https://www.bible.com/events/49253188

Church of the Nazarene – East Rock

The Power of Prayer

Search me, test me, uncover my sin, and lead me.

Today we are beginning a new teaching series called “The power of prayer.”

Our series is based out of Psalm 139, where David prays 4 very specific petitions asking the Lord to do a deep and thorough search of his heart and inner life- Throughout this series, that’s our desire too.

Psalms 139:23-24

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Search me, test me, uncover my sins, and lead me.

David is inviting the Lord to go beyond the normal places, to the deep places of his very heart.

Prayer like this is vulnerable. It’s a complete opening of ourselves to the Lord. To allow him access not just to the places we know, to places we might be comfortable with, but beyond, to the places that only he can know.

And that can cause serious disruptions in our relationship with the Lord.

Just ask Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends.

Mark 14:27-31

“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: “ ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.

Can you imagine the shock of these words? They had been together for 3 years now. Seen and done some amazing things. Now, Jesus turns to them and says “Boys, you are about to walk out on me. Every one of you”

“No way Jesus- not gonna happen. I would never do that, even if everyone else does.” The Apostle Peter cannot see it, he doesnt know that about himself.

You probably already know the rest of the story. Peter really didn’t know himself as well as he thought, did he? He would deny Jesus, not just once, but three times. Cussing, fussing, and swearing that he had never even met Jesus. It turns out Jesus knew Peter’s heart better than he did, and he knows your heart better than you do.

Just like Peter struggled to see beyond his own perception of his loyalty, we too struggle to see and know what lays deep within our hearts.

In Psalm 139 David is inviting the Lord behind the curtain, behind what even David himself knows, to search him, to test him, to uncover hidden sin, and to lead him. As David sought the Lord in these areas, we want to do that as well.

Throughout this series we want to explore the four prayers: Search me, test me, uncover my sins, and lead me.

Before we dive right into verses 23 and 24, we need to journey with David through the rest of the Psalm. There we find David’s heart and mind turning to the Lord in worship and praise, which is a critical part of our journey in seeking to engage God through prayer.

Psalms 139:1-6

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

The text opens examining God’s limitless knowledge. This attribute of God is often called his omniscience. This simply means there is nothing outside of God’s knowledge, there is no thought he doesn’t know, no action he isn’t aware of, no word spoken he hasn’t heard, even before its uttered.

God’s knowledge of you goes far beyond your reputation or your actions- he knows your very thoughts.

As we begin to think about opening ourselves up to the Lord, there is nothing he doesn’t already know- nothing will surprise him.

God knows us better than we know ourselves.

Psalms 139:7-12

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

David here recognizes God limitless presence- His omnipotence. Not only does the Lord know everything in his omniscience, but he is also everywhere in omnipotence.

That means there is nowhere you can go to escape God’s presence.

That’s a great comfort for those who are seeking him, but it’s a great challenge to those who think they can hide form the Lord. Everyone in Scripture who tries to hide from the Lord, fails. And you can’t do it either.

Psalms 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

God is everywhere in Omnipresence, all knowing in omniscience, and all powerful in his omnipotence. There is no limit to Gods creative power- The power that even created you.

And then, just when you think you know where David is going, he makes a hard, skidding left turn. Hold on tight.

Psalms 139:19-22

If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

True to life and the experience of our world, David addresses the sin and brokenness of our world by appealing to God’s justice.

With honest and vivid language, David doesn’t hold back his feelings. He doesn’t plead his case as much as he declares his desire to side with the Lord- those who are an enemy of the Lord, would be an enemy of his.

With the wicked in mind, David now says, essentially, O Lord, don’t let me fall into the trap in which they find themselves. Don’t let me by a hypocrite.

Psalms 139:23-24

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

If David was going to take the sin of others seriously, he knew he must first take it seriously in his own life. He would need to invite the all-knowing, ever present, all powerful and just God to search the deep recesses of his heart.

Search my heart, test me, uncover my sins, and lead me.

“Lord, I know it won’t be easy…and I’m a little hesitant as I ask but, please, SEARCH ME.”

The prayer of Psalm 139 is powerfully intimate- It goes behind the façade we put on for people, the one that says everything’s all right.

It sees through the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, even the story we tell ourselves of how good we are.

It’s a prayer that goes beyond the very words that make it up.

It’s a prayer that reaches for the very heart of God, and welcomes him in.

Will you allow him to work in your life? No matter what he finds?

When you ask the Lord to search you, you may not like what he finds, but you will love how he redeems it. Will you trust him today?

Will you pray “Search me, God, and know my heart”?

Updates on the new Waynesboro campus

God is inviting us to step out in faith to plant a Spanish-speaking campus in the Waynesboro community. Join us on the journey! Check out the link below for more information and for frequent updates throughout the journey.

Waynesboro

Giving at COTN

If you ever have questions or need help with online giving, please let us know: finance@cotnaz.org Thank you for your partnership in building the Kingdom of Christ as you impact others!

Giving

Establish COTN as Your Church on the App

In this YouVersion Bible app, we encourage you to set up COTN as your church. It’s a simple process and will open up opportunities to stay connected to us!

https://help.youversion.com/l/en/article/y03uerubo8-mychurch

http://bible.com/events/49251326

Church of the Nazarene – Harrisonburg

Holiness as Wholeness, Part 4

Holiness is living the abundant life.

Holiness as Wholeness

The idea behind this teaching series is that Holiness, rather than being a heavy burden of impossibility placed on believers, is a healing and freeing effect of Christ’s sacrifice.

Holiness is good for us; it restores to us the design of God for our lives. The enemy wants us to believe it is a chain placed upon us, so we dread its requirements so that we’ll turn our back on it or roll our eyes at it. But, in essence, holiness brings all that we really want into our lives. It makes us whole with all of the attendant beauty of that idea.

The Nazarene understanding of Christian Holiness or Entire Sanctification is freeing, not binding. Through this sermon series then, we want to see Holiness as Wholeness.

James Pedlar

…God’s mission is not only for those outside the church but for believers as well, who are currently experiencing the ongoing healing work of God in their lives. In other words, mission is not only “outreach” but also includes the corporate life of the church. Cultivating holiness, spurring one another on in our response to God’s ongoing work in our lives, teaching, catechizing, discipling – all these things which help to form people as disciples are part of the church’s mission.

John 10:9-10

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:9-10

Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep rustlers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

John 10:9-10

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

This word “abundant” in the Greek is perisson:

Meaning “exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, a quantity so abundant as to be considerably more than what one would expect or anticipate.”

Oswald Chambers

We must never measure our spiritual capacity on the basis of our education or our intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured on the basis of the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, we will falsely accuse Him as the servant falsely accused his master when he said, “You expect more of me than you gave me the power to do. You demand too much of me, and I cannot stand true to you here where you have placed me.” When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say, “I can’t.” Never allow the limitation of your own natural ability to enter into the matter. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be exhibited in us

Change (transformation) is not the absence of temptations, it is holiness in the midst of temptation.

THE WAY OF CHRIST

IS THE ABUNDANT LIFE

C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity

“Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

ONCE GOD SETS YOU FREE YOU HAVE TO DECIDE TO LIVE FREE!

John 14:6a

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.

Holiness and the Church of the Nazarene

Former Nazarene General Superintendent Dr. J.K. Warrick discusses the distinctiveness of the Nazarene Church with a focus on Holiness.

Updates on the new Waynesboro campus

God is inviting us to step out in faith to plant a Spanish-speaking campus in the Waynesboro community. Join us on the journey! Check out the link below for more information and for frequent updates throughout the journey.

Waynesboro

Giving at COTN

If you ever have questions or need help with online giving, please let us know: finance@cotnaz.org Thank you for your partnership in building the Kingdom of Christ as you impact others!

Giving

Establish COTN as Your Church on the App

In this YouVersion Bible app, we encourage you to set up COTN as your church. It’s a simple process and will open up opportunities to stay connected to us!

https://help.youversion.com/l/en/article/y03uerubo8-mychurch

Additional Scriptures:

John 15:9-11

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

1 Timothy 6:6

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Psalm 16:11

You make known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

John 8:36

36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Hebrews 12:14-15

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

https://www.bible.com/events/49249500

Church of the Nazarene – East Rock

Holiness as Wholeness, Part 4

Holiness is living the abundant life.

Holiness as Wholeness

The idea behind this teaching series is that Holiness, rather than being a heavy burden of impossibility placed on believers, is a healing and freeing effect of Christ’s sacrifice. Holiness is good for us; it restores to us the design of God for our lives. The enemy wants us to believe it is a chain placed upon us, so we dread its requirements so that we’ll turn our back on it or roll our eyes at it. But, in essence, holiness brings all that we really want into our lives. It makes us whole with all of the attendant beauty of that idea. Holiness is not a requirement as much as it is a remedy. The Nazarene understanding of Christian Holiness or Entire Sanctification is freeing, not binding. Through this sermon series then, we want to see Holiness as Wholeness.

In John 10:10 Jesus says: “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

For Jesus, the good life is abundant, life to the full. And notably, it’s not something we acquire, it’s not something we can work for, it’s the life we receive from Him.

If Jesus brings us good and abundant life, why doesn’t my life with him seem more, abundant? Why doesn’t life seem more, I don’t know, “good”?

So often our experience is one of frustration, guilt, or shame because we can’t seem to pull it together, a seemingly unending cycle of failure and forgiveness, never seeing the victory in our lives. Rather than full of life, it’s just full of frustration.

I would propose to you today that the abundant life Jesus came to bring, only comes on the other side of our full surrender to him. The truth is, “abundance” in Christ is not about gathering it all in, but giving it all up.

There is great abundance in… SURRENDER.

John 10:9-10

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Those who enter life with Christ are first of all, saved.

Safe from the enemy. They are rescued and redeemed. They have freedom- to come and go- to live life. Jesus here isn’t promising material prosperity.

iii.He is saying that “in life with me, I will see to all your needs”. Perhaps not your wants, but you will know my hand in having what you need.

It’s a life full of freedom, marked by his presence, no matter what comes our way.

This is the good life that Christ offers.

Notice the contrast- with the enemy/the thief

“The thief only comes to steal, to kill, and destroy.”

The immediate context of this passage, the thief is likely pointing back to those false messengers and leaders that Jesus referred to in verse 8- but it does not fail to include the enemy of or souls- the devil himself.

He comes offering some sort of distorted life, but his motives are not pure.

1.He is greedy, selfish, and self-serving.

2.The thief, always takes and never gives.

3.The thief is full of lies and deceit. he confuses us about what a “good life” even is.

4. And he ultimately destroys.

The thief came to destroy, Christ has come that we might have life, and that to the full.

The life that he came to give is abundant, full, offering contentment.

The word for to the full or abundantly, it means a super-abundance, overflowing with more than what is needed or expected. It’s not merely filling the jar to the top; it’s filling it to overflowing. That’s the picture of the life that Christ came to give.

We have forgiveness of sins, freedom from shame and guilt. We have belonging in the family of God; we have a calling to take part in his kingdom work. His life is healing, restoring, and transforming- and most of all, it’s in an abundance.

“I have come that they may have life, and that to the full.”

here’s the truth for us today- the fullness of the life Christ came to give cannot be realized in our lives as long as we are in control.

Holiness is giving God full control of our lives. That’s how we can know the good life.

As long as we are still calling the shots, telling the Lord what we will and will not do or agree with- we are living our lives, with Jesus as an add-on. And that can never be a truly good life…

The abundant and holy life comes when we surrender our lives completely to God and begin living HIS life. On this journey, there are many critical moments, decision points along the way of sanctification. But there is coming a crisis moment in your life where you will have to decide. Am I going to give God control of my life- or am I going to keep control myself?

The abundant and holy life that Christ came to offer cannot be found by avoiding that crisis- we must go through it. That’s holiness friends. That’s what experiencing life to the fullest is all about.

The decision to say YES to Christ will change the trajectory of your life forever. You will experience an abundance in life like never before.

Remember, “abundance” in Christ is not about gathering it all in, but giving it all up. There is great abundance in… SURRENDER.

Holiness and the Church of the Nazarene

Former Nazarene General Superintendent Dr. J.K. Warrick discusses the distinctiveness of the Nazarene Church with a focus on Holiness.

Updates on the new Waynesboro campus

God is inviting us to step out in faith to plant a Spanish-speaking campus in the Waynesboro community. Join us on the journey! Check out the link below for more information and for frequent updates throughout the journey.

Waynesboro

Giving at COTN

If you ever have questions or need help with online giving, please let us know: finance@cotnaz.org Thank you for your partnership in building the Kingdom of Christ as you impact others!

Giving

Establish COTN as Your Church on the App

In this YouVersion Bible app, we encourage you to set up COTN as your church. It’s a simple process and will open up opportunities to stay connected to us!

https://help.youversion.com/l/en/article/y03uerubo8-mychurch