Tonight If I were to ask you who do you think the most valuable people in this church are, I’m sure we would have a vary of answers.
Some would say, the givers. Those who sacrifice and give financially so the work of God continues to go forward.
And I thank God for everyone who gives so faithfully in the offerings week after week.
Others would say, the most valuable people in this church are the workers, the teachers, the Children church leaders, and Kiddie church staff, Those are the most valuable.
And it is true that are important I can’t imagine preaching with all those extra kids in the service each week.
And I want to just take a moment and say a big thank you to all of you who work in one of those ministries.
But as I got to thinking about the growth of our church and all that God is doing for us. And as I evaluate the last several months. I want to tell you that the most valuable people in this church, are those who have covenanted together to pray for me as their pastor and this church.
I believe that one of the keys to what God is doing for us stems from the fact that many of you pray for me and this church daily.
Also, I believe that the group that meets here every Saturday night and prays for the services on Sunday and before we leave that group lays hands me and prays for God’s blessing and anointing on my ministry.
So, tonight, I submit to you that the most valuable people in this church are those who will commit themselves to praying for the pastor.
I want to talk to you tonight about the importance of praying for your pastor and this church.
I want to begin by looking at Exodus 17 and verse 8
Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
9 And Moses said to Joshua, "Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand."
10 So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11 And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
In these verses we find that Aaron and Hur stood beside Moses and held up the hands of their leader. As long as they held up his hands God moved and the enemy was defeated.
Now covenanting together in prayer with the pastor is nothing new. In fact in Acts chapters 1 & 2 we find that 120 people gathered in an upper room and prayed for 10 days.
At the end of those 10 days, Peter went out filled with the Holy Spirit, preached for 3 minutes and 3,000 souls were saved.
Today, we pray for 3 minutes, preach for 10 days and many times not even 3 souls get saved.
So lay people partnering in prayer with godly leaders is not a new concept.
Let me just share a few events with you:
The preacher was Charles Finney
The year was 1830
The place was Rochester, NY
The results was in one year 1,000 of the 10,000 population of Rochester came to know Christ.
Finney’s prayer partner was a man by the name of Abel Clarey.
Finney wrote, Mr. Clarey continued as long as I did and did not leave until after I had left. He never appeared ih public, but gave himself wholly to prayer.
I read of Charles Spurgeon, who saw great results in his ministry, thousands came every Sunday to hear him preach and the whole country side was effected by his ministry.
One day some one came and visited what was known as Spurgeon’s Tabernacle and ask Mr. Spurgeon, what is the secret of your great ministry?
Mr. Spurgeon replied, I can show you the secret, meet me at the Tabernacle early on Sunday morning.
That Sunday, the visitor met Mr. Spurgeon and he took him to a trap door behind the pulpit, as he lifted it, it opened into a room beneath the platform there over 100 people gathered and were praying for their pastor as he would preach that day. He said, that is the secret!
It is Max Lucado who has said, When we work, we work, but when we pray God works.
I am convinced that God’s hand moves when people and pastor pray together.
Through prayer God makes the impossible, possible.
It is through prayer that God greatly multiplies our efforts.
I wonder what would happen here if we had a number of people who covenant together to cover the people around them in the service in prayer.
Again, I thank God for the 8 or 10 that meet with me on Saturday evenings for prayer and lay their hands upon me asking God to bless me as I preach.
But, I would like to challenge every single one of you to covenant with these 8 or 10 to be a prayer partner with your pastor.
I would to God that we would have at 25 or 30
Let me tell you what I really would like to see.
I would that there would be at least 7 people who would covenant together so that every day of week there would be someone praying for me and for the ministry here.
It would be great if there were 21 or 35 people so we could have 3 to 5 people each day praying for the church and the pastor.
What do you think would happen if there was a couple of people everyday of the week, and they took that day to pray for this church and the pastor?
I mean your day was Tuesday each week and all day long you held the pastor up in pray and you prayed for this church? What do you think would happen?
Let me share with you first of all:
I. What Prayer Will Do
Prayer changes us. It changes the ordinary man or woman and makes them extraordinary.
Prayer changes us by drawing us closer to God, Changing and molding us into His likeness in the process.
David understood prayer’s power as a personal change agent.
In fact his prayer in Psalms 25 verses 4 - 5 describes the process that prayer takes a person through:
Show me thy ways, 0 LORD; teach me thy paths.
5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
These verses contain 3 key phrases: Show me, teach me, Lead me.
When we pray God shows us His standard and His will for our lives, and He isn’t always easy on us.
But once we will accept what God would show us, He is able to teach us. And when we are teachable and growing He is finally able to lead us into His plan and purpose.
You see, when God shows me, He has my heart.
When God teaches me, He has my mind.
When God leads me, He has my hand.
However, despite God’s promise of the power of prayer to change us and our world, many Christians never tap into it.
They come to Christ for salvation, but they live their Christian lives beneath their privileges.
It’s as if God has prepared a huge banquet for them and they are sitting in a corner with their bologna sandwich.
Let me just stop and ask us tonight, are we living beneath our privileges and missing out on our potential by not praying?
You see, the table has all been set, we have received the invitation. But now what are we going to do?
Are we going to gather a few friends and come to the table, or are we going to eat our bologna sandwich alone in a corner?
Oh, I am convinced that God can do far more for us than we could ever imagine.
In fact a verse that you will hear me quote often is Ephesians 3:20
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
God wants to do for us as a Church far more than we can ever imagine and I believe it will only happen as we covenant together for prayer.
Dr. Wilbur Chapman tells of his experience when he went to Philadelphia to become the pastor of the great Wanamaker Church.
After his first sermon, and old gentleman met him in front of the pulpit and said, You are pretty young to be the pastor of this great church. We have always had older pastors. But you preach the gospel, and I am going to help you all I can.
Dr. Chapman looked at that old man and thought, what an old crank.
But the old gentleman continued. I am going to pray for you that you will have the Holy Spirit’s power upon you, and there are two others who have covenanted to join with me.
Dr. Chapman said, I was then humbled as I realized this man was going to pray for me.
The 3 soon became 10, the 10 became 20 the 20 became 50, and the 50 became 200, who met before every service to pray that the Holy Spirit would come upon their pastor as he preached and pastored the church.
In another room, 18 men met with Dr. Chapman and surrounded him with prayer.
He said, I always went to the pulpit feeling that I would have the anointing as an answer to the prayers of 219 people.
What was the result?
1,100 people got saved in 3 years, all as an answer to 219 people who gathered before every service and prayed for their pastor.
What an incredible impact a church can make when its people pray!
That brings me to the second thing:
II. Five Prayer Request For Our Church
Just hours before Jesus was crucified He prayed a special prayer for all believers. We find it in John 17: 8
"For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.
9 "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.
10 "And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 ¶ "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.
12 "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 "But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
16 "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17 ¶ "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
18 "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
19 "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
20 ¶ "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
21 "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
22 "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
23 "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
24 ¶ "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Jesus’ prayer for the church is an excellent model for us to follow when we pray for our church and pastor.
It can be summarized as five prayer request:
1. Pray that people would sense the glory of God.
We find this in verse 22: "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them.
The word glory in the Greek means the visible manifestation of the splendor, power and radiance of God.
So when Jesus prayed these words, His desire is that when we meet together that we would continually sense the splendor, power and radiance of God in our midst.
You see, when God’s presence meets with us, we are lifted up spiritually and that is when great things begin to happen.
Too, many Christian come to service preoccupied with their problems or focused on what they can get from the service instead of what they can give to it.
But when people focus on God and give Him glory, He comes and makes the church a place of power.
I believe that when a church really worships, and when people really seek to please God and have fellowship with Him and other believers, it draws non believers like a magnet.
You see, the real value of any church is not its facilities, its pastor nor its program. A church only has value when Jesus is meeting with them. That’s what makes the difference!
In fact Jesus Himself told us, When I am lifted up I will draw all men unto myself
2. Pray That We Would Follow The Word of God
We find this in verse 8: For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them,
When people in a church are continually studying and learning the Word of God, they begin to change.
As people realize that the Word of God is relevant to them, their lives take on new meaning, their values change.
When the disciples received the words of Jesus, it gave their lives meaning, motivation, and a mission. That’s what Jesus desired for His disciples and that’s what He desires for us today.
3. Pray that we would be united in the love of God.
Jesus prayed this in verse 23, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Jesus prayed for all believers to be unified through love. Do you know why?
Because Spirit filled Christians united in love and guided by a purpose they truly believe in can do anything!
They can shake the very gates of Hell.
But when a church is divided it is almost powerless. It can’t take care of its own people and it can’t be an effective witness to people in the community.
Thank God for the unity that we have here, but as God continues to move and things happen, Satan will try to divide us. So let’s pray that we will be united in the love of God.
4. Pray that we would go forth in the mission of God.
Jesus prayed this in verses 17 & 18:
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
The word sanctify here means to be set apart and equipped for a special mission.
What is that mission? That we might leave the four walls of this church and go back into the world with the Good News of How Jesus Christ loves sinners and died for them.
Oh, we need to pray that we never lose sight of that as a church. That we never forget the very reason why we exist. All that we do, is for one reason: So that we might win the lost to Christ!
5. Pray that we would experience the joy of God.
Look at verse 13: But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.
Jesus said that He wants us to have His full measure of Joy.
What gives a church Joy?
Obedience to God in the things Jesus talked about gives joy:
Giving God glory,
following His Word,
being united in love,
and carrying out His mission.
And all of these are only possible as we pray together for our church and pastor.
I believe that our church can be transformed and we can reach our potential, but it will only come through prayer. Through men & women covenanting together to meet together for prayer.
Thank God for those who have been doing that on Saturday night. But I am praying that God would give us many more people. Would you be one of them?
Would you covenant to pray for your pastor and your church? Would you meet Saturday night and spend time in prayer?
Would you lift up the church and your pastor throughout the week?
Remember when we work, we work, But when we pray, God works
