Sermon Link – The Power of a Praying Church
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d7u8gdw9usl8a1y/Power%20of%20a%20praying%20church.docx
Monthly Archives: December 2013
Heavenly Bricks
Heavenly Bricks
John 14:1-4 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
Jesus was with his disciples after the Last Supper. He had just told them of the trouble that was to come to all of them. He had pointed to their failures to him, and he had pointed to his death. He had dismissed Judas Iscariot from them to start act of his capture, and all that comes with it. The disciples were greatly troubled and discouraged. Matthew Henry has a great commentary on how Christ knew the weight of what troubled them. John 14 is a discourse of encouragement to them, and us all. The pathways, and promises of the Holy Spirit, and the treasures in heaven.
How many deep things can God enlighten you with in these opening scriptures? The entire tone is set is the opening verse, don’t worry, just believe. There are likely roads to go down into theology of the representations of these mansions, but it is as simple as it’s literal meaning; you have a house built in heaven for you by God. Can you grasp how glorious that is? God could prepare us a 10×10 room that would outshine any 10K square foot mansion of today. We cannot fathom what awaits us in heaven; we cannot fathom what our individual dwelling may be. 1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
What if your life’s dedication for your short time here, was relative to your heavenly mansion? How the sinner saved at the cross compared to Billy Graham? We all enter unto paradise, but what if? We are all called to work out our faith; James 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. Christ last words to us in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) were to go and make disciples, to put feet on our faith. Being a disciple of Christ demands action, work if you will. We are not saved by it, but called to it. Is your house going to be one made of hay and stubble, or one made of heavenly brick?
Can’t pray, then read
Can’t pray, then read
Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
This is one of my bedrock scriptures that I hold onto; knowing that when I struggle to pray, that I am always being prayed for by a member of the Triune God. Prayer with me seems to go in cycles sometimes. Sometimes it feels as though God is sitting in the room with me and the conversation is just flowing both ways. The words just roll out of my mind onto my tongue and I feel God’s attention to them. Spirit led prayers that are so special you must hold onto the high feeling of them to carry you through the low feeling that will come. Sometimes I get stopped in my tracks with a heart that desires, but a tongue that is silent. My heart, mind, and speech are completely disconnected. We have heard the saying of our prayers bouncing off heaven; I struggle to even get them sent up. These times Satan will slide in and always point to our weaknesses; he will point to sins, failures, inadequacies, and anything else to point the finger at us for fault. He is always his best at kicking someone that is already down.
What is our defense against this attack by the evil one? Simply to pick up the only offensive weapon that we have, the Word of God. Don’t try to pray, simply pour your mind and heart into the scriptures. God will strengthen you there; the Spirit will encourage you through the truths found there; all the while He is praying for you there. You absolutely cannot come away from quality time alone in God’s Word not encouraged; and dare I say able to pray. Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
Right there in the last verse is the proof of the Sovereignty of God; the proof of the Holy Spirit going before God on your behalf with words so glorious that they cannot even be spoken. You have a way to have access to God through what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross, and you have the Holy Spirit inside of you always taking the needs of your heart to Him. When you can’t pray, open the Word and read.
Sermon Link
You Are What You Believe
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a5o9ui33rzazfk4/You%20are%20what%20you%20believe.docx
What is on your mind?
What is on your mind?
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.
I have been preparing my sermon this week on, You Are What You Believe. I have tried to step away from as much of the distractions as possible, to get some quality time with God. The study has led me down so many roads with Him. I truly wish I could spend even much more time in preparation that I can now. I cannot begin to convey the weight that is on my heart for each Sunday. The distractions come in countless ways; but they always serve a means to get my mind elsewhere. When my mind goes to something else, anything else is taking my eyes off God. In study it can be one thing that tends to take you out of the presence of the Holy Spirit; a phone call, an email alert, a visitor, the list could go on & on. Do you think it is a coincidence that you always have a distraction when you try to read your Bible?
Paul was speaking of this meditation in the passage above. Paul was truly showing that what dominates your mind, pours out from your lips. What you put in, is what comes out. If you are consumed with anything in this world, all else is a distraction. If you are consumed with a sport, all other sports are folly. If you are consumed with work or success, anything else taints the goal you have set. If you are consumed material possessions, you are never satisfied. What you meditate on, consumes you; good or bad. What is Paul saying; whatever is praiseworthy to meditate on; anything else serves as a distraction for the only One you should be focused on.
Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. I have one big distraction that will just not go away. It creates division in all aspects of my life. I prayerfully have went before God and made my peace with it, but yet it still surfaces. All it does is point to the need for a heart truly after God; I must continue to seek Him every time it arises. All these things simply show us our need to seek to abide, to be in a “state of being in Christ”. A heart that abides is a heart that meditates on the praiseworthy things. A heart that does not abide is a heart torn by all the distractions and troubles that comes with being caught up in the world.
Big things
Big things
1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. (NIV)
We have entered the month of the celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ’s birth. The holiday season if you will; the point in which all of time centers around. There is no point of which to argue that our time stamp revolves around the birth of Christ no matter your belief; there is a marker set in history of BC (before Christ), and AD (after death). Even with that historical marker some argue who and what Christ was and is. Such a big deal…..that He divided time. My heart this week has been wrapped up in big picture things in my life; at the church, at my business, in my life, and in my study of the Word. So many big things with so many levels of cause and effect. These things are likened to these divisions Paul speaks of here; the opposite of unity. I cannot begin to open the roads my mind is going down, but I have included a passage that I pray the Holy Spirit will speak to you. It is one of of unity, of the centrality in Christ, in the One who divided the time that our world revolves around.
1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (ESV)
I wanna know more
I wanna know more
2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The apostle Paul was pointing Timothy to both the false teachers of the day, how he was to deal with them, and Who he was ultimately held accountable to. He was ministering God’s Word; he was delivering the words of God to those that God had prepared their hearts to hear. He was not to take this responsibility lightly, he was to invest time in diligent prayerful study of God’s Word to rightly present it. The weight of any teacher of the truths of God is a great; the weight that they feel in their soul should be great; they should know they are judged to a stricter standard of accountability by God.
Do you have that drive within? Do you truly want to know and understand more of the truths of God? That hunger you are either feeding in His Word, or suppressing in disobedience to that calling, is how you are held in approval to God. Paul is telling Timothy to be diligent; not lazy, not half-heartedly, not when he had time to read his Bible, not only on Sunday, not to give God anything less that what He deserves. Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. You can’t claim the promises of Christ and remain in this world. You cannot pray a prayer for your soul, and not feel the tug to know more about the Savior of it. How can you say that you are a child of His, and not have the desire to know more of him? How will you answer to him,when he asks why you were so busy in what did not matter for your short time here? What could possibly be more important that spending time with God in prayer and his Word every day? What if He, and not I, asked you that question?
Pray for God to change your heart and place that desire within for more of Him. Pray that He will give you that tug to open the Bible just for a short time every day. In those early beginnings, their will be an expectancy grow within you that you cannot imagine NOT spending daily time with Him. If you are already feeling those desires, and the world is suppressing them, you are grieving the Holy Spirit living inside of you (Ephesians 4:30). A heartfelt prayer, and a conscious effort to open His Word every day, will forever change your days here unto eternity.
Don’t take a sword to a gunfight
Don’t take a sword to a gunfight
Matthew 4:10-11 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
Christ had went to John the Baptist and been baptized in the Jordan River by immersion. Christ had risen from the water, a dove had landed on his shoulder, and God had spoken from heaven regarding his son. Afterwards the preparation for his ministry began as Christ was lead into the desert to fast for 40 days. No details of that time seem to be known, but yet Christ in his earthly form, surely drew closer to God in prayer and solitude like never before. Then at the end of the fast, when he was close to God in earthly form, Satan came on the attack. Christ was tempted by Satan as we know, and Christ refuted Satan with only one thing; the Word of God. In all three temptations, Christ quoted Scripture to battle the enemy. The Word of God is our only offensive weapon in the realm of Spiritual Warfare. How will you do battle if you do not know how to fire the gun?
Only a short time ago I experienced a warfare on an elevated plain. Looking back on how I handled it, I failed miserably. My enemy got the best of me, and anger was what came forth, not the Word of God. I felt like Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane lashing out with my sword; I felt the Holy Spirit say to me, “sit back down”. I am passionate, and my emotions will sometimes get the best of me. I have so much to learn; and it is all found in time spent in God’s Word. The more time you spend there in tireless, prayerful pursuit; the more you are prepared to meet whatever the world throws you. 2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
What are you doing this morning? Is your day hurriedly trying to meet the deadlines? Has it started out at a stopwatch pace? In my study of this scripture this morning I was lead to Luke 11:21-28. There are many roads to go down in that passage, but at the root of it is the pursuit of God. In that pursuit is found the strength to fight the enemy. The enemy is lurking all around you today. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. You must be prepared to defend yourself, you must know how to also be offensive; how to fire the gun, the Word of God.
Sermon Link
Here is the link to today’s sermon
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lff78t0rybjcztz/True%20Thanksgiving.docx
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