Chris and I are not only friends, but we currently have the opportunity to serve in a ministry together, called MatchPoint. Our friend, Ronnie McBrayer, is the founder of the ministry and Chris will be employed part-time by MatchPoint and serve as Mission Coordinator. I have the privilege to serve as the President of the Board of Directors.
Just a couple of things MatchPoint is currently up to:
This young lady, named Kelly, is the widowed mother of three children. Her husband was in an accident a few years ago and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He recovered physically, but the injury gave him a form of mental illness. Earlier this year he took his own life after months of addictions, etc. An anonymous donor has attempted to pay off her mortgage but has been unable to find a way to do so. This lady’s church was afraid to involve themselves because of repercussions in the congregation and fear of the IRS. MatchPoint is set up for just these situations.
MatchPoint will represent the donor and retire this lady’s mortgage ($140K) and pay a large portion of the Hazardous Material cleanup.
MatchPoint is a contender in Pepsi”™s Good for the Gulf program, which will award 1.3 millions dollars to charities on the Gulf Coast to benefit the region. MatchPoint is competing for $25,000 from the program and will provide mental health services and counseling to those in need. MatchPoint works to match people with specific needs with the right resources to achieve their goals. MatchPoint needs support in the form of votes to secure funding. Those interested in supporting MatchPoint can log onto the Pepsi Refresh site to vote everyday this month through August 31, 2010. Visit: www.gulf.refresheverything.com/matchpoint.
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CRCF””8/29/10
ME
I was up till almost 1:00 a.m. this morning. Most parents want their kids to talk to them about everything, don”™t you, Mom and Dad? It rarely happens that way, though””especially with teenagers. Right? Well, last night was a double-header for us. Two of our teenagers decided it was the night to talk about some pretty big stuff in their lives. Now, I have to admit that I was less coherent during conversation #2, which actually occurred today, after the stroke of midnight. Robin was the main parent involved in that one! But it was a great night! We went to bed feeling good that our kids had come to us to talk about stuff.
Why don”™t I do that with my Ultimate Father?
WE
What keeps YOU from talking to your Ultimate Father about stuff?
I want to be a good Daddy. But I blow it””a lot.
But God, our Ultimate Father, NEVER blows it! He”™s the perfect Daddy! He always understands, never says the wrong thing, really listens all the time . . . and, get this, WANTS us to talk to Him about it all!
Last night, get this–I even think my kids listened to what we had to say! And that”™s cool””because our experience in life can keep them from having to learn the hard way.
The same is true with God, isn”™t it? There”™s power in prayer. God acts on our behalf””He shows us the right way, He changes circumstances, He strengthens us to go through junk in life . . . and on and on.
Talking to Your Daddy
James 5:13-18
When we talk to our Father, He will work in our lives in answer to prayer.
GOD
James 5:13-18 (NLT)
13 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray.
I think James has the trials these folks were facing in mind here””the stuff of James 1:2-7. And there, James told us to ask God for wisdom in the middle of our trials. Here, James is just reiterating the same thing””he”™s about to wrap up his letter, and he”™s basically saying, “Talk to your Father about it all!”
Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.
Singing praises is a form of prayer, because we sing our worship and adoration and love to God.
14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
What”™s the deal on verses 14-15? Is this stuff real today? We here at Cross Road believe it is. We simply do what it says here, when requested by someone. The oil referred to here is probably olive oil, which was medicinal in that day, as well as serving as a symbol of the Holy Spirit”™s power in our lives. Our elders have prayed for and anointed with oil many folks, including my wife. So, yes, it”™s for us today.
Is this an absolute promise that God WILL ALWAYS heal? NO! Robin is still fighting cancer. God reserves the right to be God when we pray. Our Scripture reading at the beginning of the service is the ultimate example of how God”™s will and our prayers are supposed to link up.
Matthew 26:39, 42-44 (NLT)
39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
42 Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn”™t keep their eyes open.
44 So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.
No one has ever had a more perfect faith and trust in God than Jesus. No one has ever known how to pray better than Jesus. And yet, Jesus says””I want to skip this, but, Father, I want YOUR will more. And guess what happens? The Father”™s will””the Crucifixion.
James himself has already taught us a similar truth in this letter.
James 4:13-16 (New Living Translation)
13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog””it”™s here a little while, then it”™s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.
Luke 11:2-3 (New King James Version)
2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
However, God certainly CAN and DOES heal. The point is this””we ARE to obey and pray, submitting to the perfect will of God for our lives.
(Quickly discuss Linda Siniard”™s healing and then lack of later).
“God heals, faith doesn”™t, and all prayers are subject to God”™s will. But our prayer are part of God”™s healing process. That is why God often waits for our prayers of faith before intervening to heal a person.” (NIV Study Bible, 2098).
16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
Sometimes there IS a connection between sickness and sin””but NOT always.
1 Corinthians 11:29-30 (New Living Translation)
29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God”™s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
John 9:3 (New Living Translation)
3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents”™ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.
Sometimes sickness is just simply a fact of life in a fallen and broken world.
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17 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! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
God takes prayer seriously! Our Father wants us to talk to Him!
And he wants us to pray “earnestly”””intensely, pouring our heart out believing that He really cares and is powerful enough to answer!
Hebrews 11:6 (New Living Translation)
6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Also, to pray earnestly means to be persistent in prayer.
Luke 18:1-8 (New Living Translation)
1 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 2 “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ”˜Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.”™ 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ”˜I don”™t fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I”™m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!”™”
6 Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don”™t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
When we talk to our Father, He will work in our lives in answer to prayer.
YOU
Do YOU talk to your Daddy about the stuff of life? Do you believe that God wants you to and that He has all power to answer according to His will?
When we talk to our Father, He will work in our lives in answer to prayer.
Deuteronomy 4:7 (New Living Translation)
7 For what great nation has a god as near to them as the LORD our God is near to us whenever we call on him?
Psalm 50:15 (New Living Translation)
15 Then call on me when you are in trouble,
and I will rescue you,
and you will give me glory.”
Your Daddy wants you to talk to Him!
When we talk to our Father, He will work in our lives in answer to prayer.
WE
I wonder, what would our Father do for us, through us, among us, if we simply talked to Him about stuff more consistently?
Jim Cymbala
Satan”™s main strategy with God”™s people has always been to whisper, ”˜Don”™t call, don”™t ask, don”™t depend on God to do great things. You”™ll get along fine if you just rely on your own cleverness and energy.”™
Ephesians 3:20-21 (New King James Version)
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Celebration of the Lord”™s Supper