Tag Archives: Prayer

Sunday – May 26, 2013, “The Essence of Hell”

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May 26, 2013 – Read the Word on Worship

The Essence of Hell from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

Mark’s record of the Gethsemane scene is the darkest of the four gospels. Matthew’s account describes Jesus’ grief as simply grieving while Luke omits all references to Jesus’ grief entirely. The lack of description in the other gospels has caused many to wonder why Mark includes this description of anguish and wrongly concludes that Jesus suffered from an eleventh hour crisis of nerve. Join us as we look at Mark 14 verses 26 to 42 and learn the lessons of the Garden of Gethsemane and explore the “Essence of Hell” as Jesus prays to His heavenly Father.

Word On Worship – May 26, 2013 Download / Print

Mark 14:33-36
“He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.”

Mark’s record of the Gethsemane scene is the darkest of the four gospels. Matthew’s account describes Jesus’ grief as simply grieving while Luke omits all references to Jesus’ grief entirely. The lack of description in the other gospels has caused many to wonder why Mark includes this description of anguish and wrongly conclude that Jesus suffered from an eleventh hour crisis of nerve. How can Jesus challenge James and John to drink His cup when He now seemly shrinks from it Himself?

If we attempt to discount the strong emotions of Mark’s description then we fail to see that Jesus has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Many explanations have been suggested to explain His trembling and tears. Did He know the sins of the world were to be laid upon Him? Maybe it was from contemplating dying by a cursed method of hanging from a tree? Others suggest it was being abandoned by His closest friends when the disciples lose faith and scatter leaving Him alone.

Jesus’ mental torment during the waiting in the garden was yet another temptation He had to face. The suffering Jesus experienced at the beatings and floggings were a physical ordeal. But it is the anxiety of waiting that can make one fall to pieces. Jesus knew infinitely more about the holiness and righteousness of God and what would be required to pay for the sins of the world. Jesus was not worrying about the future as we do. He is not exaggerating possibilities. He knew precisely what the future held. What He anguishes over is exactly what He will experience and knew He must call upon His Father and to entrust Himself to His will.

So what do we get from Mark’s gospel which is not included in the other gospels accounts of the long night of Gethsemane? Mark allows us to see Jesus following His own teaching to the disciples – praying and drawing closer to His Father. Hearing Jesus pray at this moment of great crisis is the example He wants each of us to follow. Satan battles for every human heart and we are hardwired by sin to try to save our own lives. The disciples are no example to us as they flee in the night when Judas changes sides and Peter denies Him publicly. Jesus, our Great High Priest, resolves the anguish by coming to His Father in prayer and obediently submitting to the will of the God.

Sunday – January 20, 2012

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January 20, 2012 – Read the Word on Worship

Jesus & The Original Occupy Jerusalem Movement from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

Sadly most readers, and many commentary writers, are shocked to read that Jesus could be so spiteful to curse a poor fruit tree. Instead of seeing the guilt of an unproductive tree in full leaf, many people instead think Jesus is being irrational and petulant as He curses the tree. Yet would they wring their hands in disbelief when a chicken farmer assigns a chicken that no longer produces eggs to the stew? What we fail to see is both the fig tree and the activities of the temple failed to produce the very thing they created to produce. The tree was created to produce figs and the temple was created to be a house of prayer for all nations. What should the Master do when the when the proverbial chicken does not produce what it was created to produce?
Join us tomorrow as we continue in our study of the Gospel of Mark as we look at “Jesus and the Original Occupy Jerusalem Movement” from Mark 11 verses 12 to 26.

Word On Worship – January 20, 2012 Download / Print

Mark 11:12-14
“On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.”

The last miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is the most unusual. For the first time, a miracle of Jesus brings about death, not life. Needless to say, this raises many questions. How is it that Jesus can tell the disciples where to find a colt tied up from outside the city and yet He can’t see from a distance whether a tree has edible fruit? How is Jesus able to feed five thousand people with five fish and two loaves but one fig tree frustrates Him to the point of cursing it?

Sadly, most readers and many commentary writers are shocked to read that Jesus could be so spiteful as to curse a poor fruit tree. Instead of seeing the guilt of an unproductive tree in full leaf, many people think Jesus is being irrational and petulant as He curses the tree. Yet would they wring their hands in disbelief when a chicken farmer assigns a chicken that no longer produces eggs to the stew? What we fail to see is that both the fig tree and the activities of the temple failed to produce the very thing they were created to produce. The tree was created to produce figs and the temple was created to be a house of prayer for all nations. What should the Master do when the proverbial chicken does not produce what it was created to produce?

Jesus has taken the place of the temple during His ministry. Jesus announced in John 2 that He is the Temple. From there, Jesus proclaims throughout the gospels the forgiveness of sin, healing for the sick, and the restoration of people to society. He has replaced the tables of the money changers, where worshippers had to pay for atonement, with the Lord’s Table, were He presents the free offering of His life on the cross as payment for the forgiveness of sins to all who come to the Father through Him.

And that leaves one last question for you and me. What were we created for? Were we merely created to make sure we make arrangements with God to get our fire insurance in order? Or should we have learned from the parable of the soils in Mark 4 that the desired end is for our lives is to be people of the fourth soil producing fruit? The Lord is very serious about His people growing in maturity so that we produce good fruit. Do not miss the lesson of the fig tree. Realize how God deals with things that do not produce ­– especially when they outwardly profess to be fruit bearing.

Sunday – January 6, 2013

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January 6, 2012 – Read the Word on Worship

James & John Make Their Pitch and Strike Out from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

Jesus did not choose His disciples because they were more qualified or more compassionate than others. Human nature has not changed over the years and the gospel has not eliminated pride and selfish ambition from the people of God. You will still find people in the church put meeting their ego needs before meeting their obligations as a disciple. Somewhere along the way, we have taken the cross out of discipleship and replaced it with a purpose that meets material and egotistical needs and thus produces fruit of selfishness and materialism in the church.
The church cannot thrive when the people in the pews are competing with one another for positions of power. Too often we look to the world of business for role models when we should be looking to Jesus. The life and teaching of Jesus Christ turns the world’s understanding of what is great on its head. The greatest work ever done was accomplished by One who gave His life for others. It is not as the world judges great things but through self-dying service that greatness is recognized by God. Only those who give of themselves for others will be recognized by God as great in His Kingdom.
Join us tomorrow as we explore Mark 10 verses 32-52 and See”James & John Make Their Pitch and Strike Out”.

Word On Worship – January 6, 2012 Download / Print

 Mark 10:35-38
“James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.”

Once again the disciples are competing for first place, looking for ways to outmaneuver their brothers for power and advantage. They are interested in dominion not humility and service. They want a Messiah who is beyond suffering and will offer them their heart’s desires. But no one can understand Jesus Christ without understanding His suffering and the cross. It is the cross that distinguishes Jesus as Messiah and ours as disciples. To know Jesus as Messiah is to accept Him as One who dies for others and accept that destiny for ourselves.

Jesus did not choose His disciples because they were more qualified or more compassionate than others. Human nature has not changed over the years and the gospel has not eliminated pride and selfish ambition from the people of God. You will still find people in the church put meeting their ego needs before meeting their obligations as a disciple. Somewhere along the way, we have taken the cross out of discipleship and replaced it with a purpose that meets material and egotistical needs and thus produces fruit of selfishness and materialism in the church.

The church cannot thrive when the people in the pews are competing with one another for positions of power. Too often we look to the world of business for role models when we should be looking to Jesus. The life and teaching of Jesus Christ turns the world’s understanding of what is great on its head. The greatest work ever done was accomplished by One who gave His life for others. It is not as the world judges great things but through self-dying service that greatness is recognized by God. Only those who give of themselves for others will be recognized by God as great in His Kingdom.

We cannot forget that Jesus holds Himself up as the example to be followed. He does not explain atonement as much as He shows the disciples the way of atoning life. The only way the disciples, and ourselves as well, can live up to the demands of Jesus is to realize He has gone before us, broken through and cleared the way for others to follow. We can either look to Jesus as our example, or James and John. Hopefully, looking at James and John in this passage will be like looking in a mirror where we see the reflection of our own selfish and foolish thoughts.

Sunday – November 11, 2012

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November 11, 2012 – Read the Word on Worship

Pray For Kings and All Who Are in Authority from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

The elections are over, so now what? Maybe your candidate won or maybe they lost, but our job is more than just an election. Now is the time for us to get busy and be in prayer for all who in authority whether they are the President of the United States or local elected officials. Join us as we look at 1st Timothy 2 verses 1 to 4 and see why prayer for our leaders is of first importance and what our prayers can do to make the advance of the gospel possible.

Word On Worship – November 11, 2012 Download / Print

 Matthew 6:32-33
“For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

One of our greatest problems with prayer is we do not fully know to whom it is we are praying. We have left God to the realm of human imagination and fantasy such that we say, “I would like to think of God in these terms.” That “I like” mindset guarantees that all concepts of God which come from our speculation and imagination will be seriously wrong. Such ideas continually lead to uncertainty about God because God is not the focus of our lives. The only place we can get a clear picture of the living God and understand why prayer is so essential is from the Bible, where God bears witness about Himself so we may begin to know who He truly is.

To  understand why prayer is so essential, we must first grasp how God is a personal God. Today, many people remove the personal attributes of God and think of Him as a “higher substance.”  Society enjoys the facelessness of such a God because we can collectively leave God on the shelf with our other faceless pursuits of career, family, and education, as if He were a fashion statement to be worn in the right season of Christmas and Easter. In other seasons where our devotion is spent in total pursuit of ourselves, we can fold Him up and put Him away until He is needed. The truth is, impersonal ideas about God will always be inferior to the true nature of God.

God is always described as a personal God of real people in Scripture. He speaks of Himself as “I” and addresses humanity as “you.” From Genesis to Revelation, God relates to people personally and is never seen as an “it.” Therefore, we must not allow ourselves to see Him as an object from whom we can stand apart and observe in the way scientists examine an organism through a microscope. God is always the subject, not a mere object, always above us, never below us. He presents Himself in personal terms and so we must always think of Him in personal terms as the God who is eternally here and has His eternal eye on us. He takes an active interest in us just the way we are.

So how does this relate to prayer? Since God is personal, it should be no surprise to find His relationship to humans involves two-way speech, where we listen as well as speak. There is a language between God and us just as there is between you and me.  As God used language to address the people in the Bible, such as Abraham and David, we are called to converse with God using language, seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness. His lessons and commandments as revealed in His wonderful Word remain our enduring and steadfast guide. And none of this would be possible if our heavenly Father were not a personal God who speaks to us and hears our call.