Strengthening Our Church – Prayer (part 2)

Strengthening Our Church

Revelation 3: 2 ‘Wake up! You have only a little strength left, and it is almost gone. So try to become stronger. I have found that you are not completely obeying God.’

Mark 11: 15-17

Jesus came into the House of God in Jerusalem and became angry when He saw the people abusing it

They had turned the House of God into a market place for their own selfish purposes

Jesus said: they had turned God’s House into a ‘den of thieves’

Jesus said: God’s House should be a ‘House of prayer for all the nations’

What does that mean for us?

God wants us to be a praying Church!

A ‘House of prayer’

When we obey Jesus, and pray – God will answer our prayers

How will God answer our prayers?

God will save the lost, from all nations, and they will be added to the Kingdom of God, some of them will be added to our Church

And when that happens, our Church will grow in number and become stronger!

Biblical examples:

Acts 1: 14 ‘They (the Church) all met together and were constantly united in prayer…’

What happened when they prayed?

After the Apostle Peter preached Jesus to the crowd

Acts 2: 41 ‘Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day — about 3,000 in all’

Acts 2: 42 ‘All the believers devoted themselves to…prayer…’

What happened when they prayed?

Acts 2: 47 ‘…each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved’.

Acts 4: 24 ‘…all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God…’

What happened when they prayed?

Acts 5: 14 ‘yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women’.

Acts 6: 4 ‘…we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word’.

What happened when they prayed?

Acts 6: 7 ‘…The number of believers greatly increased.’

This is very important: People won’t believe in Jesus, if we pray and do nothing

People will believe in Jesus, if we pray and tell them about Him!

Matthew 9: 37-38 Jesus said …, ‘The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields’.

‘The harvest is great’ – there are huge numbers of people ready for our witness!

‘The Lord is in charge of the Harvest – God has the power to save the lost!

‘The workers are few’ – through prayer, the Lord will thrust us out into His ripe harvest fields

When we as a Church pray, God will answer our prayers, He will empower us to tell others about Jesus, many will believe, some will not believe, but those who do believe will be added to the Kingdom of God, some of them will be added to our Church; when that happens, our Church will grow in number and become stronger!

Strengthening Our Church – Prayer

Revelation 3: 2 ‘Wake up! You have only a little strength left, and it is almost gone. So try to become stronger. I have found that you are not completely obeying God.’

Last week: Strengthened by – the Word of God

King David was the strongest of all Israel’s Kings and under his leadership Israel was the greatest of all Nations because David was devoted to God’s Word Psalm 119: 140

In the same way that King David and Israel were strengthened by the Word of God, so are we!

Do you love God’s Word?

#2 Strengthened by – Prayer

Now, we come to a time in Israel’s history when the Nation was not strong

Israel and its kings had rebelled against God

Israel was defeated in war

Israel was now small and weak

Finally, God punished Israel and sent the Nation, into captivity, to Babylon

But, there was one man whose heart still belonged to the Lord – Daniel

Daniel 10

Daniel’s heart was broken because of the sin of Israel, so he began to pray to God

Daniel 10: 8b – 9 ‘my strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak…I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground’.

Have you ever felt like that?

Heart broken, because of the rebellion, sin and failure of God’s people

Without strength, deathly weak, faint, lying on the ground with your face in the dirt

But….Things change when we pray!

Daniel 10: 10-12, 19 through prayer we receive strength from God

Ephesians 3:16 ‘I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit’.

Maths Professor John Lennox – ‘There is a God’

Strengthening Our Church – The Word of God

Revelation 3: 2 ‘Wake up! You have only a little strength left, and it is almost gone. So try to become stronger. I have found that you are not completely obeying God.’

Over the 10 years we have been pastoring this church, many people have come to the Church, some have gone, and some have stayed

Some came, just for a short time, only a few months

Some came for longer, a few years

Many reasons:

Some people have come to our Church and later returned to the Country they came from or went to live in another NZ City. They were here only a short time to work or study

Some people have come to our Church and caused trouble; when we opposed them they left our Church and took other people in our Church with them

Some people have come to our Church wanting something; money, a new husband, a new wife; when they got it, or didn’t get it, they left

Some people have come to our Church and said they were ‘Christian’, but in truth they were not; they were ‘false believers’. They left our Church

Some people have come to our Church and stayed as long as we did something for them; when they found something better in another Church, they left our Church

Some people have come to our Church because their friends were in our Church; when their friends left our Church, they left too

Some people have come to our Church and brought sin into our Church like immorality, gossip, lying, love of money and selfishness; when we tried to correct them, they left

How are we as a Church going to become stronger?

1/ Devote Ourselves Again To The Word Of God

Psalm 119: 140 ‘I love your Word’

Do you know who said that?

King David

David was the strongest of all Israel’s Kings, and led the Nation of Israel into its’ greatest time in history

Why was David so strong?

The Word of God strengthened him!

In the same way, the Word of God will strengthen us!

Are you reading the Bible every day and obeying it?

Are you bringing your Bible to Church every Sunday and following the Main Message?

Here’s how the Word of God will strengthen you

The Word of God is living and will produce blessing in your Life:
Hebrews 4: 12, Isaiah 55: 11

The Word of God will keep you from deception:
1 Timothy 4: 1

The Word of God will save you:
Romans 1: 16, 1 Corinthians 1: 21, 1 Thessalonians 2: 13

The Word of God will defeat spiritual powers that come against you:
Matthew 4 & Luke 4

The Word of God is like a ‘hammer’ that pummels our heart that resists God and like a ‘fire’ that burns up the sin and rubbish in our Life:
Jeremiah 23: 29

The Word of God is like ‘light’ that shows God’s pathway for us in this dark World:
Psalm 119: 105

The Word of God is like a ‘mirror’ that shows us the true nature of our heart:
James 1: 23

The Word of God is a ‘seed’ that germinates in our heart and brings forth every kind of fruitfulness in our Life: Matthew 13: 23

The Word of God is like ‘milk’ that nourishes our Soul:
Hebrews 5: 12

The Word of God is like ‘honey’ that is sweet to our taste:
Psalm 119: 103

The Word of God is like ‘gold’ that enriches our Life with priceless blessings and the promises of God: Psalm 12: 6

The Word of God encourages us Psalm 119: 28, comforts us Psalm 119: 28, and gives us Life Psalm 119: 93

Revelation 3: 2 ‘Wake up! You have only a little strength left, and it is almost gone. So try to become stronger. I have found that you are not completely obeying God.’