Blueprints: Prayer

Good morning everyone…Good morning kids and right now you are welcomed by your teacher in the back of the room to take you to your class this morning…What a blessing of LRBC and the volunteers that get to be a part of the discipleship of these precious little souls as they grow and develop their own faith…Good morning to those of you that are joining us online. We are blessed to be able to count you as part of our extended family this morning. Those of you that are in the Ogle County area, we would love to welcome you as part of our in person family…we meet Every Sunday morning at 9:30am for great coffee and amazing conversations, so anytime you are able, this is your personal invitation to come on down and join us.

I want to thank Brother Jim for stepping up and preparing messages over the last few weeks, it is so great that we have within our family others that are willing and able to step in and encourage us with the Word. Also…”Jesus is a sand-tart”…now, if you don’t know what that means, then you need to go back on the LRBC podcast and listen the Brother Jim’s messages over the last few weeks. Yes, LRBC does have a podcast, it is currently available on Google Podcast, and I am still working with other podcast providers to get us on other providers as well. You can also keep up with everything by visiting leafriver.church and viewing previous messages that way, or go to LRBC’s YouTube channel and follow along there as well.

Now, as we saw earlier, today is Right to Life Sunday. That means that around the US there are churches that are joining together to pray for the pre-born and their mothers. This past Friday there were hundreds of thousands of people marching in various places around the US and some around the globe for the right to life. Ever since abortion became legal, there have been groups of people fighting for the lives of the pre-born. We live in a state that allows abortion on demand up to and including partial birth abortions as well as minors having abortions without parental consent. Children that have been created in the image of God are being murdered for the simple reason that they have not been born yet. This morning, let’s take a moment and pray for those that are pre-born as well as the mothers that are considering the death of their child. Let’s also pray that the Supreme Court case will return a judgement effectively overturning “Roe v. Wade” and allowing states to ban abortions therefore saving thousands of lives. We will also pray for the various politicians that may have the ability to create laws to protect the pre-born. Join me as we pray

Prayer

Ok, so it has been a few weeks since I have been here. I will say I am grateful for the opportunity that you all offered to me to be able to go down and be with my family for this last week. It was a difficult week if I am honest, but it was a great opportunity for us, with family and friends to be able to remember and honor the legacy of faith that my dad really had with so many across the globe. You know, even though we knew this day was coming, it is not easy…However, the hope that we have in Christ, makes the loss of a loved one so much more bearable doesn’t it. Just knowing that my father is with the Lord worshiping and praising right now with no pain and no more suffering…makes my heart so happy…Thank you all for your support and prayers over these last few weeks, we would not have made it without all of you.

I have spent a great deal of time in prayer myself over the course of the last few weeks. I have spent time asking God for strength, wisdom, patience, peace, all kind of things, and you know…I believe that God gave me those things that I asked him for. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that God gave me the specific things I was asking for, like when I asked that God would just fix a particular situation…He didn’t fix that situation, but he did work in the midst of that situation. The thing is that when we go to God in prayer and we begin to ask him about the things that we want…He doesn't always give us what we want, but he always give us what we need, right

So this morning we get to start a brand new series. Every year since I have been here, I have taken the first series of the year to kind of set us on a course for the year. I’m not sure if everyone has caught onto that, but now you know my secret…This year I have spent time thinking and praying about what God might have for us this year. You know what kept coming into my mind…the building blocks of a church, the basics of what makes a church, or really…what makes a Christian…So, I thought about that some and then I came up with Blueprints. What are the blueprints for a church? What are the blueprints for a Christian? So, over the course of the next 4 weeks we are going to look at the blueprints of a growing church, which happens to be the same as the blueprints for a growing Christian...

You know, I was in real estate and construction for many years prior to accepting a position as a full time pastor. I can remember working as a roofer and simply doing as I was told. Then for a while in Puerto Rico I worked as an electrician for new construction. That is where I learned to really read blueprints. Blueprints are incredibly important becuase if they are not followed in one part of the build, it can interfere with another part of the build. For instance, I remember working as an electrician and site supervisor doing all of the pipe work for this large paint store in Puerto Rico. I had to read the plans and see where there are supposed to be pipes and what wires go into those pipes. I didn’t have the full view, I only had the view of my portion of the build. Well, I had a friend that worked at the same build and he was working on wiring for fire alarms and cable networking. Well, frequently I saw that if I had not put the piping exactly where the plans said to put it, then I would have interfered with his work and that would have slowed down the entire build. You see, blueprints are really important.

So, this morning we are going to be looking at blueprints for a growing church and I think that as we progress through this series you will see that while these are blueprints for a growing church, they really are blueprints for a growing Christian. I hope you will be encouraged and challanged as we look through these topics over the next few weeks. The first page of our blueprints that we will look at this morning is

Prayer

Donald Whitney writes about a man named George Mueller in his book, Ten Questions to Diagnose your Spiritual Health.

“George Muller (1805-1898) is high the church’s great champions of prayer and faith, recording more than fifty thousand specific answers to prayer in his journals. Most of these prayers, however, were for the same purpose, namely, that God would be glorified by providing the means to feed, clothe, house, and educate up to two thousand orphans at a time in nineteenth-century Bristol, England. The Lord was pleased to channel tens of millions of dollars through Muller’s hands, though he never made his needs known to anyone but God.” —Donald Whitney

So as you sit here this morning wondering what makes a church a growing church, or what makes a Christian a growing Christian…Answer this question, what does my prayer life look like? What does it look like for you to pray for God’s glory in your life? are you ok with his answer, or do you go back and ask him again hoping for a different answer. Do you ever talk to God outside of an emergency of some sort? In other words, is the only time you have a conversation with God when you are in the middle of a crisis? I love what George Mueller did here. He prayed constantly, he must have in order for that amount of money to flow through his hands. George never told about a need, he just had faith that the God who created the universe would be able to manage the financial needs of these orphans. You see, George had a clear vision as to what God was calling him to do, care for the orphans, and then he relied on God to manage the details. That takes a tremendous amount of faith. That faith takes a tremendous amount of pouring out your heart to God.

To understand this first building block this morning I would like to look at

Two Passages

Thes passage will remind us each of the importance of spending time praying and having a conversation with God. First of all I would like us to turn over to

Mark 1:35 (ESV)

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Ok, so let me give you a little context here. You see, Jesus has just spent a day healing many people. They all went to sleep and Jesus woke up early to go out and pray. It’s actually very possible Jesus didn’t really get much sleep that night at all. Jesus rises early and leaves Capernaum to pray in solitude. What is somewhat interesting is that Mark records Jesus praying only three times in the Gospel; here (1:35), then following the feeding of the five thousand (6:46), and in Gethsemane (14:32–39). All three occur at night and all three occur in solitary places.You see, Jesus cannot extend himself outward in compassion without first attending to the source of his mission and purpose with the Father. Then of course his oneness with the Father compels him outward in mission. That explains his conversation with the disciples. You see, later, as the disciples realized that he was gone, they searched for him and told him that everyone was looking for him. Jesus’ response was that it was time to go and preach.

Jesus, who is the Son of God knew that it was important for him to spend time alone with the Father. I want that to sit in with you for a moment, while we move on to another passage. Lets go take a look at

Ephesians 6:18 (ESV)

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,

So this passage is in the middle of the Armor of God passage. In order to give its full context, let’s just take a look at the whole section together, that way you can better appreciate what is said about prayer.

Ephesians 6:11–20 ESV

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 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. Therefore 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 on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on 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; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 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, and also 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 an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

So in this passage Paul is talking about the tools of being a faithful Christian. He is discussing the importance of things like faith and truth. However, he ends this section on these tools by reminding us of the importance of prayer. He says to pray at all times…He says to pray for the saints so that all will have the words to say in order to proclaim the Gospel clearly. Let’s look at that again

Ephesians 6:18 ESV

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,

What I love about this passage is that Paul is saying that we need to be praying at all times, in the Spirit. In other words, you cannot do this on your own. Look, this prayer is Spirit-energized, Spirit-enabled, and Spirit-directed. Praying in the Spirit is an admission of a believer’s own ignorance and their complete dependence on God. Basically prayer, I mean truly having a conversation with the Father is all about putting yourself aside, depending on the Holy Spirit, and focusing on glory of God. That is what prayer really is.

There is another really important truth we can see in this passage though. Praying at all times, means, praying at all times…You remember the story of George Mueller that prayed and trusted God would give him the needs to care for these orphans. This was not a singular prayer, this was a continual prayer by Mr. Mueller. We know this becuase his story has been published in a book called Answers from Heaven, and we can see the frequency with which he was praying over various topics.

We can read so much more about prayer throughout Scriptures, but I wanted to focus on just these two this morning. I wanted to focus on these becuase these two passage encompass the base line life of prayer. Prayer is necessary for everyone. Prayer is not a selfish or occasional activity. Now, these things are true, but if you are like me you have likely heard many myths over the years about prayer, and so I would like to take a brief moment to dispel some of these myths for you.

Top 4 Myths about Prayer:

Myth #1

1. I don’t need to pray becuase God already knows.

Let me ask you…do you think that God already knew what Jesus was going to be praying about? Of course…and, if God already knew, then why did Jesus escape to go and pray. You see, Jesus knew what we frequently forget. The source of life comes through our connection to the Father. Not only is Jesus going to be with the Father alone becuase it benefits him, but also becuase it benefits us. Jesus is modeling a life of prayer. This makes alot of sense when we think about what John Calvin said. He believed that prayer is not so much for God’s benefit, but for our own instead. Of course, God knows what we need even before we ask for it. Yet it is pleasing to God when we humble ourselves and pray to him. It demonstrates our dependance on him and stirs us to love and worship him as our true source of life.

Myth #2

2. Prayer is for when all else fails.

Maybe you’ve heard people say, “There’s nothing to do now but pray.” Instead of being a last resort, prayer is meant to be our first response in life. The moment you find yourself facing something tough, or something fantastic, stop and pray before doing anything else. That simple act will help you remember that God is with you and actively at work in your situation. Prayer will force you to focus and trust on Him. But don’t think this is for when all else fails…Take a look at

Myth#3

3. I only need to pray when I need something.

Well, now doesn't that just sound ridiculous. I mean, parents, how would you feel if the only time your child ever talked to you was when they were in some sort of crisis and they needed something. I think that we would all agree that this sounds ridiculous, well that is until we are honest about our own prayer time. The thing is though that prayer is the right response for any situation! Whether you are thanking God for his provisions, asking for wisdom, or expressing your emotions. Prayer is the way that we communicate with God, whatever we need to say. Prayer is both for struggles and praises, fears and worship…However, God is not a genie that we call on only when we need something…Our God is a loving provider that longs to have a rich relationship with each and every person that calls on his name.

Myth #4

4. Prayer is a one-way conversation.

Here is the deal…just like all communication, prayer goes both ways. Many times it does seem like you are the only one talking, but that is just becuase you haven’t stopped talking long enough to listen. Just like trying to be in a conversation with someone that wont stop talking, God actually wants to communicate with you, but you have to slow down and pay attention. You see, God will talk to you in a variety of ways. You may remember a Bible verse that speaks to your situation, or you may hear the lyrics to a song or sermon you heard recently. You may even just experience an unexplainable peace in your spirit…these are the ways that God is speaking with us today.

Listen…whatever you believe about prayer, make sure it is developed over the course of studying Scripture, not reading a pretty graphic online. We need to have an active prayer life, not because we are hopeless, but because our hope is in the one who had an active prayer life. As a church prayer is an important aspect of what we do corporately, but this year I want to challenge you to make prayer an active part of what you are doing personally. Not just waiting till Sunday morning to pray together, but understand that this is your constant link to the Lord and this is the best opportunity to grow as a church…but more importantly, this is your best opportunity to grow as a Christian. Now, those of you that are here this morning or joining us online, I want to ask you to think of 1 particular person that does not have a relationship with the Lord, and commit to pray for that person this year. Now, if you are here this morning and you are unsure about being a Christian, or you are unsure how to pray, then please send me a message and lets talk about that together. For now though…let’s go to the Lord in worship and praise.

Prayer...