Details

Published: 26 August 2016

I’ve had many interesting conversations with people about prayer.  Some believe that prayer is useless.  Some believe that prayer has “power.”  Some folks are so mad at God they refuse to talk to Him.  Some believe they should only pray for others but never for themselves.  Some believe we should only pray about “spiritual things” and are shocked when I suggest we should pray about sex, anger, contempt and covetousness.   Some people believe that everything has already been determined and that we are just “puppets” on strings.  Why pray if God has determined all the outcomes and “fixed the game?”  The first answer is easy, we’re told to pray.  Paul wrote, “Pray without ceasing.”  In other words, in every season and in all situations God is present and when we recognize this we should do what we do together…with Him.  If the Lord is “at hand” as we often say then prayer is simply conversation with Him about whatever He is doing and whatever we are doing.  We should be concerned about what He is doing and because He loves us He is concerned about what we are doing and we should be talking about that.   (Because there are things yet to be determined ).  Admittedly there is a lot to learn about prayer but if we wait to pray until we get it all figured out we will never pray.  It would be like a man who didn’t want to get married until he understood women, good luck with that!  At some point the guy has to say, “I do and I will etc.” and then take the plunge into the frustrating and wonderful process of relational development.  Prayer is like that.  Sometimes our relationship with God is so close and wonderful we can hardly believe it and sometimes it is so frustrating and dry we wonder if He is there.   There are many benefits to prayer.  Some of them are described in the Word but some are only known by experience.  One of the principal responsibilities of parents is to lead their children down the faith path.  A critical element to staying on that path is prayer.  Of course there is no guarantee that they will follow or stay on the path.  There is also no guarantee they will eat their vegetables when they go to college but parents should still point their children to healthy choices—physically and spiritually.  I shouldn’t be but I still am shocked when I observe how much value parents place on their child’s experiences, education, sports involvement and health and how little (comparatively speaking) emphasis is given to the spiritual development of their inner life.  We’ll be emphasizing that subject this week, it might get a little uncomfortable.  Why pray?  Because God is a present Person, He is eager to hear from us and speak to us and there is no abundance in life apart from Him.  Brethren, let us pray that we might glorify God by enjoying Him forever!  

 

Details

Published: 11 August 2016

Have you driven past the intersection of M-57 and M-91 in Greenville on a Saturday morning this summer? Did you hear the hymns and the preaching and read the signs? How did you feel? Did you wave and bless them or look the other way? If it made you uncomfortable, have you asked yourself why that may be? You may not agree with their methods but according to our text for Sunday, they do have a mandate. They are proclaiming that there is one way to be right with God and His Name is Jesus Christ. King Jesus gave them the authority to proclaim that message. A lot of people in our culture are asking questions that are tempting to ask. Should Gideons be handing out Bibles to people? Should we be giving away free bottles of water with the message that Jesus is the only way to quench spiritual thirst? Should Lincoln Lake Baptist Camp be telling impressionable children that there is only one Teacher to follow and that rejecting Him will result in hell? Should we be sending missionaries to foreign lands with a message of Christianity? Why don’t we just let them have their own religion and leave them alone? Is our goal to get people to say a prayer like the one we said so we can feel validated? Is Christianity too militant? In a pluralistic culture shouldn’t we be a bit more affirming about “other ways to God?” Can we really say that Islam is wrong? Can we say that Judaism has stopped short of God’s intention? Are the Hindu people really wrong? They have millions of gods. Is one of those gods the right one or are all of them right? As we conclude our Matthew series this Sunday we’ll see how important the last three verses are for questions like the ones above. The King has spoken and authorized a message and means for long-term “followership.” Jesus is either right or He’s not. The gospel is either true or not. We are either followers…or not.