4/26 Life

​A House of Prayer for All Peoples
(ISAIAH 56:1-8)
 
Pause & Reflect
 
1 Thus says the Lord:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
for soon my salvation will come,
    and my righteousness be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this,
    and the son of man who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,
    and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

1. [v.1-2] *Biblical principle – A PRAYING HOUSE IS A RIGHTEOUS HOUSE – prayerfully doing what is right. We cannot pray because we do not do what is right before God’s eyes. The LORD has given His invitation to everyone who thirsts, to come and drink of His waters, to come and eat without price, to seek Him while He may be found in His Word that never returns empty (chapter 55). Now, His exiled people need to respond in holiness and righteousness. His people are called to do what is just and right before His eyes – to come into right relationship with Him. In so doing, they will be blessed. The main way the LORD desires for them to do this is to keep His sabbath (“day of rest”) holy, not profaning it. By keeping the day of rest, a righteous relationship with the LORD is restored. For Christians, this “day of rest” is Sunday – the third day on which Jesus rose from the dead. Keeping this day holy and set apart from any other day of the week is a critical pattern that God created for us – after the pattern of His finished creation as He too rested on the seventh day – to cultivate rest and a right relationship with Him.
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – If what we pray has not moved us to what we do before God, have we really prayed? What right thing before His eyes do you need to do today?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – How important is the “day of rest” (sabbath) – resurrection Sunday, the LORD’s Day – to cultivating your right relationship before God? How important is it to cultivating a life of prayer? We live in a day and age when “Sunday” is just part of the “weekend” to be casually used as break, an off-day, an extra work-day, a self-pampering day, a fun-day, etc. How must followers of Christ prayerfully live counter-culturally to keep resurrection Sunday holy and set apart for our vital rest and righteousness before the LORD? What does it mean to keep this day holy?
   3. *FOCUS QUESTION #3 – How is the one “who keeps the Sabbath” and the one who “keeps his hand from doing any evil” related to each other? How is sin and evil at our doorstep when we do not take seriously the Sabbath-rest day, being restored to Jesus in Word and prayer within His worshipping community of the church?
   4. *FOCUS QUESTION #4 – The Bible defines prayer as the declaration of God’s judgments, words, and thoughts upon an evaluation and contemplation of one’s self before God (biblical Hebrew term “tefillah” means to execute judgment, to keep accountable). In the New Testament, prayer is defined similarly as the direction of making an unceasing vow towards God’s judgments, words, and thoughts (biblical Greek “proseuche” means towards (pros) a vow (euche). Prayer means to awaken new desires for God, to change our misaligned thoughts towards God’s thoughts, and to move us toward an unceasing vow – both the one we make to the LORD and the LORD’s unbreakable covenant promise to us in His Word. How do these definitions redefine what prayer is to you? How can you pray more widely and deeply with this incredible gift of communication God has given us through prayer?

 
3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
    “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say,
    “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose the things that please me
    and hold fast my covenant,
5 I will give in my house and within my walls
    a monument and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
    that shall not be cut off.

1. [v.3-5] *Biblical principle – A PRAYING HOUSE IS A COVENANTED HOUSE – prayerfully inseparable from the LORD and His covenant family. Prayer never betrays the assurance that we surely belong to the LORD and to one another with an everlasting name. When the LORD calls “everyone” who is thirsty to His fountain of living waters, He means “everyone”! Up to that time, it could easily have been misunderstood that the LORD God was only the God of the ancient Israelites, but this was never His heart from the beginning. The LORD longed to graft all nations into the Israelite covenant community, creating our blessed community today called “the church.” Foreigners do not have to doubt their union to Jesus and His people. Eunuchs (who remained single all their lives serving the king’s interests) are not hopelessly forgotten, but they have a name better than sons and daughters. When we pray and live righteously before the LORD, His righteousness strings together all kinds of diverse people into a covenanted house. We are part of each other and everyone is needed for our sanctification into the likeness and image of Christ.  
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – Is Hosanna Church a body of Christ where someone can say, “The LORD will surely separate me from His people”? Are there ways we are betraying the assurance for the one who has “joined himself to the LORD” that he/she truly belongs to Jesus and His people? How are we in constant battle to break cliques, to forgive each other, to include each other, to love one another as Jesus did – even to death on a cross? How can we spur one another on to belong to Jesus and to His church? How can we cheer and encourage one another to great covenant – covenant partnership with the Lord’s church here at Hosanna and covenant with one another? Without covenant, will we ever experience true Christ-centered community and becoming His family for each other?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – “Eunuchs” are also mentioned here as those who sense they are insignificant, lifeless, and do not belong to the LORD and His people. Eunuchs were disallowed to participate in the temple (LEVITICUS 21), remaining single their entire life in order to serve the king’s interests. They would have no children, yet the LORD promises within the walls of His house “a monument and a name better than sons and daughters.” This is true of the Ethiopian eunuch ministered to by deacon Philip (ACTS 8) – his faith is long remembered in the scriptures to this day. For this AGAPE young adult family, many of us are single and may stay single for a long time, like eunuchs, or may not have progeny of our own. How is this perfectly okay, not to be despised, and even precious before the LORD? For others, the LORD is surely calling you to covenant with an available godly man or godly woman, to increase His image upon the earth. Are you pursuing and obeying that covenant call from God with the grand purpose to increase His everlasting name upon each other? Whether foreigners or eunuchs, young adult singles or married, how can we live in greater covenant – unbreakable promise and commitment – before the LORD and with each other?

 
6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
    to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
    and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
    and holds fast my covenant--
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,
    and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
    will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
    for all peoples.”
8 The Lord God,
    who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him
    besides those already gathered.”

1. [v.6-8] *Biblical principle – A PRAYING HOUSE IS AN OPEN HOUSE – prayerfully gathering others to Him besides those already gathered. Prayer cannot divide, but it must gather all peoples into His house to love His name. With righteousness and covenant, God’s house can be an open house for all to enter, to join themselves to Him, to minister to Him, to love His name, to be His servants, and to keep the sabbath day of rest in His house with one another. The LORD will bring all who thirst for this to His holy mountain – His house of prayer – to accept their sacrifices and offerings in worship on his altar. The LORD will accept our prayers, for we will be His house of prayer for all peoples. God’s heart is concerned for the outcasts – those still yet to be gathered. As we pray, our hearts too should be moved for those yet to be gathered into this blessed covenant and righteous community – His beloved church.
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – The late theologian William Temple once said, “The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.” Both individually and corporately as Hosanna, are you an open door and open house to those yet to be gathered? Is there a mission to AGAPE life group – a clear direction of why you do what you do in gathering, breaking bread, being devoted to His Word, fellowship, and prayer? Is the end aim to bring still others yet to be gathered – whom God desires to gather into Hosanna – cultivating, preparing that house for them? Yes, the church and our life groups need to be concerned about member care, but do our hearts beat with the LORD for non-member care, those who have yet to believe, yet to trust in Jesus as their Savior and King, yet to partner fully with His church, whose names are still unknown?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – The vision of Hosanna Church is to be a mosaic of vibrant, diversifying, multicultural, and multiplying transformed lives in Jesus Christ who bridge diversity among families, generations, cultures, languages, and backgrounds into the mosaic of one transformed gospel community unified to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (MATTHEW 28:18-20). We do this by three strategic initiatives to: (1) gather north Dallas into a mosaic of life-giving covenant community; (2) grow God’s family in a transformative personal relationship with Jesus Christ through a reconciled relationship to one another; (3) go into all the world as His ambassadors, unified for the mission to be disciplemakers of all nations and equipped by the empowerment of His holy Spirit. The first strategic initiative is to gather. Without gathering, there is no growing, and consequently there can’t be any going. It doesn’t work backwards either – you can’t be going anywhere, until there is organic growing, that is first rooted in faithful gathering. How can our gathering not be like how Costco gathers people to its stores for the benefit of its members? How can we gather for the benefit of non-members, and train more to step into membership for the benefit of ministering to non-members? How is prayer central to this gathering?
   3. *PRAY THESE SCRIPTURES:
      1. Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. (JEREMIAH 33:3)
      2. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (JAMES 5:16)
      3. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (JOHN 15:7)
      4. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. (MATTHEW 18:18-20)

 
The central truth of this word was –
Will we make God’s house a den of robbers or a house of prayer? You are His praying house! Don’t just say your prayers – act on them! One central way is to honor the day of rest (sabbath) every resurrection Sunday to belong to your local church – an eternal family He created to assure us that by Christ Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice, we are forgiven! We belong to Him and each other with a name better than sons and daughters! Share this! Step into deeper prayerfully acts of righteousness and covenant so that His house may be an open house for those yet to be gathered in! May God gather all whom He desires!

– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 
Apply & Be Doers of the Word
 
(1) First, if we’re going to be a praying house, we need to keep the sabbath day holy – keep the day of rest – the resurrection Sunday Lord’s day – holy. There’s a reason why this cycle of weekday and weekend is in place. Build your days and family around this holy day. Keep it holy by doing what is right before His eyes. You need Jesus and you need Him through others who need Jesus too. Commit to your local church and get involved the life of the church.
 
(2) Learn to pray. Learn to declare the thoughts and words of God. You can’t pray to God more than what you don’t know about God. We pray so little because we know so little. Remember praying is a self-evaluating action to align to God’s thoughts and Word, to move us to an unceasing vow towards what it says. Declare what you learn not only to yourself, but to one another. See how the truth of God’s judgments, thoughts, and words work itself out through life.
 
(3) Pray for those who do not believe. Through praying, God moves circumstances and people around us to help those who still have yet to be gathered to hear and trust in Christ Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Pray for the nations and those Christians who are persecuted – this keeps our hearts and focus on His mission to bring all peoples into His house.
 
 

Holy Spirit Moment & Group Prayer
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray for one another.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)
 
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. (GALATIANS 6:2-5)
 
For the body does not consist of one member but of many... The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 CORINTHIANS 12:14, 21-27)
 
- Jeong’s (Jake, Amanda)
- Lee’s (Sam, Heidi)
- Aiden Song
- Deborah Ko
- Kristen Lee
- Patrick Liu
- Brian Pak
- Samuel Park
- Trey Reynolds
- Tyler Lee
- Edward Jeon
- Johann Lee
- Eugene Hong
- JR Reynolds
- Brian Joo
- James Han
- Winnie Kim
- Philip Oh
- Hana Lee
- Rachel Ko (preschool assistant)
- Hanna Kang
- Soo Nam (Dallas Police)
- Eunice Kim (UT Austin)
- Jedidiah Lim (Louisiana)
- Jeff Park (California)
- Doug Kang
- Stacy Hong
- David An
- Daniel An
- Alice Jeon
- Ashley Min (UTD)
- Mike Choi (drummer, Jeff’s cousin)
- Eric Lee (UTD)
- Lisa Jeon
- Brian Yoon
- Jennifer Chung (UTA)
- June Kim (TWU)
- Hannah Kim (UT Austin)
- Hogan Lee (TCU)
- Steven Kwon (A&M)
- Benny Son (UT Austin)
- Esther Ko (UT Austin)
- Daniel Lee (UT Austin)
- Aaron Lee (Houston, postgraduate optometry)
- Alex Koh (Houston, postgraduate dentistry)
- Matthew Ahn (UT Austin)
- Yura Ahn (UT Austin)
- Katie Han (New York)
- Emily Han (Austin)
- Jung’s (Jae, Mary) – Boston, MA
- Hanbit Kang (Austin)