April 28, 2020 Show with Mack Tomlinson on “The Importance of Corporate Prayer in the Life of the Church”

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Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

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Carlyle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

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Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

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Proverbs chapter 27, verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

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Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

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It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

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And now, here's your host, Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon,

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Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet

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Earth. We're listening via live streaming at IronSharpensIronRadio .com. This is

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Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 28th day of April 2020.

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And first of all, let me start off this program by thanking all of you again from the depths of my heart for praying for my oldest brother,

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John, in Justin, Texas. John, as many of you heard when

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I called out for a prayer from my listeners, he has critical stage emphysema and once again was recently rushed to the hospital and the circumstances look very grave indeed and his wife and one of his daughters,

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Jan and Regina, did not expect him to be leaving the hospital this time.

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Well, I just heard word from my brother John via a text that the doctors want to discharge him today.

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And he doesn't want to go yet, so pray that the right decision is made.

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I don't want him to be going home if it's a premature thing, as he fears, but I'm just so thrilled that the

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Lord has done a work of healing in his life at least enough to have the doctors believe that he may be discharged and I thank you for the renewed interest in spiritual matters that has entered into my brother's heart and mind and I just,

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I can't thank all of you enough for praying for him and for the flood of emails and texts and private messages that have been coming in where people have been affirming that they are praying for him and asking for updates and so on and forgive me if I'm stammering here and not speaking articulately, but I just am very overwhelmed by the whole situation and I am truly thankful to our merciful and gracious and sovereign

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God and I would request that you continue to pray for him and that he regains even more strength and health and keeps looking to Jesus Christ and a very key figure in this whole circumstance uh...

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one of my chief prayer warriors in the midst of all this is my dear friend

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Pastor Mack Tomlinson who is my guest today uh... he is an author, a conference speaker and pastor at Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas uh...

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not far at all from where my brother lives and uh... today we are going to be addressing a theme that is not disconnected from these circumstances involving my brother and that theme is the importance of corporate prayer in the life of the church and we're also going to be giving you the great news about the upcoming

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Fellowship Conference New England in Portland, Maine and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Pastor Mack Tomlinson Good afternoon

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Chris, it's always a blessing to be with you It's always a blessing to have you on the program and I am so grateful to God that our mutual friend

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Mike Gaydosh founder of Solid Grand Christian Books is the one who initially put me in contact with you a number of years ago and I am thankful uh...

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to God for him for being the instrument that that brought us together brother Well any friend of Michael Gaydosh is a friend of mine

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Amen I love him and his ministry over the years so the

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Lord's Providence brings people together Amen well I'm going to immediately give our listeners our email address if they have questions on the importance of corporate prayer in the life of the church our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail dot com c h r i s w a r n z e n at gmail dot com please give us your first name at least your city and state of residence and your country of residence if you live outside the

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USA only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter and before we go into the specific theme at hand

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Pastor Mack if you could as I always have our guests do remind our listeners or for those of you hearing for those of my listeners hearing you for the first time introduce uh...

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those listeners uh... to Providence Chapel in Denton Texas yes uh...

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Denton is uh... in North Texas thirty miles north of Dallas and Fort Worth about thirty miles south of the

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Oklahoma state line so we're on the north corridor of the greater Dallas -Fort

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Worth metroplex a university town of about hundred and twenty thousand Providence Chapel we're a reformed

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Baptist congregation uh... of about two hundred and growing approximately and uh...

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of course we like most churches are meeting by zoom only right now but the church life has been a blessing the prayer meetings continue even by zoom we have five prayer meetings each

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Wednesday by zoom the congregation divided up so we're continuing to seek to advance the kingdom and uh...

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advance the gospel right here as all of God's people are across the nation right now in these perilous times well if anybody wants to find out more about Providence Chapel in Denton Texas go to Providence Denton and that's d -e -n -t -o -n dot org

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Providence Denton dot org and hopefully i will remember to repeat that uh...

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later on now uh... please let us know the exciting news about your annual fellowship conference new england the next of which is scheduled for august six through the eighth at the deering center community church in portland maine yes well lord willing we'll be there if we live as James says in his epistle and if the coronavirus doesn't uh...

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revive again in the summer we hope that it'll continue to decline but the the annual fellowship conference new england is there in portland maine and it has grown every year i guess we're on our seventh or eighth i don't remember exactly uh...

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and it draws believers from as far south as pennsylvania and and new york new york city uh...

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all over the new england states and up into canada so the it's always the first wednesday thursday i'm sorry thursday friday saturday of of august you have to register for it so you can find the fellowship conference uh...

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website uh... fellowship conference new england this year we will have the privilege god willing of having as the principal speakers doctor joel beaky from grand rapids michigan he's not a stranger to many of the uh...

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listeners on our truck and on radio has been a friend of mine since the nineteen nineties and i was actually instrumental in having him launches very first radio program well he's a dear man in a profound theologian pastor with a great heart so doctor beaky will speak several times and then doctor jeffrey thomas the former welch pastor in everett with well without replace baptist church who was on aren't reprimand i think last week and he's coming back on again in june and i just love interviewing that brother who will what a joy uh...

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to interview him here for doctor beaky and and uh... doctor jeff thomas are two of them uh...

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in my opinion two of the greatest preachers alive today uh... they have profound love for christ and his church they're humble men godly man so if there was a conference to come uh...

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to in the summer to uh... in new england area uh...

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those men are worth uh... planning a trip to portland main area you could see some of the new england coast and enjoy three special days at the fellowship conference new england great and for those of you who are interested in attending that and whether you are already interested or not you should go to the website anyway because you might become interested in it uh...

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that is uh... fellowship conference new england dot com fellowship conference new england dot com as i said is scheduled for august six through the eighth two thousand twenty at the deering center community church in portland main and i intend to be there god willing it'll be my first time in maine and uh...

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it will require prayer from my listeners and loved ones because it's going to be uh...

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a bittersweet time visiting maine for the first time uh... because my precious late wife julie always wanted to go on a vacation with me to main and we never made it there before she entered into glory now i know that eternity with christ is infinitely better than main but uh...

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it still uh... is i know going to have a the the enjoyment will be tainted with sadness uh...

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just because of the fact that she really wanted to go there uh... with me but uh...

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i trust that the lord will bless me uh... a wonderful time nonetheless in spite of any sadness i may feel but uh...

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i am really looking forward to that and both of those men are extraordinary speakers uh...

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and are among my very favorite speakers uh... in the in the church so uh...

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try to make it there if you can and uh... now let's enter into the theme at hand the importance of corporate prayer in the life of the church and just so our listeners are clear on what you mean can you explain what is corporate prayer yes well we know that private personal prayer is a priority in the bible uh...

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throughout the bible believers are told to pray seek the lord to uh...

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learn to pray give themselves to private prayer but corporate prayer has to do with a local church praying together a local church having times that they corporately as a body uh...

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have stated specific times of prayer a true church prayer meeting in other words is what i mean by corporate prayer and uh...

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even though this is an attempt at a temporary substitute do you think what we have been experiencing during this coronavirus scare where many of us have been involved in corporate prayer meetings so -called via the internet is that really corporate prayer even though uh...

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i know that there are good intentions and motive and motives for doing it this way especially in some cases where the law requires it but it's is it really a substitute or an adequate representation of corporate prayer well not in the long run not in normative times of course i can only speak for our church we've had marvelous prayer meetings uh...

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by zoom uh... over the past weeks we have five prayer meetings each wednesday night and five pastoring elders uh...

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one of them leads each prayer meeting and they've been warm and marvelous and rich and we pray for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes uh...

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consistently together so obviously uh...

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that's not the normative in the church the norm would be to to be together like they were in the book of acts uh...

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and so normally churches should have true prayer meetings uh...

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when they're when they're meeting sometime during the week so yes this works now but it's not the permanent answer well what was the motivation for you today to want this to be our central theme well i'll just stop sharing chris you can stop me interrupt me at any point because i don't you know you're the one that leads the program so wonderfully you know i said a couple of weeks ago in one of our prayer meetings uh...

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i said to some of our members isn't it striking that probably the lord has the undivided serious attention of every christian in the world simultaneously right now because of the virus he has the attention the more serious attention of every true biblical church but what does that attention draw churches right now to do probably not it probably doesn't make them say hey let's study the heidelberg catechism no when uh...

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when the heat's on when the church is in the furnace of affliction and we're not in affliction but these are urgent times what becomes really is for christians to pray church leaders the body of christ serious prayer so today i want to bring in kind of an honest evaluation from my opinion about the normal life of american evangelical churches and reformed churches because if we're honest we have organization technology we have good creeds and confessions good church polity and especially reformed churches have good doctrine biblical membership uh...

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reverent worship the sacraments and church discipline but i think something is still missing widely that's what i want to address today some things that i'm going to say may make some leaders feel uncomfortable it may be challenging but i think my thesis is pretty much unarguable because what i want to address is the weakness of the american church in terms of the prayer meeting now this is something objective and documentable because either your church and my church has a true prayer meeting or it does not either this is present in evangelical churches or it's absent so the issue i want to address is uh...

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is the prayer meeting which in my opinion makes a church to be truly biblical or not truly biblical any church with a good doctrinal confession with good preaching ordinances and church discipline if they're missing having a true prayer meeting my question would be are they fully reformed or fully biblical because you find this so central in the new testament a true prayer meeting and it's my conviction that corporate prayer is the most absent thing in the american evangelical church or at least it's the weakest aspect even in and maybe especially in reformed churches because i know personally non -reformed churches evangelical churches that do have quality church prayer meetings but i know reformed churches that have poor prayer meetings or no prayer meetings we should think why is prayer in the church so neglected and i think the bottom line answer is because it's so hard to do it's so easy to listen to great preaching it's so easy to love to sing the great hymns of the faith it's so easy to study theology or to have a wonderful bible class but prayer is hard work and it brings us open before god where we have to be honest and we have to be before him uh...

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with repentance and faith and dependence i hope if pastors and elders and church leaders are listening today i'd like to really just ask some some very honest questions uh...

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about this and my goal is to encourage them to trust the lord to to strengthen their prayer meetings or if they don't have one to go back to the new testament and just to be honest and say how much prayer in the local church really in the new testament he unbounds the great man of prayer in the nineteenth century so the primary need in the church is not men of money or men of brains but men of prayer and i think that's very applicable to today yeah especially in the reformed church we would tend to gravitate towards the man with brains right right but matthew henry the great puritan said and this applies to the individual christian and to a church prayer time must be kept just as much as meal time well when we go worship on the lord's day and we're fed the word of god and we're built up by corporate worship we are keeping up the spiritual meal time but are we keeping up regularly a prayer time within the body of christ so here's some pointed questions i've thought about that i wrote i didn't find them anywhere but i think every pastor who wants his church to be biblical every elder every deacon every faithful member of a biblical church should ask themselves these questions or try to answer them does your church have a true prayer meeting weekly or regularly how often if ever is there a church meeting that is given not to bible study only but to prayer where the church leaders and members pray for thirty minutes forty five minutes or sixty minutes is your church a house of prayer is my church known as a praying church do our churches have a history of remarkable answers to prayer and is there anything about our church that can only be attributed to the power of prayer i think these are searching questions and they leave us at the place where we have to answer the question is my church truly biblical by being a praying church or not is prayer the weakest thing in my church or is it is it real because a christian that is not regularly attending a prayer meeting is not a biblical christian and a church without a real prayer meeting consistently is not a truly biblically reformed church those kind of statements can make pastors like me uncomfortable to face that but if we're endeavoring to be biblical let's really be honest corporate prayer is probably the weakest thing in many of our churches or it's not existent if prayer isn't central in the life of the church there's problems according to the standards of the new testament i believe well we do already yes we have a uh...

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listener question for you already sure uh... it's an anonymous listener and the anonymous listener says please don't think i am being rude at all i am just very curious and want to hear the answer to your question how do you respond to one that may say you are attempting to bind upon the consciences of christians something that is not specifically and clearly biblical in the sense of a separate day for a prayer meeting now i know that the scriptures teach that we are to be committed to prayer but if a church should choose to just have a time of prayer during their regular sunday worship service would that not suffice and i'm not arguing for this point as if this is my position that i adamantly hold to i'm just curious how you would answer that charge that might be brought against you well it is a great question and it kind of leads right into the next thing that i wanted to say somewhat obviously i'm not saying that the bible would call for a certain whole day regularly of prayer i'm not trying to argue that minutely but when you go to the old testament they did have called sacred or solemn assemblies for prayer the biblical case for corporate prayer should not be confused with personal there is no prescription uh...

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given for private prayer in the new testament except jesus said when you pray pray this way but even a basic perusal of old and new testament reveals corporate prayer both as descriptive and prescriptive for instance exodus three nine you see the example there where moses wrote the cry of the children of israel has come up before me deuteronomy twenty six seven says the same thing in a way then we cried out to the lord god and the lord heard our voice and looked upon our affliction the prophet joel in chapter one calls for this he says consecrate a fast call a sacred assembly gather the elders together and cry out to the lord well uh...

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thank you anonymous and uh... keep listening to iron sharpens iron radio and spreading the word about the program and if you are a first -time questioner give me your full name and mailing address because we will have cvbbs cumberland valley bible book service ship you out a brand new new american standard bible compliments of the publishers of the nasb and also compliments of cvbbs dot com who will be shipping out to you in no charge to you or to iron sharpens iron radio well we're gonna go to our very first break right now and once again if anybody else would like to join us for the question of your own our email address is chris arnzen at gmail dot com c h r i s a r n z e n at gmail dot com please give us your first name at least your city and state of residence in your country of residence if you live outside the usa please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter don't go away will be right back with more of mac tomlinson and our discussion on corporate prayer this is pastor bill sasser grace church at franklin here in the beautiful state of tennessee our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support iron sharpens iron radio financially grace church at franklin is an independent autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of god as revealed in scripture through the person and work of our lord jesus christ and of course the end of which we strive is the glory of god if you live near franklin tennessee in franklin is just south of nashville maybe ten minutes are you are visiting this area or you have friends and loved ones nearby we hope you will join us on lord's day in worshiping our god and savior please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about grace church our website is grace church at franklin dot org that's grace church at franklin dot o -r -g this is pastor bill sasser wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign lord god savior and king jesus christ today and always chris arnzen host of iron sharpens iron radio announcing a new website with an exciting offer from world magazine by trusted source for news from a christian perspective try world now at no charge for ninety days by going to get world now dot com that's get world now dot com i rely on world because i trust the reporting i gained insight from the analysis and world provides clarity to the news stories that really matter i believe you'll also find world to be an invaluable resource to better understand critical topics with a depth that simply not found in other media outlets armed with this coverage world can help you to be a voice of wisdom in your family and your community this trial includes bi -weekly issues of world magazine on scene reporting from world radio and the fully shareable content of world digital there's no obligation and no credit card required visit get world now dot com today also check out world newsgroups podcast the world and everything in it at w in g dot org forward slash podcast that's w for world and that for news g for group dot org forward slash podcast i'm dr tony costa professor of apologetics and islam at toronto baptist seminary i'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where i've been invited to speak and have grown to love hope reform baptist church in quorum long island new york pastored by rich jensen and chris for mcdowell it's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of god like the dear saint at hope reform baptist church in quorum who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of christ in his holy word and to enthusiastically proclaim christ jesus the king and his doctrines of sovereign grace in suffolk county long island and beyond i hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love as i have for more information on hope reform baptist church go to hope reform l i dot net that's hope reformed l i dot net or call six three one six nine six five seven one one that's six three one six nine six five seven one one tell the folks at hope reform baptist church of quorum long island new york that you heard about them from tony costa on iron sharpens iron when iron sharpens iron radio first launched in two thousand and five the publishers of the new american standard bible were among my very first sponsors it gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the iron sharpens iron radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the

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not only that i don't want that to be the only reason in your mind they also have now the finest in christian literature from the past and present and you know you could order with peace of mind uh...

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knowing that the material the books that you purchase are theologically sound and trustworthy and i'm sure that my guest today pastor mac tomlinson can heartily affirm that am i not right pastor absolutely heartily affirm that yes and as you may have heard in the beginning of the program uh...

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pastor mac tomlinson was the very person who introduced or should i say i'm getting it backwards mike gaydosh the founder of solid ground christian books was the very one who introduced me to pastor mac tomlinson a number of years ago and we have remained friends ever since and he has become one of my favorite guests here on this program and has also turned out to be a very generous financial supporter of this program as well and i thank god for your friendship pastor mac and look forward to continuing our discussion here today very good well if you want to pick up where you left off yeah uh...

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the question that caller had earlier was a tremendous question because people can begin to think you know if we say certain things should be done because we see them generally in the bible people can begin to cry isn't that legalism you're putting a law on the church and my answer would be uh...

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as follows i already referenced those old testament examples that are really both i think descriptive and prescriptive uh...

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you go to the new testament and you see the same thing you see this habit and practice of the church praying together regularly uh...

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i guess in what you'd call planned times of prayer and you also see apparently special called prayer meetings for urgent situations for instance acts twelve peter's in prison they've already killed james and here it takes peter because he sought to please the jews but acts twelve says but the church uh...

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prayed earnestly unto god for peter and we know the rest of the story they were in a prayer meeting for peter crying out to god and the lord sent the angel brought peter to the prayer meeting and it shocked them that he walks into the prayer meeting uh...

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we see times of special prayer meetings for urgent needs and we we know believers have done that uh...

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all through history but so when you go to the new testament let's just think about some body of work in the new testament that reflects this and chris you can interrupt me anytime you desire or need to or if you have a question that comes in think about luke's gospel someone's called luke called luke's gospel the gospel of prayer because it states when jesus said in his baptism that he was praying when he was baptized when the spirit descended luke mentions jesus' private prayer life more than any other gospel and luke chapter eleven and luke eighteen almost a good portion of those two chapters show the great importance of importunate prayer uh...

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and the disciples came to jesus of course and said lord teach us to pray and he gives the model of prayer uh...

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you have in the early church examples of corporate prayer meetings the book of acts has at least thirteen or fourteen specific examples of the believers praying together acts chapter one acts two chapter four chapter six twelve and thirteen chapter sixteen chapter twenty and twenty eight all through the book of acts the believers were gathering to pray then you get on into the epistles just a couple more references just to drive home this point that this picture of corporate prayer is not legalism it's biblically exemplified for us and it is prescriptive also and i'll mention that right now second corinthians one eleven paul said to the corinthians you also helping together in prayer can any of us any of us imagine those early churches not being prayerful churches not having stated times whether it was on the lord's day morning not just a pastoral prayer but they prayed together colossians four two in the good old new american standard it says devote yourselves to prayer staying alert in it with thanksgiving well how can a church devote itself to prayer regularly if they don't pray together regularly so uh...

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i didn't think of paul's words to timothy and first timothy chapter two he certainly says to the church and no one would say this isn't prescriptive for the whole church of all the ages paul says therefore i exhort first of all that supplications intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for kings and all who are in authority that we might lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and reverence for this is good and acceptable in the sight of god our savior just to quickly have you clarify something you have repeated the word prescriptive and i just wanted you to clarify the meaning of that to the listeners uh...

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i have been of the opinion that that means that it is the will of god that is actually in the form of a command in writing in some sense as opposed to uh...

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the decreed will of god which is all things that come to pass because he is ordainment well that's a good question descriptive means in the bible you see examples of the church praying that's a description that they did it but prescriptive doesn't mean that you necessarily automatically have to follow that example if it's just a descriptive alone right right but the new testament turns those examples into commands in different places for instance me and everyone are about to lift up holy hands uh...

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in faith without doubting praying the verse i just quoted colossians four two paul makes it prescriptive devote yourselves to prayer staying alert in it and so uh...

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the example of churches in the new testament that truly prayed if we have a heart for the lord in the kingdom and if we have a prayerful heart why would we not take those examples and follow them in our own churches in our own way uh...

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to to apply uh... to the last the prayer life of the church uh...

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so and you you are go ahead i was just gonna say you could pick up where you left off there i'm sorry if i lost your trail of thought but i thought that was an important clarification uh...

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to make because i have been uh... lovingly and sometimes not so lovingly rebuked on on this program uh...

47:32

from listeners because they say that sometimes we take for granted that our listeners understand words and phrases that we use that may help that may be uh...

47:44

you know not not necessarily uh... of the understanding of especially new believers well that's a very good point well you know you so just to peruse the old testament body of work in the new testament examples and commands we do see that the church corporately praying with reality with consistency but then you move into church history and the same thing surfaces uh...

48:16

you know let's say for instance in the uh... in the eighteenth century probably the end of the seventeenth century it would have been jonathan edwards grandfather solomon stoddard who pastored the church in northampton for i think at least fifty years before jonathan edwards his grandson did solomon stoddard called during his ministry those five decades he called five different times for seasons of of concentrated prayer by his church and called specific prayer meetings and history records that that stoddard saw five distinct periods of revival uh...

49:06

to his area over those fifty years by the way are you familiar with uh...

49:15

the banner of truth book the power of prayer that uh...

49:21

chronicles a new york city revival at uh... a congregation uh...

49:28

that uh... was in the dutch reform denomination it started out with just a handful of people uh...

49:36

having a prayer meeting uh... during the week actually uh... and it grew into a massive thing that caught on it was being imitated uh...

49:46

all over the city and there was a revival that broke out have you have you heard of that book oh yes uh...

49:54

i love that book but uh... that was the very next thing in history i was actually going to mention you beat me to it it's called the the uh...

50:08

the prayer revival of eighteen fifty seven fifty eight uh...

50:16

there had been an economic collapse in the northeast i think in the forties in the the fifties uh...

50:23

eighteen fifties and there was a city missionary basically he was a churches from today would call a staff evangelist but they were called city missionaries jeremiah lanthier with the north of home that's church on fulton street in new york city which actually the location is very near to the ground zero uh...

50:48

memorial museum in manhattan lanthier had a burden began a noon prayer meeting for businessmen and he posted flyers and mentioned it and they spread the word the first day he was the only one it was there initially two people came in the next day there was a few more long story short by the end of the summer there were fifty thousand people praying at noon in buildings all over new york city and it spread like a prairie fire uh...

51:27

i published a book perhaps the best modern book on this revival by doctor roy fish readers want to uh...

51:42

contact me for that book it's a full account of that revival uh...

51:49

and i would offer to them the book for fifty percent off anyone's interested in it when heaven touched earth the awakening of eighteen fifty eight the point is that revival answered in great power and it spread across the uh...

52:11

across the country but it was directly in answer to corporate prayer and unfortunately isn't it a tragedy that's that denomination uh...

52:22

the specific church uh... if my memory serves me right was the more one of the marble collegiate churches with dutch reformed church named some of their congregations uh...

52:38

that uh... eventually became the rca the reformed church in america it's such a tragedy that or a great revival could come out of that denomination and yet today it is nearly not a hundred percent but nearly completely barren of true uh...

52:59

biblical teaching and gospel truth uh... and i don't know i don't know if norman vincent peale was the first to turn the nomination around for the worse and bring it into decline with this power of positive thinking heresies but uh...

53:17

it's just a it's just a shame whenever i think about it uh... and in addition to the book that uh...

53:24

that mac promoted their uh... and we will give you max information again to contact him for that don't forget that you could also get the power of prayer the new york revival of eighteen fifty eight by samuel prime and you can get that cvb bs dot com cvb bs dot com and ask for that banner of truth book the power of prayer by samuel prime and uh...

53:50

we we actually have to go or midway break right now pastor mac uh... if anybody would like to join us on the air with a question of your own send us an email the chris arms in a gmail dot com c h r i s a r n z e n a gmail dot com as always please give us your first name your city and state your country of residence if you live outside the u s a uh...

54:12

please be patient with us this is once again our longer the normal break the mid way break in our show uh...

54:20

because grace life radio ninety point one fm in lake uh... lake city florida requires of us uh...

54:28

this middle break for them to air their own local public service announcements because according to the fcc they have to localize their programming to lake city florida so while they air their own public service announcements and other things that are local to lake city florida we air are globally heard commercials and i would in addition to writing questions to pastor mac thompson on the subject of corporate prayer i would urge you to please also uh...

54:59

uh... write down the information for as many of our advertisers as you can so you can more frequently patronize them and more successfully patronize them because remember folks uh...

55:11

i know that many of you are annoyed by the number of ads that we air but we cannot survive without these advertisements we do not have nearly enough donations coming in uh...

55:24

to uh... exist without the uh... corporate support of advertisers that keep us going and that would also include churches and and non -profit organizations and so on uh...

55:39

so uh... please even if you can't uh... purchase anything from them and if it might be a church for instance that's so far away from you you doubt you'll be able to visit that church could you please contact them and just thank them for keeping an eye on Sherp and Zion radio on the air through their advertising but uh...

56:01

once again our email address if you want to send in a question for mac thompson on corporate prayer that's chris arnzen at gmail dot com chris arnzen at gmail dot com don't go away we'll be right back after these messages with more of mac thompson and corporate prayer james white of alphanomega ministries and the dividing line webcast here although god has brought me all over the globe for many years to teach preach and debate at numerous venues some of my very fondest memories are from those precious times of fellowship with pastor rich jensen and the brethren at hope reform baptist church now located at their new beautiful facilities in corum long island new york i've had the privilege of opening god's word from the pulpit on many occasions have led youth retreats for them and have always been thrilled to see their members filling many seats in my new york debates i do not hesitate to highly recommend hope reform baptist church of corum long island to anyone who wants to be accurately taught discipled and edified by the holy scriptures and to be surrounded by truly loving and caring brothers and sisters in christ i also want to congratulate hope reform baptist church of corum for the recent appointment of pastor rich jensen's co -elder pastor christopher mcdowell for more information on hope reform baptist church go to hope reform l i dot net that's hope reform l i dot net or call six three one six nine six five seven one one that's six three one six nine six five seven one one tell the folks at hope reform baptist church of corum long island that you heard about them from james white on iron sharpens iron radio iron sharpens iron welcomes solid rock remodeling to our family of sponsors serving south central pennsylvania solid rock remodeling is focused on discovering understanding and exceeding your expectations they deliver personalized project solutions with exceptional results solid rock remodeling offers a full range of home renovations including kitchen and bath remodeling decks porches windows and doors roof and siding and more for a clear detailed professional estimate call this trustworthy team of problem solvers who provide superior results that stand to the test of time call solid rock remodeling at seven one seven six nine seven nineteen eighty one seven one seven six nine seven nineteen eighty one or visit solid rock remodeling dot com that's solid rock remodeling dot com solid rock remodeling bringing new life to your home linbrook baptist church on two twenty five earl avenue in linbrook long island is teaching god's timeless truths in the twenty first century our church is far more than a sunday worship service it's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant it's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement it's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people and healing we're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our lord jesus christ in fellowship play and together hi i'm pastor bob waldeman and i invite you to come and join us here at linbrook baptist church and see all that a church can be call linbrook baptist at five one six five nine nine nine four zero two that's five one six five nine nine nine four zero two or visit linbrook baptist dot org that's linbrook baptist dot org chris arnzen host of iron sharpens iron radio here i want to tell you about a man i have personally known for many years his name is dan buttafuoco dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer but not the type that typically comes to mind dan cares about people and is a theologian himself recently he wrote a book titled consider the evidence for the bible ravi zacharias wrote the foreword dan also has a master's degree in theology dan handles serious injury and medical malpractice cases in all fifty states he represents many christians in serious injury matters all over the country dan is an exceptional trial lawyer he wrote the test for the national board of trial advocacy and currently his firm has over one hundred cases that have settled for one million dollars or more and in approximately ten different states in illinois his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history in new york his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the law journal if you have a serious personal injury or medical malpractice claim in any state i recommend that you call dan consultations are free there is no fee unless you win dan buttafuoco's number is one eight hundred six six nine four eight seven eight one eight hundred six six nine four eight seven eight or email me for dan's contact information at chris arnzen at gmail dot com that's chris arnzen at gmail dot com hi this is john sampson pastor of king's church in peoria arizona taking a moment of your day to talk about chris arnzen and the iron sharpens iron podcast i consider chris a true friend and a man of high integrity he's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating while always defending the key doctrines of the christian faith i've always been happy to point people to this podcast knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray i believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide this is a day of great spiritual compromise and yet god has raised chris up for just such a time and knowing this it's up to us as members of the body of christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances i'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting iron sharpens iron financially would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry i know it'll be a huge encouragement to chris if you would all the details can be found at iron sharpens iron radio dot com where you can click support that's iron sharpens iron radio dot com when iron sharpens iron radio first launched in two thousand five the publishers of the new american standard bible were among my very first sponsors it gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the iron sharpens iron radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the

01:02:54

NASB i'm dr joe moorcraft pastor of heritage presbyterian church in cumming georgia and the

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NASB is my bible of choice i'm anthony uviniel founder of the reform rookie dot com and co -founder of new york apologetics and the

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NASB is my bible of choice i'm pastor tim bushong of syracuse baptist church in syracuse indiana and the

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NASB is my bible of choice i'm eli ayala founder of revealed apologetics and staff member with the historical bible society and the

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NASB is my bible of choice i'm pastor josh miller of grace bible fellowship church in harrisburg pennsylvania and the

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NASB is my bible of choice i'm joe bianchi president of calvi press publishing in greenville south carolina and the

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NASB is my bible of choice i'm pastor jake corn of switzerland community church in switzerland florida and the

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NASB is my bible of choice here's a great way for your church to help keep iron sharpens iron radio on the air pastors are your pew bibles tattered and falling apart consider restocking your pews with the

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NASB and tell the publishers you heard about them from chris arnzen on iron sharpens iron radio go to nasbible .com

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that's nasbible .com to place your order the coronavirus pandemic has rapidly changed our way of life bringing so many uncertainties when will it end?

01:04:33

why do disasters like this happen? how do we deal with anxiety, fear and the like?

01:04:39

well join us each friday on the program iron sharpens iron with your host chris arnzen and pastor joe jacowicz as they explore god's word for answers to this and other of life's related issues tune in at firstloveradio .org

01:04:57

that's firstloveradio .org each friday at one p .m.

01:05:02

pacific four p .m. eastern that's iron sharpens iron on firstloveradio .org

01:05:08

fridays one p .m. pacific four p .m. eastern to hear what the bible has to say about pandemics and how we should respond as host of iron sharpens iron radio

01:05:31

I frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations a church I've been strongly recommending as far back as the nineteen eighties is grace covenant baptist church in Flemington New Jersey pastored by Alan Dunn grace covenant baptist church believes it's god's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshipped and how he shall be represented in the world they believe churches need to turn to the bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship god in spirit and truth grace covenant baptist church endeavors to maintain a god -centered focus reading preaching and hearing the word of god singing psalms hymns and spiritual songs baptism and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship performed with faith joy and sobriety discover more about grace covenant baptist church in Flemington New Jersey at gcbcnj .squarespace

01:06:28

.com that's gcbcnj .squarespace .com

01:06:35

or call them at 908 -996 -7654 that's 908 -996 -7654 tell pastor

01:06:45

Dunn that you heard about grace covenant baptist church on iron sharpens iron radio everyday at thousands of community centers high schools middle schools juvenile institutions coffee shops and local hangouts long island youth for christ staff and volunteers meet with young people who need jesus we are rural and urban and we are always about the message of jesus our mission is to have a noticeable spiritual impact on long island new york by engaging young people in the lifelong journey of following christ long island youth for christ has been a stalwart bedrock ministry since 1959 we have a world -class staff and a proven track record of bringing consistent love and encouragement to youths in need all over the country and around the world help honor our history by becoming a part of our future volunteer donate pray or all of the above for details call long island youth for christ at 631 385 8333 that's 631 385 8333 or visit

01:07:57

L -I -Y -F -C dot org that's L -I -Y -F -C dot org this is pastor

01:08:15

Bill Sousa grace church at Franklin here in the beautiful state of Tennessee our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support iron sharpens iron radio financially

01:08:29

Grace Church at Franklin is an independent autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in scripture through the person and work of our

01:08:42

Lord Jesus Christ and of course the end of which we strive is the glory of God if you live near Franklin Tennessee and Franklin is just south of Nashville maybe 10 minutes are you are visiting this area or you have friends and loved ones nearby we hope you will join us on Lord's Day in worshiping our

01:09:04

God and Savior please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin our website is

01:09:13

Grace Church at Franklin dot org that's Grace Church at Franklin dot o -r -g this is pastor

01:09:21

Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign Lord God Savior and King Jesus Christ today and always hi

01:09:42

I'm Buzz Taylor frequent co -host with Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio I would like to introduce you to my good friends

01:09:49

Todd and Patty Jennings at CVBBS which stands for Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service Todd and Patty specialize in supplying reformed and Puritan books and Bibles at discount prices that make them affordable to everyone since 1987 the family -owned and operated book service has sought to bring you the best available

01:10:08

Christian books and Bibles at the best possible prices unlike other book sites they make no effort to provide every book that is available because frankly much of what is being printed is not worth your time that means you can get to the good stuff faster it also means that you don't have to worry about being assaulted by the pornographic heretical and otherwise faith insulting material promoted by the secular book vendors their website is

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CVBBS dot com browse the pages at ease shop at your leisure and purchase with confidence as Todd and Patty work in service to you the church and to Christ that's

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CVBBS dot com let Todd and Patty know that you heard about them on Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio you can call

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CVBBS dot com if you prefer ordering by phone at their toll free number 800 -656 -0231 800 -656 -0231 and remember only call that number between 10 a .m.

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and 430 p .m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday it's the only times and the only days that someone is manning that phone line and there is no voicemail that's 800 -656 -0231 please always remember to tell them that you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio and one more request since CVBBS dot com is a book distributor offering books by many of the finest

01:11:45

Christian publishers and our other advertiser that's book related who sponsors the show is

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Solid Ground Christian Books I urge you to first go to Solid -Ground -Books .com

01:11:59

make a long list of books that they publish and then go to CVBBS dot com and include books by Solid Ground Christian Books when you're placing your order this way you're killing two birds with one stone and making both of our book related advertisers happy if you purchase books from Solid Ground Christian Books from CVBBS dot com please still make sure that you tell the folks at Solid Ground Christian Books and CVBBS that you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio before we return to Mack Tomlinson and our discussion today on the importance of corporate prayer

01:12:42

I have just a few announcements to make that are very important first of all tomorrow

01:12:49

Michael Hammer joins us for the very first time tomorrow that's

01:12:55

Thursday the 30th of April he is a Jewish believer and we're going to hear his testimony of salvation and also how he came to embrace the doctrines of reform theology aka

01:13:10

Calvinism aka the doctrines of sovereign grace which places

01:13:16

Jewish believers in a very tiny minority in that theological camp for some reason and he is going to explain why he found that to be the most consistently biblical system of theology and why he lovingly embraced these teachings by God's sovereign grace and so make sure you tune in tomorrow from 4 to 6 p .m.

01:13:45

Eastern and then on Friday we have Joe Jackowitz pastor of Christ's Bible Church in Pleasanton California returning for his weekly coronavirus update followed by biblical application on how we as Christians are to respond to this pandemic and I also want to remind you about something that I mentioned earlier on in the program coming up in August Pastor Mac Tomlinson my guest today is hosting the

01:14:18

Fellowship Conference New England which is an annual event that he holds. He has at least two of these events

01:14:26

I believe one in Texas and the other one that I'm mentioning now is in Portland Maine obviously the other

01:14:34

Fellowship Conference would not be New England but this one is at the Deering Center Community Church in Portland Maine August 6 through the 8th

01:14:43

Fellowship Conference New England featuring Dr. Joel Beakey and Reverend Jeff Thomas two of the finest expositors of the scriptures alive today and if you want more details on that go to fellowshipconferencenewengland .com

01:15:03

last but not least folks if you love this program and you don't want to disappear from the airwaves please

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01:16:27

click support then click click to donate now if you want to advertise with us as long as whatever it is you are promoting is compatible with what we believe you don't have to believe identically with me but you need to be promoting something compatible with what we believe then please send me an email to chrisarnsen at gmail .com

01:16:45

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01:18:32

Bible -believing church and you're not even prayerfully looking for one please rectify that situation please send me an email if you need help finding a church send the email to chrisarnsen at gmail .com

01:18:44

and put I need a church in the subject line I have lists of biblically faithful churches all over the world including

01:18:50

Providence Chapel in Denton Texas that you can visit and hopefully join or if you are doing so if you're contacting me to recommend a church to a loved one who is in a certain part of the world where they are unaware of a local

01:19:08

Bible -believing church well I can possibly help you no matter where you or your loved ones live on the planet so please send me an email to chrisarnsen at gmail .com

01:19:19

and put I need a church in the subject line that's also the email address where you could send in a question for pastor

01:19:29

Mac Tomlinson we are discussing corporate prayer and our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com

01:19:38

chrisarnsen at gmail .com and as always give us your first name at least your city and state of residence and your country of residence if you live outside the

01:19:50

USA and pastor Mac we normally only give the first name and city and state or country of a listener when they send in a question but when a pastor of a biblically sound church sends in a question

01:20:07

I like to give them a little plug whenever possible and this is somebody that you know he says tell brother

01:20:14

Mac his boy Anthony is tuning in and that's

01:20:19

Anthony Quagliata pastor of Christ Fellowship in Patchogue Long Island New York and by the way folks if you want to look up that congregation on the internet the website is

01:20:31

Christ Fellowship LI standing for Long Island dot com Christ Fellowship LI dot com

01:20:38

Pastor Anthony Quagliata says why does there seem to be a lack of stress of prayer meetings today among those who go by the label reformed when there are such rich examples of the reformed forefathers who stressed it it's a great and important question

01:20:58

Anthony thanks for tuning in I don't have all the answers about that I think

01:21:03

I alluded earlier you know reformed believers love theology so much and they rightly should and can be given to cerebral issues of thinking studying discussion we love that it stimulates our mind and it obviously should get into our affections and our heart the truth of it but I simply think prayer prayer meetings together are too difficult they're too hard they're too demanding on us to get real to get humble to get transparent it's much easier to discuss

01:21:50

Christianity in an appreciative way than to get down and pray

01:21:58

I just think that's the bottom line answer but the only way to learn to pray is the old fiery preacher

01:22:07

Leonard Raven who used to say the only way to learn to pray is to pray the only way churches are gonna fulfill the biblical example and mandate to be houses of prayer is for them to pray there's no shortcuts so Anthony that's the best answer

01:22:25

I could give really but Chris let me go back to something real briefly you ended that break by talking a lot about recommending churches actually the church in Portland Maine that actually hosts the conference is redeeming grace fellowship of Portland the

01:22:49

Deering Center Community Church very graciously donates their building and their facilities for the conference but Redeeming Grace Fellowship of Portland is the host church annually for the conference and anyone in and around Portland Maine that wants to find a biblical reformed church

01:23:12

Redeeming Grace Fellowship of Portland is there they're a loving church family they're passionate about the true gospel and reformed truth so yes

01:23:25

I want to put in a plug for them they're the host church of the conference well thank you

01:23:31

Anthony and keep listening to Iron Shepherd Zion Radio and keep spreading the word about the program to your congregation in Patchogue and beyond I don't want to break your stride there but I think it's an important issue to ask why is it so difficult for Christians even those that are seasoned

01:23:56

Christians on fire for the Lord why is it so difficult for us to pray what is it about praying that on the on the surface seems like a very easy easy thing to do why is it in actuality difficult difficult and of course there are those who love praying for the wrong reasons there are those who love almost to put on a theatrical performance when they pray to show off to everyone hearing them how eloquent and how pious they are and in fact that is even something that is condemned in the scriptures that when people are praying publicly especially just to get the attention of others but but why is it for those who are praying for the right reasons and with the right motives why is it so hard well again it's a harder spiritual discipline think how easy it is to read good theology to read biographies to read and think and talk how much we love to talk about ourselves or our views our opinions it's very easy for a group of young reformed guys let's say young couples in a church they love to fellowship they love to talk about theology and the things of God and discuss the

01:25:27

Bible but it's altogether a spiritual discipline it's harder to get down and actually pray

01:25:35

I don't know exactly fully why but when you think about what real prayer is we know we're on serious ground we know we're praying to the living

01:25:47

God so if we're going to truly pray we have to humble ourselves we have to be real and transparent we know our conscience tells us

01:25:59

I need to be right with the Lord because if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me and so we have to be spiritually in tune and right to be able to truly pray and I just think prayer is hard on the flesh

01:26:20

I mean think if you say I want to have a good time of prayer and you set aside even 30 minutes five minutes into it we're distracted we're thinking about today's activities we're we're thinking about oh

01:26:36

I didn't make my bed or all kind of thoughts come to distract us from prayer and so it really is

01:26:44

I think the most difficult spiritual discipline that there is probably we have

01:26:53

Harrison in Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania who wants to know when we pray are we changing

01:27:01

God's mind are we turning him away from doing something that he was planning to do but we stopped him in his tracks and reversed his decision by means of our prayer it seems at times that when we read

01:27:18

Old Testament accounts specifically that that is actually what is occurring well it's a deep question a very theological question and obviously we know

01:27:31

God is immutable he doesn't change but we also know he has decreed and ordained prayer as a means of working in the earth of working in the church through the church and so God initiated he's commanded prayer and we know he answers prayer it was striking to me one time that every single time in the

01:27:58

Old Testament where there was a wicked king or a wicked person or a good king that ended up messing up every time they humbled themselves and cried out to God, God relented from doing what he was going to do so I don't think it means we're changing

01:28:20

God's mind but Matthew Henry even said when God purposes to do a reviving work he sets his people to praying and so I don't think we need to figure out the full theology of that I think we know you know scripture interprets scripture, scripture is the best interpreter of scripture we know categorically

01:28:42

God has ordained prayer as a means of grace we know categorically he's actually hearing us when we pray 1

01:28:50

John says this is a confidence we have in him that if we're asking anything according to his will he is hearing us and if we know that he's hearing us we know we have the petitions we desire to him we also categorically know that God answers prayer so many verses say that O thou that hearest prayer to thee shall all flesh come so these foundational pillars in the

01:29:20

Bible tell us God is a living God he's ordained prayer, he's in covenant relationship with his people he's commanded them and invited them to pray we can come to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help so I don't think we need to figure it out we just believe

01:29:40

God, he's actually hearing us and he's told us he will answer think of this in the uproom discourse

01:29:48

John 14 to 16 at least eight times I believe the

01:29:54

Lord Jesus told the disciples ask and I will answer ask and the

01:30:00

Father will be glorified ask that your joy may be full the marching orders in the upper room to the disciples were the

01:30:12

Holy Spirit's gonna come and be in you and with you and you're now not praying to me you're gonna pray to the

01:30:21

Father in my name and he will answer you so I just think we don't need to rationalize away by theological philosophy those promises about answer to prayer we just know the

01:30:39

Bible reveals that we serve a prayer hearing and answering God who takes seriously the cries of his people together okay we have actually somebody in Maine with a question

01:30:55

John in Bangor Maine says let's see here

01:31:01

I just had the question right in front of me oh here it is I know that the text in Matthew chapter 6 verse 7 is not talking about corporate prayer but I was wondering if we are wrong in expecting

01:31:18

God to answer answer prayer more powerfully when multiple people are praying the reason why

01:31:26

I say this is because as you know in Matthew chapter 6 verse 7 it says but when you pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking that's the part of the verse that I'm wondering about are we wrong to expect greater and more clear and vivid and powerful answers to prayer because there are many people speaking to God well

01:31:57

I would try to do a simple brief there's a uniqueness to the people of God gathered together praying

01:32:05

God hears the cries of his children when they're alone in the closet we know that but when his children are gathered together like 2

01:32:15

Chronicles 7 14 if my people call by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face when a body of believers the church is united in agreement in prayer there's something very special about that because it it represents the church at prayer be it a local church so what

01:32:44

God doesn't hear us for the multitude of our words or vain repetitions but Luke 11 and Luke 18 teach importunate prayer to continue to ask very clearly and even there where the

01:33:01

Lord said there in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 ask and keep on asking seek and keep seeking knock and keep knocking its present tense importunity so it's that's not vain repetition to keep asking in vain repetition would be empty mechanical ritualistic ritual praying like the

01:33:28

Roman Catholic Church is very well known exactly you know so yeah well thank you thank you

01:33:36

John and remember I don't know how far Bangor, Maine is from Portland, Maine but can't be that far of a drive why don't you keep somewhere on file or perhaps tacked to your refrigerator or something the website

01:33:51

Fellowship Conference newengland .com and maybe we'll see you there in August for that conference just one more question from an audience member before you continue we have

01:34:05

Arnie in Perry County Pennsylvania who asks could it be that one reason that makes corporate prayer valuable is that there are some among us more righteous than others and in James obviously in chapter 5 verse 16 we are instructed confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that ye may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much yeah well obviously scripture says and I quoted earlier if we regard iniquity in our heart the

01:34:46

Lord will not hear us but every true Christian who's been cleansed by the blood of Christ justified by God's grace is in right standing with God in their justification then we're to walk in holiness and a love relationship with Christ so every

01:35:06

Christian is a righteous person and so I'm not sure if James is speaking about progressive righteousness where a holy man a godlier man than I has more praying ground

01:35:24

I don't think so I think he's just talking about true Christians that are living for the

01:35:31

Lord the fervent and effectual prayers of any righteous person are very effective they avail much well are our prayers hindered or thwarted in some way when we are in a state of being backslidden well

01:35:49

I would certainly believe that's the case again if I regard or hold on to iniquity in my heart my life the

01:35:58

Lord I'm not on praying ground prayer is relational and so I must 1

01:36:06

Corinthians 7 I think it says or is it 2 Corinthians having these promises beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness from the fear of God and so unconfessed unrepentant of sin in the life of a believer will hinder answered prayer because the first thing that has to be dealt with is the sin and because a conscience of a

01:36:37

Christian will be hindered by their because they know they're praying to their father and the sin has affected the relationship so the sin must be dealt with before we with confidence are on praying ground well

01:36:56

I want you to now continue on the train of thought that you'd like to pursue before we take our final break which will be a shorter break than the others but if you could continue for several minutes at least and while you're looking for your place

01:37:15

I'm going to repeat our email address Chris Arnzen at gmail .com Chris Arnzen at gmail .com

01:37:21

if you'd like to send in a question give us your first name at least your city and state of residence in your country of residence if you live outside the

01:37:28

USA okay Mac are you ready very good yes yes yes alright so perhaps in this final few minutes we can just get real down to the nuts and bolts and the practical thinking about this there's pastors or church leaders out there that have a prayer meeting but it kinda seems dead or lifeless they kinda don't know what to do or churches or leaders that truly believe it's biblical that churches should be praying together but they have no prayer meeting let's just think about that a little bit let's talk about what constitutes a true prayer meeting

01:38:14

I do not think a pastoral prayer however good it is on the

01:38:21

Lord's Day or Sabbath morning service where a pastor or man of God leads in a pastoral prayer that's not a prayer meeting a church prayer meeting is only when believers are praying together so what some churches call a prayer meeting is perhaps a

01:38:43

Tuesday night, Wednesday night or whenever Saturday night they might have a 45 minute sermon or bible study and then they have perhaps 20 minutes of prayer requests that normally consist of things like please pray for Uncle Bill's bursitis it's really hurting him or pray for my

01:39:04

Aunt Millie's backache or my granddad is going in for some medical tests or my neighbor's being rude to me

01:39:12

I'm just discouraged pray for me we pray for these smaller things that are important to us but they're not urgent prayers they're not kingdom type prayers they're not they're not coronavirus atmosphere type prayers so then after the 45 minute bible study the 20 minute of prayer requests then there's often five minutes of the pastor praying for those things and nobody else prays because they're not allowed or they don't know how to pray out loud that's not a church prayer meeting so if we, if pastors view prayer is important how can we preach on prayer to the church and its importance if we don't even have a prayer meeting or we're not trying to reform that area in fact now we have to go to our final break which will be much much more brief and the email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com

01:40:19

chrisarnson at gmail .com don't go away we're gonna be right back with the conclusion of our discussion with Pastor Mack Tomlinson on corporate prayer right after these messages from our sponsors

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01:47:14

Welcome back, and we do have a question from Bobby in Hartsdale, New York that I think would be ideal to clarify something that you said before the break,

01:47:24

Pastor Mac. He says, it is common to hear from Reformed pastors especially that we should not dominate our prayer meetings with prayer about healing, but sometimes

01:47:39

I think we can go overboard with that and we play into the hands of our charismatic and Pentecostal friends who make the accusation that we downplay

01:47:49

God's power to heal in this present day, and I think that they may be right on some occasions.

01:47:56

Can you please respond with your own thoughts on this? That's a very good question, and I think he's truly right.

01:48:06

Reformed Christians and churches should not be reactionary wrongly to Pentecostalism.

01:48:14

Let me give you a couple of examples. I want to spend some time briefly here in a moment giving testimony about God's grace and how

01:48:24

He's helped our church pray over the years, but seven years ago, we began praying.

01:48:33

A dear family in our church, the lady's nephew, Logan, a two -year -old boy who lived in Alameda, had serious cancer.

01:48:44

It looked terminal. I don't remember all the details, but it was very serious, and our church began to weakly pray for Logan.

01:48:52

Every prayer meeting, we would pray for him fervently. Now, did we know the secret will of God?

01:49:00

Did we know the eternal decree about Logan? No, but we don't have to to pray.

01:49:06

We're told to pray. We're told to cry out to God. We're told that He'll do mighty things, things we haven't thought about, and so we prayed weakly for Logan for,

01:49:19

I know, probably a year, and he came out of it, and now he's a healthy nine -year -old boy.

01:49:28

That was seven years ago. It looked like he was going to die, so I believe firmly we should pray for healing and leave the results to God.

01:49:39

God has the wisdom to know, obviously, how to answer prayers for healing. Does He heal everybody?

01:49:45

No, but He will heal if we pray, so we can ask in faith and leave it to the wisdom of our

01:49:54

God how He's going to answer prayers for healing. In fact, a prayer for healing that was answered by a friend of mine who

01:50:04

I have not heard from in many years, but he was, I believe, the very first successful liver transplant, and he recalled an incident at a prayer meeting at the

01:50:20

Pentecostal Church where he was a member, and he couldn't believe his ears because he was facing a possible and even probable death due to his serious liver disease that he had, and after bringing this up in prayer meeting that the

01:50:39

Lord would spare him and heal him and give him a successful surgery, someone dared to pray that their pool, their swimming pool filter would be repaired.

01:50:55

That's pretty, I don't even know how to describe somebody that would come up with that kind of a prayer after hearing somebody basically pleading for their life to the

01:51:05

Lord. Right, yeah. Just one quick question before you go on.

01:51:12

The book of James instructs elders to do something that seems to be lacking greatly in Reformed churches today, and that's the laying on of hands, the anointing with oil, and so on.

01:51:25

If you could just quickly respond to that. Yes, well we do that when it's requested.

01:51:32

James says, is there any sick among you, let them call for the elders of the church, let them anoint them with oil in the name of the

01:51:40

Lord, let them pray, and the prayer of faith will heal the sick, the

01:51:45

Lord will raise them up. I do believe it's not just symbolic, it's right, but the oil is symbolic of the grace in the presence of God.

01:52:01

Why James says to anoint them with oil is simply the fact that that oil is a biblical picture of grace and of the

01:52:12

Holy Spirit. David said, I shall be anointed with fresh oil, etc. So we do that in our church if we're asked by someone who's sick, and it's not, you know, a sore toe, it's something that's serious, it's life -threatening, it's a serious matter.

01:52:35

If they ask us to pray for them and anoint them, we do right in the service. Our elders will gather and anoint them, pray for them, because we take that passage in James seriously.

01:52:49

Well, Mack, I want you to have the rest of the program uninterrupted to really have etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners what you most want them to remember about corporate prayer today.

01:53:01

Well, I just want to kind of give a testimony, a brief one, I'll be brief as possible, because I want this to encourage pastors or elders out there who would like to see their church be more of a praying church, they don't know where to start, they don't know exactly how to implement that.

01:53:20

Our church, Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas, is an imperfect church, a growing church, a loving church, where the prayer meetings are real and they truly are spiritually vibrant.

01:53:34

For 20 years in our church, the other founding elder,

01:53:40

Philip Neely and I, who founded Providence Chapel, now we have five wonderful, well, four other wonderful elders and me, our prayer meeting has been a priority in the church.

01:53:53

A typical prayer meeting is we sing a couple of hymns, we instruct briefly with a word of exhortation or encouragement, often we'll teach at our

01:54:08

Sunday school hour at different times, we'll teach on what it means to pray together publicly, to help believers who are too timid to pray or afraid to learn to take baby steps, because once Christians who want to pray out loud in a prayer meeting, they break the ice and they pray something simple because others are praying, they break through, it gives them confidence that they can pray, that nobody's going to judge their prayers.

01:54:38

So we sing a couple of hymns in any prayer meeting we have, then we take urgent, important spiritual prayer requests, but we only allow brief time for prayer requests, we don't need the details, we just want an important prayer request, somebody's help that's very serious, a kingdom -minded prayer, prayer for other churches, prayer for missions, prayer for lost family members, lost relatives or neighbors, specific prayers, not prayers like,

01:55:19

Lord bless your church and save the lost, but not general prayers, but targeting real needs, that's how we do our prayer meetings.

01:55:29

So we'll sing briefly, we'll share briefly five or ten minutes quickly of important prayer requests, and then we pray.

01:55:40

In our prayer meetings we have three a week, normally when the church is meeting together we have three prayer meetings every

01:55:49

Wednesday as the saints are gathered under the leadership of one of our elders in a prayer meeting, but now we're praying by Zoom with five prayer meetings, and we pray 45 to 60 minutes regularly, just consistently.

01:56:09

An elder will start the prayer time and someone else will pray and then they'll stop and someone else will pray one after another, brief targeted prayers.

01:56:21

Now we must, believers need to remember that praying in a prayer meeting is not time for your private devotions, people can start praying too long and about self, and I think

01:56:34

Spurgeon said one time there was a brother who started praying, when he began to pray we were praying with him, the longer he prayed we began to pray for him, and then finally we were praying against him that he'd stop.

01:56:51

So self -centeredness can quench the spirit of a prayer meeting, so we don't do our private devotions there, but Chris we've seen over 20 years, now we're approaching probably a thousand prayer meetings in our church over the past 20 years because we've had one every week, and we've seen hundreds of answers to prayer.

01:57:19

I mentioned Logan, the young boy, one of our elders mother -in -law was in four -stage bone cancer, and we prayed for her for four months, six months, eight months, every week.

01:57:37

Why? Because we knew God was going to heal her? No, because we loved her, and because the church,

01:57:43

Christ calls His people to cry out to Him and pray. So we prayed for her close to a year, and she went into remission, she showed up at our church on Sunday morning, she wasn't a member of our church, she showed up, she looked so healthy

01:57:59

I didn't even recognize her, but I'd known her for years, and in tears she stood and shared with our congregation how much gratitude she had to the

01:58:09

Lord for our prayers. Now the encouragement, the encouraging things in our church is young people who are 10, 14, 16, they now have grown with confidence to pray out loud in the prayer meetings with respect, in order, with humility, and sometimes with real tears.

01:58:35

Now Spurgeon said the prayer meeting should be the boiler room of the church, and Spurgeon had several hundred on Sunday mornings in the basement of the tabernacle in prayer while he preached.

01:58:51

Now, in closing, there's pastors out there who are discouraged about prayer, and I'm available to encourage any of them if they want to reach out to me.

01:59:00

I don't have all the answers, but we have Bible Real prayer meetings, and God can give a spirit of prayer if you just begin to do it two at a time, three at a time.

01:59:11

The Holy Spirit will create true prayer meetings. Amen. Well, thank you so much,

01:59:17

Pastor Mack. And by the way, folks, Pastor Mack will be returning tomorrow. That's Wednesday, the 29th of April, and this time we're going to be discussing loving pastoral care, so make sure you tune in tomorrow again to hear more of the biblical wisdom of my dear friend

01:59:34

Pastor Mack Tomlinson of Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas. And once again, the website for that congregation is providencedenton .org

01:59:43

providencedenton .org. I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater