My Prayer For Our Next Worship Leader, and The Rest Of The Team

As you may know, Josh Brahm- the man who has been leading worship for us at Free Grace Church for about 6 years- is moving across the country next month. We have been praying and seeking  for more helpers on our worship team as well as our next worship leader for the last 8 months. As of today, we are still looking! Please pray with us and if you know someone who is looking for a chance to serve in church that is aiming for God-centered worship, contact us!

The Prayer

"God of grace and glory, help us to keep our eyes on you. Please work in us so that our desire for worship music is driven by a sense of your excellence and glory. Continue to open our eyes to your creation and your word so that we will be driven to worship with all our hearts, regardless of whether we have excellent musicians or not. Fill us with the Holy Spirit so we will sing to you and to one another with joy and reverence. Keep us from getting caught up in all the frivolous elements of the worship wars that are driven by personal preference.

God please send us more musicians. Please lead us to people that are available in their schedules, teachable and humble in their character, and skilled in their gifts. Especially send us another worship leader with a pastor’s heart and good theology. Send us someone who can help us learn how to sing to your glory. Help us to train and equip the ones who will equip us through song.

Lord, please blessour current music volunteers so that they will serve with joy. Thank you for all the wonderful things you have already done in us through them.  Give them the growing reward of fellowship and greater delight in you. Help our people to grow in grace and skill. Please make it so that each member of the body is functioning for your glory. 

God lead us in the future when it comes to questions of style and context. Help us wisely navigate the tension between being rooted in history and relevant in culture. Help us to balance truth without neglecting emotions. Help us to embrace both sobriety and joy as we respond to you.

We pray only through Christ, Amen"

Spiritual Body Language

“What Every BODY Is Saying” is a book about body language written by Joe Navarro, a former FBI agent and psychologist.  He also wrote the FBI policy on how to use body language tips when determining deception, so he knows a lot about the topic. The book is fascinating on a number of levels and the lessons are told through interesting stories and tips that are useful for every day life. At one point the author asks the reader to consider what the most “honest” part of the body is for interpreting nonverbal cues. When I read this, my first thought was that it had to be the face. But he said the face is definitely NOT the most reliable because we have been raised from childhood to lie with our facial expressions. We are taught to smile and act happy even when we have other feelings. To display a look of disgust when eating aunt Matilda’s Brussels sprouts would be rude.

But even though we are good at trying to deceive others with our body language, there will always be other “tells” that reveal what we are actually feeling. It might be our feet or hands.  (By the way, according to Navarro the feet are the most truthful body part). In the book, the author shows how he used body language as an FBI agent in questioning criminal suspects, solving crimes, and working to capture terrorists. Repeatedly he mentioned the importance of “congruency.” The various aspects of the human body are like an orchestra. When they are all playing the same music we can rely on the message.  But if we are attempting to hide something, the different sections of the orchestra end up on different sheets of music.   And when this happens, frequently the body will tell the truth when the lips are lying. He suggests that if the mouth is saying one thing and the body language is saying something else, then trust the body language. In order to do his job he had to look past what the people were telling him to see the truth written in gestures and actions.

This illustrates something that the apostle Paul tells us about a kind of "spiritual body language." There are times when people make professions- especially about their faith in Jesus- but they are not telling the truth.  How can we know the difference? In Titus 1:16 Paul writes about people making these kinds of false claims. He says, “they profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”  Isn’t it interesting that the life can deny what is pouring out of the mouth. If someone’s lips say that they follow Jesus, but their life denies it, then trust what their life is saying.  Our lives have a voice and speak a message. And that message is more reliable than the words that come from our lips.  

A Lesson From My Dog: How NOT To Choose A Church

Our family loves dogs, but some would say we are not very good at making our dog follow the rules. I am told that you aren’t supposed to give dogs “people food,” and we generally avoid this indulgence. But once in a while, in a moment of weakness, an unmentioned family member will give our dog a treat.  The person who does this has earned the name “Weak Link,” for obvious reasons. Our dog is highly motivated by food and has learned how to work the system. She will ignore everyone else and follow the “Weak Link” around the house in order to get what she wants. She knows that the other family members won’t indulge her bad doggy manners, so she ignores them. But she knows how to act very cute and beg in order to get what she wants from me.

I thought of this while reading from 2 Timothy 4 this morning.  After exhorting Timothy to preach the word (v. 2), Paul says “The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching , but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” (4:3) People who don’t want to hear the truth won’t stop going to church or listening altogether. They have passions and desires that must be satisfied. So they will act like my dog and seek out teachers and churches who will scratch their itching ears. And what do they want? What is the standard criteria for deciding which teachers to listen to? It is their passions (v. 3b). 

Evidently there were people in the church who had a set of sinful desires and attractions, and instead of indulging these desires, the teaching of the apostles (called “sound teaching”) confronted them and called them to repentance.  Jesus routinely taught that many of the things we naturally desire are violations of God’s law, are bad for us, and end up becoming substitutes for God himself (Matt 5:21-30 & 6:24-33).  These people put up with the truth for a while, but eventually act just like my dog. They ignore anyone who won’t tell them what they want to hear. 

One of the lessons for us is to beware of choosing a church, podcast, blog, etc. based on our desires. Don’t choose teachers who refuse to confront your darker appetites. Especially watch out for the ones that are willing to encourage or normalize the passions and desires that are condemned in scripture. Beware of anyone that that tells you that Jesus wants you to be happy indulging greed, hatred, lust, envy, covetousness, or pride.

By Pastor Matt Troupe

Go Deeper With Your Knowledge of God This Weekend

Church family, Professor Bruce Ware from Southern Seminary is going to be speaking on Friday night and Saturday morning at Trinity community church in Clovis. He is solid theologian and has written extensively on the doctrine of God, including responses to a modern error known as open theism.  He will be speaking on the doctrine of God. I am planning on attending. The conference is free and I have every expectation that it will  be excellent. I would love to have some folks from our church attend and learn together.  

Let me know if you are able to come to any of this.

Pastor Matt Troupe

 

Find more info about the conference here:  www.trinitycc.com. 

You can register by clicking this form:
 

   

My Prayer This Week For Leaders In Our Church

I find it helpful to write out my priorities and requests in prayer (as below) and then use this as a guide in the coming weeks. Here is what is on my heart for leadership development at our church. will you join me in praying this?

Leadership Prayer

Lord Help me to be a godly leader, to grow, and to have both humility and confidence in you. By your grace, make me an example, and give me a clear vision for the future. Help me to set the right goals for your church in this context and generation. Help me not to elevate my own purposes above your word and glory.

Lord please bless all our current leaders and volunteers with ongoing change by your spirit, clarity and strength to serve you, and concern for the next generation and the lost.

God please guide me to other leaders that can help me grow, teach, and inspire me. I need examples ancient and modern and I ask you to bring them into my life.

God, I need wisdom and discernment regarding others. Help me to trust people when I ought, to give wise and gracious feedback so they can grow. Give me grace and wisdom to instruct and correct when it is pleasing to you. Help me to see the difference between struggling christians and dangerous wolves.

Lord of the harvest, please raise up more leaders in the future. Please give the gifts, the character, and wisdom for our church to be full of godly leaders. 

Please guide our current leaders and congregation with discernment about future leaders. Give us clarity on seeing your gifts and calling in others.

Why You Should Join Us To Pray For Abortion? God is Answering

There are many reasons we neglect prayer. There are too many to list. One particularly stubborn reason is discouragement. We pray and wait. We wonder if it works.  And  too often we move on to something else when things seem hopeless. 

I want to encourage you that the abortion situation is not hopeless! God is at work answering our prayers in ways you may not even know!  Consider this: I recently read an article (read it here) about Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director. She is now a prolife advocate and has started the organization "And Then There Were None" (ATTWN) to help employees in the abortion industry escape and find healing. 
 
Her organization has been so successful that Planned Parenthood sent an email to all its employees warning them about ATTWN. But this move backfired and Abby Johnson reports they got numerous calls from Planned Parenthood employees in crisis. People that came to see the humanity of the unborn and wanted out. So far they have helped over 200 hundred workers in the abortion industry get out. Many are becoming voices for the prolife cause, giving first hand testimony about what really happens. That is 1 in 16 abortion clinic workers leaving the industry in the last 4 years!
 

That is an example of God answering prayer! 

Why should you pray? Add this to the list of reasons: Because he listens. Our God hears us when we call out to him. We invite you to join us to pray for this issue on February 28th at 7pm to pray for these issues along with many other concerns related to abortion? 

We have also set up a Facebook event page to help prepare, if you plan on coming please RSVP here

When:  Sunday Night Feb 28th from 7-8pm
Where: St James Anglican Church 4147 E Dakota Ave, Fresno, CA 93726
It is on the north side of the property in the Scofield hall.

Praying the Lord's Prayer

Recently in our D-groups we have been studying and using the Lord's prayer to help us grow in our prayer lives. We used this guide as a tool to help us use the petitions and priorities in the Lord's prayer to give structure and life to our times of prayer. Several mentioned this would be helpful for them to have on hand.

The two documents attached are versions of this prayer guide that you can add to your mobile device. The epub book will easily open on your iPhone. The other can be used on any device.

PDF version

Epub Version

This is the content of the guide is here below:

Lord’s Prayer Guide

This is a tool to help you learn to use the Lord’s Prayer to help in your daily walk with God. Pray through all 6 of the petitions and use the suggestions to help prompt you to pray through these priorities.

Matthew 6:9-15

9    Pray then like this: 

“Our Father in heaven, 

        hallowed be your name. 

    10     Your kingdom come, 

        your will be done, 

on earth as it is in heaven. 

    11     Give us this day our daily bread, 

    12     and forgive us our debts, 

as we also have forgiven our debtors. 

    13     And lead us not into temptation, 

but deliver us from evil. 

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001. Print.

V.9  “Our father in Heaven hallowed be your name”

• Confess that God is your father, that you trust him as a child. Thank him for adopting you and inviting you to come near.
• Confess that he is in heaven, that he is Lord, and that you trust him as the creator and sustainer of all things. Confess that he is able and willing to answer your prayers.
• Confess and remember that you are not alone as a Christian. We pray "our” father. Thank him that you are a member of his family.
• Pray that his name would be honored in your life, and your family, and a your church, and your community
• Reflect on the glory of his name and attributes and worship him. Consider some attribute of God expressed in one of his names. For example: Lord, father, provider, eternal, unchangeable, merciful, loving, just, holy, and sovereign.
• Ask him to show you more of his glory, and that you would trust and delight in him above all. 

V.10  “Your kingdom come”

• Thank God for bringing you into his kingdom out of the darkness.
• Pray for pastors, missionaries, and ministries that are serving the Lord. 
• Pray for their needs, support, and fruitfulness. 
• Pray that God would raise up more workers for his kingdom. 
• Pray that God would save the lost people in your life.  Pray for them by name.
• Pray for revival in our city and land. 

V.10  “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”

• Pray that God would make is will known to you. Ask that God would give you understanding of his word, and send you friends and counselors to speak the truth to you. 
• Pray that he would guide you in difficult decisions. 
• Ask God to give you strength to obey his will in areas where you struggle. Ask him to help you obey perfectly and joyfully like the angels. 
• Ask God to help you deal with areas of difficulty in your life.

V.11  “Give us this day our daily bread”

• Pray that God would meet your needs.  
• Thank him for his generous provision. 
• Ask him to give you contentment. 
• Ask him to teach you generosity and how to share. 
• Ask him to help you with anxiety and consumerism.
• Pray for unemployed people, disabled people, those who need better jobs, etc. 

V.12  “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”

• Confess your sins the Lord. Ask him to search you and show you areas of your life that are out of step with his will. 
• Confess your faith in his forgiving power.  
• Ask God to teach you to be a forgiving person and save you from bitterness. Ask for his blessing on your enemies.
• Ask specifically for him to forgive those who have hurt and offended you. 

V.13  “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”

• Ask for him to guard us from the work of the evil one. 
• Pray that he would keep us from playing with temptation in our own strength. 
• Ask for awareness of the way of escape from temptation, and for grace to take it. 
• Ask for help to put off the old man and put on the new man in Christ. 
• Pray that he would make you like Jesus.