Shownotes
Join Pastor David Schultz and Bill Prewitt as they discuss how a purposeful daily prayer life can help fortify your faith when you’re unable to follow your regular worship routine due to the pandemic. The concept of prayer as a dialog and not simply an event can help make it a vital part of Christian life.
Transcripts
The following program is sponsored by evangelical life
Ministries. Welcome to engaging truth, the manifestation of God's word and the lives of people around us. Join us each week. As we explore the impact of his message of spiritual renewal from the lesson of forgiveness Fords in the crucible of divorce, to the message of salvation, learn earned by an executioner from a condemned killer to the gift of freedom found in the rescue of victims of human trafficking. This is God's truth in action.
Welcome to engaging truth. Uh, this is, um, just the question and answer time, the, the, uh, the time we at Elm get together to query the people who were sitting before us. And today we're going to bill and I are going to talk with each other about the whole issue of prayer and the application of God's word to prayer. So anyway, um, bill is known very well amongst us, so welcome
Bill. Thank you, pastor. Thanks. Good to be here as always.
Well, one of the things that this pandemic has created for us is some solitary time solitary time that, uh, we can use constructively or destructive. And so let me just ask you the question. Um, how have you spent this time, which has been given to you by grace more, more productively than you could have imagined before the pandemic happened?
Well, I I've, I've used it in a couple of ways. I've, I've, uh, started a new, uh, sort of a new Bible study, a new, uh, new study of the word that, um, our friend Randall Moony mentioned, uh, a couple of months ago, he was in here and he was telling us about his immersion into the word. And he said that he came up with a plan where he would read through the new Testament in 30 days. And it, uh, it involves reading eight to 10 chapters, uh, a day. And, uh, I am on, uh, my second trip now through the, through the new Testament in the last, in the last 30 days. And it's, uh, it's quite an MECI immersing pro process. Uh, one of the other things that I've done also is I've tried to sort of boost up my, my prayer life a little bit.
One of the things that, you know, uh, we miss a lot during a pandemic when we're, um, cloistered away from other people is the ability to congregate. And, um, to me, a big part of my spiritual infusion or spiritual renewal is coming to church at least, you know, once a week for Sunday and then Bible study and this sorts of things. And it's, I find myself wanting and needing more of that. And the isolation has led me to a, to a little bit deeper prayer life, um, to spending more time in that you we've talked about this before, uh, to me prayer, isn't an event, it's a dialogue. It's one of those things where we, uh, we should keep it going sort of constantly and just bounce in and out of it, as opposed to just scheduling an event once in a while. So it's, it's, it's really, it's really helped me, uh, increase my prayer activity.
So when we define help in your prayer activity, what does that mean?
Well, to me, it's a little bit of a deeper kind of, of prayer it's. Um, most, most people go through, uh, the supplication, uh, part of prayer more than they do some of the others we've, uh, during our study of, of Steven ministry. One of the things that's you came up with is, was a little, uh, uh, acronym called acts a C T S. It describes sort of the, the prayer, uh, cycle, if you will, it's adoration, confession, Thanksgiving, and supplication. So the first thing we're called to do is go to the Lord, uh, in with praise and, uh, and then confess our sins then, um, thank him for all the wonderful give gifts that he has given us. And finally, the supplication piece where we, we spend up a end up asking for, for additional things. And I think most people in their daily prayer life spend an awful lot of time on and supplication and less time than they really need to on the adoration, confession and Thanksgiving piece. And so I've concentrated a little bit more on those three aspects of prayer since we've been isolated more.
And the EPIs lesson from yesterday, Paul is talking from prison and he talks to the people of the church of ESUs and he says, I'm, I'm praying to God for you to strengthen you, to encourage you, to support you and above all, to help you to understand the gospel more clearly. And then he ends it by saying this wonderful statement. He said that God's response to us is in definitely are definitely much more than we can comprehend and even imagine. And I think, keep thinking about that, you know, we sometimes are very apologetic in our prayer life, and I say, well, God, I'm sure you don't want to hear this again from me, rather than to say, ask that you'll be giving you just bombard the throne. Uh, he's able to handle that. Um, but the whole issue of, of prayer is, is critical in our deadly lives, simply because the Lord Jesus stretches his hands out and says, ask, just, just come to me and ask and trust me, uh, my blessings are greater than you can understand and even imagine.
And I, I think a lot of us approach prayer with sort of a fear and trepidation kind of thing. And we don't realize God tells us freely approach the throne of grace, and I will listen to your prayers and I will hear your prayers and I will answer your prayers. Sometimes the answer is no, but you know, all prayers are heard in answers. And the point that we need to understand is that Jesus is our intercesor, uh, no matter how, uh, the, you know, Paul and one point talks about inarticulate groaning and how the spirit then takes that and, and makes a prayer fit for the Lord to hear. And, and for us to have that, intercesor that, you know, when people ask me how I know I'm gonna be, uh, saved on, on the judgment day, I tell him it's because I got the best lawyer you can have. And, uh, he's also our intercessor when it comes to prayer as well. So it's one of those things that I think we should boldly ask for the things we want. And, but don't forget to cover it with the praise adoration and Thanksgiving that are duly deserved by, by Jesus. And by God,
Sometimes that whole issue of Thanksgiving is some something so hard to do, uh, because our expectations are different than what, uh, we had prayed for. But to give thanks is to give, thanks to anything for which he has, has come to us and provided for us. And I like that wonderful passage in, in Philippians where Paul says, um, that, that he provides for us above our ability to know, and to be concerned. And he says that his love for us is beyond imagination and care. And therefore he will provide for us in all of our needs, not necessarily our wants, but all of our needs.
Well, he has given us gifts that are, that are often beyond our comprehension. When you, when you think about this society, we live in very few people, lack any, any physical need at all. We do lack spiritual needs, but that's because of our own inefficiencies or insufficiencies. But I think on a daily basis and my, my prayer day usually begins when I'm, I get up in the morning and take the dog for a walk. And he and I, uh,
And I think, and every day I'm thankful for the salvation. That's gonna come, because if it's this good here, think what it's gonna be like on the other side, become magnificent. It's gonna be so it, to me, I'm, I'm, I'm constantly thanking, thanking God for the gifts of wonderful family. The people that have gone before us, I was, I was raised by by family members and, and grandparents and great grandparents that were in the Lord, knew the Lord. And they, they passed that along to me and gave me that start. And it's one of those things that without that I'd be totally lost. So it's, it's a, it's a wonderful thing to go back and have those things to be thankful for and think, think of just the magnificent gifts that we don't, we don't think about on a daily basis at all food shelter, you know, the wonderful things that we have, and we have to be constantly thankful for having those.
My God will provide for you all of your needs, according to the richness of his grace in Christ Jesus. And I just say, all my wants are just behind me. I don't even care about those, but the needs are all met. Let's just take a moment to talk a little bit about who we are, and then let's get into this issue of the reading of the word. If you got a minute, I'd like to share with you a little bit about Elm and the program engaging truth, which we are now recording for podcast distribution. We are a small group of Christ-centered folks who believe in the power of a communication. It's been for many of us on the board or staff of a wonderful organization. And, but an eye-opening experience to know that with technology available today, programs such as this can be disseminated electronically and be distributed worldwide, almost instantaneously.
And I don't believe that technology will end, uh, with what is still available today is why we're pausing at this moment to ask you to perfectly consider helping us distribute our program interviews. I will tell you how you can go to our website, which is E LM houston.org to donate online, or you can send your support to E L M post office Fox 5 68 site, Texas 77, 400. Also at our website, Elm houston.org. You can access podcasts of past engaging truth programs are used to contact them to ask us a question or comment on our programming, or even submit a prayer request. But please remember to pray for us, pray for the staff who do what they do, voluntarily your support and dollars send our programs across the world. Well, bill, we've talked a little bit about Pearl. Let's talk about the word. Um, I remember the first time I went through the word just by myself and then, uh, I, it with the churches that I was pastoring, and that was a challenge because you had to divide the whole Bible into one year that's eight chapters a day. And, um, we had in one church, we had a, a great initial turnout, but we had a 25% fallout, no time, uh, because it's the intensity of the read, but you've done this in the new Testament because of an encouragement from somebody else. Number one, what has it done for you?
Uh, it has strengthened my understanding in, in knowledge of the acts of Jesus and his life and the, and the disciples and, and what they were actually living, going through and living through in that first century through, through Jesus, my industry. And it's also fortified the message and the prophecies that were provided in the new, in the old Testament and exhibited ways how they have actually been brought to bear in the new Testament through that message. So it's given me a much deeper understanding of what was foretold in the old Testament by knowing, getting deeper into the new.
So what has, what has it done for you personally, to be able to, uh, read through the scriptures once and I mean, new Testament once, and then do it again almost again the second time. What, what, what thing has led you to say this, something that I needed to do, because this is what has done for me.
Well, again, the, the deeper knowledge and understanding and the closeness that I feel to the entire, the entire process and just the familiarity, being able to recall much more vividly and much more quickly certain the stories that appear in various parts of the scriptures. And, uh, it's just gonna be a better, a better, more deeper, deeper knowledge of the, you know, people always like to say they hear this, they love to hear the old story and hear it over and over again. And, and to, to go through and review that just, I think makes it more vivid, more lifelike
The summer after the church where I was pastoring, uh, went through the whole Bible in the course of, uh, a year's time, the summer after that, I went on an archeological excavation in Israel, which was for me a challenging thing because of the fact that, uh, the word of God is so interest thing in that respect, that it identifies places and things and people and, and, uh, cities and coins and everything, um, from which you dig out of the ground and which you can identify with passages and scripture that authenticated for me, um, without any equivocation, the truth of the holy scriptures, because you can't do that with a novel, you can't do that with a history history book, but you can with a Bible.
Yeah. Yeah. And I'm, you know, I'm sort of a, a visual kind of character, uh, just for the listeners out there, pastor and I, uh, pastor and I on a, on a regular basis work with a, uh, a group of seniors, uh, at, at church. And we do a, uh, a Bible study on a weekly basis. And one of the things I like to, uh, to do is bring maps and diagrams and stuff to show the people, the other members of the, of the, of the class, what was actually taking place in, in reference to the holy land and, and that sort of thing. And this also has, has given me, I, I find myself referring more and more to the, to the, uh, sort of ancillary materials that I've got. I've got a couple of, uh, Bible atlases that I use. And I've got a couple of other historic documents on a regular basis that I find myself going to more and more in order to give myself more of a F familiarity. I've not been to the, I've not been to, to Israel visited any of those areas, but, uh, it's, I'd like to have that familiarization so that it's, uh, you can almost see it when you're reading the scriptures.
One of the things that we did within the last year is take an old Testament, minor profit book. And what was interesting about that is that we live in an age today when, um, people are saying, well, if there is Justin a loving God, then he wouldn't let these things happen. Well, Justin, a loving God, let something more happen to people in a Northern kingdom of his Israel, because they refuse to repent of their sin. And the Lord says, okay, I'll haul you off to another country and you'll never come back. Exactly. And, you know, we always think of God as G he's got to be, be understood by us. He's got to be just in, he's got to be careful about what he does with us. So he does us when in essence, um, when we disregard what he says, we very easily, uh, can receive not the justice, but the judgment of God for what we do
Exactly, exactly. God is, uh, God is just, uh, he forgives us, um, many, many of our sins. Uh, but some of the sins that we commit are borderline unforgivable. And once we deny him, then he is, he is just, and has the a right and the righteousness to deny us.
I was listening just the other day to, uh, George Barna. George Barna is a research guru. Um, he does a lot of the research within the Christian community today about what's going on. And one of the things he, he talked about that was so, uh, heart felt but hurting was that, um, the generation that is presently called the, the millennials age 18 to 35, uh, the majority of them really want very little to do with the word anymore. In fact, um, only 6% from his report, believe that Jesus is truly the son of God, uh, bill in your reading. Did you ever find any equivocation on that particular fact?
No, and I never, I never have. And I think one of the things that has, uh, has clobbered us as a, as a nation and a society right now, as a creeping moral relativism, it is the denial of God's law and saying, it's okay, man will sort it out. And if we can reason through it and find a way to make it right, then it'll be right. But God doesn't say that. God says, this is my law. This is what's right. And his son came and said not he did not come to erase the law, but to fulfill it to the letter. And so the, the people who claim, uh, that, that Christ absolved everybody from the law and Hey, if your sins are all forgiven, nobody, no matter what you do, that's not necessarily the case. It requires confession and turning one around that actually involves, involves that repentance, uh, and, and subjecting ourself to not only the law, but the law giver.
It's interesting as, as I get older and maybe you've experienced this as well. Um, I've been through the scriptures many times, I've have taught every book in the Bible. Um, and I have taught some of books of the Bible more than once. And I've outlined the whole Bible from Genesis all the way through revelation, but as I'm getting older, I'm depending more upon what I have learned and what I can gather from what I have packed back in the very recesses of my mind. And so you're encouraged to reread the Bible is gonna be my encouragement as well. I'm gonna, I'm gonna do that again. Uh, simply because of the fact that, that within the, the very promises of God's word are the truths that we need, uh, to cling to, uh, what truths, the truth of forgiveness, the truth of concile the truth of, um, the, the simple fact that Jesus would return talking about. Uh, just that simple fact bill of Christ's return. What is the fascination today in the Christian community with studying, um, with the book of revelation, for instance, the book of Daniel, the book of Ezekiel, what, what is the fascination as you see of people, uh, wanting to peek around the corner and wanting to understand the future?
Well, they wanna know, they wanna know with certainty, what's gonna happen when, so that you can be ready for it, you know? And, uh, and I'm not sure there's any way we can actually be ready for it. One of my favorite t-shirts that I used to see all the time, there's a gentleman wearing a t-shirt that says Jesus is coming soon, look busy. And it's, it's one of those things where, you know, people are fascinated with trying to be ready for salvation without living the life, in order to, to find and gain it. Um, I'm, I'm struck by, you know, going back through and reading these things. And I'm, I'm reading through the, the story of the woman who was caught in the adultery and, you know, and at the very end, Jesus says, you know, know, I, no one here stands to stands to, to stone.
You go and sin no more. He doesn't say, go and sin only a little. He says, go and sin no more. So there's some absolutes in there that he, that he hands down to us. And I think we really need to listen to some of the things that he says, like go and sin no more. And in other words, try to live a sinless life, love one another, the loved one. Another thing I think he really meant, meant that more than anything else in the book. And so these are the kinds of things that I'm, I'm being reminded of. As I read through this more and more because of the examples,
Let's go a little bit into what it, what it means when someone comes to realize for the first time that they can't, they can't create a salvation unto God for themselves, but the salvation alone comes from Christ.
There's no do it yourself. Salvation kit. Okay. If there was, it would be cheap and everybody would do it. So essentially you have to realize that in order for you to be made right, and reconciled with God, it's gonna take his grace and his act and not yours. And, um, and, and once you realize that, and once you realize that it's all been done and it's been freely given for you, then it takes all this. It's like lifting a huge weight off your shoulders, because the pressure's not on you anymore. All you have to do is accept the grace that's freely given. And it seems almost too easy at that point, until you realize that once we've accepted that salvation, we've got a calling to live a changed life and not changed necessarily by anything we've done, but changed because of the spirit that's alive within us. What
Assurances do you have that you are safe person from what you read in the Bible?
I've got the best lawyer in eternity.
People walk up and say, when you saved. And I said, well, when Jesus says it finished, but no, no, no, that's not what I mean. I mean, can, can you pinpoint a time in which you have decided for Christ? And I say, well, no, Jesus said on the cross, it is finished. Simply. That means for me, that everything for me and all humanity has been done with his suffering death
In his resurrections. Yeah.
I just wanted to say, this has been a fun time. Bill working,
Always a fun time working through
The issue of prayer and, uh, the word, and we've got about 45 seconds. Is there one final thing that you'd like to say when then close with prayer?
Well, uh, you know, one of the things that I, I, I talk about all the time and when I'm going through the, the, the prayer life and the salvation, I really like two things. The Lord's prayer, and I am always fascinated by David's prayer reconciliation, Psalm 51. I, I think if we go back and read that, that created me a clean hardo God, that is, that is really the prayer that we should constantly bring, be bringing to God's throne. Would you close this with prayer gracious, heavenly father? We thank you very much for the opportunity to, to sit here and discuss our prayer life, uh, our word and the wonderful gifts of salvation that you have given us. May others come to know it as vividly and strongly as we do. And may God's blessing be with all our listeners in Jesus name? We pray I'm
In. Well, thank you, brother, bill.
