How to Pray With Joy | Becoming a Praying Church, Week 3 | Rob Hall | New North Church

Hey, welcome to the New North Church podcast.

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With that, let's go right to this week's message.

Hey, good morning, New North.

Great to see all of you.

Um hey, the 830 service is not full.

I want to encourage some of you to uh this service is packed, but it's great to see you.

My name's Rob, one of the pastors here.

I was thinking this week, um, I don't know about you, but I keep on my notes feature on my phone just the things I'm praying for.

And if I could sneak into your phone and look at your notes feature of your prayer list, hopefully you have one.

Some of you are like, a prayer list?

That's a good idea.

Yeah, it is.

Um I would like what would I find?

Like, you know, like what are the things that you're praying for?

You know, if you looked at mine, I'll show you some of it, but a lot of it is praying for people's health or people who are dealing with stuff at their job or looking for a job or finances, for sure, different relationships or problems, or kids, or whatever.

But you know what?

Like, nothing's wrong with those at all, and you should be praying for that.

But gosh, what's so jumping out of the pages to me is we've been looking at the prayers from a guy named the Apostle Paul is how much different his prayer lists are.

And so the passage we're gonna look at this morning teaches us, you know, not only how to pray for a church or for people or even what to pray for, we're actually gonna see some of the secrets to having more joy.

Let me ask, does anyone want a little more joy in their life this morning?

Yeah, absolutely.

Some of you guys are like, yes.

Um and so that's what we're gonna look at.

But let me give you a little background.

If you didn't grow up in church like I didn't, I didn't even know how to say Philippians as a new Christian.

Um, so the church that Paul was writing to, remember, he's in prison right now.

He's in a Roman prison cell writing this letter.

He writes to a church called in Philippi in an ancient city, but you need to know that this church was not started without like suffering.

It was a tough deal.

So he he lands in uh in Philippi and he actually meets this incredible businesswoman named Lydia who was down by this river praying, and she actually was the first recorded convert to Christianity in Europe, as far as we know.

And so the church in Philippi was actually planted in her home.

But after that, things got rough.

I mean, and I'll look at some of this later, but uh a slave girl uh uh was set free from demonic oppression.

Paul was then beaten and thrown into prison, but while in prison, a jailer becomes a Christian.

I mean, I mean, this is how this church began.

But what I love is with all those memories of the pain and the persecution and the beating and the imprisonment, Paul doesn't mention any of that.

Instead, all throughout Philippians, he expresses joy.

In fact, the words joy or rejoicing or gladness are mentioned, watch this, over 19 times in this short letter.

You don't have to be a Bible scholar to know that is a lot.

And again, I don't know where you're at this morning, but I struggle with experiencing joy.

And I hear all the cliches of Christian cliche, oh, you've got to choose it, and you know it's not happiness, and and okay, fine, but like there are so many things today that rob us of joy, aren't there?

Like circumstances rob our joy.

Like when things are going my way, I'm happy.

When things aren't going my way, I'm frustrated.

Anyone else like that?

Yeah, all right, if you didn't raise your hand, you've sinned in church.

And then people, people can rob our joy.

Like I'm an extrovert.

I love being around people.

I get so much energy and life from being around people, but I've been a pastor for 26 years, and people can be hard and messy and frustrating and annoying.

Um no one in here, mostly 830 and 12, um, but let me look again.

Oh, I know there's a few of you.

Um, worry, worry robs our joy.

It's for sure.

Anxiety, doubt, depression, fear can just suck the joy out of my soul.

But as Paul was praying for the church in Philippi, he was able to pray with joy.

We're gonna look at this because here's what he does: he looks back on all that God did.

And instead of talking about all the frustrations, he looks back with gratitude and thankfulness.

And then he looks forward in faith, trusting that God's gonna continue the work that he's been doing in the church in Philippi.

And that's where we're going this morning.

But before we continue, would you take a moment and just pray for yourself, that you'd be open to God's word this morning.

Pray for those around you, and then pray for me, and then I'll pray.

But why don't you start and pray, and then I'll pray.

Let's pray.

And so, Father, here we are gathered as your people today.

God, you're the master teacher, not me.

So, Holy Spirit, come.

Speak to your people.

You're already here.

Give us eyes to see, hearts that are open, minds that are ready for whatever it is you want to teach us today.

And we don't want just information, Lord.

We need transformation from the inside out.

So would you do that in our hearts today?

Even in mine.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, we pray in all God's people.

Said?

Amen.

All right, if you have a Bible, turn with me to Philippians chapter one.

That's way in the New Testament, almost to the end of the book.

Um, Philippians chapter one, starting in verse three.

Let's look at this together.

Paul says, I thank my God every time I remember, and a better translation is y'all.

Okay, y'all.

Every time I remember y'all.

And all my prayers for all of y'all, I always pray, and here it is with what?

Joy, because of your partnership in the gospel.

The gospel is simply the message, the life-transforming message of Jesus Christ.

From the first day until now, and here it is, being confident of this, that he that's God, who began a good work in you, he's gonna carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus, until the day of Christ's return.

And he says, Hey church, man, it is right for me to feel this way about all y'all, since I have you in my heart, and whether I am in change, which he is, or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you sharing God's grace with me.

Man, God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Let's stop there.

Paul, what we see if you're taking notes, is grateful for God's work, and he uses an interesting word and their partnership in his work, and I'll explain that.

So I want you to think for a moment.

Is there someone whose name or face immediately makes you smile and be grateful?

Like besides me, of course, like who like who else in your life?

For Paul, it was the Philippians.

Paul clearly loves these people.

And you see that in his prayer.

And again, what he's doing here is reflecting on all that God has done in them and through them and how God used them.

And he's just grateful.

And because of his ministry and the work of Jesus, I'm thinking he's in that cell and he's reflecting on marriages that have been restored.

Addicts who found freedom.

By the way, we found drugs in the first service.

I think someone just dropped them, and don't worry, they're down.

So, like people, God's setting people free.

That was fun.

Um, they're in the toilet, don't ask us for them back.

Um, people in the church, right, were miraculously healed.

Some, and we know this, even left their lives of prostitution to follow Jesus.

So, Paul, remember, he's not a CEO of an organization, he's a spiritual father who deeply loves the people and the church in Philippi.

And so as he prays, he's thanking God for all of them.

And it's wild to me.

He's locked up in jail.

Now, some of you guys, well, there's not a lot to do in jail, fair.

But he's not even thinking about himself.

He's thanking God for his work, and he's thanking God for his friends in Philippi.

And it's really funny, actually, if you know the story of Philippi and how the church was planted, it didn't go easy.

In fact, how it ended was really rough.

Let me just summarize.

One day, this demon-possessed teenage girl was following Paul around screaming at him.

That's wild.

And then Paul kind of gets annoyed, turns around, casts the demon out.

And then the owners are furious because apparently this girl could predict the future and they made a lot of money off of her.

So they grab Paul, they grab another guy named Silas, they drag them to the magistrates right in the center of the city.

Everyone was watching.

A large, angry crowd, mob forms around them.

They were beaten, they were stripped, they were thrown in prison.

And pastors whine today about getting canceled.

Look what happened to them.

And here's what's wild Paul doesn't mention any of that.

Instead, his heart just overflows with gratitude as he thinks about what God has done in them, what he's doing in them.

Instead of remembering all the hard things that we're really good at, Paul celebrates God's goodness and his faithfulness.

I mean, he could have been a bitter man in prison.

He could have been frustrated with what how he got kicked out of that city.

But he looks back on those same events and he says, you know what?

I believe in a God who's in control, and I'm grateful.

And I'll tell you what, church, like this is one of the secrets of Paul's joy that we can learn from that I can learn from.

Paul chose to focus on all the good things that God was doing and the people that he grew to love.

And Paul says, Man, I am so grateful for you, is what he writes and what he prays.

And he prays specifically, and he's grateful specifically, he says, because of their partnership in the gospel.

And again, the Philippians played a very special role in his ministry.

They encouraged him, they finance his ministry, they support his ministry.

He says, You guys were my partners in God's work.

I wasn't doing this alone.

Now it's really interesting that the word partnership is the same word in the original language for fellowship.

Now, again, when I came to faith, like in the church I came to faith at, like fellowship usually meant eating a casserole dish with some older people.

That was having fellowship.

That's what it was.

Like we're doing a teddy bear picnic to have fellowship.

I was like, what is that about?

I don't have a teddy bear.

And uh but but that's not what Paul meant by this word.

He meant partnership, he meant fellowship.

He said, we're doing God's work together.

And what he's highlighting for us is he's saying that God's work doesn't never advance alone.

God's work is always shared and done together with God's people.

And this is why we encourage you to pray and to give and to worship and to serve.

Because that's how we move forward together.

And Paul says, hey, Philippians, you have partnered with me in the gospel.

I could not go out into all the world in the ancient world and plant churches where no Christians were out without you.

Even in prison, they sent a guy named Apaphroditus to come and help Paul while he was in prison.

That's how he knew what was going on in the church.

And I'll tell you what, uh, the same is true for us here at our church.

Like when you pray, when when you give, and when you serve at New North, you are partnering with us in the work, in God's work.

Let me just say this again.

This is not my church.

This is our church.

You're the church.

And let me just brag on you guys.

Last Sunday, God used you to partner with our friends in Uganda, and you gave$17,000 to help our church planners with the Ebola outbreak.

Isn't that amazing?

So, right here, uh, this is my buddy Pastor Daniel.

He's gonna come to our church one day.

This guy is a modern-day apostle Paul in Uganda.

He's been texting us to say, Rob, the media is not showing how actually really bad it is with the Ebola outbreak.

They're locked up in homes, struggling to find food and water.

He like he was blown away at our church's generosity.

He said, literally, Rob, he said, this gift will literally save people's lives.

So thank you, New North Church.

Thank you.

Uh so in his prayer, Paul continues.

And then he gives them and gives us a beautiful promise.

He tells us that he who began a good work in you, he says, he's gonna finish it.

And think about how you walked in this morning.

Some of you probably walked in discouraged, a little overwhelmed.

You look at, it's like all the unfinished work in your life, all the things that you wish God would do, and you come in and you're just like discouraged.

And that's the temptation to see like the current chapter that God is right in your life now and go, man, well, here's where I want to be, but God, I'm here, and then you judge yourself or you're discouraged by it.

But uh but let me just encourage you.

God sees the whole story.

And the promise from Paul, the promise for us today is God will start what he uh what he uh God will finish what he started in you.

Like some of you, trust me, you have parenting challenges, you text me about it, and so do I.

God's not done in the life of your kids.

Some of you, you have family members or spouses or kids far from Jesus, and you wear that heavy on your heart.

God's not done pursuing them.

Some of you, you have health challenges or marriages that are struggling.

Can I just remind you, God's not done doing his healing work.

Some of you have battles that you're facing.

Can I just remind you that God is not done fighting for you unless you are dead, God is not done with you.

Can someone say amen to that?

And the emphasis Paul places, so we're clear here, on this promise is on God.

God started the work, God sustains his work, God finishes his work.

So again, let me just encourage you.

If you feel spiritually stuck or in a funk, I just want to encourage that's normal.

That's normal.

God's promise for you, for me, is he's not gonna allow you to stay stuck.

God doesn't abandon unfinished projects, God doesn't leave unfinished people.

Man, trust me, you may not be where you wanna be, but man, thank God you are not where you used to be.

And again, man, if that's not a reason for joy, I don't know what else is.

And so Paul prays and he's overflowing with gratitude.

He prays with confidence, he's saying, Hey, church and Philby, hey, New North Church, God's gonna finish the work he started.

But then he gets to the heart of his prayer and he prays for three very important things.

But instead of, let me just read it, uh, verse 9 through 11.

This is what he says, and this is my prayer, church.

That your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.

Why?

So that you may be able to discern not what is good or evil, but what is best, and that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, the day he returns again, and be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

So here's what Paul prays for for this church is that the best way I can describe it, he's praying for their future spiritual growth, for love, for discernment, for fruit.

Again, I just want you to notice as we've been going through these prayers, uh, Paul often, as far as I know, does not pray that God would change their circumstances.

He prays really what he's praying for so often is a change of heart, a change of perspective.

And so Paul prays first for their love to increase.

He says that their love would abound more and more.

Now, I suspect that after Paul and Silas were ran out of the city, that the church struggled.

They struggled.

I wonder if Epaphroditus, the man who brought the money for Paul, the man who was helping him in prison, kind of said, Hey, Paul, around, you know, Emile saying, Now let me tell you, let me give you the lowdown of all that's happening in Philippi, bro.

It's been crazy.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if there was conflict or drama or gossip or slander or people slipping back into their old ways.

How do you know that, Rob?

I don't know, but I know church.

Like, we love to say, oh, when two or three people are gathered, God is in their midst.

And I like to tell people, um, that's a great verse.

Let's read it in context.

In context, it's about conflict when two or three people are gathered.

Sure, God is there and conflict is always knocking on the door.

So Paul prays for the main thing, for love.

We looked at this last week in Ephesus.

He prays that their love for one another, their love for God, their love for their neighbor would abound, would overflow, would increase more and more.

And I gotta be real with you, man, love is such a watered down and overused word today.

It's lost all of its meaning, it's lost all of its bite.

But for Paul, it didn't.

Paul is praying for love, not attraction, not friendship love, but real love.

I'm thinking of Mary J.

Blige right now.

Real love.

Sorry, I knew I was gonna go there.

If you're under 40, look her up.

She's amazing.

Um, but this is squirrel.

I know.

So it's what is this love?

Pay attention, Rob.

It's it's self-giving, Christ-shaped love.

It's love that was devastated on the cross, it's love that serves, it's love that hears an opportunity and a need in Uganda and gives.

It's love that forgives, it's love that actually seeks another person's good.

And if you've been a pastor, you know exactly why Paul prays first for love.

Because here's why.

It's very clear to me every church conflict, every issue, every frustration, every division, every broken relationship, every hurt feeling, the answer is not better programs or a better leadership structure or more principles or more meetings or a better seminar or even a counselor, even though I love counseling.

The answer is always deeper and deeper love.

And a lot of people think, especially here in the Bay Area, we think, well, I'm a Christian, so I just need to love everyone no matter what.

Paul says, uh-uh.

He says, I want your love to be discerning, to be wise, to be mature, and to be Christ-like.

How do I know that?

Because that's exactly what he prays for next.

He prays for discernment.

Now that's an interesting word, guys.

That's super rare in the original language.

So I think he uses it intentionally.

It means like a moral insight, it means perception, it means, I think it really means spiritual wisdom that you would see things the way God sees things.

So this is not fluffy love or sentimental love.

This is wise love.

It's wise love that will help the church in Philippi, that will help our church to test, to evaluate, to discern, he says, what is best.

And again, in the Bay Area, man, we're told all the time that we need to choose between love and truth.

We either need to stand for the truth or be loving.

We can't be both.

Paul totally rejects that choice.

He's telling us, he's telling our church, he's telling Philippi that Christian love is actually being able to love people and love them enough to tell them the truth, but watch this, but to do it in a graceful way.

We miss that.

Speak the truth, but do it what?

In love.

And so Paul, he's saying, hey, discerning love, wise love, knows when to speak and when to stay silent.

I wanted to say that another way.

When to encourage or when to correct.

When to comfort, or I don't know, when to challenge, when to give grace, or watch this, when you need to set a boundary.

So Paul prays for that kind of love in the church, and then he prays for one more thing as he's praying for them.

He prays for an increase in fruitfulness.

Fruitfulness.

I have a um, what is it, an apple tree that a couple years ago, I think it was weak, it was like the apples were the smallest thing ever.

The only thing that liked those apples were like rats when they would fall to the floor, right?

It was like, oh my, come on, tree.

This year, though, a couple years later, like I've noticed that like the apples are getting bigger.

And I'm like, right on, like I actually might be able to eat one one day.

And why are those apples getting bigger?

Because the fruit is evidence that something as healthy is happening in areas we can't see, with the roots, with the soil, with what's going on.

I actually have a watering system that's actually working now, right?

And that's what he's getting at.

He's talking about this fruit of righteousness.

What does that mean?

He's not talking about religious performance.

He's saying, hey, if you are connected to Jesus, to his life, to the Spirit of God, you're going to develop fruit, and not just any fruit.

He says, the fruit of righteousness.

He's really talking about living with Jesus and our lifestyle.

He's really asking the church and Philippi, he's asking them a question: do our life, do their life and their behavior as followers of Jesus reflect who they belong to and who they serve?

And so, Paul, he could have prayed for a lot of things.

He's praying for the church to be full of righteousness, full of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

He's praying that the church will be filled with the Spirit of God, that the church will be fruitful as they serve God.

And it's really interesting, and since we're talking about joy, if you go to Galatians, we don't have time to go there.

That's another New Testament book.

What is the fruit of the Spirit?

It's love.

And then what's right after?

Joy.

Right?

Love and joy are cultivated supernaturally in our lives through the Holy Spirit as we walk with Jesus.

That's what he's praying for here.

But again, I want you to notice what he doesn't pray for.

He doesn't pray for the church, for Aunt, Jenny, second cousins, girlfriends, mom to have better health.

He's not praying for the church to be more influential, to be more successful, or to have more power.

He's not praying for them to experience, you know, safety, which I'm sure they needed, or more comfort, or for God to provide for them.

No, no, no.

Paul prays first and foremost for love, for discernment, for even holiness, that they'd be pure and blameless, he says, and for fruitfulness.

And again, it's convicting for me as I pray for people, as I pray for the church, I don't pray for some of those things at all.

So, what does this mean for you?

What does this mean for me?

What does it mean for our church?

Let me give you some ideas.

Um, I think if you want to learn how to pray with joy the way Paul does, this is a helpful framework.

Like often when I start to pray, I start with complaints, you know, and problems and my issues and your issues.

Paul doesn't do that.

He prays with gratitude.

He looks back on all that God's done and says, God, I'm just grateful.

I'm just thankful.

I want to encourage you this week when you pray.

Thank God.

Take some time to thank God for who he is and what he's doing before you ask him for anything.

And then Paul moves on and he prays with confidence.

He says, Man, he who started a good work in you will finish it.

So as you pray for people, say, God, finish the work in him, finish the work in her.

Do what you need to do in him or her, for whatever specifically you're praying for.

And then pray for love, for discernment, for fruit.

Man, I just want to encourage you.

If you need a rhythm to pray, this is a helpful one.

Second thing is we think of application.

Let me ask you who is your Paul and who are your Philippians?

No, not Filipino, but Philippians.

You all know I love me some Filipinos.

I secretly wish I was one.

Um I do.

I love it all.

Give me all the lumpia, give me all the Filipino barbecue, all of it.

I'm not a big fan of like the um spaghetti with like sausages, but I mean I'll do it.

I'll do it.

I'm not gonna deny it.

Anyway, um, you should come at 12 o'clock.

I come unglued then.

So who is your Paul and who are your Philippians?

Like, think about this way: who is someone in your life like Paul who you're thinking about right now, who helped you come to know Jesus?

You know, who's walked with you, who prays for you?

Man, I want to encourage you, pray for them.

Maybe even send them a text today.

And so I'm so grateful for you.

And then who are your Philippians?

Like, who comes to your mind when you hear, man, every time I remember you, I thank God for you.

Maybe it's your spouse or one of your older kids or a friend or a mentor or your community group leader, man, pray for them as well.

Send them a note.

Man, I'm praying for you today.

In fact, let's do that now.

Actually, I've asked the team to put up these verses, Philippians 9 through 11.

Instead of me praying, why don't you pray for whoever that Paul is in your life?

Why don't you pray for whoever those Philippians are in your life?

And then I'm gonna pray.

We've been praying every week for a different church in the Bay Area, and then I'm gonna pray for my good friend Toby Kirth in Christchurch.

But why don't you take us, take maybe 30 seconds and pray these words for your Paul and your Philippians?

Let's pray for Pastor Toby in Christchurch.

We were golfing the other day.

He's a much better golfer than me, which is unfortunate.

Let's pray for Christchurch.

And Father, we just pray for Toby.

Thank you for his team, what you're doing in the Richmond district, in him and through Christchurch.

We pray that that church, God, would abound more and more in love.

God, we pray that you would give them discernment as they're wading through the different issues that they're that they're wading through and they have on their plate, God.

We pray too, God, that you would give them just that joy that overflows, God, that you would fill them with the fruit of righteousness as well.

God, we pray for our church that this would be true of us, God, that we would be overflowing with love, be wise people who are listening to the voice of the Spirit and know the word of God, that we all will be filled with the fruit of righteousness.

But again, we pray that over Toby and Christ Church, even now as they meet in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Hey, thanks for being with us, and we really pray that God spoke to you through his word today.

And we want to stay connected.

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Thanks again for joining us.

God bless you, and we'll see you right here next time.