The Bulletin of the Church of Christ at New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor	October 28, 2007
In This Issue: More Than Just Enough by Steve Klein When Your Prayers Don't Get "Past the Ceiling" by Don Miller BACK TO INDEX	More than Just Enough     In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenges us to go beyond the commonly accepted norms of righteous living.  In Jesus' day, the scribes and Pharisees were regarded by many as the religious standard.  If you lived as they taught, your religion would be acceptable.  But Jesus taught that "unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20).  What was regarded as "acceptable religion" was in fact unacceptable.  What was thought to be "enough to get by" was actually falling far short.    As an example of how the Sermon on the Mount challenges us to go above and beyond the accepted norms, note Jesus' words in Matthew 5:38-41: "You have heard that it was said, 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'   But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.   If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two."   An "eye for an eye" was not good enough. Allowing one cheek to be slapped was not enough either.  Giving away your tunic was not enough.  Going one mile was not enough.  What Jesus demanded was far more than what the average religious person was doing.  He expected you to turn the other cheek, to give up your cloak and to go the second mile.   In our day, most people would say that someone who goes to church once or twice a week, gets his Bible lesson, offers thanks before meals and tries to be a good neighbor is doing plenty enough to go to heaven.  That's the standard of today's scribes and Pharisees, but it's not the standard of Christ.   In everything, the Lord expects us to be a cut above the ordinary - not doing just enough to get by and not satisfied with the bare minimum.  We are not just to read the Bible enough to enable us to fill in some questions on a Bible class lesson sheet. God's word says, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). We are not just to help out occasionally in the work of Kingdom; we are to "be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58). We are not just to pray at meal time, but to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and to "be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6).   God wants children who are not satisfied with just an average ordinary level of service and spirituality.  He wants children who not only love each other, but who are also striving to "increase more and more" in their love (1 Thessalonians 4:10).  He wants children who not only know His will, but who are always "increasing in the knowledge of God" and who are determined to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (Colossians 1:10; 2 Peter 3:18).   In short, the Lord expects excellence of us, not mediocrity.  "As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight." (Psalms 16:3). Are you rising above the ordinary? -- Steve Klein    When Your Prayers Don't Get "Past the Ceiling"   I remember this statement being made time and time again when I was a young boy growing up in Limestone County.  In my young mind, I would picture a person's prayer bouncing off the ceiling right back at him and never making it to God. Later on I realized that, spiritually, this is true; sometimes our prayers are never heard by God.  In this article we will look at just a few cases of when this is true. "Mourner's Bench" Religion: Some believe a person can "pray through" for salvation.  The Bible doesn't teach that sinners cannot pray - they're just not saved by prayer.  "What about Paul?" some may ask.  True, he fasted and prayed three days in Acts 9:9-11.  Yet, he was not saved until he obeyed the gospel by being baptized to wash away his sins (Acts9:18; 22:16). Others argue that Cornelius prayed to God; he did (Acts 10:1-4).  He was a devoutly religious man.  He was generous to the poor and prayed to God always. God heard his prayer (Acts 10:31).  Was this evidence that he was saved?  No! In Acts 10:33, he said he was there to hear what was commanded of God.  He had been instructed by an angel to send for Peter to tell him what he ought to do (Acts 10:6) and "words" whereby he might be saved (Acts 11:14).  The only thing recorded that he was commanded to do was to be baptized into Christ (Acts 10:48). If he had to be told words and commands whereby he would be saved, what was his condition prior to that?  If there was ever a person who could "pray through" for salvation, Cornelius was the one. He, however, still had to obey the gospel to be saved, and so do we.  If we are depending on our prayers to save us, then they are not getting "past the ceiling." The Unrepentant: We find in John 9:31 that "God heareth not sinners." A person who is determined to live in sin will not be heard by God (Psalms 66:18). Our iniquities will cause God to turn His face from us (Isa. 59:1, 2), and He will not listen to us if we will not listen to Him (I Pet. 3:12). If you are a Christian and have gone back into sin, refusing to repent, then your prayers won't get "past the ceiling." The Hypocrite:  Don't you just love and respect someone who professes to be one thing and practices the opposite? Are you willing to listen to those who pray for things they have no intention of doing?  Of course not, neither is God (Matt. 6:5-8).  If you or I profess to be righteous but live unrighteous lives, then our prayers won't get "past the ceiling." Those Who Refuse To Forgive: (Matt. 5:23, 24; 6:14, 15; 18:35).  If we won't forgive one another, we may as well stop praying for forgiveness ourselves. Recent-ly, a concerned sister came to me about two Christians who attend the same congre-gation, yet they refuse to talk or even acknowledge that the other exists.  Will the Lord allow us to enter heaven to be together for eternity when we can't forgive one another here in this life? Absolutely not! (Matt. 6:14, 15).    In order for our prayers to be acceptable to God, they must be offered "in faith" (James 1:6), and we must be living in a way that is pleasing in God's sight - according to His commandments (I John 3:22). Finally, they must be according to God's will (I John 5:14). The question to be answered by you and me is this - are my prayers getting "past the ceiling?" -- Don Miller Via Great Plainness of Speech Vol. II, No. 8, September