exploit her for profit they were

Thrown into jail.

Then they were meddling.

And what’s the first thing Paul and Silas do in jail.

They pray and sing.

For Paul anywhere was a place of prayer.

Whether he was by the water with a prayer group

of women or in jail with his friend Silas

he was always praying.

Luke and Acts provide the best evidence of a prayer filled ministry

Of Paul and of Jesus. Luke is the only Gospel to mention

Jesus praying as he comes up from his baptism.

Luke and Acts have more accounts of prayer 60 than

Any other book of the Bible including the Psalter.

Notice that prayer is the first thing that Paul does when

He hits town and it’s the last thing he does

when the town hits back.

It’s what he does when things are going well and

What he does when things go badly

and he finds himself in difficult times.

Paul is saturated in prayer.

What a great model for the church. Begin and end with prayer.

Prayer in season and out of season.

Pray prayers of thanksgiving when things are good

And prayers of supplication when things are bad

And pray for guidance and direction

all the times.

I thank God for the prayers of the church.

When I first came to see Covenant I was equally impressed

That a church who had a gym to build up the body

Had a prayer garden to nurture the soul.

I was impressed to know that the church had an

All night vigil to pray for God’s direction in

Calling a pastor 5 years ago when they called me

And I got to witness the prayer vigil 2 ½ years later

When they were calling Melissa to Covenant.

Prayer is central to who we are and it

Was central to Paul’s relationship

with the Church at Philippi.

I was impressed by the prayers that we offer when

We go on work trips to New Mexico,

Hiking trips to Colorado,

Mission trips to China,

Camp trips the Westminster Woods.

We have recently devoted more time to prayer in our session

Meetings and so far the meetings are shorter and still productive.

That’s how Paul started his time in Philiipi

And it will be the way he starts his letter to the Phlippians

“I thank God for our partnership in the Gospel…”

but that’s another sermon for another day

as we start our walk through Paul’s

letter to the Philippians.

It starts with prayers that surrounds many generations,

And many nationalities with God’s spirit and love.

And that’s what God want from us is to be

Saturated in prayer.

Amen