Praying for Sinners, Pleading for Saints Purity 852

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of blue skies and the beginnings of the changing colors of autumn surrounding, surrounding an outcropping of rock covered by the waters of a flowing stream comes to us from a friend who spent the first day of October visiting the Flume Gorge at Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire. Our friend shared a bunch of photos during their visit, so we may be revisiting this state park again as there were other scenes worth sharing. But I like this one for its simple beauty that testifies to the fact that fall has descended upon us, and the evidence will increase as the days pass. And that's life, isn't it? We get small indications of the future in the present, but depending on our ability to live apart from the distractions of this world We may or may not see the signs of the times, and only in hindsight can declare that we knew what was coming. Well, it's Monday again, and even though it is back to work and back to reality, I am rejoicing today because the work that we may complain about is something that some of us are not blessed with or able to perform at all. What we may complain about may be something that someone else would relish being able to do, or something that someone else's family desperately needs. Some of the sick, disabled, infirmed, or aged would gladly trade places with us this morning if it meant that they were— had the strength and ability to do what we take for granted. Some of the unemployed would also trade places with us if it meant that they would be able to change their financial circumstances and provide for the needs of their family. This subject hits close to home because since 2022 began, my wife Tammy Lynn has gone through 4 job changes. And even though she was willing and able to work and has even done odd jobs, part-time work, and did independent work, all of her combined efforts were not enough to adequately provide for the unforeseen, uh, unforeseen inflation and unexpected expenses that came her way in 2022. But throughout it all, Tammy Lynn has not lost her hope and continued to do all she could to persevere and trusted the Lord to guide her path. And today she starts work at her fourth and prayerfully last job this year— the last new job this year. She has been faithful, and God has been faithful to bless her with this new career opportunity and with her family and friends that have helped her along the way. So thank God it's Monday and we all get to go to work. Uh, in examining Tammy Lynn's path, we could ask why God, but even with all the turmoil along the way, the final results seem to indicate that God has been working all, all of what Tammy Lynn has experienced together for good. This final job and the stability that may, uh, that, that it may provide, uh, seems, like an answer to prayer. And it is, even though the process of its fulfillment was not anything that we could have anticipated, and certainly not anything we asked for. Uh, which brings up the question of prayer and the mystery of how it works and how we should pray, or the things that's— or the thing that's on my mind this morning, who we should pray for, or what— or what we should pray for. Um, I have shared enough of my testimony on this blog and podcast to reveal that I did not always walk by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. I was not always a born-again Christian, and even after I put my faith in Jesus Christ, I didn't repent of all my sins until the Holy Spirit convicted me and led me to repentance. The victory and freedom I have may have been given to me the moment I put my faith in Jesus, but but it didn't manifest in my experience until I made a decision to believe what God said about who I am in Christ and to live like it. At first, I rejoiced over my salvation and thought that God's grace was truly amazing because there was simply no way I was going to change who I was in terms of my brokenness. I was a drunk. That's who God saved, and that's what God was going to have to deal with. Or so I thought. But as my heart grew to want to follow the Lord and be authentic in my faith, I increasingly was drawn to turn from my worldly ways and leave them behind for good. And God was faithful to give me the strength and wisdom to accomplish what I had considered impossible. But here's the crux of my question this morning. I was a quote-unquote carnal Christian for something like 5 years with little or no indication that I would repent of my fleshly ways. If you knew what I was up to in the 5 years before I went into recovery, you may have even doubted if I was a Christian at all. Although I went to church, served, and even got an associate's degree in biblical studies before that time, I still had my secret sins that I felt powerless to overcome. So, knowing all that, uh, that I tried to live a Christian life but was failing in major ways, would you have prayed for me if I asked for prayer? While I made a profession of faith in Christ, I still had sin in my life, some pretty blatant sins that are on the "do these and go to hell" list in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that tells us, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards— hello— nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. So knowing what the word of God says, would you have prayed for me or anyone else who does things on this list if they asked you for prayer? I am a part of the prayer team at my local church, and yesterday our pastor did a did, uh, started a series on prayer, and at the end of the message he called on the congregation to come up to ask the prayer team and other members of the church leadership to pray for whatever needs they had. The prayer team is available to do this each week at our church, but yesterday, because of the emphasis on inviting God into your circumstances through prayer, we had easily double, if not 3 or 4 times as many prayer requests than we normally do. The Holy Spirit was moving for sure, and I enthusiastically followed his lead and prayed for several people and their various requests. One after another came up, and on a couple of occasions before I began to pray for the request, I got the indication that the person standing before me had some pretty obvious sins in their life that needed repenting of, but they, they, but they weren't asking for prayer for that. So what do you do? Do you sermonize and tell the people that have come forth asking God for help in their lives to repent because you just know they are living in sin? What would— what would— let's say, what would I have said to my former self if I asked for prayer? Well, I don't know if I get these things right, but in the moment I did not get the indication from the Holy Spirit that I was, was to do anything other than to minister to the people before me and to pray for what they asked for and to encourage them to trust in and follow the Lord and to leave the results up to God. In the moment, that's what I did, and I felt that my prayers and words of guidance and encouragement were what the Lord led me to say. But afterwards, You wonder, "Should I have done that? Should I have remained silent about their sin?" As far as scripture goes, we can easily make a case for judgment or mercy in this situation because the Word of God contains lots of wisdom on both. Several verses indicate that repentance is something that comes from God. Remembering those, I decided to trust that God would draw them to repentance. and I would seek to show love and understanding and come alongside these "sinners" in prayer and continue to follow the Lord who would show them the way to go. Only God knows the hearts of men, and as a former "carnal Christian," I know that in my situation, the only one who could have made me to want to repent of my sins is God. I was a big rebel, and only his authority, grace, and love could guide me to where I am today. So even though I have some conflicts in how I feel about praying for, quote unquote, praying for sinners, I know that I was once lost and it was through a lot of prayer that things changed. So I will pray for sinners. But if you ask me for counsel, I will undoubtedly confront you with the word of God and direct you to repent, as nothetic or biblical counselors are instructed to do. But We all have to start somewhere, and the prayers of a righteous person are said to accomplish much. And so we trust the Lord to do what is right, good, and holy, and to grant what is, is his will and will be done for the glory of his kingdom. So keep walking and talking with God and pray and follow where he leads you, knowing that nobody's perfect but Jesus, but his path leads us to be more and more like him. So keep walking and pray. Uh, today we're running short on time, so there will be no Bible Promise Book for Men verse, as I have not had the moment to, uh, examine what today's verse would have been. But we are sharing, as always, from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with our walk this morning by sharing continuing the share from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship: The Cost of Discipleship, continuing in Chapter 5, Discipleship in the Individual, and with a very short section. So if you wanted to check that out, go to mt4christ.org to see that blog post. And let's just— running real short on time, so we're going to pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you for guiding our path, giving us enough time to to do what we can, uh, to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord, we come alongside their prayer request, even if they're in sin, Lord, because we know that you touch the hearts of men and you're the one who draws us to repentance. Uh, Lord, we don't mean to condone anyone's lifestyles of sin, and neither are we the Holy Spirit to convict them of it. Um, if they ask our advice, we'll give it, but we direct— we trust you, Lord, to guide us in our path, um, Lord. So we just pray, uh, for everyone today, um, we pray for that divine grace that they need to guide them through today, to do the things that you would lead them to do, Lord, and to see the things they need to see. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.