A Resolution Idea

City Gate Jan/Feb 2012

Dear Church Family,

Now is the time of year when resolutions are made, when the best of intentions, if we are honest, often find themselves buried in the snow of January or February. Nevertheless, most of begin each New Year with commitments that flow from the good and bad we remember from the previous year. As I remember 2011, I am reminded of the Lord awakening within me a new awareness of spiritual warfare. I gained a more experiential understanding of Ephesians 6:12. “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” (ESV). Because of invisible forces of evil, Paul first instructs us to put on the whole armor of God, Paul now describes what we are to do now that God’s armor has equipped us. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” (Eph 6:18, NIV). The purpose of God’s armor is so God’s people can pray.

Each year seems to begin with a refreshing energy and a desire to reestablish priorities. May I encourage each of you to begin 2012 by making corporate prayer a life-priority? Not just for 2012, but for the rest of your life.

I would like to make two suggestions for making corporate prayer a life priority for you and your family.

1.     Don’t come to our corporate prayer gathering to see if you like it. That consumerist attitude is not the proper posture for prayer. We would all admit things that are worth being a priority are not necessarily pleasing at first. Think of the first few times on the treadmill or the stationery bike – not exactly the easiest thing. God’s Word commands us to pray together and never says praying together is going to come naturally or is going to be easy. Even so, I do believe you will be pleasantly surprised about how refreshing and fulfilling it is to gather in prayer with God’s people.

2.     Do come to our corporate prayer gathering to be with Jesus. We begin each gathering with a prayer in Jesus’ name, asking him to be present with us through the Spirit that he may teach us to pray. This practice is based squarely on Matthew 18:20. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (ESV). Jesus is present with us when we pray together in a way that he is not present when we pray by ourselves. This is the plain teaching of the New Testament, but it has proven to be true through my experience along with many others. In 2011, my most vivid experiences of God’s presence have occurred at our Wednesday Gathering.

So as each of us contemplates resolutions for 2012, please consider making Gathering to Pray a priority each Wednesday at 6pm.       

Mission Month 2011 Pastoral Letter

The phrase “disciple-making church” is redundant. The church of Jesus Christ exists for a very simple reason, to make disciples of all nations. When we turn our backs on this purpose we turn our backs on Jesus, the one to whom all authority has been given.

The church does not exist to restore the family. The church does not exist to preserve the moral order. The church does not exist to promote any political party’s agenda. The church does not exist to host worship gatherings. The church exists, plain and simple, to make disciples (i.e. devoted followers) of Jesus. This purpose may be plain and simple, but it is also world changing.

I believe God is beginning a momentous work within our midst. I believe he is directing us to rediscover who we are and what he wants us to be. This process will produce a refreshing simplicity of knowing that God wants us to be nothing more and nothing less than a family that makes disciples.

The aim of Mission Month 2011 is to remind us of the international emphasis of our disciple-making agenda. The Lord Jesus instructs us to make disciples of all nations. This adventure of seeing men and women and boys and girls become disciples from every tribe, tongue and nation will shape all that we do as a church family, even the seemingly insignificant things. In Romans 14 and 15, Paul is directing us to accept and welcome those who are different from us and the motivation behind this instruction is the Lord Jesus who:

…became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy (Rom 15.8-9a).

This final phrase serves as the theme for Mission Month 2011, because in it we are reminded that as Jesus was motivated to be a selfless servant “in order that Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy,” we too must be encouraged as individuals and as a church family to be selfless servants so disciples can be made from every tribe, tongue and nation. May the grace of God in the example of Christ lead us to a renewed energy to selflessly serve a church that exists in simplicity to make disciples of all nations.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor David                   

A Call to Prayer

Frankly, it amazes me how little effort most of us are willing to exhibit when it comes to the matter of corporate prayer. We are meeting this Wednesday in the sanctuary at 6:30p to engage with God in corporate prayer. These are difficult days for many of us. Please come pray for those for whom these days are especially difficult. Are these days filled with difficulty for you and your family? Be encouraged to prayerfully lean toward God all the time, but especially during difficult times. Consider these words from Stan Grenz and I hope to see you this Wednesday evening.    

The church of Jesus Christ faces many challenges today. Yet the greatest challenge is not what might initially come to mind. The greatest challenge is not that of urging Christians to speak out on the great social issues of the day or to engage in political action, even though such involvements are crucial. Nor is our greatest challenge that of encouraging each other to be more fervent in evangelizing the world, even though evangelization ought to be of concern to every Christian. Rather, the greatest challenge facing the church of Jesus Christ today, and therefore every local congregation, is motivating the people of God to engage in sincere, honest, fervent prayer (Stanley Grenz, Prayer: The Cry for the Kingdom, 1).

 

An Eastern Orthodox Summary of the Gospel

In the July edition of Christianity Today, David Neff interviewed Bishop Kallistos Ware, the metropolitan archbishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the U.K. Ware had just visited North Park University and Wheaton College, where he lectured on the relationship between Evangelicalism and Orthodoxy. Neff asked the Archbishop to succinctly summarize the Christian message. This was his moving summary. I’d love to hear your thoughts.   

I believe in a God who loves humankind so intensely, so totally, that he chose himself to become human. Therefore, I believe in Jesus Christ as fully and truly God, but also totally and unreservedly one of us, fully human. The love of God is so great that Christ died for us on the cross. But love is stronger than death, and so the death of Jesus was followed by his resurrection. I am a Christian because I believe in the great love of God that led him to become incarnate, to die, and to rise again. That's my faith. All of this is made immediate to us through the continuing action of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer and the Full Armor of God

At the conclusion of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul teaches us concerning the primary tactic God’s people should use in doing battle against the enemy and the forces of evil he seeks to energize (6.10-20). Paul coaches us with these imperatives,

Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power …

Put on the full armor of God …

Stand firm …

Take up the shield of faith …

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit …

Having obeyed Paul’s instructions, we are now prepared to receive his final and climactic exhortation.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should (6.18-20, NIV).

It seems as if the paragraph concerning the Full Armor of God (6.10-17), is designed by Paul to prepare us to go to battle in prayer as we obey the encouraging words that follow (6.18-20). Prayer is the context in which the Armor of God is designed to be effective. Prayer is the way we take our stand against the devil’s schemes. Prayer is the way we struggle against the authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Please consider enlisting in the battle against evil that will occur through the prayers of God’s people. Gathering to Pray happens at SBC on Wednesday evening at 6:30PM! We will sing, pray, receive communion, and pray some more.  Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests (Ephesians 6.18a, NIV).

For further encouragement to spend time in prayer with our gracious Abba in heaven, view this short video.

Francis Chan on Prayer and the Fatherhood of God

Nothing Other Than Prayer

“We do not drift into spiritual life; we do not drift into disciplined prayer. We will not grow in prayer unless we plan to pray. That means we must self-consciously set aside to do nothing but pray” (D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation, 19). These words from Don Carson, encouraging us to set aside specific time for nothing but prayer have the weight of Scripture behind them. The Psalmist practiced the discipline of scheduled prayer.

Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous ordinances (Psalm 119.164, NASB)

Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice (Psalm 55.17, NIV).

As leaders in the first-century church, the Apostles continued the Old Testament pattern of regular times of prayer with God’s people. 

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon (Acts 3.1, NIV).

The Apostle Paul devoted himself to what the first century church called, “the prayers.”

… always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you (Romans 1.10, NASB).

… [I} do not cease giving thanks for you in my prayers (Ephesians 1.16, NASB)

We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers (1 Thessalonians 1.2, NASB).

In each of these instances Paul is referring to a disciplined and specific time that he, along with others, prayed.

Jesus himself understood the necessity of regular times of prayer.

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed (Luke 5.16, NIV).

This list of Scriptural proofs could go on and on about how God’s people, during times of desperate need pursued God in prayer as individuals and as a group (cf. Daniel 6). When is your regular disciplined time of doing nothing else aside from prayer? As a church family we have set aside Wednesdays at 6:30pm for corporate prayer. Nothing more. Nothing less. Wednesday evening is for prayer. Nothing can replace the power of God that is only experienced when we gather together to pray. What could be more important? Please join us in the sanctuary, this Wednesday at 6:30pm for our weekly Gathering to Pray. We will sing. We will pray. We will receive communion. We will pray some more. Please come enjoy the presence and grace of God with us. If you need even more encouragement, please watch this testimony from Pastor Jim Cymbala about the Tuesday Night Prayer Meetings at The Brooklyn Tabernacle. His testimonies about this crucial evening in the life of their Church, have encouraged me to move our Wednesday evenings in this direction.

Jim Cymbala on Prayer 

Listening to the Prayers of Our Ancestors

We learn to pray by listening to others pray. When Jesus' disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, he simply prayed in their presence. We learn to pray by praying in each other's presence - by hearing how each of us prays and by praying ourselves with our brothers and sisters. It is also important to allow our brothers and sisters from Christian history to teach us to pray. Speaking of the vital importance of tradition, G.K. Chesterton wrote: 

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.

Similarly, we must not only allow our living brothers and sisters in Christ to teach us to pray, but those who "have gone one before us" have much wisdom to offer and a vital ministry to perform. This is the role of prayer books and collections of written prayers in shaping our understanding of the prayer tradition. Within our tradition The Valley of Vision offers a stimulating collection of prayers and devotions from the Puritans. This collection is intended by Arthur Bennett to stimulate our own prayers. So may this following prayer of confession and petition teach us and stimulate us to pray. 

HOLY LORD,

I have sinned times without number,

    and been guilty of pride and unbelief,

of failure to find thy mind in thy Word,

of neglect to seek thee in my daily life. 

My transgressions and short-comings

present me with a list of accusations,

But I bless thee that they will not stand against me,

for all have been laid on Christ;

Go on to subdue my corruptions,

and grant me grace to live above them.

Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind

bring my spirit into subjection,

but do thou rule over me in liberty and power.

I thank thee that many of my prayers have been refused--

I have asked amiss and do not have,

I have prayed from lusts and been rejected,

I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness.

Go on with thy patient work,

answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it.

Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration,

everything contrary to thy rule.

I thank thee for thy wisdom and thy love,

for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject,

for sometimes putting me into the furnace

to refine my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin.

If thou shouldst give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins,

or to have them burnt away with trial,

give me sanctified affliction.

Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins.

everything that dims the brightness of thy grace in me,

everything that prevents me taking delight in thee.

Then I shall bless thee, God of Jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.

(Valley of Vision, 77)

This prayer should awaken a spirit of repentance within us, as should these words from Ezekiel. 

Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declared the sovereign LORD. Repent and live (Ezekiel 18. 30-32, NIV).