Archive for March, 2010

Public Prayer of Confession

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

As we are studying the book of Nehemiah, there are a couple places where he prays on behalf of the Israelite Community.  As part of the sermon this last week the Worship Arts team put together a Community Prayer of Confession which is posted below.  It is a combination of Scripture and heartfelt confession and repentance.

O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, You keep Your covenant of love with those who love You and obey Your commands.  (Neh 1) Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.  Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.  The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over mighty waters.  The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic… The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness.  (Ps 29)  Your love reaches to the heavens and Your faithfulness to the skies.  Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the great deep.  How precious is Your unfailing love!  Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.  (Ps 36)  Save us, O God, by Your name; vindicate us by Your might.  Hear our prayers, O God; listen to the words of our mouths.  (Ps 54:1-2)

·        We’re selfish—we follow our instincts to satisfy ourselves, when You’ve asked us to regard the needs of others above our own.

·        We’re gluttonous (food, lifestyles, pornography, entertainment, clothes).  We confess  wanting to take everything in excess; we indulge in our wants and overlook our needs and those of others.

·        We are moved by trendy giving instead of giving continuously and out of a giving heart.

·        We worry about the forms of worship instead of the true heart of worship.  We are more concerned with what the church can do for us instead of what we can do for the church.

·        In a society of very little persecution, we’re still afraid to defend our faith and the glory of Your name.  We’re afraid that if we speak up, we’ll hurt our reputation.

·        We fail to respect our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit.  We’re sexually impure: masturbation, pornography, sex outside of marriage, lustful thoughts.  We allow mental contamination by forsaking the word of truth that You’ve given us and instead chasing the diluted teachings of the philosophers of this age.

·        We’re complacent.  When You call us to fast, we come up with physical limitations.  When You call us to pray, we facebook and clean the house and watch TV.

·        We live in regret instead of grace.

·        We hold grudges instead of forgiveness.  When we do forgive, it hinges on our own conditions.

·        We disrespect those leaders that You’ve put over us—leaders in government, the church, and our employers.

·        We get drunk.

·        We gossip and alienate people instead of acting as a unified body of Christ.  We include only those we like and only those we comfortably “connect with” and forget what true fellowship is.  We no longer view church as the body of Christ and instead view it as a social outlet.

·        “…if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that You, God, find our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased.” –c.s. lewis

God, in spite of all this and because of all this, we recognize Your grace and You abounding love that forgives us.

Have mercy on us, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out our transgressions.  Was away all our iniquity and cleanse us from our sins.  For we know our transgressions, and our sin is always before us.  Against You, You only, have we sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are proved right when you speak and justified when You judge.  Surely we were sinful at birth.  You desire truth in our inner parts; You teach us wisdom in the inmost places. Wash us, and we will be whiter than snow.  Let us hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed and rejoice.  Hide Your face from our sins and blot our all our iniquities.  Create in us a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within us.  Do not cast us from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from us.  Restore to us the joy of Your salvation and grant us a willing spirit to sustain us. (Ps 51)

O Lord, we pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servants and who delight in revering Your name.  (Neh 1:11)

Posted in Here's What I Think... | No Comments »

Tragedy

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Psalm 50:15 “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me”

___________________________

It seems like this is one of those times in life where tragedy pops up all over the place. A good friend of mine’s Dad just passed away; I recently went to a benefit for another friend of mine’s Dad who had a bicycle accident and is now a quadriplegic. Everything from marital issues to health problems; they seem to be everywhere.

In the face of pain and fear we become increasingly aware of the urgency of life. We begin to realize—with great conviction—that the woes of day to day living are empty! Not even worth our time. Why on earth would we bother being upset about a parking ticket if our family is in the middle of a crisis?

It’s sometimes difficult to understand this revelation when you’re in the middle of it. Usually you’re only concerned with what God has put right in front of you—and rightfully so. I think that’s my point. When we have nothing to be distraught over, and we have no reason NOT to trust in God, we constantly occupy our minds with “methods.” How do I make God a part of my daily life? What Scripture can I read to encourage me with this or that? But when we are faced with tragedy we become acutely aware of the strength of God. There’s no longer any room for us to just focus on ourselves. Our deepest desires go from simply being happy and healthy to finding peace and comfort in order to get through the mess we’re in! The methods get thrown out the window. As hard as it may be to understand, this is a huge gift! For example, the lives of our loved ones don’t become urgent to us when they are nearing an end. They always are! But it’s through death that we begin to understand that urgency.

But the ability to identify what is truly urgent also has a way of revealing our fear, anger, and confusion—among other things. While this is true, it’s often the terrors of life that bring out the absolute best in people. In times of distress we often feel most loved because people tend to go out of their way to make sure that’s the case. I believe that is because we were made in the image of God, and this type of love is a great passion of His.

God is a God of restoration. The entire Bible is the story of God bringing his people back to Himself. Moses brings the Israelites from slavery to the Promised Land; the prodigal comes back home; Jesus defeats death and rises again!

We will see our loved ones again, we will be made perfect, and we will personally have a part in God’s plans to redeem the world. All by the Grace of God! The need for faith is urgent. It is literally all that God asks of us! Our faith is our Hope, and Jesus is our promise. We serve a good God.

When there is absolutely nothing to do but trust in God, trust in God. Hold on tight to Him, and he will do what he does best!

Revelation 21:5- “And he who sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold I make all things new.’”

1 Corinthians 2:9- “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Posted in Encouragement | 2 Comments »