back to indexBerean Community Church Praise & Prayer Night - 5/9/2025
00:12:07.000 |
and this is a time that's dedicated to singing worship to God 00:12:11.000 |
and coming together to pray with him, pray to him together. 00:12:20.000 |
I'll give us a short moment to pray before I open up in prayer 00:12:44.000 |
"Praise Him, highest heavens and the waters that are above the heavens. 00:12:52.000 |
"He has also established them forever and ever. 00:12:55.000 |
"He has made a decree which will not pass away. 00:12:58.000 |
"Praise the Lord from the earth, sea monsters and all deeps, 00:13:02.000 |
"fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy wind fulfilling His word, 00:13:06.000 |
"mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, 00:13:09.000 |
"beasts and all cattle, creeping things and winged fowl, 00:13:14.000 |
"princes and all judges of the earth, both young men and virgins, 00:13:19.000 |
"Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted. 00:13:29.000 |
"even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. 00:13:34.000 |
I hope that we can sing genuine and honest praise to God 00:13:47.000 |
So I'll give you just a minute to pray on your own, 00:14:44.000 |
Father, we know that all creation declares Your glory. 00:14:59.000 |
We know, God, that all created things point to You. 00:15:09.000 |
But tonight, God, I pray that we would be true believers 00:15:25.000 |
Father, for those of us who have been near to You 00:15:30.000 |
I pray, Lord, that we would come and we would worship You 00:15:42.000 |
with our songs, with our music, with our prayers, 00:15:54.000 |
as we come before our Lord and sing these two hymns. 00:24:17.000 |
If we can go back to the chorus of that last song that we just sang, 00:24:25.000 |
And it says, "So I'll cherish the old rugged cross 00:24:37.000 |
And many times we are at risk of just singing words. 00:24:42.000 |
And we recognize that even this part of the chorus, 00:24:45.000 |
when we look at it, we can say with our words very easily 00:24:51.000 |
but it's our lives and our decisions that we make 00:24:56.000 |
that will actually tell where we are currently. 00:25:11.000 |
And so I wanted to bring attention back to it, 00:25:14.000 |
where it says here, "Till my trophies at last I lay down." 00:25:22.000 |
and we're rejecting the trophies that we once counted as our gain. 00:25:28.000 |
And it says, "I will cling to the old rugged cross 00:25:33.000 |
And so we're going to be looking at Philippians 3:1-16 today. 00:25:57.000 |
It says, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. 00:26:00.000 |
To write the same things again is no trouble to me, 00:26:12.000 |
It's a command that's given for us to rejoice. 00:26:16.000 |
Whenever we come across a command in Scripture, 00:26:22.000 |
is to know that there is a reason for that command. 00:26:27.000 |
And so it takes a little bit of evaluation and thought for us 00:26:32.000 |
Why is it that he's commanding us to rejoice? 00:26:38.000 |
One reason why he might be commanding us to rejoice 00:26:40.000 |
is because there's great temptation for us to not be joyful. 00:26:44.000 |
We could be coming here with great ingratitude 00:26:48.000 |
or grumbling or complaints, difficulties, tiredness, 00:27:03.000 |
And if we are not, the command is here for us 00:27:07.000 |
where it says, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord." 00:27:14.000 |
because he's been talking about rejoicing all book long. 00:27:18.000 |
It didn't have to do with your circumstances. 00:27:20.000 |
It doesn't have to do with all the things going on around. 00:27:25.000 |
because there is a temptation for us not to be joyful. 00:27:38.000 |
Are we filled with things that are causing us to not be joyful? 00:27:44.000 |
And that would say that something about our sight has gone awry. 00:27:48.000 |
Another reason why the command to rejoice might be there 00:27:51.000 |
is because of the hardships and difficulties in our lives. 00:27:54.000 |
In James 1, he says, "Count it all joy, my brethren, 00:27:57.000 |
when all these difficulties are coming into our lives." 00:28:01.000 |
And he says it in the midst of these hardships and trials. 00:28:05.000 |
And so that command is there because our trials and our hardships 00:28:12.000 |
But even then, we're called to come with great joy. 00:28:17.000 |
I feel like when we come into church settings, 00:28:27.000 |
Regardless of what's been going on in our lives, 00:28:34.000 |
even if things have been difficult in our lives, 00:28:39.000 |
A third reason why he might command us to rejoice 00:28:42.000 |
is because perhaps there's apathy or jadedness in us. 00:28:52.000 |
We feel like we're just kind of going through the motions. 00:28:59.000 |
To say the same thing to you is no trouble for me. 00:29:03.000 |
And a fourth one is there might be a temptation 00:29:13.000 |
We might be rejoicing in the things that the world has given. 00:29:20.000 |
We're happy today because things are going well, 00:29:23.000 |
because I feel like I got up on the right side of the bed this morning. 00:29:29.000 |
But he says, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. 00:29:32.000 |
To write the same things again is no trouble to me." 00:29:41.000 |
That command to rejoice is a safeguard to our souls, to our hearts. 00:30:01.000 |
God instructs us to think upon the things which are good, noble, right, pure, 00:30:04.000 |
lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. 00:30:07.000 |
To think upon these things that will cause us to be able to be people who rejoice. 00:30:16.000 |
This kind of rejoicing is going to protect us. 00:30:24.000 |
And then he continues in Philippians 3, verse 2, 00:30:26.000 |
"Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, 00:30:30.000 |
For we are the true circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God 00:30:33.000 |
and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. 00:30:36.000 |
Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, 00:30:39.000 |
if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I have far more. 00:30:42.000 |
Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, 00:30:45.000 |
of the tribe of Benjamin, the Hebrew of Hebrews, 00:30:47.000 |
as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal of persecutor of the church, 00:30:50.000 |
as to the righteousness which is in the law found blameless." 00:30:54.000 |
And so from this command, rejoice, he says, be careful, beware, 00:31:22.000 |
And not just rejoicing, but rejoicing in the Lord. 00:31:34.000 |
And he says here, don't take joy in the things of this world, 00:31:38.000 |
don't take joy on the things that are flippant and passing. 00:32:07.000 |
And so our joy doesn't shake, our joy doesn't move. 00:32:15.000 |
Now if you look, how many times does Paul repeat this? 00:32:26.000 |
He says, "Stop looking at these false things around." 00:32:29.000 |
Many times it's not even a conscious effort that we make, 00:32:32.000 |
we're surrounded by a world that's preaching these things to us. 00:32:37.000 |
Surrounded by a world that's causing us to take our eyes off of God, 00:32:42.000 |
and to say, "You can rejoice in the things that this world has to offer." 00:32:46.000 |
And he says, "Beware of these things, place your joy only in the Lord." 00:33:10.000 |
And in all of that, he begins to list it out. 00:33:18.000 |
These things that he's listing out are the things that he used to glory in, 00:33:24.000 |
These were the things he used to meditate upon. 00:33:30.000 |
He would strategically plan how he could advance in these things. 00:33:42.000 |
And moving on to Philippians 3, verse 7, it says, he continues, 00:33:48.000 |
So he completely pivots away from the things that he used to glory in, 00:33:59.000 |
those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 00:34:02.000 |
More than that, I count all things to be loss 00:34:04.000 |
in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, 00:34:07.000 |
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, 00:34:09.000 |
and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ. 00:34:12.000 |
I may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own 00:34:14.000 |
derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, 00:34:17.000 |
the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 00:34:20.000 |
that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, 00:34:23.000 |
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, 00:34:26.000 |
in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." 00:34:29.000 |
Now I know these are big chunks, and I'm going to give you time 00:34:35.000 |
But the basic things here is that he has rejected, 00:34:38.000 |
he is no longer rejoicing in, meditating upon, 00:34:41.000 |
placing his heart on the things that he used to once do that on. 00:34:47.000 |
A big turning point has happened in his life. 00:34:51.000 |
And there are two things that Paul, he places on a ledger, 00:34:59.000 |
Everything that he used to count, gain, he puts on one side, 00:35:05.000 |
All his confidences, all the things he used to meditate on, 00:35:09.000 |
glory in, love, think about, go after, pursue, invest in, 00:35:14.000 |
everything that he could possibly pile up on one side, 00:35:35.000 |
It's not even much of a struggle when you look at it. 00:35:45.000 |
We sing that song because we're clinging to an old rugged cross, 00:35:51.000 |
but that old rugged cross is like a symbol of doom, 00:36:15.000 |
And we put our joy on the only one who can handle the weight of our worship. 00:36:33.000 |
He counts the things he once saw as gain, and what happens? 00:36:43.000 |
And the third time he says he counts all things not just as loss but as rubbish. 00:37:05.000 |
So he says all things, now I consider it as rubbish, as dung. 00:37:10.000 |
Compared to, and here's the point, the ledger. 00:37:17.000 |
The point he is making is not simply to hate the things of this world. 00:37:21.000 |
The point he's making is that we have encountered a Christ who is infinitely more beautiful 00:37:27.000 |
and of greater worth than anything he has come across. 00:37:33.000 |
Compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ my Lord. 00:37:48.000 |
Something bigger, better, greater, of more infinite worth. 00:37:56.000 |
In Matthew 13.44, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field which a man found and hid again." 00:38:04.000 |
From joy over it he goes and sells all that he has. 00:38:13.000 |
It is not in sadness like the rich young ruler who hangs his head and walks away from Christ. 00:38:18.000 |
Who thinks about all the things I must give up. 00:38:21.000 |
It is because I have found a Christ who is far better. 00:38:28.000 |
Have you walked into this building tonight with that kind of joy? 00:38:43.000 |
This passage to just conclude what we're looking at today. 00:38:47.000 |
Philippians 3.12, "Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." 00:38:57.000 |
Brethren, I do not regard as having laid hold of it yet. 00:39:00.000 |
But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. 00:39:04.000 |
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God and Christ Jesus. 00:39:09.000 |
Let us therefore as many as are perfect have this attitude. 00:39:12.000 |
And if anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. 00:39:19.000 |
Have this attitude, if our attitude is different from that which is written here in Scripture, God to reveal that to us. 00:39:30.000 |
However, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. 00:39:35.000 |
Paul is saying here in this part that he knows he's a work in progress. 00:39:42.000 |
There is a weakness that we are beset in the flesh. 00:39:48.000 |
But he believes what he wrote in the beginning of the book of Philippians. 00:39:51.000 |
"For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." 00:39:59.000 |
So what that means is we do not need to come and try to pursue Christ because we feel guilty. 00:40:07.000 |
We need to ask God to open our eyes to see him. 00:40:12.000 |
So that our response would be one that is filled, yes, with the mortification of the flesh. 00:40:37.000 |
And I hope that we can battle tonight together in prayer. 00:40:45.000 |
And in just a moment, we're going to turn the lights on. 00:40:48.000 |
And Avey will turn on some music so that we can just kind of work on this for about 10 minutes. 00:40:54.000 |
And after those 10 minutes are done, it's just going through Philippians 3, 1 through 16. 00:40:59.000 |
You don't need to do it all if you don't want to. 00:41:05.000 |
That before we just sit down and start praying, and that we kind of just jump into it. 00:41:09.000 |
That the word of God will kind of pull us apart a little bit. 00:41:13.000 |
And that we would evaluate where we truly are. 00:41:15.000 |
Because God doesn't want us to come and just cover over all the things that are in our heart. 00:41:21.000 |
He wants these things to be exposed and ripped open so that we can truly and genuinely come before him as we are. 00:41:28.000 |
And so use the next 10 minutes or so to go through that. 00:41:31.000 |
And then afterwards, we're going to sing another song. 00:41:37.000 |
And then I'm going to give instruction for just a large chunk of prayer that we're going to have. 00:41:42.000 |
So I'll give you about 10 minutes here until about 8.15 to work through that. 00:50:31.000 |
Just give you about a minute longer and then we'll get up to sing a song together. 00:51:30.000 |
Let me take a moment to pray for us and we'll stand together. 00:51:42.000 |
Heavenly Father, I pray God that your word would search us and God that your Holy Spirit would speak to us. 00:51:54.000 |
We ask you God for hearts that are cleansed and purified before we're able to even lift up prayers that are to be for your glory and for your kingdom, for your will. 00:52:06.000 |
Again Lord, that our words might not be empty. 00:52:09.000 |
Father, that ultimately more than anything, that our love for you is genuine as we come to you. 00:52:16.000 |
Father, help us to put all these things aside and remember to keep our eyes squarely fixed upon you. 00:52:24.000 |
Lord, that whatever it is that comes next as we spend a chunk of time in prayer, that it would be your will because we love you. 00:52:35.000 |
Help us God, because we do desire what it is that you want. 00:53:09.000 |
All I once thought great, I have counted lost, spent and worthless now. 00:53:44.000 |
You're my all, you're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness. 00:54:51.000 |
You're my all, you're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness. 00:55:58.000 |
You're my all, you're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness. 00:56:28.000 |
You're my all, you're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness. 00:56:37.000 |
You're my all, you're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness. 00:56:45.000 |
You're my all, you're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness. 00:57:08.000 |
>> Well, tonight I'm going to give you a really solid chunk of time on personal prayer. 00:57:16.000 |
And that will mean that it's going to be a little difficult for some of us to get through that 25 minutes. 00:57:21.000 |
But sometimes as Pastor Peter comes and really encourages us to do what it takes to really engage in that battle, 00:57:32.000 |
That tonight, even though it is a bit long, and there are interludes where you might drift in and out, 00:57:38.000 |
to strive to be with God, to meet with him, to pray to him, all those things, I hope that you'll be able to do that. 00:57:46.000 |
For a little bit of structure, many of you know the Acts style of prayer. 00:57:55.000 |
Just to help a little bit, you can start before all the supplications that we give to pray. 00:58:00.000 |
Pray after a moment of reflecting on who God is. 00:58:05.000 |
Reflect on his love, patience, kindness, and grace. 00:58:10.000 |
So the idea of this is really to see who God is, see who Christ is, and pray an adoration to God. 00:58:20.000 |
Even as we sang the psalm in the very beginning, that we praise the Lord. 00:58:25.000 |
The second thing is the C in Acts, Confession. 00:58:29.000 |
Pray, if you have not yet done so, to pray confessing your sins. 00:58:34.000 |
If there are things that we have yet unyielded, unrepentant things in our lives, 00:58:39.000 |
then it is not possible for us to be able to say, "God, your kingdom come, your will be done." 00:58:48.000 |
We have to confess our sins and those things that we have been holding so tightly on to. 00:58:53.000 |
We need to take that time to pray those things. 00:58:55.000 |
Confessing to God the need for his grace in our lives. 00:59:00.000 |
Honest and genuine, hopefully, sorrow and grief. 00:59:06.000 |
This is a practice of really seeing ourselves. 00:59:14.000 |
Pray thanking God for things in your life you have not yet said. 00:59:20.000 |
Pray for things that are difficult and troublesome in your life. 00:59:25.000 |
Spend some time praying the adoration, confession, Thanksgiving. 00:59:36.000 |
At that point, hopefully, your heart is ready to engage in the battle for supplication. 00:59:46.000 |
There are a couple strips of carpet up here if you would like to come up and pray. 00:59:50.000 |
If you cannot see, you can kind of move closer. 00:59:54.000 |
There are still chairs here and there up here. 01:00:02.000 |
25 minutes is going to take us to about 8.50 and then we are going to close tonight. 01:00:07.000 |
I will come back up here to give about a two-minute warning before that prayer time is done. 01:00:12.000 |
Then our praise team will close us in a final song. 01:00:17.000 |
Father, I pray that you would help us to pray to you. 01:00:21.000 |
That even in prayer, God, that you would teach us. 01:00:27.000 |
Father, that we would take such joy in knowing that our Abba Father listens. 01:24:36.640 |
- In about two minutes, the praise team will come up 01:27:03.640 |
♪ All the things of earth will grow strangely dim ♪ 01:27:33.640 |
♪ There the Son of God gave His life for us ♪ 01:28:02.640 |
♪ We adore You, behold You, our Savior ever true ♪ 01:28:44.640 |
♪ What a glorious dawn, fear of death is gone ♪ 01:29:13.640 |
♪ We adore You, behold You, our Savior ever true ♪ 01:29:43.640 |
♪ Every knee will bow and every tongue will shout ♪ 01:30:12.640 |
♪ We adore You, behold You, our Savior ever true ♪ 01:30:41.640 |
♪ We adore You, behold You, our Savior ever true ♪ 01:31:41.640 |
is something that our ambitions will go towards. 01:32:02.640 |
And Father, that we would live in great surrender. 01:32:35.640 |
♪ Oh God, before the mountains were brought forth ♪ 01:32:53.640 |
♪ Oh, the days of spring and summer filled the earth ♪