Pentecost Acts 2:1-4, 37-39, 42-47

Pentecost literally means fiftieth. It was the fiftieth day after Passover. It was one of the three mandatory Jewish feasts for those who lived within 20 miles of Jerusalem. It was one of the most heavily attended by those Jews who lived far away, because it was the time of year when weather was most favorable for travel. Pentecost was a celebration of the beginning of barley harvest. It was also a celebration to remember when the Law was given to Moses. Today is Pentecost.  As the Jews gathered for Pentecost, some 2000 years ago, a small group of 120 disciples of Jesus gathered in an upper room obeying Jesus’ instruction to wait for the power to be a witness. You see, they had been cowering, fearful traitors up until this point. It almost looked as if the three years Jesus invested in them was wasted. But Jesus told them to wait for the Promise of the Father. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  Where had Jesus spoken about that? We find those words in John ²⁶"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. ²⁷And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”   And also it says ²⁶But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

The promise goes back much further, all the way to Ezekiel and even Jeremiah says ³³"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Ezekiel prophesied about this day with these words, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”  Here was this little band of followers of Jesus waiting in that upper room for the power to testify with the presence of the Holy Spirit.  ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."   Let’s read the account of what happened on Pentecost 2000 years ago. ¹When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ²Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.  Did you picture that in your mind? This little band of frightened followers is praying for God to do what Jesus had promised and fill them with the power to witness. They knew the Spirit had come upon the prophets. The Spirit had been with them, but Jesus said He was going to come and live in them! ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- ¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Suddenly it sounds like a hurricane, and a ball of fire appears. In the Old Testament the Lord dwelt with His people in the Holy of holies over the Mercy Seat in the form of a ball of light.  This was the manifest presence of God. God cannot be confined to one area, but this was something for them to grasp the reality of His presence. Now the ball of light comes into the room where they are praying. It had been centuries since Israel had seen it, for their rebellion against God caused it to depart and you can read that in Ezekiel.  Now it is back; the presence of God is back. That alone was cause for great joy, but something that was almost beyond the wildest expectations of man was taking place. The ball of light was separating into little flames of fire, and settling over each person. The prophecies were happening right before their eyes. Jesus had come to live in them, just as He had promised. This day was a celebration of the gift of the Law. The Law drastically changed their idea of how to relate to one another. But now, another greater and more drastic change was happening on the very day they were celebrating the gift of the Law. The power to live the Spirit of the Law was being given to man. That would drastically alter the way they lived, not just in concept, but also in actual practice.  They were so filled with joy and wonder that the gathering crowd thought they were drunk. They began to speak of Jesus to the crowd that had come from great distances to the feast of Pentecost. They were amazed to hear their own languages spoken. ⁷Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?  ⁸Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Then Peter stood up and explained that this was the fulfillment of the prophecies, and quoted the prophet Joel. ¹⁷‘in the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. ¹⁸Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.  The Promise of the Father through the prophets was taking place. The Spirit of God no longer just came upon people, but because the sacrifice of Jesus had made, those who would receive Him and by faith be right with God would now find the Spirit living in them.  Peter went on to tell them that King David had predicted the resurrection of Christ 1000 years earlier. He told them that they were witnesses that God had indeed raised Jesus in fulfillment of that prophecy. Because we are all born rebels against God, defiantly going are own way, we could say this was true of all of us. It is not likely that that crowd was the same one that shouted, “Crucify Him!” fifty days earlier. But Jesus did die for their sins and ours. Their reaction was the only that one man should have. ³⁷When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"    Peter tells us what we should do when we realize we have been living a life as if we were the Creator and not the creation. He tells us what to do when we realize that God sent His only Son to save us, to die for our

rebellion against God, to take the justice that should have been dealt out to us. ³⁸Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."  Let’s examine what Peter said, or better yet, what the Holy Spirit said through Peter. Repent! That means to have a revolution in the way you think. You once thought you were boss. Pleasure and personal gain were all that mattered. “Take what you can before someone else does” was your motto. A revolution in your thinking is to think like Jesus taught us on the Sermon on the Mount. Recognize you are in desperate spiritual need. You need to hunger and thirst for righteousness, not worldly pleasures or even physical needs. You are blessed when people badmouth you because you are faithful to Jesus. Most of all, it doesn’t matter if you do what looks good to men, but whether or not your heart belongs to Jesus. Does He know you? Are you seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness? That is a revolution in the way man thinks. Before it was all about you. Now you realize it is all about Jesus. That is repentance. You have been master of your life, now you realize you need to invite Jesus to be your Master.  Next Peter declares that you will receive the Holy Spirit. The amazing power of the presence of God in your life is yours when you repent and are baptized. The promise God made through the prophets, the promise that Jesus made, will be yours! The Spirit of God will come and make His home in you. ²³Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Peter said the promise is to you!

You don’t have to be good enough. You don’t have to beg and plead for a second blessing. God wants to give the Spirit to those who ask Him.  You may be filled again. ³¹After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.  You may not have a sensation of feeling, you may make more space for Him at a later time and be fuller than you are now, but the promise is to all who repent and are baptized.  I’m afraid there are many who have acknowledged the fact that Jesus died for them and have prayed for the gift of salvation but have not had a change of mind. They have not crossed that crucial bridge of repentance. Imagine this. Your child is rebellious and disobedient. Because of that, you are not going to take them into your arms and love on them and give them gifts and privileges. You want to hear them acknowledge that they are wrong and need to change. If they ask for their toy and a snack and your loving favor and have had no change of heart, they are being presumptuous about your love. They are presuming they are so special they can get away with anything and expect you to overlook it all, letting them continue to rebel and disobey.  There must be a change for relationship to be restored. There has to be a turning around in the way they are thinking. That baptism said, “I’m burying my old way, and rising up to a new life.” Then, only then, is the promise yours. That very day of Pentecost, 3000 were baptized and received the promise!  The verses that follow tell us what life is to look like when we are in a group of people who have repented and were baptized and received the promise of the Spirit. ⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. ⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.  They devoted themselves to several things. The first was learning about the life and teachings of Jesus, called the apostles’ teaching. As I taught before, if we don’t have enough love to remember Jesus’ instruction, we don’t love Him much. Take time to be in God’s word!  It is essential for spiritual growth to take time in God’s word.  They devoted themselves to fellowship. You can study on your own, but when you share your life with your brothers and sisters in Christ, it becomes much more practical. We need to share our lives. We were designed to work together.  They devoted themselves to communion, which is remembering what Jesus did for them. And they devoted themselves to prayer.  Are you spending time alone with the Lord to share your heart with Him? Do you communicate with Him as you go through your day as we learned in the last two weeks? He wants to hear your heart and direct your life if you will let Him. Devote yourselves to prayer. Remember that I am praying for you. I trust you are praying for me.  

Coming out of the closet

Here we go, I’ve waited a long time to say this and I’m almost embarrassed to think that I haven’t thought about saying this before.  I am coming out of the closet, that’s right out of the closet.  I am no longer going be a person who stands in the pulpit, like so many others, and doesn’t share with my congregants what I believe and what I stand for.

So here it goes, wait for it, I …believe…in…the …Bible! That’s right, I believe in the Bible, the inerrant, infallible, wholly inspired word of God.  I believe in the literal creation that God spoke the world in to existence in seven (7) literal 24-hour days.  I believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah who was born of a virgin, and was fully man and fully God.  I believe that Jesus was crucified dead and buried and was literally raised from the dead on the third day and now sits at the right hand of God the Father.  I believe that not all paths lead to heaven and that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no man comes to the Father except through Him.  Wow, I feel so much better now that I have gotten that my chest.  I am no longer a preacher that lives in the closet of believing some of the Bible, as many “pastors” do, I believe all of it.

What has happened to society that places up on a pedestal a preacher who in many cases is just a good speaker or showman who doesn’t even believe in the Bible in its entirety?  Do we want a show and to be entertained?  Or do we want a God fearing man or woman who brings the word everyday and more importantly lives the word as well?  I suggest there are and have been many ministers who have fallen from grace because the preaching gig was too good of a job to give up and they did not believe in what they were doing or saying.  That is the same in our public servant’s lives as well.  One man with one woman is a concept that is looked on as old fashioned today.  Now, one man sexts or tweets or emails someone who is not his wife for the express reason to make him feel like he is “the man”?  How about sleeping with someone who is not your wife and getting them pregnant?  What dishonor they have brought to themselves, their families, and their public offices.  If more people would read their Bible, and more preachers would preach the Bible, more people would believe the Bible and think about eternal consequences not just feeling good for a moment or two.  Please pray for our country.

Mountain Moving Prayers

⁸ Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

When we pray we should examine our motives.  We should consider the attributes of God so that we pray according to His will, asking for what is righteous and just, merciful and good.  God already knows what we need. We don’t need to go on and on or say some secret expression over and over.  He wants to meet our needs.   When we begin as Jesus began this prayer, He is free to meet our needs in a way that is consistent with His character.  The prayer begins with acknowledgement of the holiness of the Father’s name, God’s kingdom coming, and God’s will first and foremost.  When you begin there, your heart is turned away from selfish vanity and turned toward God’s eternal purposes.  “Your name, God, Your kingdom and Your perfect will be done.” Prayer is willful submission to and in cooperation with the heart of God.  Since His ways are loving, gracious, just, but merciful, my desire is to yield my will to His in prayer.  Understanding our old selfish and destructive nature should give us the motivation to pray for God’s will instead of our own.  Even when it looks painful, if we submit to the truth that God knows best and loves us, we can pray for His will and we can expect His peace to fill us.   I remember asking God for things that I thought were in His will, and yet if God had given those things to me at that time it would have been contrary to God’s kingdom and His purposes. I thank God He withheld them.  After putting His kingdom and will first we can pray the rest of the prayer Jesus gave us. (Matt 6:11-13) ¹¹ ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ¹² ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.[For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

We have need of two kinds of bread.  We need physical bread, which is food for our physical bodies.  We can go without it for a time, but we need to take care of the temple of the Holy Spirit.  God has placed this vessel, my body, in my care, and as a good steward I should care for it.  So, I ask God to be the Provider of my food, one day at a time.  I don’t ask for a warehouse, because I would become self-dependent and not seek Him. That is human nature.  What a comfort we have when we know it is God that provides our daily bread.  The Psalmist said he had never seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.  The God that feeds the birds all over the face of the world feeds us.  The other kind of bread is spiritual.  Jesus said He was the bread that came down from heaven. He is the Word made flesh.  He said, “This is my body which is broken for you, take, eat in remembrance of me.”  This bread is the spiritual food that we feast on when we open His word, when we hear from Him in prayer, or when a message is relayed by the Holy Spirit through human means.  We are feasting on Jesus, the heavenly bread.  How often do we need that?  Give us this day our daily bread.  When we pray, do we think only of the physical?  We need to pray our spiritual needs are met just as we pray for our physical needs.  We need an appetite, a spiritual hunger, to remind us we need the Bread of Life. We have the promise that our God will supply all our needs, according to His riches in glory, in Christ Jesus.   He will meet our physical needs and our spiritual needs, if we will just ask and have a will to receive.  Then we ask for forgiveness AS we forgive others. We’ve had our sins covered by His blood, but we still continue to sin.  You would think that since I became a new creature in Christ I would quit sinning.  But I’m still in this earthly body and still prone to error.  I ask the heart of the One with the hallowed name to forgive me. But, unforgiveness in my heart will block His forgiveness from flowing into my life.  If I won’t forgive those who owe me little, why should I expect God to forgive me when I owe Him so much?  Unforgiveness is a poison that restricts your communion with God.  Unforgiveness hinders prayer and our relationship with God.

Our last request in this prayer is to not be led into temptation.  I recognize how weak I am and how strong the Evil One is, so I ask to be kept from his attacks.  The Psalmist prayed to be led in a plain path, because of his enemy.  We should pray the same.  Lead us plainly, for the enemy of our soul desires to capture what territory he can.   Test and grow me, but keep me out of his clutches.  We start with His name, His kingdom, His will and move on to our needs physical and spiritual. Then we ask for forgiveness for our sins, and to be led away from the Enemy’s traps. The prayer is so simple a child can pray it but so rich it can encompass the deepest expressions of our spirit.  As we pray the will of God into our life and the lives of those with which we are in contact, our faith increases.  As we listen with our spirit, our spiritual senses become sharpened.  We increasingly become a vessel through which God intervenes in the world.  There is no higher calling or honorable work.  Look at a few of the glorious promises that are ours! (John 15:7) ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:16) ¹⁶ You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.  (John 14:13-14) ¹³ Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.    (1 John 5:14-15) ¹⁴ This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

“Whatever you wish”, “Whatever you ask”, “anything you ask”, these are very broad terms.  Then why do many of our prayers seem to go unanswered?  Let us look back at some of the conditions we skip over. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you…” What does it mean to remain in Christ?  NASB uses the word ‘abide’.  That is to live in.  I abide in my home.  I’m not always there but it is where I spend most of my time.  Do you spend most of your time in Christ?  If Christ is your home, you have a heart for His will and His untainted desires, you will ask for those good things that are His will, even when they would not be your first choice.  The second condition is asking in Jesus’ name.  We often add on our prayers, “In Jesus’ name.”  That means, at His direction and per His will and with His authority.  When you add to the end of your prayer, “in Jesus’ name”, you are saying, “I am speaking as an ambassador of Jesus and asking these things on His behalf.”  Jesus says that when you do that, the Father answers.  Now some of you might be thinking, “How disappointing! I thought I was going to find some formula to get what I want without surrendering to God!”  That would be neglecting the first principle of prayer, seeking God’s kingdom and will. Your Father only gives you what is good for you.  Even the difficult things can be in our best interest.  If you are disappointed because of God’s goodness in withholding things that would be detrimental to you, you only have a worldly perspective.  You need your heart transformed so that your desires become His. Your prayers are not answered because as James says, “…You ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts.” Or they may not be answered because you have stopped listening to God and His will and ways.  Listen to what the prophet Zechariah warned God’s people was happening. (Zech 7:13) says ¹³ "And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen," says the LORD of hosts…  They wouldn’t listen to God so He wouldn’t listen to them.  That is not some childish response but it is looking out for their own good. If we won’t listen to God’s perfect and holy desires, we plead our own selfish and destructive desires.

If the prospect of praying God’s will into your life and the lives of those you come in contact with excites you, it is because you realize His will is the answer to the evil in the world around us.  It is not our methods, and our ideas and programs, but a sovereign move of God doing what HE has planned. Jesus promised if you had the faith of a mustard seed you could say to a mountain, “be moved”, and it would happen. Listen to (Romans 8:26-27) ²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; ²⁷ and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We are learning from Christ how to pray, but we don’t know what we ought to pray for.  We need the help of the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes we can’t even express it, so He does for us.  See how He prays?  He prays in accordance with God’s will.  God’s will is so much better than what you or I would pray for ourselves.  He sees your deepest need and knows every possible path you could choose. Sometimes we don’t consciously know what God is doing.  Remember Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego?  They chose to obey God. The king said he would throw them in the furnace if they didn’t bow to his image, a huge golden idol.  They answered, “Our God is able to deliver us and rescue us from your hand, but even if He doesn’t, we want you to know we won’t worship or bow down to your idol.” (Daniel 3:17,18) They must not have known with certainty God’s will for their future.  They were prepared for either outcome because they believed God is God and they were men.  And God did deliver them.  Yet, for everyone God has miraculously healed or delivered there are as many that have not seen the answer in this life.  They were healed or delivered through death – our great graduation.  Why some and not others?  Only our Sovereign God knows and we must trust and believe He knows best how and when to answer our prayers. We say with righteous Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15)  Sometimes, I would ask for some things to be different.  Sin wreaks havoc on this world.  The curse upon sin with disease and inequity is heart wrenching.  Man’s inhumanity to man never ceases to disappointment me.  What we are praying for is the culmination of this time of man reigning in the earth. We are praying against the evil that would harm the innocent.  The freedom to choose God also allows the freedom to choose evil, and that evil causes so much pain.  John looked into heaven and prayed, “Come quickly Lord Jesus!”  As an old man in his 90’s he had seen the horror of life in this world where man could so brutalize man.  He saw prayer open up heaven and the future before his eyes.  He had seen Jesus praying when the Spirit descended on Him like a dove.  He was there when they gathered in a room and prayed until the Church was born in the outpouring of the Spirit.   He saw prayer break Him out of prison and fill the disciples with boldness in the face of persecution. His prayer in response to seeing both the horror of the rebellion of man and the glory of the Kingdom of God was, “Come quickly Lord Jesus!”  (Rev 22:20) Pray His will as you are led by the Spirit and you will be praying in faith, believing.  Mountains moving will seem like nothing compared to the transformed lives and the redeemed situations that your prayers will bring about.  Pray God’s will into your life, your home, this church, and our nation!  

Praying Ground

In the Christian life there is no substitute for prayer.  We can have enormous energy and enthusiasm for the Lord, but that is not a substitute for prayer.  Today’s Text is from Matt 7:7, It reads: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.   "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!   The Greek translation literally means that we should keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking.  Look at the last line, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?  In the text, God wants us to ask!  We are to always pray and not faint.  

But…That seems to be a problem for many of us, we pray so many times and wonder if our prayer is ever heard. We often ask why and cry out to God “Why haven’t you answered my prayers”?  But many times it’s not because they aren’t heard, it’s because they aren’t asked for.  Prayer is not a one way conversation with God, he may not speak in an audible voice to us, but he speaks to our heart and lets us know what to do and what to pray for.  Here’s how you know you are on Praying Ground.

1.  How should we pray so that we know our prayers will be answered?  In Matt 6:7-8 it tells us how not to do it.  We don’t pray to God to impress Him or use repetitions, we don’t pray to inform God, he knows what we need, but we are to pray to invite God to work in our lives and our hearts.   Matthew 5 reads “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.   But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.   And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.   “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 2.  Why aren’t my prayers getting answered?  Is there something in my life that is hindering the answers to my prayers?  First:     One of the greatest things that obstruct prayer is sin.  When sin blocks prayer, the real problem is not that we have sinned, for we all have sinned, but that we have sinned and have not repented.  Its only un-confessed sin, deep down in our hearts that stops our prayer from getting through.  Forgiven sin does not hinder our prayers.  Forgiven sinners are welcome in God’s presence.   But the first requirement of prayer is to confess anything in our heart that is not of God.  When your sin is forgiven you can be confident that God will hear and answer your prayers.    We can’t have the privilege of prayer without the purity of heart.   Faith is the second requirement of true prayer, prayers without faith are incomplete.  God will always respond to our prayers that are in accord with his nature, his purposes and his promises.  Thirdly, Obedience is fundamental to effective prayer.  Only people who obey God have the right to go into his presence with requests.  Often when prayer fails and we receive no answers we assume the problem is with God, but the problem is with us.  Jesus reminds us that if we remain in him and his words remain in us we may ask what ever we wish and it will be given us Psalms 37:4 says  Delight yourself also in the LORD,  And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Begin a life of obedience to God.    3.  For what is it proper to pray for?   Philippians 4:6 says, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  There is nothing in life outside the reach of prayer.  If it concerns you, it concerns God.  We can pray about everything both big and small.  Nothing lies outside the will of prayer except that that lies outside the will of God.  Anything we ask for will be done for you.  There is the promise in John 15:7,  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  But, once again the will of your prayer must blend with his will.  God will guide and God will direct your prayers, and you will find yourself praying in the will of God.  The greatest privilege we have is prayer.  The greatest failure that most of us have is lack of prayer.  With prayer and supplication which means we must be humble, let your prayer requests be known.  4.  Does God always give us what we ask for?  No and thank God for unanswered prayer.  Moses was feeling sorry for himself and asked God to kill him, God said NO.  Paul asked that the thorn be taken from his flesh 3 times and God said no.  Why, because he gave him something better-Grace.  How many people prayed that before Paul was a believer and he was persecuting Christians and watching them being stoned to death prayed for God to strike Paul dead?  God did not answer their prayers that way, God struck Paul ALIVE and he went on to become a great man of God.  If you have a grudge against someone God will not hear you.  Because in the Lord’s Prayer it says, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  See, we are commanded to forgive them.  Well you might ask, can I pray for our personal needs? Sure, but we can never pray for selfish reasons.  God can also delay the answer to prayer and it is always with good reason.  Sarah’s prayers were heard, granted, and then delayed until God wanted to show them as with the birth of John the Baptis.  With God, timing is more important than time.  At times God has to line up situations and for people to do certain things where prayer can be answered and maybe he has to line you up with differing circumstances in your life so you can be the answer to someone’s prayer.  Have you ever thought about that?  When the answer doesn’t seem to come when we want it to, we grab the Bible we start to look for the answer and search and develop in our knowledge; God is on his own timetable, not ours.  God wants to pray for us more than we pray for him.  How many times are we praying for people to get better from illness than for them to be saved?  We may be praying for them to get better and Jesus is praying for them to come home and be with him.  I know that has changed the way I pray.  Your prayers may simply just have been denied because you’re not asking according to his will and he can’t give you what is not according to his will.   1 John 5:14-15 says, Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. If we have sin in our heart or praying outside the will of God we won’t get our prayers answered.  He will say no.  5.  What do we do if our prayers are not answered?  Keep praying, He will hear us.  He may not always answer our prayers in the way we want him to answer it.  Sometimes, he gives us things that are much better.  6. Should we expect a miracle every time he answers prayer?  No, but sometimes it can be.  Sometimes God needs to do things to make sure he is the only one that should be exalted and that he is the only one that can get the glory.  That’s why he waited for Lazarus to be dead before he raised him up, made the blind to see, and inexplicably healed people both today and in his time.  Really, there are no other answers but God does do miracles even though others try everything to explain them away.  7.  Does God have favorites who prayers he hears?  No one is favored in giving prayer.  It doesn’t matter if it’s the preacher, you, me, your kids, anyone can pray.    Anyone who has a clean life, pure heart and loves the Lord Jesus can pray and have their prayers answered.

In closing we should remember that  not praying is a sin, look at 1 Sam 12:23  Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. In Luke 18:1 mark 14:38, it says how we can get into trouble by not praying:   Then He spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”   We always seem too busy to take the time to pray.  When we ought to be praying and are not, we are just trying to control the situation our self and we can’t do it ourselves.  This is where my wife reminds “Did you pray on it?”

I CHALLENGE YOU If you are not saved, I can help you down the right.  He will forgive every sin you ever had, he will cleanse your heart and give you new power and when you die he will take you directly and immediately to heaven.  From the minute you trust Jesus, you will be instantaneously saved and your life secure if you really truly receive him as your Lord and Savior.   Pray from the heart and pray it like you mean it and you will be firmly planted on praying ground.

Are Sunday's lost?

As I was driving to deliver the message at my two churches in Milton, Pa this past Sunday, I witnessed a disturbing sight.  While not surprised, I was sorely disappointed in what I saw going on at a local softball field.  You may have guessed what it was, a bus load of little girls and their parents warming up for a tournament at about 8:30 am.  As I drove by, all I could do was think about was these little souls more than likely will not be churched today (as well as their parents).  As a disclaimer, I want to say that even my daughter has missed several Sunday services for Field Hockey camps – much to my chagrin.  But that was not to say that the sports kids and their parents didn’t attend a mid-week or a Saturday or Sunday night service to attend (if you can still find one).

In my never to be humble opinion, this is where the problem of declining church membership begins – with un-churched kids who think Sundays are just another day off like Saturdays are.  As un-churched kids grow up with no idea of what the Sabbath is they become adults with very little intention of ever going to church as well and the vicious cycle starts.  I’m thankful that I see grandparents with grandkids at their side on Sunday mornings.  I can only imagine the heartbreak over their own children’s aversion to the Sunday morning worship service but I guess they at least are letting their little ones go to church.  Again, this also happens in my extended family.  This is the point of my article where I ask for your prayers that the church will have a revival and people will find their way back to the House of the Lord. 

But I digress, as far as the early Sunday morning sports go, shame on the promoters who organize these things without regard to anyone’s religious preferences and affiliations.  Sometimes I think we should bring back those Blue Laws and keep things closed so we can have less distractions and more time to focus on what is important – Jesus Christ.  We all need to slow down, relax and reflect on the past week while thanking God for getting us through it and be in prayer for the upcoming week so that we may be a blessing to God’s love to everyone we meet.

Repent and be saved

Whatever happened to repentance? You rarely hear the word mentioned in most churches today.  Many pastors seldom call for their congregations to sorrow over sin and to grieve over wounding Christ by their wickedness. Instead, the message we hear today is, "Just believe. Accept Christ, and you'll be saved.  But there is more to it.  You need to repent and to believe to be saved.  Many who claim to be saved have never rejected sin. The popular idea today is that you can continue to live in sin with no change of heart, no change of mind, no conviction, and think you’re OK.  Only if there is a change of heart and mind toward sin, then it is true saving faith! If there is no change of heart or mind...there is no salvation. Belief without repentance is only a head knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Just knowing about Jesus and wanting to go to heaven is not enough. We must understand that we, the individual, have sinned against God and we must do something about that sin. The person who sees himself as a sinner and sees that sin is rebellion against God will want to change. He sees that sin is destructive and dishonors himself and God. That is what the Gospel teaches, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save men from their sins. It teaches that one must believe, put their faith in Jesus Christ, and turn from their wicked ways in order to be saved.  We all fall into this category as wretched sinners; I am that wretch that the song refers to. Note what God says about this: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Romans 3:10-12) and Paul says in Timothy, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

Think about it — what was the first message Jesus delivered, after he emerged from the temptation in the wilderness? REPENT! Scripture says, "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17).  Jesus called people to repent before he called them to believe! Mark writes, "…Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:14-15). Christ preached, "Repent first — and believe." Elsewhere Jesus says of his mission, "…I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:13). And he told the Galileans, "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).  Jesus' gospel was all about repentance! John the Baptist also preached repentance to prepare Israel for the coming of Christ. John's message to the Jews was simple and straightforward: (Matthew 3:1-2) says “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand".  People came from everywhere to hear John preach. And he told them in no uncertain terms: "The messiah is soon to appear — so; you'd better get ready to meet him! You may feel excited that he's coming. But I'm telling you, your hearts are not prepared — because you're still holding onto your sins!  So, repent, turn from your sin -- and live in a way that reflects genuine change!"

What gospel did Peter preach to the masses on the day of Pentecost when 3000 were saved, let me think…REPENT! The Bible tells us that when the people heard Peter say, "...they were pricked in their heart, and said...Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:37-38).  Peter didn't tell these people just to "believe and be saved." He didn't ask them to merely make a decision for Jesus.  No -- he told them to repent quickly, and then be baptized in obedience to Christ! Realizing this and accepting the fact that one is a sinner and needs God's forgiveness is only the first step toward salvation. What message did Paul preach to the pagans and later to King Agrippa?  REPENT!  That’s right, so do you see where I’m going with this? Paul told them very directly, REPENT!"...God...now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30) and “that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance" (Acts 26:19-20).  Paul is saying, "Everywhere I've been, I've preached repentance. And genuine repentance proves itself by its actions!"  And these actions are manifest in the Fruits of Repentance.  Anybody can say they are repentant for a while, but keep watching and whatever program they think they are on, their true fruits will show through to the outside world.   These passages make clear to us that the church preached unabashedly the same gospel John and Jesus preached: "Repent for the remission of your sins!"  What Does It Mean To Repent? The most common definition of repentance is to stop what you are doing and go in the opposite direction. In other words turn around.  Metamellomia” –This means regret.  We see this in Matthew 27:3 “When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and other leaders. “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”  This is the Recognition of sin.  This is when we begin to realize that we are sinners. We feel the guilt of sin, but do nothing about it. We feel regret, but continue to live in sin.  Then we have “Metanoeo” – This is to think differently.  This is the confession of sin.  We begin to change our thinking about ourselves and about our sinful life. We begin to understand that we are not as good as we thought we were. We begin to want to change our behavior.  This is a stress-filled way to live because our actions do not match our beliefs.  And finally “Metanoia” – Which means reversal.  This is true repentance. Here is a sample of John’s preaching to the crowds that came for baptism: (Luke 3:7-9), “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee God’s coming judgment?  Prove by the way you live (that’s the fruits) that you have really turned from your sins and turned to God [metanoia]. The full, literal meaning of the word "repent" in the New Testament is "to feel remorse and self-reproach for one's sins against God; to be contrite, sorry; to want to change direction." The difference in meanings here rests on the word "Want." True repentance includes a desire to change! If there is no change of heart or mind - there is no saving faith and no salvation. Biblical repentance means one has a change of mind that comes by faith in accepting Jesus Christ. Godly sorrow produces repentance which forsakes sin and turns from it.  Just being sorry doesn't constitute repentance. Rather, true sorrow leads to repentance. Paul states, "For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death" (2 Corinthians 7:10).  Paul is speaking here of a sorrow that's without regrets -- one that's genuine, that "sticks" in the life of the repentant person. This kind of godly sorrow naturally produces a repentance that includes a hatred for sin, a righteous fear of God and a desire to right all wrongs. If the believer does not in repentance confess their sin, they will not turn from sin, and thus they reaped the fruit of sin which is unrest and no peace in one's heart.

Do people have a genuine conviction for sin? Are people being offered salvation who haven't actually repented -- who haven't sorrowed over their trespasses, who haven't seen the exceeding sinfulness of their sins, who have sought faith so they could merely be seen as doing the right thing? Appearing outwardly moral - yet be living in sin. Those people never experience the deep work of the Holy Spirit. As a result, they never repent, never sorrow over their sins -- and never truly believe. Tragically, they are looking for something Jesus himself never offered -- salvation without repentance! After salvation a believer can still be tempted to sin but he does not want to sin. He knows it is wrong and destructive and is repulsed by it. Even a true Christian can enjoy sin for a moment; however, it will not be the same as before. When he sins, there is conviction for his sin.  We cannot take the feeling out of conviction. Think about it -- you hardly ever see tears on the cheeks of those who are being saved anymore. Of course, tears don't save anyone. But God made us all human, with very real feelings. And any sinner who has been moved upon by the Holy Spirit naturally feels a profound sorrow over the ways he or she has grieved the Lord. Sin bothers a true believer...but it does not bother the lost. The Christian knows sin as the destructive thing it is. He knows it will destroy his life and his testimony before others and bring shame on the Lord Jesus. Repenting is like looking in God's mirror, revealing every hidden, secret thing. You see, repentance isn't a one-time experience. It's not some hurricane that strikes once and then is gone forever. Nor do we experience repentance only in a moment of crisis, and then merely talk about it the rest of our lives. No -- sorrow for sin should be our constant teacher!  When was the last time you were moved to repent and got down on your face to cry out to God for forgiveness?

Repentance – vital change, as Spurgeon calls it, is a requirement for salvation.  "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:8-9). Jesus says to us,"…To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7).  Jesus promises that your godly sorrow, your repentant heart and your renewed love for him will lead you to everlasting life. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth.  So, pray to him right now: "Lord, give me a truly repentant heart. Take me back to who I was when I was first in love with you. Yet, this time take me farther, deeper in you, than I've ever been before!"  As you repent, God's Spirit will begin to produce in you a new revelation of the glory of Christ. And he'll make it known to everyone around you, again, this is the fruits!  Every blessing comes through repentance and remember repentance is the funnel through which all grace flows.   Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now am found was blind but now I see. 

Is lying about your military record a sin?

Recently, I read a disturbing article about a local pastor caught in the middle of one big lie.  I think the thing that bothers me the most is the fact that this pastor was caught in a lie about his (or lack of) a heroic military background.

Just after Osama bin Laden was killed in a raid by US Navy SEALS the Patriot News reached out to former SEAL members to get their opinion on what had transpired.  Unfortunately, Pastor Jim Moats of Cumberland Country responded to the call and weighed in with his opinion, as a former SEAL, on the mission.  The story he told was quite accurate and was gobbled up by the eager reporter.  Who’d think that a well respected pastor was a fraud?  Nobody at the Christian Bible Fellowship Church in Newville thought that he was any different than what he said he was.

So what makes a man of the cloth break into a full fledge lie that can be easily checked on (and it was)?  Certainly there are several things going on here and stroking his ego was a big part of it.  I know that it feels good to be a part of something bigger, but a pastor has to be above this kind of stuff.  Let’s stick to preaching the Word of God and check our egos at the church door.  I know for a fact that it is easy to exaggerate our military record, because it is done all the time.  Saying you served in Viet Nam (when your duty was stateside) denigrates everyone who ever stepped foot in the Republic of Viet Nam.  I am a veteran of the Persian Gulf era with the key word being era…I never left US soil. 

With that being said, what should the congregation of the Christian Bible Fellowship Church doing with a pastor that told boldface lies?  Is this a small problem that could turn into a bigger one or was just an isolated incident?  One phrase that doesn’t come to mind often is “Church Discipline”.  Should some be exercised on Pastor Moats…only the church board and congregation knows the answer to that.