Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You are invited to come to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting and pray for the church (and other things -- 7:00 PM Wed., LHF time).

In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, the apostle Paul is warning the Corinthians, who are making divisions among themselves by declaring which leader they will follow, that they are destroying the Church, God's temple in which his Spirit lives.

This problem of divisions in the Church has not gone away in our present age. In fact, it has clearly been multiplied many times over. We are not only divided according to the leaders we follow, but also according to doctrinal beliefs, worship styles, building architecture, type of music and anything else men can think of to divide over. And distinctions are not just made between congregations, but also within congregations. People divide according to age, occupation, marital status, neighborhood in which they live or for any other reason they may think of -- or for no apparent reason. It is the nature of the flesh (the sinful nature, human nature) to want to make some kind of distinction. (How can you hope to make yourself superior to other people if you don't make some kind of distinction between yourself and other people.)

We are so used to having divisions that it is hard to think of it as a serious problem. But according to Paul (speaking by the Holy Spirit) it is a very serious problem indeed. Paul says that if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. (1 Cor. 3:17a) But Paul also told the Corinthians what they had to do. (And he is also telling us.)

"Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a 'fool' so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: 'He catches the wise in their craftiness;' and again, 'The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.' So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future -- all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God." (1 Cor. 3:18-23)

Paul says, "Do not deceive yourselves." How were they deceiving themselves? How do we deceive ourselves? The answer is that we deceive ourselves by following the standards of this age. The standards of this age say that you must look out for yourself, you must provide for yourself, you must promote yourself to other people and, if possible, make them envious of you. In any case, you must somehow think of yourself as better than at least some other people (the more the better). This is the wisdom of this world. It is foolishness in God's sight. God's wisdom is different. God's wisdom says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross." (Philip. 2:3-7) This is God's wisdom. To be wise with God's wisdom, you must become a fool according to the world's wisdom.

Paul says (quoting the Old Testament), that God "catches the wise in their craftiness," and that he "knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile." (1 Cor. 3:19,20) God is sovereign over all things. Nothing we plan will in any way succeed unless God allows it. (And by his mercy, to keep us from being conceited, he frustrates many of our wise plans.) God's wisdom for us is that we may know that all things come from him and that we may trust him for everything. It's foolishness to think that we need to promote ourselves. First of all it is foolish because we can't do anything his sovereign will doesn't allow. But much more than that, it is foolish because everything is ours anyway -- Christian leaders (Paul, Apollos, Cephas), the world, life, death, the present, the future -- everything is ours. (1 Cor. 3:21b,22 - I'll say more about what it means that everything is ours another time.)

So let's pray to not boast about men or any other thing that destroys God's holy temple. Pray for yourself. Pray for individuals. Pray for all the Church (not just Living Hope Fellowship). Pray every day.

1) Pray that we may be completely humble; that we may not think that we have to, or are even able to control our lives or our situations or the lives or situations of anyone else, but rather entrust ourselves and our situations to God.

2) Pray that we may learn to practically entrust everything to God by praying in every situation (for example, before you start any new activity).

3) Pray that we may learn to not think it is necessary to promote ourselves, but only to promote Jesus.

4) Pray that we may learn to not even think about how we look or sound in the sight of others or in our own eyes if only we make Jesus look good. (You have to pray for God to use you to make Jesus look good even if you don't look good to yourself.)

5) Pray that we may not envy what God has given other people to do, but rather pray for their success and rejoice in it. (This applies to people half way around the world or right next to you. If there is someone you think is the least among the saints, pray for that person to be great before God and men -- much greater in fact than you are.)

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ loves this kind of prayer. He loves to answer it. He wants us to be like Jesus whom he loved and with whom he was (and is) well pleased. He sent Jesus to die for us when we were still his enemies. He loved us when we hated him. He is full of grace and mercy. How can we think he would withhold any good thing from us.

Come on Wednesday and pray for the Church. The Church is the overflowing abundance, the wealth beyond measure and the full and perfect nature of God who fulfills and completes everything in every way.

Grace and peace,
Dean Svoboda

PS: You can also bring you own prayer requests and pray for them with your brothers and sisters in Christ (i.e., with the Church). Bring your requests to God with thanksgiving and receive his peace.

PPS: Pass this invitation along to others in your household or to someone who doesn't have an e-mail address in the LHF directory