Pastor Brian Lother and Jeff Orluck
Jeff: Just the tradition of conversational messages. Rather than standing behind a pulpit, I get to join Pastor Brian and be the scripture reader. He can sit interrupt me instead of her would be a lot of fun. I just want to remind everybody, we have a picnic this afternoon, right after church, right in Corcoran. You just go down one 116, turn right. It's right at the Y. You are going to veer to the left on how we 50, and then you can turn into the parking lot from there. Just bring your own picnic lunch. We are not providing anything but an opportunity to get together. So you bring your food and drink and come join us, and we'll have a lovely time on a beautiful afternoon.
Brian: We need to clarify the Y. It's not the YMCA, but it's the Y in the road.
Jeff: It's the Y in the road; you can go right on highway 10 or left on county road 50. If you go left, then you will hit the parking lot. The park is right after the Y. Yes.
It feels like 20, 21 has been an incredible year of a lot of losses. Looking at Jim Yuzel here this morning; his mom passed away and her Memorial was this year. We did a Memorial yesterday for a long time friend of ours. He was such a longtime friend. He actually changed my diapers when I was a child. I said to everybody yesterday that he saw a side of me that most people had never seen before. Of course, my mom passed away just a few days three weeks ago, uh, Ruby early this morning, about two o'clock this morning, she took her last breath here and started breathing the air and heaven. I was telling Shayna– she is probably more flexible than even Shayna is this morning.
Of course, John Colthy and another longtime friend, Greg Foran, and many others have passed away this year. It has been a year of loss. I was talking to the Lord recently and I said, I need a few gains Lord. There have been far too many losses for me this year. Losses are in a lot of different ways. Obviously, when somebody passes away, that's a terrible loss, but there are other kinds of losses that we experience as well, and that's when the Lord pulls someone out of our congregation and transplant them someplace else. That's happening with John and Bridget Nesser and their family. I've been playing music with John for close to 30 years, I think, and he has been a great pleasure to play with and to just be a friend with John and Bridgette, they've been great friends of this church through the years, going way back to Calvary temple. They are moving this week down to South Carolina. I just said you can't commute. Although I said to him, if you are ever back like for weddings and stuff, just let us know. We've got a spot reserved for you on a Sunday morning to play. So we'll pull up some old music or whatever although John doesn't need old music to play. He plays new music well.
But I'd like them to just come down here. The whole family just come down here and we want to pray for them; extend our hands towards them, bless them. We are going to be doing this again in another week with Ken and Sherry's [inaudible]. They are moving to the Carolinas as well and— all the way over here. So you can be right in the middle. Thanks guys. I believe in just blessing people, who've been a part of our church family. We are so grateful for the Nessers. They were part of us at the very, very beginning of planting Hope. They saw us through some really lean times and they were very, very instrumental in helping us to get this facility built. We are so grateful for all of what they've done for us through the years. So just extend your hands towards them, please. We just want to bless them, send them out with a Hope, blessing, a blessing of mercy and a blessing of hope and a blessing of kind of an anointing of healing to go with them so that wherever they go, they bring the healing love of Jesus with them.
So, father, I just thank you for John and Bridgette. Thank you, Lord for Zerah and for Eric and for CC and for Caleb, Lord, and the two children who aren't here this morning. I just thank you for all of them. Lord, you have your hand on every single one of them. We pray Lord, as they make this move in this transition that Lord, you will guide their steps. It can be an anxious thing to go someplace else to go to another state, to establish the business and another part of the country. We pray Lord that your hand of protection and your hand of blessing will be upon them. But Lord, we also pray that the essence of who we are at Hope community will go with them and that what has been deposited in them through the years by your grace and your mercy, they would carry with you Lord. And they would plant the seeds that have been planted in them, in that region where they are living in South Carolina.
We just thank you father for them. I pray just bountiful multiplied blessings to be upon them. May their cup be so full that it will run over and it will run over so much. It'll spill over to other people that they come in contact with. So we just thank you for them. Protect them now. Bless them. Guide them in every step that they need. And they always know they have friends here at hope that love them and care for them. And may they also know even more deeply that they have a friend in you that is closer than a brother and that you will never leave them or for sake them. So we just pray these blessings on them now in Jesus' sake and for your name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, guys. Love you.
I don't know how many years ago it was that Clint Eastwood would have made the movie "the good, the bad and the ugly." It was probably 40 years ago or more; something like that. I was thinking about that movie, and mostly the title. I wanted to title this message, turning the bad and the ugly into good, turning the bad and the ugly into good. Today, many people in the church, they look at the world and they see all sorts of injustice. They see all sorts of immorality. They see all sorts of corruption, all sorts of prejudice, violence, all over the place. And a host of other evils that are playing for all of the world to see, but particularly those of us who have a moral compass, uh, that is based on the word of God. And oftentimes what we can begin to feel as Christians is angry with how the world is. We can feel angry with the decisions at times that politicians make.
What generally follows on the heels of being hurt and angry is we actually then begin to judge those people who we are angry with, or who've heard us. We do that with all those who are corrupt and unjust and immoral and so forth. But I have news for us today, and this is kind of a topic that I keep hammering. As long as I keep hammering on it, I believe it's because it needs to be hammered. Okay. And I'm not saying you—
Jeff: We are not getting it.
Brian: I'm not saying you've got thick skulls, but how many of you know that you can't eat one meal. If you are bodybuilder, you can't eat just one meal and then that's all the nutrition You are ever going to need. We need to continually feed ourselves with the things of God. The fact of the matter is God doesn't want us to be judgmental. I'm going to come up with, I think it's a new word here, but I'm not sure. And if it's a new word, we should start coining this word around here, but God wants us to be prayer mental, not judgmental. He wants us to be prayer mental.
It seems that there is more and more anger and intolerance in the world than at any other time that I've been alive in my relatively short 70 years. Not only is there more and more anger kind of coming up to the surface around the world, I see it happening in the church. I see it happening with more and more Christians, the way they talk, the things that they say in it. And it seems like countless Christians are very angry with, with most, if not all of our elected officials. And then we try to somehow justify that anger by calling it righteous indignation. I used to do that when I was angry with people. I just have righteous indignation, but I wonder if we are just trying to justify ourselves when we say that, because we really do end up having a root of bitterness in our hearts when we allow that anger to keep festering.
Being angry is not a sin because God gets angry and God is sinless, but he does give us some parameters on anger. And he also does give us some parameters and instructions on what to do.
Jeff: The word actually tells us be angry, but sin not.
Brian: Yeah, sin not. Absolutely. So I want to read a portion of scripture because here is what Paul had to say to a very young Timothy in first Timothy chapter two verses one through four. Let's read it, Pastor Jeff.
Jeff: This is the message. First thing I want you to do is pray, pray every way you know how.
Brian: Let's just stop there for a second. How many can honestly say that's the first thing you do when you get angry? Well, that liar raise their hands. The fact of the matter is that often isn't what we are drawn to do when we are angry, it's not to pray. And I'm going to give you a little context here. When Paul wrote this, he had already served one prison term in a Roman cell under Nero. He had already served a prison term cell or prison term. And he says, the first thing I want you to do is what pray. And then read it again, Jeff. Pray how?
Jeff: For everyone you know.
Brian: For everyone. I'm telling you something. If you guys just started praying for everybody, you know you would not have time to be angry.
Jeff: I think the only one I know who's ever done that is Ruby.
Brian: Yeah, maybe. I think so.
Jeff: She prayed all the time for all of us.
Brian: She did. Yeah. She, one night this past week, I think it might've been Friday night, but Jacque has been there for like the last three days. And we are with her all night long. She prayed all night long, all night long. She prayed all night before her exhaustion took over. Then Paul to Timothy goes on and gives, he digs a little bit deeper because this first paragraph or this first sentence rather is a little bit general in topic. But then he starts to bore down on something very specific here, and he says this.
Jeff: This pray, especially for rulers and their governments to rule well. So we can be quietly about our business of living simply in humble contemplation.
Brian: So he says to pray what not against, but what pray for the, your rulers, pray for the governments that we are under and pray for them so that they will rule well. Now, if you don't think that they are ruling, well, maybe it's because we are not praying for them. We are so good at blaming aren't. Children, there are a couple of things that kids are never taught. The first is mine. That's the first word that a child learns. Isn't, that's mine. That's mine. It can be your car, but a two year old says it's mine. But the other thing that they learn is it's not my fault. It's his fault. It's your fault. And so what Paul is saying to Timothy here is to pray for our government leaders and our governments so that we can be quietly—
Jeff: Quietly, we can live simply and humble contemplation.
Brian: Yeah. Yes. Wow. And then he goes on to say,
Jeff: This is the way our savior, God wants us to live.
Brian: He wants us to live praying for our governments, praying for our civic leaders, praying for our spiritual leaders, praying for leaders in finance, praying for everybody so that we can live simple lives of contemplation and reflection. And then he goes on to say this.
Jeff: He wants not only us, but everyone to get to know the truth that we've learned.
Brian: So here is Paul, this, uh, ex-con, having spent a prison term in a Roman prison. I'm sure that that Paul didn't quite have the same rights that our prisoners have when he was in his prison cell. As I mentioned, Nero was the ruler at this time in Rome. Most of us probably heard some of the horror stories about what he was like, but the fact of the matter is he didn't have secret affairs. He never stood up and said, "I never had sex with that woman." He had public orgies. He had public orgies where they had sexual acts in public, demonstrating his prowess and his power over these women. That was the kind of ruler that Nero was. And Paul is giving instructions to Timothy to pray for him.
Jeff: Because God wants everyone saved.
Brian: That's right, because God wanted Nero saved. God wanted all of our presidents saved. He was a very brutal man. He would take Christians who were either going to be fed to the lions and the arenas, but sometimes he would take some of them when he was having some kind of outdoor festivities and he would pour tar all over them, tie them on a pole and light them on fire to be a human candle for their festivities. That's the kind of person he was. And knowing that, Paul didn't say to pray that he would be replaced or that he would be overthrown. But Paul says to pray for him.
Sometimes I think our standards that we have lived by as the church have really sunk below what Paul's instructions are here. We find ourselves so easy to go on Facebook and all the social media sites and just declare all of our, of how our governor is and how our president is and who, whoever might be a Senator or what have you, or this leader or that civic person. We are not praying for them, but we are undermining them. We are being critical of them. Paul gives the church instructions to pray for our government leaders. I understand it has been, well-documented the problems in the past with our white house and not just one president. There seems to be a litany of presidents that have one problem after another.
If you uncover some of the things that have happened in the white house, it might shock us. It only shocks us because of what our expectation was of our, our leaders. However, don't you think we should be more concerned with the condition of the Lord's house rather than the white house? Shouldn't it be our concern? Shouldn't it be more towards the condition of the Lord's house than the white house? We have lost of one of the things that Jesus declared when he went into the temple. Let's read that in Isaiah 56:7. This is the portion of scripture that Jesus quoted. The context here is about all sorts of foreigners or Gentiles, which would be us, that he was referring to in this portion of scripture from Isaiah 56:7.
Jeff: And this is in the NIV. It says these Gentiles are foreigners. I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.
Brian: Yeah, for all nations. So here is God's heart for the house of the Lord, that it would be a place of prayer for all nations. So when you are done praying for our government, now you can start praying for the Chinese government and then you can start praying for the Russian government. And then you can start praying for our neighbors to the north and maybe our neighbors to the south, the Canadians and the Mexicans, and on and on and on, because this is God's heart, that the house of the Lord must become a source of redemptive prayer, redemptive prayer, not praying may their children be fatherless. Don't pray that kind of prayer, but redemptive prayer, of redemptive prayer for imperfect presidents and rulers, redemptive prayer for governors, redemptive prayer for senators and pastors.
And believe you me, I understand the frustration and anger towards some leaders. I understand it. I've been angry with them, myself, whether political or even spiritual leaders who fail, who it's been uncovered, that they did just terrible things and stole people's money, or rook people out of money. What have you? It gets frustrating. I can become angry with that because we think they are not doing their job properly. And that's a natural thing to happen. But when we don't pray, then we are not doing what we are supposed to do when we don't pray for our leaders. When we don't pray for our government, when we don't pray for our spiritual leaders, then we are not doing our job. And we need to pray for godly counsel for our leaders. And we must remember that in all things at all times what triumphs. Mercy triumphs over judgment. That's what the scripture says. Let's read it in James chapter 2, verse 13.
Jeff: First the NIV. Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.
Brian: If you want to be judged, then just judge others. How many want to stand before God and be judged? How many want to stand before God, and all the things that you failed in, he brings to your account. I don't want that. I don't want that. I want God to look at my slate of sins and say, they've all been removed as far as the east is from the west. That's what I want. That's what I want. And so in James, he says it this way, read it again, Jeff.
Jeff: NIV again?
Brian: Yeah.
Jeff: Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful mercy triumphs over judgment.
Brian: Mercy triumphs over judgment. Well, I've asked myself this question in my life. What is my most natural propensity when it comes to these things? When it comes to being frustrated and angry with a politician or somebody who hurts me or whatever, what is my natural propensity? I have to be honest with you. It's not mercy. For me to be merciful. It needs me to be more intentional, but I've been praying that mercy would become a natural response of mine, not an intentional choice of mine. I think God is at least somewhat pleased that I'm at least trying to be intentional about mercy. But I recognize that there is a lack in me of not quite being like Jesus yet.
I'm not sure that I could actually be whipped within an inch of my life so that all the skin on my back and my legs and whatever is laid bare, a crown of thorns in my head, nails through my hands and feet and being tortured like that, hung on a cross. I'm not sure my response would be father forgive them. I'm not sure it would be. Until it would be, I need more of Jesus. I need more of him. So I recognize my lack and I've been praying that that somehow my natural response would become one of showing mercy. I like how Eugene Peterson says that in the message. Read this same portion of the Message.
Jeff: For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly, kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time.
Brian: Isn't that good? Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time. It's just a different way of thinking for us. Isn't it? It's just a different way of thinking. We need to change how we think on things.
Jeff: And yet, you know, pastor Brian early in my Christian life, I remember a teacher telling us that you really had to pick which side you were going to be on because you had only two choices. You could be on the side of the accuser, or you could be on the side of the intercessor. Which side do you want to be on?
Brian: If You are on the side of the intercessor, that's where redemptive prayer comes into play.
Jeff: Exactly right. Jesus is the intercessor.
Brian: Yes, he is. And he is the redeemer.
Jeff: Nobody that we care for.
Brian: That's right. Yeah. Sometimes I think we just need to ask forgiveness for our unforgiveness. We just need to ask forgiveness for our unforgiveness, especially our unforgiveness toward government leaders. Believe me, I carried plenty of rocks through the years with the intentions of stoning those sinners, speaking metaphorically. Of course. And then I remember one day just dropping all of my stones all on my rocks when Jesus looked at me and he said, well, as soon as you are sinless, go ahead and throw them.
Jeff: To my shame, I have to admit that there was time in my life that I hated literally I hated some of our government leaders.
Brian: Well, if I was honest, I would be the same; never seeing anything good. There was a time in my life that I thought if you were a part of a political party, couldn't even be a Christian. And then some of my dear Christian friends were part of that political party, and my insights were in turmoil over all of it. It kind of reminded me of what my— there was a time in my life where I felt like if a person was a Christian, they wouldn't be hassled with demons. And then I went to Haiti and did a baptismal service down there and baptized 30 women. And 15 of them manifested demons when I was baptizing them literally demonic, like deliverance happening in their baptismal service.
As a baptizing, them and the demons are making them thrash around in the baptismal tank and they are kicking water out and legs flying everywhere, and I'm trying to— one time the demonic tried to drown them. And I had to pull them out of the baptismal tank rather than put them under. And it's like, this is really messing up my theology as I was doing this. But sometimes our personal experiences change our theology don't they? As soon as I, it was like I was in that place of the Pharisees, wanting to stone, the woman in adultery, when Jesus looked at me and said, well, go ahead, throw the stones soon as You are sinless. I obviously dropped them all.
The fact of the matter is this anger thing is very real and believe it or not, it's more contagious than COVID-19. It's much worse than the Delta variant. Knowing this, God does give us some more instructions. We see these instructions in Ephesians chapter 4, 26 and 27. Let's read that.
Jeff: This is in the NIV. This is the one I quoted earlier. In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil.
Brian: Yes. Here is God's instructions. By sundown, our indignation must find a redemptive attitude of expression that that's that's God's instructions. Let's read it now in the message.
Jeff: Okay. This is the same verse in the message. Go ahead and be angry.
Brian: God doesn't say you should never be angry. He never says that. Sometimes he says, it's good to be angry because there should be some things that anger us. There should be. Injustice should anger us and immorality should anger us. Prejudice should anger us. It should. But then he says this, so go and be angry. You do well to be angry.
Jeff: Don't use your anger as fuel for revenge, and don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the devil that kind of foothold in your life.
Brian: And so many Christians, even through COVID, have gone to bed angry. When we go to bed angry that we give the devil a foothold in our life. And then we wonder why we don't have joy the next day, why full of anxiety and these kinds of things. So what God is saying to us is by sundown, let this anger, let this nation find a redemptive attitude of expression.
We meet every Sunday or every evening at 6:45. I'm not there all the time, but many of us gather very regularly at 6:45 to 7. We call it reaching for more. And we just want to reach for more of God. We just want more of God in our lives.
Jeff: And we should say this is not an exclusive club. Everyone is welcome.
Brian: That's right. It’s on zoom at 6:45. You can find it on the link here at the hope happenings page. One of the things that I've been thinking about, especially with this verse about not being angry, don't give the devil a foothold; in the same way that I'm reaching for more of God's presence. I must reach for forgiveness in intercessory prayer. I have to reach for that. I have to reach for a love that covers a multitude of sins. I have to reach for that place of forgiving people that I have become angry with. And that's how I don't let the sun go down on my wrath. That's how I don't go to bed angry. That's how I don't give the devil a foothold in my life. I really do believe, this is my personal belief that America is overstocked today with angry Christians. I think America is overstocked with angry Christians.
So what can we do? What we can do is we can turn our indignation into intercession. We can turn our indignation into intercession and we must make our heartache work for us. Not against us. We must make our anger, our frustration work for us, not against us. I remember when I played for one of the heads of the music department prior to being accepted to the University of Minnesota as a music major. I went and played, I was just a little kid, just graduated from high school. I had aspirations to want to become a concert pianist. I went and played for a very prominent professor at the U, and he flat out said you are not good enough. You need find another career. You won't make it. I left and I was really down to the dumps and I went back to my teacher at the time and she just got indignant with him.
She said, "We are going to show him." I got indignant then, so I can do this right. And my indignancy created a work ethic in me that by the end of that summer, I was accepted into the university and was given permission to get a bachelor of fine arts in piano performance. Now, in the same way that, that frustration and indignancy that happened to me with someone saying, you'll never make it, that's what we have to do with our indignity towards government leader or pastors that fail or priests that fail, or any other leaders that fail. Instead of harboring bitterness and anger, we need to turn that indignity into something of redemption and value. We have to turn it into intercession. We must just make our heartache work for us by embracing the prayer of redemption.
As we have been praying lately that my natural response would be a response of redemption, not a judgment. When we recognize that our, our responses are not like Jesus, that's when we need to reach out and just ask for more, ask for more of him. I thought about this, that Christ stood for us in our season of need. Now we can stand for others in their hour of need. Wouldn't you say that our governor is in an hour of need? Wouldn't you say that our president is in an hour of need? Regardless of his political persuasion, he is in a position of need and who better to pray for them, that they would rule properly than us who better.
When we are tempted to hold onto our anger, just tell yourself this they are just needy. They are just needy. When the president does something that is just off the wall, it's contrary to God's word, it's violation of morality and ethics and all the things that we get angry about with our patients leaders, let's just say this well, he is just needy and he needs me to pray for him. He is just needy and he needs me to pray for him and they need my prayer. If this will be our response, I believe what will happen here is this house of the Lord will become a real house of prayer.
It will be a place that we'll be praying for all nations, because that's what Isaiah said. My house will be called a prayer for what? Yeah, for all nations. So we have a lot to pray about just for America, but we even have more to pray about if we are going to pray for all nations. Because as we read the book of revelation, we've seen this, that around the throne that my mother-in-law's now enjoying being in the presence of Jesus with my mom and my dad and my father-in-law, and those who've gone before us this year and others, Jim's mom and others, they are going to look around that throne and they are going to see people from every kindred tribe and tongue, every kindred tribe and tongue. Those are the all nations. And we have a part in praying in bringing that about. But if we go to bed angry, then what happens? The devil gets a foothold in our lives.
I know this, that my flesh causes me enough trouble. I don't need the devil amplifying my flesh. I just don't need to give him a foothold in my life. And so do you receive this, this morning? You received this this morning? Let's take a time to pray, Jeff. Shall we?
Jeff: We want to pray over this word. And then we are going to just take a minute, and we just believe that every Sunday, when we are together is an opportunity for those of us who needed to receive a miracle. A miracle for you and I this morning might be a miracle of repentance from resentment, unforgiveness, bitterness, towards people that we ought to be praying for. And if God is dealing with your heart, whether you are here or You are watching a live stream, take this opportunity to just say, Lord, you got me, I'm guilty, and I want to change. We are going to pray that prayer together, but it's possible that there are some of us who are here are watching by livestream, who don't even have a relationship with Jesus, that we can actually communicate with them that way, because we've never actually given our hearts to the Lord.
So we want to make sure that every Sunday we provide an opportunity for the miracle salvation, for anybody who hasn't yet given their heart to Jesus. If there is anybody like that in our listening audience, we want you to experience that miracle today. And then of course there are the miracles of healing, and the Lord meeting us in every area of life where we have need. So just bow your heads with me. We are going to start by responding to this word, and we are going to go from there and just expect God to do something fresh in your hearts, right where you are. Every single one of us gets something from Jesus this morning.
Holy Spirit, we just thank you for your word. Sometimes your word is hard to hear. Sometimes it touches us in places we don't really want it to. Sometimes it challenges us in ways where we find ourselves called to account. All too often, we find ourselves having to say, you are right, Lord, and I'm wrong. We thank you father, that if we confess our sins, if we agree with your word, and we are honest about our own hearts, that you were faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Lord, we don't want to just be forgiven for our resentments, but have you change our hearts?
And so we open up our hearts to you in repentance, turning away from the anger, turning away from the resentment, turning away from bitterness, turning away from empty accusations and choosing a pathway that resembles what you are like the pathway of the intercessor. Lord, do a work in our hearts. We want to be your people in every way. We want to re represent you as the God of redemption, even in how we think and how we pray.
Holy Spirit, anoint us for effective prayer for those who are in leadership. Show us your wisdom, how to pray for them. We trust you to change us, to teach us, to form this in us, to be a church that is a prayerful church, a house of prayer for all nations. Lord, right now, we just opened up the opportunity for anybody who has never met Jesus or for someone who's a stranger from him, having known him in the past. If You are here, if You are listening right now, it's as simple as saying this: Jesus, I'm sorry. I opened my heart to you. I make space for you to come in to be my God and my Lord. Holy Spirit, come and fill me. I want to serve Jesus.
The one thing I can assure anybody who prays a prayer like that is when we take the smallest step towards our father. He takes a big one. He meets us every time we humble ourselves before him. Lastly, father, we thank you for every individual who's listening to this either now or in the future who has need of a miracle in their lives. We thank you that you are the God of miracle, that Jesus died to release miracles, that his blood shed for us, he is a miracle of redemption and healing that you forgive our sins and you heal all of our diseases, that you meet us where we are, that you are the God of our provision. You were the God of our help in every way.
And in Jesus name for those who are listening right now, I release the miracle they need. We released the blessing of the father. We release your faithful intervention in our lives, as it is needed. We release salvation as it is needed in the name of Jesus. We thank you for that. Holy Spirit, just come and touch us with your power right now, with your presence, with your goodness we receive you. And we thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Brian: It's so good to be able to come before you Lord whether it's to meet you for the first time or to receive encouragement from your wonderful bounty of heaven, to be lifted up from a place of discouragement, to be given a miracle that will change our lives or will change the life of a person that we know Lord, we want to be known as a people who care and who are willing to pray and intercede to stand in the gap, to connect to poles at our part, bringing them together. And we thank you Lord, that we can pray for our world. We can pray for our states and our municipalities and our local government officials and Lord our state officials, our federal national official. We can pray for them Lord. And that we do pray that we can live quiet and peaceful lives.
If there is ever a day, if there is ever been a day that we need to begin to pray for this, it's now. There seems to be a rise in violence. There seems to be a rise in anger. There seems to be a rise in hatred. There seems to be a rise in polarization and divisions among our nation, among our people, among our churches. Lord, we pray right now for our leaders that they would have wisdom from above. They would have wisdom from heaven. They would be even like Cyrus, where the spirit, Lord, your spirit stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. And he sent for the proclamation. He made a decree that all of Israel could return back to the nation of Israel. You did that. You stirred up the spirit of a foreign king so that your will would come to pass.
And father, I thank you that I believe you put that kind of power in a sense at our fingertips when we pray Lord, when we pray. And so I pray that all of her anger, all of our frustration, all of our indignation wouldn't be a foothold for the enemy to kin come in, but it would be a motivation for us to bring redemptive prayer to that situation, redemptive prayer to that person, redemptive prayer to that government situation. We pray for your redemption. You are a redeemer, and we just thank you that you have given us this place to make a difference. You don't have to sing case or us around; what will be, will be. We can sing praises to your name because you Lord have given us the instructions and empowerment to chart a different course for our world through prayer.
And so I just thank you, Lord. May we not buy into the lie that well, all I can do is pray. That's the most important thing that we can do: is to pray. This we do pray Jesus in your name for your sake. Amen. Thank you, Jeff for being here today, last minute addition, sir. Thank you everybody for praying for our family. We'll be sending out more information, but I believe this coming Saturday will be her Memorial here at Hope Community. We are not quite sure of the time yet, but we'll notify everybody about that. We appreciate your love and concern for us. Why don't we start praying that we have some gains now in 2021? That sounds like a good thing to pray for, to have some gains. I love it.
Let's raise their hands together. Now may the Lord bless you? And may the Lord keep you may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you and may the Lord turn his face toward you and give you his peace and may your spirit be stirred up just like Cyrus's was by the spirit of the Lord. And may you pray without seizing. This we pray in the name of the father, son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
For those of you who are here, I noticed we have some food in the back. That's leftover from the reception yesterday from the Memorial service, so I think they are ready to just give some handouts and you can take it to the park for part of the picnic, and hopefully we'll see you there shortly. God bless you and thanks for a wonderful day.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 7-25-21. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.