Why Are We Here?

The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) calls us as the church to re-focus on our real purpose - making disciples of Jesus Christ.


"Spiritual Amnesia" is the term author Paul Nixon uses to describe what happens when a church forgets its purpose. This review of Nixon's book will give you a brief overview of Nixon's work.


Even big business can suffer from amnesia. In his book Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends On It, author Al Ries contends that "companies that lose their focus through diversification and over-extension may see a short-term boost in revenues, but inevitably suffer in the long run."


Here are some symptoms of spiritual amnesia (noted in a message by Rev. Rick Sitton, Methodist pastor in Lumberton, Tex.):
• Tradition becomes more important than people
• Prayer is no longer a priority
• Worship becomes simply a duty
• We forget the next generation


Better known for his book The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren also wrote a book called The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission. This page will give you an overview of some of the concepts found in Warren's book, and how they are put into practice in local congregations.


Andy Stanley has focused on the strategy called "invest and invite." Here is a sermon by another pastor - "Outreach: Invest and Invite," by Darryl Dash - that develops this concept - it will be useful to you in understanding the implications of the Great Commission for our lives and for our church.


This story - "The Parable of the Life-Saving Station" - is another good example of spiritual amnesia.


What did the great thinkers of the ancient church have to say about the Great Commission?

Jerome (4th century): "What a marvelous sequence this is. He commanded the apostles first to teach all nations and then to baptize them in the sacrament of faith and then, after faith and baptism, to teach them to observe all that he had commanded. Lest we think these commandments of little consequence or few in number, he added 'all that I have commanded you,' so that those who were to believe and be baptized in the Trinity would observe everything they had been taught."

Chrysostom (4th century): "He promised to be not only with these disciples but also with all who would subsequently believe after them. Jesus speaks to all believers as if to one body. Do not speak to me, he says, of the difficulties you will face, for 'I am with you,' as the one who makes all things easy. Remember that this is also said repeatedly to the prophets in the Old Testament. 'I am with you' is spoken to all these people.

"He is in effect saying, 'These difficult things that you will undergo are soon to be finished with this present life. For this world will come to an end. But the good things you are to enjoy are immortal, as I have often told you before.'"

What Jesus Had to Say About Prayer

Read what Jesus had to say about prayer in Matthew 6:5-8 and Luke 11:1-10.

Remember - when Jesus instructs us to go into our rooms and shut the door for prayer, he is not instituting a rule or regulation - rather, he is sharing with us a principle. He lived out this principle when he went out into a secluded place outdoors to pray. For us to grow in our prayers, we need to pay attention to the "when" and the "where" of our prayers. Certainly God hears our prayers "on the run," but a healthy prayer life needs time and attention!

If prayer is not about convincing God to do things my way – but about God convincing me to do things his way – consider praying with your eyes open, with your Bible open, and with a pencil in your hand.


The words of what we call "the Lord's prayer" are not magical words. Again, Jesus is not giving us a regulation - but a principle. Whichever version you use, the words in the Lord's prayer help us to focus on important aspects of prayer, namely...

1 - Declaring God's greatness (Father, hallowed be thy name)

2 - Surrendering your will (Thy kingdom come)

3 - Acknowledging your dependence (Give us this day...)


The odd story in Luke 11:5-8 teaches us the importance of persistence in prayer. There are several situations in which persistence in prayer may truly pay off:

1 - Sometimes we finally get what we have been praying for

2 - Sometimes persistence in prayer changes us

3 - Sometimes we may realize that we have been praying for the wrong thing all along


Finally...to summarize Jesus' teachings on prayer...remember these things:

1 - KEEP IT SECRET – go into your room and shut the door

2 - KEEP IT SIMPLE – don’t worry about big words – remember what the Lord’s prayer teaches us - to declare his greatness, to surrender your will, and to acknowledge your dependence on him

3 - KEEP IT UP – because God honors persistence


You should be seeing that we are talking about developing a real and vital relationship with God in our prayer life. This website on developing passion in prayer may be helpful to you.


Read what Oswald Chambers had to say about praying to God in secret.


John Wesley had these things to say about prayer, commenting on Matthew 6:

• Hypocrisy, or insincerity, is the first thing we are to guard against in prayer. Beware not to speak what thou dost not mean.

• There is a time when thou art openly to glorify God, to pray, and praise him, in the great congregation. But when thou desirest more largely and more particularly to make thy requests known unto God, whether it be in the evening, or in the morning or at noon-day, "enter into thy closet, and shut the door." Use all the privacy thou canst.

• Do not use abundance of words without any meaning. Say not the same thing over and over again; think not the fruit of your prayers depends on the length of them.

• The end of your praying is not to inform God, as though he knew not your wants already; but rather to inform yourselves; to fix the sense of those wants more deeply in your hearts, and the sense of your continual dependence on Him who only is able to supply all your wants. It is not so much to move God, who is always more ready to give than you to ask, as to move yourselves, that you may be willing and ready to receive the good things he has prepared for you.

Read further from Wesley in this sermon.


Why are prayers sometimes not answered to our satisfaction. Scripture records a number of possible reasons for what appears to be unanswered prayer:

1 - Issues of timing. Read Luke 1:5-17 - Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed many years for a son, but with no apparent answer. But it was simply an issue of timing!

2 - Holding on to sin or unforgiveness within.

If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened. (Psalm 66:18)

When you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too. (Mark 11:25)

3 - Failing to be persistent in prayer. In Luke 11:5-10, Jesus teaches about the importance of persistence.

4 - Disordered relationship in our marriages. At least for men, the way we treat our wives may be connected to the power of answered prayer (see 1 Peter 3:7).

5 - Doubt. James 1:6-8 reminds us that doubt can be a hindrance to seeing the power of answered prayer.

6 - Wrong motives.

Even when you do ask, you don't get it because your whole motive is wrong--you want only what will give you pleasure. (James 4:3)

7 - How we treat the poor.

Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need. (Proverbs 21:13)

Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing. But a curse will come upon those who close their eyes to poverty. (Proverbs 28:27)