ALIVE MINISTRIES: PROJECT PRAY

P. DOUGLAS SMALL

THE STONES – A POST-EASTER

PRAYER SERVICE

TELLING OUR STORY!

PROCLAMATIONS

• LEADER: We Gather With Joy before God – The Stone has been Rolled Away!

• Music

• Voice One: Hear the Word of the Lord, "Christ died for our sins … he was buried, and he rose on the third day.”

• Voice Two: "If we proclaim that Jesus is raised from the dead, how can any say there is no resurrection of the dead – for us? If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain and our is vain."

• Voice Three: "Nay! We are not misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ ... Jesus is alive indeed."

PROCLAMATIONS

• Voice Two: "Yes, Christ has descended into the grave, into hell with our sins, and has been raised. We are saved from our sins, justified by his resurrection!”

• Voice Three: "Yes and Amen – and not only so, but those also who have died in Christ have not perished. They are with Christ around the throne! For we have hope, not only in this life, but for the life beyond – and that is because ‘He has risen!’

• CONGREGATION: "Christ has been raised from the dead, the Old Testament saints were resurrected with him. Since death came through a human, the resurrection has also come through a human: for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 12-22, NRSV).

EVANGELISM – THE STORY OF OUR LIVES!

“All of Life is to be aimed at God, lived before and to Him!”

• Biblical History is the Story of God ...• Revealing Himself.• Calling men and women to Himself.• Liberating them.• Redirecting them.• Blessing them –• He honors men, that will honor Him.• He glorifies us, that we might glorify Him.

TELLING YOUR STORY!

• The Hebrew word, basar – • To tell, to proclaim, to report the news.• It is the OT equivalent, roughly, to

evangelize!• It is the telling of an incident, the

bringing of news.• It is the verbal, out-loud assertion of

something decisive, not known or believed until this moment.

II SAMUEL 18:24-27

• Two runners appear on the horizon. They are bearing messages for King David. • One has good news – the battle has been

won.• The other has bad news – Absalom, the

son of the King, is dead.• It is in hearing the news, that David immediately begins a lament. Not in the happening, but in the hearing.

THIS IS THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL …

• The message connects the reality at the place of the happening with the place of the hearing … and it is as if the incident happens all over again.• What happened there –

happens here experientially. • What happened then, is

felt now in terms of impact.

This there-here, then-now is a part of the story every Christian tells.

THE POWER OF TELLING ...

ROMANS 10:14

• How shall they CALL on whom they have not BELIEVED?• How can they

BELIEVE if they have not HEARD?• How can they

HEAR unless someone TELLS them?

You TELLTELL Someone YOUR STORY! Which is really HIS STORY!

They HEAR IT! Really, get it!

They BELIEVE! Jesus is REAL! ALIVE!

BELIEVING, they CALL out! Sincerely, Genuinely, to Jesus!

What Happened THEN, happens again, NOW. What happened THERE, happens, HERE.

FAITH COMES BY HEARING ... THE STORY!FAITH COMES BY HEARING ... THE STORY!

THE ISSUE OF SILENCE ...THE ISSUE OF SILENCE ...PSALM PSALM 3939

• Movement One – At a Counter Point with the Powerful Wicked.• I will guard my ways. I will bridle my tongue. With the wicked

present, I was dumb and silent, I held my peace.

• Movement Two – Reality Check: Silence is not Acceptable.• My distress grew worse, my tongue became hot within me.

As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke ... 1-3.

• Movement Three – A Sudden Aha! The Spell is Broken.• What am I waiting on? My hope is in you? (Why did I let the

world intimidate me?) I was mute, silent, I didn’t open my mouth! The FREEING PLEA!

THE ISSUE OF SILENCE ...THE ISSUE OF SILENCE ...PSALM PSALM 3939

• Movement Four – I need healing. • With the confession that silence is inappropriate comes a

recognition of a deeper problem; perhaps what silence has done to me!

• Deliver me from my sins. Don’t let me be a reproach of the foolish. Remove your plague. I am consumed by your blows (dealing with me privately), correcting iniquity. I am like a vapor (before you). 39:7-11

It is not the world that is to be feared – It is not the world that is to be feared – God is to be feared! God is to be feared!

Why am I afraid of them? Why am I afraid of them? And have so little fear of God?And have so little fear of God?

• (Cry for Help) Hear my prayer. Give ear to my cry!

THE ISSUE OF SILENCE ...THE ISSUE OF SILENCE ...PSALM PSALM 3939

• Movement Five – There is a second sudden awareness. • With ‘my’ silence; I am simultaneously experiencing the

‘silence’ of God. My silence about God has produced a corollary silence from God. • PRAYER: God, do not be silent at my tears! I am a Stranger with

you. There is now distance in our relationship. Your gaze is piercing, your eyes are disapproving. They melt me. They make me weak!

• Movement Six – Ultimate Liberty! •   What am I waiting on? My hope is in you - God? Why did I let

the world intimidate me? Make me the reproach of the foolish? I was mute. Silent. I didn’t open my mouth! And my silence has affected the quality of my relationship with you – God. • PRAYER: Hear my cry God!

THE ISSUE OF SILENCE ...THE ISSUE OF SILENCE ...PSALM PSALM 3939

• Movement Five – There is a second sudden awareness. • With ‘my’ silence; I am simultaneously experiencing the

‘silence’ of God. My silence about God has produced a corollary silence from God. • PRAYER: God, do not be silent at my tears! I am a Stranger with

you. There is now distance in our relationship. Your gaze is piercing, your eyes are disapproving. They melt me. They make me weak!

• Movement Six – Ultimate Liberty! •   What am I waiting on? My hope is in you - God? Why did I let

the world intimidate me? Make me the reproach of the foolish? I was mute. Silent. I didn’t open my mouth! And my silence has affected the quality of my relationship with you – God. • PRAYER: Hear my cry God!

THE ISSUE OF SILENCE ...THE ISSUE OF SILENCE ...PSALM PSALM 3939

• Movement Five – There is a second sudden awareness. • With ‘my’ silence; I am simultaneously experiencing the

‘silence’ of God. My silence about God has produced a corollary silence from God. • PRAYER: God, do not be silent at my tears! I am a Stranger with

you. There is now distance in our relationship. Your gaze is piercing, your eyes are disapproving. They melt me. They make me weak!

• Movement Six – Ultimate Liberty! •   What am I waiting on? My hope is in you - God? Why did I let

the world intimidate me? Make me the reproach of the foolish? I was mute. Silent. I didn’t open my mouth! And my silence has affected the quality of my relationship with you – God. • PRAYER: Hear my cry God!

THE ISSUE OF SILENCE ...PSALM 39

• Movement One – At a Counter Point with the Powerful Wicked.• I will guard my ways. I will bridle my tongue. With the wicked

present, I was dumb and silent, I held my peace. • My distress grew worse, my tongue became hot within me.

As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke ... 1-3• (Sudden Aha!)• What am I waiting on? My hope is in you? (Why did I let them

intimidate me?) I was mute, silent, I didn’t open my mouth!• FREEING PLEA – • Deliver me from my sins. Don’t let me be a reproach of

the foolish. Remove your plague. I am consumed by your blows (dealing with me privately), correcting iniquity. I am like a vapor (before you). 39:7-11

• (Cry for Help) Hear my prayer. Give ear to my cry! • DO NOT BE SILENT AT MY TEARS!• I am a STRANGER with you. There is distance in our

relationship. Your gaze is piercing, your eyes are disapproving. They melt me. They make me weak!

I determined to be SILENT ... Especially in I determined to be SILENT ... Especially in the presence of the wicked!the presence of the wicked!

O God, O God, DON’T BE SILENT! I can’t bear your disapproving DON’T BE SILENT! I can’t bear your disapproving

gaze! Remove the distance between us!gaze! Remove the distance between us!

THE MEANING OF THE STONES ...

•All over Israel were these piles of stones – • Some were memorials.• Some were altars.• All marked the site of a significant event – a story in Israel’s history - of God’s action in Israel’s behalf.

•They were silent witnesses to the way God had moved through the land showing himself alive.

A LAND LADEN WITH STONE MARKERS ...

•Some were markers:• In the Jordan ... Where the Priests

stood.• At Gilgal ... Where they camped.

•Some were altars:• Set up by the Patriarchs – Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob (Bethel).• Ebal and at Gerizim.• Mt. Carmel ... • Altar at the threshing floor of Onan.

ALTARS AND MARKERS OF STONE ...

• JOSHUA – rehearses the law (Joshua 8:30-32). • The BOOK of LAW and the STONE as a witness, • Thus a connection between the LAW and the

STONE, • And the Book and the Stone, • And thus, the COVENANT and the STONE.

• SAMUEL• Sets up a stone – “hitherto has the Lord helped

us!” I Samuel 7:12 • ELIJAH • Takes twelve stones, the number of tribes ... And

builds an altar in the name of the LORD ... (prays) ... The fire of the LORD falls, it consumes the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the dust, and the water in the trench. I Kings 18

THE STORY OF THE UNSCRIBED STONES ...

Take for yourselves 12 stones out of the midst of the Jordan where the priests’ feet stood firm ... • Each one take up a stone ....• ... that this may be a sign among you when

your children ask, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’

You shall answer: • - the waters of the Jordan were cut off • ... before the ark of the covenant of the LORD when it

crossed over the Jordan,

• the waters of the Jordan were cut off. “These stones are a memorial forever.”

THE STORY OF THE INSCRIBED STONE TABLETS ...

• Deuteronomy 6:20  “When your son asks you in time to come, saying,

‘What is the meaning of the testimonies,

the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has

commanded you?’ ... then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves ... • and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a

mighty hand ...• and the LORD showed signs and wonders before

our eyes, great and severe ...

Prosperity causes Amnesia! ...

massive, programmatic

forgetting!