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Perseverance in Prayer and Belief

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Our pastor opened Sunday’s sermon by asking if we had ever prayed for anything which God answered in a way we did not expect.

If we are honest, all Christians have experienced this at one time or another in our walk with Christ. God hears our prayers and He answers our prayers; not always with our “when” or “how”.

Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed for a child through years of marriage. She was barren; and by the time of the account in Luke, they were both old. The first observation in the sermon was that we should not evaluate the effectiveness of our prayer lives by the quickness of God’s response.

It is hard to keep praying when God delays an answer. But as our pastor reminded us: God’s delays are not His denials. Elizabeth and Zechariah prayed for decades that they would have a child and their prayer would be answered, but not in a way they expected.

We must continue praying when God does not answer. If God has not given an answer, keep praying. God will not be annoyed with you and will not send you a message to stop praying. He will hear you and in His good timing, He will answer.

What have you stopped praying about? Is there something in your life that you have become discouraged about because it appears that God will not answer? The application for you is to keep praying. Persist in prayer.

The application for all God’s children, no matter where we are in our walk with Christ, is to pray. God wants us to pray, our prayers glorify Him. God may delay a response because He knows the way in which He answers will bring Him the most glory and will work for our good. As His children, we should desire that His glory is magnified and maximized.

Another point of application is to believe when God is answering prayer. Zechariah did not believe God was answering their prayer. He said: “how can this be?”, “I am old and my wife is old.”, “I think this message came to the wrong Zechariah!”. As one theologian wrote, “he had his biology right but his theology wrong.”

How many times have you received good news for your prayers, only to turn quickly from praising God to asking yourself when things will go wrong? We have all done this. It is possible for us to believe neither what God says nor the way He answers our prayers.

What area of your life do you not trust, in belief, to God? Is there a way God is working in our church that you are slow to believe or not believing at all?

Acting upon our faith is important. The Bible teaches that whatever is not done from faith is sin. If God has said it, we must believe it and act upon it. He always comes through. He cares for His children and He provides for them.

Advent is about God keeping His promises. He answered the prayer of his faithful servants Zechariah and Elizabeth. He made good on the promises He made in the Old Testament to send the Messiah. After 400 years of silence, he sent the forerunner of Christ, John the Baptist, who was the special child born to God’s faithful servants. He prepared the people of God for the Messiah!  

What promises are you not believing?

Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

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Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” 

Our pastor once said that unapplied truth is wasted truth. Head knowledge is important for the Christian life but if that knowledge never leads to action, heart change, then we are wasting that knowledge. In fact, this is unwise. Wisdom is the proper application of knowledge. Therefore, we strive to be doers of the word and not hearers only as James commands. 

This is our first weekly post where we will explore together how we can apply the sermon to our lives. If you need a refresher you can watch the sermon. 

Before we do that, I want to answer one question. I have been asked recently by multiple people (outside of Grace church) why we only have one service each week. The answer is simple. We want to make sure the people of God are able to apply what they heard in the sermon. One sermon a week can help us grow in our knowledge of the Scriptures when we go deep into the truth we heard. So that’s that. 

Paul has been describing the Christian life in Ephesians 4:25-32 and in verse 30 he tells the saints at Ephesus to not grieve the Holy Spirit. 

This presupposes a few truths. 

  1. The Holy Spirit is a person. He is not an impersonal force or an it or even a principle. He is the third member of the holy trinity. An idea or impersonal force cannot be grieved. 
  2. We have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. If I can grieve the Holy Spirit that means I have a relationship with Him. He dwells within me. Here we can pause and ask an application question. Do I have a relationship with the Holy Spirit? In other words, am I a Christian? To be have the Holy Spirit living within me means I am in Christ, I am a Christian. But if the answer is negative and I do not have a relationship with the Holy Spirit then I am not a Christian.
  3. The Holy Spirit is present with us. He is present with us. He lives, dwells within, has taken up residence in the disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Many times, the best way to apply a sermon is to ask questions. I think that’s the case here. 

Do I ignore the presence of the Holy Spirit in my day to day life? It is too easy to live life without acknowledging the presence of the Holy Spirit. He is always with us. And when we ignore His presence and sanctifying work, we grieve Him. 

My wife does a good job of this. In the hard, difficult moments of the day (normally kid related) I can hear her while I'm working in our home office acknowledging that the Holy Spirit is with her and He is there to help. You may not do the same thing or do it the same way but there is nothing wrong with reminding ourselves that He is present to help us. 

Do I acknowledge my absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit? Jesus said that the He was sending the Holy Spirit to be our helper. He is another helper of the same kind as Jesus. He is present in our lives to help us and wants to help us. Do you fight that temptation to sin in your own strength or His? Too often in my own life if I am honest I do it in my own strength and that grieves the one who wants to help me. The very power of God, the Holy Spirit of God, dwells within us. Why would we want to try and do anything in our own strength? 

What is your motivation for obedience? Why do you want to live a holy life? Earlier I mentioned that we have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we should be motivated to a life of holiness because we love Him. He leads us to do anything that is holy and anything that is not holy in our lives grieves Him. Do I want to be holy because I love God or because I fear the consequences of my sin. There are consequences to our sin, but as a child of God we obey Him because we love Him and have a proper fear of Him and not the consequences of our sin. Why do you obey? And if you are not obeying why do you not obey? 

In order to not grieve the Holy Spirit, it could be we need to learn more about Him from Scripture. A good place to start is John 14-16. These are precious words from Jesus that are cherished by His disciples. The application for you could be to learn more and then put that new knowledge into practice.  

What are some other ways you can apply the sermon this week? I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to message me on Facebook. 

How To Make Prayer a Priority

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In Matthew 9 Jesus said to His disciples; "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

I wonder how often to we as individuals pray what Jesus told us to pray? I wonder how often do we as a church obey our Lord's command? Could it be that our barrenness in the harvest is a direct result of failing to follow the Jesus' instruction to make this prayer a priority in both our individual and corporate lives?

This is an important text that we must not rush through. The text calls for individual self examination and personal reflection. The same holds true for the church. If we are not seeing people come to faith in Christ we must engage in serious soul searching as to why that is true.

From the text we learn that the problem is not the harvest. Jesus says that the harvest IS plentiful. Right now in 2018 in Berea Ky the harvest is plentiful right now. The harvest is not the problem.

The harvest is not the problem

I think we can all agree that the harvest is just as Jesus described it. The harvest is plentiful.

Here is an eye opening exercise. What if each one of us would take just five minutes and as quickly as we can we record the names of our family members, our friends, our neighbors and our co-workers who do not profess faith in Christ.

I wonder how many names you could record in just five minutes. I believe a conservative estimate would be 10. I'm confident that most of us could easily compile a list of 10 or more people in our sphere of influence who are not believers.

Now let's multiply that list by 50. 50 x 10 = 500 What happens when we begin to multiply the 10 we know by a 100? Or 500? Or 10,000? A simple math equation presses home the reality of what Jesus said. The harvest is PLENTIFUL!

A Lack of Prayer

If the problem is not the harvest then what is? The temptation is strong to jump to the end of what Jesus said and think that the problem is that there is not enough laborers working the harvest. That is true or Jesus would not have mentioned it. But that's not the real issue.

The real issue, the real problem is our lack of prayer. Specifically a lack of earnest prayer. What does Jesus mean by earnest prayer?

Earnest prayer is characterized by the following elements:

  • Urgency. To pray earnestly means that there is some urgency to our prayers. Think of a frantic 911 call that you would make if your child, or spouse was in desperate need of medical attention. We've all heard those recorded 911 calls in which you can hear the urgency in their voices. That is the same kind of urgency that should characterize our prayers to the Lord of the harvest. People are dying, people are in desperate need and there is no time to waste.
  • Pleading. Earnest prayer is pleading dare we say begging prayer. Most of us have pleaded with God in our times of trouble. I can vividly remember a time in my life being on my face before God pleading with Him for help. But I'm ashamed to say that the times I have pleaded with God, literally begged God to send laborers out in His harvest have been far too few and herein lies the real problem.

How to make this kind of prayer a priority?

Hopefully you are at the place where you recognize that each one of us who profess faith in Christ have an obligation to pray this way. Our Lord Jesus has given clear instruction to pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest that He would send out laborers into His harvest.

Review the facts

Let's quickly review the facts Jesus has laid before us.

  • The harvest is plentiful
  • The laborers are few
  • The problem has a solution – earnest prayer to the Lord of the harvest

But the problem most of us have is making this kind of prayer a priority. Or for that matter making any prayer a priority. What steps can we take to make prayer a priority?

First, understand that Jesus was not trying to put us on a guilt trip. He was not trying to motivate us through guilt.

Second, understand that following the Lord's command has a double benefit. By that I mean the benefit that you and I experience is the intimacy of prayer. Prayer is one of the powerful means that our Heavenly Father has given to us to draw closer to Him. Prayer, earnest prayer will change our heart to be like His heart. Guess what will begin to happen? A sincere heart-felt burden for the harvest will become natural for us. The second benefit are all those who make up the harvest. As you and I engage in earnest prayer urgently pleading with our Heavenly Father He will answer that prayer and He will send out laborers into His harvest which means that the more laborers working the harvest will increase the yield of the harvest.

Third, plan your prayer time. We've all heard the saying what gets planned gets done or something to that effect. This certainly applies to our prayer life. If we do not schedule regular times of prayer our prayer life will be sporadic and probably ineffective. When should you pray? The best answer to that question is "every time the Holy Spirit leads you too". But what about all those times you don't feel like praying? Pray anyway! Pray when you are at your mental best. For some like me I am much more productive in the early morning than I am in the middle of the afternoon. You may be just the opposite. The point is to pray when you are at your mental best, whether that is morning, noon or night. And put it in your schedule.

Fourth, remind yourself it's time to pray. Do you know how I remember to take my medicine every day? I have a reminder set in my phone that goes off every day at the same time reminding me to take my medicine. Apply the same principle to prayer. Set yourself one or more reminders to pray during the day.

Do you want to see growth in God's Kingdom?

I want to see growth in God's Kingdom and if I take the Lord's command to heart and begin to faithfully and earnestly pray as I should I will see God's Kingdom grow and I will see our local church grow as well.

Prayer the Lord's church growth strategy!

This Week @Grace Community Church in Berea

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Fall appears to have settled down on Berea and done so rather quickly! But the weather is not the only thing changing!

I'm sure you've noticed that over the past couple of months there have been a lot of upgrades to Grace Community Church. It began with the installation of new carpet in the auditorium. From there the lobby underwent a much needed upgrade with new flooring and a new coffee station.

This week new carpeting and trim were installed in the rest of the building including the hallway and the nursery. The Lord has blessed us with the ability to complete renovate the interior of the building with new lights, new sound system, new video capabilities all within the space of a year.

I want to personally thank those who have given of their time and their talent to make these much needed upgrades.

Membership at Grace Community Church in Berea

A lot of exciting things have been happening at Grace Community but none more exciting than the new families God has brought to us in the past few months. This weekend we will be holding our membership class for those who have expressed an interest in becoming a member of Grace Community.

There are several good churches in Berea and we count it a real privilege when a family chooses Grace Community as their church home. If you have not yet signed up for the class and have interest in doing so that's ok just let Todd know on Sunday Morning that you have interest in attending the class and you will be good to go.

Pastoral Training at Grace Community Church in Berea

This month also saw the start of our pastoral training at Grace Community. The pastoral training takes place on Saturday mornings from 8 to 11 and the training is led by Ben Wilson. Each week the students are assigned both a reading and writing assignment and then the material is discussed during the classroom time.

The initial class consists of three possible ministry candidates who have expressed an interest in pastoral ministry. Below you can watch Ben's message as he explains why our church has a responsibility to train men for ministry.

This week's message @Grace Community Church in Berea

Finally the message this Sunday will be from Matthew 9:35-38

“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”” (Matthew 9:35–38, ESV)

Please take some time to read and meditate on the passage to help you get the most out of the message.

Looking forward to seeing you at Grace Community Church in Berea this Sunday!

Remembering the Reformation

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Each year in October many protestant remember and commemorate the protestant reformation. Perhaps you are not familiar with the Reformation. If not here is a short video from Ligonier Ministries that explains the reformation in about 3 minutes.

We at Grace Community Church because we are a reformed church which means we can trace our doctrine, beliefs, and practices directly to the reformation owe a debt of gratitude to not only Martin Luther but to all the reformers who risked their lives to recover the Biblical gospel.

Here is a transcript to the video. Our thanks to Ligonier for providing this helpful resource. https://www.ligonier.org/blog/what-was-reformation-all-about

Transcript

500 years ago, a German monk named Martin Luther started a protest that exploded into worldwide movement. At that time, Europe lived in the shadow of the Roman Catholic Church. It was more like an empire than a church. It crowned and cast down kings, and used its dominance to keep people in the darkness of superstition. That sounds pretty unfamiliar.

But in some ways, Luther’s day was very much like our own. Just like today, everyone had an opinion about the Bible even though almost no one had actually read it. Like so many of us, they were trusting the thought-leaders and taste-makers of their day to tell them what was in the Bible and whether or not to believe it. Luther was one of the very few people actually reading the Bible, and what he found was earth-shattering. Even though he was a monk, Luther hated the God of the Bible. But when he studied it, the world around him began to make sense. God made sense. The significance of Jesus became clear to him. He discovered the answer to his deepest question: how could evil be overcome? Specifically, how could his own evil—his own sin—be dealt with?

Luther discovered that he couldn’t do anything to fix this problem himself. He had to rely on the finished work of Christ alone. Luther had discovered a central truth. It changed his life. It changed the world. The Protestant Reformation was about two things. It was about who can say what’s true and it was about how to reconcile who we are with who God is. It recognized that God’s Word is the ultimate authority in this world, and that the perfect life and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ are the only answer for evil and the only basis on which sinners can stand before a holy God. The Protestant Reformation is a story of transformation—a transformation from hate to love, from slavery to freedom, and from blind faith to a glorious discovery of the truth in Jesus Christ.

Ligonier Ministries exists to cultivate this transformation in a new generation. In a day when few are reading the Bible, and when confusion reigns in the church, we want to help Christians know what they believe, why they believe it, how to live it, and how to share it. Join us.