Good Morning!
Today’s message is a
little unconventional. The inspiration came at 5:30 in the morning, while I was
at work trying not to fall asleep. The only way I can stay awake sometimes, is
to listen to music. And yes, today’s message is in music.
My life revolves around
music. You can ask my parents, there is always music playing in my room, my
car, or from my iPod. I listen to a little bit of everything, but my favorite
kind of music is contemporary Christian.
My dad tells me that he
can’t tell the difference sometimes between my Christian music and other types
of music. The difference isn’t in the sound, that’s the point; contemporary
Christian music is designed to fit all tastes of music style. The only
difference is in the words.
Instead of drugs, sex, and money, it is Jesus, God, and
Prayer.
I just ask you to give
this a chance. Consider this a Youth Sunday where everything is a little
different. Please have that Methodist open mind, we say we have.
This
song is called: “What if His People Prayed?”
by my favorite group, Casting Crowns.
I ask that you listen,
and listen to the words, they’re the important part. I am going to read the
words to you after you hear it; to be sure you get it!
(PLAY SONG)
What if the armies of the Lord
Picked up and dusted off their swords
Vowed to set the captive free
And not let Satan have one more
What if the Church, for heaven’s sake
Finally stepped up to the plate
Took a stand upon God’s promise
And stormed Hell’s rusty gates
What if His people prayed?
And those who bear His name
Would only seek His faith
And turn from their old ways
And what would happen if we prayed
For those raised up to lead the way
Then maybe kids in school could pray
And unborn children see light of day
What if the light that we pursue
Came from a hunger for the truth
What if the family turned to Jesus?
Stopped asking Oprah what to do
What if His people prayed?
And those who bear His name
Would only seek His face
And turn from their own way
He said that He would hear
His promise has been made
He’ll answer loud and clear
If only we would pray
If My people call by My name
If they’ll humble themselves and pray
If My people call by My name
If they’ll humble themselves and pray
Then the chorus plays
again.
This song spoke to me
in a weird way, and I still can’t believe that this is the message God wanted
me to give to you today. This message isn’t just for you it is for me too. If I
went through all of this without including me, it would be very hypocritical of
me. I’m terrible, and I mean terrible about remembering to pray. Unless, of
course, I need something, need to complain, or something amazing happens. I am
also the LAST person to volunteer to pray in a group. If you noticed I got
Leslie to pray the prayers for me today. I’m big on silent prayer or at least
not group prayer, and I always wonder how people know what to say when they are
in a group.
I also don’t pray the
conventional way we are taught in church, it just doesn’t really work for me. I
saw someone give a sermon once on prayer, and they said you didn’t have to
kneel down and fold your hands and close your eyes. That’s a wonderful way to
teach kids, they’re easily distracted, and it gives them a model to follow. But
as I’ve gotten older and closer to God, I realized that I didn’t have to kneel
at my bed every night to pray, I could do it in bed, or in the shower, while
I’m walking down the stairs, and in my
car (and I pray in my car a lot). If you walked by me while I was praying you would
probably think that I was talking to myself. So I urge you if conventional
prayer is not working for you, and you think that it is the only way to pray,
try something new. Just talk to God, and I mean literally just talk, but make
sure you’re ready to listen, and that’s generally the harder part. Kara now
understands this. One night last semester she was struggling with past family
issues, she just couldn’t get over, I asked her if she had prayed and she said
it never works, I’m bad at praying. But she isn’t bad at talking!
None of us are. The
moment she started talking, sure it was ranting and raving, and a lot of tears,
things started to change in her. I haven’t really asked her about her prayer
life since then, but I do know that, for the first time in her life, she now
has a true relationship with Jesus. It started that night in my car when she
let go and let God. She always knew he was there but that night he became real.
The line in the song:
“What if the family
turned to Jesus and stopped asking Oprah what to do.”
Now I wrote this sermon
before all the news about Oprah and her version of Christianity came out, so
I’m not going into that today.
But Oprah, Dr. Phil, or
any other person we turn to for all of the answers that our hearts are seeking
can make great assumptions, but true answers lie in our creator. Oprah is human
just like we are, she obviously doesn’t know all of the answers, especially
when it comes to God, no one on this Earth does. We are a society of instant
gratification, when we should be waiting and listening quietly. God has the
answers we are looking for. They’re not always the answers we want but they’re
the ones we truly need. And we don’t need all of the answers to all of life’s
questions. God will reveal to us, when it is time, what he knows we need to
know.
God doesn’t speak to us
with burning bushes, or like I am speaking to you today, it sure would be nice
if he did, but he does speak in other ways. It would be amazing to hear the
booming voice of God in the middle of the night calling us to serve him. His
ways of speaking are not so obvious anymore. We have to listen. So the part of
prayer we seem to lack in is listening. Prayer equals talking to God right?
Sure but that is only
half of it. We can talk all we want, but if we don’t stop and listen then what
good have we done? God loves to hear your voice, and he cares about everything
we have to say. But he has a lot to tell us too. If we never listened to our
parents and teachers how could we have learned anything? It is the same with
God. We have to listen to what he has to say.
Now I know that we have
some true prayer warriors here in this room and we’ve seen the power of prayer.
But can you imagine if every person in this church was a prayer warrior? How
about if every Christian in Arkansas City was a warrior? Cowley County? Kansas?
The United States? If every Christian in the world was a true prayer warrior,
there would be no chance for the Devil to leave his mark. He would be cowering
in fear. Prayer is the last thing he wants. And he is great at causing us to be
too busy to pray.
When you’re too busy,
too tired, too angry, and too undeserving, that is when you need to talk to God
the most. So I pray and I truly do, that you take this message to heart, it
came from mine, and pray. Pray without ceasing.
This quote comes from
one of my friend’s Facebook “To pray does not mean to think about God in
contrast to thinking about other things, to spend time with God instead of
spending time with other people. Rather it means to think and live in the
presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts into thoughts about
God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life and
put him in a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and
experience pious feelings.
Prayer can only become
unceasing prayer when all our thought – beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud
or shameful, sorrowful or joyful – can be thought in the presence of God. The
main question is not so much what we think, but to whom we present our
thoughts”
That quote sums it all
up for me and I hope it helps you too!
Prayer is powerful!
And Powerful prayer can move mountains,
Mainly the mountains in people’s hearts
and souls
So pray, pray, pray!
Benediction:
May the Lord bless you and keep you. The
Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Turn his face towards
you and give you peace. Out into the world we go.
