Sunday - 08/18/13 RWJ/Pottersville
UMC
Sermon: “The Praying
Church”
(The Praying Church Series, Part 4 of 4)
Scripture Lesson: Isaiah 5:1-7
Gospel Lesson: Luke 12:49-56
Good morning brothers and sisters!
Welcome to worship this morning in the name of the risen Christ, on this
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost! The holiday of Pentecost, the day that the church
was born, the day that the Holy Spirit moved like a mighty wind. This was the
day of Pentecost.
To begin this message this morning, I
just want to tell you how good it is to be back in New York State. The past two
weeks, my friends the Lambert Family, hosted me in there house. They were
simply delighted to have me be under their roof. Every day, Nick Lambert’s wife
Teanna made Nick and me a big pot of coffee, and she was always saying, “are
sure that you don’t want something else to eat Paul.” The two Lambert children
were also adorable to, as they would run and hug me before bed, and say “good
night Mr. Paul.” In fact, there son Kyler colored this picture for me in there
church Sunday school, as yes brothers and sisters, I attended a very
Pentecostal Church last Sunday. It was a powerful service of prayer and
worship, and in me forgetting what Pentecostal services are like, we heard the
closing prayer two hours after the service started. In fact, the church
bulletin had no order of service, but instead it had a list of upcoming events.
In that church, there pastor, pastor
Aaron, took a special moment to recognize me, and told his congregation to pray
for me, my ministry, and our churches here in New York. For we are the “Praying
Church.” Pastor Aaron then said, would you pray for us, and our church.
You know, I think that so often we get stuck in our own churches, and we forget
just how big the kingdom of God really is! That over 2-billions voices are in
praise, worship, and prayer not just here, not just in Warren County, not just
in New York State, not just in the United States, but worldwide!
These past two weeks, my brothers and
sister, I had a life changing experience, in realizing just how big the church
is. When I arrived at the seminary in Dayton, Ohio last week, I was introduced
to four students from the West African country of Sierra Leone. In this
country, there are currently 220 United Methodist Churches, and this number is
increasing rapidly. Of all of the pastors in the entire country of Sierra
Leone, there Bishop, Bishop John Yambasu, sent his four best pastors in the
whole country to our seminary. Among these four students, were two district
superintendents, the head of connectional ministries for the entire country,
and a pastor who pastors a church of about 600-people.
Now if our Bishop, Bishop Marcus Webb had to pick his four best preachers
in our entire annual conference to send to Africa, and you were chosen for this,
well this would be quite an honor. So I met, Solomon, Sahr, Winston, and
Francis. These men had faith as deep as any ocean, and they told me, “Paul can
you pray for the church in Sierra Leone.” The country of Sierra Leone just got
over a terrible Civil War about 11-years ago, and through that war the United
Methodist Church served the people. Brothers and sisters, when the church prays,
and when the church pray together, the Holy Spirit moves. Bishop Yambusa, who
preached this past Thursday, and spoke again this past Friday, told of us of
what God is doing in Africa. He thanked us for praying for his churches,
assuring us that the church in Sierra Leone prays for our churches and our
country daily.
You see when I began to originally
plan to write this sermon, I was thinking of the praying local church,
certainly not whole praying Adirondack district, certainly not our praying United
Methodist Annual Conference, certainly not the praying American Church, and definitely
not the praying global church. With this said though, when we pray as a church
and lift our voices to the Lord, we should know that right now churches that have
hundreds of people in attendance every Sunday are raising you in prayer before
the Lord. For we are worldwide church, and we are the “Praying Church.”
When looking at our scripture reading
from Isaiah 5:1-7 from this morning, which is sub-titled in my Bible, “God’s
disappointing vineyard,” or “The song of the vineyard” in other bibles, the prophet
Isaiah was telling the people of Israel, that they had built a beautiful vineyard,
which was there country. They had built a “watchtower” or the Temple, and many
other things. Yet they were not giving thanks to God, they not staying faithful
to the Lord, and there were not in prayer together. As a result, the grapes
that Israel planted in the vineyard would become sour wild grapes. Isaiah said
that God will destroy the vineyard that Israel for their disbelief and for their
lack of faith. You see the people of Israel had to choose between following God
or following people and other non-Godly things. Yet they strayed from God, and
they thought that they could flourish in the vineyard of this world, without
God. Yet God created the world.
In this way, of the founder of
Methodism John Wesley called us to pray together, and in unity we are force to
be reckoned with. Let us seek holy living together. Let us care for each other.
Let us be the “Praying Church.” Let us realize that when we pray, God hears us,
and when we pray together, that there is power in our prayers! That God heals,
that God blesses, and that God’s power is real and abundant.
When looking at the Gospel of Luke
reading from this morning, we find tough words from Jesus. Jesus said, “Do you
think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather
division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and
two against three, they will be divided: father against son and son against
father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law
against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” Jesus
goes on to say in this scripture that people know what is right, and what is
wrong, by comparing it to understanding the weather. If we see that’s it’s
raining, then why can we not see who Jesus is?
I think in this way then, Jesus is saying to
us, will you pursue love? Will you pursue holy living? Will you pray for
others? Will you pray for this church? Will you pray for the world? Will you
pray for a country in West Africa, were our church is growing rapidly? Or will
you serve the will of people, and not the will of God.
For there is power in prayer, and
together we are strong. Together we are not just this church, but we are the
worldwide church. We are millions, and together we can do so much. If we all
lift our voices to heaven together, then our faith grows, then God blesses us,
then the Holy Spirit moves, then God moves us! God moves us and compels us to
build churches in village in Africa where the people have nothing. Where our worldwide
church collects money to put in sanitation and irrigation, where they have never
had it before!
Brothers and sisters, prayer matters,
and prayer moves mountains. Imagine if you were praying with all of the
millions and millions of Christians that make up worldwide church. Imagine if
we were all physically together in prayer. How powerful that would be! Yet I
realized during these past two weeks, that we are all on God’s wireless cell
phone plan. That when we all pray, all of our voices are caught up in heaven together,
and we are then one people, with one faith, who are one in Jesus Christ. That
our prayers and faith compel us forward that it compels to action, that it
compels us to transform the world in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I would like to this morning with a
little bit more of the story I told you about my new United Methodist pastor
friends from Sierra Leone. While these are the 4-best pastors that Bishop John Yambusa
has in his whole country, my seminary and others have been raising funds so
that these 4-pastors can complete their seminary education. I then learned when
Bishop Yambusa spoke on Friday night, that the first theological school and
seminary is slotted to open in Sierra Leone in 2016. These four top pastors,
will be part of the faculty of this new school.
You see, I met and chatted with Bishop
Yambusa. He told me praise God for and your churches Paul. Then he said, when
you go back to New York, tell your people what God is doing in Sierra Leone.
Tell them how we are feeding the poor, educating the children, and building
sustainable living for people that have nothing. For these four pastors were
given laptop computers by the seminary that I attend, as they have never owned
a laptop.
Bishop Yambusa, the leader of the
United Methodist Church in his whole country told us all, won’t you pray for
us. He then said we are a connectional church. He said the United Methodist
Church is a worldwide church. He said we all pray and struggle together. The
Bishop, of a whole country, said, Paul, “won’t you tell your people to pray for
us? We have so many challenges, and yet God is so good? Tell them about us, and
if they feel so moved have them pray for us, and if they feel moved further to
support our students, our church, and our work building the kingdom of Jesus
Christ in our country, this would be a blessing.”
Brothers and sisters, we are a praying
church. A connectional church that includes countless people, all over the
world. Let us praying together, and pray boldly. For when we pray together, we
are truly united, and we are truly together, building the kingdom of Jesus
Christ. I remember before I left school on Friday, the four pastors from Africa
who call me “Paul the Apostle,” or “Paul of Tarsus,” said please pray for our
churches. I then told them, I will ask all of my people to pray for you, for we
are a praying church. So let us this week be united in prayer, in love, and in
action. Let us then see what God can do, as his kingdom is growing like wildfire
in places like Africa. Let us capture some of that fire, so that we may do the
same here. For we are the “Praying Church.” Amen.
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