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Releasing God’s Power To Others

God, Message / By /

In Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” Ivan endures all the horrors of a Soviet prison camp. One day he is praying with his eyes closed when a fellow prisoner notices him and says with ridicule, “Prayers won’t help you get out of here any faster.” Opening his eyes, Ivan answers, “I do not pray to get out of prison but to do the will of God.” Ivan understood the main point of prayer.

When we pray we don’t want to miss the point of prayer, because if we miss the point of prayer we really haven’t prayed. NLT 1 John 5:14 And we can be confident that he [God] will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. 15 And if we know he is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that he will give us what we ask for. The point of prayer is to ask in line with God’s will. If we just ask for what we want, God doesn’t even hear us. So when we pray for people, ourselves or someone else, we meed to be sure we don’t miss the point. We need to be sure that we ask in line with God’s will.

What is God’s will for people? Why are we here on this earth? NLT Acts 17:26 From one man he [God] created all the nations throughout the whole earth. 27 His purpose in all of this was that the nations should seek after God and … find him. Why did God create the people of the nations of the world? So that people would seek after and find God. So that people would know God and have a relationship with God. That is the highest goal of life, that is the ultimate purpose for a human being. To find God and know Him that is the point of life.

So today we want to look at the topic “Releasing God’s Power To Others”, praying for other people. So often we pray for things for ourselves alone: money to pay off our bills, new job, new wheels, etc. That’s good and we’ll talk more about praying for God’s provision in a few Sundays. Yet, we need to keep our priorities in proper order. NLT Matthew 6:33 and he [God] will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. If God is our primary concern and we live for Him, everything else will fall into line. So when we pray for people, our primary concern for them, the point of the prayer, must first of all be about their relationship with God. Their finding and growing in God is the most important thing.

To hear more about this topic, listen to my June 12, 2005 message entitled Releasing God’s Power To Others

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Releasing The Power Of Praise

God, Message / By /

Prayer is simply communication with God, two-way communication to be more exact. A human being communicating with the greatest power in the universe, the intelligent designer that created us. And God communicating back to us. This is really the most exciting, the most power-packed activity that one could be involved in. I believe that when we get to heaven, one of the biggest surprises to us will be the revelation of what could have been accomplished through our lives through prayer. The Bible teaches that prayer has incredible power. NLT James 5:16 The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. Prayer has the power to change your life, prayer has the power to change this church, prayer has the power to change St Louis.

The pastor of a church in Phoenix asked members to randomly choose 80 people from the telephone book. He then asked them to pray daily for each person for 90 days. At the same time, another list of 80 people was randomly picked from the same phone book, but nobody prayed for those people. After 90 days, members called both lists, all 160 people, and asked them if they would allow Christians to visit them to pray for them. Here’s the amazing result, only one person on the list that no one prayed for was prepared to allow Christians to visit. On the list that was prayed for, 69 of the 80 were prepared to allow Christians to visit. Coincidence? Hardly, simply a demonstration of the power of prayer.

Through the gift of prayer, we cooperate with God in bringing change to the world, change for the better, change in our lives and change in the lives of those around us. How can we learn to pray in such a way that releases God’s power? Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray. The answer that Jesus gave is commonly known as the Lord’s prayer. The Lord’s prayer begins this way. NLT Matthew 6:9 Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored. Prayer begins with praise,it begins with God, not your problem. Prayer has to do first of all with God, with His honor, with His will.

So today, our message topic is “Releasing The Power Of Praise.” There is great power released when we praise God, when we honor Him. Power is released through praise that can change things, make wrong things right and change people’s lives NLT Psalm 149:6 Let the praises of God be in their mouths, and a sharp sword in their hands— Here the combination of praise and spiritual warfare is seen together. Power to deal with the enemies of God is released in praise. Today, we’re going to look in greater detail at the prayer of King Jehoshaphat when faced with an overwhelming threat of a huge army poised to attack. We want to look at how a prayer of praise released God’s power to defeat the enemy. If you can learn to pray in the same way, your life will never be the same.

To hear more about this topic, listen to my June 5, 2005 message entitled Releasing The Power Of Praise

How Can I Be Confident In A Crisis?

Life, Message / By /

Currently, we’re in a message series entitled “Answers To Tough Questions.” We began the series with a message on how to handle discouragement in our lives. Last week our question got tougher as we discussed how to overcome major problems in our lives. And this week our topic is “How Can I Be Confident In A Crisis?” We’ve moved from discouragement, to problems, to a crisis.

A crisis is a type of life storm that threatens to do great damage to you. Life storms or crisises have a number of origins. You can bring a storm on yourself by doing wrong things or not doing the right things. Other people can bring storms into your life. Or your life storm may have a supernatural origin, from the evil one. Life storms hit Christians just as well as unbelievers. However, the good news is that as a Christian, God is in control of the weather. He controls the storms and crisises in our lives and He has a purpose in them for us.

A man and his four year old daughter were flying over Texas in an airplane when they encountered a severe thunderstorm. The pilot announced that he was taking the plane to a higher altitude so they could fly above the storm. The plane flew up through dark clouds and lightning until it broke through the clouds to see the sun shining in all its glory above the storm. Looking down, they saw a beautiful sight, a rainbow stretching from horizon to horizon. The four year old girl exclaimed, “Daddy, daddy, look it’s a rainbow and we’re seeing it from the same side that God sees it from.” From below, in the midst of storm, all was darkness and danger, but from above, from God’s perspective, there was a beautiful rainbow. Meteorologists tell us that there is a rainbow in every rain cloud, but you have to be properly positioned to see it. As we get closer to God, He will help us see the rainbow in every storm that He allows into our life.

God gives us strength to pass the test that storms bring in to our lives. NIV James 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. To persevere under trial is to keep on trusting God, to keep on believing, to not give up your faith in God or His purpose for your life. And the final result will be a crown of life, a reward laid up for us in heaven. To persevere under trial is to be confident in the crisis, to stay calm, to maintain courage and hope no matter what is happening around us.

Today, we’re going to look at a story from the New Testament, from Acts 27. Paul is a prisoner on board a ship headed for Rome, where God’s purpose is for Paul to preach the Gospel to the Emperor. On board the ship, God told Paul to tell the crew not to leave the harbor because there was going to be a great storm that would result in the loss of the ship, cargo and even their lives. But the sailors were impatient, they didn’t want to winter the ship in the harbor. So they ignored Paul’s advice and set sail, getting themselves smack dab in the middle of a crisis. We can learn some lessons from the sailors about what not do in a crisis and we can learn from Paul how to be confident in a crisis.

To hear more about this topic, listen to my May 29, 2005 message entitled How Can I Be Confident In A Crisis?

How Can I Overcome My Problems?

Life, Message / By /

In late July 2002, nine Pennsylvania miners were trapped in the Quecreek mine. They had not been heard from in two days after 50 million gallons of water flooded the mine shaft. However, when a 6-inch air pipe was lowered into the chamber, the miners tapped on the pipe, but now the tapping had stopped. Those 9 miners had a problem of huge proportions, there was no way they could solve it from within the mine.

Rescuers began drilling down to the trapped miners, 240 feet below ground, but the first diamond tipped bit broke 80 feet down. It took 18 hours before a new bit could be installed and everyone feared the miners had been lost. Yet, when the tip broke through into the underground chamber, there were the miners, all alive. In actuality, the 18 hour delay allowed water to be pumped out of the chamber the miners were ultimately rescued in. Without the delay, the shaft would only have encountered a flooded mine.

Those miners had a problem they couldn’t handle. They had a tough question, “how can I escape from this flooded mine shaft?” An appropriate verse for them to thank the Lord would be NLT Psalm 18:16 He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters. And God can do the same for you in your problems. Each of us has problems in our lives, some not so big, others so big we’re not quite sure what to do. We want to answer the tough question “How Can I Overcome My Problems?” Now, as we’ll see, just like those miners, you’ll need some outside help to escape your problems.

To hear more about this topic, listen to my May 22, 2005 message entitled How Can I Overcome My Problems?

How Can I Handle Discouragement?

Life, Message / By /

A man stopped to watch a Little League baseball game. He asked one of the youngsters what the score was. The answer was, “We’re losing 18-0.” “Well,” said the man, “You don’t look discouraged.” “Discouraged?” said the boy. “Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t come to bat yet.” Oh, the optimism of youth. Most of us would have packed up and gone home discouraged at a score of 10-0.

It’s not difficult to get discouraged. Someone has called discouragement the world’s deadliest disease. Discouragement is universal, every gets it, you do, I do, we all do. It’s common, you probably meet a discouraged person every day. Finally, discouragement is highly contagious. When you’re discouraged, other people can catch it from you. But the good news is that discouragement is curable. You can go from being discouraged to being encouraged.

To answer our first tough question “How Can I Handle Discouragement?” We’re going to be looking at a story from the life of Nehemiah. Most people read their Bible as simply a collection of stories of what happened thousands of years ago. The Bible is an accurate record of what happened long ago, but it is much more than that. Speaking of the OT, NLT 1 Corinthians 10:11 All these events happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us. So when you read a story from the Old or New Testament, think about what kind of example the people in the story are. They might be a good example or a bad example. In each case, the story will teach us more about God and His plan for our lives.

In our story from Nehemiah, we’re going to discover 4 causes of discouragement and 3 steps in the cure for discouragement. God doesn’t want you discouraged, it’s not His will for your life. NLT Deuteronomy 31:8 Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD is the one who goes before you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor forsake you. God doesn’t want you to be afraid or discouraged. He has promised to go with you in life, to strengthen and encourage you. He wants to teach each of us how to handle discouragement.

To hear more about this topic, listen to my May 15, 2005 message entitled How Can I Handle Discouragment?

God’s Encouragement For Mothers

Family, Message / By /

Happy Mother’s Day! A mother’s job description is immense and it’s not 9-5, in fact, a mother’s job may require her to answer an urgent call in the middle of the night or in the wee hours of the morning. In many homes, a mother is the primary caregiver for the children, caring for physical needs, feeding, giving baths, washing clothes, buying groceries, praying for the children, singing and reading to them, taking them to school activities, church activities and friend’s houses. Without everything a mother does, a family couldn’t operate.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if a Mom was paid for everything they did around the home? They’d be worth more than any of us gets paid. We often take what mothers do for granted. Perhaps if we thought about the value of what they do we’d thank and encourage them more. Children ought to thank and encourage their mothers. NIV Ephesians 6:2-3 “Honor your father and mother”– which is the first commandment with a promise– “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” We ought to honor our mothers because it is the right thing to do and God will bless us for it according to this promise.

One Mom had two children aged 4 and 6. They wanted to do something special for their mother for Mother’s Day so they went out and bought her a house plant using their own money. They gave it to their Mom and she was thrilled. But the 6-year old seemed somewhat sad and Mom asked her why. She explained, “We saw a bouquet in the flower shop we wanted to give you. It was real pretty but too expensive. It had a nice ribbon on it that said “Rest in Peace.” We thought it would be just perfect, since you are always asking for a little peace so you can rest.” Mom replied “That’s OK, I think I like the house plant better anyway.” Even if the children didn’t have everything figured out just right, they did a good job at encouraging their Mom.

Raising children is a job, a ministry, of great significance. The demands on mothers and families are greater than ever these days. Sometimes being a mother may seem impossible, so much to do, little time. Moms need encouragement to keep going.

To hear more about this topic, listen to my May 8, 2005 message entitled God’s Encouragement For Mothers

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