June 17, 2018 by Tom

A Life That CARES! (Sermon Audio)

This is the audio from the June 17, 2018 sermon, “A Life That CARES!”, shared by Tom Lemler as part of a Lifestyle of Prayer series at the North Wayne Mennonite Church.

Text: Matthew 7:9-12

Here are the main points from the sermon:

A lifestyle of prayer to a Father who cares should produce a life that . . .

Comforts: 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Accepts: Romans 15:7
Restores: Galatians 6:1-2
Embraces: Luke 15:20
Serves: Mark 10:43-45

June 4, 2018 by Tom

A Life of PRAYER

I had the opportunity to preach yesterday but didn’t remember to take my mp3 recorder with me, so no audio to share this time. As I practice, and teach about, a lifestyle of prayer, there are a number of things that I find happen through such a way of life. I’ve prepared several sermons that highlight some of what a lifestyle of prayer is, and yesterday’s message was one of them.

Many times when we try to describe something we skip the most obvious part of it because it is so obvious we think everyone must know that much about whatever we are describing. In an attempt not to do that, the message I shared was “A Lifestyle of Prayer is a Life of PRAYER”. But not only is it a life filled with prayer, it is a life filled with the results of prayer and that is what the sermon focused on — some of those results. With no audio to share, here is the outline and some of the main points from the message.

A Lifestyle of Prayer is a Life of . . .

Peace: The Bible teaches that it is through a continual process of presenting our requests to God through prayers and petitions that we can replace anxiousness with peace. Prayer may not bring an immediate change to the circumstance that has caused you to be anxious, but it should serve as a reminder of who is really in control of the situation. Our prayers should fill us with peace as we grow in our trust of God to carry us through, and beyond, the anxious moments of life.
Respect: As we live with prayer as a lifestyle, we find that our approach to God grows in regard to the respect we give Him. It seems our respect often fluctuates based on how real we view God to be. When we are consistently engaged in conversation with Him through prayer, we find that He not only demands respect but that He deserves respect. It is this life of respect that continually reminds us that while prayer is a conversation, it is no ordinary conversation — it is communication with the living God.
Answers: This is the part of prayer that we often desire most and can be the most likely to wreck our prayer life when it doesn’t happen according to our expectations. Yet a lifestyle of prayer is a life of answers — some “yes”, some “no”, some “not right now”, and some so far removed from the answer we wanted that we fail to see it. When our prayer life is sporadic, we often fail to “connect the dots” of God at work and thus miss the answers He is providing. But the more that prayer is woven into every aspect of our life, the more we begin to notice that God has been answering all along in ways that are for our good.
Yielding: In nearly every relationship we have, the more time we spend with someone the better we get to know them. An active prayer life is time spent with God both talking and listening so that we begin to become familiar with the things of God that He has revealed by the power of His Spirit through His Word. In a life of prayer, the yielding is often interwoven with the answers as we learn to accept that His answers are better than ours. When we can pray, “not my will but Yours be done”, and really mean it, we find that we will be more likely to yield to the answers that God provides as we learn to trust Him.
Encouragement: A life of prayer can bring great encouragement — not just to those who pray, but to the people that see and hear of the mighty work of God that takes place in the lives of those who pray. It is this encouragement that not only emboldens the life of the one who prays, it often causes others to consider what a life of prayer would do for them. While we ought to pray just for the privilege of talking with the creator of everything, many times it is the benefit that prayer brings into our life that keeps us going back to God. Let’s face it, if every conversation we have with a person makes us feel poorly about our self for some reason, we will likely not seek to continue that relationship. However, when our time with God brings daily encouragement to both us and those around us, our desire to pray ought to grow each day that we live.
Renewal: Isaiah wrote that “even youths get tired and weary, but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” A lifestyle of prayer can result in a life of renewal as we continually seek the “new mercies” that God promises each morning. The Bible teaches that we are to be transformed by a renewing of our mind, and prayer is a major part of that change of mind that can bring about a godly transformation. When we allow a growing lifestyle of prayer to bring peace, respect, answers, yielding, and encouragement into our life, we will find that we are indeed being renewed daily by the power of God’s Spirit and through the truth of His Word.

When we live a lifestyle of prayer, we ought to find that these qualities are growing in our life. And as they grow, we find that we are more drawn to prayer as a way of life each day that we live. It is my prayer that each one of us would grow in our desire to live a lifestyle of prayer that results in a life of PRAYER!

In prayer,
Tom

April 29, 2018 by Tom

Walk and Pray

Today I had the opportunity to lead another neighborhood prayer walk as we asked God to make Himself known and to pour out His blessing upon the community. I enjoy leading prayer walks because it gives me the opportunity to teach about developing a lifestyle of prayer in a practical context.

The context behind a prayer walk is really not that complicated — you walk and you pray. Praying on-site in a neighborhood, workplace, school, or anywhere else can help you learn to pray more effectively as you pay attention to what is really going on. Yes, I can pray for a neighborhood from anywhere, but when I walk the sidewalks and observe with my eyes, ears, heart, spirit, emotions, and anything else available to me, I often pray about things that I would never otherwise even think about.

For me, prayer walking is a practice that helps me apply God’s command to “pray without ceasing.” When I make a deliberate effort to pray, I find that I am constantly looking for things to pray about that would be meaningful in my conversations with God. I might notice a home health care van parked in front of a house and pray for the person needing extra care. I walk past an auto body shop and pray for those whose lives have been impacted in situations represented by the assortment of wrecked vehicles waiting to be repaired. I walk by a park and pray for the families and children who will come and play. I walk past a school and pray for the safety of all who are there each day. And the list goes on . . . it seems that each house or property has something to say that would lead me to pray in a specific way. Yet even in the specific prayers, I keep in mind the greater context that God would bless the neighborhood in ways that would make Himself known.

Tonight’s prayer walk was the first I had focused on the neighborhood I was in. Depending on time available, my first prayer walk in a neighborhood is usually a perimeter walk as I surround an area with prayer. Follow-up walks would then work my way up and down each street, asking God to help me notice the things I ought to see.

In case you’re wondering, I’m not writing this to try to say, “Look what I did!” No, I’m writing this in an attempt to say to you who are reading, “Look what you could do!”

April 1, 2018 by Tom

Fully Alive! (Sermon Audio)

This is the audio from the April 1, 2018 sermon, “Fully Alive!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the North Wayne Mennonite Church.

Text: John 10:10 & 1 Corinthian 15

Here are the main points from the sermon:

In Christ we are fully . . .

Accepted
Loved
Included
Victorious
Embraced

February 4, 2018 by Tom

The DESIRE of Your Heart! (Sermon Audio)

This is the audio from the February 4, 2018 sermon, “The DESIRE of Your Heart!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the North Wayne Mennonite Church.

Text: Psalm 37:4

God promises that when we delight in Him, He will give us the desire of our heart. While it is easy to jump to the thought that God will give us what we want, the larger promise is that our delight in God will put within us a new desire that could only come from Him.

Our delight in the Lord will give us the . . .

Direction of our heart.

Expressions of our heart.

Surrender of our heart.

Inclination of our heart.

Rejoicing of our heart.

Endurance of our heart.

When God transforms the desire of our heart through our delight in Him, we become more like Jesus with each passing day!

January 29, 2018 by Tom

DELIGHT Yourself in the Lord! (Sermon Audio)

This is the audio from the January 28, 2018 sermon, “DELIGHT Yourself in the Lord!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the North Wayne Mennonite Church.

Text: Psalm 37:4

We often like the idea of God giving us the desires of our heart but it is easy to overlook the first half of that promise where we must delight our self in the Lord. The audio file is missing the “Heal yourself in the Lord” point, but here are the main points from the sermon:

Discover yourself in the Lord.

Encourage yourself in the Lord.

Love yourself in the Lord.

Inspect yourself in the Lord.

Guard yourself in the Lord.

Heal yourself in the Lord.

Teach yourself in the Lord.

The key to finding delight in all of this is not the “yourself” part of the statement, but the “in the Lord” part!