(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Good morning, Church family.
Happy Lord's Day and Happy New Year. We will begin this morning by singing the song, All Things. And as we start this new year and this morning, I hope that we are reminded and assured that the Lord makes all things work together for our good and for his glory.
(soft piano music) ♪ When my heart's cold and lifeless ♪ ♪ And I wandered in my madness ♪ ♪ He pursued me ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ But before the world was breathing ♪ ♪ He had chosen to retain me ♪ ♪ For you love me ♪ ♪ Lord, you love me ♪ ♪ I know you are worthy ♪ ♪ You are working all things ♪ ♪ All things for your glory ♪ ♪ And my good ♪ ♪ Lord, you will accomplish ♪ ♪ Everything you promise ♪ ♪ All things for your glory ♪ ♪ And my good ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ Though the enemy is by you ♪ ♪ And a thousand foes beside you ♪ ♪ You defend me ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ With the rest of goodness ♪ ♪ That you will ever promise ♪ ♪ You are worthy ♪ ♪ You are worthy ♪ ♪ I know you are worthy ♪ ♪ You are working all things ♪ ♪ All things for your glory ♪ ♪ And my good ♪ ♪ Lord, you will accomplish ♪ ♪ Everything you promise ♪ ♪ All things for your glory ♪ ♪ And my good ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ 'Til the day ♪ ♪ 'Til the day you come in power ♪ ♪ Or I reach my final hour ♪ ♪ You will be near ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ You are the love of my story ♪ ♪ You are faithful, you are poor ♪ ♪ I will praise you ♪ ♪ I will praise you ♪ ♪ I know you are worthy ♪ ♪ You are worthy ♪ ♪ All things ♪ ♪ All things for your glory ♪ ♪ And my good ♪ ♪ Lord, you will accomplish ♪ ♪ Everything you promise ♪ ♪ All things for your glory ♪ ♪ And my good ♪ ♪ All things for your glory ♪ ♪ And my good ♪ - All right, good morning.
Welcome to Bruin Community Church. Let me get to a few announcements before we get started. First of all, if you are a part of the Jubilee Fellowship, if you are 50 and over at church, there's a fellowship that's going on next Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Youth Chapel, which is right across the courtyard.
The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children above 10 years old. Today is the last day to sign up. There is a sign-up table that will be stationed right outside. As you walk outside, there's a table there, so please visit that. And that's where the sign-up will be.
And again, today is the last day to sign up, so please sign up for that. Next session of membership class is happening on January 26 at 9.30 a.m. at Youth Chapel. There's an eight-week course that's taught by our pastors and elders. And so if you are planning to become a member of the church, please sign up for that.
Members meeting is happening on January 26 as well at 2 p.m. And so please, this is the beginning of the year. Membership that we're having, we go over just the announcements and basically the financial status and what's going on over there. So please sign up for that or please come to that.
And then the College Ministry is going to be doing a fundraiser that day before the members class membership as well. BAM Retreat. If you're part of the BAM Retreat, the theme "Run to Win" is going to be happening January 31 to February 2 at Pali Retreat. This week is the last week to sign up for it.
So if you haven't signed up, please sign up as soon as possible. And then finally, we're switching over to Planning Center. I know we've been using Subsplash, but there's reasons behind it. It's actually much more cost-effective and easier to run. So our brother Justin was in the process of setting this up.
So we're going to give you a little bit extra time to set this up. If you haven't gotten an email or you didn't have time to read it, if you are a member in the church, if you sign up, if you put your phone number in it, it will pop up whatever information that's already on there.
We'll populate the thing. If you're not a member, you're going to have to go down and fill it out manually to be able to use it. So they're going to switch over starting from today. So there's a short video that our media team made, and we're going to show it to you twice because it goes over a little bit quick.
And then during offering, you're going to have to go through whatever app you normally use. And if you go through there, there will be an avenue for you to go and put the numbers in. And so we're going to give you a little bit extra time today for the offering so that you can do this.
If you are like me and you need step-by-step guidance aside from the video, there will be a table outside where Justin is going to take you step-by-step. So if you're part of the Jubilee ministry and you are in need of extra guidance, please visit that table. They'll show you what to do.
I'll probably be there with you. So after service, if you need extra help, just go to that table and they'll help you. Let's watch the video. Here's how to set up a new payment method on the BCC app. Click "Give" on the bottom right-hand corner and then click on the three lines in the top right-hand corner.
Select "Log In." This will prompt you to enter in your phone number. You will then receive a six-digit code for verification. Once you are logged in, scroll down and then select "Add Payment Method." A new window will open where you can add and select your form of payment. One more time.
One more time. Here's how to set up a new payment method on the BCC app. Click "Give" on the bottom right-hand corner and then click on the three lines in the top right-hand corner. Select "Log In." This will prompt you to enter in your phone number. You will then receive a six-digit code for verification.
Once you are logged in, scroll down and then select "Add Payment Method." A new window will open where you can add and select your form of payment. Okay, hopefully that's enough. And, again, if it wasn't enough, you can go outside and visit. And, again, part of the reason why we're doing that, you'll notice that the fee that they charge is significantly lower.
And so we thought that this would, again, be more wiser to use. So let me pray for us, and we'll give you a little bit of extra time, if you can give them a little bit of extra time, to be able to set that up. And then, again, just be mindful that this is what we're doing.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this new year and sustaining us through 2024. And now as we face 2025, help us, Lord God, to be mindful of how we spend our time, our future, our days, Lord God, that we will be intentional with what you have given us.
Help us, Lord God, to fix our eyes upon Christ, that all that we do hope for, all that we desire, will be founded upon Christ and Christ alone. Lord, we pray that even in this giving, that it would be a reflection of our true worship before you, and may it be multiplied for the sake of your kingdom.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) Let us all rise and let's spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us before we continue. (Piano music) (Piano music) Let's sing the rapids.
♪ Praise the Lord our Father ♪ ♪ Before the dawn of time ♪ ♪ He spoke and all creation came to be ♪ ♪ Molecules and planets ♪ ♪ Reveal your great design ♪ ♪ And everyone was there so we could see ♪ ♪ So we could see you are ♪ ♪ You are the glorious Christ ♪ ♪ Greatest of all delights ♪ ♪ Your power is unequaled ♪ ♪ No greater sacrifice ♪ ♪ When you give down your life ♪ ♪ We join the song of angels ♪ ♪ Praise day and night ♪ ♪ Glorious Christ ♪ (Piano music) (Piano music) We love you.
♪ Let me hear a habit ♪ ♪ To breathe the dust of it ♪ ♪ And dwell among the outcasts ♪ ♪ In the poor ♪ ♪ Came to be forsaken ♪ ♪ Died to take our curse ♪ ♪ So you could be our joy forevermore ♪ ♪ Forevermore ♪ ♪ You are the glorious Christ ♪ ♪ Greatest of all delights ♪ ♪ Your power is unequaled ♪ ♪ We love you of all hearts ♪ ♪ No greater sacrifice ♪ ♪ When you lay down your life ♪ ♪ We join the song of angels ♪ ♪ Praise day and night ♪ ♪ Glorious Christ ♪ You're seated now.
♪ You're seated now in heaven ♪ ♪ And know that God's our help ♪ ♪ You've shattered death and freed us from our fears ♪ ♪ And know we cannot see you ♪ ♪ You're coming back again ♪ ♪ And all will be made right ♪ ♪ When you appear ♪ ♪ And all will be made right ♪ ♪ When you appear ♪ ♪ You are the glorious Christ ♪ ♪ Greatest of all delights ♪ ♪ Your power is unequaled ♪ ♪ We love you of all hearts ♪ ♪ You are the glorious Christ ♪ ♪ Greatest of all delights ♪ ♪ Your power is unequaled ♪ ♪ We love you of all hearts ♪ ♪ No greater sacrifice ♪ ♪ When you lay down your life ♪ ♪ We join the song of angels ♪ ♪ Who praise your day and night ♪ ♪ Glorious Christ ♪ (gentle music) ♪ The love of God ♪ ♪ Is greater far ♪ ♪ Than tongue or pen ♪ ♪ Can ever tell ♪ ♪ It goes beyond ♪ ♪ The highest star ♪ ♪ And reaches to ♪ ♪ The lowest dove ♪ ♪ The guilty pair ♪ ♪ Bow down with care ♪ ♪ God gave his son ♪ ♪ To win ♪ ♪ His erring child ♪ ♪ He reconciled ♪ ♪ And parted from ♪ ♪ This sin ♪ ♪ When years of time ♪ ♪ When years of time ♪ ♪ Shall pass away ♪ ♪ And earthen rooms ♪ ♪ And kingdoms fall ♪ ♪ When men who hear ♪ ♪ Refuse to pray ♪ ♪ On rocks and hills ♪ ♪ And mountains fall ♪ ♪ God's love so strong ♪ ♪ Shall still endure ♪ ♪ All measureless ♪ ♪ And strong ♪ ♪ Redeeming grace ♪ ♪ To Adam's grace ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Sing ♪ ♪ The love of God ♪ ♪ O love of God ♪ ♪ How rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless ♪ ♪ And strong ♪ ♪ It shall forevermore endure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Sing ♪ ♪ Here we were when ♪ ♪ The ocean fell ♪ ♪ And were the skies ♪ ♪ Of parchment made ♪ ♪ Where every star ♪ ♪ On earth a quill ♪ ♪ And every man ♪ ♪ Ascribed by you ♪ ♪ Tonight the love ♪ ♪ I've got to find ♪ ♪ Would drain the ocean dry ♪ ♪ Nor deathless cold ♪ ♪ Contain the load ♪ ♪ No stretch from sky ♪ ♪ To sky ♪ ♪ O love of God ♪ ♪ How rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless ♪ ♪ And strong ♪ ♪ It shall forevermore endure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Sing ♪ ♪ O love of God ♪ ♪ How rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless ♪ ♪ And strong ♪ ♪ It shall forevermore endure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Sing ♪ ♪ It shall forevermore endure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Sing ♪ - Amen, you may be seated.
- Hello, my name is Joshua, and this is my testimony. I grew up in a Christian family, going to church, and aware of God's presence in my life. Although I was brought up in a Christian household, much of my childhood consisted of just going through the motions, with church just being a place I attended because my parents took me there, and nothing more than that.
Outside of church on Sundays, the weekly kids' small groups, God hardly ever entered my mind, and I went about living my life without a second thought. Throughout my youth, I always believed that God existed, but never went so far as to develop a personal relationship with him, and commit myself to a life of devotion.
Throughout middle and high school, I lived a life of complacency, with a misconceived notion that I was saved just because of the fact that I believed in God. I found myself seeking affirmation from the people I surrounded myself with, and I slowly began to develop a fear of man, rather than a fear for the Lord.
I continually worried about the image I projected to those around me, more than how I was pleasing God in my life. While I believed that God existed, my actions did not reflect this belief, and I continually sought to fulfill my personal desires over God's desires, often placing my trust in the wrong things.
What little faith I had at the time was not truly my own, and I couldn't confidently say that my identity was rooted in Christ. Outside of church, I rarely interacted with other Christians, and lacked fellow brothers and sisters around me. It wasn't until I transitioned out of my youth and started college at UCI where I truly began to find my identity in Christ.
Having independence from my parents for the first time in my life, pursuing God and his truths became a personal choice, rather than a compulsory task. Christianity was not something I talked about with my parents very often, but one thing they urged me to do as I headed off to college was to get involved with a Christian fellowship on campus.
At the time, I didn't think too much of it, but I still kept an open mind as I prepared to start this next chapter in my life. Upon beginning college, it was an extreme change of scenery from my previously sheltered life at home to now dorming on campus. There was an incredibly wide variety of individuals with contrasting values and ideologies, and the presence of sin was all around me wherever I looked.
I was quick to come to the understanding that this was not the crowd I wanted to insert myself into. I eventually decided to give it a shot and check out some of the Christian fellowships on campus like my parents had encouraged me to do so. I was amazed at how welcoming everyone I met was and how they genuinely wanted to get to know me.
As I got myself more involved, I was able to experience fellowship and community alongside fellow believers who all loved Jesus and sought to live Christ-like lives. I was soon able to get plugged into a church in the area. Even though I had attended church all my life, for the first time, I was going because I truly wanted to and not just because I had to.
Throughout my first year in college, I was able to receive the gospel through a matured perspective and actually comprehend its implications for my life. I was able to surrender my life over to God and acknowledge that he sent his son, Jesus, down to earth to die on the cross for our sins.
Jesus, having lived a perfect life, took on the burden of our sinful imperfections so that we could be saved by God's merciful grace. I learned what it looked like to repent and to confess Jesus as Lord, that not only did he take on the burden of our sins, but God resurrected him and the Holy Spirit will always reside in us.
Growing up, my younger self believed that salvation was gained through being a good Christian and doing good deeds. Being surrounded by solid believers, I often had feelings of inadequacy, stemming from a realization of the sin and imperfection that plagued me. This couldn't be further from the truth. It took me a while to abandon this legalistic view and understand that God doesn't extend his grace to us for who we are or what we have done with our lives, but instead he saves us for who he is and through Christ.
I came to the understanding that while a perfect Christ-like life may be unattainable, it is necessary to not let sin define my life but for it to only be temporary. As I've grown more confident in my faith, God's plan for my life has become more evident and he has revealed himself in ways I could have never imagined.
I no longer live a purposeless life seeking to only fulfill my personal and selfish desires. More and more, God has shown himself through scripture as I get the joy and privilege of knowing him intimately and eternally. A verse that has stuck out to me over the years has been Romans 12.2.
It states, "And do not be conformed to this world, "but be transformed by the renewing of your mind "so that you may prove what the will of God is, "that which is good and acceptable and perfect." While the material world fails to provide us with fulfillment, God never fails to fulfill his promises.
Through God's forgiveness, I am set free from the guilt, shame, and burden of my sins. Today I walk in his grace as I seek to glorify God and be a witness for Christ. Thank you. (applause) (splashing) - Josh, do you understand when you're going into the water, you're being united to Christ's death, and when you come out, you're being united to his resurrected life?
- I said it. - I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (splashing) (applause) - All right, thank you. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Colossians chapter 4, I'll be reading from verse 2. The focus is gonna be on verse 2 for the next few times that I'm up here.
But we'll be reading all the way to verse 4 today. And if you haven't noticed, that's going to be the new theme of our year, 2025, and our focus and push. And I'll explain what we're doing through the sermon. First, Colossians chapter 4, 2 to 4. "Devote yourselves to prayer, "keeping alert in it with attitude of thanksgiving, "praying at the same time for us as well "that God will open up to us a door for the Word "so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, "for which I have also been imprisoned, "that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak." Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for this morning. Thank you for the privilege that we have to be able to call you our Abba Father. May your name be magnified. May our hearts, Lord God, turn to you, to you alone. Whatever distractions that we may have brought into this room, I pray that the preaching of your word would cause us, Lord God, to fix our eyes upon Christ, that we may seek him, that we may desire him, that we may follow him and worship him this morning.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Many of you guys know the text in Hebrews chapter 12, 12. It basically encourages the church to strengthen, find out which area of your life is weak, strengthen the weak hands and your feeble knees, and make straight the path so that your feet may be able to run the way that God has intended.
So every year, at the end of the year, we do an evaluation, the leaders have a meeting, and we do an evaluation of where we're at and what are the areas that we're weak in, what are the areas that we need to strengthen in. We go through our four-fold vision, the covenants, what are some things that need to be emphasized.
If you've been here at our church for at least the last four or five years, you know that this has kind of been our theme for the probably last four or five years. And if you put it all together in the last 28 years, I would say probably more than half of our theme has been on prayer.
And so you may think, like, we're going to do this again? What's going to be different this year than last year? The reason why we're focused on this, why being devoted to prayer is an emphasis again this year, is because it's that important, right? Especially because we belong to a Bible-emphasized church that we tend to think that because we are learning the Bible, we're doing inductive Bible study, the Word of God is being taught, that you guys are studying the Bible, that because of the Bible that we're healthy and we're safe.
The Word of God is important, but the prayer and seeking God is just as important. It is not just important, I would say it is critical. It is critical that a church or individual Christians who are lacking in prayer are easily susceptible to deception. And if anybody in this room says, you know what, not me, I've been a Christian for a while and I know the Word of God and maybe the other people don't know as much as I do, already that statement tells me you're deceived.
The fact that you have confidence that you're not going to be deceived already tells me you're already deceived because you've opened the door wide open. The enemy is much smarter than you. It's scheming to take the things that are good and taint it constantly. So prayer has to be something that we need to continue to grow in.
Our church has been around for about 28 years and there's a lot of things today that we do much better than we did when we first planted the church, whether it's small group, whether it's our membership class, whether it's the pastoral meetings, whatever it is that we're doing because we've been doing it for so long that we've improved.
Every year we try to improve and hopefully we'll continue to improve. But if there's one area of our church that I would say that we are weaker than when we first started is prayer. There were times in our church where when the church was smaller it was much easier for the whole church to gather together.
Every Friday night after Bible study we would spend time in prayer. Again, the whole church was there. It was much easier to take lengthy time to pray after Bible study, but as the church got bigger and bigger and we had more and more programs, and it's not that we don't emphasize prayer, but it's become harder and harder for the gathering of prayer.
This is that critical, to have a church that is high on the Word of God and not practicing prayer puts us in a situation where we can easily be deceived, and Satan can come in and he can be scheming. He can take right theology and apply it in a wrong way because our heart is not open.
It's not being protected by his spirit. Again, I'm going to take the next couple of times that I'm up here. I'm going to preach the first one today, and then I'm going to be out at the mission field for a couple of weeks, and then when I come back, I'll do the part two of it.
But today, when he says to be devoted to prayer, there's four things. It's just in this text alone, in verse 2, that I want to emphasize. One is to be devoted to prayer. This is going to be the outline for the next couple of weeks. To be devoted to prayer.
Second, to be devoted through prayer. I'll explain what that means, to be devoted through prayer. To keep alert in prayer. And then to be thankful in prayer. So the three and four I'll address when we come back, and then one and two we'll talk about this morning. To be devoted to prayer.
Now I can just sit here, or stand here, and just go over passage after passage after passage, and just read the text, and spend the next 30-40 minutes just reading the text. That's how much emphasis there is in the New Testament about why we need to pray. And again, overflowing to the Old Testament.
Why prayer is not just important, but critical. That if you are not praying, it is no different than never touching your Bible. That I can stand here and teach you false theology, and you have no way to discern. You have no way to discern if what I'm saying is right or wrong.
Other than the fact that it sounds good. Maybe if I throw some good stories behind it, and gives you warm feelings, like, "Oh, I like that." But you're in danger. Even as you hear the Word of God, if you do not know the Word of God. And we know how critical knowing the Bible is for the Church.
But it is equally critical that we need to pray. That if you're not praying, you are just as susceptible to the schemes of the devil than if you weren't paying attention to anything that the Scripture says. I want to just read you a couple of verses, just to emphasize.
Proverbs 12, 12. "Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, be devoted to prayer." 1 Thessalonians 5, 16, 18. "Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing, constantly. In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." This is God's will for you. "Work earnestly." That word basically means to persevere, to be faithful.
So, to properly understand, when somebody says, "That person is a devoted husband," what does that mean? He's not just a husband, he's a devoted husband. A devoted husband basically means that he is committed. He didn't just become a husband because he went and did the ceremony and they signed the papers.
A devoted husband, when we use that term, means that he is singularly focused on his family. For their well-being. He's willing to sacrifice. He loves his wife, loves his children. Takes good care of them, physically and spiritually. He's a devoted husband. A devoted employee means that he's loyal to this company.
He's not just checking in and checking out. He's not trying to get milk the most out of this company for himself. A devoted employee is somebody who is loyal to this company and may even at times go beyond his paycheck to make sure that this company is taken care of.
That's when somebody says a devoted employee, that's what they mean. Or if you're a devoted student. You're not somebody who just got into school and just getting your degree and coming out. A devoted student is devoted to learning. He's doing the extra credit. He's trying to get the most out of the situation that he's in.
That's what it means to be devoted. So in every other context, when we say the word devoted, it means above and beyond. That you are committed to this. This is extremely important to you. To be devoted to prayer isn't just simply I pray before the meal. I pray before the meeting.
It's time to pray in our small group. So you just pray because it's time to pray. Because we should pray. We pray before the service. We pray after the service. To be devoted to prayer means to pray in season and out of season. Just like we are called to preach the word, to make the word clear in season and out of season.
Whether it is convenient or not. Whether people want to hear it or not. Whether you think it bears fruit or not. In season and out of season, preach the word. And in the same way, to be devoted to prayer is to pray, not simply because it is easy. Not simply because it is convenient.
Not simply because you have time. But that it's important enough that you make time. That you sacrifice other things in your life to make that a priority. To pray when you're at peace. To pray when you're in turmoil. To pray when you're in leisure. To pray when you're busy.
Pray in the morning. Pray in the afternoon. Pray at night. That there's a sense of urgency to pray. Again, some of the challenges that we have, especially in a rich world. I know some of you guys are in situations, especially in the last couple of weeks, we've had so many sudden illnesses and sudden deaths through family members in our church, that many of you are dealing with difficult situations.
And my guess is that you are praying more than usual. Because that's typically what happens when there's a sense of urgency, an emergency. Something happens in our life, we tend to pray. You may not become a spiritual giant overnight, but when there's a sense of urgency, it causes us to pray.
In fact, in 2 Chronicles 7, 13-15, at the dedication of the temple that Solomon built, God says this as the temple is being dedicated. He says, "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among you into your life." And if you notice here, it says, "When I do this." He said, "When I allow famine, pestilence, locusts to devour the land, and you are placed in a situation where you become desperate." And it says, "If the people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face." Oftentimes when we face trials and difficulty, again, especially if you're a believer, your first tendency is probably to pray.
And God says that there are times when God will do that deliberately, because what God desires of us more than anything else is not a peaceful life, is not a secure bank account, is not a healthy and long life. What God desires of us more than anything else is ourselves.
And so he says, at times, if he allows these things to happen, and if my people who are called by my name, he says, "Humble themselves and pray." Humble themselves and pray. You notice how being humble and praying goes hand in hand? And this is why prayer is so important.
And this is the reason why God deliberately chose people who are of no repute. They didn't have any power, they didn't have any money, they weren't well-educated, because it's easier to tell people, instruct people who have nothing, to teach them that they have nothing so that they would be desperately hanging on to God.
Sometimes the study of the Word of God makes people arrogant. Some of the most difficult people to talk to are people who are just quoting verses left and right. Of course we need to know the Bible. But the Word of God, if not careful, becomes a source to become proud.
That's why if you study the Word of God without being devoted to prayer, you're in danger. It's not one over the other. You must study the Word of God. But you also must pray. If you do one without the other, you are in danger. If you study the Word of God without prayer, it causes you to be more critical, judgmental, and proud.
If you pray without studying the Word of God, then you become susceptible to all kinds of lies and deceptions that come in. So if you're a man who's like, "I know the Word of God." But when you say, "Are you devoted to prayer?" It's like, "But I'm not devoted to prayer." You're not any more mature than somebody who's not studying the Word of God.
You just know a lot of facts. We have to be devoted to prayer. If my people are called by my name, hung themselves, and what is prayer? Prayer isn't just simply the act of praying. It's to humble themselves and pray and seek my face. To seek my face. Prayer isn't just coming and saying words and then spending a lot of time saying, "Lord, I offer this to you." It's an avenue to seek him.
Think about what the purpose of our salvation is. That the barrier that was caused because of our sin by the blood of Christ has been taken away. So because we have been covered by the blood of Christ, now we have access to the throne of grace. Theology tells us that this happened.
Study of the Word of God tells us what it took for Jesus to open this door and to be a mediator. Prayer is what causes us to go in. So if all you're doing is studying the Word of God and not devoted to prayer, all you're doing is look how great that door is.
Look how wide that door is. Look how awesome this path is. And then never actually taking the path. Prayer, the theology and the Word of God tells us what happened. Prayer is what takes us. Prayer is the advantage that we have to be able to come to the throne of grace.
So if you study the Word of God without praying, you are just as immature as somebody who doesn't know anything about the Word of God. In fact, you may actually be in more danger without praying. That's how critical, not just important, critical prayer is because prayer causes theology to be applied correctly.
Prayer is what causes theology and the Word of God to apply correctly. And if you're not devoted to prayer, oftentimes your theology causes you to be more critical of other people. You're not aware of your own sins. Your own sins doesn't seem as bad as other people's sins when you're not actively seeking God because you're comparing who you are with other people instead of coming to the throne of grace.
When you're standing in the throne of His might and His holiness, no man, no man can be proud. He says, "If my people humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven. I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land." Whatever has gone wrong, again, we have a tendency.
Let's make a plan, and plan one, plan B, A, B, C, D, E. And these are good. These are good things that we need to be responsible. We need to do. But first and foremost, God said, "I will heal the land." Not you, not you, not me. He said, "If you humble yourselves and seek me, I will heal." He may use us.
He may challenge us. He may cause us to do things, but ultimately He says, "I will heal their land." "Now my eyes will be opened and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place." Remember when Jesus was at the temple and He was cleansing the temple? Remember what Jesus said?
"My Father's house will be a house of" what? Prayer. Now, if you notice, everything that was taught about the temple is where they sacrificed, they burned incense, where the priests did all these things. We had the Holy of Holies, and so many instructions were given. But a simple description of it from Jesus Himself said, "It is a house of prayer." This is where we come to meet God, to meet God.
Not simply to learn theology, not simply to know right and wrong, but to meet God. So if you're studying the Bible without meeting God, without actually entering the throne and seeking God and to know God, you've missed the whole point. The natural question for us who are rich, and every single one of us is rich.
What if that urgency isn't in our life? What if there is no emergency? Many of our brothers and sisters in this room are wrestling with emergency in their lives, and they are praying, they're asking us to pray. But what if that's not you? What if 2024 was filled with ease?
God answered prayer, your children are healthy, things are going well, your business is humming along, you made some good investments, and your stock has gone up, your housing price has gone up, and so you're at ease, everything, "My God is so good." How do people who are at ease pray?
If our eyes are focused like the rest of the world, if our peace and our joy comes from having a good house, bank account that's increasing, and living healthy long lives, and our children are well, if our happiness and joy is based on that, then yeah, there's no urgency to pray.
But the whole point of the cross is to remind us that this world is passing away, that we have been crucified with Christ, there's no longer us who live. And part of the reason why rich people don't feel a sense of urgency is because we've allowed our material things to be our comfort, to be our peace.
And so we know that we should pray, but there's no urgency to pray. But there is no Christian, when in the right perspective, with heavenly perspective, that doesn't understand the urgency of where we're at. One, we're only here for a short period of time. And the benefit of getting older is that your body reminds you of that.
We're only here for a short period of time. Two, we are surrounded by people who do not know Christ. Even if our salvation is secure, we're living in a world where a majority of them do not know Him. That we've been put here to be the light and to be the salt of the world.
So what good is it if you lose the taste? Other than to be trampled on the ground, it's useless. Part of the reason why we don't feel a sense of urgency, maybe it's because we have forgotten our calling of where we're at. If comfort and ease is what keeps you from praying, then the devil will make sure that you stay comfortable.
The devil will make sure that your bills are paid. The devil will heal your children. The devil will pay your bills. The devil will take care of your finances. If that's what keeps you from praying and coming to God. Because God will shake you up. God will make you unhealthy.
God will build turmoil because His ultimate goal is to bring us to Him. For us to humble ourselves and to seek His face. We typically think that if all bills are paid and everything is good, our children are well taken care of and our retirement is growing and everything.
God is so good. Not realizing that you are being deceived if you're not devoted to prayer. If you're not coming to Christ. The early church knew this very well. Chapter after chapter, we are told that they were praying constantly. They were not just praying, they were devoted to praying.
I mean, humanly speaking, the church should have never made it out of the first century. Their main leader is crucified, he dies. His disciples, a few men who failed miserably before he takes off. Very little training. These are the people who are going to change the world and very little training.
They're fishermen. Most of them. The most powerful nation, the Roman government, was actively trying to destroy them. Their own countrymen rejected them. And then Apostle Paul to the Gentiles describes the early church of not being wise, not being educated, not of good repute or just base people. He said, "God deliberately chose you because he was trying to challenge the system of the world." By human standard, this should have never taken off.
No psychologist, no historians will look at the first century Christians and say, "This is why they flourished." It flourished despite all of that because God was in their midst. And God was in their midst because they devoted themselves to pray. Acts 1.14, as soon as Jesus descends, what do we find the church doing?
Gathering together, 120 of them, praying constantly, it says. Acts 2.42, after the Pentecost, the churches gathered together and everyone was devoted regularly to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and devoted to prayer. In Acts 3.1, when the first miracle takes place, it was Peter and John who was going to the temple because they were regularly praying.
Acts 6.4, they established the seven deacons so that they can be more devoted and not to be distracted to prayer and the word. Acts 13.3, when Apostle Paul and Barnabas are set apart, it says the church prayed and fasted. Why were they so devoted to prayer? Because Jesus taught them to.
Jesus told them, "Follow me and I will make you disciples of men," and was the primary thing that Jesus taught them in those three years that they walked with him. Well, we don't have to guess because the disciples asked. "Lord, teach us." They didn't ask, "Teach us how to evangelize, teach us how to dissect the scriptures." He says, "No, teach us how to what?
Pray. Teach us how to pray." Even when Jesus sent them out two by two to go evangelize, they would come back and say, "Well, we did great things," but they'd come back and say, "We couldn't cast out these demons." Some of these things cannot be done unless you pray and fast.
Don't take any money, don't take a staff, don't take a second tunic, don't take any of the stuff that you tend to rely on. Why? So you can rely on me. Over and over again, we are told the early church was devoted to prayer. The power was in their prayer.
In fact, the Book of Acts, obviously most of our Bibles just says Acts on it. Obviously, that was not inspired. When the people later on was dividing scripture, they decided to divide it into the verses and the chapters, and then they put a title, Acts, on it. And some of your translations will say Acts of the Apostles.
I've seen some older translations with that. But I think that's a mistake because the Book of Acts is not about the apostles. It begins in Acts chapter 1. It said, "You will receive the Holy Spirit when the Spirit comes upon you in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the remotest part of the world." So the Book of Acts is divided into ministry in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest part of the world.
That's how the Book of Acts is divided. So it's not chapter 1 through 12 through Apostle Peter, and then 13 to 28, Apostle Paul. The whole theme about it is about the work of the Holy Spirit in prayer. You'll see, next time you read the Book of Acts, chapter 1 to chapter 8, it's how the Holy Spirit, through the prayers of his people, were working to spread the gospel.
That's the central theme. So the real title of this should have been "The Work of the Holy Spirit Through Prayer," because that's what it's taught. If you read it again, you'll see that that's the theme over and over again, that we have to be devoted to prayer. Not only do we need to be devoted to prayer, we need to be devoted through prayer.
Now, I'm not just adding words in here because the word "pray" in the Greek-- and rarely I mention Greek because I don't know enough to mention Greek, to be honest. Two, three years of seminary Greek isn't enough. It's just enough so that I can read the commentary and know what they're talking about.
But every once in a while, you notice something there that really helps to understand. The word "prayer" is an instrumental dative. Some of you guys who took Latin, you may better understand this. But instrumental dative basically means that the imperative is to devote yourselves, and the channel, the avenue in which you devote yourselves is through prayer.
So correct understanding grammatically of this verse is to be devoted through prayer. Not just to prayer, but through prayer. That you're going to continue through prayer. That you're going to persevere through prayer. That you're going to be devoted to the Lord through prayer. That prayer is the avenue in which we will persevere, in which we will be sanctified.
So if you're not praying, you don't have the tools to persevere. You don't have the tools to be devoted to Christ. In fact, Jesus repeatedly said over and over again that if we want to bear fruit, we need to abide. In 1 Peter 4.7 it says, "The end of all things is near.
Therefore be of sound judgment and be sober in spirit for the purpose of prayer." You notice how it says, "Be sober so that you can pray." It's prayer where there's power. 1 Peter 3.7, "Your husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way as with someone weaker, since she is a woman.
And show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers would not be hindered." It says, "Be a good husband." Not so that your wife can be happy, not so that your children can be taken care of. And all of these are benefits from that.
It says, "So that you can pray." So the power for Christians is prayer. I mean, think about it, just even logically speaking. If you and I gather all the finances, all the gifted, all the talented people together, and we decided to plant the church. All triple-A Christians, right? They're elders and, you know, celebrity pastors.
And they all gather together with all their knowledge, with all their know-how, with all their discipline, and plant to the church. Will there be more power there than a church who knows nothing? Brand new Christians who are devoted to prayer because they have access to God. Which will bear more fruit?
Superficially, you may think that this church may bear more fruit because, humanly speaking, we can do more. We know better. People are going to work harder. Here is simple people who are just seeking God. What does the Bible say? Now, don't get me wrong. God uses people. God uses gifts.
But the power is not with us. The power is with Him. And that's why the early church were so devoted to praying. Because they knew, they understood that it wasn't in them. That they had to come and seek His face. If you look at the Gospel of John, it's divided into seven "I Am" statements that Jesus gives.
I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the gate. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and life. I am the way and the truth and the life. And I am the true vine. I am the true vine. If you look at all the "I Am" statements, Jesus is breaking their false hope in the religious system.
In the religious leaders. In the synagogue. In whatever they were hoping. So it starts with "I am the bread." The basic need that human beings have. If my bills are taken care of. If my children live in a nice house. And everything is good. And He says, "No, I am the bread." So He goes through all these "I Am" statements to break false hopes that people have.
And saying, "I am." But the very last thing that He says to them before He departs is, "I am the vine." I am the true vine. That if you want to bear fruit, you must abide in me. And if you look at John chapter 15, the word "abide." "Menno." To continue.
Is mentioned 11 times. In about 7, 8 different verses. So we know that that text, just by repetition, the whole point that Jesus was trying to make. The very last "I am" statement is to abide. To continue. And why is it important to continue? He says in John 15, 7.
If you abide in me. If you continue in me. If you devote yourself to me. And my words abide in you. Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. Do you see the connection between John 15, 7 and Colossians 4, 2? Yeah, it's saying the same thing.
Devote yourself through prayer. The reason why we need to abide is abiding, continuing through prayer is where the power lies in the church. The power of the church is not our organization. It's not our know-how. It's not our discipline. It's not our experience. It is God himself when he shows up.
When revival breaks out, it's not logical. Revival doesn't break out because we studied enough. Revival doesn't break out because we're experienced enough or we're organized enough. Revival simply breaks out because people cry out to God. People who don't deserve it. People who know nothing. People who have no power, no experience.
They get desperate and they come before God and they cry out to God. And when God shows up, it's a church that should have died. A movement that should have never made it out of the first century experiences the power of God. And people realize when that power shows up that it wasn't them.
Why did these apostles were so bold that they were even willing to risk their lives? The only thing that they could think of is they were with Jesus. They were with Jesus. That's revival. And that's why you and I need to be devoted to prayer. That we humble ourselves.
Yes, we need to be organized. Yes, we need to be disciplined. Yes, we need to do all of these things. But before we do that, we need to learn to pray. We need to learn to pray. 1 John 5, 14-15, this is the confidence we have before him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from him. This is a verse that you guys know well. And I pray that it would be deeply embedded into your psyche. James 4.2, you do not have because you do not ask.
When you're frustrated, the first thing that you do is to grumble. Why don't we do this? Why don't they do that? Why doesn't the government do this? No, there's nothing wrong with it. We need to identify what's wrong in order for us to correct that. But are you devoted to prayer?
First and foremost, we need to ask ourselves, before we do anything else, is ask that question. Are you devoted to prayer? Before we organize, before we talk, before we grumble, are you devoted to prayer? Because if you're not devoted to prayer, the response that you will most likely get is you do not have because you did not ask.
First ask, first seek, first knock. If you believe the power is in you, then do whatever, everything in your power to do. But if you believe that the power is in him, first thing, not the only thing, but the first thing that needs to happen is we need to be devoted to prayer.
Be devoted to prayer. I want to give you some guidelines or at least some practical application before we end today. We have a mission team that's going to be going out to Korea. And so we have prayer requests that I'm going to put up later. And we're going to put it up on our website and Facebook.
So hopefully you guys could take some time to pray for the Korea team. And then the India team is leaving next week. So we'll give prayer requests for that next week. Pastor Mark will be here to do that. But the obvious answer is, well, we're going to be devoted to prayer.
So what should we do? What is it that the church is going to do so that we can be more devoted to prayer? Well, first thing is to see what we're already doing and do it better. So what are we planning for prayer? First of all, corporately, what do we have?
There are already various prayer meetings that are going on. And if you are curious, how can I get more involved in prayer? Every college group has their own prayer meeting. If you're part of the college ministry, ask Pastor Nate, and he'll direct you. I don't think Pastor Nate will ever say, "Hey, hey, hey, knock it off with this prayer." You know what I mean?
We have it enough. I guarantee you. If you want to encourage the pastors, first and foremost, say, "Hey, how can we pray?" So ask Pastor Nate, the BAM ministry. There's a prayer meeting going on with the BAM ministry. So if you're part of that ministry, ask, "How can I participate and join?" Instead of waiting and saying, "Hey, the leaders didn't provide it," there's already avenues, so we want to encourage you to participate in that.
Family ministry. Once a month on Saturday morning, they gather together, and there's quite a few of them that gather together, and they collect the prayer requests in the church, and they pray. So if you want to be devoted to prayer, first and foremost, take advantage of what's already here.
Instead of waiting for something new to happen, there's monthly prayer meetings that are happening that we have at church. So one, if you're not in the habit of coming to that once a month on prayer, then we ask you to devote yourself to come to that. Find babysitters if you need to to participate in that.
If you are coming to that prayer meeting, come better prepared. Fast before you pray. Pray before you pray. So before you come, that you come ready to pray instead of being so distracted and then coming into this room and having a hard time focusing. Focus before you come so that you can pray.
There are weekly gatherings that are going on. Whenever I hear this, I'm so encouraged because I hear pockets of people who are gathering together. I hear this with the college students. I hear it sometimes with the band people that our classmates or whatever are getting together, and we're going to take some time to pray.
And so if you want to be devoted to prayer, these things are already happening in church. And then there are some groups just organically, two people, four people, three people here and there, just getting together and having fellowship and praying. So if you have a gathering of friends that you gather together, that's a good place to start.
Have your meals, have fellowship, but pray first. Not just pray that God will bless the situation and keep us safe, but let's pray first. Let's dedicate the first 20 minutes to prayer. And then make the most of what you already have in your schedule because most of us are busy.
It's hard for us to add schedule. So take a look at what's happening and to pray individually. Make time in the morning to pray. I know some of you guys say, "Well, I'm not a morning person." Nobody's a morning person. Nobody is a morning person. Nobody wakes up, "Oh, my God, what a beautiful day." It's like, "Oh, my gosh, it's time to wake up." That's how everybody wakes up, okay?
So don't use that as an excuse. The reason why I encourage morning prayer is because your mind is least distracted in the morning. You fill your head with all the stuff and concerns and paying bills and taking care of children and at work. And then you try to focus your mind on praying.
Your mind is not focused. So I encourage you, even if it's for a short period, to wake up and commit yourself to prayer. If you say, "I will pray if I feel like praying," you're not going to pray, right? Every once in a while, you hear a sermon or something happened in your dreams, like, "Oh, I'm so ready to pray." If you don't commit yourself to pray, you're not going to wake up wanting to pray, right?
So I encourage you to pray, to devote yourself in the morning to pray. Make a list of things to pray for, especially when in the beginning of your prayer life, the greatest problem is your mind constantly wanders and is distracted. So if you make a list of things to pray for, it will help you to focus, to go down the list and pray for these things.
Keep a prayer journal. If you write down, "These are the things that I'm praying for," and then when they get answered, write down, "God answered my prayer." And then when you look at how God is answering prayer, it will motivate you to pray more. A lot of times we pray and then we forget about it, and even when God answered, you don't know.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, I did pray for that. Oh, God did answer that." When God shows up and He prays and you pray and it is answered, that's the fuel for you to pray even further. Find partners to pray with. Don't wait for a church where I'm looking for some big movement in the church to happen.
Find a person sitting next to you. Find a person that you're with, a good friend that you're meeting with regularly, and make them your prayer partners. I hear, again, there's people in our church who are gathering, you know, and say, "What are you doing?" They say, "Oh, we just decided to pray every Tuesday, every Thursday, or Friday." I'm so encouraged to hear that.
If there's one grumbling and complaining that I don't mind hearing in the church, it's grumbling to pray. I say, "Peter, how come we don't pray enough?" He's like, "Yes, let's pray more." "Can we pray more?" He's like, "Yes, let's pray more." Because that's what we need. That's where we're weak in.
I'm not going to fight you, right? To find somebody to regularly pray, and then read a book on prayer. There's one book that I always recommend to people, E.M. Bounds on Prayer. It is not a casual read, but I think it's the most thorough theologically and practically that you can apply for prayer.
There are specific chapters in there that I would recommend. If you read that, and you look at the discipline of prayer from other people, that it will motivate you to pray. Going forward, we want to establish, and we'll go into more detail at our members' meeting, a fasting chain.
We used to have a fasting team that would help the church to sign up for fasting. Again, as the church got bigger and bigger, it got more and more difficult. But that's something that we want to try to re-implement. Again, not that those people will be fasting, but they'll remind us and make fasting sign-ups so that we can be more devoted to praying.
Possible Zoom meetings online, for those of you who can't make it physically because you have small children. We're going to have various times where we're going to say, "Hey, at this time we're going to get together." Just to get together on Zoom to pray. Then, at some point, we want to re-establish Friday night praying, even if it's not every week, that we want to devote a time just to come and pray.
No preaching, we'll sing and then pray. Those are some of the things that we're trying to implement in New Year. But those are things that, if you're just sitting and waiting for that to happen, you don't need to. Because there are many things that you can do. Things that are already here, corporately.
Things that you can do immediately, in your personal time of prayer. We're hoping, even if we take one more step to better our church to praying, it is worth it. Because it is that critical. We can't just be a church known for the Word. We have to be known for the Word and prayer.
We need to pray. If you can go to the next one. For the sake of time, I'm not going to go through all of the prayer requests. But our Korea team, if you can put up the picture. Our Korea team will be leaving this Thursday evening. We're running an English camp to reach the students out in South Korea, obviously.
But Christianity, I mentioned this before, in Korea is just tanking. It's 33% in the regular population and then the Gen Z and younger has dropped to 3%. And then when I talk to the college campus Christians, they say they think it's less than 1%. That's how rare it is to find Christians on campus.
And so the next generation is even worse. And so Korea has the worst population, I think it's .6. And so the birth rate is so low that they think that in the next 30 years, if something doesn't change, 70-80% of Korea is just going to disappear. And not only physically but spiritually.
But for whatever the reason, the younger people are more open to non-Koreans coming in and sharing the gospel with them. So we're hoping that our connection with them will lead to relationships that will lead to the gospel presentation. And so if you can keep the team in prayer. It's a short trip.
They're leaving Thursday and they'll be back the next following Saturday. And then the India team will leave on Friday and they'll be back the Saturday after that. So it's a two very short trips but we're hoping and praying that God will ordain it to be fruitful. So all this stuff will be online.
So either on the Facebook somewhere or on the website or somewhere. So we're asking again first and foremost to pray that the doors may be open. That we may preach it clearly and that we may bear fruit as a result. Okay, let's pray. Father, Lord we seek your face.
Knowing that ultimately we are in your hands. Help us Lord God to be people who are humbled before you. That despite our weaknesses, despite our shortcomings. That you said that you're willing to use us if we get rid of the ignoble things in our lives. That we seek you Father God with all our heart.
Help us Lord God. Help us in our weakness to come to you to recognize. The solution is not in this world that is not in us but is in you and you alone. Make us a house of prayer Lord God for the sake of your glory. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. I love the voice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. He declares his work is finished. He has spoken this unto me. Oh the sun has risen shining. Though the world appeared at last. Christ had triumphed over evil. It was finished upon the cross.
Now the curse it has been broken. Jesus paid the price for me. All the power in me has offered. Great the welcome that I receive. In the eye of God my Father. Lord in Jesus righteousness. There is no more guilt to carry. It was finished upon the cross. Death was once my great opponent.
Fear once had a hold on me. But the Son who died to save us. Rose that we would be free indeed. Death was once my great opponent. Fear once had a hold on me. But the Son who died to save us. Rose that we would be free indeed. Yes He rose that we would be free indeed.
Free from every man of darkness. Free to live and free to go. Death is dead and Christ is risen. It was finished upon the cross. Onward to eternal glory. To my Savior and my God. I rejoice in Jesus victory. It was finished upon the cross. It was finished upon the cross.
It was finished upon the cross. Let's pray. Now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Eternal love of God the Father. Rest, restore and strengthen the church. That we may live lives worthy of the gospel that you have given. Amen.