WEEK 16: WHAT IS A HEALTHY CHURCH MEMBER?

1.PRAYER WARRIOR2.WRAPPING IT ALL UP

APRIL 28, 2013

What does a Healthy Church and Healthy Church Member

Look Like?

Class Outline

What is a Healthy Church

Week 1: The Church (What is a Healthy Church Chap. 1&2)

Week 2: What is the Church’s Purpose and Function What is a Healthy Church Chap. 3&4 and Article II

from PBC Constitution What are the “Essential” marks of a Healthy Church

Week 3: Essentials of a Healthy Church What is a Healthy Church Chap 5, 6 & 7Week 4: What the Church Believes Article III PBC Statement of Faith What are the “Important” marks of a Healthy Church

Week 5: A Biblical Understanding of Conversion What is a Healthy Church Chap. 8,Week 6: A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism and Church Membership Part 1. What is a Healthy Church Chap. 9 and 10 and 9Marks

Church Membership bookWeek 7: Church Membership Part 2 and Discipline. What is a Healthy Church Chap. 10, 11 and 9Marks Church

Membership bookWeek 8: Biblical Discipleship. What is a Healthy Church Chap. 12

Week 9: Biblical Church Leadership. What is a Healthy Church Chap. 13

What is a Healthy Church Member

Week 10: A Healthy Church Member is an Expositional Listener and Biblical Theologian.

What is a Healthy Church Member Chap. 1 & 2 and Listen Up booklet

Week 11: A Healthy Church Member is Gospel Saturated and Genuinely Converted.

What is a Healthy Church Member Chap. 3 & 4Week 12: A Healthy Church Member is Genuinely

Converted and a Biblical Evangelist. What is a Healthy Church Member Chap. 4 & 5Week 13: A Healthy Church Member is a Committed

Member. What is a Healthy Church Member Chap. 6Week 14: A Healthy Church Member Seeks Discipline. What is a Healthy Church Member Chap. 7Week 15: A Healthy Church Member is a Growing

Disciple and a Humble Follower. What is a Healthy Church Member Chap. 8 & 9Week 16: : A Healthy Church Member is a Prayer Warrior

and Wrapping it all up. What is a Healthy Church Member Chap. 10

A Healthy Church Member is a Prayer Warrior

Shall I give you yet another reason why you should pray? I have preached my very heart out. I could not say any more than I have said. Will not your prayers accomplish that which my preaching fails to do? Is it not likely that the Church has been putting forth its preaching hand but not its praying hand? Oh dear friends! Let us agonize in prayer. -- C.H. Spurgeon

“Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us. As we engage in this communion with God more deeply and come to know the One with whom we are speaking more intimately, that growing knowledge of God reveals to us all the more brilliantly who we are and our need to change in conformity to Him. Prayer changes us profoundly.” ― R.C. Sproul, The Prayer of the Lord

Mark 11: 17: And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

Acts 1: 14: All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Acts 2: 41-42: So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

A Healthy Church Member is a Prayer Warrior

Problems in Thinking about Prayer

We must not think that [God] takes no notice of us, when He does not answer our wishes: for He has a right to distinguish what we actually need. -- John Calvin

Three examples of Wrong thinking about Prayer:

1. Unless we pray, God cannot act in the world

2. God has already decided everything; He is sovereign, so why

pray?

3. God is too busy to listen to my prayers.

When and How Shall We Pray?

Constantly1 Thess. 5: 16-18: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.Romans 12: 12: Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.Col 4: 2: Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.Col 4: 12: Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

When and How Shall We Pray?

In The SpiritRomans 8: 26-27: Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

What or for Whom Shall We Pray?

Pray for Laborers and Shepherds.Matt 9: 36-38: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”Phil 1: 19-20: Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.Col 4: 3-4: At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

What or for Whom Shall We Pray?

Pray for all the Saints.

Eph 8: 18b-20: To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

What or for Whom Shall We Pray?

Pray for those in Authority.

1 Tim 2: 1-3: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.Romans 13: 1-2: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.Ephesians 6: 1-3: Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

What or for Whom Shall We Pray?

Pray for those who abuse and persecute you.Luke 6: 27-28: “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.Matt 5: 10- 12: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Exercise to Improve your Prayer Life

Do you have a specific plan for prayer?

Review your current plan or write a new one for prayer that includes:

Private and group/public times of prayer

Times and places for prayerSpecific individuals and groups

to pray for (the church prayer list is an excellent source for prayers)

Gospel and church concernsPassages of Scripture you find

encouraging and helpful in prayers (Psalms are an excellent place to pray through)

Wrapping it all up

Acts 1: 8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”Hebrews 11: 39-40: And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.Hebrews 12: 1-3: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.