8 31 2017 11 33 36 AM

How Do I Prepare Myself for Worship?

I remember in high school a teenage girl leading our youth group in prayer. She began, "Hey God. What's up? How's it going?" Even then, I knew something wasn't quite right about approaching God in such a way.

When Moses came into the presence of God within the burning bush, God said, "Do not come near; Take the sandals off your feet, for you are standing on holy ground." Moses turned away and hid his face. Hebrews 12:28-29 says, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."

Often, believers give no thought to how they come to God in worship. Sometimes, we come flippantly or irreverently. However, we are to come before our holy God with what I like to call a joyful reverence. How can we do that? What practical steps can we take in preparing our hearts to come before the Almighty God? That's what we discussed this past Sunday night at FBC Gibsonville.

Before you get to church...

1. Dwell upon the character and attributes of God... and praise him. He is holy. He is just. He is pure. He is omniscient, omnipotent, and omni-present. He is love. Niagra Falls, the Grand Canyon, the expanse of the universe? Tiny drops in the bucket compared to the greatness of God.

2. Dwell upon your own specific sins... and confess them. We sin in our deeds. We sin in our words. We sin in our thoughts and intentions. But sin is more than just what we do, it is who we are. We are sinners. How often do you take time to confess your sins? Not just generally, but specifically, naming individual transgressions against God? Take time to confess these before our holy God.

If we stopped here in our preparations, we would be left undone. We would cry out "Woe is me. I am a sinner in the midst of sinners." We would be left with a fearful, distant worship. But our cries for mercy are answered in Jesus Christ.

3. Dwell upon the mercy and grace found in Jesus Christ... and trust him. Spend time reading the precious truths of the grace God has given us in Christ. Read Scripture passages like John 3:16, Ephesians 2, and Isaiah 53. This will add great joy to our reverence and awe before God.

Then, when you get to church and as you are worshiping with other believers...

4. Pray that the Lord would impress upon each one the nearness and presence of the holy God.

5. Pray that God would feed and nourish you by his word.

6. Engage yourself in worship... in singing with your voice and heart, in hearing and agreeing with each prayer, in listening and receiving the word of Christ read and preached. One key here is this: Spend less time thinking about what you would like changed with the worship service, and more time thinking about what the Lord would like to change in your own heart.

How do you prepare for worshiping the holy God with the saints gathered around you?

How Do I Cultivate a Healthy Prayer Life?

We all know we should pray more. We all know we must pray more. We all know the things that keep us from prayer. So, how can we cultivate a healthy prayer life? This past Sunday evening we considered and discussed this question that we all might grow in our prayer lives.

Of course, in order to have a prayer life, you must be a Christian. God doesn't promise to hear or answer the prayers of unbelievers in the same way he has promised for believers. The one prayer that he is sure to hear of an unbeliever is the prayer of repentance and faith. And then, like a baby cries with its first breaths, the Christian cries out to God in prayer. It is the most natural thing in the world for a Christian to pray. It's a part of who we are... sons and daughters of our Father in heaven.

But because of indwelling sin and the business of life, we struggle. Here are the headings we discussed so that we all might grow in our prayer lives.

Study - We must study the Scriptures in order to cultivate our prayer lives. How can we pray to a God we don't know? In studying the Bible and in hearing the word preached, we hear God speak to us.  In addition, studying the prayers of the saints through Scripture gives us a wellspring of insight into how to pray. Reading the Psalms or the prayers in the New Testament give us a great variety of prayers offered to God by the saints. A good practice is to pray with your Bible open... hearing God speak, and speaking back to him in prayer. 

Learn - We must learn from others in order to cultivate our prayer lives. Praying with others and hearing others pray is a necessity of we want to grow in this practice. Make it a habit to attend each service that your church offers so that you can worship and pray with other belivers. Don't miss out on the richness of prayer that a mid-week prayer service offers. You'll learn to pray. Your heart will be encouraged. You'll encourage others. Find one or two others you can pray with on a regular basis so that together you can work in cultivating a healthy prayer life.

Plan - We must plan in order to cultivate our prayer lives. It's helpful to plan a time and a place for prayer. Many Christians say they pray "all the time" throughout the day. But what about specific periods of time set aside exclusively for the sake of prayer? We've settled for text-message prayers instead of hour long, one-on-one time with God. In addition, you can plan the content and structure of your prayer times. What ever happened to prayer lists? Make a list with prayers concerning missions and evangelism, church needs and ministries, and the spiritual and physical prayer needs of others. Review them regularly and pray over them regularly. A helpful structure that I have used is called the ACTS model. A - adoration and praise. C - confession of sin. T - thanksgiving. S - supplication or requests.

What have you found helpful in cultivating a life of prayer?

Hearing the Saints Pray

What a benefit and encouragement it is to hear the people of God lift up their voices in prayer. I was struck by this awareness last night at church during our prayer time.

One of our older members stood to pray, but his heart was kneeling before the Savior. I found myself wanting to feel the same way he did... about his own unworthiness, about Christ's faithfulness and mercy. Hearing this man pray built me up in Christ. Hearing him ask for forgiveness melted my own heart. Hearing his love for Jesus stirred my love for Jesus.

Consider this... who do you hear pray on a regular basis? No one? Just your family members? Just your pastor or church staff?

Let this be an encouragement to you to begin attending our Wednesday night Bible study and prayer meeting. Or if you're in another church, to begin attending a prayer service there. Pastors, do you set aside time for the saints to pray corporately? What a benefit it is to hear brothers and sisters pray! I'm more excited each week that I get to pray and listen to others pray to the Savior who is worthy!

Here are a couple of other benefits to hearing others pray:
1. You learn how to pray.
2. You learn of specific needs.
3. You get out of repetitive ruts in your own prayers.
4. You get to know your spiritual brothers and sisters better.

Speaking the Truth in Love to Those Who are Suffering

"God needed another angel in heaven." "It was God's will." "I know exactly what you're going through." "Another angel got her wings today."

Well meaning Christians sometimes say these things to those who are suffering. They mean to comfort. They mean to remind them of biblical truth. The mean well. But these words are not always helpful (some are not even true) to those who are going through trials.

This past Sunday's sermon was from Exodus 1, titled "Where is God in the Dark Days?" We saw the truths of God's sovereignty and his care for his people. Even in the dark days God is at work for his glory and for the good of his people. Christian, no matter how thick and dark the clouds seem, one of these days the sun is going to break through and you'll feel the warmth of God's love. There is a light over the clouds. There is a God over the clouds of your suffering.

On Sunday night we discussed the question, "How do you speak the truth in love to those who are going through suffering?" After our discussion, we listened to this answer from John Piper, "How Do You Talk About Suffering With People Who Are In the Midst of It? Have a listen so that you'll have something to say... something truthful and something loving, to someone in the midst of suffering.

Come Together... Right Now (or at least on Sunday)

Last Sunday's message was on "God's will for your church involvement." The first point was that God wants you to regularly attend the assembly of believers on Sunday morning. I didn't at all mean that that gathering has to be in a building, or at a certain time on Sunday. I also didn't mean that doing this is what makes a person a Christian. We've done a good job demonstrating that going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than going to Pizza Hut makes you a pizza. But I think our culture, even our Christian culture, has gone well beyond that to a totally unhelpful view, namely, that Christians don't need to go to church to be healthy and growing.

We'll have the sermon audio up on our website soon. In the meantime, you can check out this post: Are We Required to Attend Church.

Here's a snippet from the article:

"It has become fashionable to pit “being the church” against “going to church,” but there is no church for us to “be” apart from the assembly that God is erecting in the wilderness by his Word and Spirit. We go to church to receive the means of grace, precisely so that we can be the church in the world.

Put in Your 10k Hours

From the Valiant for Truth blog... A helpful reminder of how the Lord uses means to make us better at our vocations. In this case, the means of practice.