Identity - Who am I? I am Prayer Warrior

If I have not had a chance to meet you; My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and I have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship.

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Baptism Training - June 11th

New Series - June 11th - Forgiven and Valued a walk through Philemon

Faith comes by Hearing and hearing comes by the word so lets listen to the word.

TRUTH

John 14:13–14 ESV

13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Matthew 18:19 ESV

19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

12 For 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.

James 4:2–3 ESV

2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Ephesians 6:18–19 ESV

18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,

Colossians 4:3–4 ESV

3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

James 5:13–16 ESV

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

LETS GRAB OUR BIBLES IF YOU HAVE ONE AND

Open it to James Chapter 5 vs 13 as we Continue exposing what Jesus says about our Identity in HIM -

In our teaching series called “Identity” - Answering the question :Who am I? when it comes to identifying as a follower of Jesus aka A Christian.

PRAYER FOR THE MESSAGE

This morning is prayer and I have been praying literally for years about prayer breaking out among all of us!

You might say Pastor? A little redundant don't you think? Praying about Prayer?

Here is what I realized over the last several weeks as I heard from God about His message to us this morning and reviewing the vast amount of scripture references about prayer.

What I realized is that I am not as much of a prayer warrior as I though I was.

Reality is that I don't pray as much as I can, as much as I should and I don't pray near as much as I want to. And I don't pray enough with you all. I pray for you and I pray over you but As I look back I don't pray enough with you.

WHY!

Because I am a normal person and I struggle with the same things that everyone else does and the same distractions that all of us do and the same time management issues that all of us struggle with.

Here is the scary part - it makes me really fearful of how many of us are in the same boat together in relationship to the one thing that God has given all of us to be able to Experience Him to have connection with Him and to enjoy deep abiding intimacy with Him and that is prayer!

TENSION

You see the problem is with our identity.

You might be saying “What pastor? our Identity?

“What does our identity have anything to do with the amount of quantity, the depth of quality of or the effectiveness of power in our praying?”

To which I would say - EVERYTHING!

Here is what is interesting -

Identifying as a Christian has seemingly somehow taken on this nebulous, action free definition to really simply mean that in order to claim the identity of Christian all a person has to do is simply agree to a certain set of facts about Jesus and nothing else matters.

Here is what happened - Back in the day - probably some where between 70 and 150 years ago. Identifying as a Christian came with certain behavioral expectations that were derived out of scripture, practiced by the early church, and consistently displayed throughout the history of the faithful church -

i.e. representing Jesus and Making Him known

Now don't get me wrong there were times the church i.e. people, have gotten off track.

But were not talking about those things -

Those things would not be considered to be “representing Christ and making Him known”

You might say -

Pastor what do you mean there were behaviors that came with being a christian, I thought all we had to do was believe and have faith?

Loved ones you cannot read your Bible and get away from the fact that believing in Christ and having Faith in Christ always comes with a manifestation of faith and belief that moves us to actions that indicate that our belief and faith work themselves out to be actions of Trust.

Works of Trust -

This then becomes our Identity of who we and it is inextricably ties to what we do.

Identity is always tied to what we do.

Well lets look at some other identifying terms other than “Christian”.

Lets start with terms that nobody likes -

If someone is Identified as an addict - What do we know about what they do?

If someone is Identified as a workaholic - what do we know about what they do?

If some one is Identified as liar - What do we know about what they do?

If some one identifies as a thief - what do we know about that they do?

Adulterer? Fornicator?

Here is the problem - No one wants to be identified as those things becasue those things are tied to a behavior and now they have become labels -

But we have pushed so far back that what we no see in our culture is the normalization of behaviors and those behaviors having labels and if anyone thinks that those labels are wrong then they are labeled out of the weird sense of legalism.

and in fact there are some labels that we don’t really mind taking on.

If someone is identified as a good father - What do we know about what they do?

If we say someone is a good provider - What do we know about what they do?

The same is true in the dynamic examples of our current cultural conversation that we can see happening all around us.

heterosexual - has actions tied to that identity

homosexual - Has actions tied to that Identity

Transsexual -

so forth and so on.

Reality is that we simply cannot separate words that identify someone or we use to claim self identity completely and totally separate them from action?

The Problem is that what has crept into our culture is the idea that somehow Identity can be separated from actions or behaviors.

I think this began in the postmodern philosophical conversations of a couple of generations ago. Maybe further back but really started to take root in that era of our history.

When mantras like “its human being not human doing” came into our conversation.

SO what happened is that we began this release of reason that caused us to be able to identify any ol way we wanted to and it has worked its way all the way into the church.

Identifying as a Christian seemingly has either been greatly reduced in its being tied to actions, behaviors and lifestle

or it is simply like many other identifiers become subject to our own individual definitions with no objective standard by which we are called to live by.

and That loved ones is a great lie of the Devil straight from the pit of hell.

When we are adopted children of God by faith through grace - made alive in Christ - there are many many affirming identities that Jesus gives us as we are saved by Him.

Here is the thing we are challenged with in our culture today - These identities cannot be separated from the joy filled obligation to live them out that are called for in Scripture.

Because if we do - What we see in the lives of many is the power of the gospel stripped away and many many people live lives of defeat and discouragement and disrepair all the while taking on Christian as their identity.

My prayer is that we would all move towards a biblical, orthodox and historical actions that are ties to the identity christian and in doing so we would see the victory we all have in Jesus manifested in our life.

Identifying as a Prayer warrior is one of those actions that biblically identify Christians from non.

SO lets unpack the premise that we activity live out being a prayer warrior.

UNPACKING

Prayer began with God's people from before God’s people became God’s people.

Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden in the cool of the day - That is prayer.

What we seen in Genesis Chapter 4:26 - Right after the fall and the relationship with God and man was broken and everything fell in to sin and death.

IS that “men began to call upon the name of the Lord.”

If you read chapter 4 what you will see is the proliferation of sin -

Cain Kills Able - out of Jealousy and Cains offspring generations later Kills a couple of people one for wounding him and another for striking him.

Adam and Eve come back into the narrative and have Seth -

Seth has a wife and Has Enosh - No Sin has become prevalent and what happens -

Men began to call upon the name of the Lord - Prayer breaks out!

The Rest of the Old Testament - Several thousand years and years an years of historical record of prayer

from the prophets and the kings -

From sister wives to people related to kindred redeemers -

From Judges to captive faithful leaders -

Prayer is at the center of the power of God being active and manifest in their lives -

and Prayer is the hallmark action of their continued intimate relationship with God

THE PROMISE OF PRAYER

Jesus comes along and makes two different promises about prayer - solidifying the promise behind trusting God that is exemplified in prayer!

In John 14:13-14

John 14:13–14 ESV

13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Jesus says to His followers - Whatever you ask in my name -

Jesus qualifies the request - That the Father may be glorified in the Son - What that means is - That the Father would be Revealed in the son -

Jesus says - Whatever that is - ANYTHING in that vain that you ask in my name - That I will do -

Here is the interesting thing about those verses -

In this part of the Life Story of Jesus - This is after the last supper - When Jesus is on His way to the Cross - Jesus is Laying down some serious truth about that is happening and fixing to happen as they are all on their way to the Garden where Jesus is going to do some Big time prayer -

and what Jesus says when he says - Whatever YOU ask in my name -

Here is what he says - 1st when He says “you” an accurate rendering would be “You all” indicating collective prayer -

and When jesus says “ask” the original language will tell us that this is asking with such passion that it comes right up to the edge of demanding -

Jesus also in Matthew 18:19 quantifies prayer in the collective as well.

Matthew 18:19 ESV

19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

If any two of you- Agree - that word means “are in concert or in harmony together - Like different instruments sounding good together” -

Agree about ANYTHING -

You all ask - Ask again to the point of demanding -

Jesus promises “it will be done for them by My father in Heaven”

You see the devil has done a great Job of bringing pride and shame and guilt into the lives of the church -

We have loved ones that need deliverance from addiction, sickness of mind or body, spiritual deprivation, salvation?

We pray in our closets but never pray with others in the church - Especially another brother or sister in Christ we don’t know -

Jesus says two or more - Ask to the point of demanding and do so in agreement with each other so that the Father can be revealed in the Son and IT WILL BE DONE!

SO the promise of collective prayer is given to us by Jesus -

NECESSITY

We also must realize is that PRAYER is Necessary

The Necessity of Prayer calls all of us to be and walk in the prayer warrior that is in all of us and in our calling. It is implied in our calling and our identity that we are to be prayer warriors.

Here is the reality of our existence as people.

This reality comes more and more real when we become Christians and claim Christ.

The reality is that each and every person is created in the Image of God and as the Bible says we are Living Souls, created in the image of God -

As such we all have an enemy of our souls -

The Devil - The father of lies - Accuser of the brethren - originator of deceit and deception - The one who creates and illuminates and places in front of every person made in the image of God falsehoods - In order to devour -

WHY? becasue He hates God and everything God has done and will do and he does so with a passion that is fueled with such hate that we cannot understand its depths, its reason, its rational or see its ending.

Peter says it best -

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Here is what God is telling us when he has Peter say - “Be sober Minded”

The Word there is “don't be irrational in your thinking” and it included in the Spiritual sense.

Then peter says “we have an enemy” and then give us the basis of our prayer warriorness -

Peter identifies that enemy “the Devil” revealing to us the realm of conflict which is spiritual realm where the conflict is.

This passage of text directly implied that it is not rational we are not sober minded if we deny in anyway the reality of this enemy and our enemies intentions to devour -

That word means to Swallow Whole - You see our Enemy the Devil is not interested in partial harm by taking a bit here or a bite there - This enemy is only interested in total destruction - Swallow Whole. To Devour -

This is why Paul says in:

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

You See Ephesus was a cultural center of demonic activity and Satan worship .

All kinds of attacks am to the church in Ephesus -

and Paul rationally - sober mindedly - Reminded them in His letter - Where the Battle and who the battle is against.

Every struggle we have with-in ourselves and in relationship with other people is directly originated in the spiritual realm and

the Necessity of Prayer is directly related to our seeing victory in this physical world.

WE MUST ASK BUT NOT FOR OURSELVES

James - The Half brother of Jesus - Who did not come to faith until after Jesus was crucified and appeared to many-

His half brother who became a church Leader - By the inspiration of God reminds us of the necessity of our prayer when He says “we do not have becasue we do not ask”

There are some prayers that we have been praying for for years and God has not answered them - - The Holy Spirit tells us through the penmanship of James - The reason may very well be that we are asking to “spend it on our selves”

You see Jesus laid down for us - That when we ask - When two or more agree we ask - We ask so passionately that we are on the edge of demanding - ANYTHING we ask must be so God the Father would be glorified or Revealed in Jesus.

SO we ask!

SO What do we ask for?

What do we pray for -

We must prayer for the things that we request that wold bring glory to him - In other words Reveal Him.

WHAT DO WE PRAY FOR?

Here is a list -

OUR WITNESS

We need to pray for our witness to the world.

Paul - The Apostle Paul - Once serial killer of Christians named Saul - Gets saved via lighting bolt on the road to arrest and kill more Christians and when he writes the letter to the Ephesians church and the Church in Colossae - He is in prison in Rome - Not the best of circumstances. But here is what Paul Prayers for - He prayers for his witness -

Ephesians 6:19 ESV

19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,

Pray so that words may be given to me to ope my mouth and boldly proclaim the Gospel. -

When is that last time we prayed that one?

Colossians 4:3–4 ESV

Paul - Still in prison - says - Pray that God would open a door for the Gospel - Open the Opportunity for him to declare the Mystery of Christ -

Here is the crazy part - Paul then says On account of which I am in Prison -

What account?

Was Paul thinking that he was in prison for previously declaring the Gospel or did Paul think that God had allowed Him to be in prison do that the other prisoners would hear the Gospel and repent - And what Paul was praying for and asking others to pray for was an opportunity to do what God had sent him there to do.

So WE must Pray for our witness -

THE LOST

We must also pray for the Lost -

For this is why Jesus came to this earth 0 Luke 19:10

Luke 19:10 ESV

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The reality and promise of Scripture is that Acts 2:21

Acts 2:21 ESV

21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved - So we Pray for those who are lost - We pray for them to Call upon the name of the lord and trust the promise of Scripture -

GOD’S SPIRIT TO GO BEFORE

We pray for them - and we pray for the Spirit of God in His word goes ahead of us -

This is what Paul was praying for when He asked the Church in Thessalonian to join Him in prayer -

That the word of God would Go ahead of His team and that there would be a movement of God before the Gospel got there - here is what Paul said -

2 Thessalonians 3:1 ESV

1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you,

Just as it happened among you -

You See Paul - in obedience to Jesus Went to a place in modern day Greece called Thessalonica what my friend from Greece called Thessaloniki

and He shared the Gospel and made Disciples and trained them to do the same thing - And a Church was planted - an assembly of the Called out ones was planted

So as we Pray for our witness and we pray for the Lord to go ahead of us and to do His thing among people -

WHY? So God can be revealed - glorified in the Son Jesus -

PRAY FOR BODY AND SOUL

There is another things we pray for! These are things that are necessary for the Gospel to be effective through us -

We prayer for Healing -

Church want you to hear me clearly on this - We pray for healing

YES? -

DO we serve a God who heals?

YES -

SO we must pray for Healing - But that Healing is not just physical healing -

There is Spiritual Healing as well.

We Pray for our witness - We pray for the Lost to become saved - We also pray for Healing of Body, mind and soul -

Here is what James the Half brother of Jesus tells us about Prayer

James 5:13–16 ESV

vs 15 - and the Prayer of Faith -

Prayer of What? FAITH -

The Prayer of Trust

The Prayer of Faith will Save -

the Prayer of Faith will do What? Will Save the one who is sick.

Save - a single word that is used in the new testament when we read the word Saved -

Here is what it means - To save from peril - To benefit - To keep safe - Here is what it also means - To preserve the inner man -

You see sometimes it is our inner man that needs healing -

Sickness is not just about Physical ailment or disease - IT can also be about spiritual sickness - mental emotional and psychological conditions-

Sickness and sin are also tied together here -

Notice it says that we are to pray for Sickness - we are also to pray for our sins -

Trusting and being trusted

Vanurable and being tender enough to pray for each other as we confess our sins to one another -

What happens then - We are Healed - when we pray -

Why Because the Prayers of a righteous person have great power in their working -

So we pray for our witness -

We pray for the Lost - our list of people

We Pray for God to go before us -

We pray for Healing of Body Mind and of Soul -

UNITY

We also must pray for Unity -

Unity is the stickiness of Jesus in us that binds us together on mission for Jesus -

Ephesians 4:1–5 ESV

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

Unity is critically important - This is what Jesus prayed for in john 17 in His high priestly prayer -

This is what we see happening after pentecost among the church in Jerusalem - UNITY

This is what we hear Paul pleading for with the church in Ephesus that He spent nearly three and a half years planting -

Unity and the Bond of Peace - This is the way we walk that is worthy of our calling -

You see our calling to advance the Gospel is not a me calling or a you calling it is an all of us calling.

and if we don't have unity we will not walk together and walking to gether is the very nature of the Church - in the very word it self the word Church means the assembly of the called out ones - Assembled in unity - love, grace and reconciliation of God.

WE are to be ONE

One Body of Jesus that is the Church

One Spirit which is the Holy Spirit that is the Power of God -

One Hope - that is the assurance we have in Jesus One Master Jesus - not different ones but Jesus -

One Faith - One Trust - and ONE Baptism -

One Immersion into the water by the spirit originated by the father and surrendering to the Son -

So we pray -

We pray for our witness

We pray for the lost

WE Pray that God would go before us

We pray for mind body and soul -

we pray for Unity

LEADERS

we need to pray for our leaders.

Philippians 1:19 ESV

19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,

you see as leaders - Your staff, your worship leaders - You small group leader - Your elders -

Leaders need your you prayers - Why - We have an Enemy - a common enemy - well we are under attack and we we need to pray for one another.

AS Christians - if we are to take on that identity -

Let us all walk in that identity meaning that we are also Prayer Warriors.

NOW IT IS TIME TO PRAY -

PRAYER TEAM ALONG WITH OBED AND THE WORSHIP TEAM

IMAGINE PRAYER -

IMAGINE PRAY HAPPENING AMONG US AND EVERYONE WHO IS A PART OF THE BODY OF JESUS IN SUCH A WAY that GOd moved -

God moved becasue we did what he called us to do and that was to pray together - and When we prayed in agreement - We prayed for the things that brought glory the things that revealed God in and through His son Jesus - And when we did that to the point of demanding with passion and anguish and unity -

Imagine GOD moving!

Imagine Revival -

Imagine a movement of God that heals physical ailments -

That delivers from addiction - That heals marriages and families -

Imagine people under conviction of the spirit openly confessing Sin and experiencing grace and love and affection and prayer from other people.

And through that experiencing the love and forgiveness of the father as they have the burden of their sin lifted from their shoulders and they confess Christ -

This is the abundance of life that Jesus came to give -

This is what it is when we calim Jesus Self Identify as Christian - Representing Jesus and making Him known - We must include in that definition -

I am a prayer warrior -

Lets pray!

PRAYER TEAM!

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