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(Sam Tillery)
Welcome everyone to City Reach Prayer.
We are the stars. We as Christians are the light
in this world, so as the kingdom of God becomes Petaluma,
the church must be awakened and allow that light into
our individual lives. Where you work, where you
go to school, the supermarket that you go to, and everyday
life, that is what God wants. People will see
the light and are drawn to it.
It just takes a little
bit of salt to add flavor to my food. Yours and
my presence as the church gathers in its various congregations
on Sunday or other times during the week. We
are scattered and we are supposed to be scattered as
we are salt.
I want you to think about that as Harry comes in
just a few moments to give us some direction as we
pray into Petaluma and that His kingdom would come. It helps ground us, rule, reign, govern, guide and manage; that is what it means in the scriptures.
I want you just to take a few moments and just examine
yourselves. Let’s pray, “God would you enable me to hear you tonight as to what you would have me to pray for Petaluma. How might I agree with those around me tonight as I move into different groups throughout the night?
With all of my concerns and all of these things that
might distract me, help me to hear you tonight God,
as I come as a spiritual watchman to intercede and
as we have gathered here, to hear direction." Heavenly Father, may we be focused on Jesus Christ and sensitive to your spirit, to be silent, listen and then to speak forth in regards to this wonderful city. Amen.
(Harry Skandera)
I am going to ask that you would consider this gathering tonight in a little different way. I am not sure that we are going to pray all that much, because I am going to ask you to think about this as Sam just did as we pause before the Lord tonight, about some specific things that we want to declare together in this place.
The Word of the Lord in this nation and over the church in this nation over the last couple years has been about calling His people to Himself and getting us to lay down the things that have divided us as a people. He has called us to a place of unity and that call was certainly reflected here in Sonoma County and I have even brought with me tonight some of the documents of what has occurred just over the last 7 years. Going back to the time of the Pastor’s Prayer Summit when various cities, especially Santa Rosa and Petaluma, had buried the hatchet. We have had such rivalries for so many years that we had shared a historical vignette about what had happened in the earthquake. I won’t go into the details, but the bottom line was that Santa Rosa was almost destroyed and Petaluma wasn’t. I don’t think that it was only because Petaluma wasn’t on the fault, but I think that it was other reasons too, but anyhow Petaluma had come out to help establish Marshall Law in Santa Rosa and the garrison that came up in here, came marching in with a casket with a label saying 'Santa Rosa' on it. Of course that was highly offensive, but it epitomized the feeling between the two cities and we shared that and the Holy Spirit fell on the group. The pastors from Petaluma felt convicted of the attitude that had been in 1906 and yet carrying that same attitude when some things had happened. For example when C.L.C. used to be the huge church there where Wells Fargo Center of the arts is now, had exploded and then imploded. There were so many people coming up here to go to church, even from Petaluma, that there were some gleeful attitudes about the explosion from the Petaluma churches. Well, they felt convicted of that and came and asked forgiveness from the Santa Rosa churches. As you all know, when the Holy Spirit shows up like that, it isn’t just falling on one side of the room, and the Santa Rosa Pastors were so humbled by that that they took some time out to consider what was the attitude in Santa Rosa that inspired such thought. We ended up going back and asking for forgiveness. Ever since that time, we have experienced the ability to work together and support one another in a great way. It is in the Spirit of the Lord that we have come here tonight and I believe that He wants us to continue and as we work in unity; what does that mean? What is possible when that occurs?
I want to take a few minutes and not to think as an individual person or as a individual in a particular local congregation, but as a citizen/person of Petaluma. I believe that just as God gives gifts to individuals, He gives gifts to cities. You can get into debates of scripture and whether that is so or not, but I can guarantee you that you can go and find different kinds of traits in different geographic locations that are very distinctive. You may not be a historian, but it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to go walk or drive into the city of Santa Rosa and walk or drive into the city of Petaluma and realize that there is a difference. I am not only talking about size, but there are tangible things that you sense and know that a community has a personality to it. I don’t think that is accidental. I think that if we will begin to think as a citizen of that particular city that we can consciously make some declarations that a city of a certain type could make that another city couldn’t make, with some authority before the Lord.
I believe that one reason that Sam and I do what we do, among other things, is that we are Santa Rosa’ns. Part of Santa Rosa’s destiny is to be an influencer. Santa Rosa is a city that influences other places and so this is very much in keeping with the in-giftment of a citizen of our city to come to other cities and stir things up and to encourage.
There are some negative things that go with that, but this is one of the positive things and I am always very aware, that when Sam and I come that we are operating in an anointing that is beyond what is our own personalities. It is something that we wear, because we come from Santa Rosa and there are things that you wear, because you come from Petaluma. If you're wondering if that can be so, I think that geography is very important to God. If you look in Acts 17:26-27, Paul says that from one man God created every man, and that He set the specific time and place for every person to live in. In light of that, I guess what I am saying is that as a Santa Rosa’n I might declare some things that have a little bit more authority, because those from Santa Rosa will have certain kinds of characteristics and in the same way there are some things that you in Petaluma can speak and release in a way and with more authority than someone from Santa Rosa could, so if you will just hang in there with me.
Petaluma is a place of resource. You’ve got the whole Bay Area. There was so much wild game here around the Petaluma river, that when the Goldrushers came in and Santa Rosa began to grow up as a city, a lot of the food came in through here. They would go in with boats and load up with venison and take it down to feed San Francisco and then beyond that. They didn’t call you guys the egg capital of the world for nothing. The whole incubator deal was basically invented here. There was a multiplication of resource that came out of this little town that effected not just the Bay Area, but the whole world.
In the Hebrew language there is no such word for coincidence, because there are no coincidences with God. I don’t believe that there are any coincidences about Petaluma being where it is and having been who it has been and you, Petaluma, are a resource. You may think to yourself, “I don’t have any extra cash to spread around;" it’s not about money. Before we leave this place, get in a group with a few people and whatever the Lord puts on your heart in terms of the rest of the people in your group and the other cities. Now what that all means, I don’t exactly know, but I know that God has some things that are on His heart in heaven and just like Sam said as we read the Lord’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," but those things that are in heaven have to find their way to the earth and what is spoken there needs to be spoken here. Everything starts with it being spoken. Just look again at Genesis. What is so important about prayer? It’s got to be spoken and that is what releases it.
Ok, so this may be a little different from your experience, it certainly is from mine, but do the best you can. Go ahead and break into small groups, and make sure that there is at least one person from Petaluma there.
(Sam Tillery)
As you are breaking into your groups, there are two words that I want to repeat to give you a focus during this time and they are 'release' and 'bring'. Use those words in your prayers.
(Prayer)
(Harry Skandera)
Ok, so in your prayer time, what were some of the things that came up? Let’s share.
Petaluma released to us a spirit of reconciliation that would bring unity in the Spirit and in the churches; a sense of unity among cities that would bring peace as we remember that Christ is our Lord and our Head, and a spirit of hope that brings a spring of life that wells up to bring much life and fruit.
Ok, would all of the People here from Petaluma stand up and come to the right side and everybody else come over here to the left? Now this has been so awesome and it is a demonstration of the unity of the body of Christ, and we need to be able to release and receive from one another.
Those of you who are standing here from Petaluma are literally representing the city of Petaluma. You are standing in proxy for them and you can speak forth/release from Petaluma to the others here.
Will all of the people from Sonoma please stand. Once each city releases to Petaluma what they will, then you will respond by saying, “Amen, we agree," and then you may sit down. Ok?
So we have heard from Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Geyserville, Sonoma, Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park.
There are some cities who are not here and we are not going to pray for them, not out of a spiteful thing, but there is something that everyone needs to hear and a shift in what’s happening. We all have those times when we get tired or distracted by other things, but we’ve got to sharpen to hear what things the Lord would have us to hear and know His priorities.
(Sam Tillery)
If you have your Bibles, turn with me to II Timothy 3:16 and as we read this, we are transitioning now and beginning to focus on the ministry here at St. John’s.
We want to commend you here at St. John’s for your stand upon the word of God. (Clapping)
Now, moving into II Timothy 4, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.”
That is not the case here at St. John’s. You have taken a stand that honors the Lord for all that He has done and all that His saints have sacrificed through the years in standing on the truth of the Word of God. It is something that you have to endure and yet now you have taken a stand and in this stand you are rebuking, reproofing and declaring the truth. As difficult as that rejection might feel from those who are moving in a different direction, our prayer is that eyes would be open to the truth and that what would be heard here at St. John’s would be what you stand for and not what you stand against.
I want us to pray short prayers and declare that that would be true. That in the midst of the sea of lies and distortedness that the communities might hear or fear, that God’s truth would prevail in these matters, so that the light and the salt that would come to this place would have great impact. Also, that those of us from Santa Rosa would speak with great influence into your stand, not only here in Petaluma and throughout this County, but throughout the world as you stand with others in this way.
So, I am going to ask if all of the Pastor’s would stand and each pray into these things briefly.
(Prayer)
(Sam Tillery)
Paul writes in Philippians chapter 1, “I thank my God every time I remember you.” Let me just put it this way, “We thank our God every time we remember you, St. John.“ Now, when we talk about St. John’s, we are not just talking about the Pastor, we are talking about you. The example that you have been to us goes far beyond, like a light going forth, tearing down the strongholds, because we do not cower, but we take a stand upon truth. Paul continues to write, “We thank our God every time we remember you and all of our prayers for all of you always praying with joy because of our partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now.” There is a growing partnership that we share in this County, with this body of Christ being diverse and different. That is where we get our word 'fellowship' from. Fellowship in the Gospel is our partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now. “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Now, jump down to his prayer in verse 9. “This is our prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless in the sight of Christ. Filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”
The body of Christ that expresses itself in Petaluma, may this be true more and more, heavenly Father.
I am going to ask Pastor Dave if he would come and share a little bit now more of specific insights as you are moving forward and we would love to know how we can specifically pray into this church and ministry.
(Pastor Dave Miller)
 Thank you for your blessings.
That same passage from Philippians, the first chapter, I was going to use that for my introduction this evening, but since Sam already used that, well, I won’t. It is really right on and in terms of our prayers, and I was going to end there in verse 7 where it speaks that it is because of our thanksgiving for you and our partnership in the Gospel and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, we have felt so uplifted by the body of Christ. As I mentioned at the outset, that the support and defense through all of this has made it such an easier walk with the kind of unity and support that we have had from the body of Christ here.
The three things that I wanted to begin with had to do with giving thanks. Some of you have been involved in a lot of attack and we want to give thanks that you guys have been praying. This is the second time that you guys have come here to St. John’s. You
were here three years ago when the crisis hit the Episcopal
Church and it was already on the calendar for you to
come that next month, and at that gathering Harry had
handed me a black flag.
 It doesn’t look very pretty and so, I was kind of wondering, “Well, what in the world is this about? What is this black flag?” What it has come to symbolize for us is that it represents God’s justice, and that is not a popular topic in our culture. People like to talk about the love and mercy of God, but you start to talk of His justice and that is the difficult thing, and about His judgment. It has come to remind us of the fact that along with the mercy and attempts at reconciliation and witness, which we have been attempting over the last three years, that we have felt that it finally reached a place where the leadership of this congregation, me personally and the congregation itself, that we could no longer serve under a leadership that was preaching another gospel. It was really time to say, “that cannot be”, because it wasn’t just the sexuality issue, that was just the presenting problem. The fundamental issue with the authority of the Bible and as it’s opened itself up, it is the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the very name of Jesus Christ that was being compromised by our national leadership. Many of them no longer believe that He is the only way of salvation and they make it sadly very clear. Our new presiding Bishop (not my Bishop) now of the Episcopal Church has stated publicly that very fact, but she’s just saying what is ripe throughout much of the leadership in the church, it’s very tragic. So, it hasn’t been easy, but the first that I wanted to say is if you would join us in giving thanks for the unity among the church leadership in the body of Christ Church for St. John’s, that is a gift and I am so grateful for that gift that God has given to this body and fellowship.
Secondly, that we would give thanks for God’s new call for us, the new direction that He has for this congregation as we have left. It’s not just the leaving that is important, but it’s the step in the new direction that He has for us to walk in.
Then, part of our going, and you can pick this stuff up afterwards if you’d like, It’s just kind of an extended press release of why we left the Episcopal Church and if you want these, you can take a look at that. In our going, the thing that has really been difficult for me is the whole thing about being under authority is very important to me. Being a man under authority and the Lord has used that in my life and taught me so much through that, so to leave an authority structure was not something that I took lightly, nor did the parish. So, when we left, we didn’t want to just become loose cannons in the body of Christ. In our moving, we moved under another authority structure and I don’t know if you have read our web site and some of the stuff that has happened, but according to the Bishop of this diocese, I am supposed to have renounced my order in the Episcopal Church and so he has deposed me as a priest and he sent a letter to me that I could no longer preach or celebrate communion in this church, that I was to vacate the premises, and that some of the leadership was as well. The vestry was supposed to vacate the premises and he was going to be appointing a new rector for this parish and new leadership for this congregation. These were very weighty documents to read. I had this other letter then to read to my congregation in response to what our Bishop did and it reads like this:
“In the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen. To the faithful in Christ Jesus gathered at St. John’s Petaluma, California, mercy, grace and peace be to you in abundance in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is my great pleasure to welcome and liken the Reverend David Miller as a priest of good standard in the diocese of Argentina and the Anglican communion through the province under my authority as Primus and Bishop of Argentina. By this letter, I confirm his role as the Missionary, Presbyter and Priest in charge of St. John’s Petaluma, California.” And then he ends with an exhortation to us. He states, “In today’s environment of such chaos in the Episcopal Church, let me encourage you to fix your focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” I cannot tell you how refreshing that is to hear that from an Episcopal. I know that it is the true Gospel that he is speaking about. We are called to proclaim Him boldly, serve people diligently, invite them earnestly and help disciple them into eternity. I am confident that you will all want to join in praying and working to extend the kingdom of God and transform people’s lives. There is an abundant harvest all around us.” This is from the most reverent Gregory J. V., residing Bishop of the southern corner of South America and also to Bishop of Argentina, so you can have a copy of this as well. It was very re-assuring to the congregation that I didn’t have to leave, that there was an Arch Bishop who trumped my local Bishop with the new orders (ha, ha, ha). So, I give thanks for this and for those in Argentina. We have a new theme song here at church, you know the song, “Don’t cry for me Argentina.” We give thanks for the unity, new direction and the new authority we are under. We are in a sense, temporarily parked in Argentina and welcomed and given shelter by them until things are sorted out here in the U.S. For your own radar, if you want to watch the news, February 12th -19th, Arch Bishop Gregory J.V. and 37 other leaders of the Anglican community are going to be meeting in Tanzania Africa, and they have a meeting that has to do with the whole communion and what is supposed to happen here in the U.S. and the Canadian provinces that have turned away from the Gospel.
Now, for us specifically, the first thing is right out of Revelations. The first request is that God would restore our first love, because we have been through the battle, we have stood for the truth, but there is the danger of us losing our first love in the process and we certainly don’t want that to happen, so please pray that God will restore our first love, that we will not become weary in our well doing, nor be short changing the Lord in our love for Him.
Secondly, that God would preserve our unity. The enemy wants to attack our unity, I can sense that. He is after attacking the unity in this fellowship, especially when we have come as far as we have.
Thirdly, that the Lord would defend us against our enemies.
Fourthly, that God would resolve the issue of the property in a God glorifying way. What makes our leaving so problematic is that we left with the property, so it’s an issue. The Episcopal Church wants this property. They don’t want us to have it. From their vantage point, we are stealing it from them. From our vantage point, we are preserving this property for the proclamation of the Gospel. This piece of property has been here since 1858. The church has been here since 1858 proclaiming the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. On this site, we have existed as a parish since 1856, but on this site, this property was given by a member of the church, it’s been maintained by this people for 150 years, and so we don’t plan on turning this property over and allow this to become a preaching station for heresy and error in this city. Please pray that it would be resolved in a God glorifying manner. I don’t think that going to court and we are not going to court, but for them to even take us to court isn’t going to glorify God, that’s just more mud in the body of Christ and so just pray that we can work it out with the Bishop of the Diocese in a God glorifying manner.
Pray that God would re-kindle the fire of evangelism and mission within us. Sometimes you can be so fighting the darkness that you forget to spread the light. We expend a lot of energy in this battle, so pray that God would re-kindle the fire of evangelism and mission through this battle.
Finally, pray that God would make us a disciple making congregation. That is right in our mission statement for our congregation, that God would teach us and lead us in being a discipleship making congregation.
That is a lot to be praying about, but that is what is going on and that is my heart right now.
(Harry Skandera)
 Ok, this is what we need. We need all of St. John’s people to come to the middle. I would like if everybody else would surround them on both sides. We are not going to take turns to pray. I just want you to touch the person that is in front of you and begin to pray for them all at the same time. I want you to thank the Lord for St. John’s and for the three things that Rev. David mentioned. The unity, humility and the new covering that they have manifested and received.
(Prayer)
(Harry Skandera)
We are going to continue to pray in this manner and we will now pray into the four requests given by Rev. David Miller.
(Prayer)
(Harry Skandera)
Lets take our seats for just a minute.
 In many ways, I think that St. John’s has epitomized the gifting of this city. You know, there are three kinds of givers, or maybe I should say three different kinds of blessers. Abraham gave a generational / foundational blessing. I believe that it is similar for Petaluma as well. We need you Petaluma. We need you to be who you are and to release what you have. In this day and age it is not an accident that the Lord would call on this church and the Spirit of the Lord would fall on this place and do what He wants to do through this place. You are foundational in your generation. I hope that is what you have received this evening and that the next time you go to prayer that you will remember this to pray about and into.
This 2007 is a year of multiplication and whoever we are and whatever we are, it is the time to release what the Lord has given us to release. The Lord will deal with what happens after that, we just need to speak it. This is a providential place to speak about God’s faithfulness.
(Sam Tillery)
Well, we are moving to the end of an incredible evening. We started out praying and thinking about Petaluma and then we moved to a very specific part of the body of Christ, that being St. John’s and now we want to close with a broader perspective. We are a County of churches and local congregations and as we think about that, as you leave here, realize that God is bringing together in a unique way the people of Sonoma County, under the blood and name of Jesus Christ to move into the nations and to influence this country as we march forward on our knees. We are posturing ourselves for revival and awakening and all of the wonderful terms that we use, and these come, because of two primary things. Humility brings about the unity. It ushers in the supernatural move of the Spirit of God, because we march on our knees. Now as we look at the broader picture, we are going to take an offering tonight for the Pastor’s Prayer and Ministry Alliance, which is really our home mission of bringing together the body of Christ to pray together and care for our communities together so that we can share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, if you would like to make your check out to P.P.M.A., that is what that will go into.
I have one more prayer request that Harry and I have to pray about. Harry and I are traveling the Country of Latvia a week from Wednesday where we will be gathering with leaders from America, Latvia and the Baltic states to talk about partnerships. I think that this is our third or fourth trip together, we go and give testimony to what God is doing here and to learn about how God is bringing together other communities and countries united in prayer. We have been blessed to go into Latvia on numerous occasions and share about what God is doing. It has sparked a move of God in that country and also from here a man named Rob Tomerson, a former pastor out in Sebastopol is now a missionary in Russia, the third largest city on Russia. They now have a prayer movement in that great city who have been praying faithfully every Wednesday morning for us here in Sonoma County. There is so much that God is doing, because we are praying and because of the stands that we are taking, we know that greater things will happen. We would ask that you would pray for us as we go there and represent you and we want to hear from the Lord as we go there and come back with some of the strategic things that the Lord would have us to learn. Those of us here in America don’t have the corner on hearing from the Spirit of God, actually it seems to be more so in other places, so we caution ourselves from not going in as experts, but going in saying, “ God, what do you want me to hear? What do you want us to bring back from these others who are walking through much more crises than we do and have a deeper expression of faith that we tend to struggle for.
So, I am going to ask just a couple of you to pray right where you are for Harry and I as we go to represent Sonoma County.
(Prayer)
Special Thanks to Christelle Eddy
who transcribed this document. |
