Proper Priorities for God’s People

Good morning, Watermark.

That was really good.

I'm impressed.

If you don't know me, my name is Eric.

I'm one of the guys on staff here at Watermark.

It's an awesome privilege to be sharing with you guys today.

If you haven't been with us the past couple months, we've been looking at the book of

Acts.

And what we've seen is that the book of Acts starts out with an angel telling Jesus' followers

that this good news about Jesus is going to spread.

It's going to start out in Jerusalem, which we said is kind of like our Pak Fulon.

And it's going to spread to Judea, which for us is kind of like Hong Kong Island as a whole.

And then it's going to go from there to Samaria, which for us is kind of like Kowloon New Territories.

And then it's going to go to the ends of the earth, which is like Lantau Island.

Sorry, it's the rest, the ends of the earth.

Yes, the ends of the earth.

And the word is going to spread.

And we saw in Acts chapter 2 that the Holy Spirit comes and empowers the church to go

Acts 2 · chapter mention

and spread this message of Jesus.

And God blesses his church.

But the past few weeks, we've seen these cycles of God blessing the church and then the church

facing opposition.

They face opposition from outside and from inside the church.

So from the outside, there have been the Jewish religious leaders come and arrest the apostles

a couple times.

They threaten them.

They've beaten them.

They've told them to stop preaching and teaching about Jesus.

And every time, God has rescued them so far.

And then from inside the church, there was this couple that came and came up with this plan

to lie to the church leaders so that they could get prestige and recognition.

And again, God saved the church from the destructive power that this plan had.

And today, we're going to take a look at another time in the book of Acts when the church faces

opposition.

And what we're going to see is that while conflict within the church needs to be dealt with,

preaching and prayer must remain priorities for God's people even in the midst of conflict.

So let's pray that God would speak to us during this time together.

And then we'll jump in and look at the passage.

Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for this chance today to look at your word together, to hear what you have

to say to us.

We thank you that you are powerful and that your word is powerful and gives life to your

people and that you have spoken to us.

And we pray that as we hear your word today, that we would be attentive and that it would

transform us.

And in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

So in today's passage, it starts out with a problem.

The problem is the church did this distribution program to care for the widows and the needy.

And there was one group that was being taken care of better than another group.

Division was starting in the church.

And division in the church is a big deal.

Division, more than anything else, has the ability to just split the church in half.

I've been part of a church before where there were divisions that weren't dealt with properly

by church leadership and the church split.

And so in such an early age of this worldwide global church movement, for there to be this

type of division, that is a big deal.

But it's not just any type of division.

See, this is a really big deal because it's ethnic and cultural division.

If you look, it says the two groups are called Hellenists and Hebrews.

Now the Hebrews are the Jews who have been born and raised in Israel.

They speak the language that they speak in Israel.

And they culturally are as Jewish as you can be.

The Hellenists have been born and raised outside of Israel.

They speak Greek.

Some of them ethnically are from a different group than the Israelites and have converted

to Judaism.

So for that part of the Hellenists, it's actually an ethnic difference.

For some of them, they were born Jewish but outside of Israel.

And so they speak the different language.

They have a different culture.

And even though they're the same ethnic group, they're culturally very different.

And so the lines are not just drawn to separate and distinguish people.

The lines are drawn along this ethnic and cultural lines.

And ethnic and cultural division has incredible power to spiral out of control very quickly.

Because in ethnic and cultural division, you're not taking the time to get to know someone.

You're looking at external features about them and making judgments about what type of person

they are based on the color of their skin or the language that they speak.

And in this context, there was great potential for things to spiral out of control very, very quickly within the church.

And so when this problem arises, what does it say happen?

It says a complaint arose.

Now just to give you some context, that's not a good thing.

What this doesn't mean is that people saw a problem and brought it to church leadership.

What it does mean is that they saw a problem and they started talking about it in the background.

The word here that's used for complaint literally means speaking in a low tone of voice or behind-the-scenes talk.

So what it means is people saw the problem in the church, but rather than going and talking to the apostles about it,

they just went up to their friends and they're like,

did you notice how our people aren't being fed like their people are?

And the murmuring and complaining and grumbling got louder and louder and louder

as more and more voices got added to this talking and complaining.

And it got louder and louder until eventually the apostles couldn't help but be aware that something was going on.

Like I said, not an ideal situation.

People saw the problem, simple solution, go to the apostles, tell them, they can deal with it,

and it actually takes less time to deal with the problem than you spend complaining about the problem in the first place, right?

But because the people complained and talked behind the scenes,

it allowed the problem to take on a life of its own.

It allowed people to make assumptions in their hearts about the attitude of leadership towards the people affected.

It allowed people to develop these feelings of anger and bitterness inside their hearts

so that by the time the apostles finally became aware of something that was going on,

the problem had grown way bigger than it ever needed to be.

And this still happens today.

Can you believe it?

It happens in churches, but it also happens in workplaces.

And it happens in schools.

People see a problem and they assume,

well, if I see the problem, then the people in leadership must see the problem as well.

And if they see the problem and the problem's still here because they're not doing anything about it,

it must mean that they don't care.

I've done this several times.

Several might be too small of a number.

You see this issue.

You think the people in charge who have the power to do something about it don't care.

But nothing's happening, so you eventually start to think, maybe it's just me.

So you go to your friend and you're like,

I noticed this.

Did you notice this too?

And your friend's like, yeah, I noticed that too.

And then you start sharing theories with each other about why leadership doesn't care and isn't doing anything.

And once you've confirmed with your friend that it's definitely that the leadership who's responsible for this decision

doesn't care and isn't doing anything because of that,

then it's much easier to go around and talk to other people and be like,

can you believe that this is going on and they just don't care?

And it grows and spreads when all along, actually, the people responsible don't know there's a problem

because they're dealing with other stuff and haven't seen the same issues that you see

and no one's told them that there's a problem.

That's exactly what happens in our world today and it's exactly what happened here with the apostles.

So, all that to say, if you see a problem here in your kid's school, at your workplace,

talk to people, not in a gossipy sort of way,

but the people who have the power to do something to change that problem

and work towards a solution and offer to be part of that solution

instead of just grumbling and complaining.

So, eventually, the voices get louder and the apostles realize something is going on.

And it says that they gathered together the full number of the disciples,

all of the Christians they brought together because everyone is affected by this decision.

And they bring them together to work towards a solution

and they say it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

Now, that seems odd, doesn't it?

The apostles, now remember, let's think about who the apostles are here.

They have spent loads of time studying the Old Testament.

They know that God's word says that the compassion of a community

is going to be judged by how that community cares for the most weak and vulnerable within the community.

Not only that, but these were the guys who were with Jesus

when he said, whatever you do to the least of these, you've done it unto me.

And not only were they there when he said that, but they're the reason that we've heard that he said that.

They're the ones who passed that down to us.

And these guys were the guys who the night before Jesus died,

he grabbed a towel and he got down on his knees and he washed their feet.

And he told them, if I, your Lord and Master, have done this for you, now you go do it for others.

They knew that caring for the poor and vulnerable and serving are crazy important.

So this is not them saying, we're above that type of work.

No, this is something else.

See, it's actually quite likely that up to this point,

the apostles were the main people in charge of this daily distribution.

That makes sense of a lot of things that have happened in Acts.

For example, in Acts chapter 4 and 5,

Acts 4 · chapter mention

it talks about these people who sold their houses and gave the money to the church.

And when they gave the money to the church,

it says they gave the money to the church by coming and laying it at the apostles' feet.

Now, why would you lay the money at the apostles' feet?

Because the apostles are the ones who are turning around to distribute that to the church.

And when a problem arises,

typically the person responsible for that problem is the one who's responsible for finding a solution.

And here, the apostles are the ones tasked with finding a solution.

Which implies that up till this point,

they were the ones who were primarily responsible for this task of this distribution.

So this isn't them saying we're above this kind of work.

They've probably been doing this work all along.

But if that isn't them saying we're above this kind of work, what is it?

Basically, what they're saying is there's a priority to the things that they're doing.

And God has made preaching and prayer their number one priority.

I mean, these are the guys who spent three or four years following Jesus around,

listening to every word that he said.

And God had given them the special task and responsibility of passing those words on to the church.

And they were equipped for this in a way that no one else was.

Yes, other people preached,

but the apostles were equipped and prepared for this in a way that no one else was.

And service is very important.

But the job that needed to be done to serve these tables now had gotten so big

that the apostles could not adequately do this job

and do the job of preaching that God was calling them to.

And so in order to prioritize properly

and focus on the things that God wanted them to focus on

as the number one priority,

they needed to delegate certain roles to different people in the church.

If you're thinking sort of of a modern-day equivalent of this,

imagine that you're a doctor, some of you are,

and you're having a dinner party,

and someone at the dinner party drops a glass on the floor and it shatters.

As the host, you clean up the glass

because not having glass on the floor is important.

But same dinner party,

someone drops a glass because they're having a heart attack

and they collapse to the floor.

If you as the doctor jump up and grab the broom and dustpan

and start sweeping up the glass,

everyone looks at you and says,

what are you doing?

There's a priority here.

You save a life before you clean up broken glass on the floor.

Yes, the broken glass is important,

but anyone at the party can clean up the broken glass.

And you as a doctor have a special gifting and skill

to save a life in this moment.

And the apostles knew that the preaching of God's word

brings spiritual life.

Yes, feeding these widows and serving the tables is vitally important.

But preaching God's word and giving life to God's people

is even more important.

And the serving of the tables

can be done by a lot of people within the church.

And this job of preaching and teaching God's people

to give life to them through God's word

is something that the apostles were specially equipped for,

which is why they needed to prioritize it

even in the midst of this conflict.

So their solution is to find seven men of good character,

full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom,

and appoint them to take over this task.

They find seven guys.

Interestingly, all seven of these guys have Greek names,

which implies that they came from this group

that was feeling excluded and marginalized.

They were the people who would have known specifically

which widows felt neglected

and the best ways to reach them culturally,

which is an interesting insight into dealing with conflicts.

And the problem is never again mentioned in the book of Acts,

which I think means we can pretty reasonably assume

they dealt with it properly,

because problems that aren't dealt with properly come back.

So I want us to take a minute to look at the pattern

for how the apostles dealt with this conflict,

and then spend the rest of our time together today

looking at their priorities in the midst of the conflict.

So first, their pattern.

And their pattern is the gospel.

If we look at the story of the gospel,

what we see is that God creates us

and we owe complete allegiance to him,

and yet we sin and rebel against him.

There's this conflict between us and God.

And God, being God, doesn't look at that conflict

and say, that's it, we're over,

we can never have a relationship again.

But at the same time, he doesn't ignore our sin.

He looks at it and he takes it seriously.

And in the person of Jesus,

he steps down into our world

to get personally involved in our conflict,

to work to bring a solution for us

that we can't bring for ourselves.

And that's the model that God wants us to have

as a church for dealing with conflict.

When we see complaining, when we see grumbling,

when we see problems,

we don't ignore them,

but we also don't blow them out of proportion

and say, that's it,

we can never have a relationship with you again.

But instead, we step in, we engage,

we get involved to help bring a solution

for those who can't bring a solution for themselves.

And that's exactly what the apostles do here

by stepping in, taking charge,

delegating the task so that it will be done properly.

They get involved to bring a solution

for those who cannot bring a solution for themselves.

And that's how God wants us

to approach our conflicts today, I think.

But then, the priorities of the apostles in this passage

are super interesting to me.

Because as someone who works in the church,

I can tell you,

when someone in the church comes to you and says,

I have a problem with something that's happening

within this ministry,

the easy, instinctive reaction

is to jump in and fix it yourself.

As probably most of our tendencies,

when people come to us with problems in our workplaces

or in things that we're responsible for,

we want to jump in, we want to do it ourselves.

We figure things are already messed up,

that's why people are coming to me with a problem.

If I delegate it and it doesn't get properly fixed,

then they're going to be even more upset with me

for not just doing the job right myself.

It's easier to do it right, get it done,

and then we can move on with life.

But that's not what the apostles did here.

They knew that if they did that,

they would be losing sight of the priorities

that God wanted them to have.

And so they delegated the role

because they needed to prioritize preaching and prayer.

And they recognized that if they did the job

of feeding the widows,

they could not prioritize the things

that God wanted them to prioritize.

So I want us to take the rest of our time today

looking at these two priorities,

seeing why they were so important for the apostles then

and why they're so important for us as a church now.

First up, preaching.

Why is preaching important for us as a church?

Preaching is important because God's word is important.

If you do a quick search through the Bible

about the importance of God's word,

it's amazing the things that the Bible tells us

about the power of God's word.

You start out in Genesis chapter one,

start of the Bible, and what happens?

God speaks, and through his word,

everything that exists comes into being.

Fast forward to Isaiah chapter 40,

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

and we see the grass withers, the flowers fade,

but the word of God endures forever.

In Ezekiel chapter 37,

Ezekiel 37 · chapter mention

we see that the word of God gives life to God's people.

In Psalm chapter 119 verse 11,

Psalms 119:11

we see that by learning God's word,

it helps us to fight temptation

and resist sin in our lives.

In John chapter one, Jesus comes to us.

We had this verse on the screen earlier today,

and it says that Jesus is the word of God made flesh.

In Hebrews, I think it's chapter four, verse 12.

Yes, it tells us that the word of God

is living and active, is powerful,

is sharper than a two-edged sword,

and it discerns the thoughts and intentions of our hearts,

that God's word looks at us

and does this deep inspection into our hearts

and shows us the places that we fall short

of being the people that God wants us to be

and what it takes for us to become those people

that God wants us to be.

In 2 Timothy chapter three, verse 16,

Paul tells Timothy that through God's word,

God's people are equipped to become the type of people

that God wants us to be,

that through God's word,

we are equipped for every good work.

And then in the book of Acts,

God's word goes forward through preaching.

It moves from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria

to the ends of the earth as it is preached.

And this is both Christians growing in their understanding

of who God is and growing deeper

in their relationship with him,

but also non-Christians hearing God's word

as it is spoken publicly

so that they can know him

and come into this life-giving relationship with him.

And so God's word is vitally important

throughout scripture.

And this is just a brief survey,

a brief overview,

but God's word brings life.

If you are here today and you are a Christian,

God's word is vitally important

to your spiritual health.

If you're here today and you're not a Christian,

I encourage you,

keep coming and keep listening

to God's word being preached here every Sunday

because that is how you will discover

spiritual life and a relationship with God.

And preaching is one of the most important ways

that God delivers his word to his people.

Now I know that might be a controversial statement,

like what about reading my Bible?

What about going to community group?

Can't I just do those?

Why do I need to have God's word preached to me?

Well, let's start with reading our Bibles.

First, you should be reading your Bible.

If you think of God's word

as the thing that gives life to God's people,

you can kind of compare it to food.

If you come on Sunday and you eat this massive feast

and then you don't eat again until next Sunday,

you're going to be malnourished.

It doesn't matter how great the meal was on Sunday.

Even if you eat on Sunday

and then on Friday night at your community group,

if you don't eat the rest of the week,

you're still going to be malnourished.

And so we need to be people

who are being fed by God's word every single day.

And to do that,

we need to be reading our Bibles on our own.

And if you're here today

and you don't know how to read your Bible on your own,

I encourage you to talk to me after the service

or talk to your community group after the service,

community group leader after service,

because we would love to teach you

how to read your Bible

so that you can grow closer to God.

However, although it is important to read your Bible on your own,

it's not enough.

Because there is power in God's people coming together

under the teaching of God's word.

And here's what I mean.

When I read my Bible on my own during the week,

that's great.

But when I come to church on Sunday

and I hear God's word preached to me

and I'm sitting listening to the same sermon

as my community group

and my wife

and several other friends,

there's this level of accountability

in responding to God's word

that's greater than the sum total

of each of us individually reading our Bibles on our own.

Because I walk out of here

and I know the sermon that Alfie heard on Sunday

and I know how he was challenged to respond to God

through that sermon.

And he knows how I was challenged to respond to God

through this sermon.

And throughout the week,

we can hold one another accountable

to growing closer to God

because we have that common basis

of having heard God's word preached to us

throughout that week.

Also, hearing sermons together

helps build us into a family

that can encourage one another

and build one another up for Christ

as we're growing and learning

the same things about God together.

And hearing sermons allows us

to have God's word applied to our world today

by people who God has gifted

for the good of the church.

The Bible says that God gifts the church

with people who are able to teach

and preach his word to the church.

So while reading our Bibles on our own

is absolutely important,

it's not a substitute

for hearing God's word preached to us

as a group.

But what about community groups?

That's a group thing, right?

Like there are people in there

who can teach us God's word.

Can't we just do that

instead of having a sermon?

Well, the importance of a sermon

over a community group

is that a sermon forces us

to come under the teaching of God's word.

If you've been in a community group

for any length of time,

there's two experiences

that I'm pretty sure

you've probably had.

The first is when

that person in your group

takes over the whole conversation

and just shares the updates

from the past like six months

of their life.

Anyone been there?

Yep.

And you walk out

and you're like,

I don't think I even like

opened my Bible tonight.

Definitely don't remember if I did.

The other type of community group meeting,

and I think this is probably

the more common one,

is the one where we get so focused

on what we think

that everyone in the group is sharing,

everyone's interacting,

everyone's sharing what they think,

but we're basing it on what we think,

not on what God thinks.

And we walk out of the group

and we're like,

that was great.

I got to share with everyone

what I think.

And then,

but is what I think

the same as what God thinks?

Not really sure.

We didn't look at what God thinks.

And it can be very easy

in the context

of a community group alone

to focus on our thoughts

and our stories

and to actually ignore

looking at God's word

or easy to read briefly

through a passage

but not actually talk about

what that passage means

or how it applies to our lives.

And when we come to a sermon,

if God's word is being preached

from the Bible,

it forces us

to interact directly

with God's word

and with God himself

and respond

to what he is saying

to us.

Now,

I know there are some preachers

who don't preach

from the Bible

and just share fun stories

from their life

to make interesting talks.

And if you hear

one of those sermons,

don't use that

as an argument

against the importance

of preaching.

Rebuke the preacher

because God's word

brings life

to God's people.

And if a preacher

is not preaching

God's word,

that preacher

is robbing God's people

of life-giving sustenance

that is essential

for their growth.

So the proper response

to a preacher

who ignores God's word

is not to discount

the importance

of preaching

but rather

to emphasize it

to that preacher

and call them out

for not preaching

God's word

to God's people.

And community groups

are great,

don't get me wrong.

I think they're wonderful

for helping us

reinforce

what was taught

in the sermon,

for helping us

go deeper

and personalize

the application

to our lives.

But because of the nature

of what community groups are,

they're not a substitute

for hearing God's word

preached

to God's people.

Now, as a millennial

with many millennial friends,

one thing that I hear

quite often is,

I just find it so hard

to focus during a sermon.

Anyone ever heard that?

Yeah?

What if that's me?

What if, you know,

I can really engage

during a community group

because I'm talking

and listening

and interacting

and in a sermon

I'm just like,

he's been up there

for a long time.

Well, first,

if you have trouble

listening during a sermon,

I would challenge you

in terms of the attitude

that you bring

to a sermon

and here's what I mean.

We live in a

very well-educated city

and my guess is that

almost everyone

in this room

has been in a situation

where we have sat

through a lecture

that is long,

way longer than a sermon

and dry

and dull

and boring.

And we've walked

out of that lecture

and memorized

every single last word

the professor said

because we knew

it would be on an exam.

And then we come to church

and we sit in our seat

and we struggle

to stay awake

and play with our phones

and hope that

we magically hear from God.

Do we come ready

to engage with God's word

or do we come expecting

to just magically

have something happen

to us because

we're in the same room

as the place

where God's word

is being taught?

You know,

preaching isn't

a magic formula.

Spiritual growth

doesn't have a magic spell.

It happens

as we get to know God more

and engage in a relationship

with him.

And this

might not be

what some of us

want to hear.

But the primary way

that God has revealed

himself to us

in the 21st century

is through a book.

which means

that if we want

to know God

and we want

to get to know him

fully as he wants

us to know him,

we have to engage

at least a little bit

of the academic side

of our brains

in order to do that.

Which should be fine

because Hong Kong

is great at engaging

the academic side

of our brains,

right?

But we need

to have that side

of our brains

switched on

when we're interacting

with God's word

if we want to fully

hear from him

the way that he wants

us to hear from him.

So I have a couple

tips for helping us

become better

at listening to sermons.

Okay?

And some of you

might think

these are really obvious

and basic

but I guarantee you

there are people

in this room

who if we apply

these things

will get much better

at listening to sermons.

Step number one,

get a good night of sleep.

Like I said,

it's obvious,

it's simple,

but as a single person

there were nights

where I'd get home

at 3 a.m.

the night before church

and show up for church

expecting to hear from God

after hardly sleeping at all.

If we want to hear from God

we need to be able

to stay awake

while his word

is being taught to us.

And so proper preparation

for listening to a sermon

starts the night before

with getting a good night of sleep.

Step number two,

probably equally obvious,

pray for God

to speak to you.

If we believe

that God answers prayer,

how often do we ask him

to speak to us

through the sermon?

Like hopefully we did it

20 minutes ago

when we all did it together

but other than that,

when was the last time

that you prayed for God

to speak to you

through his word?

It doesn't take long.

Something simple like,

God, I know that this Sunday

I'm going to hear

your word taught

and that your word gives life

and I pray that you would

speak to me through that.

It's quick,

it's simple,

but it's powerful

because God answers prayer

and if we're not asking him

to speak to us

through his word,

then how much

should we really expect

to get out

of hearing his word?

Third,

again,

obvious,

take notes.

By taking notes,

you engage

the tactile senses

and the visual senses

in your learning

which reinforces learning.

Plus,

it gives you something

written down

that you can review

later on

so you can remember

what was said

from God's word.

Again,

very simple

but very powerful

in helping us

to hear from God

when his word

is being preached to us.

Fourth,

engage in active listening.

I think sometimes

we have this attitude

when we come to church

and I've had this before

where we sit down

and we kind of expect

listening to a sermon

to be like watching a sitcom.

Like,

entertain me.

dance.

But that's not

what a sermon is.

The sermon

is God's word

being presented to us

and if we want

to hear from God,

we need to be engaging

with his word

actively

because these

are powerful words

that give life.

So we need to engage

with them

as we hear them.

So as the preacher

is speaking,

ask questions.

You know,

he's saying this.

If that's true,

how should that impact

the way

that I interact

with my friends?

If what he is saying

is true,

how does that connect

to my life?

Think of it not

as a monologue

but as a dialogue

where there's a back and forth

and we're talking

with each other,

thinking through

the ways that God's word

applies to our lives.

And if the preacher

says something

that doesn't make sense to you,

write it down

and ask him about it

after service.

It's actually great.

Preachers should love it

because it means

that you are paying attention

and listening

to what they were saying

and it helps us

think through

and understand

the way that you're hearing

what we're saying

so that next time

we can communicate

more clearly

when we preach.

And final step

for improving

at listening to sermons,

talk about it

with a friend.

Find someone

after service

and say,

here's one big thing

that stuck out to me

from the sermon

and one way

that my life

can be different

this week

because of it.

It's a simple step

but verbalizing it

cements it

in our learning

and forces us

to synthesize it

and process it

to a level

where we can communicate

it with others.

And then it allows us

also to hear

what stuck out

to them from the sermon

so that we can learn

from what they've learned

as well.

See,

God's word

is vitally important.

The preaching

of God's word

is so important

that the apostles said

it's one of the top

two things

we need to spend

our time prioritizing.

And God's word

is important for us today

because God's word

gives life

to God's people.

So we need to,

if we want to be

the people

that God wants us to be,

we need to learn

to engage properly

with his word.

Now the second thing,

I know we're basically

out of time,

but the second thing

the apostles

wanted to prioritize

was prayer.

And just like preaching,

prayer is essential

if we want to be

the people

that God wants us to be.

Last week,

if you were here,

we talked about

how life

is a spiritual war

that is fought

on the turf

of our hearts

for control

of our souls.

And there's a pastor

named John Piper

who says that prayer

in that spiritual war

is the walkie-talkie

to radio into headquarters.

I love that picture

because it shows

the desperation

with which we should

be approaching prayer

in our daily life.

And if we aren't praying,

it means that we're

depriving ourselves

of this valuable resource

that's essential

and necessary

for being the people

that God wants us to be

in this spiritual war

of life.

And I don't want to spend

too long talking

about prayer today

because I actually want

to take some time

together to pray.

But if you're like,

come on, Eric,

you spent all this time

talking about preaching,

I want to know

about prayer too.

I have great news for you.

Starting next Sunday

after service

for the month of July,

Henrika is going to be

running a prayer course.

The details are

in your bulletin

and you can get in touch

with her to sign up

for that

and you'll go way more

in depth into prayer

in that prayer course

than I can go

in five minutes right now.

So if you want to know

more about prayer,

get in touch with Henrika

and sign up for the prayer course.

It's going to be awesome

and it's going to be

a great time

learning how to pray

and getting opportunities

to pray together.

But just to recap

what we've talked about today,

we looked at conflict

in the church.

We looked at the gospel

as the pattern

for dealing with conflict

in the church.

We talked about priorities

in the church

of preaching

and how to listen

to a sermon

and why God's word

is so important

for God's people.

And then we've briefly,

briefly touched on prayer.

But I want us now

to respond to God's word

by praying together

as a church family.

So we're going to put

a passage from the Bible

up on the screen.

There it is.

And what we're going to do

is when I say go,

we're going to split

into groups

of three to five people

or so.

And we're going to pray together

using these verses

as a prompt.

Now, if you're like,

I don't feel comfortable

praying out loud

or in groups of people,

that's okay.

You don't need to pray.

You can just simply

join the group.

But I encourage you

to try it at least once.

If you're someone

who's more comfortable praying,

you can pray

as many times

as you want.

But I encourage you

to keep each time short

so that other people

have a chance to pray too.

And if you're here today

and you're not a Christian

and you want to know

more about Christianity

and what it is

that we Christians believe,

when we split into groups,

I encourage you

to ask the people

in your group

more about it

and they would love

to share with you.

So using these verses

as a prompt,

we're going to pray.

So for example,

how this could work

is have this mind

among yourselves

which is yours

in Christ Jesus.

Jesus, we thank you

for your humility

and we pray that you

would make us

a humble people as well.

Or every tongue

will confess

that Jesus Christ

is Lord

to the glory

of God the Father.

Jesus, we praise you

because you are powerful

and you are big

and we thank you

for your greatness.

These types of prayers

inspired by these verses.

So let's split up

into groups

and in a few minutes,

I'll come up

and I will close us

in prayer.

Father, we thank you

for your love for us.

We thank you

for sending Jesus

to rescue us.

We thank you

that when we were

far away from you

that you didn't look at us

and ignore our problem

but you also didn't

look at us

and blow our problem

out of proportion

and say that's the end of it

for a relationship

between us and you

but that you sent Jesus

to rescue us.

That you sent Jesus

to give his life for us

and we pray

that we would be

a people who follow

that pattern,

who humble ourselves

so that you can exalt us

rather than exalting ourselves.

We pray that we would be

people who build

our lives around your word,

who have proper priorities,

who seek to know you

and find life

through growing closer to you.

We pray that we'd be

a people who seek you

in prayer.

We pray that as we do this

that you will build us

into the people

that you want us to be,

that you will grow in us

a love for you

and a love for one another

and that you will use us

to impact our world

and spread your word

to those around us.

Thank you again

for your love.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.