One of the things that I wanted to
share on was on church membership.
We've been thinking a lot about church membership
lately.
We've had quite a few people join our
church recently and so I've been thinking about
what it means spiritually about local church memberships.
I wanted to share my thoughts on that.
I'll share my screen so that it's easier
for you to also see and I wrote
it down very simply as four P's.
Four P's to make it a little bit
simpler to remember.
Nothing spiritual about making things in a particular
letter or anything like that.
It definitely doesn't translate to other languages but
what it is to be easy to remember
and I'll share it with you upfront what
are the four.
We get something and we have to give
a few things.
We get protection and we want to give
three things and I'd like to ask all
of us to think about whether we are
giving these three things.
Praying, are we participating and are we proclaiming
and I just use those words just as
an introduction to think about those thoughts and
the first is what we get.
Before we give anything we get and we
get a ton of things in the church
but just to think about the word protection.
You know whenever we join a family we
get protection and God wanted us to join
a family.
Think about when Adam was created.
Did he belong?
Yes, he did.
The church is a place where we can
belong but did Adam when he was created
did he belong?
Yes, was he protected?
Yes, he was protected by God but God
saw that Adam needed more than just to
belong to God.
He told Adam it is not good for
humans to be alone as Genesis 2 18.
God wanted Adam to have a family and
all who are born again belong to Jesus
Christ but God wants more than that for
us.
He when God wanted Adam not to be
alone he didn't give Adam a fishing buddy
or a business partner.
He gave somebody to Adam, Eve who he
could live life with and have a family
with.
So even among us humans it's easy to
belong superficially.
We can belong to a soccer club, we
can belong to video gaming clubs.
That could become many times in young people
that can become our community and we can
belong to the church that way too like
a club.
Video gamers talk about all their characters in
the video game.
Well we come to the church and we
talk about all the different characters in the
Bible and you know we learn lessons from
them and we draw meaning out of it
but that's not what it means to belong
to the church.
The protection of the church is like the
protection that there is in the family.
Constantly thinking about the word families that belongs
to the church has helped me.
The care and the support that we get
that is uniquely found in a family and
in the body and we fundamentally see two
children in the world today.
Children who are growing up secure and children
who are growing up insecure and I think
spiritually too God wants us to grow up
secure and he gives the family for that
for our protection and our security and at
NCCF well in every church there should be
the protections of good teachings that leads us
to Christ.
That's been such a wonderful protection.
So many Christians are living spiritually frustrated and
defeated lives partly because of bad teaching that
are getting them to go down the wrong
path.
We also have the protection of godly examples.
It's a tremendous protection that we get in
the local church whose faith we can imitate.
Jesus said pray because the harvest is plentiful
but the labors are few and also in
the church we have elders who are not
who've been taught not to be interested in
financial gain or a bigger platform or more
honor but spiritual growth from each one of
us.
That's a tremendous protection and as I was
thinking about this I want to constantly grow
in my gratitude and we want to raise
our children to grow in our gratitude for
the protection.
That first word P protection for the security
that I have received that we receive and
we continue to receive from a godly church
for a Christ healthy church.
The next thing but then after that we
get certain things but then we got to
give.
The first thing we have to give is
prayer and I don't know if that's the
first thing we think we ought to give
and as I was thinking about it it's
such an easy thing for us to give.
Prayer.
Prayer is not time spent on our knees.
It's not the number of words we say.
It's the heart.
It's a burden.
Even a four-year-old can pray genuine
prayers.
If a four-year-old has a sick
mother I have a feeling that four-year
-old will know and the mother is sick
with some very difficult disease the four-year
-old can pray and it's an instinctive response
to a burden not at the end of
the day it's an instinctive response to a
burden not a act of religious discipline.
Yes we must discipline ourselves to but the
prayer that all of us can give must
come out of a burden or genuine desire
and again I'm thinking about the local church.
We're all asked to pray in our personal
lives.
This is how we talk to God but
I was thinking about that giving that all
of us in our local church must give
as being a member of NCCF.
It says this in Ephesians chapter 6 verse
18.
This is kind of one of the verses
that I was meditating on as I was
thinking about what I wanted to share in
Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18.
If you want you can turn there.
It's amazing what Paul says with all prayer
and petition pray at all times in the
spirit with this in view be on the
alert with all perseverance and petition for all
the saints and he goes on to say
some more prayer praying for him as well.
He says I think about four times in
one sentence he tells us to pray petition
pray for all the saints pray and this
is right after putting on the full armor
of God after we've put on the full
armor of God pray and pray and pray
and pray after we put on the helmet
of salvation after we take on the shield
of faith pray and pray and pray and
pray it's repeated and it's comprehensive at all
times with all perseverance for all the saints
and as I was thinking about prayer in
the church context I wanted to give a
simple expression pray we prayers not me prayers
pray we prayers not me prayers the me
prayer can easily become the prayer of the
self-righteous and the we prayer is the
prayer of the righteous I was thinking about
that those two we prayer and me prayer
the self-righteous me prayer we see that
in Luke chapter 18 we know the story
of the Pharisee and the publican I thank
you God that I'm not like and I
believe he was being factually honest he was
probably I'd like to think he was saying
things that he was actually doing and probably
the tax collector was not doing tithing and
fasting or whatever it is but the Pharisee
was not praying to God he was praying
to himself because it's me I thank you
God and I think I counted there five
times he uses the word I in that
and you could also say well it's a
thank you prayer I thank you God that's
how he started but it wasn't a spirit
of gratitude it was evil because he compared
himself to others and when we thank God
for what God has given us in our
lives are we thanking God when we compare
ourselves to other people Lord I thank you
God that you've given me this and you're
not giving them that because I see other
people that don't have it then that's a
I'm in danger of having a me prayer
nothing wrong with being grateful for what God
has given me but as part of being
a local church God wants us to think
beyond ourselves and God wants us to think
about it in the terms of in terms
of family and a beautiful picture of the
we prayer is Daniel chapter 9 Daniel was
one of the most righteous men that ever
lived in the Old Testament and he gave
us a we prayer this is righteous Daniel
who had for years for decades had stayed
away from sin Daniel chapter 9 I don't
have time to read it but Daniel starts
off by saying hey look I Daniel observed
that it was time for the completion of
the desolation of Jerusalem when Jerusalem was going
to be no longer desolated and the people
could return that what Daniel said was I
gave my attention to the Lord to pray
and to offer supplications and then he you
know he could have surely looked at many
most of the other people in Babylon his
fellow brothers and saw that they were not
praying but this did not draw David Daniel
into a self-righteous prayer it drew him
into a righteous prayer where he said we
have sinned we in verse 5 we have
committed and you look at that chapter it's
all about we and our we have not
listened to it what do you mean Daniel
you listen to the prophets you're the one
who didn't commit iniquity but this was Daniel
look counting asking on behalf of us not
me and that's that's what each of us
when we commit to the local church this
doesn't make us you know it's not that
if we pray me prayers we're not Christians
but God didn't want us to be alone
God brought us into a local church to
transition us and to mature us from me
prayers to we prayers to where we say
Lord our this is our problem open shame
belongs to us in verse 8 verse 13
Lord calamity has come on us verse 15
we have sinned we have become wicked Daniel
was probably one of the most righteous men
that ever lived all the Hindu testament probably
in many ways but he was able to
say outwardly at we have sinned we have
been wicked let us learn to give to
the body of Christ and this is the
Lord's challenge to me Sandeep how much are
you praying we prayers how much are you
praying for your brothers and sisters as we
so you have not stumbled in a particular
area but what about us and is there
any giving let us give that and it
doesn't have to be a long prayer um
the picture I put for praying was this
was washing people's feet because I saw that
as a great way I can wash people's
feet I can wash them even remotely I
can pray for them and pray that a
turban be put on their head I can
pray for their sins to be forgiven them
to be washed in the blood of Jesus
that they may know the justification that comes
in the blood of Jesus that they can
know the holiness that is associated with the
blood of Jesus so that the blood of
Jesus is not treated as common and ordinary
this is what we do and you know
Peter says this is a verse I've been
meditating on lately 1 Peter 4 7 the
end of all things is near if we
believe the Lord is coming be of sound
judgment be of sober spirit for what for
the sake of prayer for the purpose of
prayer and when I was thinking about this
one I'm not thinking about group prayer group
meetings are wonderful group prayer meetings are great
and they have their place we just had
one yesterday among all the brothers but this
is we prayers in secret and when alone
you don't have to get together with anybody
else but you can have we on our
mind not me um Jesus taught us to
pray if you he told us how to
pray not my father who is in heaven
forgive us my sins our father forgive us
our sins give us give us this day
our daily bread and this is a way
in which we can wash the feet of
others Jesus said that wash one another's feet
and people try to practice that by taking
a basin of water and washing people's dirty
feet even though it's pretty clean but where
we need to do this is to apply
it spiritually and say Lord I'm detached from
them but let me pray for this brother
whoever comes to my mind and I also
thought about washing our hands you know we're
in the season where we've been taught a
lot wash your hands what do you do
what can I do when I'm washing my
hands they say wash for 20 seconds well
20 seconds is a lot of time to
pray for somebody I can pray for a
loved one what if I what if we
did that what if every time we washed
our hands we use that small 20 seconds
I don't have to kneel down I don't
have to do anything I guess as I'm
washing my hands say Lord who do I
whose feet do I want to wash spiritually
maybe it's my wife maybe it's my children
maybe it's a brother in the church and
we can pray we prayers not me prayers
the next word along with that after that
was participating now we've talked a lot about
prophesying but I thought I'd use the word
participating because it's not just speaking in the
midweek groups another word for participating is supporting
or encouraging if you seek and if you
can see that picture over there people are
rooting these people on people are holding up
it's kind of small but hopefully you can
see there are many different people holding up
something there in the middle encouraging either with
our words either through prayer holding somebody up
through sharing in the midweek meetings for sure
but through many other ways we could encourage
what is the opposite of prophecy in the
body of Christ it's paralysis if I'm not
prophesying if I'm not encouraging others what am
I doing in the body of Christ every
single member has a purpose and if I
don't have a heart to encourage if the
body part is not having a heart to
help supply blood then I should wonder if
I have if I'm paralyzed I should even
wonder if I'm in the right body of
Christ should I find some other body of
Christ which is also seeking to make disciples
but where I can encourage them encouraging others
in the body of Christ is not optional
optional it's the basic function that's the way
we have to participate it's not only by
yes you know 1 Corinthians 14 talks about
sharing in the midweek meeting that's the on
the local church that's the clear explanation of
it but it's not only that because of
technology we can text we can phone call
we can email we can smile if we
share something and even if we share something
in the midweek group we may not be
encouraging them we may just be sharing knowledge
and information that puffs up but never out
of edifies and so I see the prayer
and the prophecy going together I see the
prayer and the participating going together if I'm
praying for somebody I'd be more interested in
participating with those people if I'm not praying
for them if I don't have a burden
for them my participation is going to be
more flinging advice and flinging thoughts and smart
ideas but it's not backed with a genuine
burden so I see them going hand in
hand and that's the word we use often
as prophecy we use the word encouraging it's
supporting it's participating dear brothers and sisters this
is the zoom meeting they say there are
so many participants that doesn't mean you're participating
though you could be listening your mind could
be distracted somewhere else you may not be
a participant right now you may not be
engaged in this with us together and it's
so easy in the midweek meetings to just
put yourself on mute and just turn off
your video and you're a participant but you're
not participating you're not encouraging you're not supporting
you've not spent any time caring for them
in your thoughts and so we're sitting there
listening taking in information good enough to share
something but we're not participating we're not actively
involved and actively involved doesn't mean speaking actively
involved could be listening rooting for them encouraging
them on so I hope it's clear of
course we encourage participation in the midweek meetings
through speaking as well but it's not in
the midweek meeting alone it's every day of
the week we could as we're caring I
was talking to a brother who had a
wife who had many children how is that
woman going to encourage others she can pray
a one-minute prayer she's washing her hands
with genuine sincerity that's where it starts and
if she's prayed for that person imagine if
I'm praying for somebody for five days in
a row and then I see that person
I've got love in my heart even if
it's five minutes of love it's genuine love
I wasn't praying with the project in mind
I was praying because I just the lord
put them on my heart even if it
was just five minutes if I meet them
after five days I'd be five minutes of
love that'll come through in my eyes that'll
come through in my smile that'll come through
in my words dear brothers and sisters let's
pray we prayers and let us seek to
participate whether or not we're speaking or let's
be actively involved in the encouraging others and
lastly the last word is proclaiming that I
also got from Ephesians chapter 5 sorry Ephesians
chapter 6 verse 18 19 and 20 we
can turn there if you go back there
I was in Daniel 9 but Ephesians chapter
6 verse 20 and then he says look
pray on my behalf 19 and 20 he
says pray on my behalf this is Paul
asking the Ephesians to pray on my behalf
that utterance may be given to me in
the opening of my mouth to make known
with boldness the mystery of the gospel for
which I am an ambassador and chains that
in proclaiming I may speak boldly as I
ought to speak and from that word I
got that proclaiming proclaiming and two words that
I want to underline is boldly and the
mystery the mystery of the gospel it really
encouraged me dear brothers and sisters this week
as I meditated on this that the gospel
is a mystery it is not something that
I feel I need to explain a lot
of Christianity is chasing its tail because it
is trying to sincerely explain the gospel but
the gospel is a mystery the love of
God is a mystery how can we possibly
fathom let alone explain that an almighty God
became a human and faced eternal torment to
save me the love of God is good
news but it's a mystery and as we've
heard it's unexplainable it has to be revealed
even our own children we can't explain them
into the kingdom no one can be born
by the will of man we have to
be born by the spirit we have to
be born by the will of God that's
John chapter 1 and John chapter 3 so
it's such a relief that we don't have
to explain people into the kingdom we don't
have to teach people in the kingdom we
have to pray and proclaim and and if
we had to pray and courage and proclaim
how by being a light the light bulb
is not explaining light it's not talking about
the physics of the geometry or the particles
of light it just shines and the salt
doesn't explain all the particles of what sodium
and chlorine or whatever makes us all it
just tastes good and it was such a
relief lord I don't have to explain many
things I don't have to learn all the
apologetical details of this or that I just
need to shine I would just light the
candle every day and shine I just need
to make my co-workers and see that
my life is tasty it's enjoyable Jesus tells
me that he wants me to live a
life with divine clarity you know the light
and darkness and it's and that's an enjoyable
life that I ought to be living it
is the crystal clear clarity and light of
a clear conscience that loves holiness that increasingly
loves holiness that's what the light that has
to shine I don't have to use words
but it's something that I carry around me
that shows that I hate gossip that I'm
careful with my tongue that I seek to
be under submission of human authorities and I
love holiness and it's the enjoyment that I
get from the fruit of love and joy
and peace with Christ not the pleasant pleasures
of sin a genuine salt in my life
that others can taste it's a mystery dear
brothers and sisters but I hope that we
can pursue that mystery and not try to
explain it but be it in the earth
and the other word was bold that I
might have boldness to proclaim it that word
boldness seems to indicate proclaiming it we must
be bold dear brothers and sisters to proclaim
it but that won't happen if we if
our inner life doesn't match our outer life
if we're proclaiming with our mouth but our
inner life doesn't demonstrate that clarity of conscience
and doesn't demonstrate that enjoyment I can't proclaim
it but dear brothers and sisters that's what
our church ought to be so let me
share this slide in closing we're protected on
the outside but let's seek to be a
praying church in secret seeking to wash one
another's faults in secret rooting for them participating
in the church passing blood the blood of
Jesus that justifies and seeks to make us
holy to others rooting for them encouraging them
on if you were using words if necessary
and seeking to be a light and salt
in the earth adding a little bit of
taste bringing a little bit more clarity to
people's lives dear brothers and sisters it's a
tremendous calling God created Adam and said I
don't like it that you're alone God created
us and birthed us in the Holy Spirit
and said it's not good for you to
be alone I want you to be with
a family that you can get the protection
but then you have a function to play
don't be paralyzed seek to pray for others
seek to participate in the building up of
others and seeking to proclaim to others who
are lost around us may God help us