Fourth Quarter Prayers

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Hi, welcome to the Vine Life Church Podcast. We're in Boulder, Colorado, and we're following Jesus by staying rooted in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission so that hearts are awakened with his awe-inspiring love. In this time of social distancing, we're not currently gathering in person, but we invite you to stream the video from our weekend services online. And if we can help you in any way, reach out to us at vinelife.com. For now, here's a short sermon from last week in Vine Life. Again, thanks for joining us. Alright, friends, here we are. I want to jump into the word of God today. I hope that you're excited to open up scripture this morning. This is our bread that we eat, the words of God to us this morning. And so I just want to encourage you today, wherever you are, if you have a Bible, open it up. It's good to actually hold a physical Bible. We'll have the scripture on the screen as well. I want to encourage you to open up to 1 Peter. It's a letter in the New Testament. We're going to open up to 1 Peter chapter 4. And uh and if you've been with us the last couple months, we've spent some time in 1 Peter. It's a really juicy letter. And what I love about this is this is Peter's first of two letters that he's writing to believers scattered all across Asia Minor. Because of persecution, they were pushed out. He probably didn't meet many of these. He didn't know if he would ever meet them. He was just hoping that as he wrote these words, that they would root the readers into truth. They would establish them for years to come. And here we are, even thousands of years later, we're still entering into this word together. And, you know, one of the things that right at the end of this letter that Peter began to talk about, because he didn't know if he would see them, he started talking about this idea of the end of all things, that we're coming into the end of all things. And this is where you cue the creepy organ music, right? The end of the world, right? The guy standing with the bullhorn and the sign downtown, warning people about the end of the world. And Peter, at the very end of this thing, he says, the end of all things is near. And it's a fascinating passage because Peter, the apostle, he believed, and many of the disciples, apostles, believed at this point in time that we are in the end, that Jesus is about to wrap this whole thing up. He could come back any minute. And I want you to think about this for a second. If you believed the end of the world was coming, if you believed that the end of all things was near, what would you write about to the people that you loved? What would you tell them? If you had a suspicion that, man, this is the end times, any day now Jesus is going to show up, things are going down. What would you encourage the people in your life with? I just want you to think about that. Take mental inventory. What would you say, right? Some of us, if we're honest, we would say, uh, listen, the end of the world is coming. You need to be stocking up food, you need to buy a few guns, convert your cash into gold bars, right? And we know now you need a lot of toilet paper, you're gonna need really good toilet paper, uh, you know, whatever else comes to mind. I'm sure I'm sure that there's a million things that come to mind. Maybe if, you know, in a spiritual sense, we'd say, get your heart right with the Lord. Uh, we would say, draw near to God, right? There's there's probably certain things that would come to mind. And so we're about to see what Peter, what was on Peter's list. He had a few things he wanted to leave with them as they would prepare for the end of all things. And here's what he said: 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 7. It says, The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each of you has received the guests, you use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks is one who speaks the oracles of God. Whoever serves is one who serves by the strength of God supplies. In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And so there's a few things that come here as Peter's talking about the end of the world. Now, to be clear, I'm I'm not suggesting that we are in the end of the world, though sometimes it feels like that, right? Um there's protest, there's presidential stuff, it's it's it's snowing ash one day, it's snowing snow the very next day. What in the world is happening, right? Um I'm not suggesting we're in the end of the world, but Peter is writing because he believes that this was actually where he was at and where the believers were at. And so that's why he's offering these last few things. And here's a few things that I'll point out. Peter says, the end of all things is at hand. And the first thing he says, I want you to be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. The first thing on Peter's list is, you need to be praying.

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And we're gonna come back to that in a second. The second is this love one another earnestly. Love covers the sin that we are experiencing, the sin in the world, the sin among us. Love one another earnestly. And then he continues, show hospitality. Don't complain about it. Welcome the stranger and show hospitality. And finally, he says, use your gifts, right? Whatever gifts God has given you, stir them up, activate them. This is the moment. You want to use everything God has deposited you to build up the church, to serve the world, to extend blessing, right? And so, you know, the first part of this passage is really what I want to spend the next few minutes talking about. Um, over the last several weeks, as the elders and the senior leaders of Vine Life have been together, one thing that continues to surface is this call, we believe, from the Lord in this fourth quarter of 2020 to pray, to become a people of prayer. One of the most potent and intentional things that we can do in this time for any activity we have is to become a people of prayer. That this is a season, I believe, of heightened prayer. This is important that all of us begin to respond to this in this fourth quarter. Prayerfulness will be one of the markers of churches that thrive and cause the world to thrive in this next season. Prayer is an activity that God has given to us both to commune with Him and to call down the blessing of heaven when we don't have any earthly answers for the problems that we're solving. Prayer is what happens when we come to the end of ourselves and begin to tap into everything that God intended for us. You know, not only are we entering into the fourth quarter of 2020, but in some ways it feels like the fourth quarter of a game. Um, again, I'm not suggesting the world is about to end, but think for a moment about how an athletic team plays in the fourth quarter of a game. They play a lot different than in the first three quarters. And this is important that you get this, that we understand this together. Fourth quarter playing is a mindset shift, it's a heart posture shift. It's where we wake up each day and we we focus in on God, what are you saying? What are you doing? What is your mission for us today? There is a sense of resolve, there's a sense of focus, there is even a sense of intensity. Now, that might not be where you're at. You might feel very flustered right now. You might wake up and just things feel uh foggy and cloudy. And listen, I get it. I have those days too where things aren't quite making sense. I'm I'm just doing my best to make it through the day. I know what you're feeling, but what I'm saying is is, guys, we need to catch a vision together that we are in a season where God is looking to the church to rise up in a new place of prayer. And even if you don't feel like that's where you're at right now, I just want to speak to your heart that God has given you everything you need to begin to activate faith, to begin to see like he sees and perceive like he perceives, so that we can become the people God has called us to be. I believe that for you. I hope that as you hear me speak that into your heart, that you feel faith rise up. I'm not saying that flippantly. I believe that God wants to meet every single one of you right where you're at. He wants to call us up each in this area. So, with that said, though, uh how do we pray in the season? So the Passion translation of 1 Peter 4 says it like this Since we are approaching the end of all things, be intentional, purposeful, and self-controlled so that you can be given to prayer. And how can we be given to prayer this season? I just want to recommend a few things, actually, four ways that we can be praying. Um, four specific prayer points for us. This is for you. If you join the Zoom call this afternoon at 3 o'clock, you can pray these four things. But I I uh these aren't the only four things that we should be praying. These are four things that are highlighting that I want to offer to you today that we can be joining in prayer. Okay? So the first of these four things is this. We need to be praying, both for ourselves and for our world, that God would give us the spirit of a sound mind. We need to be praying for a sound mind. Here's what I mean by that. 1 Timothy 1 7 in the New King James Version says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. And what does that mean? That means that God wants us to give us clarity of thought rooted not just in our own good ideas, but in who he is, our identity in him. He has not given us a spirit of fear. And here's the reason why this matters right now. It matters for a lot of reasons, but in this particular moment, as we're entering this fourth quarter, as the weather is cooling down, the days are gonna get shorter, the mental health crisis continues to escalate behind the scenes. Isolation is catching up to people, right? And that might even be the case for you as well. Mental health is at a serious level, suicide rates are rising in our state. Um, I heard recently, I don't have a source on this, but I heard recently that a private detective said that in the city of Denver, at some point this summer, suicides were up 900%. And listen, I just want to speak to you today. If if those thoughts have been going through your mind, I just want to say that God has intended life for you. And I just pray that God would that the blood of Jesus surrounds your thoughts and your thinking and your whole physiological makeup, that if that's something that you are struggling with, you're not alone, but God wants to call you into life, that he is life and blessing for you. And but this is a way that we need to be praying that God would give us the spirit of a sound mind, that he would rebuke the spirit of death that is creeping in. That sounds intense because it is intense. But let's pray together for a spirit of a sound mind. Okay? Here's the second prayer for us today. We need to be praying for a spirit of oneness. And this probably doesn't need a whole lot of explanation. You feel it, I feel it. Um, our nation continues to be cut deep with division all across. This is happening in the world, and it's happening in the church. And I want to tell you guys, I need to caution you, I need to warn you. God has created his church to be a people rooted in something so much greater than political parties and cultural issues that we are called to be of a different substance of love, that we can be bonded together. And this is why Jesus prayed this way in John 17, as he was praying to the Father for His disciples, he says, Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are one. God's intention for us is that we would be one, that we would not be split up. And I, you know, in this next season, we're going to see more and more pressure, not only on the world, but even within churches, to decide what is going to be the glue that holds us together. Will it be our political parties or will it be the sacrificial blood of Jesus that holds us together? And this is what Jesus says is going to be the witness to the world. In John 17, verse 20, he says, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, right? So he's not just asking it for the church, he's asking for those who are going to be coming in, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Did you catch that? One of the ways that the world acknowledges that Jesus is actually the Son of God is by looking at the church and saying, Wow! Do you see how unified and one they are in spirit? Not just in ideology, but in spirit. And that is our witness to the world. Church, we have got to protect ourselves. We need the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Some of us need to repent for ways that we have separated from each other and put up walls against each other based on different issues. This is a time for oneness. May you be praying for deep encounters with the love of God that lead to oneness with each other. So we pray for a sound mind. We pray for oneness. A third prayer that I just want to encourage you is prayer for the activation of the saints. So the end of the passage we read a little bit ago in 1 Peter verse 10, Peter says, As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. This was important to Peter. And it should be important to us that we're in a time. This is a time that requires all of us to dig deep and say, What do I have to give? What is the grace of God upon my life? I just want to encourage you. If you've never asked that question of like what gifts has God given me, spend some time in 1 Peter. Spend some time reading 1 Corinthians chapter 12 or even Romans chapter 10. These chapters talk about the gifts that the Holy Spirit that Christ gives to his church for the building up of the body. And we're in a time where it's easy to check out. And some of you have felt that it's easy just to start just kind of being diminished off into just a sense of passivity because sometimes it feels like so much is coming at us from every side. I just want to tell you, I want to remind you that God has given you a grace for this time and for the season. And I pray in the name of Jesus that that comes alive according to the work of the Spirit in your life, and even right now, that things would begin to be activated in the name of Jesus, that you would be filled with new dreams and visions and prophetic words, that the gift of prophecy would rise up, that as you speak to your family and your friends and the people in your life, that God would give you supernatural intuition, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, that God may be glorified, that the church may be built up and blessing might be extended. I'm just praying that you are activated, that each of us are being intentional about sewarding the grace that God has given us in this season. Alright? That was three. So, prayer for sound mind, prayer for oneness, prayer for the activation of the saints. And the fourth one I want to submit to you is that we need to be praying for the harvest. Jesus told this to his disciples. Matthew 9, verse 36. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. And guys, listen, we're at a time where people are turning to the Lord. Um, this is happening. We're praying that this happens this afternoon as we hit the streets of Boulder. We pray that this continues to happen in this season. Um, that people are uh realizing that our lives cannot just be built on our own our own wills and our and our own good ideas, but we need something. We need the power of God to bring healing, to bring restoration. The issues that we're dealing with on earth are not just political issues. We need the supernatural power of God to come lead us into deep repentance and humility so that we can respond to what he's doing on earth. This is what he's doing. He's drawing sons and daughters, orphans all over the earth back to himself that need to know a love that's so much deeper than what we've known. Guys, I want to encourage you to pray for the harvest. Let's believe that God is using this time, he's applying pressure all across the earth that sons and daughters would come to know him and would return to him. I believe that we're in a time, it's a fourth quarter moment. These are fourth quarter prayers. And again, Viola, I want to encourage you. This is a time for intentionality, for focus. I want to encourage you each day, make more time to be with Jesus. Make more time to be in prayer as families or maybe with others. This is why that we continue to encourage you, join a group, whether it's virtual or in person, join a group so that you can pray together, guys. Listen, I'm for you. We are together in this, and let's believe as we pray, as we take a season and continue to press into the heart of God. Um, that his glory would be made manifest on earth, that his goodness would enter every home and every neighborhood, every office place, every city street. I encourage you guys this afternoon, if you're watching this and you're not able to make it down to Boulder, join on the Zoom call at 3 o'clock to begin to pray for what God is doing in Boulder. And uh I want to leave this with you as we end this time here this morning. If you need prayer for anything right now, we're gonna have our ministry teams available right after the service today to be available to pray for you for your bodies, for your spirit, for your soul. Just log on to vinelife.com slash prayer, and there's a team that is waiting to pray with you. So I want to bless you. May the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you. May he give you favor and rest. I love you guys. Hope to see you this afternoon. For the rest of you, thank you for praying, and let's get get after it, guys. This is our moment. Have an amazing day. We'll see you guys soon.