Last October we had the joy of learning about the doctrine of Salvation through the Sovereign Grace University Fall 2022 Unit, and we are looking forward to our next SGU Class in May. Registration for this class is now OPEN! Please see below for class and registration details.

SGU Spring 2023 Unit:
the doctrine of the holy spirit

WHEN: May 2nd, 9th, 16th, & 23rd (the first four Tuesdays in May) at 7pm
WHERE: Sovereign Grace Church
EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION: $20 per person; $35 per couple. To get the Early Bird Registration prices, register by Sunday, April 16th.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

If you have any questions about the upcoming class, please contact Derek Overstreet.

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Mark 11 begins the most significant week in the history of the world. Life and death, joy and misery, hope and despair, heaven and hell lie in the balance of what happens over this next week. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

EASTER SERIES 2023
TEXT: Mark 11:1-11
TITLE: The Triumphal Entry
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. The Deliberate Details
2.The Royal Reception
3. The Unexpected Ending

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”The triumphal entry is an amazing public celebration of Jesus. The praises of the crowd were theologically spot on. The prophets of old pointed to this moment. Yet, they missed Jesus. By the end of our story, the crowds have disappeared and Jesus stands alone. They missed Jesus. The world has been missing Jesus ever since.”

“Whether we perceive it or not, we have much in common with them. Even as Christians, it’s easy to miss Jesus amid the allure of the world, the utter evil of society, or the tyranny of the ordinary, we are prone to miss Jesus as the point and purpose in life.”

“For those who don’t know Jesus, your eternity is at stake. For the Christian in the room, your joy in this life and God’s glory through your life is at stake.”

“Mark is not big on details in his gospel. His MO is to move quickly from one scene to another. Mark uses the word immediately 36 times. Thirty-two of those are in the first ten chapters. But in chapter 11, Mark begins to slow down. The first ten chapters cover three years. The last six chapters cover one week. …When Mark slows down, we need to listen up!”

“In 5 days, Jesus will be dead. But he does not ride into the city a victim.  Jesus will be betrayed as a victim. Jesus will not be arrested as a victim. Jesus will not be beaten within inches of his life as a victim. Jesus will not be murdered on the cross as a victim. His deliberate preparation reveals he is in total control of the situation, even his death on the cross.”

“Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That means he is in complete control of your life today. Whatever is happening in your life today—you are not a victim. To the contrary, you are under the personal care of your loving and sovereign Shepherd.”

“Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem captures the humility of our Savior. It also captures his greatness as the Promised One. The imagery screams—See Me! I am the fulfillment of OT messianic prophecies. SEE ME! I am your King. SEE ME! I am your Messiah.”

“On the cross, in darkness, silence, and loneliness, Jesus will do his kingly work, liberating God’s people, not from Rome, but from Satan, sin, and this world. Jesus will deliver God’s people on the cross, not with a sword, but with his blood. From the cross, Jesus will save sinners, not from oppression but from God’s wrath.”

“It seems the party is over. They celebrated Jesus. They were emotional and enthusiastic about Jesus. They had a mountain-top experience with Jesus. They made him king, but only for a day.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Zechariah 9:9
Psalm 118:25-26
Malachi 3:1

QUOTES:
James Edwards - “The whole scene comes to nothing. The crowd disperses as mysteriously as it assembled. Jesus is not confessed in pomp and circumstance but only at the cross.”

APPLICATION:
Just as promised, Jesus came to them. But they missed Jesus—Have you?

PERSON #1: You like church. It feels good to be here. You enjoy your Christian friends. They are good people. It’s a good life you see them living. But you don’t have what they have—Jesus in your heart. You have missed him. That means whatever you believe you have, you have nothing. Don’t miss Jesus—See him today by crying out in repentance and faith—Hosannah, Save me now! Your eternity depends on it.

PERSON #2: You love the Lord. And it shows…on Sundays. If you’re honest, Mon-Sat you are the king of your life. The picture of Jesus standing alone in the temple reminds you he alone must stand as the Lord of your life. Don’t miss Jesus—See him today by asking him to graciously reorder the priorities of your life.

PERSON #3: Like person #2, you genuinely love the Lord. You are grateful for His blessings in your life. But when life seems more like a curse than a blessing, when hardships appear, when suffering surfaces, your praises vanish like the crowds in Jerusalem. Don’t miss Jesus—He is worthy of your praises in good AND bad times. See Jesus today by bringing your burden TO him and finding your joy IN him so that at all times and in all things your heart can say—Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! He will not fail you!

It is reported that Charles Spurgeon would give tours of his church building where the visitors would find saints gathered in the basement. It was there that Spurgeon would delight in calling these intercessors the “powerhouse” (“the furnace,” “the boiler room”). He said that “a prayerful church is a powerful church” and “If God be near a church, it must pray!”

I would love to give you a tour of our church building about 30 minutes before every Sunday service. In the auditorium, you will find one of the boiler rooms of our church. Gathered there are humble believers from all walks of life praying that the people at every gathering would experience the power of God in the Gospel to save and praying for the power of the Holy Spirit’s presence and work. 

I do want to draw attention to something that the scriptures are very clear about. There is a kind of prayer that has no power at all. Jesus, instructs His disciples on this kind of prayer in the Gospel of Matthew.

In Matthew 6:7-9, Jesus says, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:...” (ESV)

Jesus teaches us that piles of “empty phrases” and “many words” are not “heard” by God. The implications of this are manifold, but then He explicitly (for our hope) says that our Father already knows what we need before we even ask Him, so “Pray then like this!” How kind of Jesus to actually teach us how to pray, and there is real power in THIS prayer:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.” 

Imagine with me the Powerhouse, that is in heaven, namely our Father! If HE, the Sovereign, All-Powerful, King of the Ages, hears THIS kind of prayer, then He becomes the very power of the church and her prayer rooms. When the church “prays then like this” we discover, HE is THE power to save as His kingdom comes and His will is done both here on earth and as it is heaven! HE is THE power to provide exactly what we need each day! HE has THE power to forgive us! HE is THE power we need to forgive others, remove us from temptation, and deliver us from evil! 

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the victory and the majesty…”
1 Chronicles 29:11

A church is powerful when it prays humbly to her All-Powerful Heavenly Father!

- Tom

The Cross takes cold hearts that are ungrateful and makes them new…creating gospel-grounded gratitude. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Our 7 Shaping Virtues
TEXT: Romans 8:31-39
TITLE: Gratitude
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: The Cross of Jesus creates gospel-grounded gratitude.

POINTS:
1. The Cross of Jesus is the PROOF of God’s undeserved favor
2. The Cross of Jesus is the MEANS of God’s gracious gift of “all things”

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”It is discovered here in these adjoined sections of text that the word of God has the power to cause our souls to burst forth with endless joy and THANKFULNESS to God.”

“God has revealed enough of Himself that every man and woman is held accountable. NO ONE has an excuse! It is only cosmic rejection and rebellion against God to stand back and refuse to acknowledge Him and THANK Him. Yet, in the Gospel, God, in His Sovereign Grace alone, has set His affection on us and makes this amazing declaration: “I am for you!” And this should shock us!”

“‘What shall we say to these things?’ should be followed by ‘God is against you, and everything and everyone will have their way with you’ BUT no… He is for us! Instead of crushing blow after blow in sorrow and abject grief, The Cross of Jesus rescues us by His sovereign grace!”

“To ‘the sufferings of this present time’, the apostle preaches The Cross. In verse 28 - all things work together for good…through The Cross! The “golden chain” of salvation in verse 30 cannot be broken because of The Cross!”

“While still holding up His Son, given for us, He promises the ‘gracious gifts’ of ‘all things’. These are given as the very things that we need and will need and are detailed in the following verses - 33-39.”

“Anything that you and I face is found in at least one of these 19 questions. What may come your way is not ultimately unique nor is it outside of the power of Jesus to save. NOTHING will separate us from the love of Christ except for rejection and hatred of Him.”

“Today, you may feel deep thankfulness again! That would be your heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit revealing the majesty of Jesus and reminding you of His great sacrifice at Calvary. But what about tomorrow? Will you still remember and honor and thank God? What will you do then? Do THIS again! Go again to His word of truth and search out the mercy of God revealed in the Cross of His Son and give Him thanks.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Our Dilemma: Romans 1:18-21
Isaiah 53:5
Psalm 107

QUOTES:
Martin Luther - “I feel as if Jesus had died only yesterday.”

APPLICATION:
- Are you able to again take in how wondrous The Cross of Jesus is? Like drawing the Message of the Cross in like a breath and exhaling thankfulness!

- What is it that you need? The Lord says, remember that I have given up my Son for you! This is a joyful, heart-satisfying, fear-calming, foundation-laying, gracious anchoring of our souls…and a gracious reminder that His affection and favor is FIXED on His children.

In our Suburban, loaded with the kids, snacks, Nintendo, CDs, and camping gear, precious memories were made. But, before we even reached the freeway from our house, the snacks were gone, batteries were dead, and one of the kids would inevitably call out,

“Are we there yet?”

Suddenly, we had a new passenger. His name was Impatience, and he took turns befriending almost everyone in the vehicle over the next few hours. Sound familiar?

God’s word shows us that patience calls for us to wait, and we all too often find that we don’t want to wait. We ask, and we wait. We ask again and wait. In prayer, we struggle with waiting, and, if we are honest, sometimes our prayers can be more like demands, and this is revealed in our actual words. “Lord, I ask that you do this right now!” Yes, urgency in prayer is necessary at times, but should we ever come as creatures demanding of our Creator? We do wrestle with David as he writes in Psalm 13:1:

“How long, oh LORD? Will you forget me forever?” (ESV) 

We do need to pray honestly, but some will never be answered. Our sinful cravings make their way into our prayers, and these will not be granted. Charles Spurgeon includes this dilemma in a prayer following one of his sermons:

“The prayers of our lusts Thou has rejected,” but he follows with hope-filled certainty: “...but the prayers of our necessities Thou hast granted. Not one good thing hath failed of all that Thou has promised.”

Our lusts rejected but our necessities granted!

In waiting for answers to our prayers, we must remember that we are waiting for Him! Our trials are extremely difficult. Our sorrows and true needs are real. Yet, what we must realize is that we cannot wait for just that “thing.” We do wait for that, but our hope must be in HIM. He is not simply the means by which we get our answer. The LORD our greatest need. Consider again David’s cry to the LORD in Psalm 13, “How long, oh LORD?”, and keep reading through verses 5 and 6 “But I have trusted in your steadfast love… I will sing to the Lord!” David’s enemies are real and breathing down his neck,… but then he remembers the LORD’s steadfast love and his waiting turns into singing to the LORD. We wait, but we wait for Him! 

We may not understand now, but A.B. Simpson wrote:

“Some day, beloved, in His arms, you will understand. He does not always explain it now… He lets the weary years go by; but oh, someday we will understand.”

Spurgeon calls us to look back while we wait:

“Your prayers were innumerable; you asked for countless mercies, and they have all been given. Only look at yourself; are not you adorned and bejeweled with mercies as thick as the stars.”

“... they who wait for the Lord shall
renew their strength…”
Isaiah 40:31

Tom

God’s perfect holiness. Our radical sinfulness. CHRIST’S MIGHTY SACRIFICE. Grace always abounding. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

TEXT: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
TITLE: The Wisdom and Power of God: A Study in Leviticus
PREACHER: Guest Pastor, Lynn Baird
BIG IDEA: The violent and catastrophic consequences of sin against a holy God, requires a violent and catastrophic response… the cross!

POINTS:
1. The Holiness of God
2. The Pervasiveness of Sin
3. The Need for Sacrifice - The Cost of Sin

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Though I'm not going to be preaching on this passage [1 Corinthians 1:18-25] directly, the message here is important to what I want to say… The preaching of the cross causes religious people to stumble and worldly people to consider it foolishness.”

"This is going to be a different sort of expositional message. I'm not going to go through a particular passage of scripture but will be doing an overview of an entire book. The book of Leviticus.”

“From the beginning, God has used bloody, brutal sacrifices to cover or atone for sin. From the animal skins for Adam and Eve in the garden, to the lamb that replaced Isaac, to the sacrificial system under the law and priests. The ultimate culmination of this being Christ on the cross.”

“When we approach Leviticus, we want to ask two questions: Who is God? and What does that mean for us? One of the key ways to understand God is to see how he tells us to relate to him. This is what Leviticus is all about: how do you relate to a holy God?”

“So often we tend to think of holiness as purity or sinlessness, but the root of the word actually means to be separate. Completely other. Separate from them. In this case, God is so profoundly ‘other’ or ‘separate’ that God must communicate to the Israelites how he is to be approached. They cannot come near him, except in the way designed by God himself. If they don't they die.… His holy nature demands you only approach him in the way HE prescribes.”

“The underlying nature of sin is rebellion. Wanting to do things OUR way. The fact you are a sinner is a fact that is never going to change. But because of that, we better recognize who God is and how he wants to be approached.”

“The story of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus chapter 10 may seem harsh and unjust to us. Death for simply putting the wrong kind of incense or “fire” on the altar? … we should not be surprised by God's judgment for sin, we should be surprised that any of us are still alive and haven't been judged already!”

“Left to ourselves we would simply make up a god of our own choosing, that we could relate to, that we like.”

“God's holiness is to affect how we live in every day life - Leviticus 19:2”

“The effect of sin is radical; everything is tainted by sin. We are not as bad as we could be, perhaps, but every part of us is affected. …Sin is the slightest act of defiance against God’s cosmic authority.”

“Here's the reality, though; the goal is not to somehow become sinless in order to be in God's presence. That is impossible. The goal is to come to God in the way he prescribes. … the doctrine of sin is humbling, and humility is the only appropriate response to it.”

“In one day, God brought the sin of the world and his anger and wrath against sin and rebellion and poured it out completely, and totally on one human being: his Son. His Isaac. His Passover lamb.”

“The same God who's zeal against sin consumed Nadab and Abihu was the one who flamed in fury against his own Son when our sin was placed upon him. The same God who required countless sacrifices, done exactly as he said, to cover the sin of a constantly rebellious people is the same God who required the death of his son for our rebellion. This was the one and only time God punished an innocent man. If you are appalled by the cost of pride and sin in the Old Testament, you should be absolutely aghast at the price. God was willing to pay, the extent to which he was willing to go, to deal with sin once, and for all.”

“The cross was God's design for the offering of the perfect sacrifice that could take away sin. There was no other way of doing it.”

“… we aren't afraid to talk about sin or the cross. We enthusiastically embrace the reality of our sin, knowing that the grace of God in Christ abounds all the more in the face of our sin. This is what gives us the power to fight against sin!”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
The Book of Leviticus
Hebrews 10:9
Isaiah 63:5
John 14:6
Romans 5:20
Hebrews 13:15

APPLICATION:

• Don't ever let your pride to keep you from doing it God's way!

• Don't ever be dragged down or overwhelmed by your sin or the cross. Be amazed by Grace!

• Don't ever try to minimize sin or its consequences. Be amazed by Grace!

There are many facets to our life as a church! Our hope is that these posts will enable you to plan, pray, and ultimately rejoice in what the Lord is doing at Sovereign Grace Church. Here are a few updates for you to do just that! 

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Good Friday service

Come join us on Friday, April 7th, at 7pm as we come together to worship Jesus and reflect on the sacrifice He made for us on the cross. For more information about this service, please contact Derek Overstreet.

SG Youth’s Chili Cook-off fundraiser

We are looking forward to SG Youth’s Chili Cook-Off which will be held after church on Sunday, April 23rd! We invite everyone to participate in this fun and delicious event!

Show off your culinary skills and compete for the title of Best Chili in the Church! Don't worry if you're not a chef - we welcome all levels of chili-making expertise.

If you don’t want to compete, we hope you'll join us for this exciting event to support SG Youth by raising funds to send the youth to the Sovereign Grace regional youth retreat.

If you want to compete, please contact Jon Lambros.

5th sunday worship & prayer night

We are excited to invite you to our upcoming WORSHIP & PRAYER night, which will be held on April 30th (the fifth Sunday) at 7pm. This event is a time for us to come together as a church community to praise and worship God and pray together about specific topics. For more information about this event, please reach out to Tom Wilkins.

sgu spring 2023 unit

The next SGU Unit is starting in May! Sessions will be on May 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 23rd (the first four Tuesdays in May) at 7pm. Keep an eye out for topic and registration details in a future blog update.

Wayne Grudem defines prayer as “personal communication with God.” God is our Creator, we are His creation, and He has made this personal way for us to communicate with Him. But, let’s be honest. At times, it is hard for us to pray, and the reasons are numerous! Here, I will radically narrow our focus to two reasons that we find it difficult to pray: when we have no time to pray, and when we can not pray.

 When We Have No Time To Pray

This one is an easy target. It’s difficult to pray because life is crazy busy at times. We jolt awake in the morning and hit the ground running. Day after day after day, the alarm, the snooze, the alarm, this thing, that thing, and another thing - repeat - day in and day out. We don’t pray because there is no time to pray… or at least, we think there is no time to pray. 

So, how do we find the time to pray? Charles Spurgeon answers this. “If we have no time we must make time, for if God has given us time for secondary duties, He must have given us time for primary ones, and to draw near to Him is a primary duty, and we must not let nothing set it on one side.” That is the reason! I have set prayer off to the side for something else and making time for it requires that I shift it back into its primary place. 

When We CanNot Pray

Now, this one is more common than you may think. Yet, knowing how important it is, there will be times when we find that we do not feel like praying. Grief, discouragement, or spiritual dryness are winning the day, and we find ourselves unwilling to talk with God. Again, Spurgeon speaks to this: “I believe that when we cannot pray, it is time that we prayed more than ever. Pray for prayer. Pray for the spirit of supplication. Do not be content to say, ‘I would pray if I could.’ No, but if you cannot pray, pray till you can pray.” In Psalm 42:5-6 we find this at work: 

“Why are you cast down, O my soul…?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.”

Soul, hope in God that you will praise (pray to) Him! 

A few years ago, in a moment of deep desperation, a loved one looked at me through tear-stained eyes, and said, “This is too hard.” That day was too hard for us, and though at that moment we could not pray, the Spirit did… and then later we could.  

There is a precious promise in Romans 8:26: 

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes for us…”

Soul, God is praying until you can pray.

“My soul thirsts for God!”
Psalm 42:2

- Tom

Today you may lack joy. You may not feel very joyful. We all find ourselves there at times. Psalm 16 is your psalm because it gives us a pathway to true and lasting joy. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Our 7 Shaping Virtues
TEXT: Psalm 16
TITLE: Joy
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: Pursuing the God of all joy produces a joyful Church in all circumstances

POINTS:
1. Know Your Lord
2. Delight In Your Church
3. Guard Your Heart
4. Focus On Jesus

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Do you believe it’s possible? And I’m not referring to heaven, I mean today. Do you believe its possible to possess joy that transcends even our most difficult circumstances? Psalm 16 compels us to answer with a resounding YES!”

“The truth is, Christians are joy seekers. Joy is a constant theme in the Bible.”
”God wants His church to be characterized by joy. Like a father or mother wants their child to be happy, God desires you to experience joy to the fullest.”

“By joy, we’re not talking about a strong personality trait or a superficial contingent happiness—’I’ll be happy if _______.’ Joy is an abiding and deep delight in God for the sheer beauty of who He is and the infinite worth of what he has done in Christ.”

“When troubles arise, our mind tends to immediately find human solutions. That always leads to anxiety and discouragement. But David fills his mind with the knowledge of his God. This is the beginning of true joy.”

“God is good! In feast or famine. In wealth or poverty. In peace or conflict. In health or sickness, in life or death. God holds my lot. He is in control. He is good. He is my portion, my cup, my inheritance. So whatever he providentially allows into my life, life is good because God is good.”

“Listen, this doesn’t mean we call what is bad, good. Bad is still bad. Cancer is bad. A miscarriage is bad. Losing a loved one is bad. Suffering is suffering, pain is pain, tears are tears. But, in the words of James 1:2, and this is one of the greatest fights in the Christian life—I can count it all as joy because I know who my God is!”

“You want more joy in your life, get to know your God better.”

“David turns his attention to God’s goodness expressed in His people. God, your people love you so I love them. Your people delight in you so I delight in them. This is not idolatry. The church can be an idol. Joy can be an idol, if it’s an end. We take joy in God’s people because God’s presence is with His people. So we love to be in the presence of your people because we long to be in presence of the Lord, where there is joy forevermore.”

“As often as we gather, gathering with your church should be an occasion of great delight and joy. Not because we’re so great but because our God is so great, and when we gather as a church, our great God is uniquely present and glorified. Is it a joy for you to gather with your church? If not, it’s a sign your heart has drifted. Go to God now!”

“The world can throw its best at you, it cannot touch the joy you have in Jesus.” 

“…we must, in the words of verse 8—set him before us. This is the ultimate key to our joy. We don’t set Jesus to the right, the left, or behind us. We set him before us. Right in front of us.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 30:5
Galatians 5:22
James 1:2
Philippians 4:4
1 Thessalonians 3:9
Jeremiah 2:12-13
1 Chronicles 17:11

QUOTES:
John MacArthur - “The more you know Him, the better you know Him, the more confident you become, the more secure your joy is… Joy is related to your knowledge of God: little knowledge, little joy; much knowledge, much joy. The more you know of God’s glorious truth, of God’s great covenants and promises, of God’s plans, of God’s faithfulness, of God’s power, the more joy you experience in life… Our joy is connected to the goodness of the Lord. And the more you understand His grace and mercy and goodness, the more stable your joy becomes, no matter what circumstances may come.”

Bob Kauflin - “God is particularly interested in our joy. He tells us, “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:11). When the church gathers, the sense of confident joy in God should be pronounced. When we fail to demonstrate delight and satisfaction in God, we’re not only dishonoring God, we’re disobeying Him. More than anyone else on earth, Christians have a reason to celebrate.”

Sam Storms - “Your choice isn’t whether to passionately seek pleasure. Trust me, you do. Your only option is where you’ll look or whom you’ll love or whose offer of pleasure you’ll accept.”

John Piper - “Is there anything fuller than full? No. Is anything longer than forever? No. This is no rocket science. This is just glory! Nobody anywhere in the world can offer you anything better than Psalm 16:11.  Because nothing is even conceivably better than verse 11. Nothing is fuller than full or longer than forever. “Fullness” means completely satisfying. And “forevermore” means those pleasures never stop.”

Sam Storms - “God created us so that the joy He has in Himself might be ours. God doesn’t simply think about Himself or talk to Himself. He enjoys Himself! He celebrates with infinite and eternal intensity the beauty of who He is as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we’ve been created to join the party!”

APPLICATION:
By grace through faith in Christ, you have joined the greatest party ever thrown. You belong to the God in whose presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Shouldn’t that make us the happiest people on the planet? It should. And we pray it will more and more. 

As we set Jesus before us every day, may the God of all joy pour out His joy on us as a church, for our good, for our testimony, and for God’s glory today, tomorrow, and forevermore!

Philippians 4:6
“...but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (ESV)

In Philippians 4:6, Paul speaks of a particular kind of prayer, namely, “requests.” He then speaks of the kind of heart from which we are to make these requests. There is a right way to make requests of our Sovereign Lord and this a matter of having a right heart. Yet, to be clear, it’s not a matter of trying to figure out the right wording or formula in making our request, but rather it is out of the right heart that we are to make our request known to God. Contrast this with the fact that a bad heart leads us to make the wrong kind of request. In James 4:3 we hear, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” Cleary, an idolatrous, selfish, and greedy heart leads us to “ask wrongly.” God knows the heart. We can use all of the right words and follow the right formula and still find that we honor Him with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him (Matthew 15:8).

The good news is that God continues to teach us about prayer and here in Philippians about how we make our requests known to Him. Yes, He invites us to ask Him. Study Matthew 7:7-11. Ask… Ask… Ask… It’s His invitation, yet, He instructs us on the kind of heart we are to have when we ask. 

Allow me to point to just one word in Verse 6 - “supplication.” This word denotes the heart posture of a humble beggar. Having a right heart in prayer is having a humble heart as we approach His presence. We come needy, lowly, and desperate. Charles Spurgeon writes: “Our addresses to the throne of grace must be solemn and humble, not flippant and loud, or formal and careless.” Also, “When you are engaged in prayer, plead your strength, and you will get nothing; then plead your weakness, and you will prevail. There is no better plea with Divine love than weakness and pain; nothing can so prevail with the heart of God as for your heart to faint and swoon. The man who rises in prayer to tears and agony, and feels all the while as if he could not pray, and yet must pray - he is the man who will see the desire of his soul.” What a gracious God and King! When we enter His presence, we should immediately hear Him demand, “Silence!,” but, we discover that His throne is a throne of grace inviting us to humbly come and petition Him. 

May we plead with God in weakness, finding that we will prevail, and see the “desire of our soul”! 

“But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.”
Isaiah 66:2

- Tom