Eric's Blog - Entries tagged "The 4 Pillars" Our Prayer Pillar
At Harvest Bible Chapel we have Four Pillars that guide all of our ministry.
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Proclaiming the authority of God’s Word without apology - 2 Timothy 4:2
- Lifting high the name of Jesus through worship - John 4:24
- Believing firmly in the power of prayer - Colossians 4:2
- Sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness - Ephesians 6:19-20
I’d like to take a moment to talk about our Pillar on prayer. Why do we have prayer listed as an essential Pillar that upholds our church? Let me give you some reasons:
- It’s commanded in Scripture
- It’s modeled in Scripture
- It reminds us how much we need God
- It reminds others how much they need God
- It’s a major way that God works out His plans on earth
- It increases our awareness of God
- It increases our love for God
- It increases our love for others
- It increases our faith for good things to come
- The youngest to the oldest can participate
- Those young in their faith can be used mightily!
- The uneducated can be used disproportionately to their education
- It unites families, friends, churches, and communities
…It glorifies God by showing our weakness and His power
Prayer uniquely shows our weakness and God’s power. It’s possible to know the Bible from cover to cover and yet to be minimally aware of our need for God. Sad but true… For sinful people like us, knowledge can puff us up big time! We can forget that we’re not even in control of our next heartbeat or breath… Prayer tends to remind us – again, and again, and again (I need the reminders all day!) of how much we need God. Don’t get me wrong – keep reading your Bible, keep learning, keep memorizing, keep mediating – for sure!
But… don’t do that without growing more and more as a person of prayer. When you think of the Bible, think of prayer. When you think of prayer, think of the Bible. These two blessings from God are meant to go together!
Prayer is one of the 4 Pillars of Harvest Bible Chapel Joliet. “Lord, may we be a church that prays and prays and prays! For Your glory and our joy – in Jesus name, amen!”
Prayer is a privilege. The more you pray, the more you pray…
 Preach the WordPreaching is on my mind. I just finished my second phase in the Training Center on it. During this phase we covered numerous things regarding preaching: studying and preparation time, boiling down the main point of a passage, outlines, explaining the text, illustrating the text, applying the text, intros and conclusions, delivery and most importantly having a heart for the Lord through the process. Believe it or not it is possible to study the Bible, prepare a sermon, and even preach a sermon, and not be focused on the Lord! It is absolutely crucial to guard against that. A preacher’s heart needs to be aflame with God’s truth! There are two other phases coming up. The phase that I’m currently in is on leadership in the church.
Here’s a little summary of some of the things that happened last week in my training:
Summary
- Discussion with spouses on marriage and ministry
- All 6 of us in the Training Center put together a 1 hour service where someone gave announcements, worship was led, and we preached (video taped)
- Christmas party at HBC Rolling Meadows
- I counseled a young couple
Scripture
“preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” 2 Timothy 4:2
One of the 4 pillars at Harvest Bible Chapel has to do with preaching the word of God. As the pastor and preacher for Harvest Bible Chapel, God has given me the role to publically communicate what the Bible teaches. There are some things in the Bible that many people like: be a good listener, be a wise person, be generous, be faithful, love your spouse, love your children, love your neighbor as yourself. There are others things in the Bible that many other people don’t like: all people are sinners, everyone will be judged after death, Jesus Christ is God, we are utterly hopeless apart from Jesus’ death and resurrection on our behalf, hate sin and love righteousness, be willing to be mocked for Christ etc...
God has called me to teach everything that the Bible has to say – whether it is popular or whether it is not. God has a message that He wants the whole world to know. My job is to proclaim that entire message. I am not to pick and choose what seems best to me. Sometimes people will immediately like what I preach about. Other times, people will dislike or even hate what I’m preaching on. This should not be a surprise to me since Jesus and the apostles experienced the same thing. If every single person likes what I preach about, I’m not communicating everything that God wants me to communicate. My job is not to try to figure out what will make people most comfortable when it comes to preaching God’s word, my job is to simply preach it and allow God to work and allow people to respond. Yes - I am to preach with love, but love doesn’t always mean that people don’t get offended.
The Truth is what changes people, the Truth is what brings people to God, the Truth is what leads people to heaven – the untainted Truth is what I plan to preach at Harvest Bible Chapel – “God help me!”
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