VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace Churches with our executive director. Mark, for any who are following the podcast, they would know that the last episode that we recorded, you were encouraging us on the topic of faith and the vital need for faith, especially in the life of a pastor. Well connected to that and just to continue in this vein, we wanted to talk today about the most significant expression of faith, which is the practice of prayer. And you had a quote you wanted to share with us to encourage us.

Mark Prater:

I do. I got thinking about this quote again this morning because I opened my inbox and there were just issues there and problems that needed to be solved and they felt beyond me. And I just thought, I've got to pray, got to pray. And we all feel that as Christians and certainly pastors face things like that routinely, just issues that you are needing to lead through or help people with and they feel beyond you. And isn't it good that we have a God who hears our prayers?

And one of my favorite expository commentators is Dale Ralph Davis, and he writes this in his commentary on the book of Judges. He says, this, "Yahweh's hearing, God's hearing, is the most crucial matter for all prayer. When God listens to our voice, we must never respond with a yawn. We will trivialize prayer whenever we forget the repeated miracle. It involves the gracious condescension of the kingdom of glory, who stoops down, stoops down to listen to our verbs and nouns, our adverbs and questions, our groans and tears." That's a wonderful quote because it reminds us of this repeated miracle every time we go to God in prayer; that he stoops down and he listens to us and then he answers our prayers according to his good plans and his goodwill. That is an amazing thing that we can't trivialize, that should never become routine. The fact that God hears us and acts on our prayers in just wonderful.

And I wanted to share that because as you mentioned Ben, we talked about the vital role of faith in pastoral ministry. And one of the wonderful expressions of faith is that of prayer; we are men and we're Christians, you're a member of a church listening to this podcast, you feel that need that we have when we don't know what to do, but our eyes are upon you, as the Old Testament talks about. And we go to God and we go to prayer. It is a miracle every time we do because God hears us. It's amazing,

Benjamin Kreps:

Amazing. Amen. Great. Very encouraging. And as this podcast drops into whoever subscribes to the podcast in their email, it'll be coming the Monday before the Pastors Conference. So one week before the Council of Elders convenes the following Monday. And so as we prepare to gather together in Florida a week after this podcast drops, of course there's always a lot for us to pray about. So much need. We need God to work. You and the leadership team and everyone involved has worked very hard. You're putting forward your best effort. I'm confident of that. And yet at the same time, unless God meets with us, unless he moves, we labor in vain. So what are some things you would encourage us to be praying for as we head toward the conference?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, just with the conference, the Council of Elder's meeting just a week away, It's not just prayer, it's desperate prayer. It's Lord, please do what only you can do. Move in ways you can only move and work in ways that you can only work. And prayer is so important to so much of what we do in Sovereign Grace, I think to all that we do in Sovereign Grace, including our partnership. And that's what the Council of Elders meeting represents. It's an important meeting for our partnership. That'll be on Monday, November 4th. And so pray that God would give us wisdom, the pastors of Sovereign Grace, who join together to make decisions, to strengthen our partnership, pray that God would give us wisdom in those decisions. And as we debate through them and sort through them, ask the Lord to give us unity in those decisions so that it will best serve our churches and so that our mission together will glorify God. So that's on Monday, November 4th. Just a couple of ways to pray.

And then pray for the Pastors Conference, my favorite conference of the year. The leadership team and I love leading that conference because we want to focus on encouraging and equipping and caring for the pastors and wives and leaders from our churches who come to that conference. That is our heart to do, but we can't do that apart from the Lord's work, as I mentioned earlier. So pray that God would move in such a way that every pastor and wife attending, every leader and wife attending would go home encouraged and strengthened. And may we all go home with just a bigger vision of God and how good he is. Pray that all aspects of this conference would be used for the glory of God because he alone is worthy.

Benjamin Kreps:

Amen, when we pray in that way and with great expectation. Looking forward to being together in Orlando very soon. Also, guys be praying for Mark in his role and the unique weight he carries as he leads that conference along with the rest of the leadership team. Before we end this conversation though, we wanted to talk a little bit more about the topic of prayer because before the podcast as we were discussing about what we wanted to talk about, really felt that the Lord was leading us in a specific direction and wanted us to zero in on the need not just generally for folks to pray, but pastors to pray. I mean all believers are invited to the great privilege of prayer, but for the pastor, there certainly is a unique calling to pray when it comes to our role in serving the church as pastors. In fact, we are called to the ministry of the Word and prayer, job description time. And so in that you want to encourage, before we're done here, you want to encourage pastors specifically about this area just a bit more when it comes to prayer.

Mark Prater:

And like you, Ben, I'm grateful the Lord led us this way. Wasn't our plan coming into this podcast, but I believe he's leading us this way to focus in on this prayer request and here's the prayer request. Father or Jesus, fill me with the Spirit. It's that reference to Ephesians 5:18, "be filled with the Spirit". Pastors know it's written in the imperative mood. So it is a command and it's written in present tense form. So it is an ongoing, daily, some I think, hourly need for us to be filled with the Spirit. And I think that's important for us as pastors because all that we do is work that only God can do. And you realize that, obviously, the longer you're in pastoral ministry.

So we need the Spirit to fill us because we need the helper's help. Jesus referred to the Spirit as the helper in his farewell discourse. We need the helper's help, divine help, in all that we do. And we need the Spirit's power. We need divine power to do what we can't as men. We're not that strong. We're not that wise, we're not that good, but the Spirit is, and we are to be filled so that we can receive divine help and divine power so we can serve the people of our church with in a way that strengthens them and in a way that brings God glory. So I just want to encourage guys; pray often, be filled with the Spirit.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. Amen. I mean the reality is there are seasons in the life of pastor over the course of a life of ministry where I know what this is like. And I think some other guys can relate to this, where we're busy doing the work of pastoral ministry and freely, eagerly giving Jesus to the people that we serve; praying for them, preaching to them, while at times we can find our own souls dry, we can feel distant from God. And so your encouragement is most helpful especially for any pastors that are checking out the podcast that are like, yeah, I know Jesus is for the people I serve, having trouble feeling that personal experience with him in prayer. And so to pray and ask to be freshly filled with the Holy Spirit and to know the glory of a text like Psalm 145, which speaks of the greatness and splendor of the kingdom of God and the king overall, and in verses 18 and 19, the promise that the Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on him in truth, he fulfills the desire of those who fear him. He also hears their cry and saves them. I mean, what a wonder. I mean just apply that Dale Ralph Davis quote immediately in this text. But we do want to encourage pastors to feel and know and experience God's nearness in their work, even in seasons of challenge and critique and all manner of struggles that happen in pastoral ministry. We pray with the promise that God is near to us so near to us, he wants to fill us with His Holy Spirit. And so let that be an encouragement.

Mark Prater:

Yeah. It's one of the wonderful works of the Spirit to point us to Christ and to then treasure Christ. JI Packer has this great quote, I'm sure guys have heard it in his book, Keep in Step with the Spirit, which is basically that the Spirit works to shine a spotlight on Jesus and the Spirit never works in a way that says, look at me, come to me. He's like, no, look at him. Go to him, meaning Christ. And when our souls are dry that way we need the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Spirit gives us power and directs our attention to him in a divinely powerful way that we all need as Christians, but certainly as pastors who can be in a place that you just described so well.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes, I mean, as a pastor going to pray in a season of distance, dryness, that simple prayer, I'm confident God responds to "Holy Spirit, show me Christ, show me more of Christ", which we know the Spirit is most eager to do in our lives. And perhaps that is the simple prayer that is most needed in a season like that in order for us to experience that nearness with God, fresh revelations of the glory of our savior as we move in prayer in pastoral ministry.

So thank you, Mark. Thank you for your consistent example and encouragement when it comes to prayer throughout the years. I can't wait to gather with everyone who's coming to the conference and to have a front row seat, to experience God answering our prayers that we will be crying out to God for his help over the next days as we head toward the conference. So thank you, Mark, for your encouragement. Thank you everybody for checking out the podcast. We'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. And welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, I think one of the most encouraging things in Sovereign Grace Churches are the opportunities that are expanding in Latin America. And in fact, you traveled to Colombia just last week to explore some of those opportunities. Tell us about that.

Mark Prater:

I did. I traveled with my friend Joselo Mercado that most of our listeners know. I also brought a couple of members from two different Sovereign Grace churches: Bob Wright from Covenant Fellowship Church and Victor Ko from Risen Hope Church in Prospect Park, Pennsylvania. And we traveled to Barranquilla, where we flew into, and met with a pastoral team and a church in that city who has some interest in potentially joining Sovereign Grace. We had a wonderful meeting with the pastoral team and then met with the church on Friday and just had a wonderful time with them. They've actually doubled in size during the pandemic, which is a story I'm hearing over and over again. Not only here in the states, but obviously in Colombia and it's just a wonderful gospel centered church. And so that was just a joy to be with them.

And then we traveled to Santa Marta. It's about a two-hour drive and spent time with Iglesia Biblica Soberana Gracia led by Jacobis Aldana. And that is actually a candidate church in Sovereign Grace because Jacobis who is the lead pastor is in our ordination process and hopes to complete his ordination exams in the spring of 2022. And Joselo and I taught a men's meeting on biblical manhood on Saturday. And then obviously we met with the church on Sunday; before the service I taught on our seven shared values. And then Joselo preached a wonderful sermon on suffering on that particular Sunday. And they were actually celebrating their six year anniversary as a church. And that is a church that has also grown during the pandemic. But the striking thing about that church is they are clearly imbibing our values and they get gospel centrality. Part of the way you see that is how the gospel outworks in their lives.

You see joy and Thanksgiving, and generosity and encouragement. And it's just a church that understands gospel centrality. So should they be formally a part of Sovereign Grace? They're just going to strengthen us. Let me just say one other thing. It is it is a joy to watch Joselo Mercado work in Latin America. He is a gift to our family of churches, and the way that he leads and preaches and cares for pastors and wives and members of churches. He really is very effective in what he does in that context. And I just thank God for him and the way he is serving Sovereign Grace.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. I mean, he's really a rock star down there, right?

Mark Prater:

He is. I just carry his bags.

Benjamin Kreps:

So thankful for Joselo. So you met with some pastors that are moving towards actual partnership officially in Sovereign Grace, but you also met with another man from Venezuela who actually overcame great obstacles and travel barriers to come and meet with you.

Mark Prater:

He did. Eduardo is his name, he's a pastor in Venezuela. I'm not going to give the name of the city, just partly for his own security and protection, but he traveled from Venezuela by bus. I don't know how many buses he was on, but I asked him, okay, just for the one way trip, how many hours were you on a bus? And he said 24 hours.

Benjamin Kreps:

Unbelievable.

Mark Prater:

And that was just very humbling. He traveled that far first to Barranquilla and then over to Santa Marta, just to spend time with Joselo and me. And he leads a church in Venezuela that has formerly requested adoption into Sovereign Grace. And just getting to know this man was in itself worth the trip. He's one of the more godly men I've ever met. And yet one of the most joyful men.

And you have to understand how amazing that is because of the context he's in, in Venezuela. As most people know, the economy is bad. There's also a fuel shortage of all places in Venezuela and Eduardo was telling me he's had to find different ways to lead and care for his church because he's in a city where people were traveling from different parts of the city to attend the Sunday service and with the fuel shortage, they're not able to get to the Sunday service. It's just too far to walk. So he's had to take the approach of establishing cell groups throughout the city, and then try to get to them to preach and to pastor and to care for them. So that's just one of the obstacles that this pastor is facing. And yet he is one of the most joyful men I've met. And if you're listening to this or reading a transcript, pray for Eduardo and his church in Venezuela.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. Well, what a wonderful opportunity to partner with men like that, and the guys that you met with over the past week. It's also wonderful to remember that even though we are in different parts of the globe, we all share the same gospel that God is working in and through to transform his people. And we get to watch and participate in all of that. So thank you Joselo and Mark for your work last week in Colombia and meeting with the Venezuelan man, pastor. And thank you all for watching. We'll see you here next week, Lord willing. Bye for now.