Acts 12:1-18
A question came up about why we pray as a group when so many pray the same thing. This question changed the order I had on the sermons on prayer. I had planned on preaching on the different names of God and praise today, but if we are going to, as a group, get serious about prayer, as a group, we need to understand why it is important to God.
While corporate prayer isn’t as important in America as it used to be, that’s not the case in countries where the Gospel is growing. Many churches and missions in Africa and Korea have regular, if not daily, prayer meetings. There is a church in Korea that has daily early-morning prayer. Between the 4 am, 5 am, and 6 am services, twelve thousand people show us every morning to pray.
In countries where the citizens have to work for their beliefs, Christianity is growing. The US State department estimates that in Vietnam, Christianity grew by 600% between 1990 and 2008. In 1900, there were 8.7 million Christians; now there are 390 million and it is expected that by 2025, there will be 600 million. In China, Christianity is the fastest growing religion with an average annual rate of seven percent. The number of Christians in Iran grows by 5.2 percent annually. In 1989, there were four Christians in Mongolia….by 2008, there were 40,000. In some of these countries it’s not safe to proclaim Christ, some countries Christians are killed for their beliefs, yet they find a way to meet, pray, and learn about Christ.