Leadership 105
Wednesday Evening Bible Study
July 15, 1998
Children’s Ministry needs.
Homework assignments – Did you have your Quiet Times? Did you pray for your ministry? Did you complete this week’s assignment in Spiritual Leadership?
Spiritual Leadership
Focus Lesson:
The person God uses is a person of prayer.
One thing we’ve seen consistently in our studies in the book of Acts is that the person that God uses is a person of prayer.
The word "prayer" or forms of it are found over 30 times in the book of Acts alone. Here’s some examples:
Before the Holy Spirit was poured out, the church was committed to prayer:
Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
After the Holy Spirit was poured out, they continued to be committed to prayer:
Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
It was on the way to praying that Peter and John healed the lame man.
Acts 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, [being] the ninth [hour].
After their first taste of persecution, they prayed.
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
The apostles only had TWO PRIORITIES, Prayer and the Word.
Acts 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
It was through prayer that the first deacons received their ministry.
Acts 6:6 Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid [their] hands on them.
The Samaritans received the Holy Spirit through the apostles’ prayers.
Acts 8:15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
When Peter was in prison, the church prayed.
Acts 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
Through fasting and prayer, Paul was called of God to the mission field.
Acts 13:3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid [their] hands on them, they sent [them] away
It was on the way to a prayer meeting that Paul cast the demon out of the slave girl in Philippi.
Acts 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying
Having been beaten, sitting in a stinking prison, Paul and Silas prayed and sang.
Acts 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them
If you desire to be a man or woman whom God can use, is it important that you grow in prayer? Absolutely!
Large Group Discussion
pg.90 – Hudson Taylor – "It is possible to move men, through God, by prayer alone."
Small Groups
Share prayer requests and pray.
Share one request for you personally, share one request regarding your ministry. Pray.
Venture in Faith Video
"The Hippie Movement, the Jesus Movement"
We’re about to take a trip back in time and take a look at Calvary Chapel’s explosive, early growth during the days of the Hippies.
Something not mentioned specifically in the video, but covered in Chuck Smith’s book, Harvest pg.43-44 is a little tie in with our subject tonight on prayer:
One morning Kay and I looked out into the California streets and on the beaches, and we beheld another radiantly colorful sight: human forms, extending as far as the eye could see. The countercultural revolution of the '60s had begun, and the new citizens were the hippies, "heads," and trippers. Their colorful outfits belied the deeper problem that they represented. If God was trying to tell us something, as we looked out on that field, we faced the problem of a gap of culture and thought that stood between our generations. I was brought up in old-world piety compared to the fast-track rebellion of the hippies. How could my wife and I cross this gulf?
The Lord pressed it on our hearts clearly, Reach out in love. Now we knew that love could never be contrived with a group as sensitive and perceptive as that one. So, to quote my wife, we saturated the air with prayers. She organized late-night prayer groups and morning prayer groups. It seemed that Kay and her friends were praying all the time. Meanwhile I prayed with elders and some church members. Before too long, we both felt a quiet change in the air, an excitement just beneath the surface.
Kay and I could feel it growing inside our hearts, almost independent of our own efforts - a growing burden of love and concern from God for these young people. With love, we believed, would come the necessary understanding. Then we might be equipped to minister to the real needs of these estranged youths. Could this be what God had been preparing us for all these years?
What to look for
What do you see as being some of the key elements of Calvary Chapel’s early growth?
(love, acceptance, home fellowships, teaching through the entire Bible, the leading of the Holy Spirit)This week’s section starts off with a mention of some of Chuck’s key life scriptures:
(Zec 4:6 KJV) Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
(Acts 2:47 KJV) Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
(Eph 4:11-16 KJV) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; {12} For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: {13} Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: {14} That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; {15} But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: {16} From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.