Petaluma Valley Baptist Church

 

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What a blessing, today, to finally see with our eyes what we have previously seen only with the eyes of faith—the rising of our new Pavilion to claim our courtyard as a new venue for all kinds of ministry. To this point in time we’ve been praying about it, planning for it and giving toward it and now that we can actually see it happening we just can’t help but be filled with gratitude to God for His goodness and faithfulness.

I feel the same sense of gratitude to God as I see the wonderful way that He continues to answer the prayers that we have been lifting for the last 3 years, to grow our church into A House of Prayer. We can now look back across that period of time and mark specific steps that God has led us to take in answer to that prayer request— forming a Prayer Action Team, hosting an annual Prayer Conference, creating a Prayer Room, establishing first a monthly then a weekly prayer meeting on Friday nights, and soon the creation of a beautiful Prayer Garden. God has been so faithful to answer our prayers throughout this process and we’re so, so grateful.

And in the midst of growing us into A House of Prayer, He’s also been revealing to us a new vision and a new assignment. It started a couple of years ago with a vision of Pressing in and Pressing on. Pressing in to a closer and closer relationship with God and Pressing on with the work that He’s given us to do.

Then, as an outgrowth of our most recent Prayer Conference we sensed God giving us a new, outwardly focused assignment. And He gave us a new daily prayer to guide us into that new assignment—God, lead me, today, to someone whose heart has been opened by you and let the Good News of Jesus shine through me. And with that new assignment our vision expanded from Pressing in and Pressing on to Pressing in, Pressing on and Going out!

And now, over the last few months, God has called us to focus on His glory. We’ve talked about declaring God’s glory and protecting God’s glory. We’ve seen that, in fact, we were saved for the purpose of making God’s glory known. And I sense that God has now given us the final component of His vision for us—Pressing in, Pressing On and Going out to the glory of God!

Now, this morning, I want to talk with you about why I believe that these Prayer Walks that we have recently begun to take through our surrounding neighborhoods are an important next step for us as God continues to grow Petaluma Valley into A House of Prayer and as we continue to follow the vision that God has given us.

The text we’re going to examine, today, is one we last studied a little over a year and a half ago. So, if some of this sounds familiar, it means that you’ve got a very good memory. But it’s worth revisiting this text because the lessons here are profound and because I want, today, to help you see an additional lesson that we didn’t even mention on our previous journey.

The text is 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 and as we’ll soon see, Paul is writing, here, to the Christians in Corinth specifically to ask them to pray for him.

Beginning in verse 8, Paul writes:

(8) “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. (9) Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.”

So, Paul is somewhere within the province of Asia doing the work that God had called him to do, in a thoroughly hostile environment. In fact, the suffering and the pressure were so intense that he realized that there was simply no way that he could endure it on his own. So, here is God’s faithful servant suffering to the extreme because of his faithful service.

Now, folks, why would God allow one of His most faithful servants to go through such extreme hardship and suffering? Where’s the purpose in that?

Let’s read on. Returning to verse 8, Paul writes,

(8) We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. (9) Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”

Paul says, “Times are tough and I’m suffering. But I’m not suffering in vain. God is working through my suffering to free me from self-reliance and lead me to complete dependence on Him. God is using the present hardships in my life to reveal my weakness and demonstrate His strength. God wants to demonstrate in my life the same power that He used to raise Jesus from the dead.”

Folks, there is a great lesson for us there, namely, that God often works through our suffering and our adversities to free us from self-reliance so that we can experience the joy and the power of God-reliance. Let me see if I can say the same thing in a slightly different way: God’s works through our neediness to draw us closer to Him.

Now, let’s return to the text. Beginning in verse 9, Paul writes, Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (10) He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us…

So Paul’s move from self-reliance to God-reliance is now expressing itself in two very practical ways: he’s depending upon God for the provision of his present needs and he is hoping in God for the provision of his future needs. It’s a confident hope built on his previous experiences with God. “He has delivered us…and he will deliver us.”

And, folks, that will become our testimony as well as we move self-reliance to God-reliance.

So, Paul is experiencing a level of hardship so intense that he is genuinely concerned for his life. And he knows that the most important thing he can do in such circumstances is to depend completely on God. So what does a man of God do in such a situation? He turns to his Christian friends and says, “Pray for me like you’ve never prayed before.”
Beginning in verse 10 he writes, “On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, (11) as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.”

Now, I want to walk back through these 4 verses and summarize what we’ve learned about what I call, “the life-cycle of intercessory prayer.”

It begins with the awareness of a need. That’s Phase 1. Paul was in trouble and he knew it.

And Paul recognized that his help and hope were in God, so he reached out to his brothers and sisters in Christ…he reached out to the church…and he asked them to pray for him. That’s Phase 2. “Please, pray for me.”

And they did. The prayers of the people on his behalf are Phase 3.

And, folks, when we pray our prayers don’t just disappear into the air. God hears and answers our prayers. And that’s Phase 4. God actually moves and acts in response to our prayers. He pours out blessings of grace and mercy and comfort and strength and healing and deliverance and provision because we’ve prayed.

And when many people hear of a need and many people respond with their prayers, when God answers those prayers, many people see that God is a mighty God. And that’s Phase 5. The eyes of many are opened to the reality of our wonder working God and the hearts of many are encouraged by the faithfulness of God.

And because many eyes have been opened and many hearts have been encouraged many prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving are poured out to God. And that’s Phase 6. God receives praise, honor and glory because many people saw Him answer their prayers.

And, folks, as we’ve seen so clearly in recent weeks, that, for us, is what life is all about. We exist to give glory to God. To declare His glory. To protect His glory. To make His glory known.

Folks, that is simply an amazing reality for us to wrap our minds around. Our prayers can become the vehicle that transforms a point of human need into a visible declaration of the glory of God.

Now, with that picture still fresh in your minds let me ask you this question: What could happen to stop that 6 phase process from being completed? If all 6 of those things happen, a point of human need is transformed into a declaration of the glory of God. My question is—What kinds of things could happen to prevent that process from being completed and therefore eliminate what could have been a declaration of God’s glory?

Let me quickly identify 3 things.

The first, is this: if God stops listening to and answering our prayers, that incredible process grinds to an immediate halt. If God suddenly decides that He doesn’t want to hear about our needs anymore, that process is stopped in its tracks. But the good news, here, is that we can eliminate that concern altogether because God’s word repeatedly assures us that God delights in answering the prayers of His people.

Hebrews 4:16, for instance, says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

The second thing that could happen to stop this process from moving to completion is that we could fail to pray. If God’s people don’t pray, this process is thwarted before it ever gets off the ground. And God repeatedly warns us about that very thing in is His word.

How’s this for succinct? James 4:2 says simply, “You do not have because you do not ask God.”

–So, if God stops listening to and answering our prayers this process stops…but that’s not going to happen.

–And, if God’s people don’t pray this process stops…and that could happen, but it doesn’t have to. We can guard against that. We can encourage each other and remind each other to pray and pray and keep on praying.

But it strikes me that there’s a third thing that could happen to stop this process from moving to completion…a third thing that could rob God of the glory that He deserves…and this one is really insidious. This amazing process can transform a point of human need into a declaration of God’s glory.

…What if that need is happening in the life of a person who doesn’t know that God is real, doesn’t know that God is powerful, doesn’t know that God loves them and doesn’t know that God delights in answering our prayers?

Think about that. If the need is happening in the life of a person who doesn’t know God then this whole process is undone before it ever begins. Even though the need that could be transformed into a declaration of God’s glory is present…it’s not going to happen because the need exists in the life of a person who doesn’t pray and doesn’t ask other people to pray for them because they don’t know God.

So, the people suffer with needs that God is capable of alleviating. And God is denied the glory that He could and would have received if only they’d asked for His help.

—But what if one Friday night some people from the church right around the corner went on a prayer walk through the very neighborhood where that needy person who doesn’t know God lives?

—And what if one of the people on that prayer walk walked past the very house where that needy person who doesn’t know God lives?

—And what if, as they were walking past that house, they sensed a prompting from God to pray for the person living there? A person they don’t even know. A person with a need about which they are completely unaware. But what if they prayed anyway?

“God, I don’t know who lives in this house and I don’t know what their needs may be but I want to pray for them, right now, just because I’m sensing that You want me to. God, even though I don’t know their need, I know You do and I know that You are fully capable of providing for it. So, Father, for Your glory, bless them. For Your glory, pour out Your love on them. For Your glory draw them to yourself. Thank You, Father, for inviting me to pray for them. I lift this prayer in the name of Jesus.”

Question: Do you believe that God could prompt one of His children to offer up a prayer like that?

Question: Do you believe that God would be pleased if His people loved Him and loved their neighbors enough to pray like that?

Question: Do you believe that it would be consistent with the heart of God to answer a prayer like that?

Last Question: Do you believe that answering a prayer like that could bring God glory?

So do I. And that’s why we’re going to continue to take prayer walks through our neighborhood.
Pressing in. Pressing on. Going out…to pray for our neighbors…to the glory of God.