Prayer for the church… (3 things)

• 1^st – Paul was always praying for the church… vs. 9
  • 1^st – It was not an occasional prayer – it was CONSTANT prayer…
    • So often when we pray we give up after a week – or a month – or a year…
    • But God does not call us just to pray – God calls us to be a people of prayer…
    • I Thessalonians 5:17 – “Pray without ceasing…”
    • Like a child who asks – OVER and OVER – until we give them what they want…
    • We need to be persistent in seeking the Lord – do not give up!
    • I imagine we will be amazed at how much God wanted to do in our lives…
    • But it never happened simply because we gave up asking too quickly!
  • 2^nd – Paul did not pray for himself – he prayed for others…
    • We tend to be very self centered in our prayers – as if it is all about us…
    • Not that we cannot pray for our needs – but we are called to be others centered…
    • God is always working all around us – in the lives of people right next to us…
    • But if I am always focused on my needs – I am going to miss what God is doing…
    • God may not be working in my life today – but God is doing a work every day!
    • We RALLY see God working when get our eyes off ourselves – and pray for others!
      
• 2^nd – To be filled with the knowledge of God’s will… vs. 9
  • 1^st – Paul had only one request for the church…
    • He prayed for them to be filled with understanding – AND wisdom…
    • Because it is not enough to understand – we have to have the wisdom to act on it…
    • You might know that a fire is hot – but wisdom says not to touch it!
    • In the same way you might know God’s will for your life – but wisdom says to follow it!

• 2^nd – What is the will of God for our lives – generally there are 4 things…
  • It is the will of God that we are sexually pure…
    • I Thessalonians 4:3 – “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality.”
    • We will face many temptations in this life – but temptation is not sin…
    • Temptation becomes sin when we – dwell on – think about – then act on it…
    • James 1:12-15 – “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full–grown, brings forth death.”
    • We do not just wake up one day and decide to go and commit sexual immorality…
    • We allow our mind to dwell on a desire – when that desire turns to action – sin…
    • A life that is dominated by sexual sin – is a sign of a man who does not know God
  • It is the will of God that we give thanks…
    • I Thessalonians 5:18 -“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God…”
    • We tend to focus in life on the things we do not have – but think we need…
    • If it was a need God would provide – Luke 12:31 – if we don’t have it – don’t need it!
    • We overlook the simple things – food / clothing / family / a home / our health…
    • But God calls us to be thankful for all things – for all God has done for us – every day!
    • Looking at what He has giving us – not what we think we still need!
  • It is the will of God that we do good…
    • I Peter 2:15 – “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.”
    • The world is full of a lot of ‘foolish ideas’ about how to live life / get to heaven…
    • We are called to be a light – example – to silence all those foolish ideas!
    • Matthew 5:14 – “You are the light of the world….”
    • We are though our actions to show them the real answer – the Word of God…
    • It is the will of God that we live our life showing the world Jesus!
  • It is the will of God that we suffer…
    • I Peter 3:17 – “It is the will of God, to suffer for doing  good…”
    • If we did the things the world does – they would embrace us / love us…
    • If we sat down at the drinking table / if we joined in the gambling…
    • If we laughed at the dirty jokes / If we passed on the latest gossip…
    • The world would embrace us – because are joining in with them – justifying them…
    • But when we go to Bible studies – because you do not want to live in sin…
    • When we do not do the things the world does – convicting the world of their sin…
    • Then people will make fun of us – attack you with cutting words – because of Jesus…
    • Do not take it personally – and do not be angry with the people in the world…
    • It is not us they have a problem with – they do not like who we stand for – Jesus!
      
      
      
      
      
• 3^rd – How can we know the will of God for daily lives…
  • It is easy to say the will of God is to live pure / thankful / good / suffer…
    • But how about the will of God for daily decisions – where I work / what I say…
    • Romans 12:2 – “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
    • It is really easy to get caught up in this world – make our decision like everyone else
    • But if we conform to the world – we are not going to know the will of God…
    • Only when we are emptied – not depending on ourselves – full of the Holy Spirit…
    • When God changes our hearts – our desires – we are transformed!
    • We will know God’s will for our lives – because we have God’s Spirit within us!
    • Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”]
  • Knowing it is not important what decision we make – but why we make it…
    • Often we get caught up in the rights and lefts of life…
    • A place where we have to make a decision – and we do not know what to do…
    • We worry about decision – rather than who we are trusting in…
    • We want to know which way we should go – and it really does not matter…
    • What is really important is who we are trusting in!
    • Are we relying on Jesus – then go right or go left – He will take care of both!
      
• 3^rd – When we are in the will of the Lord… vs. 10-14
  • 1^st – We will walk worthy of the Lord – pleasing Him… vs. 10-11
    • Pleasing God because we are fruitful for the Lord…
      • Being fruitful is not about what I do – it is about who I am connected to…
      • Only as we spend time with – cling to Jesus – are we are truly alive – bear fruit…
      • We will find we are doing what God wants – and we will be blessed – good fruit!
    • Pleasing God because we will increase in our knowledge of God…
      • If you want to know more about the Lord – get into the Word of the Lord…
      • That is why it is so important to get into God’s Word / fellowship…
      • When we are firmly planted in God’s word / spend time with Jesus…
      • The way we grow in our knowledge of Jesus is through reading the Bible!
    • Pleasing God because we are powerful…
      • Not strong in our power – but because of the POWER of God in us…
      • The power of God gives us patience in suffering – so we can have Joy…
      • We pride ourselves in our strength – but what is our strength compared to God’s…
      • Strength does not come from money / power / influence / even who you know…
      • True strength comes when we realize we are not strong – in fact we are weak…
      • The problem is we are limited – limited time / talent / money / ability…
      • But God had limitless – He has all the time / talent / money we could ever need!
      • In realizing this – we don’t depend on our strength – we depend on the Lord’s!
      • When we look to the Lord – depend upon the Lord – we are unstoppable!
        
  • 2^nd – We will be thankful… vs. 12-14
    • We are thankful because we are able us to inherit eternal life…
      • We are not able to / qualified – to inherit eternal life on our own…
      • II Corinthians 5:21 – “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”
      • In Jesus – we are qualified – we have the right to receive eternal life…
    • We are thankful because he has delivered us from the power of darkness…
      • Before Jesus were the sons of this world – the children of satan – Matthew 12:30
        • We went wherever the world – motivated by satan – told us to go…

• In other words before we knew Jesus we had no direction – no purpose…
• Every new idea – we blindly followed after – not knowing where we were going…
• No thought of consequence/no plan – following satan without question…

• Before Jesus we did not think about sin – we just did what we wanted…
  • We did not think about God – think about righteousness – we were bound to sin…
  • When we sinned  – we did not care – sin did not bother us…
  • With every sin we sank deeper into ‘debt’ – a debt we had no way to repay…
  • Only living to please ourselves – destined to face the wrath of God…
• BUT GOD – these two words are what stand between us going to heaven or hell…
  • No one else could save us – there was nothing we could do to save ourselves…
  • It was only God who could step in and change our fate – save us from our sin!

Psalm 103:12 – “He removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.”

We are thankful because God transferred us into the Kingdom of His Son…

We can only be citizens of one of two kingdoms…

We either belong to the Kingdom of God – or the kingdom of this world…

Once we are born again – saved – we are no longer foreigners…

We no longer belong to this world – we have changed our citizenship!

And when one day we stand at the entrance into heaven – Jesus will welcome us in!

We are thankful because we are redeemed through Jesus blood – we are forgiven…

Jesus has redeemed us from sin / destruction…

At the cross – Jesus took on Him the crushing weight of the sins of all men…

It was there that God unleashed His entire wrath against the sin of men…

The price of forgiveness was enormous – it cost Jesus His life!

Jesus paid a debt He did not owe – cause we owed a debt that we couldn’t pay

I Peter 1:18-19 – “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you… the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver.  He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”

Now when God looks down on us – He does not see our sinful mistakes/flaws…

He instead sees the perfect life of His Son Jesus – He sees us as perfect/flawless!