September 22 Jeremiah
8.18-9.1, *I Timothy 2.1-7 “God’s House – Prayerful and Peaceful” Pastor
Jacqueline Hines
Apostle Paul was the greatest preacher
and teacher of the New Testament. He served the Church with extraordinary faith
and fervor. On more than one occasion, he was imprisoned, beaten and left for
dead because his preaching changed the way people thought about money and
politics. While he was in prison, he was not simply trying to get out. He was
writing letters. One of his many letters (though not written while in prison) was to young Timothy, one of his young converts who had become a
preacher.
Writing had to be a sacrifice in the Ancient World. It was no small thing to get the dyes used for
ink, the parchment paper made from trees, or a person who was willing to go
into the prison to pick up and deliver a letter. The Spirit of God made it all
happen. The purpose of Paul’s letter to Timothy was to bring God’s people
peace.
Paul gives four directions for prayer because prayer more
than anything, effects our peace. In verse one, he says, “I urge that
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for
everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.”
These four types of prayers bear the fruit of peace. We all
need peace. Every time there is a mass
shooting like the one in the DC navy yard this week, we often become hyper
alert. We may have moments when we go out and find ourselves worrying and
wondering if some mixed up child of God is lurking in the shadows preparing to
do violence, shattering our peace.
Horrific events can bring us to our knees. We are all directly
and indirectly affected by each other’s tragedies. If we are going to have any
peace at all, we have got to pray.
The story is told of the great Charles Spurgeon, whose
preaching drew crowds of 10,000 in the
1800’s even before the age of microphones. He was on fire. His writings are still in print. One day he
gave a tour of his beautiful church. He led the visitors around the awesome
sanctuary, then he asked them if they wanted to see what fires the church up.
They certainly did not want to see the furnace room in the basement, but they
were polite and followed the preacher. They went down a narrow stairway to an
area beneath the pulpit. ‘Everything that happens upstairs starts down here, he
said. Behind this door is the secret of this great church being so on fire for
God.’
The door opened, revealing several dozen people on their
knees in fervent prayer. He knew more than most of us that the secret of any
church, big or small, was the prayers of the people. "I would rather teach
one man to pray than ten men to preach." If we are going to have peace in
this world, we have got to pray!
The first type of prayer Paul encourages is the prayer that
is most natural for all of us, the prayer of supplication, or petition, from
the Greek word meaning “request.” All through the day, we have names of people,
places, and things that we are constantly asking God to bless and help. I like
what Paul says about supplication in his letter to the church in Philippi, the
happy church. He says “4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry
about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.”
There is great peace
in doing as the songwriter says, Have a Little Talk with Jesus, tell him all
about our troubles. He will hear our faintest cry…
Our first source of peace is asking God for what we want,
for what we need. Does not James the brother of Jesus remind us in that 4th
chapter of his book that we have not because we ask not, or we ask for
something without an awareness of holiness? When we need peace, prayer is the
answer.
The second type of prayer is simply called prayer from the
Greek word meaning talking and listening respectfully to God. Peace
comes from having a conversation with God, and trust me, you won’t come into
God’s courts with disrespect or enter his gates with an attitude toward God or
God’s people for free.
The third type of prayer is intercession. We have a sturdy prayer
chain at Bethel. It boosts our faith to know that others are praying with us
and for us, from sun up to sun down, in the North, the South, the West and the
East. The Greek word for intercession is prayer as a meeting with God. We used
to call it “prayer meeting.” In prayer
God speaks to our hearts important information about the whole world. Prayer is
where everyone counts. In prayer meeting whether it is in the carpool,
fellowship hall, or cyberspace, if it matters to you, it matters to God. Prayer
is about everyone – past, present, and future. Prayer is a “we” thing.
The Lord’s prayer is about “our”
Father….and giving “us” this day “our” daily bread, and “we” forgiving those who trespass
against “us.”
At times the holy spirit will give us thoughts about whom to
pray for and when to pray and even what
words to pray. When I was working very
little hours in the school district, my mother came to me and said she was
praying and the Lord asked her to pay my telephone bill. I immediately asked
her if the Lord had mentioned anything about my gas bill. We get important
information when we pray.
Paul encourages us pray in four ways, first, to ask God for
what we need and want, second, to pray with respect, thirdly, to pray for
others, and finally to pray with thanksgiving in our heart. Who can forget that
the first thing Jesus did before the miracle of feeding 5000 people with two
loaves and fish, was to give thanks. If we can give thanks for what God has
given us – no matter what it is - we change the atmosphere. We stir up
miracles. We stir up healing energy. We stir up faith and love and truth. We
stir up good things that can overflow around world, across oceans of despair
and mountains of trouble.
Prayer changes things but more importantly, prayer changes
us to be a church of uninterrupted blessings. I am hoping that prayer will help
us provide elevator access for persons with disabilities. I am hoping that
after our conversations with God we will agree about whether or not God wants
us to develop a Bethel Nursery School after the Montessori School staff retires
next year. I am hoping after we meet with God, we will use all our spiritual
gifts and our unique gifts to maintain optimum unity and harmony, so that
others can say, “Bethel cares.”
Joyce Meyers tells the story of how she thought she was
supposed to be like lots of other women who kept their house immaculate and
grew a garden.
Nevertheless, one year she thought she would try to be like other
women she admired, so she planted tomatoes, but they all got eaten up by a
swarm of bugs. Her next door neighbor’s tomatoes turned out beautifully, so of
course, Joyce said she talked to about it, and God said, “I never asked you to
plant any tomatoes.”
God has a purpose and a plan, and if we pray God will direct
our paths. The world needs peace; we need peace. Let’s be peacemakers together.
Amen.
