Proactive prayer

In Mark 9:14-29, Jesus had just come down from the Transfiguration with Peter, James and John, and encountered a scene – his other disciples had tried to cast a demon out, and couldn’t. Jesus took care of it himself. At the end of the reading we’re told:

Mark 9:28-29 (NKJV) And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

The thing is, Jesus didn’t pray for an hour before he cast the demon out, and he didn’t fast for three days first, either. But other readings in the gospels indicate that Jesus had a full prayer life – he had done his praying well before the crisis hit.

It’s much easier to believe when our prayer life is proactive, before we have an incident that requires Divine intervention. That way, when it comes, we’re more confident and less worried.

Doug

Salvation is not fragile!

I touched on this indirectly in my 5/16 Sunday sermon, but it was an aside to the message, so I wanted to write a bit more about it now.

The view of the “permanency” of salvation is all over the map within Christianity. Some teach “once saved, always saved”. Others teach that acts of sin can remove one from a “state of grace”. Others have a view somewhere in-between. Some of these beliefs are sincerely held, but I can’t help but wonder if some are held as a way to control conduct or enforce dependence on the church.

My take on it: Salvation is not just “forgiveness of sins”. If that’s all there was to salvation, then it stands to reason that sinning again might cause one to question their salvation.

But salvation is more than that:
- It’s receiving eternal life (John 3:16-17, John 17:3)
- It’s becoming a new creation (2 Cor 5:17-21)
- It’s becoming a part of the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12)
- It’s being adopted by the Father (Romans

Yes, sinning is a bad idea, and it affects the way we relate to the Father. That’s why we confess it (to God), put it under the blood of Christ, and move on (1 John 1:9-2:2). But salvation is not fragile, and God isn’t looking for ways to keep people out of heaven.

Doug

Don’t Let Your Heart be Troubled

Three times in John 14-16, Jesus said for us to not be troubled, dismayed or have our peace disturbed:

John 14:1 (NLT) – Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.

John 14:27 (NLT) – I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

John 16:33 (NLT) – I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.

The key to having this peace is to seek the peace-giver and not the peace itself. Scripture has to lead us to God’s presence, and not just give us principles to follow.

I developed this further in my sermon on 5/9.

Doug

The Love Commandment

Jesus didn’t give us 10 commandments. The great commandment, summed up, is “Love God and love people” (Luke 10:27). He elaborates on this second part in John 15:
[blockquote]
John 15:9-14 (NIV) “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.
[/blockquote]
- Jesus loves us as much as the Father loves Him.
- Jesus commanded us to love each other the way He loves us.
- Jesus said we’re His friends if we do his command.
- Jesus said this so that we’d be full of joy.

That was the core of my sermon from 5/2. The audio is available on the Recent Audio Sermons page.

Doug

Three show-stoppers

On Wednesday, April 21st, about 5:30 in the morning, I was laying in bed, thinking about “my sheep hear my voice” (John 10), the gospel reading for Sunday. All of the sudden, down in my spirit, I heard this from the Lord:

Insignificance, intimidation, and fear of failure are holding you and most of the church back.

I ended up using that as the basis for my sermon Sunday. The audio is at http://allsaintsonline.s3.amazonaws.com/dms-2010-04-25.mp3

Doug

It’s about the people!

One of the first things I had to come to terms with as a pastor was my need to develop stronger people skills. I’m reminded of what Jesus said just before He was crucified:

John 13:34-35 (NKJV)
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

and later

John 14:15 (NKJV)
If you love Me, keep My commandments.

and

John 15:9-12 (NKJV)
As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

In other words, the church is about love. Teaching has its place, singing has its place, spiritual gifts have their place (1 Corinthians 14:26), but they have to be in the framework of love for God and love for people (1 Corinthians 13, Luke 10:27).

Today I read this quote today from USA Today:

The first German pope of the modern era took the helm of the Catholic church after 24 years in the backroom of power with a clear design: to make its 1.1 billion member flock more in line with church teaching even at the cost of shedding members and without catering to the mass media.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-04-16-pope-anniversary-abuse_N.htm

I will not criticize the Pope, who has been serving God longer than I’ve been alive. But to see such a goal makes me sad.

Doug

Wherever you go, God goes

Have you ever thought about God being inside you, and what it means?

2 Corinthians 6:16 (NKJV) And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”

Where you go, God goes. Not just in His Omnipresence, but in His personhood inside you.
When you speak to someone, you are speaking as one with God inside, who has the ability to hear God’s voice (John 10:4)
When you pray for someone, God is inside your hands.

We are Christ’s ambassadors – His representatives (2 Cor 5:20). But unlike earthly ambassadors, the One we represent is inside us, not just in a far-off land.

This truth needs to be mediated on more within the church.

Doug

Worship is noisy!

There are many traditions for worshipping God within the church today. I was reading Isaiah 6 one day and realized that worship in heaven is NOISY!

Isaiah 6:1-4 (NIV) In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

That’s a powerful shout, if it’s enough to shake heaven’s doorposts.

The above passage was set about 740BC, according to the NIV Study Bible. If you fast-forward about 835 years to 95AD, the seraphs are still at it:

Revelation 4:6-8 (NLT) In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal.
In the center and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back. The first of these living beings was like a lion; the second was like an ox; the third had a human face; and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty— the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”

We also see 24 elders speaking and the throne thundering. In Revelation 5, we see the elders with harps singing, and millions of angels singing loudly. They were declaring the worthiness of the One on the throne and the Lamb. Let’s let our own worship do the same thing.

Doug

All believers are righteous

We’re all familiar with Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (NKJV). This is one of the verses that contributes to a “sinner saved by grace” mindset, rather than a “righteousness of God” mindset.

Let’s read it in context:

Romans 3:21-24 (NIV) (21) But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (22) This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, (23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (24) and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Verse 22 says that righteousness – being in right-standing with God – is through faith in Christ Jesus, and it is to all who believe. “For there is no difference” says to me that all believers are righteous – not that some are more righteous (have better standing with God) than others – all believers have the same right-standing with God even as all have sinned.

Verse 24 says that those who believe are justified (“just as if I’d never sinned”), or “declared righteous” (paraphrase from NLT) freely by grace as a part of the plan of redemption.

Kenneth Copeland once told the story of a man – a known heavy drinker and wife-beater, but considered a member in good standing of his church. He started to see that he was righteous, and quit doing that stuff. He started telling people in his church that he was righteous, and they kicked him out of that church within 90 days! They couldn’t deal with a man saying he was righteous, I guess.

Why should we hang on to the sin tag that Christ redeemed us from?

Doug