Convince Your Church

Tonight we piggy back off the message from this morning with another look at the ministry of Holy Spirit conviction.

What is conviction? It really is quite simple. To convict… is to prove. To convict is to correct. To convict… is to convince, to win over.

The presence of the Holy Spirit within our lives come with many benefits and yes… I see the ministry of His conviction as a MAJOR benefit!

The ministry of conviction does something that is super important. The Holy Spirit works to move us beyond… us!

He moves us beyond our personal bias or agenda.

He moves us beyond our sense of what we understand to be real.

He moves us beyond our sense of what is possible.

Holy Spirit conviction will challenge what we think we know, He will confront what we might believe to be true, He will override emotions that move us, thoughts that persuade us, and culture that might pressure us.

The Holy Spirit does this on a personal level… and He does this on a corporate level as well. I am glad tonight that the Spirit of God is welcome and moving within our church… within our assembly. And… in these last days… I hope to see us be MORE welcoming and MORE dependent on His ministry in this place.

This evening, I felt moved to bring us to a place of prayer regarding the ministry work of the Spirit. This prayer is focused on a very narrow point tonight that comes straight from the Word of God and that prayer point is this: Holy Spirit… convict OR convince Your church.

What are we praying for the Holy Spirit to convict the church of? Well… it might surprise you a bit. That answer comes from a well know passage regarding prayer 2 Chronicles 7:14

2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

We like to bring this verse up frequently on the topic of prayer. Why? Because of the promise at the end: “I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Sounds pretty good right?

But church, we need to pay close attention to the call given at the front of the verse. God lays out four very specific things that must happen in order for the promise to come about. And they ALL deal with who? THE PEOPLE OF GOD - which translates today to you and me - GOD’S CHURCH!

In context, these words were spoken by God to Solomon at the dedication of the Temple. The Lord had chosen the Temple for Himself as a temple for sacrifices.

And then He gives this call: (I paraphrase) when trouble comes in the form of no rain or locust swarms or plague… If my people will XYZ… then look at verse 15.

2 Chronicles 7:15 NIV

15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

Church, lawlessness is spreading all over this land. And this lawlessness is a direct result of the godlessness our culture has adopted. But what is worse… this same godlessness is invading the Church not only in America but around this world.

The Church is to be the extension of Jesus’ ministry until He returns. The Church is to be a shining lamp or a city on the hill. The Church is to be the lighthouse that illuminates the dangers of sin and leads people to the presence of God.

Yet today, we see denominations splitting. We see sin being embraced as righteousness. We see church attendance in decline. We hear feel-good sermons that tickle ears instead of preach truth. We see an invasion of culture instead of avoidance. And even in Pentecostal circles we hear less about our need for the Spirit as we see personal agenda on the rise.

God did not instruct us to be of the world as we are living in the world… God instructed us to be holy as God is holy. And I believe the ONLY person that is convincing enough to lead the Church to change is the Holy Spirit.

So our prayer tonight is… Lord, CONVINCE Your Church. CONVICT YOUR PEOPLE.

Convict them of what? Convict… US… of the four things listed in 2 Chronicles 7:14.

To be clear, these four points do not serve as some secret formula that must be put together just right before God will heal our land. They are, however, important positions of the heart that move us beyond… US.

Some of us can’t see beyond ourselves. Some of us might believe we have it all figured out. That’s a dangerous place to be. Pride and arrogance are destructive attitudes that destroy from within.

It’s a trend that moves even some churches to trust culture… over Christ. The only answer is to remain grounded in these four positions of the heart.

Prayer Point One: Holy Spirit, CONVINCE Your Church to HUMBLE Ourselves.

Humbleness is key in this entire passage.

What does it mean to be humble?

Defined, humbleness is reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission. I see it as… surrender. I see it as giving ourselves COMPLETELY to the Lord.

It means we realize that HE is God… and we are NOT. It means we don’t pretend to have all the answers. It means we don’t pretend to have it all figured out. It means we don’t elevate ourselves to a place where we don’t need God.

The enemy wants the church to believe that we don’t need God. The enemy wants the church to FEEL like we can do life without the Lord. “You got this! You won’t surely die! God is simply withholding something good from you!”

The enemy wants to convince us… that WE can overcome this world on our own.

But our victory is not found in what we can do. Our victory is ONLY FOUND in Jesus.

We surrender to Him to find freedom. We surrender to Him to find hope. We HUMBLE ourselves to His authority and power.

I want us to pray tonight for the Holy Spirit to convince the church… to be humble again.

The church will not move closer to God until it realizes its need for the Lord. We can try to do this without Him. We can follow the ministry models and come up with slick methods. We can have the latest and greatest programs and offer comfortable amenities. We can aim to be politically correct so not to offend and people pleasing. We can do what the world wants us to do… and cease to be the church.

We are NOT called to conform. We are called to be transformed. Will we submit to the ways of the world… or be transformed by the power of God? God doesn’t want us doing more of the same that we were set free from… He wants to renew our minds.

This all starts, from a position of humbleness.

Prayer Point Two: Holy Spirit, CONVINCE Your Church to PRAY.

We need to pray that the people of God would become people of prayer.

Simply put… we need to be talking to God more… not less… in these last days. Prayer places us in direct communication with the Lord.

Prayer means we do two things.

One, we talk to God. We praise Him. We lift up our needs to Him. We be honest with Him.

Two, it means we listen to God. When we pray, we need to make time to not only talk, but to hear. God will speak to us through His Spirit and/or through His Word.

Prayer SHOULD be a regular spiritual discipline in the life of every believer.

Prayer… keeps us humble. In fact, when humbleness and prayer come together, it moves us to what I have referred to as the position of possibility… on our knees calling out to the Lord.

Prayer moves us from an inward focus… to an upward focus. It moves our attention from our abilities to His abilities.

Prayer also moves us from a position of peril… to a position of peace.

Philippians 4:6–7 NIV

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Our culture and society is facing a storm of mental health issues. Since the pandemic, anxiety has been on the rise. People are struggling to cope with the daily concerns and pressures they experience.

The world… will do that to a person. Watch the news for 5 minutes.. you can feel it building up. But it’s not just the distant issues that cause people to worry… people are facing challenges today like we have never seen.

Our hope for peace in the peril is… PRAYER. As we pray, HIS PEACE which is beyond our understanding moves in.

We can be in the middle of the storm and have peace! We can be in the middle of the fight and find peace! God does not want His people to be anxious… He desires for us to be at peace!

Prayer Point Three: Holy Spirit, CONVINCE Your Church to SEEK Your Face.

This might seem simple, yet the Church is missing it.

As Christians we are… Christ followers. The Word tells us that if we want to be His disciple, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and FOLLOW JESUS.

This means we do not follow the trends or ways of the world. This means we do not follow our agenda or opinion. This means WE FOLLOW JESUS.

And I want to focus in a a specific need in this area. It’s not that we are to simply seek the Lord… We need to seek Him… FIRST.

Matthew 6:33 NIV

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Too often, God is second in line, or third or fourth in line when it comes to seeking direction or next steps.

Too often, I hear prayer or seeking God referred to the last option instead of the first. “Well, all we can do now is pray.” We need to STOP that line of thinking. We need to be saying, “Well, before we do anything regarding this need, let’s stop and pray.” We need to seek God FIRST.

No matter the need, no matter the trial, no matter the circumstance, we need to seek Him first. No matter if we are on the mountain top high or in the valley low, we need to seek God first. No matter if we have it all together or it seems like it is all falling apart, we need to seek God first and His righteousness.

Church, we truly risk making matters worse when we seek God second, third, or fourth. We compound the issue when we inject our understanding over what the Lord might lead you to do.

Too often we seek the counsel of a friend first. Too often we seek the counsel of book or a podcast first. Too often we seek the thoughts of the world or the accepted trends of the culture first. But the Word is clear - GOD IS TO BE SOUGHT AFTER… FIRST.

I want our prayer tonight to not only focus on seeking God… but seeking Him FIRST.

Prayer Point Four: Holy Spirit, CONVINCE Your Church to REPENT.

2 Chronicles 7:14 specifically says “turn from their wicked ways.” And every time I read this… I say ouch. Why? Because “wickedness” does not belong in the body of Christ. Wicked ways will only lead us away from the ways of the Lord.

And Church… this is not a new phenomenon. My heart hurts for the godless ways that are creeping into so many churches today. But we need to understand that this has been a struggle for a long time.

Consider this: In Revelation, when John was instructed to write letters to the seven churches in the provinces of Asia, five of the seven letters include rebuke from the Lord.

These churches had sin deeply embedded within them.

In Ephesus, they had forsaken their first love.

In Pergamum, they had embraced false teaching.

In Thyatira, they tolerated “Jezebel” who was teaching and misleading people to sin.

In Sardis, they were spiritually lifeless.

In Laodicea, they were trying to live both of the world and of God.

5 of the seven churches means… The majority of the churches received a word of rebuke! But with that word was also given a means to repent. They were not too far gone… but they would perish if they continued on their current path.

My point is… NO CHURCH is immune from compromise or misdirection. It is therefore essential that the church continuously keep focused on Jesus, grounded in the Word, and led by the Spirit.

It is also essential that we be real… that we repent of any and all wickedness that might exist within.

And before we look to other congregations that we might see as less than, we need to ask God to forgive us of any wickedness within our own assembly.

Jesus Himself warns us of concerning ourselves with the sins of others before dealing with our own wrong doings in Matthew 7:4-5

Matthew 7:4–5 NIV

4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

We need to ask the Holy Spirit… to reveal any sin within and to move us to repentance.

This is a corporate prayer AND a personal prayer.

Closing

And so tonight, we close in prayer. Tonight we bring these four prayer points to the altar.

Holy Spirit, Convince Your Church to HUMBLE Ourselves.

Holy Spirit, Convince Your Church to SEEK Your Face.

Holy Spirit, Convince Your Church to PRAY.

Holy Spirit, Convince Your Church to REPENT.

And as these prayers are lifted up, may we also ask God to hear from heaven, to forgive our sins, and to heal our land.

People need the Lord. The world needs Jesus. And Jesus has called His Church to lead lost sinners home.

My prayer is… for the Spirit of God to overhaul churches across America and for that work to start right here.

This is not to say that I see terrible things happening at HWC. But I pray we will forever remain in a position of humbleness, in pursuit of the Lord, in much needed prayer, and with a heart of repentance.

Are you willing to join me in that prayer tonight?