However, mountain climbing can be dangerous. No one should try it before they learn how to do it. Today we will learn how to climb. There’s a right way and a wrong way to climb life’s mountains. To learn the right way, we take our instruction from the master mountain climber, Jesus Christ. From Jesus we will learn that climbing is a three-step process; begin with prayer, climb with love, and always be confident of a God-pleasing victory.

When Jesus needed help, he turned to his Father in prayer.  When you face what seems to be insurmountable mountains in your life, begin with prayer. You know you’ve been forgiven by Christ. Because of that forgiveness, you have the right to pray. You can approach the Throne of Heaven with your cry for help. The power of prayer is part of the spirit of Calvary which Jesus gives you.

Our second rule for mountain climbing is to be filled with love. Do you know how Jesus overcame the flood of apprehension and fear he experienced in Gethsemane? He overcame it with love. Jesus’ love, for mankind and his Father,  gave him the determination he needed to obey his Father and provide salvation for mankind.

Our third, and last, rule for mountain climbing is to climb with confidence. Jesus confidently endured the cross for the joy that was set before him (Heb 12:2). We can be confident of our final victory in Christ. As God gives you confidence in Christ’s victory over sin, death, the devil, and all the things drag you down, he will also give you confidence to climb life’s mountains, one after another, until he finally calls you home.

No matter what mountain or mountain range you might be facing here is what you must keep in mind. Jesus has successfully climbed the most difficult mountain of all. Jesus lived a perfect life and died a sinners death – all for us. There is a huge difference between the mountain of Calvary and any mountains we might have to face.

Jesus climbed the mountain of Calvary so we would never have the climb the mountain of our own sins. We could never successfully climb the mountain of our sins. That’s why Jesus climbed it for us. Jesus gave his priceless life for a world full of worthless sinners. On top of Calvary’s mountain, Jesus put all of our life mountains in proper perspective. It was on that mountain that Jesus reconciled God and man, once and for all. Because we are reconciled, we can scale all of life’s mountains by the Spirit he gives us.

Furthermore, we don’t do our mountain climbing alone. Jesus is with us every step of the way. Jesus goes with us – enabling us and empowering us. In addition to that, Jesus knows all of the mountains we must climb. Jesus has been where you are no matter where you are. He’s climbed whatever mountain you’re facing and he’ll show you the way. In fact, if you let him, he’ll lead the way.

Some people will tell you, “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.” And, you know what, that’s true. But my answer to that statement is, “Without going to church, how long do you think you’ll remain a Christian?” The odds of never attending church and staying a good, grounded Christian are about the same as the odds of winning the lottery.

Now, having said that I must explain something. I’m not talking about people who don’t attend corporate worship because they can’t attend; people like our shut-ins, or people who have no way here, or people who are homebound caring for someone else. These people have no choice. Their health or their condition or their love for another are keeping them from worship attendance.

I’m speaking here of people who willfully refuse to attend regular worship with the rest of the body of Christ. I’m talking about people who have the foolish notion there is no connection between the church and the Christian. I’m talking about people who want to be part of the family of God and never associate with the family of God. The church is one of the few organizations that has regular meetings and allows people to call themselves members without attending any of the meetings.

Christians who willfully divorce themselves from the corporate church have placed themselves in the very high risk category of people who could easily loose their faith. Let me tell you a story that demonstrates what happens to those who separate themselves from the church.

A member of a certain church, who had always attended services regularly, suddenly stopped coming to church. After a few weeks, the Pastor decided to visit. The Pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a  blazing fire.

Guessing the reason for his Pastor’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he watched the flames dance around the burning logs.

After several minutes had passed, the Pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and lifeless.

The Pastor glanced at his watch and realizing it was time to leave, he slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the Pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I’ll be back in church next Sunday.”

When you cut yourself off from the church, you are cutting your ties with the very organization which God established for the spiritual health and welfare of his children here on earth. Furthermore, you are not only hurting yourself you are cheating to rest of the church body by denying them the support you have for them.

This is a two-way street. All of the brothers and sisters are here to support you and you are here to support them. Listen, once again, to the writer of today’s epistle lesson: Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another (Heb 10:24-25 NIV).

Everyone knows to be a disciple you must follow the master. So, we should look to see what Jesus did when it came to going to church. Here are a few statements on whether or not Jesus went to church.

Matt 12:9        Going on from that place, [Jesus] went into their synagogue

Matt 13:54      Coming to his hometown, [Jesus] began teaching the people in their synagogue

Matt 21:14      The blind and the lame came to [Jesus] at the temple

Mark 1:21       They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue

Mark 3:1         Another time [Jesus] went into the synagogue

Luke 4:16      [Jesus] went to Nazareth . . . and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom

I think that makes the point. Jesus went to church. If we are to be Christians – Christ ones – followers of Jesus we are to be in church.

Have you ever considered this? When Jesus died, the curtain in the temple that separated the holy place from the holy of holies, was split from top to bottom. That splitting represented the fact that no longer did the people need the high priest to intercede between them and God. Jesus made the ultimate intercession and now we are free to approach the Throne of God. Jesus’ death gave us direct prayer access to the Father. And we should exercise that freedom regularly.

The other side of why we should pray comes in the form of what we should be praying for. The list of reasons to pray is as inexhaustible as the list of human sins and calamities. We need to be praying for ourselves, for others, for church workers, for missionaries, for the sick, the lonely, the shut-in, the dying, the lost, for our enemies. There is no end to the list of things we should be bringing to God’s throne. If given just a little thought, no one should ever say, “I don’t know what to pray for.”

But, of course, the most important thing to pray for is that God’s will be done. That’s the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer. Listen to how Martin Luther defines what “Thy will be done” means. “The good and gracious will of God is done indeed without our prayer; but we pray in this petition that it may be done among us also.” That means we earnestly desire for God’s will, not our will, to be done in our lives.

Why should we pray? We should pray to praise God, to confess to God, to thank God, and to show our dependence on God. That’s right – our dependence. As Americans we like to think of ourselves as rugged individualists, but that not true. We are completely dependent on God and when we pray we acknowledge that dependence. Prayer helps us see who we are and who God is and to keep that relationship in proper perspective. Prayer admits that God is God and we are not.

God loves you so much he wants to hear from you. He wants to hear from you as much as you parents want to hear from your children, as much as any lover wants to hear from his beloved. God wants to hear your joys and your sorrows, your thanks and your petitions, your love for him and your love for your neighbor. And he wants to hear from you for one reason and one reason only. God loves you dearly.

So when is the right time to pray? Paul gave some very good advice to the church at Thessalonica on the matter of when to pray. He writes: Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thess 5:16-18).

Pray continually or to say it another way, pray without ceasing. What does that mean? Does that mean that we spend every waking moment on our knees? Does that mean that we have no time for anything but prayer? No. That kind of extremism goes against other Biblical mandates for us to be productive people.

Praying continually means that an untold number of things spark in us a reason to pray. I’ll give you an example. Whenever Suzanne and I pass and auto accident on the road, Suzanne says, “Lord, be with them.” Nothing fancy. Nothing wordy. Just a quick prayer that God would watch over the people involved. Will God hear and answer that quick four-word prayer? Absolutely. Martin Luther said the shorter the prayer the better.

Where should we pray? Well, I just said that we should always be in prayer, so, it only makes sense that we should pray wherever we are – right? However, the fact that we should pray wherever we are begs the question, “do we pray wherever we are?” Or are there times and places where we would just as soon not pray – at the office, in school, in a restaurant?

I mean, we don’t mind praying here in church, but right out in the open where everyone can see? Yes, right out in the open – but with respect and decorum, not making a public spectacle ourselves. Public prayer is a witness to our faith. And it is important for the lost to see us witness to our faith. Remember the words of Jesus: “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven” (Mt 10:32-33).

At least once a week I get an e-mail that goes something like this: pray the following prayer ten times and then forward this e-mail to ten friends and God will give you whatever you ask. Friends, that is garbage. Our God is not a vending machine god. You can’t just put in the right amount and type of prayer and have silly wishes granted. Prayer is about changing you – not changing God. God does not change. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Now, having said that, does God answer prayers? Yes. Most of you have probably heard that God answers all prayers in one of three ways; yes, no, or wait. Let me give you a different way of looking at God’s answers to our prayers. God answers all prayers by either giving us want we ask for or by giving us something better.

You see, God answers prayers in the same way he does everything else – according to his will – his will not our will. When God answers our prayers with what we ask, it’s because we are praying in, and according to, his will. When our prayers don’t receive the answer we were looking for, it’s because we want something less than what God has in mind for us. And, like any good parent, God will not give his children something that isn’t good for them.

That’s why I said that prayer is about changing us not changing God. When we see our prayers answered, we can be sure that our prayers are in line with God’s will. As we watch which prayers are answered, we can begin to see what our prayers should be about. And as we change our prayer life to fit God’s plan, we can easily see that our prayers are changing us not God.

Of course, the ultimate answer to ‘what is prayer’ is that prayer is conversation with the three most important people in our lives – our Father, our Savior, and our Comforter. I don’t care what age you are, prayer is crawling up on the lap of the person who created the universe and addressing him as abba – daddy.

Prayer is about going personally to the one who cared more about you than he cared about himself and saying “thank you for life.” Prayer is the privilege of petitioning the Spirit of God for strength to bear up under the troubles of this world and strength to lead a God-pleasing life and knowing that your prayer will be answered.

Wondering when to pray?  Stay tuned for my next blog….

Is God serious about prayer? You better believe it. And if God paid that much attention to prayer when he inspired the prophets and apostles to write his inerrant Holy Scripture, then I think it’s only proper for us to spend this time investigating prayer as it concerns the Christian’s life.

Who should pray? Who should turn to God in prayer? Everyone needs to turn to God in prayer. God wants conversation from all of his children – those inside the church and those outside the church.

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon (Is 55:6-7).

God wants to hear from all of his children.  How serious are you about prayer?

Are you ready to start your conversation with God?  Stay tuned for my next blog on “What is Prayer?”

The law of the Lord is perfect; The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy; The precepts of the Lord are right; The commands of the Lord are radiant; The fear of the Lord is pure; The ordinances of the Lord are sure; They are more precious than gold; They are sweeter than honey; In keeping them there is great reward. Psalm 19:7-11

Is it just me or does it also seem to you like this world, and more particularly this country, has gone completely off course? I mean, look around. What in the world is wrong with these United States of ours?

People are killing each other because the traffic isn’t moving as fast as they would like. Six people found stabbed and beaten to death over a stolen home video game system. Teachers are prevented from maintaining order and discipline in school and now many schools look more like battle grounds than school grounds. And speaking of schools, in the state of Illinois, it is illegal to read the Bible in public schools, but state law requires that every prisoner in a penial institution be provided a Bible.

Laws have been passed that give more protection to the egg of eagle than to a baby in its mother’s womb. Laws are being interpreted in ways that destroy the sanctity of the institution of marriage. What’s wrong? It wasn’t like this 60 years ago. What has changed between 1952 and 2012?

There have been many changes in the last sixty years, but the one that counts the most, the one which is responsible for the current state of the nation, is the change that has happened in people’s estimation of the Word of God. For the last sixty years, people, in droves, have been turning their backs on what God has to say. And many of the people who haven’t abandoned God’s Word have been selectively deciding what is and isn’t really God’s Word according to our current politically correct system of thinking.

We shouldn’t be at all surprised by this because Paul warns that this will happen. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul writes, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Tim 4:3).

We are living in just such a time. We are living in a day when morals are being rewritten to suit the corruption of the day. We are living in a time when many churches are claiming that, at best, the Bible only contains God’s Word. Do you know what that means? That means that if there’s anything in the Bible you don’t like you can throw it out simply by claiming that part is just the writers prejudice and not really what the Holy Spirit inspired him to write.

Other people claim that the Bible has had so many parts added and others taken out that we can’t take what it says literally. I don’t believe that. Do you? I refuse to believe that because that says one of two things; either God doesn’t care that we are dealing with an inferior and polluted version of his Word; or it says that God isn’t powerful enough to keep his Word pure. Now, I don’t know how each of you feel about this, but I can tell you that the God I worship isn’t guilty of either one of those.

The God that I put my faith in is the God whose Holy Spirit inspired the human authors of the Bible to write exactly what they wrote. The God I believe in is a God who has complete control of everything, which means he not only controlled the content of his holy Word he also has protected that content down through the ages so that the Scripture we have today is the true, accurate, and complete Word of God. This is the God that I believe in. Is this the God you believe in? And the Bible I read I believe is the true and infallible Word of that God. Do you believe that, too?

Make no mistake, a disciple is a servant. A disciple is not the teacher, he’s the learner. A disciple is not the leader, he’s the follower. A disciple is not the center of attention, he’s the one serving in the background. Jesus is our teacher, our leader, the center of our attention. A disciple is a servant called by God to carry the cross of Christ by living for Jesus in this world.

Living for Jesus is not just a Sunday job. Living for Jesus goes on 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. There are no days off from discipleship. There is no time when a disciple has “done his share.” Living for Jesus never ends and it supercedes every other function in life – because living for Jesus is life.

We never know what living for Jesus is going to be. Living for Jesus may be “business as usual” today – sacrifice and suffering tomorrow. A disciple remains faithful through good times and bad. A disciple takes the lowliest job just as joyfully as the high-profile job. A disciple is just as happy doing what only God sees as he is doing what everyone sees. The logo for the Baptist Missionary Union makes this point very well. It pictures a bull standing between a plow and an altar. The caption reads, “Ready for Either.”

Are you ready for either or neither?

The other kind of surfers aren’t on the beach. They’re out in the water – way out in the water. They’re sitting on their boards eagerly watching and waiting. When they see a big wave coming, they flop down on their boards and start paddling faster and faster, until the energy of the wave catches them. Then they jump to their feet for the ride of their lives.

These two kinds of surfers are much like the two kinds of people you normally find in  churches. The first kind, like the surfers on the beach, are church members. The other kind, like the surfers riding the waves, are disciples.

We need to look at the difference between a church member and a disciple. After all, unless we know the difference between the two, we can’t know how to move from one to the other.

Church members are spectators. If someone is just a member of a church, they have, whether they realize it or not, the notion that coming to church on Sunday is their job. That’s what they do. On some level, they feel that attending worship services is what being a Christian is all about. They come to church, they sing some songs, they put their offering in the plate, and they go home and wait for next Sunday, when they make their way back to church.

I’m not saying that it’s the people’s job to grow the church. Church growth is God’s job. However, God’s chosen method of growing the church is for his disciples to take the Gospel to the world. That’s God’s formula for church growth. Think back about today’s Gospel reading, “Go and make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching.” That’s not a church member’s work. That’s a disciple’s work.

However, how can we make disciples for Christ if we ourselves are not disciples? Jesus asked, “Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?” (Mt 7:16 NIV). If you wish to have grapes, you must start with a grape vine. If you wish to have figs, you must start with a fig tree. If you wish to make disciples, you must start with disciples.

You might be saying to yourself, “That makes sense, pastor, but how do we move to discipleship?” Let me start by saying it’s going to be work. Sitting around wishing and hoping will not change you into a disciple. Change requires action.

In my next writings, we are going to look at the six life disciplines that change a person into a disciple. If you make these six disciplines a part of your everyday life, your life will change dramatically. Here is a sample of the next six weeks.

When you come to Bible study, you are putting yourself in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us that faith comes from hearing God’s Word. Regular Bible study, especially corporate Bible study, serves to strengthen the faith God has given you. The more you know about God’s holy Word the easier your walk with God will be.

When you pray, you open the lines of communication between you and your Lord. Prayer is not just about you speaking to God. It’s also about God speaking to you. Don’t expect God to whisper in your ear. But do expect that the more time you spend in prayer the closer you will be moved to living inside the Will of God.

When you worship, you are drawn closer to our Lord. This is your chance to pray, praise, and give thanks. Worship also recharges your discipleship battery so you can not only face another week in the world, but at the same time be a living example of God’s love.

When you serve your neighbor, both inside and outside the church, you are following in the footsteps of your Savior. Jesus spent his entire life working for the good of others. He told his disciples, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28 NIV). The more you humbly serve the more you will learn the joy and privilege of serving.

When you witness, you are showing a love for your neighbor that is greater than your love of yourself. Witness is both words and actions. Living a life of full-time witness will strengthen your faith more than you could ever imagine. Jesus told us that, “greater love has no man than that he lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13 NIV). When your life is a living witness of your faith in God and your love for God, you have very meaningfully laid you life down for others.

When you support God’s work with the treasures he has given you, you show a disciple’s trust for the promise of God. Our Lord told us that he will provide what we need. Making meaningful offerings to him shows our faith in that promise.

If today begins your personal  move to discipleship, then today will be the beginning of a new chapter in your walk with God.