LifePoint Church of Ruston: LifePoint Believes in Prayer

In the last article, I covered our mission statement at LifePoint church. Over the next few articles I’m going to expound upon our core values. This week, I will talk about Prayer.

LifePoint Church values....Prayer that puts us in touch with God.

Personal Prayer
Matthew 6:5-8 "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. (Matthew 6:5)

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (Matthew 6:6)

And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. (Matthew 6:7)
"Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:8)

Ceremonial vs. Connective Prayer
A few days ago I was at an event where a politician “prayed.” This particular prayer consisted of him reading a prayer from a piece of paper and ending with Amen. Because the prayer was so scripted, it did not evoke passion in the guy praying or in those of us hearing. We’ve all heard these types of prayers at various and sundry ceremonies such as graduations, banquets, and even sometimes church services. Every time we do hear them they are always, well, ceremonious. I don’t tell this story to rip this politician nor those who read prayers from Teleprompters and lined paper. But I do tell this story to illustrate that not all prayer is of the kind that puts us in touch with God.

When talking about spirituality, as I did regarding our mission statement, let me say that there is no spirituality without the human spirit engaging an outside spirit. Native Americans talk about the “Great Spirit” and do dances around fires in costumes in order to get their spirit in touch with this “Great Spirit.” Muslims pray in order to get in touch with “Allah”. Don’t forget psychics and people who gather around Ouija Boards late at night in candlelit rooms after drinking too much spiked apple juice. At the expense of freaking people out, let me say that there are spirits out there with which one can get in touch. I will also say that, as a follower of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is the only spirit that we should seek to be connected with. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” I believe that to be true. In order to be connected to the spirit of God, we must do so through prayer.

Having been raised in Christianity, one thing that I find amazing is the number of Christians who do not actually seek to engage the spirit of Jesus Christ on the level of which I am speaking. Once again, if we are to “follow” Christ, we have to do so through prayer. To back this claim I would like to juxtapose this concept with the experience of Jesus’ followers during his earthly tour.

Following Jesus Through Prayer was a bit easier for the original twelve apostles. They could see Jesus’ physical being and simply fall-in and walk behind Him all day. These guys would listen to Him teach and watch Him interact with people. How freaked out were they the first time He cast demons out of a person? What a story to tell their grandkids, eye witnessing Lazarus literally walk out a tomb with his spiffy grave-duds still on! Although it took courage, it didn’t take much of an imagination to “follow Jesus” back in the day. When Jesus’ physical form lifted off of the Mt. Olivet International launching pad and disappeared into the heavens, however, the stakes were raised considerably.

Jesus' followers were now faced with the prospect of “following Him” without being able to physically see, hear, or touch Him. From that day on, prayer became a necessary virtue for those wishing to follow Christ. Jesus’ prophetic utterance “God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” became very real to the disciples. In 2008, you and I find ourselves in the same sandals as this post-ascension crowd. If we are to follow and henceforth have a relationship with Jesus Christ, it will transpire only through the kind of prayer that, at some point and on some level connects us with His spirit.

“Mob” Prayer
Not only do we at LifePoint feel that it is important for us to pray as individuals, but we also feel very strongly about those times whenever we gather as a group and rally around one another in a corporate prayer setting. The story of Peter’s imprisonment in Acts chapter 12 provides us a great example. In this story, Peter was arrested by Herod, hurled into prison, and guarded very closely. The church, upon hearing this, responded by gathering a big group of people at one of the believer’s houses with the purpose of “praying” Peter out of prison.

Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. (Acts 12:5)
So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. (Acts 12:12)

That’s right, they got together in someone’s house and talked into the air to someone they couldn’t see while believing that this invisible spirit would not only hear them, but would also prevent Peter’s proverbial neck from being stretched. The story ends happily with God sending an angel to free Peter from prison. He lived to preach another day because of “mob praying.”

LifePoint Strategy
As we effort to build a new church in Ruston, we are faced with many obstacles. The prince of darkness of this city does not want a new faith community in Ruston; our vision cost more money than we currently have; sin does not want let go of the people that we are trying to reach. At the end of the day, we at LifePoint Church, as did the believers in Acts chapter 12 know that we do not have the political, intellectual, financial, or physical prowess to change these adverse situations. We are persuaded, however, that the same God that delivered Peter from prison in Acts chapter 12 still has His ear attuned to those gather together and ask for His intervention.

As we work toward the launching of a new church over the next year, there will be many holes in our strategy that we will survive. Should we err in that we become “prayer wimps,” however, it will be our undoing.

Enjoy the pics.

God Bless,

Jathan Maricelli

Trust me, this was a deep, deep, sermon.

"Beautiful One" was groovin'.

"Days of Elijah" was somethin' special.

I'm really feeling it at this point!....until....

My "D" string broke right in the middle of "Your Name!" Notice me trying to get the string off of my guitar so we can possibly start singing again. Also notice, Chris Frick trying to figure out how in the world he's supposed to be leading the congregation in prayer while competing with the Maricelli circus. You should consider visiting our service one day so as to not miss out on special moments like this. What a funny pic!