Pastor Paul Chappell: The Church at Prayer

would you take your Bible now turn to Philippians chapter 4 and we're excited about this message entitled the church at prayer and I want to speak to you tonight from one of my favorite passages and I hope that it will be a blessing to you as it has been to me now I want to say stand but I'm envisioning people in lots of different places and perhaps comfortable around the table so I'll just draw your attention to the passage tonight and follow with me as I read Philippians chapter 4 verse 5 let your moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus let's pray father would you draw our hearts and our attention to your word and would you teach us tonight how to live victoriously and prayerfully in such a time as this I pray and ask this in Jesus precious name Amen sometimes when we come into a time of natural disaster a time of national emergency there is a feeling that comes over us and it is a feeling of helplessness what can I do it seems so out of my control and sometimes people say to me around the church pastors are something that I can do and certainly there are many things we can do from the standpoint of ministering and helping others and witnessing but really when it comes to the coronavirus when it comes to the larger picture there is one great thing that we all can do and that is pray in fact when we work we work but when we pray God works I was thankful to receive a memo in my office yesterday afternoon from Washington DC and perhaps you heard as well that our president made a Proclamation for a National Day of Prayer today and presidents have done this historically when they recognize this is beyond their ability to manage their way out to manipulate their way out to lead their way out and today is one of those days when every Wise member of this church every wise citizen should heed the call of the scriptures and even today from our president who reminded us in this proclamation of first Peter 5 and 7 casting all your care upon him for he careth for you and also the quote was sent to me from Luke 1:37 for with God nothing shall be impossible do you believe that tonight with God nothing shall be impossible I was thankful to receive that Proclamation and I want to speak to you this evening about the importance of prayer because it is something that all of us can do even the Apostle Paul who wrote to the Philippians from a prison in Rome he recognized that one of the greatest things he could do for the church at Rome was to pray for them the Philippian church was established on Paul's second missionary journey it was this church that we learned about last Sunday morning that had been so responsive in sending a time and again to the needs of this missionary apostle and so as he writes to them he is reminding them of the great Christian tradition of Prayer and I think about this tradition I think about Acts chapter 1 as the early Christians went up to the Upper Room and they were told there to wait and to pray and the Lord Jesus had ascended up on high and the Bible tells us that those disciples gathered there and verse 14 of Acts chapter 1 says these all continued with one Accord in prayer and supplication with women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren and tonight it may be a mother and father and two or three children or it may be a widow at home alone listening to this message but I want you to know that no matter who you are no matter where you are that we have a God in heaven who wants to hear our prayer and answer our prayer according to his will tonight and so the Holy Ghost came upon those early believers in a time of prayer and here in our passage the Apostle Paul is calling us to moderation to a time of peacefulness and to a time of Prayer now let's take a peek into the life of this Philippian church and into the heart of the Apostle as he gives them God's counsel I want you to notice first of all the patience of these early believers they were being called to patience and I think all of us would agree that while we are facing a real medical crises we're also seeing much in the way of worry and hype and much in the way of panic in the hearts of many around our country fear is understandable it is even a natural response and there is something to be said for the fact that when we are being approached by an oncoming car we better have some fear there's something wrong if we don't but living in a state of fear is never the will of God for the Christian God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind and we see here the patience of these early believers and notice it in verse 5 Paul says to them let your moderation be known to all men now I want you to notice this word moderation it means to endure graciously so let me encourage moms and dads to endure graciously you're going to be at home for a little while longer than normal ladies your husband is going to be without sports for weeks and maybe months and this is going to be very difficult for him and you're gonna have to learn how to be gracious toward him and sometimes when people are together more than they're used to friction can come but the challenge is given to the church to endure with moderation the word moderation also means tenderness there are people today that that cannot even go shopping without being competitive and rude and unkind and there ought to be something about God's people that is evidencing the presence of the Holy Spirit of God that we as God's people have a graciousness a tenderness about us we stopped into Walmart just Friday evening we stopped at a Walmart Terry and I and she said I need to get some things it's gonna be a busy weekend and what a blessing as we turned around the corner of the paper products I wanted to just say we were the recipients of the last package of toilet paper I wanted to share that personal testimony health and prosperity gospel tonight and I thought about saying that whoever brings the most visitors next week could actually have this package of toilet paper but I don't know if we're having services next week but I'm telling you we saw some people in that Walmart that we're not exhibiting moderation in fact the man that was about 10 steps behind us he wasn't happy that we were able to purchase that product and what I want you to be challenged with this week whether you're at Northrop or Lockheed or whether you're at Walmart or on a construction site God is in control and let our moderation be seen and known throughout our community another definition for moderation I like it very much it says sweet reasonableness sweet reasonableness I want everybody watching the broadcast I want you to say that little phrase with me those two words sweet reasonableness ready begin sweet reasonableness all right everyone here with me tonight all four of you let's say it together shall we sweet reasonableness now God wants us to be sweet and reasonable let your moderation be known let your contented heart be known and all how we need to endure this time with the grace of God not only did the church endure graciously but they were challenged secondly to expect patiently they were to have a spirit of expectancy notice in verse 5 the phrase which says the Lord is at hand the Lord is at hand you see we as believers have a blessed hope we been living in the last day since the Lord Jesus ascended up into heaven and we believe that his coming is imminent and one of the reasons that we're not going to get psyched out or overly worried is because our ultimate hope is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord is at hand Hebrews 13 and verse 5 let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he have said I will never leave you and I will never forsake you so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man will do unto me oh what a wonderful God we serve tonight there need be no fear in our heart Psalm 73 and 28 but it is good for me to draw near to God I have put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all thy works and so tonight we see a challenge given to the church at Philippi I endure graciously sweet reasonableness endure with patience because the Lord is at hand and then they were encouraged they were encouraged continuously by this apostle notice in verse 6 the Bible says be careful for nothing be careful for nothing now this is another wonderful phrase the word be careful means to be anxious right so here's something we all need tonight be careful for nothing sometimes people wonder about the flu they wonder about food all of these things are things that can come into our mind but God says let's not allow it to fill us up let me challenge you when you feel your heart your soul being filled with anxiety then take it to the Lord in prayer let me challenge you to turn every care into a prayer let me encourage you that God is able be careful for nothing Matthew 6 and 25 therefore I say and do you take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your body what ye shall put on is not the life more than the meat and the body more than the raiment behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them are you not much better than they oh listen I don't think the sparrows or the crows are worried tonight and God says to his children be careful for nothing and oh how we've seen in fact in 10 past outbreaks of various types of influenza whether Ebola armors are Zika all of these names we have seen that it is difficult there is sickness and we're not belittling that but we have seen that God delivers us through these times and we must keep trusting our Lord we used to sing about that when I was a kid in camp we would sometimes sing that song I just keep trusting my Lord as I walk along I just keep trusting my Lord and he gives a song though the storm cloud darken the sky or the heavenly trail I just keep trusting my lord he will never fail now I want you to go to online giving and give an extra offering for that song tonight all right but I'm just saying tonight you can trust your Lord he's not gonna fail you he will not fail his children and so these were the practices of the early believers they endured graciously they expected patiently and they encouraged one another continuously imagine this the Apostle Paul is in a prison telling the church at Philippi not to worry telling them that they did not need to have a heavy heart these were the practices of the early church and I I know I might be a little bit strange tonight and you might sound this might sound strange to you but I'm I'm excited tonight for the next few weeks because I believe this is an opportunity for the Lancaster Baptist Church to be the church the body of Christ in Lancaster a people that live with hope a people that witness when there may not be as many organized witnessing times the people that worship when we may not have as much time together a people that pray in our homes and open up the Bible and I want to challenge you to follow the practice of the early New Testament church even in this hour and so we see their practices but what I really want to focus on in these next few moments is the prayer of the early believers I want you to see how they prayed because prayer is something all of us can practice notice if you would in verse 6 he says be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God now we learn in this verse that there is a desire for our requests God desires to hear our requests now I think if you've ever had children you understand this don't you if your children have a request my grandchildren perhaps may have a need or a request and when they do I want to hear it I want to know what is on their heart deal moody said some people think God does not like to be troubled with their constant coming and their constant asking the way to trouble God is to never come at all God wants to hear from us tonight he is looking for his children to come to him so what is your care tonight are you worried about this health issue are you concerned about work or finances then just as soon as this message is over can I encourage you to take it to the Lord in prayer is your burden heavy do you bear it all alone friend you can take it to Jesus what a friend we have in Jesus what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer now turn in your Bible if you would to Hebrews chapter 4 Hebrews chapter 4 and I want you to be reminded of a great verse hold your place there in Philippians chapter 4 but turn to Hebrews chapter 4 and let's really get into the intricacies of how God wants to hear from us and his desire to hear from us in this area of Prayer Hebrews chapter 4 and I want you to notice what the Bible says here in verse number 14 Hebrews 4:14 seeing then we have a great high priest that is passed to the heavens Jesus the Son of God now let's just talk about this for just a moment our high priest is Jesus Christ and I'm so thankful for that you know some of you have friends that are Roman Catholic and they've been taught that they're priests can they can confess sins and the priest can take the sins up and and help you with forgiveness and now the Roman Catholic Church has announced that there will be no services for the next several weeks and I think for some that might be troubling how will they confess their sin how will they receive their sacraments I'm so thankful today for one of the doctrines of our Baptist churches the priesthood of the believer but also the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ that we can come boldly to Jesus Christ and that he is our high priest and that even when there's an influenza outbreak that I can go directly to the Lord Jesus Christ I don't go through a human mediator I come to the throne of God and so the Bible says that we can come to this high priest notice in verse 15 for we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need thank God that our president called us to a National Day of Prayer but even if he didn't we should make every day a day of prayer because when we need help in our time of need there is a God who is ready to help us and who desires to help us the Bible tells us in Luke 18 and verse 1 men ought always to pray and not to faint and all that we would come to the Lord this week that these next several weeks would see the Lancaster Baptist Church become a praying church that we would not be filled with worry but that we would fill the room with prayer that our children would see us praying this was the desire of God that his people would come and pray and notice secondly the delivery of our requests God says I have a desire of you I want you to come to me and I want you to come in a certain way now notice this delivery of our requests that are made Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6 but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving now let's break this down just a little bit notice first of all hear the word prayer the word prayer John our riced often said prayer is asking God if he's in 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints I remember my grandmother years ago when she had a pacemaker put in and she was telling me she said you know Paul I'm only alive by a battery in this pacemaker but as long as I've got the battery I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna tell you something it doesn't matter what your condition physically you can come to the Lord in prayer I was visiting my parents in Phoenix Arizona for a few days this past week and you know there are times when you feel so helpless and when I got to the hospital where my mother has cared for with her Alzheimer's they said you cannot come in we saw what happened in Washington State and your mother has COPD and we've isolated her you're from another state you can't come in and there were people just looking through the window at their loved ones what a helpless feeling and yet I'm thankful that even when you can't physically go to a loved one you can take it to the Lord in prayer is your burden heavy do you bear it all alone take it to the Lord in prayer oh oh I'm thankful that we can come to the Lord with our prayers and all we see God calling us here he says I want you to come with prayer and notice the second word there is the word supplication this means to bring our earnest desires to supplicate now I don't know how it was with you when you were raising your children but whenever we took our children to the grocery market they always said can I have that candy please can I have that candy can I please please have that candy and they would supplicate they didn't just ask but they earnest we asked and God says I want to know that you seriously have this desire I want to hear from you I don't want it to be some little rote repetition I want you to let me know your heart I heard about a young girl who confessed to the Lord she said Lord I'm not gonna pray for myself today she was a teenager and she was learning about prayer she said today I'm only going to pray for others and so she began her prayer and she said at the end of her prayer and Lord would you give my mother a handsome son-in-law that was her prayer request she was praying not for herself but for her mother now I'm gonna tell you something no matter what your prayer request is if it's serious to you God wants to know your heart and he's providing for all of our needs Act 16 and 23 and when they laid many stripes upon them speaking of Paul the Apostle at Philippi they cast them into the prison charging the jailer to keep them there safely who having received such a charge thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed oh how we ought to remember those words maybe you're in your midnight hour tonight maybe you have a great and a heavy burden upon your heart maybe you are of a certain age and you've received the warnings or you have an underlying health condition these are serious things but I want you to know that we have a great God who's able to protect and provide for his children and so God says come to me with your prayer come to me with your supplication but then I want you to hear this he says come to me with Thanksgiving come to me with Thanksgiving when you're asking God for more food in the pantry don't forget to thank him for the food that's already there when you're asking God to keep you employed don't forget that you are employed when you're asking God to bless you financially don't forget that you have been blessed and when you're asking God don't forget to thank him for what he's already done in your life and I tell you what I love that song that says God's been good in my life and he has been and he will continue to be I think of Daniel in Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10 now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed forbidding him to pray he went and he opened his house and who opened the windows of his house in his chamber toward Jerusalem and he knelt down three times a day and he prayed and he gave thanks before God hey wouldn't it be something for some of you that go to work tomorrow maybe an aerospace or perhaps down below in Los Angeles somewhere and you walk into the workplace and and people are grumbling and complaining those sports and and can't do this can't go to the bar they might say what's this world coming to can't even go to Las Vegas to the casino wouldn't it be something if some of us as God's people would say I'm just thankful to the Lord that I can be here right now I'm just thankful to the Lord that I had the health to drive here I'm thankful to God that I don't have the flu myself folks in everything we need to be a church that's giving thanks and giving praise to God you see the practice of the early believers let your moderation be known that sweet peaceable miss the prayer of the early believers it was a hallmark of the church and in this strange schedule that is upon us let us make it a schedule of Prayer let us seek the Lord tomorrow morning and speak to him about our needs and then let me say tonight not only can we learn from the practices of these believers not only can we learn to pray in our time of difficulty but I want you to thirdly experience the Peace of the early believers now let's notice what it tells us after they prayed the Bible says in verse 7 to this praying church and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus right the peace of God and I like that phrase which passeth all understanding it's a peace that no relationship brings it's a peace that no drug can bring it's a peace that money cannot bring it's so far surpasses the peace of this world the peace of God which passeth all understanding and I'm amazed when I see the peace of God I see it in the life of the widow that comes faithful to church I see it in the smile of the cancer patient who's trusting I see it in the heart of the family that's experiencing distress and there's this peace upon them I think of a little boy I saw in our Spanish department this morning Juan Pablo Ortiz I think about how we prayed for him during his his chemo treatments for his leukemia how his little body was so frail how so many times they said pastor pray we're not sure he'll live through the night and when he came into the service this morning in our Spanish ministry we didn't high-five we just kind of knocked it up a little bit and we practiced some social distancing but the smile on his face was telling me that there was a peace in his life a peace that passes all understanding and oh how I love that phrase and so notice this peace notice first of all the gift of peace where does it come from it comes from God second Thessalonians 3 and 16 now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means now I'm going to tell you something during this next several weeks of weird schedules and strange news reports God wants to give you peace right in the middle of the storm that's what he wants to give you now you'll have to be looking for it he's not gonna bonk you on the head he wants us to seek the Lord while he may be found but you'll find it you'll find it at work you'll find it in your commute you'll find it perhaps on this website you'll find it through the podcast you'll find it through his word but God wants to speak peace into your life during this time and may we be hearing it and may we be receiving it Isaiah 26 and verse 3 that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee and so let me encourage you to fill your heart and to fill your mind with the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ Colossians 3 and 15 and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also ye are called in one body and be ye thankful oh what a difference we could make if we were that people in the Antelope Valley who were thankful and peaceful when everyone else was struggling in their spirit Psalm 29 in verse 11 the Lord will give strength unto his people the Lord will bless his people with peace and I thank God for the members of Lancaster Baptist Church I thank God for so many who've been through car accidents and cancer and financial disruption and difficulty of all kinds and yet worshiping God and knowing the peace of God and I believe he's got a bucketload of peace for us in the days to come there was the gift of peace but I want you to see something else here I want you to see what I'm calling the guardianship of peace notice this in verse 7 the peace of God which passeth all understanding watch this shall keep your heart God says I want to guard your heart now we're told that stress can raise up our blood pressure and can even cause a heart attack and the fact of the matter is that that when we allow all of the bad news to build up that it can be distressing upon us and God says I want to do just the opposite for you I don't want to break your heart I want to protect your heart I want my peace to be a medicine to you I want you to be able to sleep tonight I want you to be able to trust me I think about our school students and and maybe a little bit worried and some of our college students a change in the schedule now reminds you that God is able to do anything but fail and that you can trust the Lord with all of your heart you don't need a plan B when God is your plan a you can come directly to him safety does not consist in the absence of danger but in the presence of God and he wants to give that peace to you o the psalmist said it this way in Psalm 18 in verse 2 the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God and my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the Horn of my salvation and my high tower oh we have a great God tonight who wants to keep your heart and your mind and I'm thankful that when we turn to him in prayer that he puts a guard about our heart it spirit and he protects us and he gives us the strength that we need I see tonight the practice of these early believers here were a people they were careful the Bible says for nothing their moderation was known these were a people that had a sweet peaceable misol them they believed that the Lord was going to take care of them the prayer of these early believers it was a prayer with supplication it was a prayer with Thanksgiving and that prayer life brought peace to their heart oh I pray tonight that in just a few moments that those of you with your little children will take some time in prayer I pray that husbands and wives will pray friends gathered in houses that that will just gather together as a church no doubt thousands of us tonight as a body a body of believers calling out to God from East Palmdale and West Palmdale and Rancho Vista and Lancaster and Mojave and Santa Clarita wherever you might be tonight that in just a few moments when we in this service that we would end it in prayer and that the peace of God would come into our hearts and lives and it is my prayer that we would view these weeks as an opportunity yes it's going to be a disruption but it's a divine disruption and that means it's a great opportunity it's an opportunity to pray it's an opportunity to be the church it's an opportunity to witness it's an opportunity to praise God it's an opportunity to see how God will bless us during this time and I ask you tonight to pray as you go to the Lord in a moment say Lord I don't know what you're trying to do with my life but I want to be totally surrendered to you I want your power upon my life to witness to encourage to love to serve to give God use my life I want to be a church member at prayer seeking your will in all of these things may God help us to be that praying church in these days and it is my prayer that if there's someone listening and someone watching this message that does not know Jesus Christ as Savior may I tell you that the greatest prayer you could possibly ever pray is that prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ to save your soul for the Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us and that whosoever would call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved he that has the son has life he that has not the Son of God has not life if you have never prayed to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior then make that your first prayer today a prayer that will bring new birth that will bring you into the family of God turning only to Christ trusting only in him and I believe tonight that when you turn to Christ and say Lord Jesus I confess that I'm a sinner and I ask you to come into my heart and be my Savior that he will hear and answer that prayer and if Jesus is your Savior you're a member of this church Lancaster Baptist Church then I want to encourage you to pray with all prayer and supplication and don't forget the Thanksgiving and the sweet peaceable miss because we've got a lot to be thankful for God is in control and and some might fear well this might get some people out of the habit of church or this might this might hurt the church or this or that listen Jesus said I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it and I'm here to tell you that Zika and Ebola and World War one and World War two none of these things ruin the Church of the Living God oh we might have a testing we might find out in these next few weeks who are the strong believers who are the true believers but a faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted God will use all of these times in our lives but for those of us that know the Lord may this be a time to pray may this be a time to grow in our faith and in our trust and may we be the church at Prayer over these next few weeks may we be the church seeking God through it all

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 1,516

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: preaching, sermon, Christian, God, Jesus, Lancaster Baptist Church, Lancaster Baptist, Pastor Paul Chappell, Paul Chappell, Philippians 4, prayer

Id: EfQzRo0k-vY

Length: 33min 6sec (1986 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 16 2020