Two short messages

Following are two short messages I've recently prepared. I hope you enjoy.



PRAYER- Shutting the Lion's Mouth

I was mulling over topic of focused-prayer and its implications for us as a Body the other day when I hit a mental wall. I didn’t know what to do or how to go about doing it. (Keep in mind that I’m a task oriented person, and so I’m all about getting things done, well with this message, it just wasn’t getting done and I could just leave it. Therefore I became frustrated and anxious about finishing it all the more….and while I was having a mild mental breakdown – the Lord hit me with a stroke…of revelation… He showed me that once He’d given me earlier ideas as to what we as a Body need to know, I hadn’t since prayed for direction in the message’s development. I’m speaking about focused-prayer and yet I wasn’t praying, let alone for focus. Have you ever found yourself doing the work of the Lord without asking Him how He wants you to go about doing it in prayer?

Honestly, as perfect and as excellent as we want our results to be with all of our work, the Lord desires much more. But the catch is that it’s by His power and that’s why prayer is so important and why we’re not as effective as we could be if we used it more fervently. Let’s take a look at someone in God’s Word who actually got this thing right. Daniel 6 is the story of Daniel and the other administrators of Babylon who were jealous of him. They tried to find fault with him but couldn’t unless it dealt with the law of his God. And so they devised a trap for Daniel and the naïve Darius issued the written decree which forced Daniel to disobey, that is he was praying to the Lord at three specific times a day which was contrary to worshiping only Darius for 30 days. Daniel’s punishment, also placed in writing was to face the lion’s den. Let’s pause to think about our own lives, how often we find ourselves facing lion’s dens of our own because of serving the Lord rather than men.

There is a roaring lion out there that seeks to devour us, and has a track record of being quite successful at what he does, but fear not, there is a solution

First, let’s read on to find out what happened to our friend Daniel…Darius, like us was wondering as well, starting with verse 19 – verse 23. What happened? Daniel was miraculously saved from the lions. Why, because he trusted in His God and served Him continually.

What’s the solution? Daniel was prepared. But how? Daniel was a consistent prayer warrior. He set aside three times each day to devote to God. For he knew, that as an earthly ruler and as a servant of the Lord Most High, he had to stay in alignment with his Master. How successful would we be in getting physically fit and remaining healthy if we decided not to exercise and eat right consistently? The same goes for our spiritual well-being. In that time of trial, will you be spiritually strong enough to trust in the Lord?

What could a revolutionized prayer life do for the Body….think to the message of how to go about eating elephants…now listen to this illustration about the power of focus…

Some guys were playing paintball in a civil war type fashion, having volleys instead of guerilla tactics. As they shot at each others, each group would take steps forward in unison, and when the pain became unbearable, men would concede and this would go on until all from one of the sides had retired from the match. Well one team decided to use the principle of focus – that is they would all focus their shots on one person each time…this in turn destroyed the other team one by one and instilled fear in those who dared stand against them as they moved closer together…Think about what we as a Body could do if we focused our prayer…What if we all dedicated one day to praying specifically for one person together as a Body? For, we conquer obstacles together as a Body. Daniel knew he would be saved because he was in constant communication with his Savior through prayer.

We have the same privilege

2nd MESSAGE

The Authentic Church

Hey, if you were to ask me how I feel today and I responded “great, God is good, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice! (very solemn expressions) What would you think? Was I truthful in my answer?

You obviously noticed how genuine I appeared just now.

Isn’t it amazing how we can pickup on small – or large – inconsistencies in people’s demeanors? Yesterday, Kent told us how 7% of what we say is communicated, whereas 93% of what we communicate is by how we go about it, body language, that sort of communication

Jesus addresses this sort of authenticity in Revelation 3 – He addresses the Body Language of the Laodicean Church. He addresses their inconsistencies, their authenticity as His Body.

Jesus begins by contrasting their behavior with Himself – that is, he begins by addressing Himself as the Amen – in Hebrew this refers to something fixed, such as His own immutability as the unchanging God

If He is unchanging, how can a Body of Christ, being unstable, be in communion with Him?

Pause

The answer is: They can’t

Jesus, therefore, desires them to be like him, and so He rebukes them of their waywardness, and encourages them toward a more holistic lifestyle, a life lived as Jesus Himself lived.

He knows all and so reminds them of their own situation, explaining their being as lukewarm (teeter tottering between cold and hot), not making a decisive stance. What’s interesting to note is Jesus’ meeting them on their own ground, where they could understand His message. Laodicea was part of a tri-city alliance, its sister cities being Colossea (Co-law-See) and Hierapolis. For instance, the letter to the Colossians was to be read by churches in all three of these cities.

Laodicea was in between these two other cities and was more famous than its sisters for four reasons, one of which I wish to clarify for you today. It has massive implications for understanding the Church’s needing to run back toward authenticity in Christ.

Running from Colossea and Hierapolis into Laodicea are two famous aqueducts. From the fresh Colossian springs runs one carrying ice cold water; another, from the sulpher hot springs of Hierapolis runs one carrying rotten-egg smelling water. Now each water was still distinct and maintained it’s characteristics while in its original location, but as the liquid traveled toward Laodicea, each lost it’s distinctive nature. The cold water warmed and became mild and the sulfur water cooled off, but retained it’s putrid smell.

This is a physical metaphor for the Laodicean Church’s behavior. They were a wealthy group, and they lived by the world’s standards. But at the same time, they went by the Church’s name. Christ, sternly scolds them, stating, in a sense, “be like either of your sister Churches, be refreshing and rejuvenating like your brethren in Colossea, or be passionate and zealous as those at Hierapolis. Do not be as you are, for that is what I do not want.

Be authentic; be true as I am, THE Faithful and True Witness. Do not go be as you are named, for Laodicea means “the rights of the people”

Living for Christ isn’t about living for yourself, it’s about living for Christ, and we can’t understand that until we let go of our claims to rights so that we may to love others effectively.

Pause

Throughout the world, but especially in our own culture – do we not feel this same tension – we all want our piece of the pie – Church becomes more of what we can get out of it than what we can invest into it. Christ died for the Church, talk about an investment, He doesn’t move against the will of His people. But He does wish His people would move into His will, His unchangeable, immutable will, and away from lives lived by their own standards.

Pause

We need to recognize when we are sinning and have a stench of foulness to the Lord but have present ourselves as holier than thou Christians to the world.

I leave you with these two questions

Can we really fool God?

And why would we want to?