back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 1.8.2023
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Good morning, Church family. Happy Lord's Day. 00:05:21.500 |
Romans 12, verse 12, it reads, "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." 00:05:30.000 |
As we start off this year, may it be our greatest desire to devote ourselves to the Lord, 00:05:35.000 |
especially to devote ourselves to prayer, that we would seek the Lord through prayer. 00:05:39.500 |
And so with that, we will begin our service with the song, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." 00:09:06.500 |
All right, good morning. Welcome to Bering Community Church. 00:09:20.500 |
Members meeting is next Sunday at January 15th at 1.30 p.m. 00:09:26.000 |
So if you are members or you're becoming members, 00:09:29.000 |
this is again a quarterly mandatory meeting that we need you to be there. 00:09:32.000 |
And so if you aren't able to make it, please let us know ahead of time. 00:09:35.500 |
And so along with that, you know, typically in the past, 00:09:40.000 |
but we're going to--we're upping it at 1.30 so that you guys can finish a bit earlier. 00:09:45.000 |
But because of that, we're going to be having lunch. 00:09:48.500 |
Our BAM ministry, our singles ministry, they're going to prepare lunch for us. 00:09:53.000 |
And the cost of this, just the cost that they need to put into it, 00:09:59.000 |
If you're allergic to turkey, obviously you can get something else, 00:10:02.000 |
but otherwise to save time, please stick around. 00:10:06.000 |
If you want to just eat and hang around, it would be, again, $5 for the lunch box. 00:10:11.500 |
The youth group at the same time is going to be running a fundraiser. 00:10:17.000 |
and so they're raising funds to help pay for some of the retreats. 00:10:20.000 |
And so there's going to be baked goods being sold. 00:10:24.500 |
So when you go out there to eat, you'll see tables set up by the youth group to do that. 00:10:28.500 |
They're also selling Berean sweatshirts for $20. 00:10:33.500 |
Okay, so we have--I'm not going to call it leftover. 00:10:36.500 |
They're brand new still, okay, and these are coveted sweatshirts that you all want, 00:10:45.500 |
They're going to be selling that for $20 outside as well, 00:10:48.500 |
and the proceeds for that will also go toward their retreat, okay? 00:10:53.500 |
Our new membership class is starting on January 15th. 00:10:58.500 |
So if you signed up for that, next Sunday at 9 a.m., 00:11:01.500 |
they're going to be meeting in the youth group room, right? 00:11:04.500 |
Youth group room at the Vine, and it's an eight-week course. 00:11:07.500 |
So if you haven't signed up and you still want to take that class, 00:11:09.500 |
and again, this is--at the end of that, there's a covenant signing 00:11:15.500 |
So if you haven't signed up for that, please sign up. 00:11:17.500 |
And if you didn't sign up, or if you did sign up, 00:11:20.500 |
next Sunday is going to be the first class, okay? 00:11:25.500 |
where you're going to be broken up into smaller groups 00:11:31.500 |
That's starting in January 29th, and the sign-up is by next Sunday. 00:11:36.500 |
So if you haven't signed up for that and you want to participate, 00:11:41.500 |
And again, all of these things are on the website. 00:11:47.500 |
So if you go to those things, there will be a sign-up portal for all of that. 00:11:51.000 |
And then for sisters ministry, I'll just give you a quick plug. 00:11:54.000 |
Women's ministry tea time is Saturday on January 28th at 930. 00:11:59.000 |
Then intentional sisters fellowship is happening beginning in mid-February to May, 00:12:04.000 |
and they're going to be reading the book, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. 00:12:08.000 |
So if you want to participate in that, please sign up for that as well. 00:12:10.000 |
All right, so after the offering time, we have-- 00:12:14.000 |
Megan Ma is going to be coming up and giving her testimony and be baptized. 00:12:20.500 |
and then again, those of you who brought physical offering, 00:12:25.500 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your continued grace throughout this week. 00:12:36.500 |
And as we face a new year with new challenges, 00:12:40.500 |
help us, Lord God, to truly be committed to the things that you've called us for, 00:12:45.000 |
that we would not simply be worshipers in lip service, 00:12:50.000 |
but that you would fill our hearts, Lord God, with your presence, your grace, 00:12:53.500 |
that your word would continue to speak to us and guide us and build your church. 00:12:57.500 |
We pray this morning as we give our offering, 00:13:00.500 |
help us even in that, that we would give with a cheerful heart, 00:13:05.500 |
not under compulsion, and may it be multiplied for your use. 00:14:34.500 |
From the brightness, from the brightness of his glory, 00:24:14.500 |
Hi, my name is Megan. I grew up going to a Baptist church with very limited knowledge of what it means to be a Christian. 00:24:28.500 |
If you were to ask me what being a Christian meant, I would answer going to church on Sunday. 00:24:32.500 |
To me, church was a place I could see my friends and I went purely out of habit. 00:24:36.500 |
The youth pastor at the time had left the church when I was about to enter high school 00:24:40.500 |
and because a lot of my friends were going off to college, I also stopped going to church. 00:24:44.500 |
I made excuses saying I was tired or had a lot of homework to get out of attending church on Sunday. 00:24:49.500 |
When I entered college in Boston, my parents urged me to find a church, so I visited a church with my roommate, 00:24:54.500 |
but because of its Presbyterian values were different than what I was used to, I didn't continue to go. 00:25:00.500 |
Because I had been away from the church for so long, going to church wasn't a priority for me. 00:25:04.500 |
I would say my time in Boston is only temporary and never made an effort. 00:25:09.500 |
The first two years of college were simple, went by without any issues. 00:25:14.500 |
It wasn't until my third year that I started to feel the stress and pressure to get into PA school. 00:25:19.500 |
On top of that, I started to lose a lot of relationships that were very precious to me. 00:25:23.500 |
I blamed God for this low point in my life and started to harbor bitterness towards him. 00:25:28.500 |
Without knowing any better, I fell into the wrong crowd and turned to partying as a form of temporary joy. 00:25:34.500 |
I continued to party for a year until I started PA school and I had to turn away from that lifestyle to focus on school. 00:25:40.500 |
I became a very anxious person when I entered PA school, always fearing that I would fall behind 00:25:45.500 |
or that I didn't have what it takes to become a PA. 00:25:48.500 |
God became someone I would turn to when I needed something from him, for example, passing a test. 00:25:54.500 |
When I achieved something I wanted, I felt like all my efforts were because of my own accord and not God's grace. 00:25:59.500 |
After a long and stressful year of clinicals, I suddenly had a change of heart and wanted to go back to church. 00:26:05.500 |
This is when a family friend had told me about Bruin and I eventually started coming out in March. 00:26:10.500 |
Coming to Bruin, I realized how inadequate my knowledge of God actually was. 00:26:14.500 |
Although hard to accept, I realized I wasn't a Christian even though I called myself one my entire life. 00:26:19.500 |
Through Bruin, I learned a lot about who God was and how loving he actually is. 00:26:24.500 |
I learned that God puts us through certain hardships to help us grow. 00:26:27.500 |
Most importantly, I learned that I'm a lowly sinner. 00:26:30.500 |
With all these truths, I started to reflect on my past and how sinful my actions in college were. 00:26:35.500 |
My heart started to soften, slowly letting go of the hatred I held toward God. 00:26:40.500 |
I started to remorse over hating him when he was so patient with me. 00:26:45.500 |
As I continued to attend Bruin, I turned to God and repented of my sin as a way of reconciliation. 00:26:50.500 |
Life after coming to Christ has not been an easy one. 00:26:54.500 |
While I started praying more, reading the Bible more, and attending church regularly, 00:26:58.500 |
I quickly learned that I was fulfilling my glory and not his. 00:27:04.500 |
Jesus loves us so much that he sacrificed himself for our sins. 00:27:08.500 |
As I am reminded of the truth, I learned that this life is not for me. 00:27:16.500 |
While I may stumble at times, I know now that I cannot return to living a secular life. 00:27:21.500 |
With my new identity in Christ, I want to have the right posture before him in all that I do and be obedient. 00:27:27.500 |
Rather than seeing going to church and praying to God as an obligation, 00:27:31.500 |
I now desire to spend time with God because he is my loving father and to prioritize him in my life. 00:27:36.500 |
He is the one I turn to in times of hardships, in times of blessings, 00:27:40.500 |
and I will continue to keep him at the center of my life and live my life for him. 00:28:05.500 |
Megan, do you understand when you go into the water, you are being united to Christ's death, 00:28:09.500 |
and when you come out, you are being united to his resurrected life? 00:28:12.500 |
I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:28:33.500 |
Thank you, Megan, for that awesome testimony. 00:28:36.500 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 2-4. 00:28:42.500 |
This was meant to be a two-part sermon that turned into three because I didn't get to finish last week. 00:28:49.500 |
So we have this, and then we'll do the other part next week. 00:28:53.500 |
1 Thessalonians 4, I'll be reading from verse 2-4. 00:28:59.500 |
"Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, 00:29:04.500 |
praying at the same time for us as well that God will open up to us a door for the Word, 00:29:10.500 |
so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have also been imprisoned, 00:29:14.500 |
that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak." 00:29:31.500 |
that your Word, Lord God, would not fall on hardened hearts 00:29:43.500 |
that as we receive your Word, that it may bear fruit 30, 60, and a hundredfold. 00:29:52.500 |
As you can see, our theme is going to be up here for the rest of the year 00:29:56.500 |
because we want to continue to emphasize this. 00:29:59.500 |
And as I mentioned last week, we want to have a reputation. 00:30:05.500 |
As we have a reputation of being a Bible teaching church, 00:30:09.500 |
it's just as important that we grow in our commitment to prayer. 00:30:16.500 |
You know, some of you guys are maybe kind of goal-oriented people. 00:30:23.500 |
If there's a target, if there's somewhere I need to go, 00:30:26.500 |
I try to figure out what's the fastest way to go. 00:30:28.500 |
And it's not something that I plan to do. It just happens. 00:30:32.500 |
Some of you guys are not like that. You just kind of linger. 00:30:36.500 |
And so you're kind of used to coming five to ten minutes late on everything 00:30:39.500 |
because you kind of get caught up in talking to people and whatever you're doing. 00:30:43.500 |
But I'm kind of like, if I need to go there, I need to get there earlier. 00:30:46.500 |
And so I've noticed that when I leave the parking lot here at church, 00:30:51.500 |
I just naturally, I automatically think, am I going to turn left or turn right? 00:30:56.500 |
Because if I go turn left, that means I will take the 55 freeway 00:31:00.500 |
and I get off at Edinger, and then sometimes that-- 00:31:03.500 |
usually that's the fastest route when there's no traffic. 00:31:06.500 |
And then depending on the time of the day, if I make it, 00:31:08.500 |
if I get on that, there's going to be traffic, 00:31:10.500 |
and I know there's some construction going on, 00:31:14.500 |
So I will take Red Hill all the way down locally, and sometimes that's the fastest. 00:31:18.500 |
And then depending on the time of the day, if I make a right turn, 00:31:21.500 |
there's a 405 that I get on, and I go down and get off on Culver. 00:31:25.500 |
And then so even as I go, should I make a right turn? 00:31:27.500 |
What time of the day is it? Is there traffic? 00:31:29.500 |
Or is this light turning green, or is it red? 00:31:32.500 |
And so even that split second, like I'm constantly thinking, 00:31:35.500 |
if I make a right turn here, I'm going to get caught in this red light, 00:31:38.500 |
so maybe if I make a left turn and go down straight, it'll be faster. 00:31:41.500 |
And if there's congested on Red Hill, I'll make a right turn on Gilbert, 00:31:44.500 |
and I can go down to Jamboree, make a left, and then right turn on Alton, 00:31:48.500 |
and then I can go down Harvard, and Harvard, that'll save me about 30 seconds. 00:31:54.500 |
And so I don't think like that by calculating. 00:32:00.500 |
As soon as I get in the car, like which is the fastest way, which lane? 00:32:03.500 |
So if I'm on the freeway, and I see that somebody's congested 00:32:06.500 |
or is stepping on the brake maybe about a mile ahead, 00:32:11.500 |
If I got on the right lane, there's a lot of people getting on to the highway, 00:32:16.500 |
and if they get on that, we're going to end up having to merge, 00:32:21.500 |
so I'm going to move to the next lane for a little bit, 00:32:23.500 |
and then once I pass that, I can get back on that right lane. 00:32:26.500 |
So when I'm getting on it and I'm getting off the freeway, 00:32:29.500 |
there's two ways to make a left turn, but if I stay on the left side, 00:32:32.500 |
it's a little bit more congested than the right side, so I get on the right side. 00:32:35.500 |
But if I stay on the right side, the traffic coming off the freeway 00:32:38.500 |
is going to merge onto that lane, so that's going to take me a little bit longer 00:32:44.500 |
So depending on what I see ahead of me, I'll be on the left side or the right side. 00:32:47.500 |
And then whichever has the most traffic lights I try to avoid, 00:32:55.500 |
But that's just kind of how my brain's wired, 00:32:58.500 |
so everything I do, I try to get from point A to point B as fast as possible, 00:33:02.500 |
and the end result for all of that, I save 30 seconds, 00:33:09.500 |
Because oftentimes I'm not paying attention to how I'm getting there, 00:33:15.500 |
So I know there's a stereotype of men that don't ask directions, 00:33:21.500 |
Now we have GPS, so you just follow what the GPS says, 00:33:24.500 |
but a long time ago when we first got married, 00:33:29.500 |
She does whatever she gets caught up in, and she just pays full attention to that. 00:33:33.500 |
And she may have an appointment 10 minutes later, 00:33:35.500 |
and it's going to take her 30 minutes, but she doesn't realize until it's too late. 00:33:40.500 |
But the good thing about that is she's always paying attention 00:33:45.500 |
And so when she tells me to make a left turn, I just make a left turn. 00:33:50.500 |
Because I know that I don't pay attention to the road, 00:33:53.500 |
and so she's much better at how to get somewhere. 00:33:56.500 |
So if we're headed somewhere, and Esther wants to drive-- 00:34:00.500 |
That's why when I drive, my kids ask me not to drive 00:34:03.500 |
because I'm always herky-jerky in the car, and I don't know I'm doing that. 00:34:08.500 |
They say, "We don't want Daddy driving because if he drives, we're going to get car sick." 00:34:11.500 |
And in my mind, I'm thinking, like, "I'm not doing that," 00:34:19.500 |
Now I share all of that because some of you may be like me. 00:34:22.500 |
You can relate to me, or maybe you're married to somebody like me, 00:34:25.500 |
so you can relate to how my natural mind thinks. 00:34:29.500 |
Again, I don't do this on purpose. It just happens. 00:34:33.500 |
Now, there are certain things that this is good for. 00:34:42.500 |
So somebody like me is good at getting something done. 00:34:45.500 |
We started a project. It just needs to get done. 00:34:49.500 |
But that type of way of thinking and carrying things out 00:34:59.500 |
Because when it comes to people, people don't function like that. 00:35:02.500 |
We don't have timelines where you need to be this much maturity by this time, 00:35:07.500 |
and I'm going to get you to work and get you to get to this point 00:35:10.500 |
because then you start looking at people as projects. 00:35:13.500 |
And then if they don't meet up to that project, 00:35:15.500 |
and they don't get that goal, then we failed. 00:35:18.500 |
But that's not how it works, and you can't raise children that way. 00:35:21.500 |
You can say, "Oh, by one, they should be talking, or walking. 00:35:24.500 |
By two, they should be talking. By three, they should be reading." 00:35:27.500 |
And then when they don't meet those criteria, it's like, "Oh, we failed. 00:35:30.500 |
Something's going on. We need to send them to after-school program." 00:35:33.500 |
You're not going to be able to raise your children that way 00:35:36.500 |
because people have different patterns of growth. 00:35:40.500 |
When it comes to church, if we begin to apply-- 00:35:44.500 |
There are certain things that we can do like that, 00:35:46.500 |
but when we begin to apply and say, "Well, what is the end goal? 00:35:51.500 |
And if our end goal is God wants this church to grow, 00:35:57.500 |
then whatever means and the fastest way to get there 00:36:02.500 |
And that's basically what happened in our generation. 00:36:04.500 |
Whenever a church is planted, a goal has been set. 00:36:08.500 |
How do we get the most number of people fill these seats? 00:36:12.500 |
And so the movement has said, "How do we market it 00:36:15.500 |
so that we can get the point A, church plant, to point B, growth?" 00:36:20.500 |
And if it is growing, no matter what's happening in the church, 00:36:22.500 |
if it is growing, we're doing something right. 00:36:25.500 |
It is detrimental to the church because if you read Scripture, 00:36:30.500 |
God didn't set us a goal to meet, saying that if you are a brand-new Christian, 00:36:34.500 |
by the time you're 5 years old as a Christian, you should be doing this. 00:36:44.500 |
The Bible measures maturity by the means that we are taking 00:36:51.500 |
That's why you look at Scripture and you look at the Old Testament. 00:36:55.500 |
God tells them. He doesn't tell them, like, "I want you to get from here to point B. 00:36:59.500 |
You're in the desert. We need you to get here. 00:37:01.500 |
And the fastest route, you figure out how to get there." 00:37:05.500 |
He tells them, "When I tell you to get up, get up. 00:37:11.500 |
I tell you to touch this, you not to touch this, do exactly what I say." 00:37:17.500 |
They take a fortified city that they need to conquer. 00:37:21.500 |
And they take the general that has experience for 40 years leading the Israelites. 00:37:30.500 |
They walk in, and don't give him any instruction other than, 00:37:33.500 |
"Do not turn from my word to the left or to the right. 00:37:35.500 |
If you want to be successful, do exactly what I tell you to do." 00:37:38.500 |
And they say, "Well, what is it do you want me to do?" 00:37:50.500 |
Second day, circle. And the seventh day, run it around seven times." 00:38:02.500 |
If there is anything that they're trained to do is to carry this box and march, 00:38:14.500 |
because the end result was something he was going to do 00:38:20.500 |
We come to the New Testament, we find the exact same thing. 00:38:23.500 |
What God tells us, he didn't say, "Go conquer the world in my name." 00:38:28.500 |
He said, "Do not turn from my word. Do not add to it. Do not take away from it." 00:38:32.500 |
He says, "You will be my disciple when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." 00:38:36.500 |
And then he says in John 15, he says, "I am the vine. You are the branches." 00:38:40.500 |
"You cannot bear fruit unless you abide in me." 00:38:42.500 |
So the primary thing that he was teaching his disciples is, 00:38:46.500 |
"If you want to bear fruit, you need to abide in me." 00:38:53.500 |
So if our primary goal that God has called us to is his glory, 00:38:59.500 |
the primary means which God has given us to glorify God 00:39:04.500 |
is the teaching of the Word of God and to be devoted to prayer. 00:39:09.500 |
So no matter what you think, if you say, "You know what? We have this Christian. We want him to be here." 00:39:22.500 |
If somebody who wasn't doing this is doing this. 00:39:25.500 |
That's not how the Bible teaches us about discipleship. 00:39:29.500 |
Discipleship in the Scripture teaches us about committing to his means. 00:39:35.500 |
Not be committed to the goal and how do we get to that goal. 00:39:41.500 |
Because we don't know exactly where he's going to take us. 00:39:48.500 |
Maybe this means is going to lead you to jail. 00:39:50.500 |
Maybe this means is going to lead you to sickness. 00:39:52.500 |
Maybe this means is going to cause your church to shrink. 00:39:58.500 |
How he's orchestrating and putting the pieces together. 00:40:05.500 |
So the means, he said, do exactly what I say. 00:40:09.500 |
And when you abide in me, my words abide in you. 00:40:11.500 |
Ask whatever you wish, it shall be done for you. 00:40:17.500 |
He said, he's going to do it if you abide in my means. 00:40:23.500 |
As we are a church that has a reputation of being the word center. 00:40:27.500 |
We're nowhere near to that commitment when it comes to prayer. 00:40:34.500 |
And so I want to continue to stress and emphasize. 00:40:42.500 |
That this is the right direction for us to go. 00:40:44.500 |
That we need to continue to devote ourselves. 00:40:50.500 |
There has never, and I don't think that's an overstatement. 00:40:53.500 |
There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality. 00:41:14.500 |
Because God said, he will work when we are devoted to prayer. 00:41:18.500 |
So if there's anything that we need to be devoted to. 00:41:30.500 |
First and foremost, we need to be devoted to prayer. 00:41:33.500 |
No revival comes where there isn't a devotion to prayer. 00:41:40.500 |
Not just prayer so that we can say we did it. 00:41:45.500 |
There are so many books out there on the subject of prayer. 00:41:50.500 |
Anybody who writes books, eventually, if you're studying the Bible, you can't avoid it. 00:41:55.500 |
The Bible says you have to be devoted to prayer. 00:41:57.500 |
In every part of the Bible, Old Testament, New Testament, devoted to prayer. 00:42:00.500 |
So anybody who's Bible teaching will have to eventually write something about prayer. 00:42:16.500 |
If you're looking for a book, really committed to read a book on prayer, the one book that I really recommend is EM bounds, power through prayer. 00:42:27.500 |
And he's as thorough as you can get on this subject of prayer. 00:42:31.500 |
You don't have to read all of it, but there are certain sections. 00:42:34.500 |
And my favorite section in his book of prayer is power through prayer. 00:42:40.500 |
He basically challenges us about the power that comes through prayer. 00:42:44.500 |
How we tap into power, how God uses this power when we pray. 00:42:47.500 |
And here are some of the quotes that's in this book. 00:42:50.500 |
What the church needs today is not more machinery or better. 00:42:55.500 |
Not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use. 00:43:02.500 |
It sounds like he's talking about secret friendly movement today, but this was written many, many generations ago. 00:43:08.500 |
This was a constant challenge all throughout human history. 00:43:12.500 |
Even before the secret friendly movement that we become more reliant upon our resources and upon our strong effort and organization and know-how. 00:43:30.500 |
The Holy Ghost does not flow through the methods, but through men. 00:43:44.500 |
God's work and His mighty work doesn't happen because we figured out how to do church. 00:43:51.500 |
That we figured out a new method of how to disciple people. 00:43:56.500 |
He says the power in the church has always been when the Holy Spirit is ignited through devoted prayer. 00:44:03.500 |
The early church was not effective because they were better organized than we are today. 00:44:09.500 |
It's not because they are men who are more talented than today. 00:44:17.500 |
The early church has power because the Holy Spirit was ignited. 00:44:26.500 |
It was God who was spreading the gospel, not men. 00:44:28.500 |
It was God who was discipling people, not men. 00:44:31.500 |
It was when the Word of God got into people through the power of the Holy Spirit, 00:44:36.500 |
through men who were devoted to prayer, where the gospel exploded. 00:44:42.500 |
Again, another part of this book says, "Talking to men for God is a great thing. 00:44:53.500 |
We will never talk well and with real success to men for God who has not learned well how to talk to God for men." 00:45:02.500 |
To think that we are going to bring people to Christ through our strong effort is probably the biggest human arrogance. 00:45:13.500 |
We can get people to come to church who are lonely. 00:45:16.500 |
A sense of purpose. Come to church and have purpose. 00:45:19.500 |
Maybe people who want to be a part of a community. We can get them to come by our own effort. 00:45:26.500 |
If we have BBS and teach them morals and to obey their parents, we can get them to come. 00:45:30.500 |
We can fill this church with our own methods. 00:45:35.500 |
If the sermon is pleasing enough, if people are friendly enough, if the church is organized enough, 00:45:44.500 |
then we can get the church to come. We can get to the next level. 00:45:47.500 |
But to think to get a sinner to abandon his whole life to follow Christ by our method is human arrogance at the core. 00:45:57.500 |
Christ didn't ask us, the people who didn't go to church, to come to church. 00:46:03.500 |
The gospel isn't people who are lonely to come and be part of a community where you have a hard time raising children. 00:46:10.500 |
So to come, so we're going to help you raise your children. That's not the core message of the gospel. 00:46:15.500 |
The core message of the gospel is that the foolishness of being in a rat race in and of itself is to be abandoned for a new life in Christ. 00:46:27.500 |
A new life in Christ. All your ambition, all your desire, everything that you work for, all of that to be abandoned to find new life in Christ. 00:46:36.500 |
And he tells us where our natural knee-jerk reaction is, I want to be successful. 00:46:42.500 |
I want to retire at this age. I want to make this money. I want my children to have success. 00:46:46.500 |
I want to have this much in retirement. Our natural reaction is to pursue that. 00:46:49.500 |
And Christ says, no. He who follows me must deny himself and pick up his cross and follow me. 00:46:56.500 |
He who wants to live, he must first die. He who finds his life will lose it. 00:47:02.500 |
He who loses his life for my sake will find it. You're going to convince a sinner to do that by your method? 00:47:09.500 |
You're going to convince a sinner by organization, by hard work, by setting an example to them, 00:47:16.500 |
that by your example that somebody is going to give up their life to follow Christ in that way? No. 00:47:22.500 |
That's a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. 00:47:25.500 |
When the Word of God gets into somebody by the Spirit and the power of God. 00:47:30.500 |
And that's why he says you must be devoted to prayer. 00:47:34.500 |
Any human endeavor that has not begun with devoted prayer is human arrogance. 00:47:41.500 |
That I failed. I tried this method, it failed. So I'm going to try this other method. 00:47:45.500 |
I tried this and this isn't working. So maybe if we organize, if we taught differently, 00:47:50.500 |
if we did community differently, that somehow we're going to get the end result. 00:47:55.500 |
No. The first and the most important thing that God calls us to do is to pray. 00:48:02.500 |
The means in which God is going to be glorified is do not turn from the Word to the left or to the right 00:48:12.500 |
There's two things that this says and this is a simple message. 00:48:16.500 |
If devotion to prayer is this important, not point 1A, it's point 1, period, 00:48:24.500 |
co-equal with turning to the Word and to prayer. 00:48:29.500 |
See, if you are committed to the Word of God and not committed to devoted prayer, 00:48:34.500 |
it's kind of like, you know, today we live on the internet and we hear about what people said, right? 00:48:40.500 |
And we get bits and pieces of what they've said and then they're attacked based upon their words. 00:48:46.500 |
You know, in any courtroom, you could take pieces of things that they've said. 00:48:52.500 |
But in the courtroom, it doesn't just matter what they said, it matters what they meant. 00:49:01.500 |
So you can know the mind of God, the Word of God, and if you do not know the heart of God, you do not know God. 00:49:11.500 |
If you study the Word of God without being devoted to prayer, 00:49:15.500 |
you're nothing but a lawyer who is dissecting the Word of God and applying it in context 00:49:25.500 |
A man who is going to be an ambassador of Christ must know more than his word. 00:49:32.500 |
If I come to you and all I am is regurgitating things that I've seen, 00:49:38.500 |
let's say as an example, you know, I come to you and I'm sharing the Bible, sharing what the Word of God says. 00:49:44.500 |
The Bible says that if you don't repent, you're going to go to hell. 00:49:47.500 |
And so you need to come to Christ and hear some facts and you do with it what you do with it. 00:49:52.500 |
The Bible doesn't want people—God didn't call us to be regurgitators of information that we have received. 00:49:59.500 |
God called us to be his witness, to be his ambassadors. 00:50:04.500 |
The Bible says he is pleading with sinners to reconcile with this holy God. 00:50:11.500 |
You can understand the mind of God, but if you don't understand the heart of God, 00:50:21.500 |
You're just going to be dissecting information, disseminating information to people. 00:50:25.500 |
And you do with it what you do with it. A good ambassador understands the heart of God. 00:50:30.500 |
If we are not broken for sinners on our knees, we cannot be broken for sinners theologically. 00:50:36.500 |
Because God did not send people just to tell them, "I said this, so you say this to them." 00:50:44.500 |
We need to first and foremost be devoted in prayer so that we not only understand his Word, 00:50:54.500 |
So that gospel goes forth, not just in word, but in heart. 00:51:01.500 |
Where we plead with sinners to come to Christ. 00:51:05.500 |
See, when we're not praying, we're thinking theologically, and you have a big brain that is useless. 00:51:14.500 |
Because God didn't call us to be big brains. He called us to be his witness. 00:51:24.500 |
Two things that hinder us in prayer. One is not staying alert. 00:51:29.500 |
Not being sober. In NIV it's just translated to be awake. 00:51:34.500 |
Jesus pleads with his disciples to stay awake and pray in Matthew 26, 41, when he's at the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:51:41.500 |
To keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. 00:51:46.500 |
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. 00:51:50.500 |
Now, humanly speaking, how many of us would be awake? 00:51:54.500 |
We can read that and say, "Well, it's the middle of the night. They just had a Passover meal. It was a huge meal." 00:52:00.500 |
I know at church when we eat, it's just because we're used to eating buffets. 00:52:09.500 |
So they just had probably one of the biggest feasts of the year, and Jesus takes them to pray. 00:52:15.500 |
That was the worst time to pray, in the middle of the night? 00:52:18.500 |
And of course, Jesus was pleading. He comes back and he says, "Why couldn't you stay awake?" 00:52:26.500 |
Well, there's a clear reason why they didn't stay awake, because they didn't see the seriousness, the urgency of the situation. 00:52:34.500 |
Jesus was also a human being. I'm sure he was tired. 00:52:36.500 |
But the difference was Jesus knew what was coming next day. 00:52:40.500 |
Every single one of us, every single one of us, right? 00:52:45.500 |
Depending on what's in our head and in our heart, it'll cause us to sleep or not sleep. 00:52:51.500 |
Every time somebody gets married on Friday night, you have a hard time sleeping. 00:52:57.500 |
The husband and wife or the bride and groom usually shows up to the wedding with bloodshot eyes. 00:53:02.500 |
Why not? I mean, it's a big day tomorrow. You should sleep. 00:53:07.500 |
You should sleep. You're going to be tired. You should sleep. 00:53:09.500 |
But they can't sleep. Why not? Because a big day is coming. 00:53:14.500 |
Maybe when you're young, right? Maybe those of you who are not married, you can't relate to that. 00:53:18.500 |
But maybe when you're young, your parents promised you're going to go to Disneyland or Magic Mountain, 00:53:23.500 |
or you're going to take this trip, or something's coming, or you're going to get a brand new car. 00:53:28.500 |
Whatever it may be, you remember staying awake because something was happening the next day. 00:53:35.500 |
The disciples had no clue. They should have, but they didn't. 00:53:40.500 |
Jesus made it very clear. I'm going to get caught. I'm going to get beat. I'm going to die. 00:53:45.500 |
And I'm going to resurrect. And it's clear that they didn't understand. 00:53:49.500 |
Because when Jesus was, he gave himself, when he was crucified, they were confused. 00:53:55.500 |
And that's why there was no sense of urgency to stay awake. 00:54:00.500 |
Because they didn't understand. So the Bible pleads with us to be sober. 00:54:05.500 |
1 Peter 4, 7, "The end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." 00:54:14.500 |
In Luke 21, 34-36, it says, "Be on guard so that your heart will not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life. 00:54:23.500 |
And that day will not come upon you suddenly like a trap, for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of the earth. 00:54:34.500 |
You notice there's three things that he mentions. Not to be weighed down by dissipation. 00:54:41.500 |
If you have ongoing sin in your life, you're not going to be able to pray. 00:54:45.500 |
You're going to be weighed down. You're not going to be sober. He says, "Do not be weighed down by dissipation." 00:54:52.500 |
Drunkenness is not simply, drunkenness is with alcohol. Obviously that's included in that. 00:54:58.500 |
But drunkenness is where the consumption of the world has caused you to be consumed and to be tempted by the things of the world. 00:55:08.500 |
And so you are drunk with the world and then when you come to God, you don't know what to say because your mind is completely somewhere else. 00:55:16.500 |
When your mind and heart is headed toward another direction and then you come to God for prayer, 00:55:23.500 |
you're not able to pray because your mind and your words naturally reflect what's on your heart. 00:55:30.500 |
So you're not going to come to prayer and say, "Lord, give me a Lamborghini. Give me this. Give me that." 00:55:34.500 |
So you're trying to pray theologically correct while your mind and your heart is somewhere else. 00:55:42.500 |
When you're not sober, you can't pray. You can put in the time to pray. You can check off and say the things. 00:55:49.500 |
But true, effective prayer where we're coming and pleading for His will to be done, you cannot pray effectively when we're not sober. 00:55:59.500 |
You cannot be weighed down by dissipation or drunkenness and simply the worries of life. 00:56:05.500 |
Worries of life. And the greatest deception of the worries of life are not sinful. 00:56:13.500 |
I'm just trying to be a good dad. I'm just trying to be a good mom. 00:56:18.500 |
I was never tempted with money because I thought I committed my life to Christ and I'm going to do homeless ministry. 00:56:23.500 |
So money was not something that I was pursuing until I had a kid. 00:56:29.500 |
All of a sudden, all of a sudden, I wished I had money that I never thought about before. 00:56:35.500 |
Driving my kid in a car with no air conditioning in the middle of summer and seeing him sweat and seeing other parents and getting their life escalates 00:56:43.500 |
and going to the mall and buying stuff that they want for the kids. 00:56:47.500 |
And for the first time, I was tempted. I wish I had more money. 00:56:53.500 |
See, the things that weigh us down oftentimes are not sinful. 00:56:59.500 |
You say, well, it's for my kids. But every stage of your life, there is something that you say, well, I'm just trying to get a good job. 00:57:08.500 |
I'm just trying to get married. I'm just trying to have kids. I'm just trying to raise my kids. 00:57:12.500 |
I'm just trying to get them to the next level. I'm just trying to make sure that they're taken care of. 00:57:16.500 |
I'm just trying to prepare for retirement. I'm just trying to finish well. What's wrong with that? 00:57:22.500 |
Right. There's nothing wrong with that, except if that's your primary pursuit. 00:57:29.500 |
Our greatest distraction are not evil things. It's just that it's not meant to be our first love. 00:57:38.500 |
He says, do not be weighed down with that, but keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things. 00:57:44.500 |
First Peter 1, 13, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit. 00:57:49.500 |
Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 00:57:58.500 |
See, our urgency to plead with the Lord is directly linked to our prayer life. 00:58:10.500 |
You cannot, you know, Martin Lloyd-Jones, probably one of my best favorite sermons on this subject, 00:58:16.500 |
basically says that one of the most difficult things to do is to pray. 00:58:21.500 |
It's the most simplest thing to do. You know, starting the Word of God, you need to dissect, ask questions, 00:58:25.500 |
and look at the context, and understand the Greek, and the different theology, the systematic things. 00:58:30.500 |
Well, studying the Bible is harder. I said, no. 00:58:33.500 |
Praying is the hardest discipline because you cannot do it casually. 00:58:38.500 |
You cannot casually be entangled with this world and all of a sudden think you're going to have this prayer life. 00:58:45.500 |
See, an individual who is not sober and pursuing and living each day, pursuing their own flesh, 00:58:51.500 |
is not going to be able to come before God and plead for the things of God. 00:58:57.500 |
I mean, imagine, you know, maybe some of you guys have experienced piano lessons, and you hated it. 00:59:05.500 |
And then you come to your mom sarcastically, "Please, mom, can I practice more?" 00:59:12.500 |
Because you know that that's what she wants to hear. 00:59:15.500 |
"Please, mom, can I stay longer and practice more? Two hours is not enough, four hours." 00:59:21.500 |
And the only reason why you're saying that is because you think that's what your mom or your dad wants to hear. 00:59:26.500 |
It's not a sincere plea. It goes against everything in the fiber of your being. 00:59:33.500 |
You want to quit. You don't want to practice. You want this to give up. 00:59:36.500 |
You want her to change her mind so that she doesn't. 00:59:40.500 |
But the only reason why you say it is because you know that's what she wants to hear. 00:59:46.500 |
Much of our prayer when we're not sober and we are weighed down by the things of this world 00:59:52.500 |
is coming to God pleading for things that we do not want. 00:59:59.500 |
"Your will be done." What if his will is pack up your bags and go overseas? 01:00:12.500 |
What if his will is for my children not to be taken care of? 01:00:20.500 |
So say, "Lord, your will be done, but not really." 01:00:25.500 |
"Your kingdom come," this aspect, that aspect, but not this one. 01:00:30.500 |
"On earth as it is in heaven, not completely though." 01:00:44.500 |
So you can study the Bible. You can come to church. You can even become a leader. 01:00:53.500 |
But you cannot pray until you are surrendered, until you are sober. 01:01:00.500 |
Because you are standing and praying and kneeling before a holy God who knows all things. 01:01:14.500 |
You know, second reason why he says that we need to pray, 01:01:19.500 |
he calls his disciples to pray, is because your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak. 01:01:26.500 |
He knew what was going to happen to the disciples. 01:01:29.500 |
When Peter says in Luke chapter 22, 31-34, he says, "Satan has asked permission to sift you like wheat." 01:01:35.500 |
"But I pray that your faith will not fail you." 01:01:51.500 |
Matthew, tax collector? That guy is going to turn back. 01:02:14.500 |
That's one thing about Peter that I appreciate. 01:02:17.500 |
Even though he fails more than anybody else, at least the record of his failure is more obvious to us than anybody else, 01:02:25.500 |
So when, at the Garden of Gethsemane, the temple guards came to get him, 01:02:30.500 |
we're not talking about just a handful of people, it's a small army that came to get him. 01:02:34.500 |
Peter took out his knife and was ready to fight. 01:02:37.500 |
But the reason why he started getting scared is because he didn't understand why did Jesus give himself up. 01:02:42.500 |
He trusted. I mean, he walks on water, he calms the storm, he feeds 5,000. 01:02:49.500 |
So as long as I'm on his side, I can fight. He's going to do something. 01:02:52.500 |
But when Jesus gave himself up, his paradigm shifted and I don't get him. 01:03:00.500 |
And then when fear crept in and it was left to his flesh, he cowered and he denied Christ three times. 01:03:16.500 |
No matter how determined you are, no matter how smart, no matter how much experience you have, 01:03:21.500 |
no matter how much knowledge that you think you have, no matter how much success you've had in the past, 01:03:25.500 |
all of that, all of that becomes your Achilles heel because it's filled your head with pride. 01:03:35.500 |
The worst thing that can happen to a Christian is to experience some level of success without humbling ourselves to pray. 01:03:45.500 |
Because the natural thing that happens to every one of us, as soon as we make a little money, 01:03:50.500 |
as soon as we have a little bit of success, as soon as we bear a little fruit, 01:03:58.500 |
And how can I repeat that? And how can I tell other people to do the same? 01:04:05.500 |
The greatest hindrance to our spiritual growth is pride. 01:04:09.500 |
And as soon as a little bit of pride gets in, we are ruined. 01:04:15.500 |
And that's why he says, "To pray, if my people humble themselves and pray, 01:04:22.500 |
so that when God answers prayer, we know he did it." 01:04:27.500 |
Not because of effective preaching, not because of organization, not because of strong willpower or discipline, 01:04:35.500 |
not because of some method, not because of some organization, not because of rich donors, 01:04:41.500 |
not because of location, because God had mercy on us. 01:04:52.500 |
"You may be willing," he says, "but your flesh is weak." 01:04:57.500 |
In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 01:05:03.500 |
The second thing that he tells us is not that we need to be thankful. 01:05:12.500 |
A grumbling spirit, a grumbling spirit directly affects the way we pray. 01:05:21.500 |
In Hebrews 13, 15, it says, "Through him, then, let us continually offer up sacrifice of praise to God. 01:05:26.500 |
That is the fruit of the lips that give thanks to him." 01:05:30.500 |
Fruit of our salvation is lips that give thanks to his name. 01:05:40.500 |
The fruit of our salvation is not simply hard work. 01:05:46.500 |
The fruit of our salvation is not simply point A to point B. 01:06:01.500 |
How much time do we spend complaining about not getting from point A to point B? 01:06:10.500 |
When God never, we don't know what the point B looks like. 01:06:16.500 |
Point B is we don't know where God has taken us. 01:06:21.500 |
I could be as faithful as possible, preach the word of God, and be devoted to prayer, and all of you leave one day. 01:06:39.500 |
The people who suffered the most were the most faithful. 01:06:47.500 |
The people who were the most persecuted were the most faithful. 01:06:52.500 |
It's not the most faithful who had the greatest churches. 01:06:54.500 |
It's not the most faithful who had the biggest churches. 01:06:59.500 |
Look at church history. The ones who were the most faithful suffered the most. 01:07:09.500 |
If our thankfulness is contingent upon our circumstance and what we are surrounded by, you will always have a reason to grumble. 01:07:28.500 |
I don't want you guys to be offended by this. 01:07:35.500 |
Some of you are very good looking, which means some of you are not. 01:07:45.500 |
Some of you think, "Oh, yeah, he talked about me." 01:07:57.500 |
I mean, for some reason, it's not politically correct to say what we observe. 01:08:41.500 |
Some of you guys come from very wealthy homes. 01:08:44.500 |
You get married and you got a house the first day you're married. 01:08:48.500 |
Some of you guys are barely able to pay for the wedding. 01:08:54.500 |
Some of you guys got into great colleges and some of you guys couldn't. 01:08:58.500 |
Some of you guys have great jobs, paying your money. 01:09:12.500 |
If you want reasons to grumble, we have plenty. 01:09:29.500 |
If you want to grumble, I can give you a long list of things that you probably have already in your heart. 01:09:46.500 |
But remember, as Christians, all that grumbling is happening in the context of God sending His only begotten Son. 01:09:59.500 |
All that grumbling and complaining of what you don't have is in the context of the Son of God absorbing your filth upon Himself. 01:10:11.500 |
The punishment that you and I deserve, He, this holy, holy, magnificent, beautiful God, chose to give His only begotten Son 01:10:20.500 |
and soak up our sins so that we can have this eternal hope no matter how ugly this world becomes. 01:10:29.500 |
At the end of all of this, we have eternity with Him. 01:10:32.500 |
So our complaining about whatever it is we're complaining about is within the context of what we have in Christ. 01:10:41.500 |
So if you choose to be a grumbler, you choose to be a complainer, it's within that context. 01:10:50.500 |
And maybe some of you think your grumbling is righteous. 01:10:54.500 |
Maybe some of you think your complaining is holy. 01:10:59.500 |
When He says, "Be thankful in all things," He didn't give a contingency. 01:11:06.500 |
Because what God desires more than anything else in our lives is what? 01:11:14.500 |
And the reason why He says, "Do all things without grumbling," is because you cannot worship and grumble at the same time. 01:11:20.500 |
You cannot. You cannot come and say, "God, You are so wonderful. You are so great. I don't deserve any of this." 01:11:27.500 |
You cannot be saying that and at the same time, "But why did You make me like this? 01:11:33.500 |
Why did You put me in this circumstance? Why are these people who are around me like this?" 01:11:37.500 |
That's not worship. You cannot worship God. It's impossible. 01:11:43.500 |
So a spiritual and mature person is not somebody who has figured out the fastest path to get from point A to point B. 01:11:53.500 |
The most mature person is the person who has seen the beauty of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 01:11:59.500 |
And the rest of his life, he lives in praising God. 01:12:03.500 |
And that's why He says, "If you're not sober, and if you're not thankful in your heart for what you already have in Christ, you cannot pray." 01:12:14.500 |
Because fundamentally, your attitude toward God is off. 01:12:19.500 |
Fundamentally, what God desires of us more than anything else in our life is for us to praise His name for what He has done. 01:12:27.500 |
Because what has happened, what is the core problem of mankind because of our sins is we fell short of the glory of God. 01:12:40.500 |
So the primary work of taking away our sin is to behold His glory and to worship Him for eternity. 01:12:51.500 |
And the only reason why we look forward to eternity is because we are so enamored with Him today that we want more of it in eternity. 01:13:00.500 |
God did not call us because He needed us to do His job. 01:13:07.500 |
And He's not asking us to do this because He lacked money, He lacked resources. 01:13:25.500 |
First and foremost, God calls us to be prayerful, to be devoted to pray. 01:13:30.500 |
Because we believe Romans 8.28, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good. 01:13:35.500 |
To those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 01:13:46.500 |
Because the root of grumbling is something went wrong. 01:13:50.500 |
Something isn't right. The root of grumbling. 01:13:53.500 |
But we recognize if we spend all our time on things that we cannot control, we have to recognize that God is in control. 01:14:02.500 |
And God works all together, even the things that we don't understand. 01:14:07.500 |
So as a result of that, we give Him praise for good and what we perceive to be bad. 01:14:25.500 |
So the most important thing that we need to do in this church is to praise God. 01:14:45.500 |
Not to turn left because that's the fastest path. 01:14:49.500 |
This is the quickest path. It has the best roads. No. 01:14:54.500 |
What God desires is while you're in that car, that you're praising Him. 01:15:00.500 |
Whether you show up 30 minutes late, 10 minutes late, but that you're praising Him. 01:15:07.500 |
You know, last week, the ttukguk thing could have been a disaster. 01:15:11.500 |
And maybe some of you guys would say, "Oh, it didn't taste. I had some ttukguk down the street and it was way better than this." 01:15:19.500 |
So if you have a discontent spirit, you're going to find something wrong. 01:15:29.500 |
But I was anxious for her because there's a potential for this to be a disaster. 01:15:34.500 |
And I wasn't concerned about you necessarily. 01:15:37.500 |
Because there's always some people who's going to point out, "That flavor is not right. It's not enough salt. The ttuk was not..." 01:15:43.500 |
There's always going to be somebody. So I expect some of that. 01:15:48.500 |
My concern was not for you. That, "Oh, you're not going to like it." 01:15:51.500 |
I can give you the best ttukguk and I know there's going to be some grumbling. 01:15:55.500 |
I was really more concerned for her that at the end of this, she's going, "I'm never going to do this again." 01:16:00.500 |
You know? It's like, "Ah, man, I was here all week. Nobody came to help out." 01:16:07.500 |
And some people mentioned something, you know, "After all the effort and sacrifice you made, somebody said the ttuk wasn't soft enough." 01:16:15.500 |
That's what I was concerned about at the end of it. 01:16:18.500 |
That's why I kept on checking, "Are you okay? Do you need help? Are you okay? Do you need help?" 01:16:24.500 |
First of all, so many people actually volunteered and helped. 01:16:28.500 |
But at the end of the day, she was praising God. 01:16:32.500 |
So many people helped out. And in my mind, it's like, "I don't know if that many people helped." 01:16:47.500 |
What we ate was fellowship, was praise, encouragement. 01:16:54.500 |
It doesn't matter how the ttuk tasted. It built the church. 01:16:58.500 |
What God wants from us is praise, was worship. 01:17:04.500 |
And that's why it says, "You cannot be effectively devoted to praying if you're constantly rumbling about something." 01:17:14.500 |
We need to be a church that is devoted to praying. 01:17:20.500 |
That we need to be the proper ambassadors of Christ, understanding His mind and His heart, 01:17:26.500 |
so that the primary thing that the world is missing— 01:17:31.500 |
You say, "Oh, you know, like fellowship." That's what they're missing. 01:17:38.500 |
We need to give them purpose. That's not what they're missing. 01:17:41.500 |
The primary thing that they're missing is God and fellowship with God. 01:17:48.500 |
God created us not to be worshiped, but to be worshipers. 01:17:52.500 |
And when we feel alive is when we are worshiping the most. 01:17:57.500 |
What's going to bring non-Christians to the church is not well-behaved people. 01:18:07.500 |
"Oh, you know, these people are so moral." "Oh, they're so moral over here." 01:18:16.500 |
People are not attracted just because you behave better. 01:18:22.500 |
In fact, some of the most miserable people to be around are people who are proper about everything. 01:18:34.500 |
People who, like, it just, you just feed off of their energy. 01:18:39.500 |
You just love being around them. It's not simply because they're proper. 01:18:47.500 |
They love Christ with all our brokenness, with all our failures, with all our weakness. 01:18:52.500 |
They fell in love with Christ, and they want you to fall in love with Christ, too. 01:18:57.500 |
And it's just enjoyable to be around people like that. 01:19:00.500 |
Because you come out of that fellowship wanting to know Christ, too. 01:19:12.500 |
But doing better comes as a result of praising God, first and foremost. 01:19:19.500 |
So this year, as we devote ourselves to pray, I want to give you some practical things to be devoted. 01:19:27.500 |
So I don't want you to be like, "Yes, we need to be devoted to pray." 01:19:34.500 |
As corporately, what we're going to do is we're going to re-implement prayer and fasting in our church. 01:19:40.500 |
And this is something that we used to do a year ago, and it kind of fizzled out, and we want to reintroduce that. 01:19:44.500 |
And so we're going to talk more about that at our members meeting, how that's going to be implemented. 01:19:51.500 |
And we're looking into more ways to get you to pray. 01:19:56.500 |
I've identified a room that we can turn into a prayer room that you can access whenever you want. 01:20:04.500 |
We'll give you a code to get in, and if you want to come, even if we're not here. 01:20:08.500 |
We're trying to build a room, at least, whether it's used or not, we want to at least dedicate a room for that. 01:20:13.500 |
So if you come to church and just you want to go to that room and pray, we're going to have that. 01:20:17.500 |
So there are some things that we're working on corporately. 01:20:24.500 |
So I want to give you some practical things to take as we wrap up this morning. 01:20:33.500 |
If you make an application and said, "I want to be a better Christian," well, what does that mean? 01:20:38.500 |
Anybody here who doesn't want to be a better Christian? 01:20:40.500 |
Raise your hand if you don't want to be a better Christian. 01:20:44.500 |
You came into this room determined not to be a better Christian. 01:20:59.500 |
But if that's where we end, you're not going to apply it. 01:21:03.500 |
So the question is, you've got to go to the next step. 01:21:08.500 |
So determine when and where you're going to pray. 01:21:12.500 |
If you just say, "I'm going to pray," you're not going to pray. 01:21:14.500 |
You have to first determine right on paper when is this going to happen. 01:21:22.500 |
Don't say, "You know, after I take care of all this and kids are down and we wash them 01:21:26.500 |
and then, you know, when you're dead tired, you have like 15, 30 minutes before you pass out, 01:21:33.500 |
It's like, that's exactly what you're going to do. 01:21:42.500 |
You say, "Oh, when we're most alert, I've got to take care of this job. 01:21:46.500 |
Well, devoting yourself to pray means that that time belongs to God. 01:21:51.500 |
Do it when that's – and then you can take care of other stuff. 01:21:58.500 |
So if you're a morning person, wake up a little bit earlier. 01:22:01.500 |
If you're always with people, how can you break away from that? 01:22:09.500 |
I know some people say, "I pray when I'm driving." 01:22:13.500 |
It's like, I'm not saying that that's not prayer, but you're not devoted to prayer when you do that 01:22:20.500 |
I pray when I'm driving because I've got to figure out the fastest path to go home. 01:22:26.500 |
You're not effectively praying when you're just praying casually. 01:22:37.500 |
So if you have to go to work at 5 and then you get up and, you know, I'm going to pray from 425 to 430. 01:22:45.500 |
When you don't have time or you're busy or in between. 01:22:48.500 |
You know, I have lunch and I have an appointment at 1, I have an appointment at 12, and I'm going to pray, you know, 20 minutes in between. 01:22:53.500 |
It's like, I'm not saying that you can't do that, but you're going to be rushed. 01:22:58.500 |
So commit yourself to a time when you have time to pray. 01:23:11.500 |
You're not going to watch series on Netflix like three in a row and say, OK, let's pray. 01:23:25.500 |
There's plenty of books that you can read on prayer. 01:23:27.500 |
We'll give you some suggestions so you can pray. 01:23:29.500 |
Read articles, hear sermons on the subject of prayer where your heart is being ready for prayer. 01:23:38.500 |
If your mind tends to wander and you have a hard time, so sit down and say, these are the things I need to pray for, 01:23:42.500 |
so that if your mind begins to wander, you can look at that list and that will kind of take you through. 01:23:47.500 |
And make sure that your mind and your heart is engaged in prayer and you have enough time to pray when you're not distracted 01:23:55.500 |
and you have a devoted time of praying, and then find other people to pray with. 01:24:01.500 |
Especially if you're not used to the discipline of prayer, it helps tremendously to pray with people. 01:24:08.500 |
Pray with especially somebody you think is very good at that. 01:24:12.500 |
So if you're not used to praying, even five minutes, you'll probably check in your watch every 30 seconds. 01:24:19.500 |
But if you pray with a prayer warrior, 10, 20, an hour could go by and you feed off the energy of the other person. 01:24:27.500 |
So even if that's not the case, find somebody to pray with. 01:24:32.500 |
And so to be devoted to prayer isn't simply wanting to pray. 01:24:40.500 |
You have to get yourself so that you can pray. 01:24:43.500 |
So we're hoping that at the end of this year, not just what we're doing in leadership, but as a church, 01:24:51.500 |
that we would recognize how important this is. 01:24:53.500 |
And if we don't make progress, we're going to keep pushing this direction. 01:24:59.500 |
And as I said, we've emphasized the Word of God to the extent that this is our weakness. 01:25:10.500 |
It wasn't because we haven't been busy in the Lord's work, but we've been busy and we've kind of got lopsided. 01:25:17.500 |
And this is not just one of many important things. 01:25:23.500 |
If our church continues to grow and seemingly bear fruit without being devoted to prayer, 01:25:33.500 |
Because if God loves us, he will discipline us to make sure that we know that this is not our work. 01:26:03.500 |
You know our blind spots, Lord God, better than we do. 01:26:10.500 |
Not just to pray, not just to begin in prayer and end in prayer, 01:26:15.500 |
but be devoted to prayer as we are devoted to your Word. 01:26:19.500 |
Individually, corporately, whether we are brand new Christians or we've been walking with you for many years, 01:26:25.500 |
whether we are disciplined in prayer or whether we are just beginning, 01:26:30.500 |
help us, Lord God, to continue to deepen our time with you, 01:26:35.500 |
that we would not simply understand your mind, but your very heart. 01:26:40.500 |
Help us to understand how you plead with us to plead on the behalf of the lost. 01:26:51.500 |
As Christ reminded his disciples as he saw the multitudes, there are sheep without shepherds, 01:27:00.500 |
how the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 01:27:04.500 |
But as you called us to plead, plead to you to send out more workers, 01:27:11.500 |
that before we raise workers, before we develop workers, 01:27:16.500 |
that we would be devoted to pray, urging, Father God, that you to send more workers. 01:27:22.500 |
So for that end, we pray that 2023, that you would push us, guide us, rebuke us, 01:27:28.500 |
and establish us so that we would be a household of prayer. 01:28:12.500 |
Your glorious cause, O God, engages our hearts. 01:28:29.500 |
We ask not for ourselves, but for your renown. 01:28:37.500 |
The cross has saved us, so we pray, your kingdom come. 01:28:52.500 |
Let your will be done, so that everyone might know your name. 01:29:31.500 |
Give us your strength, O God, encourage to speak. 01:29:39.500 |
Perform your wondrous deeds through those who are weak. 01:29:48.500 |
Lord, use us as you would, whatever the test. 01:29:56.500 |
By grace we'll preach your gospel to our dying breath. 01:30:11.500 |
Let your will be done, so that everyone might know your name. 01:30:45.500 |
Let your will be done, so that everyone might know your name. 01:31:40.500 |
It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. 01:31:43.500 |
We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. 01:31:46.500 |
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. 01:31:55.500 |
His loving kindness is everlasting and his faithfulness to all generation. 01:32:02.500 |
I pray, Father God, that you would fill our hearts with thankfulness and joyfulness and praise. 01:32:08.500 |
That our praise in your name would not stop with these walls. 01:32:20.500 |
That we would adore you, love you, proclaim you wherever we go. 01:32:26.500 |
May Christ and his name and his glory be magnified this week. 01:33:07.500 |
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. 01:33:51.500 |
And life is worth the living just because he lives.