Read part 3 of the vision series message.
Jesus in the Church
Prayer Level: To tell the world about the Word
The next part in the vision series is taking an obvious tool that God has given us and thrusting it into the mainstream of the church and making it part of the standard. It is something that I am familiar with, but not great at. It is something I have experience with but I have no idea how it works, why it works or how to keep it going… Prayer
Prayer is what keeps the church and the individual communing with God, speaking with God and in tune with what He wants and it is how we get our directions for out next move. It is something we need to change us and our hearts, it is what we need to change the city and it is what we need to change the church.
What does this third part mean for us as body of believers? In Matthew 21 Jesus called the temple of God a “house of prayer for all nations” for us He just wants us to be a house prayer for our city. Why become a house of prayer in the Center of the city? How many places do you know where you can go to get prayed for, where you know people will gather around you and seek God for you and with you. You may know of a place like that… but do you know of a place like that which is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week?
In the Old Testament the tabernacle was a portable temple and was central to the living area of the Israelites. They all camped around it so they had quick access to it, to the priests, to the alter of prayer and repentance, to the Holy Place and Most Holy Place the place where God was. It was preserved, protected and upheld as a place to meet with God. It was place where God was called on and sacrifices were made. Where intercessions and worship went sky high and out loud. Yet historically it is the one place the enemy always tried to destroy. It was called a house of His glory, a house of sacrifice, the house of the Lord, and of course a house of prayer.
It is easy to destroy a house of prayer and it always seemed to be a target, the enemy might stampede it by war (Nebuchanezzar), agenda driven people will try to distract it from becoming what it is suppose to be (Matt 21:12-14), or the caretakers just show neglect (2 Chron 29)
Let me tell you what I saw. Imagine a city where the pastors and the churches all across denominational lines pray together. More than 150 pastors met monthly to eat breakfast, worship together, fellowship together and talk about what is happening in their churches. They are not threatened by each other, but empowered by each other. Then weekly people from their churches met at one church that was in the middle of the city to take a 2 hour time slot of prayer. After they finished the next church would move into its place, after they finished people from another church moved in to do the next 2 hours. Some days this would go on almost all day long, the goal was to get enough churches involved to do it 24/7… that is what I experienced in Richmond that is what God desires among us.
I want to tell you something I didn’t find out until a couple of weeks ago. I pray with 3 other pastors every week. Jim Snyder of GCV, Carl Vierling of Harvest Family, and Jim Mellinger of First Menonite. I was telling Jim Snyder of all of this. About the monthly breakfast meeting where the pastors meet together at a Church Called St. Giles Presbyterian Church. He looked at me oddly and said I used to be on staff at St. Giles I started that meeting over 20 years ago with only 5 of us. I said well there is well over 100 now. He cried.
A word came to the Vineyard church from missionaries to Singapore they used to work with Last Day ministries (Keith Green) they sensed Greensboro was heavily under witchcraft and that there was a strong resistance against pastors… that means we need intercessors. If you are an intercessor then that is what you do regardless of what has been set up regardless of whether or not there is a building. It is what you do.
This is why we need to be about prayer regardless
1. Prayer revives revival
a. Because only God can show us what He is capable of
2. Prayer keeps our faith from failing (Luke 22:32)
a. Like Jesus praying for Peter
3. Prayer brings the unity to the church (Psalm 133)
a. Any chance to get churches together to pray (Harvest Family)
4. Prayer sustains a vision
a. God keeps us on His track
And Prayer keeps us in communion with Him… We need to know God and to know Him means to know His desires. It is not solely for communion but for petition as well.
We cannot be just a church of nurture, we say you need to come to church to get fed… If you have been with Jesus any length of time you ought to be able to cook your own meals by now.
The church is a place where you can get fed but not a place where you get your primary meals, you get that by opening the word with your knees to the floor every day. So when we come to church we are not coming empty we are coming full. But if I come to church full why do I need church at all? Because then the church doesn’t become just a place where God ministers to me but a place where God ministers THROUGH me. And I link with other believers to find common mission to accomplish the goal that God is wanting to accomplish.
So we transfer our churches from a place of nurture… to a place of Mission
But how can we win people to Christ if we are praying all the time? Have you ever heard of Prayer evangelism? This is how I came to Christ. By going up to someone and saying can I pray with you stops them dead in their tracks and makes them get before God.
Read Matt 21:12-14. Jesus’ next move was purging the temple not because money changers were there it is because of where they were.
Jerusalem numbered about 80,000 people but during the Passover the population swelled to about One million and because of the increase in the number of people who came it increased the number sellers and peddlers who were selling T-Shirts and bumper stickers and Jesus fish. So much so that the Sadducees expanded the market place into the “Court of the Gentiles” which was a place specifically for the Gentiles to go to pray and worship.
One thing I have come to realize is that when Jesus starts flipping tables people will start to leave. And they start leaving because we started getting back to what God intended us to be and not everyone can handle that.
There will be people who will be totally frustrated with me because of where we are heading because it doesn’t match their social standards of what church should be and they will clear out from the Courts of the Gentiles.
What will you do to protect the house of prayer? Only one man did something. People will come and try to make the church something other than what it is suppose to be about. That is why Jesus had a tough time with the money changers they were blocking the way for people who were there to pray. They were stealing space.
When I get the key to that building God will “call” some of us to the ministry of praying in that building immediately. Do not take the call of God if you will not see it through, it is too important.
We will pray for the Center, we will pray for the City, and we will pray for the Church.
Because we are interested in bringing Jesus to the Center, Jesus to the City and Jesus to the Church…