Holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory! During this hour of worship, O Lord, surprise us, we pray, with your grace that we, with the rest of the Church and the whole of creation, may praise and adore you! Amen.

 

 

 

[Editor’s note:] In preparation for our nation’s celebration of Independence Day, the congregation spoke this prayer together as part of the Period of Prayer.

 

Creator, Sustainer, Judge and Redeemer of all the nations; we lift up our prayers today for this nation in which you have set us. We thank you for the natural beauty and majesty of this land. We are grateful for the torch of liberty that has been lit in this country. 

 

We humbly remember before you the men and women who, in the day of decision, ventured much for the blessings we now enjoy. Grant that we may not rest until all the people of this land share the benefits of true freedom and gladly accept its disciplines. 

 

Indeed, may your Living Spirit and Holy Word speak afresh to all our people. Raise up, we pray, men and women who can lead with insight, wisdom, and integrity, while modeling new life that inspires us and sets us right. 

 

Let our laws be just. Let justice be impartial. Let the rights of the poor and of children be defended. Let the ignorant be taught. Let corruption be purged. Let the innocent be rescued from those who do evil. Let righteousness prevail. 

 

Come, Lord God, and rule the world, for all the nations are yours! This we ask in Jesus’ name, the One who taught us to pray,

 

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

 

 

 

That is the text I want us to focus on together. 

 

And we all say together… “Amen.”

 

Welcome to worship today. If this is your first time to be with us, we are in a series of sermons and teachings. It’s about prayer, and more specifically, it’s about the power of prayer. More specifically than that, it’s about the power of prayer to change people’s lives, and yours, and mine.

 

A couple of weeks ago we talked about the main purposes and reasons that Christians pray. Last Sunday we talked about the key conditions to getting an answer to our prayers. One of those conditions, if you were here, you will remember was faith. You have to have faith. 

 

You may recall the story in Mathew were two men approached Jesus. They are asking Jesus for healing. Jesus responds with one of the most important questions that he ever asks in the New Testament. He asked those two men, “Do you believe?” “Do you believe I am able?” “Do you believe that I am capable of doing this?” 

 

They answered, “Yes, Lord.”

 

Jesus’ response, according to Mathew 9, was, “According to your faith will it be done for you.” 

 

Faith. That is the key. 

 

But sometimes the situations, as we all know, are so big. Sometimes the problems are so overwhelming that it is hard to have faith. Some of you here in this room, this very hour, are facing huge challenges. The country that you and I call home and is celebrating her independence this week has monumental problems, as we all know. 

 

Question today: How do you get faith? How do you get faith in a faithless situation? 

 

Now, Romans 10:17, tells us where faith comes from. Faith comes from you? No. Faith comes from me? No. I cannot give you faith. You cannot give me faith. Faith comes from parents? No. You cannot give your children faith. Your children cannot give you faith. 

 

Romans 10 says, “Faith comes from hearing.”  

 

Isn’t that interesting? Faith comes from hearing the message. Faith comes from hearing the message through the Rhema, through the word of God. Paul says we get faith by listening to the word of God. 

 

Now, the scholars say that if you want to grow in your faith, if you want to build your faith, fill your life with Scripture. More specifically, fill your life with the words of Jesus that are found in your New Testament and mine. The more you know, the more conscious of, the more you grasp, the more you comprehend the words of Jesus, the more faith you are going to have. The Church has said that. The less you know of Jesus’ words, the less the faith. Isn’t that interesting?

 

So to understand where we are going here today, what we are going to work on today, you need to know that God speaks, that God communicates to people in essentially two different ways.

 

Number One: God speaks universally. God speaks words that were meant for everyone, in every place, in every time, and in every situation.

 

Number Two: This is the more interesting piece. God speaks, according to the Church’s witness, personally to specific individuals, with specific messages, for a specific situation, and specific times.

 

Now, most of you in this room know, that the New Testament in your Bible was originally written in Greek. In Greek, the scholars say, there are two terms that are translated into English, “the Word of God.” When you read, in your Bible, the phrase “the Word of God,” or when you hear that phrase, sometimes it means the Logos of God. Sometimes it means the universal word of God. But there are other times, in that same New Testament, when the Word of God is translated the Rhema of God. (In fact, today when you walk out of the building, I want you to be saying, “Rhema, Rhema.” OK?)

 

The Logos of God, folks, is God’s word to everybody. It is the Ten Commandments. It’s the Sermon on the Mount. It’s the Twenty-Third Psalm. It’s the message of the Bible in general. It is God’s word to everybody, in every place and every time. That is called, “the Logos.”

 

Now, the second type of word of God is the Rhema of God. It is the word of God that is to you and for you personally, for a specific time, a specific situation, and for that time only. That is called, “a Rhema.”

 

What we are going to try to do today is discover how do you get, how do I get, how do we get a Rhema? That’s where the action is.

 

Now, you will remember, in your Bible, that Abraham’s wife, back in Genesis, whose name was Sarah… One day God, according to Genesis, came to Sarah and said, “Sarah, you are going to have a baby.” Now there is nothing terribly unusual about that except Sarah was 90 years old. Her husband, whose name was Abraham, was 99 years old. Now, that is incredible.

 

What I want you to see is that’s not a Logos of God. That’s a Rhema. I think most of us are very glad about that. That was a specific word to Sarah. God did not say, “Every woman, when she reaches the age of 90, is going to have a baby.” No! This was a specific Rhema, a word of God, just for Sarah.

 

Folks, that’s what we are going to be talking about here – getting a Rhema. Getting a personal word from God, I think, is the key to answered prayer when we are faced with extraordinary difficult, sometimes seemingly overwhelming situations. 

 

Last week, hopefully, we got an insight into prayer when Jesus talked to his disciples. He said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing, but if you remain in me, if you live in my word, (in fact, it is translated, ‘if you live in my Rhema,’) if you live in my personal word to you, specific word just for you, you can ask whatever you want, and it will be given” (John 15).

 

Now, we all remember the story of Peter walking on the water. Talk about extraordinary! We call those miraculous things. Peter is out in the boat. Do you remember? He is there with the other disciples. It’s nighttime. It’s dark. Jesus comes walking across the water, according to Matthew. Peter sees him and says, “Lord, it’s you. Tell me to come to you on the water.”

 

And Jesus gives Peter a Rhema. It is a personal word, to a specific person, for a specific time and place. Jesus says to Peter, “Come.” According to the Scripture, Peter gets out of the boat and walks on the water. Now notice. Not everybody in the boat is stepping out here. OK? That’s because this is a word just for Peter. It is not for everybody. It wasn’t a universal word. It wasn’t a Logos. It was a word for Peter in a specific situation. Notice, too, that the next day, Peter didn’t come out and say, “OK, guys, let’s go fishing and leave the boat at home.” That’s not what he said. Peter walked on the water, according to the New Testament, only one time. It was his Rhema. 

 

Point: Don’t work on the Rhema that is given to somebody else. Don’t take Peter’s Rhema and try to walk across the swimming pool this afternoon. It’s not going to work. 

 

You and I know people who say, “You know… God healed so-and-so. And, therefore, God must heal me.” So they pray. And they believe, and they have tremendous faith. Even in spite of their great faith, it doesn’t work. Then they get mad. Then they get depressed. And they say, “You know… I watched so-and-so experience this, and was healed, and went on with their life. Why not me? Why not me?”

 

Do you see what’s happening here? They’re working on somebody else’s Rhema. Healing is not a general word, folks. It is not a Logos in Scripture. It’s a personal word. It’s a personal word from God to a particular person, for a particular concern, at a particular time. That’s what makes healing so extraordinary. That’s what makes it so unbelievable. That’s what makes it so remarkable. That’s what the Bible calls “a miracle.” It’s a Rhema. 

 

That’s how prayer works in Scripture. God has this general word for everyone. It’s for all times, and all places, and all circumstances. That’s the Logos. But God also speaks a personal word to specific persons, for a specific concern, at a specific time. That’s a Rhema. I want you to leave today knowing, in your mind, asking for a Rhema.

 

So, when we’re praying about specific problems… When we’re trying to face difficult situations… Sometimes when we are even praying for what we think are seemingly hopeless situations… Or when we are asking for specific guidance about serious issues facing our country or our world… Or when we are asking, as we are right now at Broadway, for specific direction for what God wants the Broadway Church to do next… We’re not talking about all churches everywhere and every time; we want a specific response to our community of faith. What does God want this community to be about? How do we get that? How do we get a specific, personal response?

 

Now, the good news is the scholars say, according to Scripture, that is the work of what is called the Spirit – the Spirit of the Living God. That Spirit, according to the Scriptures – has a job to do, a specific thing.

 

In John 14:26, Jesus says, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name will teach you all things and will remind you of everything that I have said.”

 

In John 16:13, Jesus says, “And when that Spirit comes, it will guide you into all truth.”

 

Point: Jesus says the Holy Spirit essentially has three things to do in this world. 1) To teach you. 2) To remind you of what Jesus has already said. It never changes. It doesn’t have to. 3) To guide you. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job, according to Scripture. It takes the Logos, the general word of God and makes it come alive, gives it an application to you individually and personally. It takes that Logos and turns it into a Rhema.

 

Now, in Christian circles, that is called “illumination,” which is a great word. There is nothing mystical about this. You don’t have to go to a monastery to experience it. If you want to, that’s great, but you don’t have to. You don’t have to get up at one o’clock in the morning. You don’t have to get up at three or six. You can see. You can read. You can hear the Logos, the general word of God, and the lights can, in fact, come on. It happens all the time.

 

You are sitting in church. Kim is preaching. Jacob is preaching. All of a sudden you feel like they are speaking directly to you. Have you ever experienced that? You are sitting there saying, “How did she know that? I didn’t tell anybody. How did he know that was exactly the thing that I needed to hear today?”

 

Now, they would like for me to tell you that is because of their superior knowledge in human nature. That’s not the case. The fact is, folks, they get up and deliver to you and to the listening audience the Logos. Then the Holy Spirit takes that Logos and gives you personally a Rhema, a specific word that applies specifically to you. That’s how prayer in difficult situations works.

 

The question today: How do you know it’s God? How do you know it’s God who is giving you your thoughts? How do you know it is God who is giving you directions and guidance? Folks, when you think of all of the evil things that have been done in the name of God… When you think of all the wars and the violence, and the genocide… When you think of all the slavery, and racism, and fraud… When you think of all the economic and social injustices that have been committed in the name of God, it is enough to make the world sick. How do you know it is a word from God? How do you know it is not?

 

Number One: If it is from God, the Church has said, it will essentially square with the words of Jesus. It will essentially square with the general, fundamental, basic principles found in Scripture. I’m not talking about the letter of the Scripture, the letter of the law. I’m talking about the basic, fundamental principles.

 

Number Two: All of a sudden, they say the Scriptures will become alive. It will speak to you. It will become dynamic and exciting. It will make a difference in your life in ways that are awesome.

 

Let me illustrate. How many times, when you were growing up, did you hear the words, “God loves you”? Hundreds and thousands of times. Haven’t you heard that? It’s written on rocks in North Carolina. It’s written on bumper stickers. It just sort of rolls off of you just like water off the back of a duck? Doesn’t it? And then one day it dawns on you the truth of it all.

 

For me, I was working my way through Maxie Dunham’s Workbook for Living Prayer, and God burns that truth into my life. For the first time, folks, in my entire life I realized God loves me. God actually loves me – Rick Frost with all of his faults, and with all of his weaknesses, and all of his frailty, and all of his fears. God loves me. You see… I heard; I really heard with my heart of hearts the Spirit of the Living God say to me, “Rick, I love you. You are my beloved.” That changed everything for me. All of a sudden, God’s word to everybody, you see, became very personal for me. Now I have heard those words a thousand times, but suddenly it came alive for me. I can tell you… That knowing, that hearing has made all the difference. I know that in my heart of hearts.

 

OK. Now, we are on page 16, and we have ten more to go. Are you with me? Here we go.

 

Everybody has a little outline [in your worship bulletin]. In the time I have left, I’m going to try to give you the seven things – seven ways – that many have learned to pray about problems. How to pray about difficult situations. How to pray about insurmountable challenges.

 

1.      The Church has said, “Confess any known sin, any known separation from God in your life. You have to take a spiritual bath. Have you ever noticed that? Have you ever noticed that you really don’t want to be around people who don’t take a bath? They start to stink. We need to take a spiritual bath very regularly. We’ve already talked about this. We have to make sure the channel is open. How do we do that? We say, “Lord, is there anything I am doing that you want me to stop doing?” Oh, man. That’s a tough one. Or the flip side of that, “Lord, is there anything you want me to start doing that I’m not doing?” Oh, wow! That’s confession. That’s taking a spiritual bath. That’s clearing the channel. That’s number one.

 

2.      Commit the decision, whatever that decision is, to Christ. Proverbs 3 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don’t try to figure it out all by yourself.” Maybe you have this problem. Maybe you have this decision. We are facing this right here at Broadway, in our own church. We are faced with some decisions about our future. The pros advise us, “Put yourself in neutral gear. Big decisions take time.” You say, “Lord, about this decision, this problem, this concern, whatever it is, whatever you want is what I want. If you don’t want it, I don’t want it.” 

 

That is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. You remember that. “Lord, what am I going to do about this cross?  Do you want me to, or not?” Put yourself in neutral gear and commit the decision to Christ.

 

3.      Ask God to reveal God’s will by giving you a desire. You say, “Lord, help me know what you want by giving me a desire. Give me a desire one way or the other. Move me.” 

 

I was visiting with an old friend from another state on the phone the other night. She is at a turning point in her life. It is an important turning point, and she really wants to do God’s will, but she doesn’t have a clue what that is. What I needed to say to her is, “Ask God to give you a desire.” 

 

Now that is going to be tough for some folks here, because you grew up thinking that if you desire it, somehow God has to be against it. Wow! That’s crazy. That’s nuts. Somehow if you desire it and really want it, then God couldn’t possibly want it. It couldn’t be good. That’s awful. That is simply not true. A lot of times – not always, but a lot of times – God is in our desires. Did you know that? Psalm 37 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and the Lord will give you the desires of your heart.” 

 

Ask God for the desire to do the right thing. How do you know if it is from God? One of the good tests the Church has learned is time. Sit on that decision for a little while. Ask, “Lord, if this desire is from you, make it stronger, and if it is not, please take it away.” Ask God to give you a desire.

 

4.      Compare your desires to the basic, fundamental themes and principles in Scripture. Start reading your Bible. I’m amazed at the number of people who face very real, difficult situations. They do just about everything but pray. They read books. They go to a doctor. They seek counseling. They take stuff. Anything but pray. Compare your desires to what you find in the basic principles. See if those are in tune with the spirit of the Scriptures. 

 

If you don’t know the Scriptures very well, that’s OK at this point in life. There are a lot of people who don’t. Check it out. Talk to one of your pastors. Visit with a Stephen Minister. Go to a respected elder. Go to somebody who teaches in your church. Just ask them, “This is my desire. This is what I am really feeling. What do you think? How do you think Jesus would respond to this?” Check it out.

 

5.      Listen. This is hard. Listen for God to give you a personal Rhema. Listen for God to speak just to you.

 

Now, please don’t do what some people do. They go to the Bible and they do what we call “dip and skip.” Have you ever done that before? Do you know about “dip and skip?” This is where you read in the Scripture, and you just sort of pick something random, and you try to force an application into your life. We call it “dip and skip.” Don’t do that. 

 

You probably heard the old one about the guy who said in his prayer, “Lord, what do you want me to do today?” He opened the Bible, put his finger down, and read, “Judas went out and hung himself.” He said, “Man, that can’t be right.” So he tried it again. He opened the Bible, put down his finger and read, “Go and do likewise.” Three is a charm, so he did it again. He opened the Book, and it read, “Do it quickly.” That is the “dip and skip” approach. That is not for us. It is not for you. 

 

Listen for God. Prayerfully read your Scriptures and wait. The hardest part of all is waiting. Wait for God to speak to your situation, to your decision, to your challenge. The witness of the Church for 2,000 years, folks, is that Rhema, that personal word from God will come to you. It will be given. 

 

Now it is possibly going to come in a variety of ways. It may come just by reading the Scriptures. It may come by something that happens in a worship service. It may come by something you heard in a sermon, or that you see or taste at a Table. It may come in a small-group setting. It may come when you listen to music, or look at art, or read literature, or see drama, or go to movies. It may come through a friend, a counselor, a Stephen Minister. You never know where a Rhema is going to come from. But the witness of the Church is it will come. It will come unless you are too busy. Unless you are too preoccupied. Unless you are in a hurry.

 

Church leaders estimate that 95% of all Christians in this culture never hear God speak to them personally because – guess what – they are focused on other things. They haven’t got time. They want it done in five seconds.

 

We’ve asked every person in this church to pray for 20 minutes a day. People are agonizing over this. Or they are just not doing it at all. Twenty minutes! Folks, most of the time, God speaks to a person who is willing to take the time to listen.

 

6.      Claim what God gives you with confidence. About 22 years ago, Jan and I were at a crossroads in our lives. We were trying to figure out what in the world God wanted us to do next. Long story short. We came to Columbia. We had never been in Missouri in our lives. We didn’t know a soul. But there was something that said, “This is the place I want you to serve.” It was our personal Rhema. It wasn’t a universal word. It was just for us. It was a personal word. Of course, now we look back 22 years later, and we see what a blessing it has been to be a part of the spirit that is us in this place and the wonderful, amazing things we have done together. Claim the promise, the personal word, that God gives you.

 

7.      Finally. Move into action when God says, “Go.” One of the biggest mistakes God’s people make is to get an idea. We think it is inspired. Then we want it all figured out, and we want it clear as glass for everybody. We want it accomplished yesterday. The result is we rush things. Rushing things tends to work out very poorly. 

 

So how do you know? How do you know God’s timing? I’ll tell you. The witness of the church is, “You sort of know, because things start to fall into place. Do you know what I’m talking about? It is just obvious. Wait for God’s timing. When God says, “Go,” that’s when you move into action. Of course, that’s when you have to step out of the boat. That’s when you have to put your foot in the water. This is no longer an intellectual exercise. This is when the risk comes.

 

I know some of you in this room are facing big problems. I know some of you are faced with difficult decisions. I know there are some in our midst for whom what you are dealing with seems insurmountable. I know you are anxious. I know you are concerned. I know, quite frankly, you are fearful. In closing today, I would ask you to please listen to the word that we started with today, 2 Timothy 1:7: “God does not give you, God does not give us a spirit of fear. But God does give us a spirit of power, and love, and a sound mind.”

 

Folks, I invite you to just let those words fill you with strength and confidence. There’s no need for us to be afraid. The Lord promises to fill us with power, and love, and with sound thinking. Three good things. So go from this place knowing that the Spirit of the Living God is at work in your life, and ask to receive a Rhema, a specific word just for you. And when God says, “Go,” move into action.

 

And all the people say… “Amen.”

 

 

Most Holy Spirit, let your power fall upon us, ignite our spirits to seek and love you. Show us what you would have us do, and give us the courage and heart to do it. Amen.