Good morning, Watermark.
That was really good.
I'm impressed.
If you don't know me, my name is Eric.
I'm one of the guys on staff here at Watermark.
It's an awesome privilege to be sharing with you guys today.
If you haven't been with us the past couple months, we've been looking at the book of
Acts.
And what we've seen is that the book of Acts starts out with an angel telling Jesus' followers
that this good news about Jesus is going to spread.
It's going to start out in Jerusalem, which we said is kind of like our Pak Fulon.
And it's going to spread to Judea, which for us is kind of like Hong Kong Island as a whole.
And then it's going to go from there to Samaria, which for us is kind of like Kowloon New Territories.
And then it's going to go to the ends of the earth, which is like Lantau Island.
Sorry, it's the rest, the ends of the earth.
Yes, the ends of the earth.
And the word is going to spread.
And we saw in Acts chapter 2 that the Holy Spirit comes and empowers the church to go
and spread this message of Jesus.
And God blesses his church.
But the past few weeks, we've seen these cycles of God blessing the church and then the church
facing opposition.
They face opposition from outside and from inside the church.
So from the outside, there have been the Jewish religious leaders come and arrest the apostles
a couple times.
They threaten them.
They've beaten them.
They've told them to stop preaching and teaching about Jesus.
And every time, God has rescued them so far.
And then from inside the church, there was this couple that came and came up with this plan
to lie to the church leaders so that they could get prestige and recognition.
And again, God saved the church from the destructive power that this plan had.
And today, we're going to take a look at another time in the book of Acts when the church faces
opposition.
And what we're going to see is that while conflict within the church needs to be dealt with,
preaching and prayer must remain priorities for God's people even in the midst of conflict.
So let's pray that God would speak to us during this time together.
And then we'll jump in and look at the passage.
Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for this chance today to look at your word together, to hear what you have
to say to us.
We thank you that you are powerful and that your word is powerful and gives life to your
people and that you have spoken to us.
And we pray that as we hear your word today, that we would be attentive and that it would
transform us.
And in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
So in today's passage, it starts out with a problem.
The problem is the church did this distribution program to care for the widows and the needy.
And there was one group that was being taken care of better than another group.
Division was starting in the church.
And division in the church is a big deal.
Division, more than anything else, has the ability to just split the church in half.
I've been part of a church before where there were divisions that weren't dealt with properly
by church leadership and the church split.
And so in such an early age of this worldwide global church movement, for there to be this
type of division, that is a big deal.
But it's not just any type of division.
See, this is a really big deal because it's ethnic and cultural division.
If you look, it says the two groups are called Hellenists and Hebrews.
Now the Hebrews are the Jews who have been born and raised in Israel.
They speak the language that they speak in Israel.
And they culturally are as Jewish as you can be.
The Hellenists have been born and raised outside of Israel.
They speak Greek.
Some of them ethnically are from a different group than the Israelites and have converted
to Judaism.
So for that part of the Hellenists, it's actually an ethnic difference.
For some of them, they were born Jewish but outside of Israel.
And so they speak the different language.
They have a different culture.
And even though they're the same ethnic group, they're culturally very different.
And so the lines are not just drawn to separate and distinguish people.
The lines are drawn along this ethnic and cultural lines.
And ethnic and cultural division has incredible power to spiral out of control very quickly.
Because in ethnic and cultural division, you're not taking the time to get to know someone.
You're looking at external features about them and making judgments about what type of person
they are based on the color of their skin or the language that they speak.
And in this context, there was great potential for things to spiral out of control very, very quickly within the church.
And so when this problem arises, what does it say happen?
It says a complaint arose.
Now just to give you some context, that's not a good thing.
What this doesn't mean is that people saw a problem and brought it to church leadership.
What it does mean is that they saw a problem and they started talking about it in the background.
The word here that's used for complaint literally means speaking in a low tone of voice or behind-the-scenes talk.
So what it means is people saw the problem in the church, but rather than going and talking to the apostles about it,
they just went up to their friends and they're like,
did you notice how our people aren't being fed like their people are?
And the murmuring and complaining and grumbling got louder and louder and louder
as more and more voices got added to this talking and complaining.
And it got louder and louder until eventually the apostles couldn't help but be aware that something was going on.
Like I said, not an ideal situation.
People saw the problem, simple solution, go to the apostles, tell them, they can deal with it,
and it actually takes less time to deal with the problem than you spend complaining about the problem in the first place, right?
But because the people complained and talked behind the scenes,
it allowed the problem to take on a life of its own.
It allowed people to make assumptions in their hearts about the attitude of leadership towards the people affected.
It allowed people to develop these feelings of anger and bitterness inside their hearts
so that by the time the apostles finally became aware of something that was going on,
the problem had grown way bigger than it ever needed to be.
And this still happens today.
Can you believe it?
It happens in churches, but it also happens in workplaces.
And it happens in schools.
People see a problem and they assume,
well, if I see the problem, then the people in leadership must see the problem as well.
And if they see the problem and the problem's still here because they're not doing anything about it,
it must mean that they don't care.
I've done this several times.
Several might be too small of a number.
You see this issue.
You think the people in charge who have the power to do something about it don't care.
But nothing's happening, so you eventually start to think, maybe it's just me.
So you go to your friend and you're like,
I noticed this.
Did you notice this too?
And your friend's like, yeah, I noticed that too.
And then you start sharing theories with each other about why leadership doesn't care and isn't doing anything.
And once you've confirmed with your friend that it's definitely that the leadership who's responsible for this decision
doesn't care and isn't doing anything because of that,
then it's much easier to go around and talk to other people and be like,
can you believe that this is going on and they just don't care?
And it grows and spreads when all along, actually, the people responsible don't know there's a problem
because they're dealing with other stuff and haven't seen the same issues that you see
and no one's told them that there's a problem.
That's exactly what happens in our world today and it's exactly what happened here with the apostles.
So, all that to say, if you see a problem here in your kid's school, at your workplace,
talk to people, not in a gossipy sort of way,
but the people who have the power to do something to change that problem
and work towards a solution and offer to be part of that solution
instead of just grumbling and complaining.
So, eventually, the voices get louder and the apostles realize something is going on.
And it says that they gathered together the full number of the disciples,
all of the Christians they brought together because everyone is affected by this decision.
And they bring them together to work towards a solution
and they say it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.
Now, that seems odd, doesn't it?
The apostles, now remember, let's think about who the apostles are here.
They have spent loads of time studying the Old Testament.
They know that God's word says that the compassion of a community
is going to be judged by how that community cares for the most weak and vulnerable within the community.
Not only that, but these were the guys who were with Jesus
when he said, whatever you do to the least of these, you've done it unto me.
And not only were they there when he said that, but they're the reason that we've heard that he said that.
They're the ones who passed that down to us.
And these guys were the guys who the night before Jesus died,
he grabbed a towel and he got down on his knees and he washed their feet.
And he told them, if I, your Lord and Master, have done this for you, now you go do it for others.
They knew that caring for the poor and vulnerable and serving are crazy important.
So this is not them saying, we're above that type of work.
No, this is something else.
See, it's actually quite likely that up to this point,
the apostles were the main people in charge of this daily distribution.
That makes sense of a lot of things that have happened in Acts.
For example, in Acts chapter 4 and 5,
it talks about these people who sold their houses and gave the money to the church.
And when they gave the money to the church,
it says they gave the money to the church by coming and laying it at the apostles' feet.
Now, why would you lay the money at the apostles' feet?
Because the apostles are the ones who are turning around to distribute that to the church.
And when a problem arises,
typically the person responsible for that problem is the one who's responsible for finding a solution.
And here, the apostles are the ones tasked with finding a solution.
Which implies that up till this point,
they were the ones who were primarily responsible for this task of this distribution.
So this isn't them saying we're above this kind of work.
They've probably been doing this work all along.
But if that isn't them saying we're above this kind of work, what is it?
Basically, what they're saying is there's a priority to the things that they're doing.
And God has made preaching and prayer their number one priority.
I mean, these are the guys who spent three or four years following Jesus around,
listening to every word that he said.
And God had given them the special task and responsibility of passing those words on to the church.
And they were equipped for this in a way that no one else was.
Yes, other people preached,
but the apostles were equipped and prepared for this in a way that no one else was.
And service is very important.
But the job that needed to be done to serve these tables now had gotten so big
that the apostles could not adequately do this job
and do the job of preaching that God was calling them to.
And so in order to prioritize properly
and focus on the things that God wanted them to focus on
as the number one priority,
they needed to delegate certain roles to different people in the church.
If you're thinking sort of of a modern-day equivalent of this,
imagine that you're a doctor, some of you are,
and you're having a dinner party,
and someone at the dinner party drops a glass on the floor and it shatters.
As the host, you clean up the glass
because not having glass on the floor is important.
But same dinner party,
someone drops a glass because they're having a heart attack
and they collapse to the floor.
If you as the doctor jump up and grab the broom and dustpan
and start sweeping up the glass,
everyone looks at you and says,
what are you doing?
There's a priority here.
You save a life before you clean up broken glass on the floor.
Yes, the broken glass is important,
but anyone at the party can clean up the broken glass.
And you as a doctor have a special gifting and skill
to save a life in this moment.
And the apostles knew that the preaching of God's word
brings spiritual life.
Yes, feeding these widows and serving the tables is vitally important.
But preaching God's word and giving life to God's people
is even more important.
And the serving of the tables
can be done by a lot of people within the church.
And this job of preaching and teaching God's people
to give life to them through God's word
is something that the apostles were specially equipped for,
which is why they needed to prioritize it
even in the midst of this conflict.
So their solution is to find seven men of good character,
full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom,
and appoint them to take over this task.
They find seven guys.
Interestingly, all seven of these guys have Greek names,
which implies that they came from this group
that was feeling excluded and marginalized.
They were the people who would have known specifically
which widows felt neglected
and the best ways to reach them culturally,
which is an interesting insight into dealing with conflicts.
And the problem is never again mentioned in the book of Acts,
which I think means we can pretty reasonably assume
they dealt with it properly,
because problems that aren't dealt with properly come back.
So I want us to take a minute to look at the pattern
for how the apostles dealt with this conflict,
and then spend the rest of our time together today
looking at their priorities in the midst of the conflict.
So first, their pattern.
And their pattern is the gospel.
If we look at the story of the gospel,
what we see is that God creates us
and we owe complete allegiance to him,
and yet we sin and rebel against him.
There's this conflict between us and God.
And God, being God, doesn't look at that conflict
and say, that's it, we're over,
we can never have a relationship again.
But at the same time, he doesn't ignore our sin.
He looks at it and he takes it seriously.
And in the person of Jesus,
he steps down into our world
to get personally involved in our conflict,
to work to bring a solution for us
that we can't bring for ourselves.
And that's the model that God wants us to have
as a church for dealing with conflict.
When we see complaining, when we see grumbling,
when we see problems,
we don't ignore them,
but we also don't blow them out of proportion
and say, that's it,
we can never have a relationship with you again.
But instead, we step in, we engage,
we get involved to help bring a solution
for those who can't bring a solution for themselves.
And that's exactly what the apostles do here
by stepping in, taking charge,
delegating the task so that it will be done properly.
They get involved to bring a solution
for those who cannot bring a solution for themselves.
And that's how God wants us
to approach our conflicts today, I think.
But then, the priorities of the apostles in this passage
are super interesting to me.
Because as someone who works in the church,
I can tell you,
when someone in the church comes to you and says,
I have a problem with something that's happening
within this ministry,
the easy, instinctive reaction
is to jump in and fix it yourself.
As probably most of our tendencies,
when people come to us with problems in our workplaces
or in things that we're responsible for,
we want to jump in, we want to do it ourselves.
We figure things are already messed up,
that's why people are coming to me with a problem.
If I delegate it and it doesn't get properly fixed,
then they're going to be even more upset with me
for not just doing the job right myself.
It's easier to do it right, get it done,
and then we can move on with life.
But that's not what the apostles did here.
They knew that if they did that,
they would be losing sight of the priorities
that God wanted them to have.
And so they delegated the role
because they needed to prioritize preaching and prayer.
And they recognized that if they did the job
of feeding the widows,
they could not prioritize the things
that God wanted them to prioritize.
So I want us to take the rest of our time today
looking at these two priorities,
seeing why they were so important for the apostles then
and why they're so important for us as a church now.
First up, preaching.
Why is preaching important for us as a church?
Preaching is important because God's word is important.
If you do a quick search through the Bible
about the importance of God's word,
it's amazing the things that the Bible tells us
about the power of God's word.
You start out in Genesis chapter one,
start of the Bible, and what happens?
God speaks, and through his word,
everything that exists comes into being.
Fast forward to Isaiah chapter 40,
and we see the grass withers, the flowers fade,
but the word of God endures forever.
In Ezekiel chapter 37,
we see that the word of God gives life to God's people.
In Psalm chapter 119 verse 11,
we see that by learning God's word,
it helps us to fight temptation
and resist sin in our lives.
In John chapter one, Jesus comes to us.
We had this verse on the screen earlier today,
and it says that Jesus is the word of God made flesh.
In Hebrews, I think it's chapter four, verse 12.
Yes, it tells us that the word of God
is living and active, is powerful,
is sharper than a two-edged sword,
and it discerns the thoughts and intentions of our hearts,
that God's word looks at us
and does this deep inspection into our hearts
and shows us the places that we fall short
of being the people that God wants us to be
and what it takes for us to become those people
that God wants us to be.
In 2 Timothy chapter three, verse 16,
Paul tells Timothy that through God's word,
God's people are equipped to become the type of people
that God wants us to be,
that through God's word,
we are equipped for every good work.
And then in the book of Acts,
God's word goes forward through preaching.
It moves from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria
to the ends of the earth as it is preached.
And this is both Christians growing in their understanding
of who God is and growing deeper
in their relationship with him,
but also non-Christians hearing God's word
as it is spoken publicly
so that they can know him
and come into this life-giving relationship with him.
And so God's word is vitally important
throughout scripture.
And this is just a brief survey,
a brief overview,
but God's word brings life.
If you are here today and you are a Christian,
God's word is vitally important
to your spiritual health.
If you're here today and you're not a Christian,
I encourage you,
keep coming and keep listening
to God's word being preached here every Sunday
because that is how you will discover
spiritual life and a relationship with God.
And preaching is one of the most important ways
that God delivers his word to his people.
Now I know that might be a controversial statement,
like what about reading my Bible?
What about going to community group?
Can't I just do those?
Why do I need to have God's word preached to me?
Well, let's start with reading our Bibles.
First, you should be reading your Bible.
If you think of God's word
as the thing that gives life to God's people,
you can kind of compare it to food.
If you come on Sunday and you eat this massive feast
and then you don't eat again until next Sunday,
you're going to be malnourished.
It doesn't matter how great the meal was on Sunday.
Even if you eat on Sunday
and then on Friday night at your community group,
if you don't eat the rest of the week,
you're still going to be malnourished.
And so we need to be people
who are being fed by God's word every single day.
And to do that,
we need to be reading our Bibles on our own.
And if you're here today
and you don't know how to read your Bible on your own,
I encourage you to talk to me after the service
or talk to your community group after the service,
community group leader after service,
because we would love to teach you
how to read your Bible
so that you can grow closer to God.
However, although it is important to read your Bible on your own,
it's not enough.
Because there is power in God's people coming together
under the teaching of God's word.
And here's what I mean.
When I read my Bible on my own during the week,
that's great.
But when I come to church on Sunday
and I hear God's word preached to me
and I'm sitting listening to the same sermon
as my community group
and my wife
and several other friends,
there's this level of accountability
in responding to God's word
that's greater than the sum total
of each of us individually reading our Bibles on our own.
Because I walk out of here
and I know the sermon that Alfie heard on Sunday
and I know how he was challenged to respond to God
through that sermon.
And he knows how I was challenged to respond to God
through this sermon.
And throughout the week,
we can hold one another accountable
to growing closer to God
because we have that common basis
of having heard God's word preached to us
throughout that week.
Also, hearing sermons together
helps build us into a family
that can encourage one another
and build one another up for Christ
as we're growing and learning
the same things about God together.
And hearing sermons allows us
to have God's word applied to our world today
by people who God has gifted
for the good of the church.
The Bible says that God gifts the church
with people who are able to teach
and preach his word to the church.
So while reading our Bibles on our own
is absolutely important,
it's not a substitute
for hearing God's word preached to us
as a group.
But what about community groups?
That's a group thing, right?
Like there are people in there
who can teach us God's word.
Can't we just do that
instead of having a sermon?
Well, the importance of a sermon
over a community group
is that a sermon forces us
to come under the teaching of God's word.
If you've been in a community group
for any length of time,
there's two experiences
that I'm pretty sure
you've probably had.
The first is when
that person in your group
takes over the whole conversation
and just shares the updates
from the past like six months
of their life.
Anyone been there?
Yep.
And you walk out
and you're like,
I don't think I even like
opened my Bible tonight.
Definitely don't remember if I did.
The other type of community group meeting,
and I think this is probably
the more common one,
is the one where we get so focused
on what we think
that everyone in the group is sharing,
everyone's interacting,
everyone's sharing what they think,
but we're basing it on what we think,
not on what God thinks.
And we walk out of the group
and we're like,
that was great.
I got to share with everyone
what I think.
And then,
but is what I think
the same as what God thinks?
Not really sure.
We didn't look at what God thinks.
And it can be very easy
in the context
of a community group alone
to focus on our thoughts
and our stories
and to actually ignore
looking at God's word
or easy to read briefly
through a passage
but not actually talk about
what that passage means
or how it applies to our lives.
And when we come to a sermon,
if God's word is being preached
from the Bible,
it forces us
to interact directly
with God's word
and with God himself
and respond
to what he is saying
to us.
Now,
I know there are some preachers
who don't preach
from the Bible
and just share fun stories
from their life
to make interesting talks.
And if you hear
one of those sermons,
don't use that
as an argument
against the importance
of preaching.
Rebuke the preacher
because God's word
brings life
to God's people.
And if a preacher
is not preaching
God's word,
that preacher
is robbing God's people
of life-giving sustenance
that is essential
for their growth.
So the proper response
to a preacher
who ignores God's word
is not to discount
the importance
of preaching
but rather
to emphasize it
to that preacher
and call them out
for not preaching
God's word
to God's people.
And community groups
are great,
don't get me wrong.
I think they're wonderful
for helping us
reinforce
what was taught
in the sermon,
for helping us
go deeper
and personalize
the application
to our lives.
But because of the nature
of what community groups are,
they're not a substitute
for hearing God's word
preached
to God's people.
Now, as a millennial
with many millennial friends,
one thing that I hear
quite often is,
I just find it so hard
to focus during a sermon.
Anyone ever heard that?
Yeah?
What if that's me?
What if, you know,
I can really engage
during a community group
because I'm talking
and listening
and interacting
and in a sermon
I'm just like,
he's been up there
for a long time.
Well, first,
if you have trouble
listening during a sermon,
I would challenge you
in terms of the attitude
that you bring
to a sermon
and here's what I mean.
We live in a
very well-educated city
and my guess is that
almost everyone
in this room
has been in a situation
where we have sat
through a lecture
that is long,
way longer than a sermon
and dry
and dull
and boring.
And we've walked
out of that lecture
and memorized
every single last word
the professor said
because we knew
it would be on an exam.
And then we come to church
and we sit in our seat
and we struggle
to stay awake
and play with our phones
and hope that
we magically hear from God.
Do we come ready
to engage with God's word
or do we come expecting
to just magically
have something happen
to us because
we're in the same room
as the place
where God's word
is being taught?
You know,
preaching isn't
a magic formula.
Spiritual growth
doesn't have a magic spell.
It happens
as we get to know God more
and engage in a relationship
with him.
And this
might not be
what some of us
want to hear.
But the primary way
that God has revealed
himself to us
in the 21st century
is through a book.
which means
that if we want
to know God
and we want
to get to know him
fully as he wants
us to know him,
we have to engage
at least a little bit
of the academic side
of our brains
in order to do that.
Which should be fine
because Hong Kong
is great at engaging
the academic side
of our brains,
right?
But we need
to have that side
of our brains
switched on
when we're interacting
with God's word
if we want to fully
hear from him
the way that he wants
us to hear from him.
So I have a couple
tips for helping us
become better
at listening to sermons.
Okay?
And some of you
might think
these are really obvious
and basic
but I guarantee you
there are people
in this room
who if we apply
these things
will get much better
at listening to sermons.
Step number one,
get a good night of sleep.
Like I said,
it's obvious,
it's simple,
but as a single person
there were nights
where I'd get home
at 3 a.m.
the night before church
and show up for church
expecting to hear from God
after hardly sleeping at all.
If we want to hear from God
we need to be able
to stay awake
while his word
is being taught to us.
And so proper preparation
for listening to a sermon
starts the night before
with getting a good night of sleep.
Step number two,
probably equally obvious,
pray for God
to speak to you.
If we believe
that God answers prayer,
how often do we ask him
to speak to us
through the sermon?
Like hopefully we did it
20 minutes ago
when we all did it together
but other than that,
when was the last time
that you prayed for God
to speak to you
through his word?
It doesn't take long.
Something simple like,
God, I know that this Sunday
I'm going to hear
your word taught
and that your word gives life
and I pray that you would
speak to me through that.
It's quick,
it's simple,
but it's powerful
because God answers prayer
and if we're not asking him
to speak to us
through his word,
then how much
should we really expect
to get out
of hearing his word?
Third,
again,
obvious,
take notes.
By taking notes,
you engage
the tactile senses
and the visual senses
in your learning
which reinforces learning.
Plus,
it gives you something
written down
that you can review
later on
so you can remember
what was said
from God's word.
Again,
very simple
but very powerful
in helping us
to hear from God
when his word
is being preached to us.
Fourth,
engage in active listening.
I think sometimes
we have this attitude
when we come to church
and I've had this before
where we sit down
and we kind of expect
listening to a sermon
to be like watching a sitcom.
Like,
entertain me.
dance.
But that's not
what a sermon is.
The sermon
is God's word
being presented to us
and if we want
to hear from God,
we need to be engaging
with his word
actively
because these
are powerful words
that give life.
So we need to engage
with them
as we hear them.
So as the preacher
is speaking,
ask questions.
You know,
he's saying this.
If that's true,
how should that impact
the way
that I interact
with my friends?
If what he is saying
is true,
how does that connect
to my life?
Think of it not
as a monologue
but as a dialogue
where there's a back and forth
and we're talking
with each other,
thinking through
the ways that God's word
applies to our lives.
And if the preacher
says something
that doesn't make sense to you,
write it down
and ask him about it
after service.
It's actually great.
Preachers should love it
because it means
that you are paying attention
and listening
to what they were saying
and it helps us
think through
and understand
the way that you're hearing
what we're saying
so that next time
we can communicate
more clearly
when we preach.
And final step
for improving
at listening to sermons,
talk about it
with a friend.
Find someone
after service
and say,
here's one big thing
that stuck out to me
from the sermon
and one way
that my life
can be different
this week
because of it.
It's a simple step
but verbalizing it
cements it
in our learning
and forces us
to synthesize it
and process it
to a level
where we can communicate
it with others.
And then it allows us
also to hear
what stuck out
to them from the sermon
so that we can learn
from what they've learned
as well.
See,
God's word
is vitally important.
The preaching
of God's word
is so important
that the apostles said
it's one of the top
two things
we need to spend
our time prioritizing.
And God's word
is important for us today
because God's word
gives life
to God's people.
So we need to,
if we want to be
the people
that God wants us to be,
we need to learn
to engage properly
with his word.
Now the second thing,
I know we're basically
out of time,
but the second thing
the apostles
wanted to prioritize
was prayer.
And just like preaching,
prayer is essential
if we want to be
the people
that God wants us to be.
Last week,
if you were here,
we talked about
how life
is a spiritual war
that is fought
on the turf
of our hearts
for control
of our souls.
And there's a pastor
named John Piper
who says that prayer
in that spiritual war
is the walkie-talkie
to radio into headquarters.
I love that picture
because it shows
the desperation
with which we should
be approaching prayer
in our daily life.
And if we aren't praying,
it means that we're
depriving ourselves
of this valuable resource
that's essential
and necessary
for being the people
that God wants us to be
in this spiritual war
of life.
And I don't want to spend
too long talking
about prayer today
because I actually want
to take some time
together to pray.
But if you're like,
come on, Eric,
you spent all this time
talking about preaching,
I want to know
about prayer too.
I have great news for you.
Starting next Sunday
after service
for the month of July,
Henrika is going to be
running a prayer course.
The details are
in your bulletin
and you can get in touch
with her to sign up
for that
and you'll go way more
in depth into prayer
in that prayer course
than I can go
in five minutes right now.
So if you want to know
more about prayer,
get in touch with Henrika
and sign up for the prayer course.
It's going to be awesome
and it's going to be
a great time
learning how to pray
and getting opportunities
to pray together.
But just to recap
what we've talked about today,
we looked at conflict
in the church.
We looked at the gospel
as the pattern
for dealing with conflict
in the church.
We talked about priorities
in the church
of preaching
and how to listen
to a sermon
and why God's word
is so important
for God's people.
And then we've briefly,
briefly touched on prayer.
But I want us now
to respond to God's word
by praying together
as a church family.
So we're going to put
a passage from the Bible
up on the screen.
There it is.
And what we're going to do
is when I say go,
we're going to split
into groups
of three to five people
or so.
And we're going to pray together
using these verses
as a prompt.
Now, if you're like,
I don't feel comfortable
praying out loud
or in groups of people,
that's okay.
You don't need to pray.
You can just simply
join the group.
But I encourage you
to try it at least once.
If you're someone
who's more comfortable praying,
you can pray
as many times
as you want.
But I encourage you
to keep each time short
so that other people
have a chance to pray too.
And if you're here today
and you're not a Christian
and you want to know
more about Christianity
and what it is
that we Christians believe,
when we split into groups,
I encourage you
to ask the people
in your group
more about it
and they would love
to share with you.
So using these verses
as a prompt,
we're going to pray.
So for example,
how this could work
is have this mind
among yourselves
which is yours
in Christ Jesus.
Jesus, we thank you
for your humility
and we pray that you
would make us
a humble people as well.
Or every tongue
will confess
that Jesus Christ
is Lord
to the glory
of God the Father.
Jesus, we praise you
because you are powerful
and you are big
and we thank you
for your greatness.
These types of prayers
inspired by these verses.
So let's split up
into groups
and in a few minutes,
I'll come up
and I will close us
in prayer.
Father, we thank you
for your love for us.
We thank you
for sending Jesus
to rescue us.
We thank you
that when we were
far away from you
that you didn't look at us
and ignore our problem
but you also didn't
look at us
and blow our problem
out of proportion
and say that's the end of it
for a relationship
between us and you
but that you sent Jesus
to rescue us.
That you sent Jesus
to give his life for us
and we pray
that we would be
a people who follow
that pattern,
who humble ourselves
so that you can exalt us
rather than exalting ourselves.
We pray that we would be
people who build
our lives around your word,
who have proper priorities,
who seek to know you
and find life
through growing closer to you.
We pray that we'd be
a people who seek you
in prayer.
We pray that as we do this
that you will build us
into the people
that you want us to be,
that you will grow in us
a love for you
and a love for one another
and that you will use us
to impact our world
and spread your word
to those around us.
Thank you again
for your love.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.