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Praying to Our God

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My sermon, Praying To Our God, from Psalm 34 is online.  This sermon, which served to kick off our church’s Week of Prayer, sought to encourage us to be a people of prayer by showing that God gives joy, listens to our prayers and comes near to help us.  We distributed our Week of Prayer devotionals and had an enjoyable morning looking heavenward for help.  I trust you had a glorious Lord’s Day kicking off the New Year.

Weekend Preview – Psalm 34

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For the next couple of Sundays, Crestview will be looking at Psalm 34.  This coming Lord’s Day, in particular, we will be thinking about prayer in this Psalm.  Those who cry to the Lord are heard.  We are called to praise. There is so much for us.  Over on Twitter, I’ve been tweeting meditations on these verses.  I would encourage you to read this Psalm and think about what it means for your prayer life.  If you are interested in some of our Week of Prayer resources, they are available here.

The Gospel Brings You Into “A New Family”

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…so says Tullian Tchividjian:

“You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,” Paul said. In other words, when God adopts us, we not only gain a Father, we gain a whole new family: the Church. The biblical word for “church” does not mean a building or institution, it means “the called out ones.” It refers to those whom God calls out of slavery and into sonship. The Church, in other words, is people: people adopted by God, people who know God as their heavenly Father. When God saves sinners he saves them into a whole new community — the “family of God.” As Frank Colquhoun wrote in his book Total Christianity, “When Christ saves a man he not only saves him from his sin, he saves him from his solitude.” He brings us into meaningful fellowship with others who will help us along the way in our relationship with God. [a meditation from Tullian’s book Do I Know God?]

This theme of adoption is a key component of our Week of Prayer emphasis. I hope you are encouraged today by what God has done to give us access to Himself in prayer.

Wrap Up on Prayer

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Today’s sermon, which was overview from Colossians on Prayer, is now online. This sermon helped to serve our church by kicking off the Week of Prayer. We were encouraged to pray:

– gratefully
– for growth
– for the Gospel’s progress
and – with discipline

I was encouraged by the example of Epaphras in Colossians 4:12, who of whom it was said his prayers were striving for the growth of others. I hope you practice prayer this week and you are encouraged to depend on God for all things in 2010.