Sermons from Good News: Let’s pray for each other.

In just under a week, our church is moving to a new location. For the last four years, we've been meeting in a sort of makeshift office area in a, well, office building behind another church building. And if I'm understanding my church's history correctly, this is just the tip of the iceberg. We've been gathering as a church for a very long time, passing our 30th anniversary as a church just a few years ago, but have always rented out space to gather and praise God, and every so often have had to move to another location. I started dating my love right before COVID shut everything down, so I only really had a couple chances to visit my now-church (I was still attending my previous one) in their previous setup before everything changed.

The next part of this story is a testament as to how good God has been to this church. In 2019, one of my pastor's friends (who also was a pastor), passed away. Prior to his passing he promised us his church building, as he had not really had anyone appointed to take over his church. That part of the story is sad, as that church essentially folded (from what I heard) and its congregants had to go find another church. But the joy of it is that our church gets to inhabit that space and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in that location.

Attaining this property and getting it ready for our use did not come without bumps and bruises, though. For a few years there was a lien on the property that our leadership needed to push through. Once that issue was settled, we actually got to debut the space for a few short services around the holidays (this would have been a couple years ago by this point). Then, the renovations began. Forecasting how long those would take was anyone's guess. At the beginning of this month, the renovated space passed its final inspections. Although there are still a few small things to be done, we've reached the point of finally having a "forever home," which is going to be a great blessing.

I wasn't around at my previous church when they underwent a similar process almost twenty years ago. They had been meeting in the auditorium at the local high school for however long. Their pastors searched for places that they could gather, and they even had a location where the process of moving their church there seemed to be proceeding along, only for it to be denied at the 11th hour. Another long and exhausting search later, they ended up moving to a former (not "abandoned") warehouse building which had more space than they could dream of, plus a larger parking lot than they ever could have imagined. I began attending a few years later, and from the time I first started going until the time I left, they managed to fill up the space as new ministry needs arose.

He does come through! Lord God, I believe; help my unbelief!

Church 11/20/2024

*Note: Our pastor used almost exclusively the New Living Translation in his Bible citations for this message and made a point about it. He often led with the NLT of the mentioned verse and then would go back to the King James Version. Since the New King James Version is my current preferred translation, I will use it for all citations following the NLT (except for a couple passages where he went straight to the KJV). Personally, I find this way of quoting from Scripture intriguing, as it can allow for an immediate greater understanding of what God is saying in that verse.

Sermon message:


Thesis: Let’s pray for each other.


Point #1: God cares about you.


1 Peter 5:7

NLT: Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 

 

NKJV: casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

God knows all about you.


1 Thessalonians 5:23

NLT: Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

NKJV: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He cares about all parts of you.


Point#2: We can be vessels of God.


God wants this.


James 5:16

NLT: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 

 

NKJV: Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Pray for each other so that you may be healed.


Those who have Jesus’s righteousness, their prayers are powerful.


James 5:17

NLT: Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 

 

NKJV: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.

Elijah is the example used as a righteous man whose prayers were powerful and were answered.


The point is you don’t have to be perfect. Elijah was a fallible human like we are. But he trusted God with all his heart. That’s the point.


Description of Elijah’s prayers:
1 Kings 18:36-38

NKJV: And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”

Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

But lest we think Elijah must’ve been a perfect man of God:
1 Kings 19:1-4

NKJV: And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

Elijah was afraid and discouraged.


Point #3: Our righteousness is of God.


It’s not of our own doing.


James 5:16

NLT: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 

 

NKJV: Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Romans 5:1

NLT: Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 

 

NKJV: Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 3:22

NLT: We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 

 

NKJV: even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;

2 Corinthians 5:21

NLT: For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 

 

NKJV: For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Point #4: Vessels need vessels.


Paul prayed for others but also asked them to pray for him also.


Romans 15:30

NLT: Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit. 

 

NKJV: Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me,

2 Corinthians 1:11

NLT: And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety.

NKJV: you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many. 

Ephesians 6:18-19

NLT: Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. 

 

NKJV: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Philippians 1:19

NLT: For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.

NKJV: For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

Colossians 4:2-4

NLT: Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.

NKJV: Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.

2 Thessalonians 3:1

NLT: Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you.

NKJV: Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you,

1 Thessalonians 5:25

NLT: Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us.

NKJV: Brethren, pray for us.

Note after the sermon message: After the service, we prayed as a church for a couple people. A man who used to partner with our church in the past passed away suddenly over the previous week, and two of our church members (a husband and wife) were regular ministry partners with him and his wife. It was a sweet time of corporate prayer and getting to participate in it.