Immanuel Sermon Audio
I Am a Church Member: Praying
that prayer is a prayer that Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus chapter 3 beginning in verse 14 If you'd like to go back and read that later today I show that video to you because this morning we are talking about prayer and I wanted to give you an example of a prayer That if my hunch is right is very very different than many of the prayers that we normally pray And so as we talk about prayer this morning, I just want you to be open to thinking about prayer Possibly in a little bit of a new light our series is called I'm a church member and we have books in the lobby if you have not picked up a copy of the book And you would like to pick one up feel free to do that. There's also an outline and this week I believe it's a yellow slip of paper you can pull those out we'll be using those this morning as We talk about what does it mean to be a church member last week? We talked about what does it mean to be a functioning church member and our focus was the idea of spiritual gifts and What that means for your life and how you use those gifts to plug into our church this morning? We're going to talk about what does it mean to be a praying church member and again? My hunch is that as we talk about prayer and as we look at several passages that Maybe the prayers we ought to be praying are not the kind of prayers that we actually are praying And so I just want you to be open to that this morning about a year ago I received an email from a stranger and the stranger was Chris Harrington and Chris Harrington was a chairman of your pastor search committee and he emailed me and said hey We're looking for a pastor and I said hey, I'm not looking for a church He said well, let's talk and we emailed back and forth a little bit and here we are today You know how that story ends, but it's a curious thing perspective pastors and pastor search committees I Don't want to stand up and tell you that Perspective pastors and search committees lie to each other But you're very selective in the truth that you share with each other and you're very cautious with what you share with each other And just be honest It's a little bit like dating you remember when you're dating and you first start dating a person And you don't want to just go on the first date and put all your cards out there on the table You sort of want to hold back a little bit and say okay I need to size you up and I know you're trying to size me up And I'm trying to figure you out and you're trying to figure me out and you try to sort of do this strange strange Dance back and forth in trying to figure each other out You can learn a lot whether you're on a pastor search committee This is just free advice if you ever find yourself on one If you're on a search team you can learn a lot or if you're a prospective pastor or minister You can learn a lot by the questions that the other person asks you and I'll give you an example of this in 2006 Brooke and I lived in Kentucky and I went on my first real Serious interview for a pastor position at a church and that was a church north Benson Baptist Church Right outside of Frankfurt, Kentucky And I pulled up in the parking lot went up that ramp on the right into the fellowship hall and sat down with a pastor search team First time I'd ever sat down with them and I was nervous I mean I was terrified to sit down with these people Brooke and I had just had our first daughter Emma had been born and I didn't have a job and I needed a job and I was still going to school going to school again Which also made me nervous and so I sat down with these folks and they seemed pretty nice And we sort of did the pleasantries and somebody finally set a prayer and then we got into the interview and here was the first Question they asked me. They looked at me and they said is your wife gonna come to church? And I thought this is a trick I Got to be careful here What do I say it's my wife and I sat there for a minute and I finally just said is that a trick question? Of all the things you could ask me that is not what I expected you to ask me and they said well Here's why we're asking our last pastor had been here for nine years He was from the county just south of Frank Frankfort and his wife was a member of Lawrenceburg Baptist Church and she never came Nine years we never saw her Not at a worship service Sunday school class Bible study WMU potluck Picnic nothing we never saw her and we kind of like the pastor's wife to show up every now and then and I said well I can tell you my wife's gonna come and I went home to Brooke who was also a little bit nervous about the whole thing I said look we got this in the bag oh You have to do is show up Just be there and have a pulse they're gonna think you're the greatest pastor's wife in a decade. Just show up. This is easy That was the first question. Here's the second question. No lie question one is your wife gonna come to church question two Do you like fried chicken? At that point, I'm sort of getting a feel for the group and I said I guess this has something to do with the previous pastor He would not eat fried chicken and We don't understand somebody who would claim to be a Baptist preacher and not eat fried chicken and I said listen You are gonna love my family We're both gonna come to church and at the potluck. I will eat more than my share of fried chicken This is gonna be the beginning of a beautiful relationship But you get questions like this that are a little bit strange and it tells you about something that was maybe on their heart or their mind Here's one question. I've been asked every time I've talked with a committee They sit down and at some point they say we want to hear what your goals are What are your goals? I hope that you don't think your pastor's a loser, but I never know what to say to that question What are your goals and I just sit there and I scratch my head and for a lot of years I answered that question with two different committees. I answered that question and said or excuse me one committee said my goal is to get out of school I Have been going to school since kindergarten Non-stop and I've been in school way too long I changed my major in college so I wouldn't have to go to school so long and here I am 10 years later still going to school my goal is to get out of school and that sort of Pacified them or satisfied them and and what they wanted to know But then when we moved to Oklahoma and when we moved here the committee said what are your what are your goals? What are your ministry goals? What are your career goals? What are your personal goals? Tell us tell us what some of your goals are and this is the most honest answer I can give you I wish I maybe you expect the pastor to have more I don't know ambition than this or vision than this or whatever, but here's what I've come up with is my answer to that question Goal number one. I want to stay married Goal number two. I want to stay in ministry in that order. I Want to stay married? I Don't want to lose my family and I want to stay in ministry I don't want to lose my opportunity to do what I feel like God has given me the opportunity to do with my life I want to keep my family and I want to keep my ministry How many preachers pastors ministers have lost their ministry because they lost their family first too many Put a few faces up on the screen and maybe you remember some of these people My guess is that when I put those faces your first instinct is to chuckle That's sad, right? You look at those faces and the first thing you think of is a bunch of goofballs A bunch of knuckleheads every person on that screen some of them in the 80s some of them in the 90s some of them in the 2000s lost their ministry in their influence in doing what they felt like God had called them to do because They had moral failure of one kind or another in their life all of them And not only did their moral failure removed them from the opportunity to do what they felt like God had called them to do and not only did it bring pain and heartache and destruction and devastation to their families which it did but it also brought pain and Heartache and devastation and destruction to their churches into the people that they had influence over now We can put those guys up on the screen and we can laugh about him We say I was just bunch of TV preachers just much of televangelist or just money grubbin jerks anyways forget about those guys Let me make it more personal at least for me and my guess is you can fill in the blanks with people in your own life About the time Brooke and I moved to Kentucky in 2004 my college pastor a man that had more or as much spiritual influence in my life than any other human being ever Decided, you know, I don't want to be married anymore. I Don't want to take care of my four boys anymore. I don't really even believe in God anymore Definitely don't want to work at this church anymore. I'm out of here. He left and it was terrible It was destructive for our church It wasn't a whole lot much after that that our pastor's wife decided I don't want to be married to you anymore and He tried what he could do to fix things and put things in order But she just said you know what it is too little too late. I'm not interested. I'm out. I'm leaving There's no physical abuse. There's no adultery. No anything like that. She just said I've had enough. I'm out. I'm leaving. I'm done. I Could tell you story after story after story of guys that I met at seminary look I don't know how old you think I am or young you think I am it hasn't been that long since I was at Seminary and I could just go down the list and tell you about this guy and this guy and this guy and this guy and this guy and this guy People who felt like God was calling them to do something Ministry related for the sake of the church for the sake of the kingdom who lost that opportunity because they made bad decisions about money Or they made bad decisions about women or they made bad decisions about this that or the other a computer screen Whatever they lost the opportunity to do what God had called them to do and in the wake of that They brought pain to their family and pain to their churches or the people involved in their ministries I could tell you stories about people in Kentucky Just in case you think it's a regional thing. I could tell you stories about people in Oklahoma to tell you stories about Texas I haven't been back in Texas all that long and already I've heard the stories They've happened since I've been here in our own town about people in positions of leadership and influence in a church who make horrible Decisions in their personal life. They lose the opportunity to do what God has Allegedly supposedly called them to do They bring destruction and pain to their family and they bring destruction and pain to their church This is at least one big reason that you ought to be a prey church member And my guess is that if you just knew the topic of this Talk or this chapter in the book and you said okay, I'm supposed to be a praying church member church member Well, I'm gonna pray for all the people who are sick and that means he wants me to pray for all of our our missionaries who are overseas That God will keep them safe and we're supposed to pray We've got 62 youth in adults this morning who are at Camp Eagle We're supposed to pray for them. They're driving pray for safety what I want you to see this morning is there's more to being a praying church member than simply praying for the Hospital list and those who are traveling over the highways way more in fact not that those things are unimportant or insignificant but the things that we are talking about ought to be what Dominates your prayer life not those other things. I'm not saying get rid of them I'm just saying put them in their proper place as you think this morning about what it means to be a praying Church member. This is important It's important because as a follower of Jesus Christ Whether you are a pastor who stands on a platform and gives a sermon Whether you're a Sunday school teacher a deacon an elder at your church Whether you greet people at the front door when they walk in on Sunday mornings or whether you just come and you sit in this pew If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you represent him to the world for good or bad and As somebody you're here this morning and most of your faces are pretty familiar as somebody who's here this morning at a Manual Baptist Church whether you like it or you don't you represent this church to our community Issues in your life become issues in our church Problems with your reputation become problems with our reputation This is serious serious business and I want you to think with me What does it mean biblically to be a praying church member? I want to look at four passages with you. We could look at tons, but we only have time for four four passages None of these passages are going to spell it out exactly specifically letter for letter word for word what you need to pray But I hope they move you in the right direction as you think about praying for your church family first passage is in first Timothy 3 verse 1 to verse 7 and the idea is this your leaders need protection Your leaders need protection. We're not talking about protection driving over the highways We're not talking about protection from sickness or illness We're talking about spiritual protection. Look at first Timothy 3 Paul's writing to Timothy and he's giving him in these verses 1 to 7. He's giving them character Qualifications for somebody who's going to serve as a pastor of a church. Let me let you in on two secrets. You ready? This is high-level important stuff. You may not hear this anywhere else There's not a man woman boy girl person on earth who meets all of these secret number one Secret number two I can show you passages in the New Testament for each of these Requirements qualifications job descriptors, whatever you want to call them. They're not just for pastors. They're for all believers Does that make sense? Yes, this collection Paul is specifically talking about leadership in the church But I can show you verses throughout the New Testament that apply each one of these to your life And so we're thinking about leadership Here's the qualifications first Timothy 3 beginning in verse 1 the saying is trustworthy if anyone aspires to the office of overseer or you could say elder you could say bishop or you could say pastor if anyone aspires to this office he just desires a noble task an Overseer must be above approach the husband of one wife so reminded self-controlled Respectable hospitable able to teach not a drunkard not violent, but gentle not quarrelsome not a lover of money He must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children submissive for if someone does not know how to manage his own Household how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall In to the condemnation of the devil moreover He must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace. Here's the part. I really want you to see Thought of by well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace comma into a snare of the devil You come to the end of that list and Paul says don't forget there's someone out to get you Way worse than the boogeyman Way worse than your worst nightmares There's somebody that wants to ruin you And yes, he's talking to pastors here talking about pastors here and he's saying The devil wants to destroy you spiritually. He wants to destroy your family He wants to destroy your church through what he does in your life, but you understand all of these things are also true of you and We've talked about leadership In recent weeks that you have influence over other people as A leader anyone that you have influence over you're a leader in some sense And you understand that Satan wants to destroy that influence that leadership by destroying you So you're thinking about prayer you thinking about praying for your church number one you keep in mind your leaders need Protection second passage is Ephesians 6 one that you may be familiar with and the truth is simple We are in a spiritual conflict this builds right off of what we saw Paul telling Timothy We are in a spiritual conflict Ephesians chapter 6 beginning in verse 10 Again Paul's writing to the church in Ephesus and this is what he says Ephesians 6 10 finally be strong in the Lord And in the strength of his mind put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes There it is the snares the schemes the traps of the devil We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present Darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. This is not bombs and hand-to-hand combat This is spiritual danger. This is spiritual conflict and Paul says look I know you can't see these powers But there is real as the nose on your face So you need to understand them you need to be prepared you need to be strong You need to put on this armor verse 13 Take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm Stand therefore having fastened the belt of truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness in his shoes for your feet The readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one take the helmet of salvation the sword of the spirit Which is the word of God praying here it comes in verse 18 praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and Supplication to that in keep alert with all perseverance Making supplication or praying for all the saints and also for me pray for me That words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am a an Ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. You just look through those verses Paul says be strong Three times he says stand firm stand your ground Don't back down. Don't lose this fight. Don't give into the temptation stand firm and three times at the end He says pray pray pray pray Yes, I think Paul prayed for sick people, but that's not what he prayed for here Yes, I think Paul prayed at times for safe travel as he was traveling and as his friends were traveling But that's not what he prayed for here Right now he has in mind spiritual issues and he says pray for us because we're in a spiritual conflict number three Colossians chapter one Knowing God is essential you're thinking about prayer you're thinking about how am I supposed to pray for my church? You got to get this down in your bones knowing God is essential Flip over to the right Colossians chapter one Paul writing to the church now in Colossae Look at Colossians 1 verse 9 and 10 He says so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray For you. Oh, that's nice Paul's praying for me Paul the Apostle is praying for me if you're part of this church I haven't stopped praying for you. What are you praying Paul? We're praying we're asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all Spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord Fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God Can I tell you something that may surprise you when you read through the letters that Paul wrote to his churches? I Don't think it would surprise you to know that he prayed for those churches and that he told them This is what I'm praying for you about I think it would surprise you to read through his letters and to see how Few times Paul prayed that God would change people's circumstances He just didn't do it very much Is that proof that he never did it and we should never do it? No, it's not You should pray for those who are in difficult circumstances those who are in hard periods of time in their life Please pray for those people, but what do you pray? Do you come to God like you're trying to twist his arm and to get him to go along with your plan because you know better than him How the outcome or what the outcome of this situation ought to be it's not what Paul did Paul comes he says I haven't stopped praying for you guys since the day we left since the day we heard about how you're doing We have been praying for you without ceasing and here's what I pray. I want you to know God I want you to know Jesus. I don't want you to just know about him But I want you to know him in a genuine living growing Vibrant relationship I want you to know Jesus and if you know him a lot of this other stuff is gonna take care of itself It's not gonna get easier. I know that or your problems aren't just gonna magically melt the way I understand that but what I'm really praying for you Paul says to the people in Colossae is that you would know God he wants them to know God I Hope you understand that this is the entire purpose of your life right here knowing God That's why you exist That's why you have breath in your lungs and a beating heart in your chest today That's why you're here with the opportunity to worship and to learn and to study God wants you to know him That's why to refer back to our series and loop that we're gonna get back to one of these days That's why Jesus Luke 1910 came to seek and to save the lost You were lost you didn't know God you were separated from him by your sin And Jesus came to seek you and save you and bring you back into a relationship with him You exist to know God to enjoy God to bring glory to God This is the purpose of your life And in this country sometimes we get a little confused Sometimes we think the purpose of our life is enjoying family Sometimes we think the purpose of our life is work Sometimes we think the purpose of our life is making money or Enjoying ourselves or having a nice hobby or whatever There's nothing wrong with any of those things that I just mentioned But they're not why you're here You're here to know God and when Paul prayed for the churches that he left behind his prayer over and over and over and over again In the one we watched on the video from Ephesians. I want you to know I want you to know something that you can't even fully comprehend But I want you to be able to begin to wrap your minds around what God has done for you through Jesus So that you could know him If you have never turned from your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ the Bible says you're still separated From it from God your relationship is not what it ought to be and the Bible says if you're in that position You need to repent turn from your sin and believe put your faith in your trust in Jesus Christ If you've never done that today would be a great day to do it It'd be a great day to say this is the purpose for which I was created the purpose for which I'm here and that is to know God that's what Paul prayed for the churches that he left behind knowing God is Essential one last idea and I hope this is somewhat challenging for you. I know it is for me acts chapter four the church needs boldness I Could show you back in Ephesians 6 Paul prayed for this at the end We just read that passage he said pray for me that I would be bold as I need to be bold I want you to look at acts for This is pretty close to after Jesus went back to heaven and Holy Spirit came on the disciples and the day of Pentecost and they preach and a couple of thousand get saved and Amazing things are happening and more people are getting saved acts chapter four There's been some persecution Peter and John just got arrested by the same guys that killed Jesus Right these guys don't mess around The same guys that had Jesus put up on a cross and they look Peter and John in the eye and they say look fellas be quiet Shut up don't talk anymore If you keep talking about Jesus, we're gonna do something about it They let him go and look what we read in acts for beginning in verse 23 when they were released Peter and John They went to their friends. They reported what the chief priests and the elders has said to them and when they heard it They lifted their voices together to God in other words. They prayed They had a impromptu prayer meeting and here's their prayer sovereign Lord Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them who through the mouth of our Father David your servants said By the Holy Spirit. Why did the Gentiles rage in the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed talking about Jesus being crucified Verse 27 truly in the city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Panchus Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel look at verse 28 To do whatever your hand and plan had predestined to take place The worst thing that we have ever seen happen The worst atrocity in all of human history when exactly according to your plan Now we're in a pickle now we have a problem verse 29 now Lord look upon their threats those are the people who just told them to be quiet or else look upon their threats and Grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus and When they had prayed the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak The Word of God with boldness Maybe my translation is missing apart But I miss the the parentheses where they say and please get rid of our wicked rulers They won't even let us talk about Jesus. We should have the freedom to do that. Please get rid of these guys. They're jerks and I miss the part where they said Please help us to rally the troops for the next election so that we can get the right kind of people in office Because if we get the right kind of people in office, then all of our problems will go away They didn't pray that I missed the part where they said please protect us and keep us safe Anybody catch that part Please we saw what they did to Jesus. God, please please keep us safe. We don't want to die like that They didn't pray that They didn't pray that God would get rid of their leaders. They didn't pray that God would give them new leaders They didn't pray that God would keep them safe from any kind of danger In fact, they said God we know what the danger is and we need a little bit of fortitude courage to walk headlong into it So give us the boldness and the courage that we need to do what you've already told us to do And the greatest part is at the end in verse 31 They prayed the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and God answered the prayer They continued to speak the word of God with boldness Let me summarize it like this. What does it mean to be a praying church member? Couple of ideas number one means you pray for your pastors your teachers your deacons your missionaries your friends And if I left anybody off you put them in there, too You pray for the people at your church All of them maybe not every single one of them by name every single day But you pray for the people at your church you pray for the people who are part of your circle your small group You pray for leadership you pray for these people What do you pray? This is the easy part. Who do you pray for? Here's the the tricky part. What do you actually pray? Very very simple you pray for health you pray for family you pray for wisdom Obedience in witness Pray for all of these people and then the next one will show you pray for health family wisdom obedience in Witness the travesty is what most of us do is we stop with the very first one we stop with health I'm gonna pray for all those people for health But continuing it we're supposed to pray for health for family for wisdom for obedience and for witness Health family wisdom obedience and witness here's the challenge this morning yellow piece of paper Just like we did last week looks like this The second pledge I am a church member. I Will pray for my pastors every day Understand their days are filled with numerous demands that bring emotional highs and lows They must deal with critics be good spouses and parents. My pastors cannot do All things on their own power, so I will pray for their strength and wisdom daily additionally I will pray for my Sunday school teacher say study the Bible and prepare to teach God's word I will pray for our deacons that they would serve our church faithfully. I'll pray for our missionaries Serving throughout the world. I will pray for my fellow church members Asking God to make a steadfast and bold through the power of the Holy Spirit If you want to make this pledge this morning you sign your name on the sin signature line fold it up You put it in the offering box when you leave worship this morning And I'm gonna remind you of this every week just because you sign your name on a piece of paper Doesn't mean that you are automatically a praying church member. You know that and I know that and Just because you don't sign your name on a piece of paper doesn't mean that you're anti-prayer Or that you refuse to pray for the people that you're part of a church family with But what we're asking you to do in this series each week is to be concrete and To literally put your name on the dotted line and to say I am making the commitment to be the kind of church member That God would have me to be and so if you make this commitment this morning We want you to sign it. We want you to put it in the offering boxes you leave We're gonna pray and we're gonna sing one more song so you bow and join me in prayer Father we pray that you would forgive us For not praying Father I think for most of us prayer is a difficult thing and We live busy lives and We pray that you would we ask that you would forgive us When we neglect prayer Father it is a sign that we think we can do things on our own when the reality is that we can't So we repent of that Father we ask that you would forgive us for being so narrowly focused in our prayers for being so selfish in our prayers For being so materialistic in our prayers and forgetting that there is a war waging all around us For our spiritual lives for our families for our church for your kingdom And father forgive us when we put material things Ahead of what we may be ought to be praying for forgive us when we only pray for our physical needs and we forget to pray for our spiritual needs Father we want to be praying people we want to be praying families we want to be a praying church and We need your help to create this in us and to move us in this direction and to sustain us in this work Father as we take a minute to sing to think about you To think about what you have done so that we could know you and talk to you and pray to you and sing to you Father we pray again that your spirit would be present and active in our lives We love you. We thank you for the gift of prayer and we pray in Jesus name amen Stand up and we are going to sing