Family Church Portsmouth

Pastor Andy continues the series on House of Prayer, this week speaking about Praying in and with Faith. He recounts the baseline scripture references - Matthew 21:13 (NIV) ["It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it ‘a den of robbers'"] and 2Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) [ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land]. The Bible says that humbling ourselves will bring incredible things - healing.

Andy speaks about how we ought to always be praying in faith as we approach Him in prayer. We need to exhibit a child like trust in Him and His promises. If we know God exists, we know our prayers are heard. If we know our prayers are heard, we can have expectation of prayer answered by faith. We walk by faith and not by sight.

Ps Andy continues speaking about how our attitude should be one of faithful thankfulness after our initial prayer of supplication. God is not deaf nor suffering form memory loss! Of course this does not mean we can be arrogant in our attitude, but remain humble in our approach to our Lord.

If we ask anything according to his will, scripture tells us it shall be granted. How do we know the will of God? It is revealed in His word - in our Bibles! 

This week in our series House of Prayer, Ps Steu speaks about Corporate Prayer. This is sometimes known as gathered prayer or collective prayer. Its clear from the Bible that we should be praying together. In Acts, we read about the first century Church, coming together regularly to pray. Acts 2 explains the purpose for which the believers gathered together. Acts 2:42-47 (NKJV)says "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Ps Steu asks some questions

• Why should we pray together? It is fundamentally something the church does. We are designed you to be part of a body of believers. Also, praying together brings us to greater unity with each other, especially when we pray according to God's word. Praying together invites the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Scripture tells us that whenever two or more are gathered in His name, He is there in our midst. This is a powerful thing. God empowers us. We need the presence of God. Praying together increases our faith to believe God for the miraculous. Collective prayer also moves us from seeking our own desires to seeking the purposes of God and the desires of God. 
• When should we pray together? Answer - regularly!! We've got to remember that we are children of God's kingdom. Praying is what we do; talking to our Father is what we do. Ps Steu speaks about specific occasions that might warrant us praying together - times of decision making, intercession....
• How should we pray? Remember Jesus said if two or three of you agree on earth, concerning anything that they asked for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.... So we should pray in agreement with God's words. The word of God reveals the will of God. In 1 John 5:14-15, it says 'this is the confidence we have in approaching God that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us? And if we know that we have what we have asked of Him'. The Bible is the greatest prayer tool we have, so speaking passages of scripture reminds us who God is and what God says. We also ought to pray earnestly. Acts 12:5 retails Peter being in prison, but that the church was earnestly praying for him. The story ends with his release.
• What happens when we pray? Prison doors are opened! Acts 4:31 tells us that 'when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness'. The presence of God came and filled the room. The Holy Spirit did something amazing in their lives.

The Holy Spirit is the same now and will do amazing things in our lives.....

Today is Global Sunday in Family Church with over 70 different nations represented in the Portsmouth Congregation alone. We've been talking about prayer over the last few weeks in Family Church, and this morning we're going to be just talking about praying from Christians who are praying for the Persecuted church.

Persecution of Christians is not a new thing. It was happening in Biblical times, and it's happening today. Sometimes, living in the UK and especially growing up in the UK, we can easily forget that persecution is something that today, millions of Christians in this world are experiencing and some in really extreme ways, including imprisonment and being martyred for their faith. It's really important that our prayers extend beyond our own lives and beyond our church. It's really good to be praying for our missionaries and our mission partners who are working overseas.

Pastor Steu speaks to four members of the church representing different nations where persecution is rife. They pray in their mother tongue, leading the church this morning.

Ps Sean continues the series 'House of Prayer', quoting again the scripture from Matthew 21:13 (NKJV) "And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

He goes on to speak about how we are the House of Prayer, carrying the House of prayer everywhere we go, individually and corporately, and then follows this explaining the verse preceding the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:5) where we are told not to be like hypocrites, but to go to our room, close the door and humble ourselves before God in private prayer. Referring to the book of Ezekiel, he speaks about how the Lord had a plan of restoration for the people of Israel, to grant their requests, make them whole and righteous but the Lord God awaits the prayer of the people first. Likewise we need to be speaking to God daily about our needs and our circumstances, then God will open up the doors of heaven and blessings will flow.

Ps Sean's key point is that we cannot expect God to perform for us in a public space if we are not in communion with Him in our own private secret space. In our private space we need to be thankful, claiming righteousness, thanking God for freedom and joy. We need to put time in for our private prayer with God...otherwise we are mere religious hypocrites (without power).

This hard hitting message is full of scriptures and positive practical tips for our private relationship with God.

Pastor Andy continues speaking on the subject 'House of Prayer', his title this week is 'Teach us to Pray'. As we take time to consider how we are going to be the “House of Prayer” Jesus calls us to be, we cannot overlook The Lords Prayer. In this relational prayer that was never meant to be just religiously recited, He gives His followers a powerful template or pattern of prayer, so that our prayers can be as effective as His.

Give this podcast a listen to find out about all the wisdom there is in this simple relational prayer.

After Pastor Andy's introduction to our new series "House of Prayer" last week, Pastor Gina begins in earnest this week by asking "what is prayer". She discusses what prayer really is and looks at some of the difficulties we have associated with praying and why this is.

Today, Pastor Andy launches a new series called House Of Prayer. This has been on his heart for a while and all FC congregation will focus on this for the rest of 2023. How can we be a praying people? Prayer is not a bolt on for church!, its a central part. Other faiths call people to prayer from tall towers, some churches ring bells. Jesus was passionate about prayer in the church 2000 years ago and is also passionate about prayer in the church today. In Matthew 16:18. He said, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it". We need to build a church with Jesus according to his blueprint...

When we read about the day of Pentecost, we see it today when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon all flesh. But we also see it was the moment that the church was born. What was the church doing before it was born? They were praying and suddenly in their prayer meeting the Holy Spirit fell and the church of Jesus Christ was born.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV) says "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land". The people called by Hs name are us Christians!, our land, our lives can be healed and our sins forgiven if we humble ourselves before our God and pray and seek Him.

Next week, we begin to unpack all this in greater detail.

Pastor Andy gives a mind boggling message about our thoughts! What are we thinking? Do we even ever think about what we are thinking - typically 60,000 thoughts per day. How we think determines how we act and hence the fruit of our thought can be negative or positive....Godly or not...in accordance with Kingdom living or not.

Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways (Proverbs4:26, NIV). Having placed ourselves on a pathway, we are already on a trajectory in life..is it good or bad? Jesus told us to follow him and He would give us a new life. So, we need to start taking responsibility for our thoughts.

Andy goes on to give scriptural examples of where good and bad thinking led to good or bad life experiences. He quotes Philippians 4:8 (NIV) "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things".

This scripture gives us direct guidance on how and what to think about. He concludes by asking us to think about whether we wish to give our lives to Christ and to then think about whether we should act upon any arising thoughts. A challenging message indeed!

Pastor Sean ends the current series of "what are we carrying". He asks if we are carrying things in the darkness, because we cannot be in the light and the darkness at the same time. He explains how the enemy wishes to trip us up in the dark places, but also how God gives us light. ....

1 Peter 5: 7 says (NIV) "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you", however the verse before tells us to humble ourselves before God (v6) "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time". The in verse 9, 10 and 11 come the promises....."Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Ps Sean gives a deep and meaningful message concluding with prayers for all the congregation to open their hearts to The Lord and humbly submit to Him.

Nathan and Ben bring the Word of God to us this morning following their amazing week at Summer Camp the previous week. Listen and be prepared to be amazed!