If my people pray

Northside!!! How have you been! It’s so good to be with you all this evening… I have missed you guys… You all look so much better than the camera I have been preaching to… well most of you anyway…

This is crazy… it’s weird to have people looking at you when you do this now… maybe you all could face the other way…

It was just about a month ago… the Wednesday morning after the protests here in Albany that my heart really began to ache… and that’s when we decided to switch gears and speak into some of what we have been seeing in the world around us. Seeing the state of our country… the distention… the divisiveness… destruction… the unwillingness to listen… in a way if felt like a contest of who would go the farthest in an attempt to be heard…

Today is our last message in a series we are calling “If my people”...

And the statement that's been sort of driving the conversion is this…

“Life is better when we listen to and follow God’s instructions.”

Do you believe that? I believe that statement has the power to change your life.

Ps. 119 tells us that there is joy (vs 1) and freedom (vs. 45) found in listening to and following God’s instructions.

And I really do believe that God… as the author of life… the creator of it all has the wisdom, the right, and the authority to not only speak into… but also have expectations on how life is done.

And I really do believe that God led us to this passage… This timeless truth that speaks into the role His people are to play in times just like this.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NLT) 14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

4 ways God calls his people to lead... He says IF… my people

Humbling ourselves

Seeking His face

Turning from wickedness

And today… we are going to talk about prayer.

God calls His people to pray…

And here is a quick question… what is the surest sign that someone believes in the power of prayer?

They pray… often... Right… I mean if you believe prayer works… would you be foolish not to.

What do you think the surest sign is that someone doesn’t believe prayer works?

They don’t.

Last week I made this statement… if our sinful nature… “selfishness” is our default… then apathy is it’s friend… and living intentionally is it’s enemy.

And leading the way God calls us to lead… involves praying intentionally.

And as I started looking at this passage in 2 Chronicles, I realized the word used for prayer has 2 meanings.

Prayer and medication

To Judge, but no in the way we often think. It’s this idea of being a mediator… helping to sides that are far apart, come together.

The word often used in Churches is the word intercession… which means to pray for, intervene, and content on behalf of another. Not just praying for ourselves, our families, the church… but praying for those who are far from Him.

So today, I want to talk about 6 practical truths that come from two passages that help us understand what it means to intercede or stand in the gap for those who are far from God.

1 Timothy 2:1–6 (NLT)

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. 5 For, there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 6 He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.

#1 Pray for all people.

The job to pray for… intervene for… contend for others is uniquely ours… and if we don’t who will?

It reminds of a passage in Ezekiel… a time when the leaders of God’s people were full on corrupt, full of brokenness… wickedness and craziness ruled the day.

This is what God said.

Ezekiel 22:30 (NLT) “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one.

It’s a picture of a nation under attack… where portions of the wall has been toppled… where its people were exposed to the enemy, where danger was lurking, where they were unsafe even in their hometown…

It says that God looked… God searched for someone, anyone willing to stand in the gap on the wall on behalf of the people… but he found no one. Someone to stand in the gap for those whose walls of righteousness have fallen… who are exposed to the enemy and who are in danger.

God was searching high and low… and found no one. No one… that was willing to lay down their way… humble themselves… Seek His Face… Pray… and turn from their own wickedness… NO ONE. And the result was… nothing changed. The wickedness continued… and the hurt, the destruction, and brokenness that comes with it got worse… and Church if we don’t see that happening in our backyard something is wrong.

That is the tension that we as His people should feel… and respond to. Because if we as His people don’t, who will? What will change?

God’s desire… His expectation is that we care enough about others… and His heart for them… to stand in the gap for those that are hurting, lost, broken, alone, and far from Him.

He goes further to say pray for our leaders. Not only if we agree with them, approve of them or like their policies… but pray for them, why?

Well, for starters their job is hard. We need more appreciation for that.

But also because they have significant sway in how things go. Living at peace… living good lives… even living out our faith freely… we stand in the gap for our leaders.

Pray for their health, families, protection, wisdom… and even their relationship with God wherever that may be.

God calls us to pray for people.

#2 Understand God’s heart.

1 Timothy gives us a small snapshot of God’s heart.

Without being cynical or sarcastic… how do you think God really feels about what’s going on in the world? I believe that it breaks God’s heart… that He is grieved by the all out embrace of sin… and the fact that we call it progress. He is grieved by the brokenness it causes in all of us.

And with so much division, so many lines being drawn, so many fingers being pointed… we need to back up and realize God’s heart… His deep desire is that everyone would be saved and come to realize the truth of who He is… and the freedom that comes with following Him.

Did you catch it? God doesn’t just say pray for them… but He says be thankful for them.

I have found it’s increasingly more difficult to have hard feelings toward someone you consistently pray for. The act of intervening on their behalf often softens our heart… Not in the sense that we abandon truth to make people happy… but in the sense of genuine care and concern. It lines our heart up with God’s

Wherever you are with any of the stuff going on… and whoever it is lining up in a different way… part of why we intercede is right here…

When we intercede… when we stand in the gap for others we realize the greatest good… the most life changing and freedom finding thing we can pray for and contend for is them coming to know the truth that sets them free… that came at just the right time.

Jesus is the mediator between a holy God and sinful people… He is what this world needs most… and in the midst of all of the sin and brokenness, the truth of Jesus, His life, His death, His resurrection… following His lead in our lives brings freedom… If you don’t believe me try it.

We stand in the gap by praying for and contending first and foremost that people would experience the most life changing thing there is… coming to the truth… and finding salvation… freedom from the brokenness of sin… that is found only in Jesus.

I’d challenge you to pray everyday for people by name tha are living outside of it.

James 1:2–8 (NLT)

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

#3 Know that troubles will come… and that's not always bad.

Jesus promised as much…

John 16:33 (NLT)

33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

2 Chronicles 7… it says that God was preparing His people for that very thing…for what He knew was coming and contextually… this is sort of how this verse sounds to me…

When you have lost your way and trouble comes… when you have tried everything else… and when you are finally ready to lay down your way… and hear me… honestly seek my face… when you're ready to pray and take wickedness seriously… I will still be here for you.

And I think Bob Russel, who was the pastor at a huge church in Kentucky… said this

“if you don’t turn to prayer when tragedy or hard times strike, it's probably for one of two reasons: Either you don’t believe He can help so you just don’t ask, or you’re not in the habit of going to Him under normal circumstances… when faced with trouble and trying times people instinctively revert back to lifelong habits. If you are not going to God on a daily basis for strength and guidance, it's not likely you will go to him in crisis either”. - Bob Russel

People who believe that prayer works in times of crisis are the same people who believe that prayer works in our everyday lives…

How is it that we know if someone believes in the power of prayer again?

They pray.

James reminds us that hard times bring opportunity. knowing that as we lean into God… as we seek His face in humility… and pray… and turn from our sin… God works through those hardships and it produces endurance and character.

In my experience, God does some of his best work in the middle of the storm… and fixing our eyes on Him matters. Even when it may not seem like it, God is at work.

#4 Ask for wisdom, knowing God desires to give it.

it's a foolish thing to get to the point where we really believe that wisdom… starts in us. That the answers… start with us.

The longer I am alive the more aware I become of that truth just how untrue that is. …

I realize that it’s incredibly arrogant and unwise to insert my thinking where God’s truth belongs… and I’m not advocating for sort of leaving our brain out of it… but that we’d remember humility which is having an accurate view of all we aren’t in light of all He is.

The bible is full of passages that talk about the value of trusting God and not leaning on our own understanding… acknowledging that even in us there is a way that seems right… or sounds good but isn't.

When we intercede for others… We pray for God’s wisdom. For His words… For His insight… That our own thinking wouldn't get in the way.

It’s why God tells us to pray instead of asking for our advice. His wisdom… is what this world needs. The lack of listening on our end… is why it is the way it is.

Pray.. intercede… but do it asking God for His wisdom instead of telling the world what you think. That is what humility does.

#5 Remember that our faith is in Christ alone.

The point is that we are anchored in Jesus and in His truth. Not Jesus and… money… not Jesus and health care. Not Jesus and the economy…

We cannot afford to get swept up by the emotion of our day… to be emotionally hijacked from where our hope belongs.

The picture God gives us… it's like someone being swept away and tossed around by the sea… whose thoughts… and convictions… and even their sense of truth rise and fall wit the tide of culture and popular opinion.

I hope we are wise enough to see this happening around us.

Or faith is in Jesus… and in Him alone. He is the foundation we build our lives on and the anchor that holds us firm.

And on that foundation… we stand in the Gap for others… knowing that he is our one true hope.

#6 Be anchored in truth.

It’s hard to stand in the gap for others if we are not anchored ourselves… It’s hard to contend for others when our own footing isn’t firm.

In all of this is it so important to be informed and to listen to the right sources; the greatest of which is God’s Word.

A question we need to ask often is… how does this stack up with what God says? Realizing that the enemy is a liar… and loves to deceive… it's not always easy.

There is a lot going on around us that isn’t exactly what it seems… and being anchored by truth is what allows us to see beyond labels and into the reality of what’s really beneath the surface.

Being anchored in truth helps us identify what’s false… and it informs the way we stand in the gap… the way we pray for others.

It was Dwight Moody that said…

“every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure” To someone who had been faithful… consistent… constant… in prayer."

- Dwight Moody

A.T. Pierson said “There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer. ”

Part of what lines our hearts up with His and part of what brings healing to our land… is answering the call to stand in the gap. Even now God searches for someone… what will He find in you. What will He find in me.

Without it… we should expect more of the same.

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

COMMUNION:

We are heading into a time of worship… and as we do we want to take a moment to celebrate communion… and I realize its a little different than we normally do… Just real quick… the bread is unter the very top wrapper… and then the juice is under that…

Communion is a time that we celebrate Jesus…

This is what it said in 1 Tim 2

This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. 5 For, there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 6 He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone

Jesus is the one… who can reconcile humanity… all of mankind… to God… even you. Communion is the celebration of… and remembering of… the one who purchased our what… FREEDOM… for who… EVERY ONE.

God we thank you for the way you love us… and the way you purchased our freedom.

As we spend a few moments in worship… take communion when every your ready!

Lets pray

Closing…

Before we go I wanted to give a shoutout to a few people that have really gone over and above over the last four months…

Pastor Matt… has been working double time in producing just about everything we have been doing…

Hannah Mannale has done such a phenomenal job in developing her team, creating a kids online service, and even connecting with parents and kids.

Jim has worked hard at trying to connect with our students during this time

Beth… has really added some organization to our team in all of this

And Kris… our web guy… has done such a phenomenal job… spending tons of time…keeping our website updated with all kinds of services and info.

Northsides leadership team… in helping us wade through uncharted waters… we love you guys and we are thankful for you.

Hey thank you guys for joining us… it was so great to be with you guys again.

Dont forget about our mens and ladies mid week studies…

We hope to see you right back here again next week! God bless you guys have a great week!