|
|
|
P.O. Box 25759 1411 Rim Road Fayetteville, North Carolina 28314 Office Phone: 910-868-5686 |
|
|
 |
If you desire to listen to the corresponding audio sermon
feel free to click here:
RealAudio Sermons
Web Page
For the last two weeks I preached about prayer and answered prayers. The main goal of prayer is to have an intimate relationship with God. God is interested in having a closer relationship with us even though we are interested in having material blessings and physical health in our life. By having an intimate relationship with God, our lives are transformed. God answers our prayers according to God’s will. Prayer is not like a wish as you blow out your birthday candles on a cake, or throwing pennies in a wishing well.
Today I want to share with you about what we Christians pray for other Christians. The greatest commandment is “to love God with whole your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And love your neighbors as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-40) In this verse we know our relationship with God is the most important. The second important relationship is our relationship with others. That is why God wants us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. In this light, the meaningful Christians’ life can be found and measured by how much you love other Christians. The questions are, “Have you prayed for other Christians? Yes. For what have you prayed for other Christians?”
How many Brothers and Sisters in your life could be touched if you prayed in the following ways?
First of all,
1. Be thankful for their faith, love, and changed lives (Col. 1:3) please do not think the body of Christ will be healthier and stronger if anyone of us is removed from this body. When God sends you to join Cornerstone UMC, God has a special purpose for you. Do not go anywhere until you find that purpose and use the gifts that God has given to you to build up the body of Christ. It is God, who brings us the Yax’s family and the Gill’s family today to join Cornerstone UMC. Be thankful to God for other Christians’ faith and love.
2. Ask God to grant them the knowledge of God’s will (Col. 1:9) I have heard lots of Christians say, “I want to follow God’s will!” The question is, “What is the will of God? Where do we find it?” The will of God is contained in the whole Bible. The whole Bible is the primary source to know the will of God. I encourage you to read and meditate it daily. Now I want to tell you specifically the will of God in the Bible.
A. Salvation 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”
B. Everlasting life John 6:39-40, “This is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given Me., but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father that all who see the Son and believe in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”
A young man goes into a drug store to buy 3 boxes of chocolate. The pharmacist asks, “What size small, medium, or large?” "Well," he said, "I’ve been seeing this girl for a while and she’s really beautiful. I want the chocolate because I think tonight’s "the" night. We’re having dinner with her parents, and then we’re going out. If she lets me hold her hand I’m going to give her the small box. If she let’s me kiss her on the cheek, I’m going to giver her the medium box, and if she lets me kiss her on the lips I’m going to give her the big box. The young man made his purchase and left. Later that evening, he sits down to dinner with his girlfriend and her parents. He asks if he might give the blessing, and they agree. He begins the prayer, but continues praying for several minutes. The girl leans over and says, "You never told me that you were such a religious person." He leans over to her and says, "You never told me that your father is a pharmacist." I am sure the will of the girl’s father is to give her a small chocolate.
A. Sanctification 1 Thess 4:3, “This is the will of God, your sanctification that you abstain from fornication, that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God.” It is very important for you and me to live a holy life because God is holy, thus we shall be holy.
B. Thanksgiving 1 Thess 5:17-18, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
3. Ask God to give them deep spiritual wisdom and understanding (Col. 1:9) I believe that all spiritual matters are related to God and God gives them to us as free gifts. Spiritual wisdom and understanding do not come from the knowledge and intelligence of the world, but from God. So we ought to pray for other Christians to have spiritual wisdom and knowledge.
4. Ask God to help them live for Jesus and please Him (Col. 1:10) Again, our life is more meaningful when we live for someone, especially whom we love most. Most women prefer to be loved rather than to have power and money in their lives. They love to be in a romantic mood with their loving one. If our lover is good always and faithful all the time, and trustworthy forever, then our life is very meaningful when we live for Him and please Him. How can we please God, who is faithful, good all the time, and trustworthy.
A. Faith Heb 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
A small Oklahoma town had
two churches and one distillery. Members of both churches complained that the
distillery was giving the community a bad image. And to make matters worse the
owner of the distillery was an out spoken atheist. He didn’t believe in God one
bit. The church people had tried unsuccessfully for years to shut down the
distillery. So finally they decided to hold a Saturday night prayer meeting.
They were going to ask God to intervene and settle the matter. The church folks
gathered on Saturday night and there was a horrible thunderstorm raging outside
and to the delight of the church members lightening hit that old brewery and it
burned to the ground. The next morning the sermons in both churches were on the
power of prayer. But the insurance adjusters promptly notified the distillery
owner that they were not going to pay for the damages because the fire was an
act of God and that was exclusion in the policy. The distillery owner was
furious and he sued both churches claiming that they had conspired with God to
destroy his business. But the churches denied that they had anything to do with
the cause of the fire. The presiding judge opened the trial with theses words: “
I find one thing in this cause most perplexing-we have a situation here where
the plaintiff, an atheist is professing his belief in the power of prayer in
faith, and the defendants all faithful church members are denying the very same
power. They do not have faith in God.”
B. Calling 2 Tim 2:4, “No one serving in the army gets entangles in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer.” Likewise our aim is to please Jesus Christ, who calls us to be ambassadors of Christ in this world. Ambassadors are the one who are sent by the His/her government to stay in a foreign country on behalf of their own country. Their loyalty is on their country even though they live in a foreign country. Likewise we are the ambassadors of Christ. Our loyalty is for Christ even though we live in the world.
C. Concerns for others Romans 15:26-27, “For Macedonia and Achaia have been please to share their resources with the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. They were pleased to do this, and indeed they owe it to them, for if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material things.”
One night my 11 year old daughter Eva noticed I was distracted as I tucked her into bed. I told her about a friend’s teenage daughter whose hair was mysteriously falling out and I encouraged Eva to pray for Amy. Her simple words, “Jesus, please, hold Amy’s hair on her head.” Touched me. As the doctors experimented with different treatment, Amy continued to lose her hair. Eva continued to pray the same prayer. After six weeks the doctors determined Amy had alopecia, an extremely rare disorder where hair loss is unpredictable but can be complete and permanent. When I told Eva, she took my hand and closed her eyes. This time her prayer was different. “Dear Jesus, if you won’t hold Amy’s hair on her head, would you please hold Amy?” Tearfully, I realized how sometimes God does not move mountains, God moves us.
5. Ask God to give them strength for endurance (Col. 1:11)
6. Ask God to fill them with joy, strength, and thankfulness (Col. 1:11-12)
Have you even wondered why people asked you to pray for them? Is your prayer life such that God can trust you enough to send people in need of prayer your way? Our Old Testament lesson says in Job 42:8, “My servants will pray for you and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. Why did God send Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, to Job? Because God recognized Job as a man of prayer. In God’s view Job was the right person for praying for others.
What will happen when we pray for other Christians? In verse 10, “And the Lord resorted Job’s loses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” When we pray for other Christians, the Lord blesses us. When we intercede God not only blesses those for whom we pray, God blesses us as well. I want you to know that it was after Job prayed for his friends, and “the Lord accepted Job’s prayer” (42:9), and then God restored his fortunes. It is notable that Job prayed for others even while he was still grieving and suffering even though his three friends gave him a real hard time rather than gave him comfort and consolation.
In conclusion I want to read what S. D. Gordon says, “The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing, but it is the chief thing. The great people of earth are the people who pray. I do not mean these who talk about prayer, nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those who people who take time to pray.”
Job 42:7-10
7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the
Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not
spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8 So now take seven
bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt
offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will
accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have
not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." 9 So Eliphaz the
Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD
told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.
10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous
again and gave him twice as much as he had before. NIV
Colossians 1:3-12
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for
you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you
have for all the saints— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is
stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of
truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is
bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you
heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from
Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our
behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying
for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all
spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may
live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in
every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all
power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and
patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to
share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. NIV
Print
This Page |
Bookmark
This Site! |
Email
a Friend! |
E-Cards
Questions, suggestions and problems concerning the Cornerstone United Methodist Church Website should be directed toward the Cornerstone Webmaster at: webmaster@cornerstoneumconline.com
This Website Has Been Visited
Since Beginning
Operation.
Thanks for Stopping By!
