As we begin the year 2009 A.D., I think it is appropriate to spend some time looking back over the past year and looking ahead to the year to come. I think it is valuable to do this as individuals, as a body of believers, and even as a nation. I will focus on the first two of these today.
About 10 of us just came back from the Faithwalkers conference in North Carolina. There were about 800 people at our location; in a parallel conference in Missouri, there were about 2300 in attendance. The conference was filled with worship, fellowship, and challenging teachings. The theme of the conference was “Total Commitment,” and teachings focused on commitment in the areas of living in the grace of God, honoring Christ as Lord of your life, being devoted to God’s Word, dying to self, living a life of purity, resolving conflicts, carrying out the Great Commission, serving a local church, and fighting the good fight for the rest of your life.
In a little bit we will have a sharing time, and hopefully hear from some of the other Faithwalkers attendees, as well as from all of you regarding what the Lord has taught you in the past year and what you are thinking about for the year ahead. But first, I wanted to share something from one of the teachings that I think is quite appropriate for this week.
John Hopler taught about serving a local church, and used as his text the book of I Timothy. A key verse to the book is I Timothy 3:15, which states:
Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. – I Tim. 3:14-15
Based on I Timothy, John Hopler shared 10 qualities that should be present in every local church.
1. Jesus is Lord.
2. Part of a network of churches.
3. Sound Bible teaching.
4. Devoted to prayer.
5. Reaching unsaved people for Christ.
6. Strong emphasis on family.
7. Godly leaders developed.
8. A culture of serving.
9. Honor given to the poor and elders.
10. Healthy attitude towards money.
During the service today we will hand out our ends document. We do this each year – it is a statement of goals for the church. I was struck by how similar this list is to our list of goals. This is a good thing; a good sign that we are on the right track.
After John shared the 10 qualities of a good local church, he asked everyone to think about which areas, if any, he felt there was relative weakness. He then asked people to pray and think about how they could contribute to strengthening the areas of weakness.
As I look at this list of 10 things, I am encouraged that none of them made me feel as if they were entirely neglected. And I am talking here about how I perceive we are, as opposed to what we teach on. Do we teach on family? Maybe not specifically, recently. But clearly we value our families.
If there was one area I wondered a little more about, it was #4, prayer. I think almost every church in America could grow in prayer. The hectic nonstop pace of our culture is directly at odds with spending extended, frequent time in prayer.
For me, I know that part of the problem is knowing what to pray for, and how to pray. Now we have had several messages that dealt with prayer this year, including one that focused on Jesus’ prayer that He gave when the disciples asked Him how to pray. Rather than look at this passage again, I thought it would be good to look at how the Apostle Paul prayed. His letters are filled with examples of prayer. A number of years ago I looked at all the verses where Paul prayed, and was struck with how different his prayers were from mine. We don’t have time to look at all of his prayers, but I thought we could look at 8 of them. I would encourage you to write down this list of 8 topics of prayer, because you may find that by looking at them when you pray that you have far more to talk to God about. For each of these topics, I would encourage you to pray them for yourselves as well as for others. I would suggest you pray them specifically for specific people. So here are the 8 topics of prayer:
1. Pray that we would have a deeper personal relationship with Christ:
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. – Eph. 1:15-17
If you are a believer, if you have trusted Christ for your salvation, you are “saved.” Saved from what? Saved for what? Do you really understand what your future looks like? And what about right now? Being saved is not just about the future. The Holy Spirit lives in us now. We have direct access to God in prayer now. We have incredible spiritual gifts now. Not knowing about these things is like a king’s son living as a pauper because he doesn’t know he is the king’s son.
2. Pray that we would better understand our position in Christ:
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. – Eph. 1:18-19
How important is it that we really understand the love Christ has for us? It is essential. If our understanding is shaky, it will be hard to trust God when things become difficult. It will be difficult to die to self, because we don’t really trust Him in the throne of our life. The more we understand His love for us, the more we will love Him and obey Him and trust Him.
3. Pray that we would be strengthened with power to grasp the love of Christ:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. – Eph. 3:16-19
We know we cannot resist sin in our own strength. But if we do not pray about areas of temptation and sin, then that is exactly what we are doing.
4. Pray that we would grow in holiness for Christ:
Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection. – II Cor. 13:7-9
Sometimes knowing the right thing to do is difficult. There really are gray areas. What do you about it? How do you know the “way of love” in every situation?
5. Pray that we would grow in love and make good decisions in Christ:
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. – Phil. 1:9-11
As we try to serve one another, as we try to reach the lost, as we try to raise our families and do all the other responsibilities we have in our lives, do we desire to be effective, to have a positive, powerful impact? Of course! But how often do we pray that this would happen?
6. Pray that we would become better servants for Christ:
I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed. – Romans 15:30-32
How many problems or difficult situations fall into your lap every week? Every day? Do you tackle these things on your own and pray when you get in real trouble, or do you pray first?
7. Pray that we would bring every issue and situation before Christ:
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. – Eph. 6:18
And remember that we remain in this world primarily because we are called to participate in the Great Commission, sharing the gospel and helping each other grow to become mature disciples of Christ.
8. Pray that we would fearlessly share the gospel of Christ:
Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. – Eph. 6:19-20
Finally, I would encourage you to remember that prayer is much more than just intercession. Thanksgiving and worship should also accompany our prayers.
My hope and prayer is that this list would give you new excitement and hope and energy in prayer. We need prayer. We live in a world opposed to God. We are surrounded by forces in the spiritual realm opposed to us. We are at war with our own flesh. We need prayer.
As we move into our sharing time, I would like to do something different. Let us start with prayer, rather than simply end with it. After a time of prayer, I encourage you to share whatever the Lord has put on your heart.
About 10 of us just came back from the Faithwalkers conference in North Carolina. There were about 800 people at our location; in a parallel conference in Missouri, there were about 2300 in attendance. The conference was filled with worship, fellowship, and challenging teachings. The theme of the conference was “Total Commitment,” and teachings focused on commitment in the areas of living in the grace of God, honoring Christ as Lord of your life, being devoted to God’s Word, dying to self, living a life of purity, resolving conflicts, carrying out the Great Commission, serving a local church, and fighting the good fight for the rest of your life.
In a little bit we will have a sharing time, and hopefully hear from some of the other Faithwalkers attendees, as well as from all of you regarding what the Lord has taught you in the past year and what you are thinking about for the year ahead. But first, I wanted to share something from one of the teachings that I think is quite appropriate for this week.
John Hopler taught about serving a local church, and used as his text the book of I Timothy. A key verse to the book is I Timothy 3:15, which states:
Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. – I Tim. 3:14-15
Based on I Timothy, John Hopler shared 10 qualities that should be present in every local church.
1. Jesus is Lord.
2. Part of a network of churches.
3. Sound Bible teaching.
4. Devoted to prayer.
5. Reaching unsaved people for Christ.
6. Strong emphasis on family.
7. Godly leaders developed.
8. A culture of serving.
9. Honor given to the poor and elders.
10. Healthy attitude towards money.
During the service today we will hand out our ends document. We do this each year – it is a statement of goals for the church. I was struck by how similar this list is to our list of goals. This is a good thing; a good sign that we are on the right track.
After John shared the 10 qualities of a good local church, he asked everyone to think about which areas, if any, he felt there was relative weakness. He then asked people to pray and think about how they could contribute to strengthening the areas of weakness.
As I look at this list of 10 things, I am encouraged that none of them made me feel as if they were entirely neglected. And I am talking here about how I perceive we are, as opposed to what we teach on. Do we teach on family? Maybe not specifically, recently. But clearly we value our families.
If there was one area I wondered a little more about, it was #4, prayer. I think almost every church in America could grow in prayer. The hectic nonstop pace of our culture is directly at odds with spending extended, frequent time in prayer.
For me, I know that part of the problem is knowing what to pray for, and how to pray. Now we have had several messages that dealt with prayer this year, including one that focused on Jesus’ prayer that He gave when the disciples asked Him how to pray. Rather than look at this passage again, I thought it would be good to look at how the Apostle Paul prayed. His letters are filled with examples of prayer. A number of years ago I looked at all the verses where Paul prayed, and was struck with how different his prayers were from mine. We don’t have time to look at all of his prayers, but I thought we could look at 8 of them. I would encourage you to write down this list of 8 topics of prayer, because you may find that by looking at them when you pray that you have far more to talk to God about. For each of these topics, I would encourage you to pray them for yourselves as well as for others. I would suggest you pray them specifically for specific people. So here are the 8 topics of prayer:
1. Pray that we would have a deeper personal relationship with Christ:
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. – Eph. 1:15-17
If you are a believer, if you have trusted Christ for your salvation, you are “saved.” Saved from what? Saved for what? Do you really understand what your future looks like? And what about right now? Being saved is not just about the future. The Holy Spirit lives in us now. We have direct access to God in prayer now. We have incredible spiritual gifts now. Not knowing about these things is like a king’s son living as a pauper because he doesn’t know he is the king’s son.
2. Pray that we would better understand our position in Christ:
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. – Eph. 1:18-19
How important is it that we really understand the love Christ has for us? It is essential. If our understanding is shaky, it will be hard to trust God when things become difficult. It will be difficult to die to self, because we don’t really trust Him in the throne of our life. The more we understand His love for us, the more we will love Him and obey Him and trust Him.
3. Pray that we would be strengthened with power to grasp the love of Christ:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. – Eph. 3:16-19
We know we cannot resist sin in our own strength. But if we do not pray about areas of temptation and sin, then that is exactly what we are doing.
4. Pray that we would grow in holiness for Christ:
Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection. – II Cor. 13:7-9
Sometimes knowing the right thing to do is difficult. There really are gray areas. What do you about it? How do you know the “way of love” in every situation?
5. Pray that we would grow in love and make good decisions in Christ:
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. – Phil. 1:9-11
As we try to serve one another, as we try to reach the lost, as we try to raise our families and do all the other responsibilities we have in our lives, do we desire to be effective, to have a positive, powerful impact? Of course! But how often do we pray that this would happen?
6. Pray that we would become better servants for Christ:
I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed. – Romans 15:30-32
How many problems or difficult situations fall into your lap every week? Every day? Do you tackle these things on your own and pray when you get in real trouble, or do you pray first?
7. Pray that we would bring every issue and situation before Christ:
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. – Eph. 6:18
And remember that we remain in this world primarily because we are called to participate in the Great Commission, sharing the gospel and helping each other grow to become mature disciples of Christ.
8. Pray that we would fearlessly share the gospel of Christ:
Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. – Eph. 6:19-20
Finally, I would encourage you to remember that prayer is much more than just intercession. Thanksgiving and worship should also accompany our prayers.
My hope and prayer is that this list would give you new excitement and hope and energy in prayer. We need prayer. We live in a world opposed to God. We are surrounded by forces in the spiritual realm opposed to us. We are at war with our own flesh. We need prayer.
As we move into our sharing time, I would like to do something different. Let us start with prayer, rather than simply end with it. After a time of prayer, I encourage you to share whatever the Lord has put on your heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment