. . . you don't need a sermon to preach about prayer!
Summer ends much too quickly but Carol and I were blessed to have some
beach-time with both our kids' families. Jorie, Tim and Sophia (4 years
old) on the west coast of southern California and, most recently,
Jennie, JJ and Macie (3) on the east cost in Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina. I hear a Beach Boys song playing somewhere!
I always look forward to attending church with our children. Knowing
the faith of their father (and mother) has become their own, not a
second-hand belief, is always a blessing. Watching them fellowship with
the saints is a sign they live that faith out into their relationships.
Hallelujah, for sure. Seeing our grand daughters join a circle of girls
and boys their age to sing praises and learn about Jesus ... what a
joy. Hearing a message from the Word of God, rather than delivering
one, is like frosting on the cake; a time for feeding my heart and soul.
Centered, the title of one of the messages I heard rather than
delivered, surprised me.
Pastor Brad was concluding a series on the
core of our faith, the often neglected truth of our need to be centered
on Christ. Exalting Christ as our Savior and our Lord seems to be
assumed by many pastors, so much so that the people of God are seldom
reminded or instructed in what it means to live for Christ. That
Sunday's application was on our call to be "passionately driven to
introduce others to Christ," the one in whom we have found eternal
life; a future promising an endless, limitless life in the presence of
God.
His sermon was biblical, launched from the passage of Jesus calling
Matthew to leave his lucrative career of extracting taxes from his
fellow citizens in order to follow him. As the text of Matthew 9 moves
through the story, "it came to pass" that Matthew held a party at his
home to, in my opinion, introduce his relational sphere of family and
friends to Jesus. The sermon was also relevant as their pastor told
them of how he took the church ministry staff on a two hour van ride
throughout their wider community and how their debrief helped them see
with new eyes the schools, the cemetery, a trailer park - the people,
places and things of their everyday lives. People, places and things
that desperately need the faith, hope and love we have found in Christ.
But, even though this was not intended to be a sermon on prayer, it became one.
At the very end of the message the speaker challenged the congregation
to identify "one, two, of three people you will pray for this week"
because "people who come to Christ always have someone praying for
them." Suddenly, a sermon of being centered on Christ and introducing
others to him became a message about the essential and pervasive role
of prayer. And less became more.
While I strongly encourage sermons on prayer, seminars on praying,
stories in newsletters about the power of praying for lost persons, and
sessions designed to experience prayer, prayer must also become
embedded in every topic, included in every theme, the application of
all our teaching. We must help our members see the role prayer has in
every aspect of Christian doctrine and every segment of the Christian's
life. Sometimes, prayer needs to be the focus of a message. Sometimes,
just the final challenge.
It seems to me . . . you don't always need an entire sermon to preach about the priority and the power of prayer!
Pastor Phil
|
September 2008 
