Live like a disciple: Be a person of prayer

It is my personal conviction that prayer is the most difficult of all the disciplines of the Christian’s life.  That is true for a multitude of reasons, all of which seem to be intertwined with each other.  It is also my personal conviction that prayer is the most important of all the disciplines of a Christian’s life.  It is for this reason that the powers of darkness, our own flesh, and the world as a whole want to keep us from prayer.  

It is pretty easy to talk about all prayer, about the correct or incorrect focus, the theory and methods of prayer.  I have read books and articles on how to pray, I have listened to sermons, podcasts and lectures on praying.  There is no end to the advice from those advanced in the life of prayer and from supposed, prayer experts.  Some of the things I have read and heard have been thoughtful, insightful and helpful.  Others have been rehashed talking points that do not appear to have much substance.  So, enough of the theory.  

How do we become a person of prayer? It is somewhat like what the Oracle told Neo in the Matrix, “The future, the only way to get there is to get there.”  The only way to become a person of prayer is to pray.  We will never become a person of prayer by reading about prayer or by listening to sermons about prayer or having discussions about prayer.  Forgive me for saying this but, sometimes (not always), attending “Prayer meetings” keeps us from becoming a person of prayer.  If you want to be a person of prayer you start by praying.  By the way, you will not be very good at first and it will be a struggle.

Allow me to illustrate.  About 10 years ago, two of my frat brothers (yes, I was in a fraternity and we were really cool) died of heart attacks.  They were in their early 50’s and my age.  After a little grieving I decided I would do something to get into better cardiac condition.  I decided to run, so  I measured and found it was just over ⅓ of a mile around our block. My first day I took off and managed to get about a quarter of the way around the block before I had to slow from a jog to a walk.  The next day, I went a little further, but had the same result.  But I kept at it.  Eventually, I got to where I was running one mile on Monday and Tuesday, a mile and a half on Wednesday and Thursday, and a 5k Friday.  I also did a vigorous calisthenic workout on two of those days.  Some days, just for fun, I would go to the high school and run sprints.   Other times I would load my backpack with books to make it extra heavy and go for long, fast walks in a nearby state park.  I was never fast, that wasn’t the point.  The point was heart health and at my peak my BP, RHR, and weight were pretty good. As long as I ran, I could run and I enjoyed it.  I hurt my hip joint and had to stop running. I almost had to stop walking because it was so bad.   I never started up again.  (I know I should and hope to someday).  But the only way to exercise my heart is to exercise my heart.  

A life of prayer is the same.  The only way to be a person of prayer is to pray.  Even if your beginning is a faltering, stumble start.  Don’t worry about being great at prayer, just pray.  The only specifics I will offer are these: 1) Begin with the Lord’s model prayer.  Take each line of that beautiful prayer and use it to direct and form your own prayer. 2) Begin today.  Like my plans to start exercising again, until I begin I will not have begun.

Live like a disciple: Live holy

What does it mean to live a holy life?  Frequently we associate holy living with a list of rules, some biblical and some arbitrary that if followed mark a person as holy.  Some of those rules are prohibitive, some are directive.  Supposed holy living is often marked by clearly delineated behaviors.  If a person doesn’t do these things and does do these things then they must be holy.  If, however, they do these things and don’t do others then clearly they are not holy people.  These pro and con lists of behaviors may have some value, but such behavior is not real holiness.

I have a friend who is a camp manager.  Like many small camps he rents their facilities to community, civic and church groups.  He once asked me, “What group do you think creates the most trouble for us regarding sexual misconduct among teenage children?”  Knowing that he occasionally rented the camp to the Sea Cadets, an organization of high school aged teens planning to join the US Navy, I suspected they would be the chief promiscuous group.  I was wrong.  The teens his staff had to watch most closely were the kids from a highly rules-oriented church group.  Within the group women wore no makeup, never cut their hair, did not don jewelry, and had to wear shin length skirts.  Men and boys had their own list of legalistic rules for conduct.  How is it that a highly regulated religious group would produce more lusty teens than the kids headed toward the US Navy?  

This is a result of a misunderstanding of what holiness actually is.  Holiness is life lived out.  Holiness is the life and action of a person who has placed their entire confidence in Jesus Christ and as a result has experienced a new birth or a regeneration.  This new birth is not the domain of especially advanced Chrsitians, but the life of everyone who has been born again.  When we are born again or born from above we begin living a new life, living life is the norm for every Christian.  Certainly there will be ups and downs, fits and starts, moments of stumbling and walking.  New believers are babes in Christ.  All the habits of body and mind are still in the old life, but there is a new Spirit driving life.  

Behavior is important but for a different reason than list and rule keeping.  Behavior is the by-product or as Paul puts it the fruit of the Spirit that animates this life.  There is no justification for wrong or sinful behavior in the life of a disciple.  But good behavior results from a desire to be what Christ wants in that specific moment and opportunity. 

Think of this practical example.  Why did Jesus, from the cross, forgive those who crucified Him?  Because it was easier for Him to forgive than to hate or to hold a grudge.  Why was that the case?  Because He was so like His Father it came natural to love and forgive.  Holiness is not just the behavior, important as that is, it is also the motivation and the natural result of our desire to imitate Jesus in our life.  

I Peter 1:14-16 says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

How can we be holy?  It begins with wanting it.  Too many times we are like the teenager who prayed, “God set me free from lust, but don’t hurry about it.”  God will not impose on us behaviors that we don’t really want.  God will not be impressed by our keeping a list or rules when our hearts are not in them.  What we must do is to love God so much that we will do what is holy because we generally do what we want.  It is a heart change God partners with us to produce.  Certainly there is work but work is not the opposite of grace.  Earning is the opposite of grace. Work is what we do to move toward what we really want.  Live like a disciple, live holy; because that is what you love and want.   

Charlie's Challenges 2/22/23

 Charlie’s Challenges: Extras from the sermon and links for additional information

Living Like a Disciple in Crazy Times: Where did I come from?

The Fall of the Human Race

Memory verse: The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:8

Thinking About Sin

• Do you believe that Eve, and therefore women, have received undo blame for the fall?  See verse of the bluegrass classic “Like a Fox on the Run”.

• Do you believe you are smart enough to out-wit Satan?  If not, how can you stand against him?

• As you examine your own pattern of sin, can you identify a pattern related to the temptations of the flesh, the world, and pride?  Which is the most difficult for you to resist?

• What spiritual leadership do you have in your life?  What spiritual leadership do you provide?

The Fall was a result of three key failures:

A failure to know God’s word accurately.

A failure to resist the three basic forms of temptation.

A failure to provide proper leadership.

Resources:

Here is a three part series about the words we associate with sin:

The Bad Words

https://bibleproject.com/explore/category/bad-words-series/

In this video is a wonderful expression of Eden as a temple and how it applies to us.

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/temple/

Why were Eve’s “eyes open” only after Adam ate the forbidden fruit?

https://answersingenesis.org/adam-and-eve/why-were-eves-eyes-not-opened-until-adam-ate/

A somewhat scholarly paper on Adam’s culpability in the first sin:

https://answersresearchjournal.org/adam-free-choice-cause-of-sin/

While not specifically a video about the fall, this is a fascinating and disturbing documentary about the evil of Freak Shows that were once so popular and still have a profound impact on our culture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vff1mOm8ldA

Episode 1 of 7

Be a disciple: Sensitive to the Holy Spirit

One prophet, two occasions of God’s working. 

Elijah is a gripping character whose life is a history of the incredible working of God.  Elijah was living in a time where the majority of people were indifferent to God and those who were faithful were, for the most part, keeping their faith hidden.  After a three year drought and the subsequent famine, Elijah was called to confront the wicked king Ahab and the prophets of his god Baal.  

You may recall the story.  If not, read I Kings 17-19. In short, there was a contest in which the deity that sent fire from heaven would be declared the true God.  In a drama that was both hysterical and brutal, Baal was proved to be a nobody, The Lord was proved to be God and the leadership of Baal worship was exterminated.  So, with a fantastic demonstration and the death of Baal’s priests, Elijah may have expected a national revival and return to the faith.  What he got was a death threat from a bitter, evil woman.  Frustrated by the whole situation, Elijah runs.  Here he sounds like us.  WE want to see revival and people turning to The Lord.  But we remain frustrated by the indifference and rot of our world.

Elijah ran away and had an unexpected encounter with God.  He was told to stand before the Lord.  “And behold the Lord was passing by!”  There was a tremendous wind, but The Lord was not in the wind.  Next, there was a violent earthquake; He wasn’t there either.  Following the earthquake there was a firestorm.  But still no God.  Then there was, “the sound of a gentle blowing,” literally “a still small voice” perhaps we could say a “fine calm whisper”.  The Lord was in the tiny sound.  Everything was different except for the circumstances, but circumstances don’t matter that much to God.

WE may want great, big, powerful events that can turn people to God-mega churches, stadium events, a landslide election of Christians into office.  We may want those things, but as disciples we need to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  There are several things that keep us from being sensitive to the Holy Spirit, but that is a whole other series of lessons.  For the moment, what we most need is the DESIRE to hear and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  If we genuinely want His leading, and if we are willing to respond, He will make Himself known.  So, let’s begin this aspect of being a disciple by wanting and asking for the Holy Spirit to direct our lives.  Once we begin the practice of listening and obeying He will be easier to hear and our obedience can grow.  

Charlie's Challenges 1.15.23

Charlie’s Challenges: Extras from the sermon and links for additional information

Living Like a Disciple in Crazy Times: Where did I come from?

Sex, Marriage and Creation

 

Memory verse: That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Genesis 2:24

 

Have you had a heartfelt conversation with a LBGQT+ person?  If so, what was that like?  If not, why not?

 

What do you think would be the hardest part of having a conversation with an LBGQT+ person?

 

Would a LBGQT+ person have to change before you could become friends with them?

 

There are three steps to brainwashing: dependency, dissonance, and attitude change.  How are these like desensitization, jamming, and conversion?

 

Where can you identify an attempt by the world to reorder your thinking sexually?

 

Love without truth is useless

Truth without love is impotent

Truth with love is Grace

 

Resources:

 

One of the best and most compassionate teachings of how to communicate with trans and gay people use this link

https://youtu.be/XkaPSjxE5AE

 

This is the website of a former lesbian who shares her story with grace:

https://www.rachelgilson.com/

 

For a short description of why homosexuality is so harmful use this link:

https://youtu.be/SJG9CtaBXeM

 

For an overview about Jesus’ position on homosexuality use this link:

https://youtu.be/nWGUW1KBhso

 

An excellent but somewhat lengthy teaching about the educational goals of the homosexual community:

https://youtu.be/WKh5TQKojWY

 

An excellent review of the homosexual manifesto (a.k.a. After the Ball)

https://albertmohler.com/2004/06/03/after-the-ball-why-the-homosexual-movement-has-won

 

Survey representing actual numbers of people who identify as part of the LGBQT+ community

https://news.gallup.com/poll/329708/lgbt-identification-rises-latest-estimate.aspx

Be a disciple, be a self-learner

The person who can read and doesn’t read has no real advantage over the person who can’t read. 

Be a self-learner of God.  Before we go any further, I want to take a moment to define what we mean by being a learner of God or knowing God.  This is not about acquiring massive amounts of data or information.  I have known people who, while living godless lives, have had extensive knowledge of the Bible and theology.  Knowledge or being a learner of God is an interactive relationship.  In the Bible, we hear that a man knew his wife and she became pregnant.  That knowledge is personal, detailed, intimate, and relational.  It was not simply a list of informative facts about his wife.  When we talk about being a self-motivated and self-determined learner of God, this is the kind of knowledge of God we want.   

There are two dangers for every disciple in the area of being a learner. Either of these are devastating for our life as a disciple.  Both of these dangers represent an effective end of being a personal learner, and both are tragically common in many churches and for many Christians.

The first danger is  to allow someone else to be the sole source of learned material.  Think of the person who attends services, but never reads or studies the Bible on their own.  I have had people tell me that they don’t study or read their Bible on their own because they trust me and like what I say.  On the one hand, I am honored by such confidence, but on the other hand I am deeply distressed by what is clearly misplaced trust.  No one should trust any one teacher exclusively.  And no one should trust any teacher more than the Word of God.  The level of Biblical literacy concerning basic information is indicative of how easy it would be to deceive many Chrsitians.  When church people place their trust on their leaders for truth they are not far from being groupees or cult followers.

The second danger is when we rely on what we learned in the past, in some cases, the distant past.  Think of the person who has never added to what they learned in their early years as a Christian.  I have known Christians and even Christian leaders who have not made it a point to study except for occasional teaching in years.  Even preachers are prone to depend on what we learned years ago.  Sometimes we learned the wrong stuff a long time ago and have held that belief for so long we believe it is the absolute truth.  Quick example, according to the blockbuster movie The Ten Commandments Moses was exiled from Egypt by Pharaoh.  No, that is not what happened.  But we learned that years ago and depending on the memory of what we once learned (incorrectly) we think that way.

To never stop being a learner of God is a delightful journey which we will never complete, but will become delightful as the years progress.  Make a commitment to be a self-motivated, self- activated learner of God.  

Charlie's Challenges 1.8.23

 Charlie’s Challenges: Extras from the sermon and links for additional information

Living Like a Disciple in Crazy Times: Where did I come from?

 

Begin to explain in your own mind why a solid foundation is so important to being a disciple.

Where do you see in our society specific examples of the degradation from God's intent in creation to something less wonderful?

 

Has a godless worldview reshaped my understand of origin?

 

Has a godless view of origins impacted the way I live as a follower of Christ and the way I treat creation?

 

Memory Verse: God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.  And there was evening, and there was morning-the sixth day.  _{Genesis 1:31}

Links that will help you go deeper in understanding:

Video that opened our service: 

https://youtu.be/afVN-7vY0KA

Deeply committed Christian scholars some of whom do not believe in a young earth: 

https://crossexamined.org/top-20-apologists/

Deeply committed scholars who do believe in a young earth: 

https://answersingenesis.org/bios/

Dr. Lisle points out some of the logical fallacies of evolution: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBbMKxth3fE

A discussion between young and old earth Christians

https://youtu.be/aNmuB9EF_vk