“SOMEBODY PRAYED FOR ME”

Call to Worship (Mark 8)

Let us turn our minds from human things. Our faith in Jesus saves us. Let us set our minds on divine things. Our faith in Jesus saves us. We will deny ourselves and take up our cross. Our faith in Jesus saves us. We will lose all; that we may gain all. Our faith in Jesus saves us.

Opening Prayer (Genesis 1)

God of Abraham our father, God of Sarah our mother, we remember with gratitude your covenant that undergirds our lives with certainty and gives us peace. Through the gift of your Son, you freed us from sin and death.

Offering: “And they said to Him, ‘We have here only five loaves and two fish,’ And ordering the multitudes to recline on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave to the multitudes, And they all ate, and were satisfied. And they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. And there were about five thousand men who ate, aside from women and children. Matthew 14: 17-21

What happens each week during our offerings is similar to what occurred in Matthew 14: 17-21. There we read of how Christ was moved with compassion for the needs of the multitudes. The disciples gave Jesus what they had. Christ blessed the loaves and fish, and He did the miraculous with it.

Likewise, as we give our money to God, he adds His blessing to it and is able to accomplish eternal dimensions with what we give. Just as in the story of the loaves and fish, our responsibility is to take inventory of what we have, and give all that we possibly can to our Lord. God will combine His blessing with our gifts, and use them, and people will know that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Opening Prayer (Mark 8)

God, you have given us everything. What can we give in return for our lives? Be our guide on our Lenten journey. Help us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Jesus. We welcome the chastening direction in our lives as we worship you today.

Acts 12:1-5,12 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.

As we continue with our series, I want to talk about the significance of church members vigilantly praying for their church leaders, especially the pastor and his family on a consistent basis.

Nevertheless, the more I studied, the more I found multiple times where the Apostle Paul asked for prayer for his needs and the needs of his ministry companions.

Since Paul thought it important enough to ask for prayer on multiple occasions, than I shouldn’t feel awkward about asking as well.

In his book, Rainer emphasizes the need for church members to pray for pastors and church leaders.

Rainer > “We should not be surprised, then, when we hear about a pastor’s moral failure. We are grieved and heartbroken, but not surprised. The devil is setting traps for pastors, anything he can do to bring harm to the pastor’s reputation. He will stop at nothing – greed, adultery, anger, addiction – to catch the pastor in his trap.”

The devil sees pastors as a threat; therefore, the highest priority is to take him down and take him out.

In our current culture, leadership is tougher today than ever before and church leadership is no different.

Leaders are held to a higher standard than are most people!

There is an authority-resisting attitude that pervades not only the world but the church as well.

Leadership is not an easy job.

People distrust leaders.

Over the past 30-40 years, our experience with political, corporate, and even church leaders has put us in a position to be wary.

That attitude especially applies to church leaders.

We have seen some horrendous and truly harmful scandals that have affected the church’s testimony to a dying world.

We should not be surprised by these scandals.

Church leadership is put in place to shape all of these different members into a body of people who utilize their differences; yet, work together to accomplish the goal of furthering the gospel of Christ and the mission of putting the family back together.

Church leaders need prayers.

Rainer > “All church leaders need prayer. I will usually say pastor, but that can mean minister or elder or director or whatever term you use. It may refer to the senior leader, or it could be about someone else on staff. The point is that we church members must pray for our church leaders.”

– in our text –

> “For what should the church membership pray?”

1 – pray for the leadership

In v5, the author of Acts, Luke states that >5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

That is, Peter was kept in prison but fervent and persistent prayer was being made to God by the Church for him.

In other words, the church membership, the assembly of the saints, earnestly and continuously offered prayers of petitions to God on behalf of Pastor Peter.

The church membership must pray for the preacher and the preaching.

“What should the church membership pray for?”

1 – Pray for the Leadership

2 – pray for their protection

Look at v1, Luke records that >It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.

The text affirms that Herod killed James Zebedee and would have killed Peter except that it was the days of unleavened bread or the Passover.

Leaders do things that are unpopular, difficult, and many times draining … physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

The church has one sure weapon of protection.

A weapon just as powerful as the “Sword of the Spirit” which is the “Word of God.”

Prayer is still the church’s single most powerful weapon of protection.

Rainer > “The devil is powerful. But God is so much more powerful. And God, in ways we don’t always understand fully, works through the prayers of believers.”

“For what should the church membership pray?”

1 – Pray for the Leadership

2 – Pray for their Protection

3 – Pray for their Health

Thirdly, pray for the physical and mental health of your church leaders.

Serving and leading a church can expend all of a church leader’s energy.

We are on call every day and every hour.

Because the demands are so great on him or her, a church leader may neglect her or his own health and well-being.

While no one is invulnerable to sickness and accidents, we can still pray for all of our church leaders in this regard.

It should not be a huge stretch of our intellect to understand that church leaders are human and therefore have limitations.

The responsibility of leadership is exceedingly heavy and no one is capable of doing the task, physically or spiritually, on his or her own.

Don’t just pray for our physical health, pray for our mental health.

In conclusion,

Church leaders have to make dozens of decisions on any given day.

We need discernment and wisdom. Church leaders feel stress and pressure every day.

Pray that God will give us the peace that only He can give.

If we want the church to succeed, we need our leaders to succeed.

We as leaders need you to hold us up in prayer.

We need you to pray for our families, pray for our protection, and pray for our health.

Pray that God gives us discernment and wisdom so that we, as the church of Christ in our community, might accomplish the furtherance of the gospel.

Being delivered from prison by an angel of the Lord, “When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.”v12 tells us that Peter arrives at John Mark mother’s house in the middle of the night.

There, the church membership had gathered to pray.

end of sermon

Benediction (Genesis 17)

God’s promises endure from generation to generation. May the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God who sent Jesus to redeem us, the God whose covenant is eternal, bless you and make you fruitful.

Go in God’s grace. May peace reign in your hearts forever!