Wednesday Service

Well, while we're waiting, we don't need to manufacture anything at all. But interestingly, we know what a tribal story is. Tribal story was this simple heritage of people who were, back in the primitive days particularly, they told the stories of their culture. And generally, in the evening time, people were worn out, and they went to bed early, and they just sat around the fire before they went to bed and told stories. And usually, that's how one generation passed on its values to the one that followed, and so on it went. And I'd like to tell you just a little tribal story about North Way, because I think it's relevant to where these days need to be headed. I'm sure that a number of you, maybe more than half, don't realize that how this church began just about 10 years ago. Well, in fact, I can be very precise. 10 years ago today, January the 2nd, 1981, we had a small handful of guys and their wives meet together for, actually, it wasn't the wives, it was just the men, who met together for the first time to talk, and pray, and just inquire of the Lord, what is this church to be? Now, that was preceded by probably a year of prayer, and some of which was very intense. Some of it began at the 6 AM hour in a little house on People's Road, where some folks, and usually it was actually a smattering of age group of people, just met to pray, and said, Lord, what do you want to do? Much like what I've heard said here already tonight, what do you want to do? And following that prayer time, and that meeting time on January the 2nd, we resolved to meet regularly to pray, which we did, and for the next three months, we prayed regularly for the Lord's direction, and for his will to be known in regards to this church. And March 29th, we started North Way, right in this, actually it was in that room, right over there. That's why the anointing is there, it was on that side. And not long after that, because of the need to keep, we sensed the need to keep in prayer, we rented a room in the open door bookstore, actually I think it was given to us at first, as a love expression and encouragement. And every morning, a group of people would pile into this one upper room, and some mornings, I remember, we'd be shoulder to shoulder, 18, 20, 25 people in one room praying for the Lord to manifest his life and his power. And you see, those roots go back, all the way back to before this place was, we were praying people. And along the way, we've had some very encouraging, incredible bursts of grace in this matter of prayer. When we, out of nowhere, would see the Lord just bring a burden to pray. And I guess the pinnacle was in about 1987 and 88, when in 1988, exactly, we had regularly, consistently, 100 people in morning prayer. The one morning that Larry Lee himself came to lead us in prayer and didn't, but he was here, we had 400 people in a morning prayer service. And I don't think it's at all coincidental that 1988 was probably our greatest growth year as a church, in terms of impact and souls that were saved, or people that were touched, lives that were changed. I think, folks, there's a direct correlation on the heaven side of things between prayer and power. And that's why you can imagine that all of us in leadership, and interestingly, Gene didn't know this, but as the elders met here just recently over the weekend, we came up with four things that we agreed must happen at North Way. We all agreed, unanimously, that these four things had to happen. The first thing was, we had to recover our prayer vitality. We have to recover this. It just can't be allowed, because we get bigger, to become more impersonal. We can't let you. We can't let ourselves just kind of drift off in this thing and make it vague. It won't work. We'll just be, we'll start playing church. Now, I jotted down, thinking about this, four reasons why it's difficult. How many of you went to prayers over Pittsburgh? I'm sure that you shared with me the delight of that experience and the sense of richness of it. You probably also shared with me the fact that it was disappointing, as less than half of the crowd of last year, I know most major churches in the city and their pastors, I know for a fact that there are no churches that have a regular prayer meeting, morning by morning by morning, not one. What do you think God thinks about that? I know that, I don't know of any churches that have all night prayer meetings, even occasional. I'm sure there might be some. I just don't know any of them. I don't know any pastors, and I know I've been here a pretty long time. It's about the hardest thing there is to sustain. Now, how do I know that's true? Because I know my own life. How many of you found the secret to a prolonged, active, vital, day-by-day prayer life? So it's a challenge for us all. So can we all just admit that this is a challenge and a difficulty for us? Turn to someone who's looking holy now and say, I know it's a problem for you. It's a problem for us all. It's a problem, number one, because we don't necessarily see the immediate answer. And we faint, we give up, because we don't see the answer. It's a problem, number two, because it's all in the unseen realm, where even though we have thousands of assurances of the reality of prayer, because we can't see it and perceive it and measure it, we don't know if it's being effective or not. It's a problem, number three, because all of us are so, you put the adjective in there, busy. We are so busy. We all have major responsibilities, which I understand, and I share them with you. Our time commitments, our priorities, our pursuits, our responsibilities, we all are demanded upon. And I also think it's very difficult, because more than anything else, Satan opposes a praying person. How do I know that? Some of the most powerful stories in God's word are about the times that godly men set themselves to pray, and the enemy set himself to destroy them. Look, for example, in Daniel. Just for a moment, I'm just going to lay a foundation very briefly, and then we're going to move into some of this prayer. Daniel and the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, OK? Chapter nine, in the first year of Darius, son of Ezek, he's a Mede by descent, who was made ruler of the Babylonian kingdom. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years. Let me just point out, by the way, that all of that which is to follow was as a result of knowing the scriptures. And we're going to talk this Sunday, from the word of God, about the importance of knowing the word in relationship to the future. This is a book of prophecy. In fact, I'll just say this right now. Tomorrow night, we're going to read the entire book of Revelation, out loud. And we're going to do it right here. So there's a purpose behind that that I'll maybe explain later. All right? Nine, verse three. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer. I pleaded with him in prayer and petitioned in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed, O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled. We have turned away from your commands and loss. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. And then he just goes on and pours out his heart. And down, verse 17. Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant for your sake, O Lord. Look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear. Open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Dear ones, the foundation of anything we want from God is not because we deserve it. It's not because we've been good enough. It's not because we're better than the Methodist church or the Episcopal church. We're not. It's because of God's great mercy. O Lord, listen. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, hear and act. For your sake, O my God, do not delay. Be in your people. Bear your name. He goes on and describes some of the revelation. The prayer's out there now. Look over in verse 10 of chapter 10 now. Here's what I want you to catch. A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, Daniel, you who are highly esteemed. What does that remind you of? Married. Highly favored one. Consider carefully the words I'm about to speak to you and stand up for I have been sent to you. And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. And then he continued. Do not be afraid, Daniel, since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. And I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days. Now who is that prince of the Persian kingdom? Well, we know that it's representative of a principality or power which has been established out there. We know that powers of the air rule over powers here on earth. We know that governments are ruled by heavenly powers. The Bible's very clear that everything that we touch and feel and think is so real is all under the control of a higher authority. So this spirit being resisted the angel coming with the answer. And then look at second half of verse 13. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me because I was detained there with the king of Persia. And now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future for the vision concerns a time yet to come. I just want to submit to you that one of the things that causes us to be defeated in our prayer life is while the answer is on the way, the prince of Persia resists us and we give up. And I am just like you in that. I give up. I just get tired. I get weary. I don't see the answer. What does the Bible say that God didn't hear Daniel's prayer? What's it say? Heard it the first day. So what is the obstacle that we have to overcome? We've got to be resolved that God is, I think was already said tonight, is anxious to hear the prancing horse. He's anxious. He wants to come. He's looking for some people who are going to take these promises seriously and get a hold of them and not give up. And I fear that too often we've allowed our regular routine of things to wear. I wonder if you're tracking with me right now. There's three things that prayer brings and then we're going to pray together. The first one is power. I do not know about you, but I think I know most of you well enough to say that you agree with Paul when he said the kingdom of God does not consist of talk but of power. What a great verse. And the difference between an exciting Christian life and one that's just as gutted out, hang in there until the next day, is the reality that you can touch power. I want you to think about which of these you most need in your life. And then we're going to pray together. And I could go on and talk about that. I'm just going to lay it on the table for you. Matthew 11, verse 12 says that the kingdom of God is advancing forcefully and what? Forceful men take it. There's a sense of power that's unleashed toward God that then allows the power of God to come back. The things that we need to see happen in our lives are going to take power, just not a lot of doctrine, not a lot of good teaching, but power. Secondly, prayer reveals God. And therefore, prayer also reveals. I've discovered something. When I allow the Lord time in my life, he shows me more about who he is. And I know him better. And therefore, I also know my own heart better, which is then the time that I understand how much I need to repent. Maybe some of you today realize that you haven't really known God all that well in 1990 and you want things to change. You really want to know God. You want the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the Holy Spirit has to be the uncomforter at first or the discomforter. He needs to come and just shake us up enough to realize that we've gotten very comfortable and casual and even familiar with the things of God. Number three, real prayer demolishes satanic power. Overcomes satan. I could develop all these. I don't sense that's what I'm to do right now. But in Matthew chapter 4, Jesus, in the posture of praying and fasting that some of us are in right now, overcame satan's opposition by being in touch with the power of God. Which of those three right now do you sense is most needed in your life? And you can say all three if you want to. But you need the power of God to see miracles, to see life flowing through you. You need to know God better and you need to know yourself better because sometimes, folks, we're so deceived we don't even know our own condition. Maybe you just know that you're under a lot of attack and you need the enemy's power to be broken in your life. You need to see prayer overcome. I don't know what it is for you. But let's do this for the next substantial number of moments. I think the most effective way to pray together is in small enough groupings that we can all participate. I don't think it's going to work for us just to open this up for right now. So let's take the next 15 minutes or so and really get before God. And if it's better for you to turn chairs around, do that. It's better for you to stand. If you want to lay down on your face with a group and cry out, let's say, Lord, cause the flame of prayer to arise in me so that I can see these things happen in my life. And just get real honest before the Lord. And then we'll come back together and just share some of the things that he's showing us. Can we do that? Let's spend the next 15 minutes. I want to encourage you. Please, let's trust one another. I've often said this. Anything we share in a prayer circle is confidential for that circle. And the person next to you might be a complete stranger in the flesh. But in the spirit of God, I trust that person is a brother or sister that you can embrace and receive. And if you happen to be a visitor tonight, this is probably a little different for you. It sure is for us. I haven't acknowledged you yet, but we're glad you've come. This is just a basic time of seeking the Lord together. And I ask you to join us in this pursuit if you'd like to. Did you want to mention something, Jane? I think the Lord may even reveal some obstacles in your life as we're praying together. So share in that group which of those three, and maybe there's another one that relates to that, you need in your life and then come to prayer about that. And let's just open our hearts, and we'll call you back with a song in about 15 minutes. All right, let's stand or move around together. And don't be afraid to say hello to somebody new, OK? Go ahead and do it, and then we'll come back to pray to you. So as you're finishing, let's stand together and affirm this wonderful psalm that declares the truth of our salvation. You are the rock of my salvation. You are the strength of my life. You are my hope and my inspiration. Lord, to you will I cry. I believe in you. Believe in you. All your faithful love to me. Lord, I believe in you. You have been my help. You have been my help. Lord, I believe in you. If you have opportunity right now to meet us in some corporate prayer moments. Father, we come before you tonight, Lord. Much like the new believers came before you in the upper room, Lord. We come with a spirit of anticipation, Lord. We come with a spirit of love and joy. Father, we pray, Lord, that you'd renew in us, Lord. Renew in us, Lord, that first love for it, Father, that we had for you, Father. Father, renew in us the joy and the excitement of knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior. Father, I just pray right now, Lord, that you'd help each one of us to set aside the need that we came with tonight, Father. Father, to see that you are able, Father, that you are able to meet us. Father, we pray, Father, even as we've learned about how Mary was overshadowed, Father, that your spirit would come and overshadow us tonight, Lord. Father, that there would be a fresh release of power in this place tonight, Lord. Father, in the name of the Holy Spirit, Father, we pray and we say, Lord, come, you're so welcome to be with us, to sit with us, to hold our hands, to guide us and to lead us, Father. In the name of Jesus Christ, Father, we trust that you are here. Father, your word says in Matthew 6, Father, it says to seek you first, Father. Seek you first, Father. Help us to know and to learn as a body of believers what that means, Father, to seek you first tonight. To seek you first tomorrow morning, Lord. To seek you first tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow night, the next day, each hour and each minute of each hour, Father. Father, help us to put aside the anxieties, the busyness of our lives to seek you. Father, reestablish in us as a body those things that you want to have priority in this life. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you. Father, as he just comes to the body of your seat, you can lead us all. And I have to tell you that I failed you. Lord, and when I fail you, I just want to squirrel away and hole up someplace. But the place you want me to be is in your presence, and that's the last place I want to be. I keep running and running. And, Father, I want to ask your forgiveness for that. Lord, and I just want to thank you for being that shepherd that goes after the one that's lost, because I'd never come running back on my own. It's so hard to trust in your grace, and it's so hard to trust in the fact that you're going to keep loving me over and over and over again. And I just want to thank you for being that loving daddy that never rejects, that always has his arms open, that always wants to be close to me and always wants to hear what I have to say and always wants to whisper new things in my ear. In your presence, there is peace. In your presence, in your presence, there is love. And I'm just glad that there was nothing that I did, Lord, that brought me to you. And Lord, you love me so much, Father, that you called me first. And I just pray that you will remind each one of us daily, Lord, of our hopeless, helpless state without you, Lord. Father, that we need you daily, Lord. And, Father, when we start to slip, Lord, and we choose, Lord, to go our own way, and, Father, we think we're going to do it on our own, I pray, Father, that you'd remind us, Lord, that we wouldn't fall too far away, Lord, but that we would be there, Lord. And I just thank you for that salvation, Lord. Father, I thank you that you're nice to see me every morning. I thank you that you stood fast while I've been doing this, Father. I thank you that, when I'm in the midst of a red screen, that you're there holding back that color. I take my eyes off of you and look at that wall. Father, you haven't given us, I pray, Father, that in this new image we'll glorify you. That I might set aside all that hinders you. You're welcome in my life. To set aside all that keeps me from glorifying you. Obeying your steadfast. May I die a selfish dead man. May I humble myself to you. And finish this. I find it so hard to believe that I've seen you, Father. Even as Pastor J has spoken of that Mary was esteemed highly, and said of the fault to you, in your heart you said, that's not going to treat you the incompleteness. It is only that you would see the completeness of who I am, more than anything. That this week, Father, I pray that we give people courage. Father, who would look at their God and say, yes, Lord, you are able in the midst of our weaknesses, Lord, to accomplish all that you've purposed for us. Lord, I look at this scholarship, and I see the men and women of God that you've sent. Father, I pray that we will be a people that will have the courage and turn them to your glory, Lord. That we won't be afraid to love one another, Lord. That we won't be afraid to see big visions, Lord. And to go after them knowing that our God is big enough. Lord, I pray for courage for every man and woman here. Lord, I confess my own fear. And I pray, Lord, for courage to trust you, Lord, to be about your business. Lord, we praise you. How willing you are to trust us, Lord. I pray for courage, Lord, to trust you. Father, in the beginning of this new year, a year of promise, a year of grace of our Lord. God, I recall with guilt times that I've made New Year's resolutions and not counted. But, Father, tonight as we consider these three that have been laid before us to prayer, to worship, and to love. Father, it's with resolve that I can affirm these things in my heart tonight and say that, God, I can't do any one of the three of them. It's all by your grace, O God. It's by grace, God, that we can pray. Because we know it's a gracious God that's listening and answering. It's by grace, God, that I can worship. Because in my own flesh, in my own self, God, you know that I am but rags. Filthy rags, God. It's all by grace. And I can't love these people. I can love my own wife and my own kids and maybe one or two others. But as an elder of this body, you've called me to love every one of them, God. And I can't do it in myself. I know it, God. It's got to be by grace. So, Father, in Jesus' name, we call out to you, the author and finisher of our faith, to grant grace to do what you've called us to do. It's going to be by your power and by your might and by your strength that we're going to do it. But we resolve, God, we know that you've spoken it, that you want us to do it. So we say, OK, God, I'm willing. I'm willing. I'm willing to be willing. Now, God, do it. Make us a praying people again. Give us the desire, the heart to go from desire to discipline, to delight in you. Give us the grace, oh God, to be a worshipping people that would be just a beacon of light in this community. That we would be known as a worshipping people. That we would be seen, God, as those who know how to worship a Lord God, Sovereign, Almighty, who is worthy of honor. And help us, God, to love one another. We thank you for your promise and you have kept it that you have sent us all that we could care for. Our quiver is full, God, the doors are bursting, nevertheless, you keep sending. And Father, help us to close the back door and swing the front door even wider than ever before. To receive a harvest of souls into your kingdom and then to disciple them, oh God. To see them grow up in Christ. To with us be a worshipping, praying, loving fellowship. We're asking great things of a great God. Not with timidity, but with expectation and joy and thanksgiving in our heart. Because we know that you are able to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond what we could ever hope and pray for. So we thank you, Father. In Jesus' name. I'd like to express real quickly that as a man in this church, I would be amiss if I stayed in my seat in the back because I just feel a burning desire in my heart to share this with the body. And I feel that God is dealing with me as a man in the church to not only be a man, but to be a man of God. And not only for myself, but I can share this with everybody here in the body. I feel God's calling men not just to be a man, but to be a man of God. And to quit playing around with sin. And to quit living in the world in the world and then we become the church living in the church. Playing church like Pastor Jay said. But He's calling all us men to really stand up in this day and age and make a stand for Jesus Christ. And I really feel this in my heart. I sat back there. The Lord is really dealing with me on this. But He's calling us to lay aside any bitterness you have with your wife or anything right now, any sin in your life right now. It's a time of repentance. Come before the Lord in repentance as a man, a man of God. And let the Lord start to do a work in our hearts. We've got to. We've got to. So the Holy Spirit works in wondrous ways. For the last hour, the Lord has been putting in my mind that we must be men of God. I just pray that coming here as men, that your power would be seen in our daily Christian living. Lord, I thank you that you do wondrous things. Last Saturday was a business meeting. There were six of us there, and I thought I was the only Christian and Korean that I'd never met before. There was a singer, and I said, Where do you get a chance to sing? He said, Well, I love to praise the Lord in the morning. And I said, Amen. All these other guys were there, and it's kind of a difficult negotiation, and we just started talking. I just praise God that he is in control. We were relaxed because we knew that if things were of God and whatever business dealings we had to share, that it would happen. If it wasn't of God, it would happen. I confirm that word about being men of God. We have to be strong this year and step out and have the courage. Something that I'd like to share in this life. Peter was in jail, and he was bound by chains to a guard on either side. And he began to pray, and prayed to God. But the Lord spoke to him and said that there's many in these bars that are in chains. The guards have them so in chains, and they're so bound, and they're so in prison. But as you read further on in the Scriptures, and it says, And persistent prayers were made by the church. Persistent prayers were made by the church. And the angel of the Lord came and whacked Peter and said, Get up! Put on your shoes! Get your clothes on! Get moving! And I believe that God is saying to us today, Think in your mind of those that you know in this body that are in chains. That they're in a prison, and they can't get out. There's no way for that one that you know right now can't get out. There's got to be someone that cares enough to make persistent prayer in the church. And I believe that if we as a body begin to make persistent prayers in the church, The Scripture says, These signs shall follow them that believe. They'll follow us. And I believe that tonight what the Lord is saying, If you've got someone right now that you know that's in chains right now, Let's as a body just make persistent prayer for that one right now. You name whoever that one is. Put them right before the Lord right now. Chained on either side. Chained on either side. Father, right now, we bring all of these right now in this body, In our homes, in our lives, in our neighborhoods, Those that we're familiar with, Lord, that are bound. And Lord, you know what the bondage is. Lord, it keeps them in a place where they can't move. They can't do anything, Lord. And so we would, even as Michael the archangel was sent to take the answer away from the king of Persia. Father, we say that you'll send ministering angels right now. And minister to those ones right now in our body that are bound. And Lord, that you'd set them free by the supernatural power of God. That you'll loose them even this night. That there'll be a loosing power going through this congregation. Father, that you'll set them free for the glory of God. In Jesus' name, amen. Father, as you called us to love one another, Lord, I just believe as real Christians to give out real love, We have to be real people and relevant. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would let your spirit of realism fall upon us. That we would not be fake Christians, Lord. When we deal with one another, one to one with situations and problems that we deal with within the church and outside of the church. Lord, I pray that you would help us to be real and deal with these situations one on one. And I bind the enemy as we deal with situations and with brothers and sisters. Fear comes upon us and the enemy will have us not speak what is really on our heart. Because we're afraid what those people will think of us. But Lord, to really love, we need to be real and honest with one another. And not fake Christians. Lord, I just ask that you would make us real Christians and honest with one another.