The Ministry of Word and Prayer

placement for what we do with our children but rather is just a supplement I I kind of like to think of it as um going out to eat once a week and so it it does not replace all of the meals uh that you prepare at home because that is the role and responsibility of the parents is to bring up their children in the way that they should go and when they're older they will not depart from it and so the the main um priority and responsibility of discipleship is on parents in the discipling of their children but what we do in little dist district

is coming alongside our parents and helping supplement them with um just the truth of God and and the truth of our world and and how those two play play themselves out and so that's um that's what we're helping guide them through and also um if you noticed in the the weekly email um at the very beginning I even kind of talked a little bit about that it even gave some some resources for our parents on being able to teach our children specific specifically what the Bible has called us to and and what the Bible is communicating to us about who God is and what his

characteristics are and um so in there you'll see a couple of catechisms I think for especially for the younger children starting off with new city catechism is a great one but the Westminster Shorter Catechism is also a great one I even think I mean just a great one for adults too um but I think it's also good to even just start those with infants I mean it's think about the beauty of them never knowing anything different like being like growing up and hearing these wonderful truths and it never being foreign to them it never being likewell we've never done that before why are we going

to start doing it now when I'm 16 years old like no like ingrain it in them from the very beginning because it's a good thing for us all right uh again welcome to the district we are a Christian Community within Indianapolis that Treasures Jesus and helps others follow him through intentional discipleship that increases evangelism that's our mission statement as a church it's our vision as a church and this is what we've been walking through over the last couple of weeks and we've got four more weeks in it as well in this six week series um called vision and vision in the sense of building the

future by rediscovering the past and so we we want to look at and just continue looking at what God has been doing um what he's communicated communicated to us through his word and how that actually molds and shapes who we are as a People Who We Are as a church here in the city of Indianapolis and Beyond and so what we've been talking about through that is just this big idea um that God is the creator that he has come to reconcile Jews and Gentiles to Jesus that he's reconciling Humanity to the holy spirit that he's reconciling Sinners to their Savior and it's all for

the glory of God and for the joy of all people like that's God's mission that that's what God is all about and the means means the vision for him to accomplish that mission is establishing this new community on Earth this new kingdom this new Christendom and we've been kind of using this metaphor as building a cathedral a place of worship that beholds the beauty of God but also is not just meant for us right now in the moment but something that will last for generations to come something that will be for our children's children to be able to part participate in and be a part

of when it comes to the mission and vision of God and what he is doing and so in the first week I said we need to redig the Wells that was kind of that idea of rediscovering the past we need to redig the Wells that God gave the church in order for it to be a lifegiving agent in a death ridden world and so for the church to win the World it needs to have the Majestic glory of God like if we're not about God's glory then we're not a church CH if we're just about ourselves and if we're about us growing to become bigger

faster famous whatever it is if we're about just our own kingdom when it comes to the district church then we're actually not a church we're actually not about what it should be about which is the Majestic glory of God and so it's got to start there and the second thing we talked about was redigging The Well of god- centered prayer like prayer is the power of God that he ushers and that he gives to us in order for us to actually be efficient and effective for Ministry and then what do we do in the ministry well it's the component of teaching and preaching the word

of God it's getting what God has communicated to us out to everyone else so that they can come to know who he is and behold his glory and so those were the three Wells that we dug and those are the ones that again we draw Source from we go back to as a Wellspring in order to be filled up ourselves to be baptized in essentially and and then also again just continue driving um those things as our main efforts and then the second week what I want to do is begin tying in the foundation the wells with the actual mission and vision of the church

what is the church called to do what is our task and so we talked about God's vision for the Majestic glory to spread to All Nations and it was going to happen through the task of making disciples making disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father son the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you or all that Jesus has commanded them and it's understanding that with this Mission comes the authority of Jesus and the presence of Jesus so he kind of sandwiches this go out and make disciples of all Nations and baptizing them in the

name of Father Son and Holy Spirit and don't worry I'm going to give you all authority and I'm going to be with you at all times and so he essentially saying like um you cannot lose you cannot lose in the the task of making disciples and so we still spoke in sort of broad Strokes of vision and what I want to do now is is begin helping kind of show you with that borrowed metaphor of the building the cathedral where we started kind of bringing it down to an individual component like what your role in this is is the individual cutting of the stones that

actually stack and begin building this Cathedral what do we do with each one of us in order for the overall mission and vision of God to actually play itself out and so the next four weeks we are going to be unpacking our values as a church and so again mission and vision is go and make disciples all for the glory of God by the power of God teaching him to observe all that he has commanded us that then flows into the values of the church what we value is the culture that we cultivate that actually executes the mission and vision and so if if you

it's great to have a mission and vision it's great to have a statement it's great great to have those things and put them on a wall put them on a website and whatnot but if we individually do not value what executes that then you'll ever you'll never actually see the mission and vision come to fruition it will not happen and so we want to look at four weeks of what we value as a church so that it helps you better understand what our part is in the body of Christ and so the first value is we worship by the power of prayer and God's word

again you're going to continue to see um an underlying theme that we're redundant by the source of prayer and God's word because again if we leave the foundation and begin valuing something different then again we will not be a church like we will not be an effective church and so the foundation has to also be a part of the value now when that value is there and that Foundation is a part of it when we value work worshiping God through prayer and his word it does begin to stir up something in US it begins to make something that is a people and the second one

is is we belong then to an authentic and diverse Community the third one will be we serve with humility and helpfulness the fourth one is we contribute generously and sacrificially to the mission of God those are the values and I threw a fifth one in there that will tack on kind of throughout as we go through it but it's we live Christ as all and in all because if those things are being lived out and cultivated within our body of Christ then we will live Christ is all and in all like it'll be reflected in all aspects of our life not just what we do

on Sunday morning not just what we do in community groups not just what we do when we schedule serving projects or um providing grocery bags to the school as well like it's not just in those scheduled and programmed moments but it's actually getting you to live Christ is all and in all in all domains of your Society all spheres of your influence if you live on a CAC it's all five or six homes around that knowing that you are Christians and that you have a message that you want to share with them if you're in a work uh place where you work with a team

or a group of people it's them knowing that you are a Christian and that you have a message about God and about Jesus Christ and about the grace and the mercy that he offers and they know you're going to share it with them if you've not already shared it with them multiple times and that even if they have rejected it they probably know you're going to continue to try and reason with them you're going to continue to try dialogue with them like there's going to be Christ is all and in all because we take seriously that we worship up by the power of Prayer in

God's word and so that's the one I want to look at this week is is specifically talking about that one in order to fulfill the go and make disciples of all Nations now most people believe that Christianity is just helping bad people become good people like I think if you were to just go out and ask people hey what do you think like being a like what do you think the message of Christianity is and they might say something like God is love or Jesus's love or whatever but they also might just say it's it's a form of religion it's a form of rules that

just helps bad people become better become good people but but that's actually not true it it's way more than that the call of the Christian is to help dead people become alive is to help dead people become alive it's why Colossians 2:13 says you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh God Made Alive together with him having for forgiven us all our trespasses so when we're walking around every day when when we're experiencing the people on our cacs the people on our streets the people in our uh cubicles the people in our you know when we're seeing people what we're

actually experiencing is something that looks more like The Walking Dead than it does Las Vegas like that's just the reality that's what we're experiencing more of it's this idea that though we are physically a living body we're spiritually dead and even our physical living body is also dying like it's aging and it's decaying like it's it's dying I I even just had more of that um understanding this morning when I thought I was turning 38 this coming Friday and then had a conversation with my father-in-law and he's like no I don't think that's right and then I figured out no I'm actually turning 37 so

I just gained a year um by this week but it also made me me feel older because I completely forgot how old I was um and some of the 23 year olds in the room are thinking like 37 like this is it like you you've had a good run but your your time is near um but the only hope we have to even stop the aging process and the dying process of this Physical Realm we're in is becoming alive and abiding in Jesus like that's the only hope we have for anybody and everybody and so what I want to do in order to help you

understand how we worship through prayer and God's word I want to give you a story from scripture in Ezekiel 37 called the valley of dry bones um that is a very unique story I'm just going to read it for you but this is a vision of what God is doing to establish dead people and make them alive starting in verse one it says this the hand of the Lord was upon me and he brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and he set me down in the middle of the valley and this Valley was full of Bones and he led me around among

them and behold there were very many on the surface of the valley and behold they were very dry and he said to me son of man can these bones live and I answered oh Lord God you know which is always just a great answer if God asked you a question just tell God I think you know the answer then he said to me prophesy over these bones and say to them oh dry bones hear the word of the Lord and this is like if you ever know that bones di bones like this is where that comes from thus says the Lord God to these bones

behold I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live and I will lay sen upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live and you shall know that I am the Lord so I prophesied as I was commanded and as I prophesied there was a sound and behold a rattling and the bones came together bone to its bone and I looked and behold there were sinus on them and flesh had come upon them and skin had covered them but there was no breath in them I mean could you

just imagine that picture like like that's just zombies standing in front of me right now but then he said to me prophesy to the breath prophesy son of man and say to the breath thus says the Lord God come from the Four Winds o breath and breathe on these L that they may live so I prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood on their feet an exceedingly great Army then he said to me son of man these bones are the whole house of Israel behold they say our bones are dried up and our hope is lost

we are indeed cut off therefore prophesy and say to them thus says the Lord God behold I will open your Graves and raise you from your Graves oh my people and I will bring you into the land of Israel and you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your Graves and raise you from your Graves oh my people and I will put my spirit within you and you shall live and I will place you in your own land then you shall know that I am the Lord I have spoken and I will do it declares the Lord so God giving this Vision

to Ezekiel is essentially telling him I'm going to make dead people come back to life like when they sinned they died period and I'm going to make them come back to life I have a plan and I have a purpose that's going to be playing itself out throughout history that is going to allow Cathedrals to be built where there was former catastrophe and that's what he's talking about if you've ever heard of the Metropolitan Cathedral it's in Mexico City and it was built on the ruins of the capital um I always butcher it t tachuan I think is how it's pronounced uh but it's it's

the capital of the Aztec Empire and in the ruins of the Aztec city there was this Temple called temp mayor in the site where Aztec people would conduct a 4 day consecration where they would literally um offer up sacrifices of nearly 80,000 people in four days like when I say offer sacrifices I'm I'm not saying like they brought money and laid it at the feet of the priests that were there no like they brought people and chopped their heads off and Spilled their blood and it for four days nearly 880,000 people and this was in an offering to appease their demon gods and so sometime

around the 16th century Spanish conquistadors Spanish Christians like they came over and they ended up finding these ruins of this city they ended up finding these temples and what they ended up discovering in was in the digging they found I mean Columns of skulls that were just stacked they found racks I mean just for that were like football fied sides just full of nothing but bones and skulls and if if it's me I'm thinking like we're going to go see if we can find a different land like let's like like something's gone on here that I don't know if I want to be a part

of but you know what they did instead they said no what where was once a place of death in Bloodshed is now going to be a place of life and truth and they built the Metropolitan Cathedral on top of the temple the temple o mayor to be able to say we claim this Kingdom for the kingdom of God not the kingdom of death and that's essentially what we're saying like that's what we're saying here in Indianapolis is there are people around us who are living in the Kingdom of death and we are claiming it for the kingdom of life we are claiming it for Christ

to build upon and say this is his and not anyone else's this is what God promises to Ezekiel before he gives Ezekiel that vision of the valley of dry bones Ezekiel 36 33-36 thus says the Lord God on the day that I cleanse you which is like a baptism from all your iniquities I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places shall be rebuilt and the land that was desolate shall be tilled instead of being the Desolation that is that it was in the sight of all who passed by and they will say this land that was desolate has become like the

Garden of Eden that's like saying his Kingdom Come On Earth as it is in heaven that's what he is proclaiming here and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited then the Nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord beholding the glory of God I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate I am the Lord I have spoken and I will do it I mean that's what we're laying claim to like we're calling God on his promise and saying there are people who are dead around us and this is what you

prophesy this is what you promis this is what you said you were going to do in the city and so we're calling you on it we're we're going all in on it you're going all in on it and we're saying when the cards flip over people are going to get saved they're going to get saved through prayer and the preaching of God's word they're going to get saved through the ministry that God has called us to and that's why if you were to kind of look at it listen where where death is the antithesis of God life is the thesis of God like he's come

here to bring life and what God determined detm as life is one that is in worship to him Romans 8:6 says it this way to set the mind on the flesh is death but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace like we don't want people experiencing death anymore and death isn't just literally like the end of your life like death we're talking about the experience of longing for satisfaction and something that cannot provide it for you like like working out your career in such a way way that it's trying to provide every dream that you have or every longing that you

have or every pleasure that you have you're only going to fall short you're only going to feel and experience um death which would be like depression and destruction and despair and anxiety and and pain and all those things symptoms of death if it's not life and peace drawn from the spirit of God then all we're going to experience is the opposite of that and so to set our minds on the spirit of God that's why we say one of our values is we worship through prayer and God's worship God's word worship is exactly what Ezekiel is referencing the people saw the work of God and

they knew that he was the Lord and so I want to work through why worship prayer and God's word is our first value we are cultivating here RC Sproul says pleasing God is at the Heart of Worship he goes on to say therefore our worship must be informed at every Point by the word of God as we seek God's Own instructions for worship that is pleasing to him in one of those catechisms that I mentioned at the beginning the Westminster Shorter C catechism which again is like taking the Bible and Distilling it into an organized statement of belief so that we might know what the

Bible is teaching it'd be like saying I I know my spouse because of our relationship but let me write out for you all of the things like in ordered and detailed way that she likes and dislikes and what she enjoys and doesn't enjoy and and what her characteristics are like and so forth like I'm just going to write those things out so that you might know that's what the effort of catechisms does but in the Westminster Shorter Catechism um which again this was completed in 1647 the first question it asks is what is the chief end of man and it says man's Chief end is

to worship God and enjoy him forever like that's the main thing that's the main thing of all of our life what is life is worshiping God and enjoying him forever what is death is worshiping yourself and trying to enjoy yourself forever that just leads to death that's the whole thing and so in other words it's exactly what we looked at last week with what Jesus said We Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father Father Son and the Holy Spirit immersing them in the godhead the Trinity and we do that by teaching them to observe all that he's commanded us

he's taught us a way that worships him and pleases him and in turn when we worship him in a way that pleases God guess what it does for us it brings joy to us and pleasure to us as well like those two things are not um countercultural to one another like they don't contradict each other when we are living our lives in such a way that we are worshiping God in a way that he deems pleasurable and necessary that is the greatest thing that we ever get to experience everything else falls short when it comes to worshiping God and putting him first in everything in

our lives in a way that he deems necessary instructing one another at every Point by the word of God it's why adopting the mentality of what we said last week theological maximalism I desire to know how to live all aspects of my life in a Christlike manner 1 Corinthians 10:31 is a good verse that kind of helps you understand what we mean by theological maximalism it says whether you eat or whether you drink or whatever you do do it all for the glory of God so it's saying there's a way to eat that glorifies God there's a way to drink that glorifies God whatever you

do there's a way to drive that glorifies God the way I drove this morning probably did not glorify God because it and it was actually probably a better way of understanding what theological minimalism is in how I drove here because I basically waited for the truck to warm up just enough to where I had a little hole on the windshield that I could drive like this not being able to really see hardly anything else around me but I could just see that one thing well that's like theological minimalism that's like basically saying if I just believe in Jesus nothing else matters I don't I don't

need to know what God says about how to be a better husband I don't need to know what God says about how to be a good father I don't need to know what God says about food and drink I don't need to know what God says about relating to others or what forgiveness looks like I don't need to know what God says about no like theological maximalism is is is letting it all defrost to be able to see all my surroundings because of what God has instructed me in his word and to be able to clearly see how I am to live my life in

such a way that is honoring and pleasing to him that's what we're after and so Central to the act of worship is the ministry of the word of God In Prayer now how do I want us to act if I'm saying that it's an act of worship how do I want us to act as a church well I'd love for us to act like the church in Acts a lot of Acts here and that's why it's called the acts of the church Acts 2:42 says this they the church devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers

now I'm going to cover fellowship and breaking of bread in the coming weeks but let's look at this Devotion to teaching and prayers devotion first of all is a characteristic of work worship if not literally just a synonym of it the Greek word for devotion here devoted is prario which means to be steadfastly attentive unto to give unremitting care to a thing and to persevere and not to faint like that's the type of mentality they had when it came to the apostles teaching and to the prayers again also to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread which is why you can actually see each

of our uh values are distilled out of those four characteristics what they were devoted to this is a cultural characteristic of the cathedral if someone were to ask what's the district Church like I hope they don't say the district is awesome it's inclusive of all ways of life you can believe whatever you think God says you can love whoever you want you can do whatever you desire as long as you believe in Jesus and love others you can belong here all of those things sound good they sound loving right like they sound cultural rather I hope they say the district is distinctively different than maybe

what I've experienced at at other places but there's something glorious about that in refreshing because it's exclusively all about Jesus they say Jesus is the way the truth and the life and that nobody can come to the father in relationship unless it's through Jesus there is no all roads lead to Heaven they actually believe that we're foolish in our thinking and understanding as Sinners but God is wise and gracious and through the preaching and teaching of the word of God God is making us wise holy and blameless by training Us in the righteousness of Christ and so if you die to yourself and believe in

Jesus you can belong here that's what I hope we're actually saying or can be said of us you see what we value is what will cultivate our culture here and so as I said at the center of worship this deep devotion we have have to glorifying God in all things at the center of worship is prayer and God's word now philosophically why is prayer and God's word the central components of Christianity because if you were to ask someone what's the central component of Christianity they might just say the gospel which is partly true like gospel centered has been a buzzword for the last probably two

decades of most churches that's a good thing but the gospel is the work of Jesus Christ to save Sinners but the gospel does not explicitly explain to us why God chooses to save us and forgive us and redeem us from our sins in the first place it actually doesn't necessarily communicate that it's implicit but sometimes not obvious and so I need you to consider this to help understand why not only is Gospel the center or um the central work of the church but the reason for the gospel is the reason why we have prayer in God's word what was the relationship like for Adam and

Eve and God before Genesis 3 it was perfect union and communion with their father the dictionary describes communion as the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings emotionally mentally and spiritually which is not a bad definition for Adam and Eve they had this level of communion with God essentially you could say it was unhindered access of exchanging thoughts and feelings and experiencing joy and pleasure between one another the key here is that their communion was unhindered therefore there was no need for prayer or the word because they had it in full access and so after the fall sin hindering this communion that we have

hindering Fellowship hindering our access to God It ultimately separated them from God so that they could no longer talk to God without a mediator and they could no longer hear from God without a prophet hence the ushering in of the ministry of prayer and the word intercession and teaching and so prayer is US communicating to God and teaching is God communicating to us it's how we abide until Glory comes and he removes the hindrance the priests and Prophets of the old knew this and the apostles and Disciples of the new knew this that's why the apostles say in Acts 6 3-4 when they were selecting

deacons they said we need you to essentially pick out six people to be able to handle this ministry that you're drawing us away from in order to serve we need to devote ourselves to the ministry of word and prayer why because that was what was engaging the church to have an abiding relationship with their savior we cannot neglect that it it's again the redigging of the wells it is the lifeblood of the church and so prayer functionally is US communicating to the father through the son by means of the holy spirit it's trinitarian in nature that's what it is functionally but the reason for prayer

what what is happening when we pray is it ascends the child of God to the throne of God to glorify him to know him to make requests of him to be comforted by him and to ultimately submit to him in all things that's what prayer is doing is it's sending us as children of God to the throne of God to be able to sit at his feet and be intimate with him at least two or three times a week sometimes once a night I have a child come into my room and and at like 3:00 a.m. and just scare me half half to death by

um whispering in my ear um it's terrifying and I don't always welcome the communion um like God does with patience and Delight right like listen God does not Tire okay we do all right so when you wake me up at 3:00 am I don't know what you're going to get okay that's sanctification we're still working that out but later in the day when I then think back like for example there was one of my my sons that came in the room last night and this time he like climbed up in bed with us I won't say his name but you can find it in Psalm

23 he came into the and just I mean if there's a m i don't know how many times like the elbow to the face and just the foot and the mouth and like and and he just thinks it's funny um but when I think back on it later after I've prayed for the patience I think of it with fondness I think of it with fondness because it's it's him communicating to me I need you I need you and that's exactly what we're doing in prayer we're coming to a King at 3:00 am in the morning like Tim Kay uses that illustration like who who thinks

to wake a king at 300 am for a glass of water a child and that's our access that we have to the father he encourages Us in 1 Timothy 2 1-7 to do this first of all then I urge you that supplications prayers intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people for kings and all who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life Godly and dignified in every way I mean if I were to ask you what would you like your life to look like you would say I would love for my life to look like peace and quiet Godly

and dig sign ified that'd be fantastic actually well how does it come about it comes about by supplications prayers intercessions and thanksgivings this is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our savior what do we talk about it with worship what is worship something that we are doing that is pleasing to God this is pleasing to God coming to him in prayer coming to him in prayer and so in other words one of the ways that you could talk about this is what are they praying for it gives you a framework I think the Lord's Prayer gives a fantastic framework for that

but you can go and look at it on your own but in this one supplications are begging for something humbly prayers are your just requests from God intercessions are the action of intervening on behalf of another so don't just always pray for yourself and then Thanksgiving whatever he answers I'm I'm grateful for and we're not only doing this for ourselves but for all people and so if you were to combine those it would be prayer is humble Beggars making requests from God for themselves and others and then giving thanks to God for his answer why give thanks because if we are praying as God instructs

us for all people including Kings and those in high positions then our world would begin to reflect a place that is peaceful and quiet Godly and dignified if we're praying the right things that is the fruition of the prayers that's how God's going to answer them um to give you um kind of a bit of application with this and this this could be I don't know if it'll be a well I don't think it'll be controversial but whatever we have an election coming up at the end of this year controversial just kidding um instead of praying for a president that most aligns with our Christian

beliefs and values why don't instead or or even just settling for the lesser of two evils why not pray for the president to be Christian or become a Christian like let's pray for that let's pray for that because then when you get people in high positions like what it's talking about here who are Christian who aren't just submitting to what their constituents say but they're submitting to the Lord as Savior who is the King of Kings and the Lord of lords things might actually be run and stewarded in a different way that actually bring about what it says peace and quietness godliness and dignity we'll

continue talking more about prayer since it again is one of the wells that we're digging from one of the foundations for our Cathedral Jesus building but we need to keep going look at the next verse in 1 Timothy 2 3-7 he says this is good and is pleasing in the sight of God our savior who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth so prayer has to shift at some point to this understanding that there is a knowledge of the truth for there is one God and there is one Med mediator between God and Men the man Christ

Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all which is the testimony given at the proper time for this I was appointed this is Paul speaking for this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and I love this he's like in parth I'm telling the truth I'm not lying all right like there's there's people that are like no I think you're lying he's like no I'm telling you the truth I am not lying I am a teacher to the Gentiles in faith and truth so in tandem with prayer think of it like a one-w punch the first punch being prayer the second now being

truth theology the knowledge of God and and Paul shifts to his role of preaching and teaching that is grounded in faith and truth so turn with me a couple of chapters over to chapter six in 1 Timothy 1 Timothy chapter six looking at verse 3-5 he tells Timothy and he's also training Timothy for his leadership in the role at Ephesus he says this teach and urge these things if anyone teach teaches a different Doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that Accords with godliness like you catch that he he's saying here there is there is

prayer that leads to Godliness but there is also teaching that leads to Godliness we are to pray for it and we are to preach it we are to teach it if anyone teaches a different Doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that Accords with godliness he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing so if we say we're just going to be all about love and prayer like we're just going to be all about the spirit and not the truth it actually doesn't produce any godliness in us what it actually does is it leads us

to this idea of being puffed up and conceited it it it leads us to essentially being like not aing to understand anything which is you just being dumb and stupid like look at the contrast between a person who is devoted to prayer and Theology and a person who is not prayer produces humility and sound teaching produces godliness which Godly understanding and wisdom the person who is not devoted to prayer and theology is conceited and stupid you can't say stupid well Proverbs 121 says whoever loves discipline loves knowledge but he who hates repr proof is stupid Psalm 92 1-8 also says it is good to give

thanks to the Lord to sing praises to your name oh most high to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness By Night To The Music of the loot and the harp to The Melody of the liar for you oh Lord have made me glad by your work at the works of your hands I sing for Joy like what is the chief end of man to worship God and enjoy him forever that's what the psalmist is declaring how great are your works oh lord your thoughts are very deep therefore teaching knowledge and theology must also be deep the stupid man cannot know it's

right there again the fo cannot understand this that though the wicked Sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish they are doomed to destruction forever like what Sprouts the bigger faster famous but if it's not grounded in truth that is understanding the Will and Grace of God then again it's just dumb and it will not last it will wither away soon what last Cathedrals last shopping malls don't though evil and sin may look like it's winning the cathedral God is building will win in the end it will not fail or fall but will be established on high forever and ever it goes on verse four he

is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing he has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels About Words which produce Envy dissension slander evil suspicions and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth imagining that godliness is a means of gain why is sound Doctrine Theology and teaching that Accords with godliness important because without it that's the type of person you are that's the type of person you become if you don't have sound sound teaching in Theology and Doctrine at your fingertips and it's not a person that is pleasing to others by any means and is definitely not

pleasing to God in a life of worship to him so to conform to the image of Jesus to grow the fruit of the spirit in us to to image and reflect the goodness of God in our lives we are commanded to observe all that Jesus instructs us in life that is Godly that is Godly and the Bible tells us the Bible tells us to devote ourselves to good teaching to devote ourselves to the word of God and to the prayers because as we devote ourselves to diving deep into what Jesus has commanded us and to dive deep into prayer that is ascending us to the

throne of God those things are producing in you godliness like if you're you're thinking man when I look back five years I don't feel like I've changed much well I bet your habits of prayer and in the word over the last five years probably haven't changed much either it's just true it's just true and so what I want to leave you with is something that the the um Apostle Paul commanded Timothy to do which was not only to preach the word but also read the word among the people people because again it is the word of God by the power of prayer that produces worshippers

worshippers so literally I've got nothing else other than just scripture that I'm going to read and so I want to pray first then I'm going to read the scripture and it'll bring us to communion God right now before we read these passages I pray that we are as the the devotion talks about we are ATT to this that we are longing for this that we are not growing faint in listening to this word that comes from you that's inspired by you that is useful to train us to renounce ungodliness to reprove us to correct us God we we are sinners becoming Saints and so help

us in this moment as we read this word help conform us more and more to your son Jesus one degree of glory to the next for our joy and For Your Glory it's in your name we pray amen second Timothy 41-5 says I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom preach the word be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will

accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and they will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths as for you always be sober minded endure suffering do the work work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry Colossians chap 2: 6-5 say this therefore as you Reed Christ Jesus the Lord walk in him rooted and built up in him and established in the faith just as you were taught abounding in Thanksgiving see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and an empty deceit according to human tradition according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to

Christ for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily and you have been filled in him who is the head of all Rule and Authority in him also you were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh God Made Alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses by cancelling the

record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands this he set aside nailing it to the Cross he disarmed the rulers and authorities and he put them to open Shame by triumphing over them in him 1 Timothy 4 11-16 says command and teach these things let no one despise you for your youth but set the Believers an example in speech in conduct in love in faith in Purity until I come devote yourself to the public reading of scripture to exhortation to teaching do not neglect the gift you have which was given you by prophecy when the counil of Elders laid their hands on

you practice these things immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching persist in this for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers 2 Thessalonians 23 through 17 says but we ought always to give thanks to God for you Brothers beloved by the Lord because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth to this he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ so then Brothers stand firm and hold

to the Traditions you were you were taught by us either by our spoken word or by our letter now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who loved us and gave us Eternal comfort and Good Hope through Grace Comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word 2 Thessalonians 3 1-5 finally Brothers pray for us us that the word of the Lord May speed ahead and be honored as happened among you and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men for not all have faith but the Lord is faithful he will establish you and guard you against

the evil one and we have confidence in the Lord about you that you are doing and will do the things that we command may the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ as we come to the table of communion coming together as a body to be United in the death of Jesus on the cross let us remember what Paul said to the Colossians you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh God made aive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its

legal demands this he set aside nailing it to the cross and by so doing he disarmed the rulers and authorities and he put them to open Shame by triumphing over them in him you see Jesus took this place on the cross so that God could nail our sins to him with the punishment they deserved death he put to death our sins and canceled our death that we owed to God and therefore he's able to forgive us he's able to free us he's able to make us alive once again like we were in Eden you today professing belief in Jesus and leaving being made alive is

the Fulfillment of the valley of dry bods you are the dead person who became alive because Jesus who is the Living Word became death this would be one of those appropriate prayers of Thanksgiving and gratitude so let's commune together if you will please stand with me when you believe these truths that Jesus Christ offers his life on the cross to die in your place if you believe that I invite you to come down grab the elements bring them back to your seat and we will all partake together