​Today we begin a new series of sermons entitled, “WHEN YOU PRAY.” This series will be based on the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount about prayer. We will also cover two parables Jesus told about prayer. Once we have finished His teaching about prayer, we will turn to Christ’s actual prayers like those He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and the ones He prayed from the Cross. We will look at His High Priestly Prayer that He prayed for His disciples in John, chapter 17. Prayer is more than a conversation with God. It is communion with God. Prayer is a relationship with God. It is not an occasional “stop-over” with God. Prayer is a daily walk together with God.
 
The Psalmist said, “Today, if you will hear His voice: ‘Do not harden your hearts.’” (Psalm 95:7-8)
 
Tom Elliff says, “Many believers are under the misconception that they can return to intimacy with the Lord whenever they want. They believe restored fellowship is solely a matter of their personal discretion, available at the drop of a hat. But in moments of deep searching and quiet desperation they admit that even the willingness to will themselves back to God is missing. They come to the startling revelation that we must come to Him on His terms and at His time or we will not come to Him at all.”
 
The cold heart is a matter of the unbent knee and lack of prayer.
 
F.B. Meyer said, “The greatest tragedy in life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.”
 
Our whole nation suffers from this great tragedy. When the people of God fail to pray, the nation of God’s people suffers.
 
Today’s sermon makes 4 points for us to remember:

• Prayer is an Act of Worship – How can you make worship better in your life through prayer?
• Become a NOW disciple in prayer – Make a prayer schedule and stick to it!
• Pray Sacrificially – Pray like God is the only one listening. What should you do NOW to make God the only one who really matters when you pray?
• Pray in your Private Place – Do you have a special place in which you pray? If you do not, clean out a place, fix it up and set apart/sanctify a spot somewhere that is your special place of prayer.

 
You will be asked today to respond to these four points which Jesus spoke about in the Sermon on the Mount when He taught about prayer. Prayer changes the cold heart into a spiritual heart sensitive to the word and way of God. Determine now to become a believer who prays like Jesus taught us all to pray.
 
“Father, make us a more sensitive and determined people in prayer. Warm our hearts, convict our souls and move us in our spirits to make prayer a daily priority in our homes, in our families, and in our dealings with others. May we put You first in our prayers. Help us to pray not to please others, but to obey You and listen to what You have to say. Jesus, show us how to pray to You like You prayed for us. Make Grace Baptist Church a place of powerful God-honoring prayer. May we today, truly ‘Hear Your voice…’ like the Psalmist prayed. In Jesus’ holy name, Amen.”
 
Pastor Mike

I give thanks to God for the awesome praise team God has given our church to lead our worship. We have been studying the letter to the Ephesian church on Wednesday nights. In Paul’s teaching, he uses a series of comparisons to highlight what the church should be and how the people of God should live. We are now in chapter 5 where we see that God’s people should live lives that are different from people who are in the world. Believers should act differently than non-believers. The church should live above the culture and demonstrate what Godliness is.
 
Paul calls this the difference between living in the light rather than in the darkness, “Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:7-10). Light is different than darkness. Light pleases God. Light dispels darkness. God’s people are to be people of the Light.
 
One of the ways God’s people let their Light shine over darkness is by what they sing and how the sing. The songs of the Light are not like the songs of darkness. People inside the church sing differently than those outside. Paul says, “…but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). The songs of the Light must be different songs than the world sings. The songs of Light must be sung differently than the world sings. The music God’s people sings is to be higher, cleaner, happier, and holier than any song you hear in the secular world. We simply do not sing like they sing.
 
I am not talking about the difference between contemporary and traditional music. I am not comparing the music sung by choirs and the music sung by praise teams. I’m talking about music sung by rock bands, country singers, hip-hop, and gross uncouth grunge groups. I’m talking about the difference between what we sing in church and what the world sings in bars, back alleys, beer bashes, tailgate parties, or even department store elevators. Paul calls that kind of music, “…disgraceful even to speak about” (Ephesians 5:12). We are not to sing like the world sings.
 
I praise God that Brian and all our praise team folks get it. They know what singing songs about Light is and that darkness has no place in the worship of God’s people. Paul says, “But all things become visible when they are exposed by light, for everything that becomes visible is light” (Ephesians 5:13). We sing differently than the world sings. Our music on Sundays rises above the dark music of the world around us. Praise God! Let’s sing today the songs of light like we mean it.
 
The other day I was putting gas in my trunk when a convertible pulled into the place with its blaster blasting full blast. The sound was so loud the concrete underneath my feet was shaking. The guy’s music was vibrating the concrete. I thought, man this concrete will crack under this kind of pressure. There was an older man filling up his car behind my truck. I asked him after the blaster guy turned his car off and the noise went silent, “Did you hear that?” He nodded yes and we both made unapproving faces at each other.
 
Why is it that some people’s music is noise to other people?
Why does the Light of the Gospel not dispel more of the darkness?
 
Sometimes the volume of Light is not turned up enough. Thanks Brian and Praise Team for the volume and commitment you have to the Light of Jesus.

...more than a building with an address. It is more than a budget, a calendar of activities, and a weekly schedule. Grace Baptist Church is a family of believers who live, work, grieve and rejoice together in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. In the little letter John wrote to his fellow bond-servant Jude, he writes, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life” (Jude 20-21). To him, church is where the “beloved” of the Lord build together, pray together and wait together. For Mrs. Alma Adams, our beloved sister in Christ, and Martha Embrick, Chris Pace’s mother, there is no more waiting. They have now passed from this life into the next. They are in heaven with Jesus.
 
We have within our church family shared over the past few weeks the heartache of watching loved ones suffer. We have walked together through the portals of grief and sorrow as our beloved brothers and sisters have buried loved ones. We have grieved with them, loved on them, and comforted one another in the dark moments of death and separation. That’s what being the church, what being the fellowship, the family of God is about. We walk through “…the valley of the shadow of death” together with the Great Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus, and with one another. Church is not always about Halleluiahs and Amens. Sometimes its about shedding tears and carrying burdens. In all of it, God has called us to be His people and to be united together in One Faith, One Lord and One Baptism. We cannot be the complete Body of Christ without tears, or without the aches and pains of carrying someone else’s load. I praise God today that our church is a burden-bearing, grief sharing, second-mile walking, bended-knee praying, good-times rolling, praise-lifting family of God. We are together through the good and the bad. We are the Family of God.
 
Jesus said in the gospel of John, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15). Jesus is the good shepherd because he “knows” His sheep. He is with His sheep. He is with them through thick and thin. He is on sight and on task in the middle of His sheep’s daily lives. He does not depend on second-hand information. He does not care what other people say about His sheep. He does not compare His sheep with someone else’s sheep. He does not look at what is posted on-line about His sheep. He is with His sheep, and He “knows” His sheep.
 
Anybody that does not spend time with the sheep of the Lord cannot “know” the sheep. And worst yet, the sheep do not know them. You must be with them to “know” them. I want the “know” the Lord’s sheep like the good shepherd knows them. That’s why the Lord has given me this week the opportunity to be with His sheep in their sickness and their sorrow. He has blessed me to share with His sheep their praise and their pain. I have shed tears with the Lord’s sheep, and I have rejoiced in joy as good memories and happy stories have been told. I love being a pastor/shepherd to this body of sheep called Grace Baptist Church. It’s what God has called me to do.

​We were all rejoicing yesterday with the amazing progress Alma Adams was making following by-pass surgery. Then, in an instant, without warning, her condition changed because of a blood clot and a stroke that no one saw coming. Now she has undergone a second surgery to remove the blood clot, is again in ICU at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, and our church family is praying for her life and her recovery. How quickly life can take an about face.
 
I was sitting with her family yesterday and praying with them as my heart and mind reflected on how uncertain life can be. The apostle Paul said, “…while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)
 
Think about that. Everything we own, every material thing we value, all our belongings, our status, our careers, even our health is temporary. Everything about us can change and become irrelevant in an instant.
 
Do you remember the parable Jesus told of the rich landowner whose land was so productive that he tore down his old barns and built new ones to hold all his produce?
 
He said to himself after his massive renovation project, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (Luke 12:19).
 
Remember what God said to him?
 
“You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?” (Luke 12:20)
 
In the very next verse following the man’s statement about security, his circumstances abruptly changed and everything he had worked so hard to store and maintain became irrelevant. Nothing in this life is 100% certain. Your life can change before you can blink your eyes, just like that man’s did who owned the barns and just like Alma’s did yesterday.
 
Here’s a good verse to remember when things change around you: “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1)
 
There are some things, Praise God, that never change, things that last forever:

• Heaven is changeless – “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
• God’s word never changes – “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)
• Love never ends – “But now faith, hope, love abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)
• God’s plans are perfect and never fail – “The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, ‘Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand.’” (Isaiah 14:24)
• Jesus Christ is forever – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8).

 
It did me good to look at these verses again this morning and renew my trust that everything about God is sure and changeless. In Him, there is no east or west, no north or south. I can trust Him even though everything around me is temporary and subject to change. I am praying for Alma today in the truth, that our changeless God will hold her tight in His almighty, safe, and secure hands. I believe He truly is able to accomplish His plan and bring her back to us. 

I was in my quiet place praying this morning, asking God to protect our church from the COVID delta variant and pleading with Him to keep us unified as a church family. In the middle of my prayer, He interrupted me clearly saying, “Go get your Bible and read Matthew 5:38-42” which says, “You have heard it said ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’; but I say to you, ‘That you resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have you cloak also. And whosoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two miles. Give to him that asks and from him that would borrow and do not turn away.’”
 
Even though our deacons have chosen to lead our church to re-mask according to recent CDC guidelines, what God’s word says is more important to me. This admonition of the Lord comes from the greatest sermon ever preached on this earth, The Sermon on the Mount. Clearly, Jesus is teaching his people how to live like the Children of God when the world wants us to be contentious and disagreeable. To me, living out the Sermon on the Mount is more important than what other people do or say. I want to be obedient to Jesus and faithful to everything His kingdom requires of me. In this case, wearing a mask meets the “turn-the-other-cheek”, “go-the-second-mile”, “give-more-than-expected” guidelines Jesus preached about. I gladly put my mask on today, because doing so meets the kingdom of God standard set forth by Jesus.
 
You have the misfortune of having a missionary as your pastor. I have done all kinds of unpleasant things over the years because God has led me to different countries, different language groups, different cultures and different politically challenging places to preach the gospel, build churches, and minister to people in the name of Jesus. I have had more vaccinations than I can count. I have eaten food that does not agree with my taste or my digestive system. I have delivered food, clothes, medical supplies—purchased tractors, surgical equipment, fertilizers, and educational tools—taught preachers, preached sermons, baptized new believers, and simply prayed with missionaries who needed encouragement. I have tried to do in my years what the apostle Paul said he did, “I have become all things to all men, that I by all means might save some.” (1 Thessalonians 1:10)
 
There is one country where I had to give up my identity in order to serve. This country requires you to hand over your purse or billfold, your driver’s license, your passport, and any other form of identification in your possession before you are allowed to enter. While in this country, you literally do not exist with any document that might identify you or prove that you were there. Your heart and soul may belong to Jesus, but your body belongs to them while you are with them.
 
When you’ve given up everything to serve Jesus, wearing a mask on Sunday is small potatoes. Of course, I will never say something like, “If you wear a mask or don’t wear one, you don’t belong at Grace and are forbidden to worship here.” I will never tell people with tattoos to leave, or those that voted one way or the other that they have no place at Grace. Notice that Jesus used the word “WHOSOEVER” while preaching the Sermon on the Mount. Mask wearing does not qualify you or disqualify you to worship. It simply shows others that you listen to God’s word and that you love others and want them to stay well and safe. It is not about ME; it is all about WE. So, put on your mask again this morning and let’s have a great time at Grace. Let’s practice together in one accord what Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount.