Jeremiah 29

Jeremiah 29:11-14

11“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.14 I will be found by you”

This week I heard on talk radio how it just doesn’t “feel” like Christmas. In the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, and the conclusion of the vitriolic national and local elections, the looming fiscal cliff, and lack of snow I can certainly relate. Add to that the usual “holiday” stresses of finding the right gift for everyone, dealing with relatives that we may not get along with, even just finding time to decorate and wrap the presents soon it becomes overwhelming. And for those of us with younger children we get the added pleasure of “holiday” parties at school, and making sure there are no nuts in whatever food we send in to the party.

So where does God fit in to all this? Well if you’re not sure God tells you to “call on Him” because “he knows the plans he has for you”, plans of “hope”. If you have lost sight of God in the brightness of the Christmas lights, or wrapped up His hope with your presents, then I tell you stop; pray and seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him. And when you find Him reflect His glory in all that you do, take time love your neighbor, and pray and worship and soon you will feel the Holy Spirit filling your heart again. If you remember why we celebrate Christmas, it will start to feel like Christmas.

Matthew 1:22-23 “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel””

Two days from now we will be opening gifts from loved ones and Christmas will be over, and we will still be enjoying the greatest gift we ever received; Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us. Amen.

Jesus Wept

John 11:35 “Jesus wept.” The shortest verse in the Bible but it says so much, and we turn to Jesus and His example as we weep for the children; both the ones that have passed and the ones who survived this tragedy.

The following is a prayer written by Scotty Smith taken from the Gospel Coalition web page

Dear Lord Jesus, we abandon ourselves to you today—we come running with our tears and our fears, our anger and our anguish, our lament and our longings. We collapse in your presence, with the assurance of your welcome, needing the mercies of your heart.

Some stories are just too much for us to absorb; some evil just too great to conceive; some losses beyond all measurability. We need your tears and your strength today. That you wept outside the tomb of a beloved friend frees us to groan and mourn; that you conquered his death with yours, frees us to hope and wait.

But we turn our thoughts from ourselves to the families who have suffered an unconscionable violation of heart and all sensibilities. Bring your presence to bear, Lord Jesus, by your Spirit and through your people. May your servants weep with those who weep and wail with those who wail. Extend your tear wiping hand—reach into this great tragedy with an even greater grace.

We cry out on behalf of the children of Newtown, those most directly affected by this evil, and for children throughout our country and the world, whose little hearts are reeling with fear and terror. Give parents wisdom and kindness, as they seek to love their children well, this night and in the coming days. Raise up gifted counselors and care givers to serve those most traumatized.

Lastly, Lord Jesus, we cry out with a loud voice, How long, O, Lord? How long before you return to eradicate all evil, redeem all tragedies, and make all things new? How long, O, Lord, how long? Your Bride weeps and waits for you. In your merciful and mighty name we pray.

 

Second Coming

“Life in a prison cell may well be compared to Advent: one waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other – things that are really of no consequence – the door is shut, and can only be opened from the outside.” ~Dietrich Bonheoffer

This quote was written by Dietrich Bonheoffer to his fiancé during Advent in 1944 while in prison for speaking out against Hitler. He was later hanged for his treason. His letters to his fiancé and family were inspiring and always hopeful; you can read some in the book I took this inspiration from called “God in a Manger”. Jesus; helpless babe, and sovereign Lord, in a manger, come to take away the sins of the world and open the prison cell door.

In Luke 4-18 we see Jesus quoting Isaiah 61
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,

for the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted

and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.
 He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,…”
Jesus then proclaims, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”

 Notice where Jesus stops in the scripture, he does not read the rest of Isaiah 61, because he has not come to seek vengeance and to restore Israel fully. Rather this, the first advent, He came to take the vengeance that we, because we are sinners, deserve… so that someday, he could come and destroy evil and suffering completely, without destroying us. Now we are in the Second Advent, waiting the second coming of the Lord, when he will come with vengeance on all evil, and will bring peace on earth. We wait like prisoners until “Kings will come to the brightness of your rising" (Isaiah 60:3).

And just like Isaiah prays in chapter 62 for the returning of His glory we too shall wait upon the Lord and pray.
“Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem,
I cannot remain silent.
I will not stop praying for her
until her righteousness shines like the dawn,
and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.
 The nations will see your righteousness.
World leaders will be blinded by your glory.
And you will be given a new name
by the Lord’s own mouth.”

 When we pray, we should be praying like prisoners waiting for the door to be open, realizing all else is just “this and that- things that are of no consequence” other than waiting upon the return of Lord. Ultimately in the biggest sense of the word, this is all that matters. We pray as if we will live forever; for in Him we shall, and we pray as if we will die tomorrow, ever hopeful ever waiting. We pray all men shall come to know the peace of the Lord, how long O Lord shall we wait?

“He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen” (Rev 22:20, 21)

Small Miracles and Faith

The following is a true story, a true story of faith and small miracles. It’s about a faith that matters and a small miracle that some will say doesn’t matter, but I say is of utmost importance; to me at least, having been the only witness of this particular small miracle. So why bother telling of it? To some reading this story I will seem to be a fool, maybe even deranged, but my hope is that someone will read this and learn to see the small miracles in their life.

 We must start off defining a small miracle, for me it is a thing either in nature or in the supernatural which remind us of the biggest miracle, that God loves us. Small miracles could be as simple as a magnificent sunset, or that we sat up in the morning and put our slippers on, or the smile on a child’s face upon seeing their favorite toy. These things are all around us and we daily seem to take them for granted. There is, sadly, a finite point to how many of these miracles we will see in this lifetime, and we never know which miracle will be the last one we see, so I intend on never wasting one.

 Reason and definition having been explained let us get to the story of the small miracle; remember to keep an open mind, and an open heart.

 I was walking down the sidewalk during a light snow and I see from the corner of my eye a snowflake which has seemed to defy gravity midflight and is now hovering a few feet above the ground. All while other snowflakes continue to fall all round it, why does this one not fall?  As I take a step closer to see it starts to dance, up and down, side to side in a rhythmic pattern like a ballerina on an oversized stage. Soon it is joined by another snowflake and then another, am I dreaming? Am I dead? Is this my gentle but amazing welcome to heaven?

 I stare for another moment or two before realizing I am still quite awake and alive, surely the cold numbness in my nose and toes would not bother me so much in heaven. But I cannot deny that now nearly a dozen snowflakes are dancing just for my eyes, part of me wants an explanation for this glorious exposition, but part of me does not. I resolve to not interrupt their dance, and while I don’t want to leave I have things to do, responsibilities to keep. I praise God for sending those tiny dancers, showing me that around the corner there is always a small miracle waiting. I was there standing for but a few more seconds, the dance was beginning to end and just  as I moved on He showed me the single fine thread of a spiders web from the tree to a stick on the ground on which He had captured the dancers on.

 Shortly after I walked away from my small miracle the snow had stopped. And I thought to myself,” no one else will see that”, “if I tell about it no one will believe me”, and then I thought “I don’t care. It was awesome; in all my life I have never seen such a thing”.

 My short paragraph recalling the event does in no means do it justice, the sequence of events paired with the feeling I had; tied with the week of struggles and joy. It came upon me like wave of reassurance seeing this small miracle; when you see one you’ll know what I mean. It’s like God patting you on the back saying “Yes I’m still here”

 Now I’m sure many of you will say "see that’s no miracle" or "there’s no God in that" but I say when was the last time you saw a dozen snowflakes dancing in unison in the wind...no matter the method.

Affliction and Prayer

I stumbled across a tweet from @Christianaudio that commended a website called theversesproject.com. This is a website, a blog of sorts, that takes verses from the Bible, gives a commentary on it and a downloadable song using only the words from the verse cited. The recent post from the blog that I think stood out for me was this one:

2 Corinthians 4:17-18^“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

The commentary on these two verses they gave was this:

 “Affliction is something all humans deal with. Rich or poor, young or old, regardless of ethnicity or nationality, we all suffer. While many people think their belief in God should function as a "get out of jail free card" from any form of opposition or difficulty, these verses actually teach us that Christians are to look at suffering through a different lens. We must learn to see that behind the affliction is a surprising truth: that God is using that very affliction to prepare you for eternity ("an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison").

This verse isn't intended minimize the pain or suffering we may feel, but it is rather a call to see our pain in light of greater or "truer truths". As Francis Schaeffer said, there are major & minor themes in the story of life. While suffering (the things that are seen) is a true theme, in the grand scope it is a minor theme simply because one day suffering, pain, & death shall forever be banished upon Christ's return and restoration of the new heavens & new earth (the things that are unseen). This return is what Schaeffer would call a major theme, one that eventually trumps the minor themes.

So, friends, if you look out with your eyes of flesh and see only heartache and pain, look again with eyes of faith. While your eyes of flesh falter at the sight you see, your eyes of faith see a beautiful story unfolding that you would not believe even if you were told!”

Now we also see that in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians we see that we “Christian’s (are) God’s ambassador(s), with a spiritual and glorious ministry, finding in Christ consolation in all his sufferings and sufficiency for every testing.”(a)

And specifically in Chapter 4 it shows that “A steadfast adherence to the truths of the Gospel, backed by constancy and sincerity, will commend the servant of God to the opinion of wise men. They should not be of proud spirit, but realize that they themselves are but vessels of little worth and in their perplexities for Christ’s sake let them know that God is able to support them and in Him they should ever trust and hope”(a)

Further in the two verses prior to 17 and 18 we see that 15“For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

How do we apply this to our prayer life? Oftentimes I think we find that our most sincere and desperate prayers are in times of need and suffering, ours and our loved ones. Our hearts weigh heaviest when they are full of the burden of pain. So while these verses graciously given to us by God may not fully relieve that pain, it may give us understanding and hope. And we are, if nothing else, hopeful beings, especially in Christ.

Therefor whether it is an undesired result from an important election, or really bad weather, or may God forbid the loss of a loved one, we need to not lose heart because of God’s ultimate plan of Grace. We must not lose sight of it; if you think that you are, pray. Ask your Father to guide you, ask him for vision, but remember the ‘the things unseen are eternal” Something’s only God knows and is meant to know.

(a) From Summarized Bible:Complete Summary of The New Testament by Keith Brooks

 

 

Gospel-Shaped Prayer

Gospel-Shaped Prayer

Along with about 1300 other people the weekend before last Pastor and I went to listen, learn and worship at the Gospel Coalition in Boston. Some of the great Pastors of our time were there including D.A. Carson, Tim Keller, and of course John Piper. It was a great time of fellowship and learning, to be live in a room hearing these men speak,  versus listening to pre-recorded sermons was at times goose pimple inducing. But it was not for the fame of these men, or the crowd of believers, or the excitement of a multitude of literature waiting at the bookstore that one got goose pimples. It was the message! The unified, Gospel centered message of Jesus that oozed out of every lesson and sermon and of course the music that was the cause of excitement.

While each speaker had their own style of speaking, Keller the calm dignified elder, Piper the impassioned intellectual, and Carson the colorful wise sage; their lectures all had the Gospel in common. Gospel, Gospel, Gospel. What is it?

As Keller said “The Gospel is news not advice”, Piper expanded on that somewhat talking about a Gospel centered mind and while I don’t have an hour to recite the entire quote properly so let me say “we need a right mind of God to stoke the white hot coals in our heart for God” and I will, God willing, never forget Carson’s advice to “gossip the Gospel”. So what is the Gospel? Can I successfully and justifiably and completely explain it in the time we have? I will give it a shot.

The Gospel is that “Jesus died for our sins so that when we accept Him in faith as our personal Lord and Savior we may be saved” and while true and awesome I think we sometimes take it for granted and fail to see the actual horrible awesomeness of Jesus’ Death. It was not just the death of Jesus that saved us, it was that through His death that He was forsaken by the Father, and it was through propitiation that He took on the sins of the whole world when He died.

On being forsaken by the Father, Jesus cried out on the cross “Eloi, Eloi lama sabecthani” “My God, My God why have you forsaken me” The triune God has, as far as I know, been living in Holy union, a perfect Trinity of love for all eternity and for the first time the Father has turned his back on His Son on the cross. It is a sense of rejection that I’m sure no human being can fully comprehend, but try thinking of the greatest love in your life telling you they no longer love you and multiply it times infinity.

On propitiation for our sin, well where do I start? 1 John 2:2 ESV “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” From ESV Study Bible we find “Propitiation literally means to make favorable and specifically includes the idea of dealing with God’s wrath against sinners.” So Jesus died on the cross and dealt with God’s wrath that should have been meted out onto all the sinners of the whole world for all time, by which we now look favorable to God. Wow can I repeat that?

As Joe Biden would say …”that’s a big …deal”

Now think of the time you sinned against someone you loved, and the Holy Spirit convicted you, your heart hurt, your bones ached, maybe to the point of feeling physically ill. Now imagine the ungodly things some criminals do, it’s too early in the morning to list them, but Jesus took on those sins too, and dealt with God’s wrath for them. Did you know that “Son of Sam” is now a professed Christian and has a prison ministry, and no longer seeks parole? Jesus did that! God did that!

Without the Gospel there is no “Good News” so give thanks for the Gospel when you pray, always!

Prayer and Missions

We have the pleasure this week of Pastor Mike Gantt coming to share with us in worship, as well discussing his work in missionary projects, most recently as an advocate for the Immanuel Christian School for the Deaf. I am excited to hear what he has to say to us today.  Ever since Ben’s trip to Zimbabwe I have been thinking about missions and today’s visit has piqued my interest even more.

So let us look at what the Bible has to say about missionaries and the work Jesus calls us to do, we see for instance in Luke 9 where Jesus sends out the Twelve, verses 2 and 6 “and he sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick” “So they set out from village to village, preaching the Gospel and healing people everywhere.” Later in Luke 10 Jesus sends out the 72 who we see in verse 17 when “the 72 returned with joy and said “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name” This filled Jesus with joy through the Holy Spirit and he prays to the Father in verse23 “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure” In short He is telling us go out, preach the Gospel, heal the sick, it is for His good pleasure!

While studying and doing research on missions and how it relates to prayer I recently picked up a book I left off reading a few months ago. I opened the bookmark I had left in E.M. Bounds “On Prayer” to chapter 13 titled “Prayer and Missions”.  While we don’t have time to read the whole chapter, I would like to read a paragraph that really impacted me. Please keep in mind this was written well prior to 1900, and while some of the language may not be “P.C.” the ideas I think still stand.

“It is praying missionaries who are needed for the work, and it is a praying church who sends them out, (and it is these) which are prophecies of the success which is promised. The sort of religion to be exported by missionaries is of the praying sort. The religion to which the heathen world is to be converted is a religion of prayer, and a religion of prayer to the true God. The heathen world already prays to its idols and false gods. But they are to be taught by praying missionaries, sent out by a praying church, to cast away their idols and to begin to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. No prayerless church can transport to heathen lands a praying religion. No prayerless missionary can bring heathen idolaters who know not our God to their knees, to true prayer, until he becomes preeminently a man of prayer. As it takes praying men a home to do God’s work, none the less does it take praying missionaries to bring those who sit in darkness to the light.”

We as a church need to be praying for missionaries, pray that we send out missionaries who pray, and ultimately pray that those who are impacted by the missionaries sent out by God will hear and accept the Word by faith and pray, by the Holy Spirit, in Jesus name to God.

Let me close up with Paul’s request to the Thessalonians for prayer in 2 Thessalonians 3 1:5 “Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray the we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”

Pray for everyone

Today I will attempt to show that God expects us to pray for all people. We should pray not only for ourselves, our families, our congregation, fellow believers, but for all men; kings and enemies alike.

In 1 Timothy 2:1 -4 it says “¹First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,² for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. ³ This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”

Paul was writing this to Timothy to the church at Ephesus to help combat the false teaching that had arisen there. It is speculated Paul wrote this letter just after his release from Roman imprisonment (Acts 28:16-31) possibly from Macedonia. We see the advice in 1 Timothy 2:1 as an echo of Acts 10:45 “And those believers from the circumcision who had accompanied Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles,”.

 In verse 2 “for kings and all in high positions” would have, at the time, included Roman emperors who would have been violently persecuting Christians. This brings to mind Matthew 5:43-45 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ^{45 k}so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Also in 1 Tim 2:2 is an echo of Ezra 6:10 “…they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons” Further in 1 Tim 2:2“that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” To pray that we may live free from persecution of the government and be able to openly demonstrate our faith. In America today we take this for granted, not so in most of the world, and certainly not at the time this was written.

Finally 1 Tim 2:4, which is for me the most important verse, “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” It is probably the most difficult to discern. For it comes down to election, a doctrine which I find ill prepared to address here. Suffice it to say that while “knowledge of truth” refers to the hearing and understanding of the Gospel message, it does not replace faith as a response to the gospel message.

The Gospel message shocks us and challenges us to pray for ALL people, to forgive ALL people. I recently read in Tim Kellers book “The Reason for God” that “forgiveness is the beginning of the end of evil” Forgiveness needs to start somewhere, and it started with Jesus on the cross dying for our sins. Will you pray for forgiveness of your sins? And will you forgive those who sin against you? Jesus tells us to pray about it. So let us pray as He taught us….Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen, and Amen.

Fasting and Prayer

These past few weeks have been physically rough for our church body, with so many people getting sick or with declining health, or having procedures done it’s been overwhelming. The prayer list for healing grows almost on a daily basis.

For this reason I have been looking for more effective ways to pray and ways of petitioning the Lord, and one thing has come forward time and again, fasting.

Trying to compact what the Bible has to say about fasting into a short and useful lesson is not easy, and I hope to break it down specifically for the purpose of healing up our Congregation. I believe the Lord hears our prayers, and further I believe that by fasting our prayers will become that much more intense, focused, urgent, respectful, humble and yes effective.

 It has intrigued me that depriving oneself of food would cause our Lord and Savior to sit up and take notice, as if He would say “well they must be serious now, they passed up lunch and dinner. I guess I should get on that.” However I find it to be less and less like that as I search into fasting. One thing I have found is that if you fast it will cause you to concentrate on the reason for the fast and in fact the reason for the prayer. You will remember with every hunger pang, or every time you miss the “thing” from which you are fasting why it is you are fasting.  (If for medical reasons you should not fast from food, give up something else that you enjoy, like watching your favorite show or something similar)

So what is fasting? Fasting is first and foremost to be a private matter as we see in Isaiah 58:4 ^4” Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.” And again in Matthew 6:16 “And ^twhen you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. ^uTruly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, ^vanoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. ^wAnd your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Next we see fasting as an act of humbling oneself before the Lord, especially in times of mourning. Daniel 9:3 ^“Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.” However in Acts 13:2-3 we see it as part of worship, ^2” While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ^r“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.” Also in times of danger such as in 2 Chronicles 20:3-4 “Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.”

As a side note I can’t help but wonder that when you have a family member who is suddenly taken ill or in the hospital, typically the last thing one thinks about is food. I can’t help but think that is the Holy Spirit sustaining us and guiding us to prayer and worship. So I humbly ask that you consider, if you do not already, pick a day to fast and pray for your brothers and sisters who need physical healing. I ask that you do it wisely, and pray about it.  Now as we all know; it is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. ”

Prayer in the Power of the Holy Spirit

One aspect of the triune God I think I have neglected to show the importance of in prayer is the Holy Spirit. This morning I will attempt to show our utter dependence on the Holy Spirit in prayer and in life. Without the Holy Spirit we are not righteous, not good Christians, and dare I say not Christians at all. However with the Holy Spirit in us we can do bold things, do right things in a winsome and righteous way. For example:

In Acts 3 we see where Peter and John are going to pray and are stopped by a lame beggar, and in the name of Jesus they heal him. This amazed the others going to pray who had seen this beggar for years, probably sitting in the same spot. People quickly gathered to see this miracle, and Peter immediately began to preach the Gospel to them. This drew the attention of the Sadducees, who were none too happy (to the point of jealousy), and they had Peter and John arrested.

The next day when the High Priest’s inquired by what “power” they had healed the beggar, Peter answered them boldly. Now mind you this is same Peter who had denied Jesus three times, who could not even stand up to the little servant girl who had pointed him out as being with Jesus. (Luke 22:56) And it gives witness to the power of the Holy Spirit that can change a person when Peter says to the High Priests(Acts 4:8): (And if I may take some artistic license and read this as I think Peter may have said it), “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed,  let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

And notice the reference to Psalm 118 that the Sadducees and High Priests would have no doubt picked up on.

^“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.  This is the day that the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.

²⁷ The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us.”

The Sadducees are basically dumbfounded at the miracle and the boldness of Peter and not knowing what to do, they tell Peter and John to not speak in the name of Jesus anymore, to which Peter and John respond that they have no choice but to do so. So the Sadducees again warn them to knock it off or else and then let them go.

As soon as they return to their friends they pray and give thanks, and again quote a Psalm 2:1-2 of David, “said by the Holy Spirit” Acts 4:25

“‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— “

The chapter concludes with Acts 4:31

“And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

As noted in “The Complete Summary of the New Testament” by Keith Brooks the summary conclusion to Acts Chapter 4

“The more resolute are Christ’s servants to witness of Him, the more spiteful will be the agents of Satan—therefore, let Satan’s agents be ever so spiteful, Christ’s witnesses must be resolute, for the Holy Spirit may be counted upon to enable them to do their part. Persecution gives wings to the truth.”

In terms of prayer I think this gives witness that we must call upon the Holy Spirit to give us the boldness to proclaim His name, especially in the times of persecution, because we are not strong enough. But if we rely upon the Holy Spirit to guide our actions, our words, and our prayers we can be sure that while persecution will come, we can be faithful witnesses to Him.

So this morning we pray, come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and our minds, that we will be faithful witnesses in our deeds, words, and thoughts in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Lord Help my Unbelief

Mark 9:24 “Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief."”

Do you ever pray about your unbelief? Surely you say “I am a Christian, I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I believe!” It is an act of faith no doubt. Yes we know our doctrine fairly well, we attend church regularly, and we pray. We feel the Holy Spirit come into our hearts as our love for Him grows. Surely We Believe! We have so many other things to pray about, do I need to pray about my unbelief?

I am currently on my third reading of the Bible this year, well ever actually. I don’t say this to impress anyone.  If I had read it and understood, fully and wholly understood it the first time, it would be foolish to read again; but I did. I will continue reading it until I can understand it fully; and so I imagine I will read it for the rest of my life, God willing.  

As we see in John 13:31 -38 Peter wants to follow Jesus, even unto death. “I will lay down my life for you.” He says. But Jesus knows how Peter will deny him 3 times.

This is a man who has seen the miracles first hand, experienced the teachings of Jesus first hand, and yet he is still capable of denying Christ. Yes we all know after the resurrection Peter went on to be a great witness for Christ even until death, and I pray that if I can be half the man Peter was I shall be blessed.

I also think of Pastor Youcef in Iran, imprisoned today for his refusal to deny Christ, imminent death hanging over his head, his wife and children await his release, which could be granted with that denial. Yet he says that “he cannot” deny Christ. There are many others as well imprisoned to this day for Christ.

Could you do the same? I pray that I could, I pray that I would not find excuses to deny Him. “It’s only a little lie I will tell, but God knows I love him.” “Surely God does not want me to die, my children need me, He will understand. “ “Surely God has more for me to do, I will deny Him now, but I don’t mean it”

So I pray Lord help my unbelief! Lord help me to learn your Word wholly and completely! Lord help me to be faithful to you! Lord help me to realize I am but a sinner that without your Grace I am lost!

I also pray for others who claim to be Christians or religious and will go to support Chick-fil-A, “because they hate fags”, and “god hates fags”. The problem with these people is not their religion, but their ignorance of it, or unbelief. I pray I and they will not judge someone just because they sin differently than I and they do, Lord I pray to remove the plank from my eye.

Pray with me that through the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus that we will glorify God in all that we do and be faithful to his name even unto the death. Amen!

Chick-fil-A and the "Nevers" of the Gospel

With all the Chick-fil-A talk and many other things going on lately, I have been feeling a little self-righteous lately. Aggravated that others cannot see “the Truth” I pray that I will overcome and give over my stiff neck to Jesus. So let me read from The Valley of Vision about the “Nevers” of the Gospel.

O Lord,

May I never fail to come to the knowledge of the truth, never rest in a system of doctrine, however scriptural, that does not bring or further salvation, or teach me to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, or help me to live to soberly, righteously, godly; never rely on my own convictions and resolutions, but be strong in thee and in thy might; never cease to find thy grace sufficient in all my duties, trials, and conflicts; never forget to repair to thee in all my spiritual distresses and outward troubles, in all the dissatisfactions experienced in creature comforts; never fail to retreat to him who is full of grace and truth, the friend that loveth at all times, who is touched with feeling of my infirmities, and can do exceeding abundantly for me; never confine my religion to extraordinary occasions, but acknowledge thee in all my ways; never limit my devotions to particular seasons but be in thy fear all the day long; never be godly only on the Sabbath or in thy house, but on every day abroad and at home; never make piety a dress but a habit, not only a habit but a nature, not only a nature but a life.

Do good to me by all thy dispensations, by all means of grace, by worship, prayers, praises, and at last let me enter that world where is no temple, but only thy glory and the Lamb’s.

Acts 4: 19-20 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to Him? You be the judges.  As for us we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard”

Acts 4:31 after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

And so let us pray to God, by the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus, that we will proclaim His name boldly, Amen

Fullness of Joy in Prayer

“Prayer is God's appointed way to fullness of joy because it is the vent of the inward burnings of our heart for Christ” - John Piper

It’s a great definition of prayer! Now I would like to ask, when do you pray, in the morning or at night? When you are sad, happy, desperate, lonely, or thankful? Perhaps you pray before a big meeting or before a big life event?

These are all great times to pray, it’s hard to think of a time when it not a good time to pray. We are all so flawed, but He is perfect, and I think it is natural to ask for help from the One who can, the only one who can, ultimately help.

Anyone who says that they don’t need help is lying, as John Donne said “No man is an Island” and as we read in John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

We all need help, but how do we ask for help from God? We pray. This is why I think in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 it says “never stop praying”…..we always need help

To paraphrase the John Piper quote on prayer; if your heart burns for Christ, you are happiest when in prayer, for it brings out your deepest desires.

·      When sad we can be happy when you turn your cares over to Him, through prayer

·      Joyful when desperation turns to hope in Him, through prayer

·      When loneliness turns to acceptance into His family, through prayer.

·      When thankfulness turns into glorifying God for all that he has done, and you recognize all He has done in your life for His glory

So pray with me this morning that we will never cease in praying, under all circumstances, for any reason, and that we will glorify God by the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

John 17

Not to bring anyone down this morning but I must ask this question; what would you pray for if you knew you were dying? Make no mistake about it; just as you are living you are dying. Knowing this truth do you have the consolation of knowing Jesus and that with Him you will live forever? Are you living your life getting to know and in preparation of meeting God? These are some questions I ask myself when I get ready to pray, if I knew I was going to die tomorrow, what would I pray for.

In the Gospel of John verse 17:1- 26…the longest prayer by Jesus is, in large part and graciously, about us. Jesus is speaking to the Father about the followers of the Word, His followers, you and I. Awesome! I would read the whole chapter, but I will leave that to you, but I just have to read my favorite verse John 17:9 Jesus says, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, for they are yours.”

If that doesn’t give you a chill up your spine, or a leap in your heart, I’m not sure what will.

Like when we sing the song “the wonderful cross”

Oh, the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die
And find that I may truly live

Die in your old ways, come live in Jesus, and ask to be sanctified by the Word as Jesus has prayed for you! Pray to God by the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus that we are dying of this world to truly live in His name. Amen!

Meditating on the Truth

So far in our prayer group we have discussed many things about prayer. Today I would like to change the subject somewhat and talk about something I never associated the God; meditation.  Meditation about God and prayer and instead of trying to paraphrase or recreate my views on what I have learned about meditation I am going to just read from “Knowing God” by J.I Packer.  Certainly I could not say it any better and I hope it leaves the same impact on you as it did on me.

Before I read it for you I want to share what I was meditating on the day, WWJD. A common inspirational question we ask ourselves from time to time in certain situations, and I think while it can be a helpful tool in our lives it can be dangerous if not immediately followed by WDJD. What did Jesus do, if we ask WWJD without asking what Jesus did do we are substituting our thoughts for His actions, not good. So when you meditate on God and His word I strongly suggest you have a Bible handy.

Meditating on the Truth

How are we to do this? How can we turn our knowledge about God into knowledge of God? The rule for doing this is simple but demanding. It is that we turn each truth that we learn about God into matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God.

We have some idea, perhaps, what prayer is, but what is meditation?  Well may we ask for meditation is a lost art today, and Christian people suffer grievously from their ignorance of the practice.

Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God as a means of communion with God.

Its purpose is to clear one’s mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let His truth make its full and proper impact on one’s mind and heart. It is a matter of talking to oneself about God and oneself; it is, indeed, often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God’s power and grace.

Its effect is ever to humble us, as we contemplate God’s greatness and glory and our own littleness and sinfulness, and to encourage and reassure us-“comfort” us, in the old, strong, Bible sense of the word- as we contemplate the unsearchable riches of divine mercy displayed in the Lord Jesus Christ. ……

And it is as we enter more and more deeply into this experience of being humbled and exalted that our knowledge of God increases, and with it our peace, our strength and our joy. God help us, then, to put our knowledge about God to this use, that we all may in truth “know the Lord”.

Acts 1:14 Group Prayer

Acts 1:14 “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.”

The Book of Acts, the second book written by Luke, a physician, for Theophilus as an accounting of the Acts of the Apostles. And of course one of the first things the Apostles do is decide to find a replacement for Judas. Jesus has told them the Holy Spirit will be with them and they have seen Jesus ascend into heaven.

The Apostles had seen Jesus go and pray on numerous occasions, one of the last things they saw Jesus do was to go into the Garden of Gethsemane and pray; just before the most important moment in the life of Jesus on earth, the most important moment ever! Jesus went to talk to his Father about it, and he prayed. Now as we see in this verses 13 and 14 the first thing the Apostles do after the Ascension is to return to Jerusalem they then;

·       “went to the upper room where they were staying”  And are gathered together to pray, not in a church or out in the open but in an upper room, probably a small crowed room

·       “All of one accord” they were unified

·       “devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and his brothers” it was not just the Apostles who prayed but the whole community

It would appear from the rest of the chapter that many days and perhaps weeks were spent in prayer deciding who would replace Judas.

What can we take from this? I pray this is an example of why we are here today, gathering and praying as a community, unified and supporting one another in prayer.  And yes every week often praying for the same things. And thanking God through the Holy Spirit for the examples Jesus gave to us to follow.

Self-Noughting/Fifty Cent

Taken from "The Valley of Vision" The Banner of Truth Trust:

Self-Noughting

O Lord,

Help me to approach thee with becoming conception of thy nature, relations and designs.

Thou inhabitest eternity, and my life is nothing before thee;

Thou dwellest in the highest heaven and this cannot contain thee; I live in a house of clay.

Thy power is almighty; I am crushed before the moth.

Thy understanding is infinite; I know nothing as I ought to know.

Thou canst not behold evil; I am vile.

In my ignorance, weakness, fears, depressions, may thy Spirit help my infirmities with supplies of wisdom, strength and comfort.

Let me faithfully study my character, be willing to bring it to light, observe myself in my trials, judge the reality and degree of my grace, consider how I have ensnared or overcome.

Grant that I may never trust my heart, depend upon any past experiences, magnify any present resolutions, but be strong in Jesus: that I may know how to obtain relief from a guilty conscience without feeling reconciled to my imperfections.

Sustain me under my trials and improve them to me; give me grace to rest in thee, and assure me of deliverance.

May I always combine thy majesty with thy mercy, and connect thy goodness with thy greatness.

Then shall my heart always rejoice in praises to thee.

Rapper Fifty Cent recently said on the Oprah network "You should either pray or worry -- don't do both," said the former street kid. "If you pray and then worry," he explained, "How do you think that makes God feel?" (Yahoo News http://news.yahoo.com/50-cent-oprah-either-pray-worry-202800884.html)

You do after all have a jealous God you are praying to. “What’s that got to do with worrying?” you may ask. Fifty Cent is right, either pray and know it is in God’s hands or risk making God feel jealous. Jealous in so much that you pray and trust him with your worries and fears and then decide he may not be capable of handling it. But of course you need to keep worrying because you know it may not turn out well. And you are right it may not turn out well, it might be the worst thing ever.

In Luke 22:44 “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground” Jesus prayed about his worry, to the point of sweating blood! However after praying to the Father Jesus accepted his Fathers will. And further as we explored last week Jesus went on to defend it (Mat 26:51-54) As well as in John 18:10 -11 when Simon Peter tried to protect Jesus from the soldiers and chief priests by attacking and cutting off Malchus’s ear Jesus again now defends his inevitable fate. He says to Simon Peter “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

How does Jesus go from sweating drops of blood because of His worry to accepting and defending his fate? He prays and does not worry. He does not do both. He knows how it would make the Father feel. You too can and should pray and leave your worry behind. We have an awesome God.

Today let’s pray knowing His knowledge is infinite while ours is limited.  And then shall our hearts always rejoice in praises to Him.

Psalm 25

Psalm 25 TEACH ME YOUR PATHS

Of David

In you, Lord my God,
I put my trust.

² I trust in you;
do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
³ No one who hopes in you
will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
who are treacherous without cause.

⁴ Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
⁵ Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
⁶ Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old

In our first meeting we talked about what prayer, and group prayer is and is not. Last week we talked about how Jesus taught us to pray by example of the Lord’s Prayer. This week I would like to talk about prayer in the Old Testament. After all people were praying to God before Jesus came to teach us about prayer.

 A wonderful example of Old Testament prayer is the Psalms. The Psalms are one of the most significant parts of the Old Testament. The Psalms is the poetry of the Bible, songs of praise and prayer.  Written from the time of Moses until about 500BC, most Psalms were written by David.

 Some of the biggest themes of the Psalms are trusting in God and deliverance from ones enemies and knowledge; knowledge of God and His ways.

  Sometimes I think we forget to pray for knowledge of His ways and for His will. It is easy to ask Him to give us what we want, but much harder, I think, to ask him to give us what He wants.  Which if we have trust in God this is what we should always want anyway. 

Don’t be afraid to pray for what you want but even more so don’t be afraid to pray for and accept God’s will,  even in the face of the inevitable.  Like Jesus in Gethsemane (Mat 26:39) “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” “Obviously Jesus knows the Scripture, He knows what will happen to him.  He prays anyway, just as we should always pray even if we think we know the inevitable.  Pray for intervention, pray for comfort but again pray for God’s will and trust in Him.

Jesus goes on to not only accept his Fathers will but defend it (Mat 26:51-54) Jesus knows the most horrible thing is about to be put upon him, to be forsaken by his father and to take all the sins of the world(past, present and future) and He accepts and defends the will of the Father. On this day isn’t it great to know the awesome father we all have in our Lord! And this is why we say Amen! And this is why we pray!

Invitation to Prayer Group

2 Corinthians 1:11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

As I was walking my postal route one day listening to the Bible through my headphones my thoughts turned to prayer, specifically group prayer. I thought about how some of my prayers had come to pass, and how awesome it felt when they came true. That make me think of the time Madeline had testified about her knee and how God had given her strength, and the time Eric told us how our prayers had helped heal his nephew who is now cancer free. Amen! How awesome is it to know He is personally touching and guiding our lives.

I began to wonder if there was more we could do as a church family to pray and learn about prayer, and to share. I thought it would be awesome to have a separate time set aside like Bible study to come together just for this.

While still on my route I called Pastor and told him my thoughts, I was excited. He seemed interested, and I suggested maybe one of the deacons could lead it, he immediately suggested that I do it. I think he it was on my heart, I was excited about it, and maybe I should consider leading it. We prayed about it, and I continue to pray about it.

Yikes! It had only been a few weeks since I had said my first "Grace" at dinner. However I am really excited about this and I could feel God leading me forward. I've been reading .....a lot. And I have been praying ....a lot.

One of my most recent prayers is that most, or all, of you will come and see, and that we will begin a time where we meet as a church family, and pray. This will, at least, be time spent with your church family and at most a powerful prayer experience lifting up God's will.

We are starting next week, at 9:45 and going till 10:15. When we move to summer hours, we will move to 8:45 and run till 9:15. Come, takepart, and join with your brothers and sisters in prayer. Bring your concerns, bring your prayers and remember…Matthew 18:20 ^“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”