An Evening of Prayer, Take 2!

OK, the last attempt at a night of congregational prayer was not what we were hoping for. We had planned to have an outdoor prayer meeting and met with storms that would make Noah nervous.

But here’s the good news: we will be inside this time around. Covenant Community Church has been very gracious to us, and is allowing us to use their building for the prayer meeting! 5157 Wexford Run Road, Wexford, is the address, just on the other side of 79 from Marshall Middle School.

As we have already seen from God’s Word in Habakkuk, the Lord keeps a different schedule than us. His plans are sometimes different and always better than ours. And the greatest blessing He gives us through it all is prayer. We have the invitation to go before the God of the universe and converse with Him! What an awesome privilege. And you will never enjoy the experience of the goodness of God without prayer.

Need more incentive? Probably not, but I am going to share with you some reasons for prayer I recently read in an article in Israel My Glory:

1. It demonstrates our relationship with God.
2. God calls us to it! (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
3. It demonstrates our dependence on God. (Psalm 121:1-3)
4. It is a way we serve God. (Luke 2:37)
5. It strengthens our faith. (Ephesians 3:20)
6. It is worth doing! (James 5:16)
7. God always answers. (1 John 5:14-15)

In the comments section below, you can offer more reasons! 

See you Friday at 7PM!

p.s. - prayerlessness is carelessness

Looking for a Few Shameless People...

Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. Luke 11:5-8

I have met a lot of Christians. A. Lot. All over the world. And do you know what is true for 99.7% of all of the ones I have met? A struggle with personal prayer life.

Why is that? I think people sort of adopt this “God is going to do what God is going to do” mentality. Don’t get your hopes up, let’s just keep our prayers in the safe zone: God bless grandma, help me to have a good day. Amen.

I love the above story from Jesus, because it totally destroys our lame prayer mindset. It’s actually a humorous story. A guy shows up at his neighbor’s house, in the middle of the night (keep in mind that midnight in the first century meant nothing was happening except sleep). And what’s the big emergency…? He wanted a snack for his buddy. Three biscuits to munch on is hardly an emergency, hardly worth bothering your neighbor over. If you wake me up asking for a snack, you better run, because I am going to throw it at your head.

But this guy helps his friend out. Why? Because he is a great chum? No, it is because of the asker’s impudence. That’s another word for shamelessness. Uninhibited.

“I don’t care what time it is, I don’t care that you are sleeping, I don’t care that this can wait, I don’t care that it’s not even for me but actually for a guy you don’t even know, I don’t care that your kids are asleep - we need a snack. Come on, help us out. We need it. Please! If you can do it now, that would be helpful. Or we can give you a couple seconds to get it if you…”

“ALL RIGHT! Here’s your stupid bread! Beat it!”

The parable isn’t about the woken up guy, the parable is about the asker. More specifically, the parable is about the shamelessness of the way the guy brought his request.

The point is shocking: Be just as shameless when you bring your requests to God. Jesus goes on to say why: God. Will. Answer. (Grab your Bible and read verses 9-10 - I dare you!)

We are praying as a church Friday night (the 10th). Details are on the home page under “Events”. Join us.

And bring your impudence, oh shameless ones. God told us to! We are going to take his invitation to come boldly.

p.s. - Canned prayers not allowed, especially that “Now I lay me down to sleep…” prayer.

You Gotta Have It to Give It

The 4th Pillar of Harvest Bible Chapel is: Sharing the Good News of Jesus with Boldness.

What do you need to do effective evangelism? You have to have the right message (Jesus died for our sins and rose to give us eternal life). You need to have a method to roll it out (an illustration, a bookmarked Bible, etc). These things are easy. Anybody can have those.

But the truth is, something you have to have is something that cannot be taught or learned. You have to have a passion for lost souls. Without this Spirit-inspired motivation, nothing will be effective. The content and means of sharing the message is vital, but a sound message can be possessed by those who are “sound asleep”.

Knowing the message, the methods, and the mandate of the Great Commission does not guarantee that one will go…or go with compassion…or go with enthusiasm…or go with urgency. The great need in evangelism is for the church to recover a passion for souls.

Look at the passion on these famous preachers from the Bible:

• Moses – Exodus 32:32 - But now, if you will forgive their sin--but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.

• Paul – Romans 9:3 - For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
   
• Jesus – Luke 19:41-42 - And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

What do these men all have in common? They were men who had a deep relationship with God the Father themselvesfirst!

I could make you feel guilty for not witnessing. I could take you through every passage of the Bible that stresses the urgency. But these things aren’t going to move you.

What will move you is having a love-relationship with the Lord yourself. When you have a close walk with the Lord, your heart starts to be moved by the things that move His heart. And what moves His heart is compassionately extending His mercy and grace to the lost through His Son.

Bottom line: if you struggle with witnessing, the first question you have to ask yourself is: “How fired up am I about the Gospel?”

You can’t give it if you don’t have it.

p.s. - evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread

Mountain, Hills, Everywhere: Three Good Mission Fields

When I was a kid in Sunday School, we sang this song at Christmas-time: Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.

I love that sentiment. Just get out there and belt it out. Go climb a mountain and use that as a platform for preaching. Not just at Christmas, either.

One of the 4 Pillars of Harvest Bible Chapel is Sharing the Good News of Jesus with Boldness. That is, when God gives me opportunity to speak for Him, I will take it. I want to use this space to talk about that over the next few weeks.

Witnessing. Evangelism. Sharing your faith.

For many Christians, just reading those words can stir up some bad thoughts and feelings.

“Oh no, here comes the guilt trip. I should witness more.” Yes, maybe you should. But my job isn’t to book guilt trips. My job is to just say what the Bible says. So we have to start here: Why do we have to talk about this? Why is this a pillar of the church?

Matthew 28:18-20:

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

There it is. All of it. Right there. Why should we be so fired up for evangelism?

1. Jesus’ last command is my first priority.
   
   This was the last thing Jesus said before He returned to heaven (it‘s also in Acts 1). I’m leaving, I’ll be back, here’s your job, get on this. Four commands in those verse, did you see them? Go (Get out there. In your family, in your workplace, in your neighborhood…). Make (Not “Say something.” -- it‘s “Make something!” Make disciples. How…?). Baptize(When they respond to Jesus, let them identify with His death, burial, and resurrection). Teach (It doesn‘t end there, it begins. Teach them to observe all that Jesus commanded).
   
   No asterisk. No footnotes. No exceptions. Have you been touched by the Gospel? Then Go-Make-Baptize-Teach. “Yeah, that’s not really my gift.” Yeah, but it’s your job: Go-Make-Baptize-Teach. “I‘m not really great at it.” Do you know the Gospel? If you are saved, you must know something. So Go-Make-Baptize-Teach. “What if people reject me?” There is no “what if“. Some will. But others will get saved. Results are up to God. Your job? Go-Make-Baptize-Teach.
    
2. Jesus’ power and presence is manifested in this work.
   
   “What give you the right to be going around telling people about this religious stuff?” Jesus said that ALL authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him. That’s the top of the ladder. The boss of everything. He said to do it. And… He said He’ll be with us while we do. “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Why in the world would He choose to work this way? Use people like us? Proclaim salvation through fallen people? Entrust the message of heaven to people like me?

I don’t know. But one thing I am sure of: He wants me to Go-Make-Baptize-Teach. And He’ll be with me.

More to come.

p.s. - wonders how people in Ohio “tell it on the mountain”