Battle Plan: PLAN

Luke 13:1-9:  A crowd voices concern over the Galileans.  Pilate mixed their blood with sacrifices, Massacres were taking place and the Jews were concerned they would be murdered and the same would happen to them.  They wanted Jesus to make a political statement about Pilate and the Roman Government.  The Jews were looking for deliverance and justice.  Jesus, here, is more concerned about the eternal than the temporal especially with the statement of “repent or you will perish”.  

I (YOU) HAVE “ARRIVED” - Belief and Faith – What we believe drives what we do!!!  It's a “We Could Commit to” and “What we will commit to” kinda world!  Our relationship with God through Jesus begins with Confession and Repentance.  This is a quality of who we are as believers in Christ.  Biblical Community starts with the same – believers share a relationship with God by confession and repentance and we are to practice that with each other.  Grace and Forgiveness lives here!!! – as well as confession and repentance.  This is where the eternal supercedes the physical temporal part of our life.  We are concerned with the here and now.  John the Baptist preached the coming of kingdom and repentance for the forgiveness of sin before Jesus came.  Jesus taught of the kingdom of God, not focusing on any kingdom on earth ushered in by any earthly king.  That's why He responds to the crowd twice saying, "repent or you will will perish."  

CAN I SKIP THIS? Every piece of this biblical knowledge is important.  It’s like the Bible.  You can’t just like the things you want to and throw away the other stuff.  We do the same with our relationship with God.  We skip faith, we skip grace, we skip forgiveness and in most cases, we skip confession and prayer.  What about SIN – we can’t skip DEALING WITH SIN.  Jesus is not placing emphasis on the safety of the individual here as the crowd of Jews are.  I mean, they are worried for their life here.  They are also concerned what was to happen to their bodies after they die – what the Romans would do.  Jesus' mission was not a political one, it was a spiritual one - atoning for sin and to fulfill the promises of God.  Here is where we are so short-sighted.  We want Jesus to be who we want Him to be in our life which leads to no belief, obedience or submission to Him on our part.       

We believe that our ways are better than God’s ways and that the things of this earth will be more satisfying to us than God Himself.   

THE WANDERERS:  The vineyard owner is ready to eat of the fruit from the fig tree.  He has the right to inspect it and reap what has been sown.  The Jews heard the message from John the Baptist about “repent for the kingdom of heaven is near” and know Jesus was there for years preaching and teaching about kingdom living for those who would believe.  

If he planted and cared for this fig tree and see that in year 5, 6, and 7 there is no fruit, there needs to be a decision about what to do with the tree.  Inspection of no fruit cause him to contemplate cutting it down because something new could be planted, cared for and reaping of the fruit will come.  

This is the case with Israel. God had suffered long with them and the nation had grown cold, legalistic, and self-centered . Israel was not bearing the fruit of God's truth.  That's the question we should ask, "if we have believed and repented, are we bearing fruit?"  "Are we furthering the kingdom of God?"  

“Christ is Better” vs Disbelief....Live a better story because Christ is in it.  Cory Pytlarz says:  "The world is a busy place, and it’s full of smart and talented people doing many good things. But as Richard Foster puts it, “The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”  This deepness arises not out of our doing, but from our being.  And our being arises out of knowing Christ."  Salvation in Christ from belief – confession and repentance as pillars of this belief.  This is an awareness of our ultimate purpose in life, which is to be increasingly formed in the image of Christ.  What's your plan?

Anonymous Quote:  Prayerlessness is declaring our independence from God.

It’s not about urgency, it’s not about priority, Prayer is about DESIRE!

What is the desire of your heart?  If it is the Lord, first, then how are your desires matching up with what God wants in your life?  This is real.  A BATTLE PLAN is needed.  We are in the battle for truth.  The battle for justice.  The battle for life – unborn to on the death bed.  The battle for time.  The battle for faith in the Lord.  Luke 18:1-8

I.   THE POWER IN PRAYER:  A believer in Christ is dependent on prayer.  A Battle Plan of Prayer is very necessary for daily living.  Opportunities for practicing faith in God and opportunities for answered prayer.  Direction.  Strength in the midst of suffering.    In the Gospels, Jesus withdrew daily to spend time in prayer.  He then taught his disciples in Matthew the Lord’s Prayer.  Paul was led on his missionary journey by the Holy Spirit.  There is no way he could have known where to go without prayer.

The problem in this passage is the injustice given by the judge to the widow.  It’s important to note that Jesus taught that this judge did not fear God nor did he respect man.  Therefore, he could care less about the welfare of anyone much less this widow.  In the book of Acts and James, we are told as believers to care for orphans and widows as well as other places.  

II.  THE PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER:  How many times have you heard a basketball coach said that “free throws win games!”  So it takes a player to shoot 25-30 a day to make sure they are persistent in a game.   Jesus is teaching to be “persistent in prayer” in this parable:  Verse 1 “all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.” And Verse 7 “His elect who cry out to Him day and night”. 

1 Thess. 5:17 – “pray without ceasing” - Romans 12:12 – “Be persistent in prayer”

By being persistent, you are demonstrating faith.  Persistence is simply another word for faith.  If you don’t have faith, you’d never persist.  The widow in this parable was persistent in her requests.  She petitions the judge over and over and it is because of this the judge grants the request.  Focus on the persistence in prayer and leave the results in the Lord.     

  

III.  THE PATIENCE IN PRAYER:  Sometimes we are like the judge.  No respect for man and for God when it comes to prayer.  Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him (Psalms 37:7). Have you prayed and prayed and waited and waited? Do you feel like there are times where you see nothing move? Sometimes you just want to give up.  Sometimes we wait and we get angry with the Lord. 

Patience in Prayer tackles our worry.  With taking out our worry, we don't let our emotions sway our faith.  In our sadness, we tend to lock out the world and the Lord.  He knows your need better than you do, and His purpose in waiting is to bring more glory out of it all.  If we are praying and waiting patiently, it takes works from our hands.  We are told to "believe" (John 6:29), and when you believe, you may then know that all is well.  Our desires and our wants are the Lord's, not ours.  Jesus finishes the parable by saying that when the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth.    

Pastor H.B. Charles tells the following story about a woman he knew who showed up at church and prayed the same simple prayer. "O Lord, thank you Jesus," she prayed week after week. The kids at church would start laughing every time she opened her mouth because they knew it would be the same prayer—"O Lord, thank you Jesus."  Finally somebody asked her, "Why do you pray the same little prayer?" She said, "Well, I'm just combining the two prayers that I know. We live in a bad neighborhood and some nights there are bullets flying and I have to grab my daughter and hide on the floor, and in that desperate state all I know how to cry out is, 'O Lord.' But when I wake up in the morning and see that we're okay I say, 'Thank you Jesus.' When I got to take my baby to the bus stop and she gets on that bus and I don't know what's going to happen to her while she's away, I cry, 'O Lord.' And then when 3:00 P.M. comes and that bus arrives and my baby is safe, I say, 'Thank you Jesus.'"

She said, "Those are the only two prayers I know and when I get to church God has been so good I just put my two prayers together, "O Lord, thank you Jesus."

BATTLE PLAN: The Battle for Truth

Seems like 2016 was the battle for many truths.  There were many defining moments from organizations and government entities to declare their definition of truth.  Gender identity, sexual orientation, what constitutes a family and many churches declaring that certain sins are acceptable to practice because of their view and interpretation of God's Word.  My intention is not to cram my opinions of social ills down your throat.  It is to share a word from the Bible with you:
 
2 John.  13 short and impacting verses.  It begins with the TRUTH.  God's Truth revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ.  The writer loves all who know the truth.  A common fellowship with truth seekers of the Lord.  Matter of fact, he says that this truth will last forever.  Amen!  Truth is so gray these days.  We don't know really what's right because we allow other influences to cloud our judgement instead of standing on the Word of God.  

Second, there is WALKING IN THE TRUTH - The writer points attention to walk in the truth by obeying the commandments of the Lord.  It is an obvious honesty and uprightness that are displayed by this woman's children as they are living according to the Lord's truth esp. the loving one another and the love for God's commands.  The writer notices this walk and points out that it is very obvious.  Can that be said of us?  Would someone see the way we live and respond in this manner?

Third, there is ABIDING IN THE TRUTH - Someone that is abiding in the truth is living within it.  It sticks in our lives and never wavers.  We don't sway from influence from the world or from others.  We are warned to beware of deception.  We are told to watch ourselves and don't even invite these into our house.  By their evil deeds they are known.  We should take great care in sticking to Word of God.  There are so many distractions today.  So much time and energy are given to ungodly things.  

The Result is JOY - "may your joy be full".  The writer would prefer to see for himself (face to face, no ink and paper) that the truth is being handled correctly and thriving in our lives.  We live as sufferers many times allowing the current conditions in our life and the consequences of our poor choices to overwhelm us instead of embracing the greater truth of salvation in Christ Jesus.  Living according to God's love, grace and mercy.  Experiencing the peace that only God gives through His Son.  May you find JOY in salvation through the Savior this year!