Cultivating the Place of Corporate Prayer

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Intro: A. My History: 1. Testimony 2. Africa 3. Start a daily prayer meeting at 5am B. Agenda: I am going to give you guys more tonight than is fair, and way more than you can probably really digest in 45 minutes. Email me if you want my notes. C. Goal: My goal is to set a fire in your hearts for corporate prayer and to awaken a desire to go further together.

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Why Pray? A. Familiar Exhortations on Prayer: When you pray (Mt. 6:6) Befaithful in prayer (Ro. 12:12). be alert and always keep on praying (Eph. 6:18) Devote yourselves to prayer (Co. 4:2) Pray continually (1Th. 5:17) Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray (Lk. 18:1) Be always on the watch and pray (Lk. 21:36)
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The Lifestyle and Power of the 1st Century Church Flowed out of Prayer: 1

They all joined together constantly in prayer (Ac. 1:14) They devoted themselves toprayer (Ac. 2:42). We willgive our attention to prayer (Ac. 6:3-4). C. Rewards of a Lifestyle of Prayer: 1. To feel Gods delight. 2. To fellowship with God (fellowship is called prayer). 3. To be obedient to the Word. 4. To see things shift in your own heart. 5. To see things shift in circumstances. III. Why Pray Corporately? Our Western approach to Christianity is routed in an individuality that the New Testament knows nothing of. It is difficult for many of us to see our relationship with Christ from a corporate standpoint; we (the modern Western Church) are far more accustomed to viewing an individual and very independent relationship with God that doesnt require other believers. This is not the expression of Christianity we find in the Word however. We, together, are called the Church, the Bride, the Body of Christ, etc., and as individuals we are only a single part of the greater Body. A. What the Word has to Say About Corporate Prayer: 1. Letters of the New Testament: The letters of the New Testament were addressed to corporate bodies not individuals merely, and the letters that were addressed to individuals were directed at the affairs of corporate bodies and not merely the individual that the letter was addressed to. 2. The promise of revival: The promise of revival transformation is given only in the context of when His people join together in prayer. if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2Ch. 7:14).
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The promised blessing on unity: How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the headIt is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore (Ps. 133:1-3). 2

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The Lords Prayer: The Lords Prayer is actually instruction about the significance of corporate prayer. This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (Mt. 6:9-12).

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The Church of Acts: The Church of Acts began with a prayer meeting (Ac. 1:14) and then continued centered around corporate prayer (Ac. 1:14, 24, 2:42, 3:1, 4:24, 31, 6:4-6, 8:15, 12:5, 12, 13:3, 14:23, 16:13, 16, 25, 20:36, 21:5).

B. Practical Reasons to Pray Corporately: 1. Accountability to actually pray regularly. 2. Meet your need for community and godly fellowship. 3. To learn so much from those you pray with. 4. It feels good when we are in agreement in prayer. 5. With a group we can get organized and make it fun, music, a model, etc. 6. History shows us that it is more sustainable over the long term when people gather together to prayer. Overcoming the Hurdles Associated with Corporate Prayer: A. Its Worth It: Im in a lot of corporate prayer meetings, nearly 30 hours a week for some years now and some of them are flat boring. But over the long haul I tell you that my heart is more alive in God than ever and that I am not only growing in intimacy with God but I am pursuing the corporate destiny that God has for his people here in this area. B. The Current Church Stance: This corporate methodology is quite foreign to us and for the most part the Church in our culture has dismissed this expression because it seems unnecessary, impractical and it doesnt much fit with the very individually focused form of Christianity that we have been introduced to. C. I Want to Know God: Ive found that prayer, and specifically corporate prayer is an on ramp to knowing Him. When this life is through, will we really know Him, or only know the facts about Him that we learned along the way? Im determined to know Him deeply. 3

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The Path of Intimacy: A. To Know Him Through the Word: We must recognize that we are talking about getting to know the Eternal God of all power and wisdom. We must not assume we know Him very well at all. Instead we should allow the Word of God to be our guide in transforming our understanding about who He is and then take what we see there and turn it into prayer. His Surprising and Uncomfortable Way: The Word reveals many facets of His nature and desires. I am often surprised by what God likes, His methods, what He says He wants, and what He thinks about me. Sometimes it is uncomfortable and unfamiliar. But I want to know God, and the only God is the God of the Bible. And if I want to truly know Him I must go about it His way. It was a surprise to me that He wanted us praying together and that the Word detailed so many things that He said He really cared about.
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C. Agreement with the Word: Intimacy is gained with Him as we come into agreement with Him. As we pray what He told us to pray and seek Him in the manner He prescribed we gain great measures of His love. There are many aspects of His love that we cannot know without agreement with His heart. The Bible makes those facets clear, but we actually have to pray them in order to enter in. Time and Commitment: Intimacy and maturity cannot be caught on the fly however. It takes years to develop depth in God; which of course we can start that journey at any time but we cant circumvent that fact that it takes a lot of time to get to know Him. Depth in fellowshipping with God cant be gained by any means other than sheer time. And again there are so many benefits to growing in the grace of prayer together in a corporate context because we go so much further together. This was the wisdom of God in calling His people to be a community, a family of praying believers; it was for our good and for our growth.
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Jesus Warning: Jesus and the Word overall warns us repeatedly that we should remain in the place of corporate prayer and that it holds power over our heart to hold us tightly in His grasp. And as we have seen, the primary expression of the New Testament Church is that we would pray together (Mi. 7:7; Hb. 2:1-3; Mt. 6:9-10,
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24:20, 42-44, 25:1-13; Mk. 13:5, 9, 32-37, 14:37-38; Lk. 18:1-8, 21:8, 36; Eph. 6:18; 1Th. 5:1-6, 1Pe. 1:13, 4:7). VI. Prayer Simplified -Prayer is Agreement with God: Now that we are all sold on the concept of praying together we will move onto the practical steps of how to do it. The first point that will really aid us in our journey is to understand that prayer in all its various forms is just agreement. Whatever angle we may take, whether small group intercession or large worship meetings, we are essentially talking about the same thing; agreement. A. Worship: Worship is agreement with who God is. An example of this agreement is God you are holy.
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Intercession: Intercession is agreement with what God wants. An example of this agreement is God, save the lost. Communing: Communing is agreement with Gods nature. An example of this agreement is God, I just want to sit with, and enjoy who you are. Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving is agreement with what God is doing. An example of this agreement is God, great job on this aspect of my life.

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The Actual How-Tos of Corporate Prayer: The following are some simple tools on ways to fill an hour of corporate prayer. As weve been doing for this a while now we have found various ways to implement each of these. The format doesnt matter near as much as the principles so if you have different ideas about how to put these into practice thats great. A. Actually Pray: Dont come and talk about prayer, not even for 5 minutes, start at the time you set no matter what, even if its just one of you by yourself, the others will come in and join you in whatever youre doing. B. His Presence: Spend 5 minutes in prayer just going around the group and asking God to encounter you and help you in this next hour of prayer (you will find that inviting Him greatly aids your heart in connecting to Him more quickly). C. Worship: 5

Play some worship music for 15 minutes and have everyone focus with all your might to engage Him and repeatedly tell Him how much you love Him during that time. D. Thanksgiving: Then spend 5 minutes thanking Him for His many blessings in your life (you will find that hearing the praise of others in the room will fuel your gratitude). E. Pick One Topic: Announce a topic and then spend the next 5-10 minutes on that one topic, some examples are revival on your campus, a move of God in the local Churches, the softening of the hearts of the lost, etc. As you are aiming to be in corporate agreement try very hard to stay focused on whatever topic you have agreed upon.

F. Next Topic: Transition after about 10 minutes to pray for a second topic, again, make the topic clear and then stay focused on that topic for 5-10 minutes (repeat as many or as few times as desired). Use the Apostolic Prayers: The prayers that are found in the New Testament are called Apostolic Prayers. You will find that each of these prayers gives you so much language of Gods heart to pray over each of your prayer topics. One person at a time begin to pray the Apostolic Prayers while the others agree in their heart or by quietly repeating parts of the prayers aloud. These are prayers that God has already certified, they are prayers that the Word of God recorded. They area almost entirely focused on the various areas of the Churchs maturity.
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H. A Growing Heart: You will see that your hearts will begin to swell with Gods plans, purposes, love and direction. This will begin to set your walk with Him in new depths. Practical Application this Immediately: A. Weekly Prayer Time: Begin attending a weekly prayer time here at the Cornerstone. B. Three Committed People: Rally a group of three or more of you and commit yourself to take a shift at your prayer room at Grace Community Church. 6

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C. On Going Training: If you want training on the worship aspect or if you want to see it modeled on a larger scale come visit The Prayer Room. Come sign up for one shift a week with us for 6 months and well train you how to lead meetings. D. Internship: At TPR, we offer internships. Our Summer Internship begins June 3rd, and is an awesome opportunity if youre hungry. Its an intense 2 month training program on the why, the what, and the how of living a lifestyle of prayer. We have only satisfied customers.