Transcript of a published conference session by Thetus Tenney, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
Summary · Transcript · Scripture Index · Download transcript (.txt)
Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
Summary
- A morning-session teaching by the woman who leads the World Network of Prayer: the network is working, prayer must cover everything the church does, and leadership must give itself to prayer first. Out of her Acts 6 text she argues that a multiplied church has to reappraise its agendas, appoint and anoint its lay people, and so turn addition into multiplication.
- **It is working: the reports** She opens with what the network has already done. Brother Whelan, a minister under a terrible cancer report, is in this conference because of the times. A young couple's eight-month-old child, having three to five epileptic seizures a day, was frantically called in to the network three times by his mother when it seemed he was dying — and the child is here, healthy, with no more seizures. A pastor's wife tells of a woman with cancer whose calls to the network led to her Pakistani doctor weeping that Christians worldwide would pray for his niece, and the doctor has since started fasting, praying, and reading his Bible. Brother Stuart's family in Liberia was spared when revolutionary soldiers tried every locked door and walked past the one unlocked door, while people all over the world prayed. This is not a program on paper, she says. This is prayer, and prayer works.
- **Honour, and the question that drives her** She honours her husband, their superintendent, her mentors brother Barnes and sister Mangan, and her pastor brother Anthony. Then she names the burden that has worried her into asking questions: if we have the truth, if we are truly apostolic, why aren't we doing more — why are our churches suffering, why are we struggling with a few? And she gives thanks for her own family's report: her daughter, down for sixty days critical and almost lost, got better on the first day of this conference, and yesterday had almost no pain and went out with her husband to meet her son in college for lunch.
- **The mechanics: getting the network into the churches** The network is a hub: requests and praise reports come in from Ethiopia, from brother Cole in Thailand where 1,500 received the Holy Ghost last week, and go back out by email and by the fax-back service so that hundreds of thousands can pray in minutes. The access numbers and bookmarks are in the prayer room and at the G. A. Mangun Center in the foyer. She announces the Summons to Sacrifice — August 3rd through 5th, 1998, at the Airport Hilton in St. Louis, a meeting for nothing but prayer and fasting, with a representative wanted from every church and district, because the praying must become praying in unison for the big things of the kingdom. The prayer guides — 350,000 distributed through the Pentecostal Publishing House — give people an agenda: how to pray for a missionary, for a leader. The newest, prayer evangelism, takes prayer on-site: check the book of Acts, she says — their praying took place in the streets, in the jails, in the marketplace. In the prayer room itself there are globes for teaching children to pray for the children of the world, her daughter Terry's manual on prayer ministry, a visible prayer agenda that ended the struggle to spend three hours in prayer, and the helps she has made: the praying-man picture that hangs where they pray for this church's pastors, whose inscription is the promise that a righteous man's fervent prayer avails much, and the prayer rings of scriptural prayers for a pastor, a wife, a husband, children.
- **Covering the church's business** The greatest harvest the United Pentecostal Church has ever had, in 1996 and 1997, was not accidental: there has not been one major crusade not well covered with assigned prayer, and every committee on important business, every board meeting, and the General Conference have been covered — people walked in off the street into the General Conference prayer room and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. She is bothered, before this mostly-ministry house, when hours go to projects and business sessions and five minutes to prayer: that is not apostolic. The Lord's Prayer was not given to memorise for a star on a Sunday-school card; it was given as an agenda to pray, and she prays its kingdom-come, will-be-done petition over the work of the church.
- **A clearinghouse and a praying church** The network directs nothing; it is a clearinghouse — one full-time worker, sister Beverly Feathers, and a little local help — where requests come to one place so the whole body can pray for the same things, with Lynn L. Jones's list telling where the prayer-room materials were found. Her aim is to make the United Pentecostal Church the United Praying Church: the Holy Ghost first fell on leadership and saints in a prayer meeting, not in a committee meeting or a conference. Prayer and evangelism go together or neither is complete — prayer without evangelism is a detonator with no explosive, evangelism without prayer an explosive with no detonator — and either the Scriptures are not truth, or God will be true though every man is found a liar. She tells how the lame man's healing came on the way to a prayer meeting, and how a shaken prayer meeting loosed boldness, witness, and finances; brother Keyes said at a General Conference morning prayer service that we are not to the end of our ability, only to the end of our burden — when prayer increases, giving will increase.
- **Her text: those days** She is not a preacher, she says, but she has a text: in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied. And the text out of the text is those days — we are living in those days now. There is always a today word: the psalmist picked it up, the writer to the Hebrews picked it up four times — today, today, today — and we have our today. She is an old-timer: she was born while her mother preached a five-month revival, seven nights a week, pregnant with her, washing her father's one pair of pants daily to preach in; at that revival's end 96 people had received the Holy Ghost and a church was built that is still going forward. She never dreamed she would be part of a church with 2,500 in Sunday school last week — but now the number of the disciples has multiplied, and the church is living in those days.
- **The second part of the text: prayer first** The second part of her text is the apostles' resolve: we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. When the number multiplied, the New Testament church's first administrative decision was that leadership would give itself to prayer first and the ministry of the word. She has the house take out day-timers, calendars, notebooks, and write the two texts at the top of the page — and on every page for the rest of the year. The decision was two-pronged: when grumbling and murmuring came, the apostles did not answer that they were stressed and doing all they could; they called the church together, partnered with it, and looked out seven men of administrative ability who were also spiritual, and appointed them, anointed them, and gave them public recognition. Pastors who keep doing what they have always done will keep having what they have always had. And the circle enlarged immediately: Stephen set an agenda for the whole church — God was bigger than any one place or one people; Philip went down to Samaria; Peter and John, sent on leadership's business, came back preaching through Samaria's villages; and the circle runs on through Cornelius's household to Paul.
- **From addition to multiplication** She checks the second chapter of Acts in several translations: the church that continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship and breaking of bread and in prayers, with gladness and singleness of heart, to whom the Lord added those that were being saved — they were fellowshiping, teaching, eating, visiting, following each other around in a herd. When they changed their executive decision, the addition became multiplication: they impacted the religious world of their day — a great company of priests believed; they touched Saul, the worst persecutor, who became the gospel's proponent; they cracked the military, the government, and the business world of Simon the sorcerer. So leaders must rearrange the daily agenda until prayer is the most prominent thing they do, overseeing the work of God through the power of prayer while they appoint and anoint the laity. The World Network of Prayer is an awesome thing: join it, and become part of a mighty force praying unified prayers that God will honour.
Scriptures: Acts 6:1; Acts 6:4; Acts 2
Scripture index: Acts 6:1; Acts 6:4; Acts 2.
Transcript
thank you and you may be seated thank you Pastor everybody needs a pastor I have several I guess I need several thank you brother Anthony for what you had to say about the network of Prayer it is working it is working and we haven't seen anything yet to what we're going to see it is going to work more and more and more brother Whelan are you here this morning is he here brother Wei llege he's but he is in this conference this is one of our ministers that was in desperate need with just a terrible cancer report and thank God in just a matter of months now I don't know the whole story because I just found out he's here but he is it because of the times a miracle that he is even here it is working it is working there's a young couple here that came to me I'm just going to give you this report very quickly came to me last night they have an eight month-old child that was having epilepsy epileptic seizures three to five seizures and did this him stand up mmm he got so desperate this little wife came to me as well mother came to me last night she said sister tinny three times I frantically called for the network of Prayer when my baby it seemed was dying that child is here and he looks mighty healthy no more seizures no more seizures hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah yep thank you lord thank you lord you may be seated I have another report last night I want you to know it's working this is not a program on paper this is not another project this is prayer and prayer works prayer works I had a pastor's wife say to me last night deaf your son in law's mother was telling me a woman in their church she said repeatedly we have called the network of Prayer she is suffering from cancer and she said we didn't understand the Lord would just touch her wonderfully but still the reports but she said we may have discovered the reason for the whole thing she has a Pakistani doctor her doctor's niece is coming over here with a severe problem with cancer she witnessed to him and said we're putting you on the world network of Prayer that Pakistani doctor broke down and wept that Christians would care enough to ask their church worldwide to pray for his niece he has since started fasting praying and reading his Bible it's working it is working you don't think it works ask brother Stuart in Liberia when he buy just the missing of one door the revolutionary soldiers missed coming in on his family they had locked him all but one and they stood in a room and shook great while they waited for them to come through that one door they tried every locked door and walked past the one that was unlocked we were praying constantly all over the world during that time it's working it's working it is working I have an awful lot of thing to do this morning it's difficult to report talk about mechanics and give you a a word of inspiration at the same time and pray we're gonna do all of that in just a few minutes time we're gonna do it all very very quickly I want to tell you first of all how much I honor and respect these people that have put this meeting together I give respect to my husband I get respect our superintendent by the ocean to my mentor brother Barnes to my other mentor sister Mangan to my pastor brother Anthony brother Gerald sister
Nikki all of these wonderful people we are part and parcel of each other we pick up part of each other and I thank God that he has put me here I thank God for the ministry Oh what ministry and brother Keyes I've been waiting a long time for that message I have been very worrisome I've been very worried I'm asking the questions if we had the truth if we are truly apostolic why I have driven him crazy why aren't we doing more why are our churches suffering why are we struggling with a few and God is gonna get there great yes he is yes yes thank you you may be seated we're gonna hurry oh there's power here this morning I am grateful grateful I have to tell you this grateful for the thousands of you who have prayed for my daughter and I don't know how the connection is we prayed she's been down for 60 days critical almost lost her and death but did you know that the first day of this conference was the first day she got better that wonderful and yesterday she had almost no pain got out and went with her husband to go meet her son who is in college to have lunch that's a miracle when just four days before she could not even bend her legs and could hardly walk from her bed to the bathroom this is wonderful God has answered another prayer hallelujah and I thank you for that I just thank you for it now very briefly I'm just going to tell you a little bit about what the network is most of you I hope know but some of you may not know Oh before I forget this just came from Ethiopia isn't that wonderful that's what the world Network prayer is doing they're telling me and this what they're doing how much they're praying what they're praying for and how they're praying for everybody over here and what's going on I got so many papers up here they're just falling everywhere and it's not gonna bother me a bit I am so full of whatever is going on in the spirit there is so much to tell I couldn't even decide what to tell so thank God I here from Ethiopia I hear from brother Cole in Thailand with 1500 receiving the Holy Ghost and you know the minute we get that we put it out because praise reports are as important as prayer requests and people all over the world can hit their computers and see that just last week 1500 people were filled with a baptism of the holy ghost in Thailand God is doing wonderful wonderful wonderful things so the world network of Prayer as you probably already know is a hub of activity it is the hub the center the the place where we can all correspond and communicate with we can all receive prayer requests we can all receive praise reports you can tune in we have so many things to share with you that you can get it by email you can subscribe to we're just automatically once a week you're going to get the requests and the praise reports you can have the facts back service all of these things are available to you through the world network of Prayer there are some materials for you I am having a terrible time there are some materials and I want to show you there's there are these little bookmarks are in the prayer room all of this stuff is in the prayer room the ga Mangan Center are out in the foyer this gives you all the access numbers I have a wonderful assistant hey the reason he's such a great man he's very humble but pick these up and if you don't have them they are available they're also available for you to give to your church the access numbers the 800 number where our volunteers take the prayer requests are available then there is a card that is available in all these places that gives you the important dates to remember and the most important one on there is the summons to sacrifice August the 3rd through the 5th listen closely August 3rd through 5 1998 Airport Hilton st. Louis summons to sacrifice a meeting for nothing but prayer and fasting prayer and fasting and seeking God we want a representative from every church every district and the reason being is we're going to cast the vision because we're going to do what we're going to do with the world network of Prayer and unity you are praying people I know that but one of you is praying for ain't Jane and others praying for Uncle Joe and somebody else is praying for Ethiopia we're going to start praying in unison together for the same purpose for the
big things of the kingdom the summons to sacrifice will teach illustrate enhance and inspire for those who can come in 1999 we will not have a summons to sacrifice I'm telling you now you either come in 98 or you're not coming and 99 then we're expecting people in their districts to convene a prayer and fasting conference and for you to know how to do it so we're all doing it in one Accord we need representation there amen that date is on there the prayer guides you will find them thanks to brother ocean who has been wonderful with the world network of prayer and the Pentecostal publishing house we have now distributed 350,000 prayer guides to our praying people around the country these are to give you an agenda for praying we play we pray a lot of blessing prayers bless the missionaries bless my pastor bless this one bless the other one brother keys didn't you say we had to ask he didn't say hint he said ask these are to help you know how do you know how to pray for a missionary for a leader this is taken from scripture written by people who are prayer warriors there are 15 of these available the newest one is now prayer evangelism that is to teach our people have to pray own sight within sight we need to get out of the church not only for witnessing but for praying check the book of Acts they're praying took place in streets in the jails in the marketplace it took place everywhere if you're gonna influence your city you're gonna have to pray all over your city go to the courthouse and pray go to the jail and pray go to drinks and pray go pray everywhere let's put prayer in the streets our latest toaster damn we go out to cover brother Anthony runs this thing like I like things run he won't sit through when you're supposed to be through and going when you're going prayer evangelism the newest one of our prayer guides will give you some concepts of how to make praying in the streets and in your city and on-site effectively hopefully we will be able to take prayer teams into our Metro cities where we're struggling to bring in works to reach thousands of people send people in there to put prayer in the streets knocking holes in the heavens letting light through on the darkness that's what we're going to do and then to our nation's to our nation's to our missionaries how wonderful when a person is sent to a nation all alone a missionary and his family to bring in a prayer force that can spend their time praying and witnessing praying and witnessing it takes them both so that's what we're doing with that also over in the the mangie a Mangan center you're going to find the world we have got to raise up prayer warriors one of the goals of the network of prayers to teach children to pray not only children this is very effective in a prayer room it's wonderful feeling I'd do it myself to hold that globe in your arms to point to the nation that you're praying for to teach your children that they've got to pray for more than mama and daddy and Grandma and Grandpa and their puppy dog but to teach them to pray for the children of the world for the others of the world these are they're they're very inexpensive it adds to your prayer room and to teaching children how to pray also over there is the book that Terry my daughter now the one who has been so sick put together it is a manual it is not a book just to be read it is a manual on how to get involved in prayer ministry they will give you pages over 200 pages of ideas how to make prayer more enhanced more effective and to involve and motivate more people in your prayer ministry if you have noticed the prayer room in the back and I hope you have what we have back there we call either a prayer walk you can do a prayer walk in many ways are a visible prayer agenda how many of you know this church is a praying Church I will have to tell you that when we started set the prayer room up and I just I thanked brother Anthony for the privilege of doing that it was so rewarding to me and I thought well I don't know how these people are going to take to this they prayed in that prayer room for years and years they have their own pattern down so when we got it set up where as a visible prayer agenda I'll tell you what happened people that had struggled to spend their three hours in prayer they struggle no more there is purpose and their prayers they pray for everything in that room one place to another and believe me you could spend all day long praying for just the things that are there if you want to teach your people how to pray effectively furnish them with the tools so they learn how to
pray as well as telling them they've got to pray give them the tools so they can pray and make it more effective in this notebook that I just showed you gives you the basic ideas on setting up a prayer room and then I am available for any way that I can help you there is and I have it here somewhere probably fell off but we have a picture in the prayer room back here you will notice a picture that is there by where they pray for the pastor's of this church and it is a praying man wonderful picture the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much I am sure that you can't see this from where you are this is a small one but I have a very limited number of these that are available for sale for simple twenty dollars it's very inexpensive their size twenty by twenty you can see them framed in the prayer room there are also prayer rings and I don't know whether they brought them to me or not I'll tell you about them there five of them in a set we are taught to pray by the scripture that's the strongest prey and you can pray pray in the scriptures there are five of these they're like fixed on a keyring and they are totally scriptural prayers how to pray for your pastor how to pray for your wife how to pray for your husband how to pray for your children they are wonderful in helping people you can take that do you know I have to tell you the truth when I use my prayer ring to pray for my husband many times I can only get through half of it there is so much that it covers I'm talking about effective prayer not just blessing prayers or I'm going around and calling it Fred I'm talking about speaking words faith comes to using the word of God and speaking it out so those are just some of the helps that I have put together to help you and I'll be glad to share any of the rest of it with you that I possibly can and help you in any way but the world network of Prayer is designed to become a powerful entity a powerful army of people that are all praying we have had the greatest harvest in 1996 and 1997 that we've ever had in the United Pentecostal church that was not accidental there has not been one major crusade that has not been well covered with a signed prayer now I'm sorry if you have trouble with talking about a signing prayer and about print specifically its scriptural Jesus didn't give us the Lord's Prayer for us to memorize and get a star on a card in the sunday-school class he gave that to us as an agenda to pray and I want to pray thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven that is the will of God so every crusade has been well covered with a signed prayer every committee that has met on any sort of important business for the church has been covered by prayer may I just say because this is mostly ministry here I am bothered when we spend hours working on projects and hours in business sessions and hours doing other business of the church and have a five-minute prayer that is not apostolic we have got to cover everything we do by prayer we've got to ask for wisdom I believe God can speak and do and move right in the middle of business sessions but he's not going to do it until we invite him to do it we have covered every board meeting the General Conference has been covered if you were there this year we had people that walked in off of the street just walked in off of the street into the prayer room wandering through that huge Convention Center and received the baptism of the holy ghost have never been to one of our churches before just walked in that's why prayer does prayer puts the power and what we're trying to do our plans and our projects can be superseded by many people but prayer will make our plans and project be propelled with the thrust of the Eternal Spirit of God and it will know no end I'm sold on what I'm doing I believe in what I'm doing do I have time to do what I'm doing of course I don't I don't have any more time than you do but this is a priority it has to be done I was asked to do this I will do it with all my might I will do it with all of my might and I know that you're going to follow and together we are going to become a strategic effective Network directly linking our missionaries our mission fields our national leaders our North American churches our leaders our evangelists our pastors everybody by prayer now there has to be some mechanics to it you've got to get in touch with the world network of Prayer if you want to know what to pray for you're gonna have to get in touch with us we're just a clearinghouse
we're not directing anything we're just a clearinghouse that's all some place a central place where people can send requests and where we can pray together for the same things it is impossible for us to write every one of you a letter we don't have the funds we don't have the time we only have one person who's full-time sister Beverly feathers then we have help here in the local office but we only have just a very little bit of help but if you will put forth the effort check it out on internet it's there we had one woman that was witnessed too because of the internet and received the Holy Ghost came to church that weekend and received the Holy Ghost in that wonderful subscribe by email all right our office and say please send us the request once a week once a month it's usually two or three pages and praise reports are in it so I want to tell you that the world network of Prayer is alive and well and doing good somewhere there is also another list that was put together by Lynn L Jones who had worked with me very closely she did all the pretty stuff back in the prayer room and she has a list of where she got those particular things okay I want to make the United Pentecostal church the United praying church I want us to become such a people of Prayer that when we you see UPC we not only thank you United Pentecostal but we think United praying Church and if and when we do become that believe me there will not be any place too hard for us when we unite around prayer the Holy Ghost first fellow leadership and saints in a prayer meeting and did not fall in a committee meeting and it does not fall in a conference it fell in a prayer meeting prayer meeting was the first thing that developed the / the Church of the New Testament we must pray we must pray we know that and then we're trying to help you to know how to pray and the reason we must pray is so that we can fulfill the purpose of the church which is evangelization the back door of the prayer room is the front door to evangelism it is a two pronged effort if you think you're gonna become a monk and go hide away somewhere and pray till the end of the world you're not going to do the will of God you pray so there is power to witness you pray so there is power to witness the church was blown out of their prayer meeting into the streets and the great revival of that first day of Pentecost did not come in the prayer room it became because they were in the prayer room but it happened in the streets prayer and evangelism absolutely go together one without the other is not complete prayer without evangelism is like a detonator with no explosive and evangelism without prayer is like an explosive and no detonator but you've got to have both to put them together and when you do you can blow the gates of Hell off their hinges either there are the Scriptures not truth and God be true and every man a liar if we get prayer in its proper priority and evangelism where it ought to be we can't rule this world and I'm outpouring of the Holy Ghost maybe just sister Mannion said Mannion she's more graceful than I am this way she does it was on the way to a prayer meeting that's a miracle of the lame man-made Street witnessing powerful they were going to a prayer meeting but what happened on the street is what me I'm trying to show you very quickly that you've got to put it together and it was from a place of a shaking prayer meeting where bonus and great power added to their witness and preaching and resulted in multitudes coming in and adequate finances for every need by the keys I'm referring to you again their revival that has come to his church has also loosed finances in way you cannot believe and I believe it was brother keys at our general conference one of our prayer services in the morning that said we are not to the end of our ability we are only to the end of our burden there is enough money in the United Pentecostal church to do anything this church needs to do and if that is not true God's Word is not true because he promised that he would supply what we needed to get the job done we have got to see it and when we increase prayer we will increase giving we will increase vandalism and you cannot do one without the other I just have a very few minutes left and
I think that's why I struggled so I have so much I will tell you you get tired of listening but I would never get tired of telling it to you my text for today and I'm not a preacher but I got a text ax six and one and in those days when the multitude of disciples were multiplied when the number of most of disciples were multiplied and in those days when the number of disciples were multiplied now the text out of that is those days now you say I'm not Mike Williams my font a message brother keys my husband you're gonna hear the greatest man in the world in just a few minutes sister Mangan they're all eloquent my text is those days and that's where we are we are living in those days now let me tell you very quickly I don't have time to even go through my my notes here I'm just going to pull it out of my heart but there are always today words there was a today word for the Israelites the psalmist picked it up the writer of Hebrews picked it up four times he said today today today there is a now word we're living in a today we have our today those days now the reason and I could not get away from this this has eaten me up we have lived to see see I'm an old-timer I don't look like it but I am I have been in this I was born with my mother preaching I was telling sister Mangan in the missionaries my mother preached a five month revival seven nights a week when she was pregnant with me so if you all know what happened to me that's it but I'll tell you what I will be forever grateful she was so sick every day that she Denard li gained any weight taking care of children and washing my father's one pair of pants that he had to wear to church every single day and ironing them and going that pulpit and preach but at the end of that revival there were 96 people that had received the Holy Ghost and they built a church that is still going forward so you see I believe that I am an old-timer whether I look like it or not I am an old-timer I would never have dreamed brother Anthony that I would be a part of a church that had 2,500 people in Sunday school last week I remember the first brick church we ever had but now we are living in those days when the number of disciples has multiplied and the second part of my text and I have about 5 to 6 minutes the second part of my tech book I'm feeling like a preacher acts 6 and 4 X 6 and power but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the Ministry of the word now you see in those days when the number of disciples were multiplied they had to make some executive decisions administrative decisions and the first administrative decision that the New Testament church made was that leadership would give themselves to prayer first and the Ministry of the word now you've heard that text used a lot we will give ourselves to the Ministry to make prayer and the Ministry of the word but we have come to a point where we have got to reappraise our mode of operation we have got to reset our agendas you cannot you're not living in the days when I grew up when we had 25 and 30 and Sunday school and maybe 75 and when you got to a hundred you had a big church we're not living in those days and when what I have felt and felt the Holy Ghost saying in this meeting we're fixing to have an explosion in our churches and we're gonna lose the harvest and we're not ready for it so everybody reach in your pocket right now and get your day-timer if you've got a calendar add a timer a notebook anything you got you reach in your pocket and you put on there for Monday morning hour Saturday or Sunday are probably all of them put at the top of the page act six and one and act six and four and I wish that you would take your notebook your calendar whatever and on every day for the rest of this year would write at the top of every page act 6 + 4 X 6 + 4 x 6 + 4 we will give ourselves now then very quickly because I can't do it like I wanted to I'm just gonna give you my heart now they had to make a two-prong decision a two-prong decision they had to decide what they were going to do and what was the most important thing for them to do as leadership and when they decided they
called the church together they presented the program for the church we can't keep doing what we're doing if we do we're going to hinder the work of the church and pastors and pastors wives if we keep doing what we've always done we're always going to have what we've always had it is time to reappraise our agendas and we're multiplied and we've got to look at it from a new perspective now and they call them together they had trouble in the church there was grumbling murmuring carried on they did not mean talk they're Saints they didn't talk to ugly and heart about Saints cause they were murmuring and Gunmen don't say no I'm doing everything I can I'm stressed out I'm worked out all this stuff no they said come together with us and you help us we are going to be partners in this ministry and they looked out seven men from among them to take over the administrative duties and then they not only had to have administration abilities but they had to be spiritual people and then and this is very important then they appointed and anointed and gave them public recognition now this is not too spiritual but it's right it is right I have seen it work in this church I have seen it work in other places we have got to reappraise our agenda we have got to a point and anoint and set ourselves to doing the priority of directing with prayer now very very quickly let me show you what happened the circle of the church begin to enlarge immediately immediately Steven Steven not only was the first martyr but Steven influence saw Steven also set the agenda for the whole church he introduced the thought for the first time in written form in the New Testament church that God was bigger than any one place in any one people that he was ready to reach the whole world they enlarged the the whole atmosphere was enlarged Philip goes down to Samaria now Peter is mentioned is going and I'm having to just jump through this but if you will check from verse chapter six to chapter 10 there is the prominence of the lady Peter and John went to Samaria because they had to go it was a business trip for leadership and when they got down there and saw the circle of influence that the lay leadership in touch in that city of Jim of Samaria what had happened you know what it changed their agenda because when they left Samaria they went back preaching through the villages of Samaria and they have never done that before now let me show you quickly what happened Philip ends up back up it says areaa and then you know that's where Cornelius lived there's influence come in and Anais flees Jerusalem and ends up in Damascus and that's where Paul goes the circle is increasing and it is increasing because leadership decided to pray it into being and to loose the laity a point and anoint and you're putting clear and evangelism together without one can't do the other adequately you have to have both of them and the world network of Prayer can do that it can help you do that so it ends up that all of these things are happening and what has happened when after they make the decision and I wrap this up after they make this decision that church had changed from Acts chapter 2 now without check that chapter 1 there would have been no chapter 2 but in Acts chapter 2 I checked this in several translations those wonderful scriptures that we love where they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and in fellowship and breaking of bread and in prayers and in gladness of heart singleness of heart and the Lord added to them such as should be saved the scripture really says the original says he added to them those that were being saved you know what they were really doing in acts 2 they were fellowshiping together they were staying together they were teaching it and preaching and and eatin and visiting and just all together just following each other around just in a herd just falling around when they changed their executive decision the addition becomes multiplication they impacted the religious world of their day because there was a great company of priests that believed there also they touched the pot the soul who became the Apostle Paul and the worst persecutor becomes a proponent of the gospel they cracked the military they cracked the government and they cracked business Simon the sorcerer was a business man he was making money they cracked the business world they cracked all of those things they cracked the military yes brother Anthony don't pray with our president the government
needs it yes brother Johnson when that businessman there the church means his resources we have got to put apostolic agenda together and agenda tells me that all of you in the place of leadership needs to rearrange your daily agenda to where prayer is the most prominent thing that you do and you oversee the work of God through the power of prayer and at the same time you lose community and your point and you anoint the whale network of Prayer is an awesome thing please join with us and let's become a part of a mighty force where we will pray such
Scripture references as spoken: Acts 6:1; Acts 6:4; Acts 2.