God's House - Prayerful and Peaceful

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 4^th 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.