Revitalizing the Lo-Cal Church

Revitalizing the Lo-cal Church Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 Prayer is said to be "the soul’s blood." What would it mean for the church to be a "house of prayer"? What would it mean for us to move from "faith in praying" to "praying in faith"? I was always amazed in my younger days and somewhat skeptical then and now about faith healers, like Oral Roberts, Benny Hill, or Kathryn Kuhlman. The difference between faith healing by praying in faith and a charlatan or con artist may be hard to distinguish, but there is a difference. Praying in faith to move the hand or heart of God for the benefit of another or for his church is indeed a real phenomenon. I believe I told you about my own healing some years ago that I shared with Dr, Chadwick, an incident born out of a prayer of desperation. I don’t know if I told you about the old man who lived in a ramshackle cabin with a little barnyard of animals. One day he was out in the barnyard, actually just a little enclosure with some chickens and goats and maybe a pig running around. He was feeding them one morning when the goat came up from behind him and butted him, pushing him to the ground, whereupon he broke his hip. He was taken to the hospital to have surgery the next day to repair the hip. His son, a prominent member of my very first church in Ohio, called to ask if I would pay him a visit. His father was a hermit of sorts and had never been in church, but I gladly went to visit him, had a nice chat, and offered to pray before leaving. He laid there in bed and said fine, I think being polite and not wanting to offend me by saying he didn’t really care. So we prayed and I left. The next day I went back to see how the surgery went. He was all happy and excited to see me and said, “Pastor, after you left I had this wave of warmth just come over me and just felt better all over. When they took me down to the operating room this morning, they took one last x-ray and found that I was all healed up and they didn’t need to operate after all. What about that?” I smiled and said “Great” and wondered what that was all about. He came home and was in church the next Sunday. I’ve had a number of occasions like that over the years, though I always shy away from embracing that kind of prayer; shame on me. But I’ve got to share one more story. I was in Duryea at the time at Brick UMC. This young lady was coming, who once in a while, would have her husband come with her. One night she called about 11:00 pm and said she was in the hospital and her husband had had a heart attack and was being life-flighted to Philly and would I come and pray before he left, or died, and hurry, he was leaving within the hour. So, of course, I went to the hospital and got there just before the helicopter was to leave. He was being prepped to be boarded so I only had a minute to pray. We held hands and prayed and off he went. She thought 2 he might need a new heart as his was not in good shape, so they found out. I called the hospital two days later, figuring he would be out of it from surgery that next day, and asked for his room. The operator connected me, and this guy answers in a very normal voice. Not expecting or knowing that voice, I asked if I could speak to Jim, let’s say. He said, “Pastor, this is Jim.” Rather surprised, I asked, “How are you doing? What are you doing? I expected you would be in recovery and that I would get your wife.” He said, “I never got the surgery, didn’t need it, I’ll be home tomorrow.” He had been healed, so they believed. He was in church the next Sunday. What a testimony. “The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will restore him to health” (James 5:15). Praying in faith is so much more than faith in praying. Faith in praying is saying that you believe prayer may have some benefit upon a situation. When all else seems lost or you have nowhere else to turn, well, let’s pray about it. And that’s okay, but it’s a prayer with a limp. Praying in faith is a prayer of determination, a prayer that will move mountains, a prayer of conviction. One more short story. A couple weeks ago we were having lunch at Heather’s. A waitress that had waited on us in the past came up to me and with tears in her eyes and brokenhearted, asked me if I could say a prayer for her father who was dying. So I got up and took her out to a more private place, and we had prayer for her father. (No, he didn’t revive.) However, she came to me again the next time we were in and with a smile on her face and in joy said her dad had passed away within the day of our prayer. Her heart was healed and her dad had been received into the sanctuary of heaven. I give credit to the son who prayed for his father and the wife who in tears prayed for her husband that he might be healed, or simply live, and for the daughter who prayed her father across the threshold from this life to the next. All I did was articulate in my own clumsy way what was their heart’s desire. What do you do when you get anxious and troubled? Do you run to your room and cry it out? Do you run at the mouth and yell it out? Do you run to the neighbors and spill it out? Do you run to the therapist and lay it out? Jesus went to a quiet place and prayed it out. The disciples got together to worship and prayed in faith for God to unite their efforts in the leadership and prospering of the church. And then, furthermore, they partnered with God, and worked it out. The headline for an article in a recent national publication contained the phrase "local church," but it was hyphenated to fit on two lines. The resulting headline read "THE LO-CAL CHURCH." The difference 3 between a local church that is alive and an anemic lo-cal church is The Power Called Prayer and praying in faith, above and beyond having faith in praying. I’ve had a couple thoughts lately that I wanted to share, thinking I was going to step aside here soon. But as long as I’m staying for a while longer, they seem all the more fitting to share while we are still together and sojourning another year. The first thought was this: how many of you have a house? It’s either been paid for or you have a mortgage or you are renting, and it needs constant maintenance and care and in it you live and move and have your being. It has a life of its own. It’s not only your house, it’s your home. But it’s not the only house you have ownership of. Just as importantly we have this house that we share together, this house of the Lord. And just as much as we’ll do anything we can to keep our own homes up, so we collectively share in the ownership and upkeep of this house. And is it any less important than our own, this house of the Lord? There are three elements for keeping up the ministry of the church. The disciples had the Temple, each other and their continued ministry. When they lost one of their own, they brought another into the fold to continue the work begun by the Lord. And they prayed in faith for that one. Today, we do well to keep up our temple, our church. And we do very well in supporting our ministries. But we’re having to do it with less people. We haven’t done the praying for and work for bringing others into the fold. That brings me to my second thought, frankly, about an old sermon series titled, “Sheep Multiply.” The disciples prayed and brought not only Matthias into the leadership of the apostles but continued the ministry of bringing hundreds and thousands and generations of people into untold numbers of houses of the Lord across the world. We just want to build up this house of the Lord for the time being. Our ambitions are not quite as grandiose as Peter and Paul and the gang. And the way to do it is for the sheep to multiply, for you and I to pray in earnest to not only support our church with our prayers and presence and gifts and service, but with our witness and welcome and invitation to others to join us. We are the local church for a lot of people in our community, but too many people don’t know that. Let us pray that we not become the lo-cal church but that we become the local church for all our neighbors to come to, be accepted by, and welcomed in and cared for. The one or two who had miracles that brought them to church is not something to expect every day to sustain the church. By praying in faith to be used by God to bring others into the fold, now that we can do, and that would be its own miracle of revival as well. John Wesley learned that "God does nothing save in answer to prayer." He believed that revivals are nothing more than lived convictions that those who are "lost in prayer" are found in Jesus Christ. The disciples’ 4 believed and practiced that the key component in every revival that burst with such incredible energy on the scene of church history was this conviction: that power preaching and power pulpits were totally dependent on praying pews. In early Christianity, the monastics gave the best parts of their day, their "first fruits," to prayer. What makes local churches lo-cal churches? It’s our failure to harness the power of prayer. There are four modern misconceptions about prayer. First, we think of prayer as a technique when it is really a grace. We want to put our best foot forward when we come into God's presence - we don't want to be petty, silly, selfish and bad. When we pray we put on our best selves, use our best words and try to be something we're really not. Prayer is a time for you to be you - for you to be yourself and let the grace of God envelope you. Second, it is a mistake to think of prayer like the friend at the door in the night who just keeps knocking until there is an answer. We don’t pray to bug God until He responds. Prayer is God taking the initiative with us. Prayer should be more God speaking and us listening. Prayer is God questioning us and we answering with what we do with our lives. Prayer is receiving God's help and direction. Prayer is the soul's love for God. Prayer is not our asking for favors, or presenting God with some shopping list for the kingdom, or begging God and bargaining with God to give us what we want. As one pastor noted, “The problem with making bargains with God is that the best you ever get is what you bargained for." Prayer is offering ourselves to be what God wants us to be. Prayer is not asking what God can do for me, but listening to what God can do in the world through me. Prayer is not something you do that gives you a better day or week. Prayer is a means that makes you a better disciple, that transforms you as a person. The third misconception about prayer is thinking of praying as little more than "idle thoughts" or parsley-like plate decorations. Ever go to a restaurant that garnishes a nice entreé with parsley? Few people pay attention to it and even fewer utilize that parsley in any way. May our prayers not be idle thoughts, or a garnish upon a good day. Let your prayers be the day, the motivation, the agenda, the course of the day that the Lord has made. Fourth: Prayer is not just something you do with your mind, a kind of mental telepathy with God. Prayer is something you do with your entire being and body. This means more than that old saying, "When you pray, move your feet." It has to do with moving your entire being. Words are not the only means or signs of prayer. If you want to show someone how much you feel for them, care for them or how deeply you love them, do you tell them with words only, or do you put your arms around them? If we do pray, all things are possible. But if we don't pray ...