What a special Sunday as we celebrated one year of God’s faithfulness to Lifepoint Church. We have so much to be grateful for, but Daniel 9 reminded us that celebrating what God has done should also cause us to consider who God is calling us to become.
Acts 6:4 says, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” If we want to be the kind of church God can use to reach more people, we must become a church that knows His Word and seeks Him in prayer.
1. A PRAYING CHURCH IS SHAPED BY GOD’S WORD
Daniel’s prayer began when he was reading Scripture. He discovered what God had said, and that revelation moved him to pray.
The Word feeds us, and prayer is our response.
Prayer and Scripture are not competing priorities. God speaks to us through His Word, and we respond to Him in prayer. If we are to be a praying church, we must be a church of the Word.
2. A PRAYING CHURCH COMES HUMBLY BEFORE GOD
Daniel approached God with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes—outward expressions of an inward posture of dependence.
Prayer begins when we admit that we are not self-sufficient and recognize, our need for God.
3. A PRAYING CHURCH IS HONEST ABOUT SIN
One of the most striking things about Daniel’s prayer is the word “we.”
Daniel didn’t stand outside God’s people and point at everyone else’s failures. He identified himself with them: “We have sinned.”
A praying church doesn’t only ask God to change the world around us. We also ask Him to change us.
We cannot confess what we refuse to acknowledge, and we cannot experience the freedom of repentance if we’re committed to hiding.
But confession doesn’t move us away from God. It moves us toward Him.
4. A PRAYING CHURCH DEPENDS UPON GOD’S MERCY
Daniel knew that God’s people were sinful, but he also knew that God was merciful.
He prayed, “For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.”— Daniel 9:18
We don’t come to God because we performed well enough this week. We come because He is good, faithful, and merciful.
And Daniel’s prayer was ultimately God-centered but people-oriented. He cared deeply about God’s people, but underneath it all was a desire for God’s name and glory to be honored.
This Week:
As we look toward another year of ministry at Lifepoint, let’s remember: our goal isn’t simply to become a bigger church. Our goal is to become a deeper church that God can use to reach more people.
Let’s be a church that knows the Word, seeks God, confesses sin, trusts His mercy, loves people, makes disciples, and prays.
If we’re going to be people who faithfully witness on our feet, we must first be willing to get down on our knees.
Let’s ask God to make us that kind of church.
When we study God’s Word, it should lead us to both rejoicing and repenting.
- What stands out to you from the text?
- What questions or comments do you have about it?
- In what ways did you find yourself encouraged and/or rejoicing when you heard the message?
- In what ways were you challenged to repent or change when you heard the message?
- How did the teacher connect this passage to Christ? What other connections do you see between this message and the redemptive work of Christ?
CONCLUSION
- What is one thing that you want to remember from this sermon?
- Why is that important to you?
