Discipling Disciples to Disciple

Transcription

1 2018 Discipling Disciples to Pray Prayer Guide Discipling Disciples to Disciple

2 Discipling Disciples to Disciple Prayer 2019 Evangelism 2020 Discipleship 2021 Ministry 2022 Worship 2023 Fellowship

3 Discipling Disciples to PRAY A 3 D Prayer Emphasis Theme Interpretation Discipling Disciples to PRAY! What a task! Think about this for a moment. Jesus taught His disciples to pray with the Lord s Prayer. He modeled an active prayer life on numerous occasions during His threeyear ministry. Yet when He most needed His disciples to pray, they went to sleep three times! If Jesus had trouble, how do we think we can teach our church members to pray?! Yet it is a responsibility we cannot shirk for we have a Christ given mandate, a commandment to make disciples and making disciples involves teaching the discipline of praying. The Gulf Coast Baptist Association s Discipling Disciples to Disciple (3 D) Emphasis for encompasses the elements of Evangelism, Discipleship, Ministry, Worship and Fellowship. But for these elements to have their greatest impact on our churches and those far from God in Harrison, Hancock and Stone Counties, it must be bathed in Prayer. Prayer changes things because it moves the heart of God (Ps.6:9), unleashes the blessings and power of heaven (II Chron. 7:14, Matt. 18:19), and produces miraculous results (Mark 9:29, John 14:12). Your association has prepared a seven part series of Bible Studies that explores seven important characteristics of effective praying (Repentance, Boldness, Unceasing, Asking, Faith, Temptation/Pride, Peace). Each of these Bible Studies can be used as a sermon or devotional outline for Sundays or Wednesday evenings. They may be reproduced and shared with church members who would use them as devotional thoughts in their personal quiet time. In whatever manner you may use this guide, it will go a long way in contributing to the success of reaching this area for Christ. It will undergird our future emphases as we concentrate on evangelism, discipleship, ministry, worship and fellowship. The Bibles studies will also strengthen the prayer efforts of your church. You might discover a George Mueller or T.W. Hunt. We are praying that God will move mightily because of your participation. Keep praying! Rev. Dionne Williams, Associate Pastor at The Church at Windance in Gulfport and the Associate Missions Director, Gulf Coast Baptist Association

4 Repentance Psalm 51 One of the greatest hunting inventions in my lifetime has been the trail camera. These little cameras have revolutionized hunting. Now you can inventory the game you are after, watch them grow, name them, etc. all from a relatively simple device. I love trail cameras so much I have three. The other evening afield I was setting one out near a feeder. Having set everything up with precision, the last step was to turn it on and that s where the problem began. I turned the on switch to the on position nothing. I emptied the battery compartment, reloaded the batteries, and turned it on again nothing. I gave it a good engineering bump for good measure nothing. I tried the on button one more time just to be sure nothing. Frustrated, I left the corn feeder camera in hand. All my critters would have a free pass this week. A reading of Psalms 51 can generate that same since of frustration. David knew the joy of the presence of the Lord, but that joy was absent. David desperately needed a pure heart. He needed a cleansing with the Lord s hyssop. He needed to repent and be forgiven in order to freely enjoy the joyful presence of the Lord. Like my trail camera with dead batteries, too many Christians today are walking around with the guilt of a sinful heart. The joy, teaching, and wisdom of the Lord s presence are absent. The Christian may look the same on the outside, but inside there is something wrong, something dead. The remedy? No not new batteries. Repentance. Forgiveness. Humbly submit yourself to the Lord, repent, and ask for forgiveness. Allow the Lord to create in you a pure heart and watch as the joy of your salvation comes flooding back in. Psalms 51:10 NIV Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Rev. Evan Akin si the pastor of Faithview Baptist Church in Saucier.

5 Praying With Boldness Acts 4:31 When we examine the Apostles and the early church, we see Christians courageously proclaiming Christ while being persecuted. The early Christians were bold they didn t hesitate to proclaim the Gospel regardless of danger or personal cost. In Acts 4:13, the elders, scribes, and high priest in Jerusalem recognize the boldness of Peter and John. In Acts 4:29, Christians pray, And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. Even after the Apostles had demonstrated boldness before the Jews, the church continues to pray for boldness. We should be like the early church and pray for boldness to witness. We should also pray for other Christians to be bold. Paul the Apostle himself asks the church in Ephesus to pray for him to, declare it boldly, as I ought to speak (Ephesians 6:19 20). We bring many prayer requests to God, but are we praying for boldness in evangelism? I m encouraged that even the intrepid Paul recognized his need for boldness (and saw that prayer was a means of achieving boldness). As a final encouragement from Acts 4 we see that God answers the church s prayer for boldness. Look at the result of the prayer in 4:31. It records how they, continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Let us pray for one another to be bold in declaring the Gospel. Dr. Chris King, pastor of Bayou View Baptist Church, Gulfport

6 Pray Without Ceasing I Thessalonians 5:17 It would be a very dangerous undertaking to attempt to drive a vehicle down Highway 49 or across Interstate 10 with your head bowed and your eyes closed. Of course none of us think that is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he instructed the church to pray without ceasing. This instruction is found in the middle of three statements the he makes concerning the believers approach to everyday living: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and, in everything give thanks. For Paul, being a follower of Jesus and a proclaimer of the Gospel was a way of life. As a part of this life style he (and we) have come to understand the indispensable nature of prayer. So, what of this admonition to pray without ceasing? First, prayer is a spiritual discipline. In Ephesians 6:15 Paul instructs us to pray at all times in the Spirit. While the physical posture(s) or prayer are important, prayer is at its heart a spiritual exercise. That is why Paul said to pray in the Spirit. This is not to be seen as a special language or privilege reserved for only the best Christians. We must all pray in the Spirit for it is the Holy Spirit within us who both knows the heart of our Father (I Corinthians 2:10 11) and is able to assist us, especially when we do not know how to pray. (Romans 8:26 27) All of our prayers, at all times must be led by and assisted by the Holy Spirit. Secondly, prayer is needed for all aspects of our lives. If we only engage the Father in prayer concerning the big decisions of life and the events that are obviously beyond our ability then we are choosing for ourselves less than the best. We should find nothing in our lives to be too trivial to be brought before the Lord. Neither should we believe that we are capable of handling any aspect or our lives apart from our Father s direction and help. In other words, to pray without ceasing means to talk to God about everything! Finally, to pray without ceasing is a powerful testimony that we trust God and God alone. Our Father is not bothered by our petitions. He welcomes them! When we take it to the Lord in prayer we do so because we believe He is the only One who hears and the only One who answers. Also, we pray because we are convinced that our Father s answers are always correct and are always an expression of His love for us. So pray. Pray about everything. Pray anytime, anywhere, about anything. Pray without ceasing for our Father is listening without ceasing! Rev. Paul Crowley, pastor of Woolmarket Baptist Church, Biloxi

7 Asking John 16:23 24 In the name of Jesus, amen! I do not recall how old I was when I first heard someone end their prayer with those words. I do know that I m sixty now, and rarely hear a prayer without those words or their equivalent. They are amazing words filled with hope, courage and faith. But sometimes, I fear, we ve heard and used them so much that they have lost their meaning. They ve become words that we ve been trained to say and slip through our lips without thinking. Well, let s think about them for a minute Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:23 24 (ESV) Jesus spoke those words to his disciples shortly before His death. And with those words came a new understanding about prayer. Never before had anyone asked anything in the name of Jesus. Now, his followers would do their asking in that name for all time. And here s the amazing news. Every time we ask as followers of Christ, we are asking in the name of Jesus, whether the words are spoken or not. How s that? Because when we ask for something in Jesus name we are asking because of his authority, because of who he is! That s what it means to pray in Jesus name. We can ask, and have those requests answered, because the very Son of God, the One who died and rose again, has given us the right to ask! So every time we say those words, in Jesus name, let s celebrate that action. Jesus himself has invited us, under his authority, into the very throne room of God! Dr. Danny Nance, pastor of Bay Vista Baptist Church, Biloxi

8 Faith in Action Acts 12:1 17. Life can move too quickly for us. The text before us seems to be one of those moments in the life of the early church. The first four verses seem to swoop in rather quickly and must have left them in a state of shock. Some members attacked, James killed, and now Peter is arrested and facing a similar fate. We read these verses, our hearts race, and we wonder: what will happen? Well, verse five happens....prayer was being made earnestly to God for him by the church. (HCSB) Quick, stressful, and insurmountable circumstances provide a wonderful time for our faith to surface. Certainly, the initial response may have been one of crying out, Oh my! What will happen! However, faith has a way of stepping up in our lives to declare, God is greater! It is not an attitude of defeat that we see demonstrated in verse five, but an attitude of complete trust (faith) that is demonstrated in action: Prayer! They knew how to handle such a situation. They knew: The Proper Action(Earnest Prayer), the Proper Provider(God), and the Proper Recipient(Peter). May we have a similar faith in God that drives us to our knees in prayer over the circumstances and people we encounter in our lives. Dr. Raymond Grabert, pastor of Big Ridge Baptist Church, D Iberville

9 Temptation and Pride Matthew 6: 13 Did you hear about the man who received the "Most Humble Award?" When he hung the certificate on the wall in his office, they took it away from him. Fighting pride with a striving after humility may seem to work on paper, but in the real world, the only weapon against the seductive monster of pride is gospel saturated prayer. Jesus taught his disciples to pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." The evil temptation of pride lurks within the heart of even the most sanctified believer. We like to receive praise of others and think of ourselves "more highly than we ought." (Romans 12:3) When Jesus fed the 5000, the crowds acknowledged him as the "Prophet who is to come into the world" (John 6:14, Deuteronomy 18:15) and they moved to make him king. Curiously, Jesus resisted and withdrew. Without John's explanation throughout the book, the reader might wonder why Jesus resisted being hailed. We know he definitely deserved the praise. Jesus stands as the incarnate Son of the Most High God, the second person of the Trinity, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, yet over and over again throughout the first 12 chapters of John's gospel, Jesus retreats from praise. John explains that Jesus shrank from such attention, because his hour had not yet come. (John 2:4, 7:6, 7:8, 7:30, 8:20, 12:23, 13:1) Christ still had a task before him that he was sent to perform; the cross. The prophet and king, must also perform his priestly duty of offering a complete atoning sacrifice on behalf of his people. Without the gospel, any praise would have been temporary, superficial, and incomplete. If Jesus resisted self promoting praise, because of the Gospel, how much more should we? Even when we achieve some level of accomplishment, Paul reminds us, that everything we have comes from Christ. "What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" (1 Corinthians 4:7) Even when we see some level of victory over particular sin and evil in our lives, we know the deliverance from evil only comes through the work accomplished by Christ on the cross and proclaimed by the gospel. "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Galatians 6:14) The gospel becomes the serpent's head crushing boot that defeats the slithering pride of our hearts and diverts all praise to where it belongs; Christ, our Prophet, Priest, and King. To overcome the temptation to pride, pray that God would focus your gaze on the cross, because the sanctifying pride killing blessings of the gospel far outweigh any certificate you could hang on your wall. Rev. Don Elbourne, pastor Lakeshore Baptist Church, Waveland

10 SMARTpeace Philippians 4:7 One of Stephan Pastis' "Pearls Before Swine" comic strips shows a mouse with his cell phone. Up comes the words "Clear Recent Calls," and the mouse deletes them. Then comes "Delete Chat History," and that too is deleted. Next up comes, "Clear Browser History," and the mouse clears it. Still on the smart phone, the mouse reads "Delete All Texts." The mouse deletes all texts. Finally up comes the message, "Erase Every Bad Thing You've Ever Done in Your Life." With a click the mouse deletes. He then declares, "Smart phones just get better and better." It would be nice to have an app that would erase all the bad things we have done. It doesn't exist, but grace comes very close. We can't wipe out the event, but we can stand at peace with God. I remember my introduction to evangelism after the LORD saved me. It was at the Billy Graham Magnolia Crusade in Jackson, Mississippi in the 70s. The first Gospel tract I ever shared the message of redemption, the title was STEPS TO PEACE WITH GOD. Today I have an app on my phone and the words are exactly the same. As I read and re read Philippians 4:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The phrase peace of God rings over and over. So it s obvious that these words in the context of Chapter 4 give us the way to walk in peace. That it is the peace of God that above all else we enter into a protected state of living in this confusing world of ours. The word used for peace is not typically what the Jews used for the word peace but rather the Greek word is eirēnē and means a state of national tranquility or peace between individuals so the word Paul uses for peace is one that would have been used to describe a peace that s been established between nations or between one party and a plurality of others. That s important to know. The thought behind this could be that collectively, they all now have peace with God and it s not just a peaceful mind Jesus is talking about but a peace between them and God and that they are now in a state of tranquility in their relationship with God because of the work Jesus did on Calvary. There is little peace anywhere in the world today but for the believer in Jesus Christ, they have the only real peace that matters and that s the peace that Christ brought and bought with His own body. We who have repented and placed our trust in Christ are now at peace with God. The end of hostilities is over due to the sufficiency of God s wrath being placed on the sinless Christ on behalf of sinful creatures. There is no peace like the peace of God after having made peace with God. So, it is this understanding of peace that enables us to rise above the ordinary and commonplace. To praise our God and abide with assurance in His peace. We do not need another app to take care of this for us, for we have a SAVIOR! AMEN! Dr. Joey Bennett is pastor of Handsboro Baptist Church in Gulfport.