Frontline Prayer

We have been encouraging everyone to go a prayer walk in their community. People can go with their group, a friend or spouse, or by themselves.

It is important that we consistently seek the Lord through prayer, but often times we get stuck in a pattern of simply petitioning God for our felt needs and those of others. There is not anything wrong with it. But it can make you weary of prayer if 90% of your prayers are, "Lord please help _____." This is what C. John Miller calls maintenance prayer. It is often short and mechanical focused on physical needs of people in the church.

But Miller also notes there is "frontline" prayer: prayer that is expectant, hopeful, challenging, transforming, and a cry for the kingdom of God to come. Frontline prayer involves three things:

1) A request for grace to confess sins and to humble ourselves

2) A compassion and zeal for the flourishing of the church and the reaching of the lost

3) A yearning to know God, to see his face, to glimpse his glory

There are remarkable Biblical examples of this. Famous passages of truly powerful prayer are Nehemiah 1; Exodus 33; Daniel 9; and Acts 4 (the Elders and I used Daniel 9 as a guide in a planning retreat we did last fall for this year). Throughout Christian history, moments when God brings a fresh movement of his people have come with "frontline" prayer. God is sovereign in his acts of grace but he rarely moves without moving people to pray, to see his kingdom come, to humbles ourselves and seek his face. I know my own prayer life needs to be more frontline focused and less routine maintenance.

I have become convinced in my studies on prayer in recent months that we need to do more "Frontline" prayer. This is why I am challenging everyone to go on a prayer walk and use the simple guide we have available in our lobby.

Why Prayer walking? It gets you out of the routine. As Christians we ought not to live as though there is no connection between the spiritual and physical. Therefore Christians, and missionaries especially, throughout history have walked through towns, villages, cities, and bare soil asking God to bring conviction of sin, compassion for people, to see his kingdom expand and to see his face.

So get out, walk around, take a little time to see your neighborhood and pray for your neighbors. Pray for things you notice. Pray God would move our hearts and create opportunities to share the love of Christ with people in word and deed. Pray with expectant hearts that God would bring a fresh wind of his grace.

Pastor Chris

*The information on frontline prayer here has been taken in part from Tim Keller, Center Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), p. 73.

From Pastor Jason: Sunday Mornings Are Changing at Dwell!

Last night the elders and I sensed God’s leading to finalize our plans to end the Sunday morning gathering at Grant Academy. That means that on Sunday, August 4th we will begin to have a single weekly worship service at 9:30 AM at Dwell Willow Glen. We will continue to host a service at both the Children’s Recovery Center (CRC) and the Saratoga Subacute Facility (SSF) once a month. (In fact more exciting news is in the works concerning this important expression of our church. Stay tuned …) Though we are working on a few changes including Sunday morning times and scheduling in the fall, during the month of August we will stick with a 9:30 AM gathering and an 11:15 AM Sunday class hour for the entire Dwell family. 

Though on the surface this may seem like a significant shift in our approach to ministry I think it is best to view this change as a refinement of our primary purposes, and strategies used to accomplish those purposes. We are seeking to share Jesus with our neighbors in Willow Glen … on Sunday mornings, through Gospel Groups, various events, and especially in everyday life and work. We are also still seeking to share Jesus with our friends at the CRC and SSF … through prayer, consistent connections, and monthly gatherings. And we’ll continue to share Jesus with our neighbors and friends downtown … through a pioneering Gospel Group, various events, and in everyday life and work. As we dwell in Willow Glen, at the CRC, at the SSF, and in downtown San Jose we will continue to share Jesus. By God’s grace he will continue to build his church. And last time I checked, not even the gates of hades can hold him back.

Peace … 

Pastor Jason 

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Dwell still urgently needs help with Kids Club and the Harvest Carnival! Please be praying that God would provide for these needs. And if you are interested in either of these ministries, please email Noelle at office@dwellsj.com.

A brief guide to Hebrews, 11:8-21

By Faith they sought a heavenly city

There is no question Abraham is a massively important figure in the Bible.  Naturally, the writer spends a large portion of chapter eleven talking about Abraham and his descendants.  The story of Abraham begins in Genesis 12 (his genealogy appears in 11), climaxes in Genesis 22, and continues until his death in Genesis 25.  In the Bible, he is the quintessential picture of a life of faith.  God’s covenant with Abraham included two things: land and descendants.  Both of these were hugely important to ancient people and intimately connected.  Hebrews stresses Abraham took God at his word at every turn and obeyed God, having faith he would provide land and descendants.  His life was a nomadic one and he never settled in the land God called him to but he never returned to the land he was called out of.  Isaac and Jacob also had opportunities to return to their father’s homeland but did not, even though they too never really settled in Canaan.  They all died in faith, which the writer argues reveals they were not trusting in a earthly homeland but a heavenly city built by God himself.  God miraculously provided a son, Isaac, through Abraham’s wife Sarah even though both of them were close to death and incapable of having children.  For years, Abraham struggled to follow God and was by no means perfect in trusting God, but he never gave up hope.  The climax of his life is when God asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac.  It appears that God gave a command contradictory to his promise, but Hebrews testifies that Abraham believed God was capable of resurrecting Isaac.  Romans 4:20-21 tells us Abraham’s great faith is demonstrated in that he considered the conundrum between God’s command and promise to be God’s problem to sort out.  Abraham merely took God at his word and obeyed.  Thus, while he never saw the full promises of God fulfilled, he saw them in part, for he was given a son and God always provided what they needed to stay in Canaan, particularly when the Hittites gave him a place to bury Sarah (Gen. 23:4).  Isaac and Jacob both passed on the promises of God to their descendants and maintained faith throughout their lives, even though they faced their own challenges and struggles with God along the way.

By Faith demonstrated righteousness

What should be understood is not just the great faith the patriarchs had in God and his promises, but also that they were flawed characters whose faith in God enabled them to do what was right at critical times.  They left Ur and never returned.  Abraham permitted his nephew Lot to take the seemingly better land (Gen. 13).  He did not take the spoils of war and tithed to the righteous worshipper of Yahweh, Melchizedek (Gen. 14).  God considered him righteous on account of his faith (Gen. 15), and Abraham obeyed God when called to sacrifice his son (Gen. 22).  Isaac ensured that the promises and blessings of God were passed on to his son Jacob, even though Esau was overlooked (Gen. 27:27-40).  Jacob blessed his two grandsons by Joseph with the blessings and promises of God (Gen. 48).  None of them realized the full promises of God, but all of this reveals they were not trusting in a temporal city, but an eternal one that God himself would build.

A brief guide to Hebrews, 11:5-7

By Faith Enoch

Enoch is an obscure biblical character that stands out in Genesis 5:18-24 (cf. 1 Chr. 1:3; Lk. 3:37).  He is also quoted in a strange passage in Jude 14, but Hebrews does not rely on the same sources as Jude for stories about Enoch.  Enoch is most well known for a strange event: that he “was taken up so that he should not see death.”  The old King James renders it rather literally, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” The word metatithemi (taken up or translated) has the meaning of being transferred or put in another place, thus implying from earth to heaven.  He walked with God, and as a reward for a life lived by faith, Enoch didn’t die (for the differences between “walked” and “pleased” see footnote).

Enoch’s life of faith was rewarded by presence with God.  Enoch is the only person in Genesis 5 who is not simply mentioned as being born, having an heir and then dying.  This points to the reality that God was providing hope for the faithful beyond the grave.  This naturally transitions into 11:6 where it says, “without faith it is impossible to please God.”  It is not because someone is righteous that God is pleased with them, but because they trust in God by faith he is pleased.  The relationship with him becomes the source and motive for their personal righteousness by his grace through faith.  But where some may go wrong here is thinking that belief in God in general is sufficient.  This is inconsistent with Hebrews as a whole and the particulars of this verse.  One must believe in the God of the Bible as he has revealed himself through Christ (Heb. 1:3).  It is faith in this God that results in salvation for those who diligently seek him.

By Faith Noah

Noah is a much more familiar person in scripture (cf. Gen. 5:28-9:27; 1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5).  Verse 11:7 harks back to 11:1, about believing in the unseen, with Noah’s faith that a flood was coming.  He took God at his word and made preparations despite how ridiculous it seemed to his contemporaries.  He feared God and became an heir of righteousness that comes by faith.  The language of being an heir of righteousness has been used in Hebrews before concerning Jesus as the heir of all things (1:2).  Like the other people mentioned so far, Genesis makes no mention of Noah’s faith, but merely that he found favor in God’s eyes and walked with God.  Noah’s building of the ark both reveals the condemnation of the world and his faith in God’s word.  Therefore, the flood becomes a symbol of the eternal judgment of the wicked and the salvation of the righteous (cf. 1 Pet. 3:20).  Like Abel and Enoch, Noah’s faith and righteousness are inseparable.  It is easy to look back into the OT stories and conclude God was pleased with some people because they were good.  But God was pleased with them because they had faith in him and they acted in accordance with that faith.  Their actions demonstrated their righteousness.

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^{1 Hebrews consistently quotes Septuagint (LXX).  The LXX is a Greek translation of the Old Testament commonly used in the first century.  It has a tendency to make the language less anthropomorphic and exalting the transcendence of God.  So in this case the anthropomorphic language of “walking with God” is translated from the original Hebrew to the Greek as “having pleased God.”}

A Brief Guide to Hebrews, 11:1-4

Overview

Hebrews 11 is a well known chapter, and beloved by many Christians.  It depicts the “heroes” of the faith.  It begins with what characterizes faith (11:1-3), examples of faith from Abel and Noah (11:4-7), of Abraham and his descendants (11:8-22), of Moses (11:23-28), and of other OT saints (11:29-40).  The dominant theme throughout Hebrews is the superiority of Jesus to various aspects of Judaism.  This theme has not been abandoned, for the faith of these saints was in the promises of God which have been brought about by Christ (cf. 11:13-16, 39-40).  We have a tendency to think that all these people had supernatural faith, but really it was not the quantity of their faith but its quality.  Lets look more closely at what is said about faith in the first verse.  The issue involves two key words: “assurance/confidence” and “conviction/assurance” (ESV/NIV).  The root words are hypostasis and elenchos.  Some may remember that hypostasis is a key word used by the early church fathers in settling debates on the Trinity and the Incarnation (recall the hypostatic union – two natures in one person).  This word appears in Heb. 1:3 as nature (“he is the exact imprint of his hypostasis”), and in 3:14 as confidence (“if indeed we hold our original hypostasis”).  So, is the old KJV right in stressing the objective nature of faith and rendering it “substance” (hypostasis) and “evidence” (elenchos)?  Or are modern translations correct in stressing the subjective nature of faith and rendering it “assurance” and “conviction?”  The problem here is when people tend to see this verse as a definition of faith.  This is troublesome because it does not clearly state what the object of our faith is – Jesus Christ (cf. 12:2) – so people tend to describe faith as something to maintain in the absence of evidence.  The overall context ought to be our guide in clarifying the sense of a word.  Therefore, I think Ellingworth is correct when he states: “It is more natural, in the light of the chapter as a whole, to think of v. 1 as a summary of what faith does: faith binds the believer securely to the reality of what he does not (yet) see, but for which he hopes,” (Ellingworth, 566.) This combines the objective and subjective elements of faith.  Hence both translations are correct, which the overall context ought to make clear.

Abel as the first example of righteousness by faith

It is worth making a brief comment about Abel (Gen. 4:1-10; cf. Matt. 23:35; 1 Jn. 3:12).  Why was Abel’s sacrifice better than Cain’s?  Some have speculated it was because of the type of offering that was given.  Others have argued it was because Abel offered “firstfruits” and not leftovers.  Neither is satisfactory because the crucial idea is that righteousness and faith cannot be separated.  The sacrifices God approves of are not determined by the content of the offerings, but by the content of one’s heart.  Biblically, it is clear that the righteous will live by faith.  Because God says Abel was righteous it must be true that he obeyed out of faith.  Not because he thought he was worthy, but because he knew God was worthy.

¹ Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1993), 566.

A Brief Guide to Hebrews, 10:1-39

Overview

This chapter has two parts.  The first finishes the section (8:1-10:18) on the significance of Christ’s sacrifice which inaugurated the New Covenant.  The second works out the implications of Christ’s sacrifice for our lives (10:19-39).  The law was not able to bring spiritual transformation in a clean conscience; the sacrifices did not clean the internal stain of human sin.  Christ’s sacrifice accomplishes what the law and the sacrifices could not.  Thus, Christ’s sacrifice is unique because his offering was obedience and his own blood (10:1-18).  Obedience is what God always desired and this is what makes Jesus’ sacrifice applicable to everyone and effective for anyone.  Salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone because his sacrifice is utterly unique.  Because of this, we have the full assurance of faith to obey God in love (10:19-26).  But we must be careful not to reject it through continuing in sin (10:27-31).  This is the fourth warning of Hebrews and among the most difficult to unpack.  The warning is that to continue in sin with knowledge of the gospel is to be worthy of God’s judgment.  Unrepentant habitual disobedience reveals that one has rejected the gospel and is not a Christian.  However just like before, the writer of Hebrews trusts his readers are not those people (10:32-39).  Regardless of the positive characteristics he has seen they must continue to endure by faith.

The Implications of Christ’s unique sacrifice

Hebrews is not simply arguing for the superiority of Jesus Christ to Judaism, but to all religions and worldviews.  If salvation from the human condition and access to God can not be achieved through moral or spiritual accomplishments, then no religious devotion is good enough.  Christ’s sacrifice is “once for all,” (Heb. 10:10).  He offered his body up “for all time,” (10:12).  “By a single offering he has perfected for all time” those who are being saved (10:14).  The finality and sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice not only makes the old covenant sacrifices obsolete, it also means salvation is found in Christ alone.  The uniqueness of Christ’s sacrifice is what makes its reach so universal.  The hardest message to communicate today regarding Christianity (and the same one that got Christians martyred in the early church) is that Jesus Christ is the only savior.  He is not just the savior for Jews, but also for gentiles.  There is a plethora of reasons why people, and even Christians, do not want to believe this.  How can Jesus be the only way when he has not revealed himself to all?  God chooses whom he wills (Rom. 9).  Nevertheless, Paul argues this is why God saved us and called us to evangelism (Rom. 10).  How can all these good people who are so devoted to another faith be wrong?  Their problem is not just moral, but spiritual.  No one is righteous and no one does what is good (Rom. 3).  At the same time, God alone is the judge; he will judge people according to the light they have received (Rom. 2:12-16), and he will do this in light of who Jesus is.  Is it not arrogant to say you are saved and not any other person?  One has not understood Christian salvation if it has become a source of pride and not humility.  We are saved not by knowing more, or doing more, or by being good, but by grace alone through faith alone (Eph. 2:8-10) which enables us to do good.