Part 1: Not if, When

Matthew 6:1–8 ESV

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

NEW SERIES CALLED… “AMEN.” all about prayer...

buckle up!

Get your notes out

Get your heart ready.

We tend to do series in our church because they give us a chance to dive deep into the word and FOCUS

So this series will be no different!

BEGINNING WITH THE LORDS PRAYER. (the one stop shop for anyone!)

We have done prayer series before..... but when we did: We SET OUT TO LEARN the Lords prayer - which is central in our approach to God in prayer for a variety of reasons which we will break down week in week out but the main reason is because JESUS handed the disciples and now us this prayer and when JESUS says “here yo go, this will work for you” thats probably a pretty awesome thing to grab a hold!

IF ITS GOOD ENOUGH FOR JESUS, ITS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!

So lets do that eight now, lets all say the Lords Prayer together:

Recite the Lords Prayer Together:

Matthew 6:9–13 (ESV)

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread,

12 and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Q’s this series will attempt to answer:

What is prayer.... Where did t come from & what is it

why do we pray....whats the point of prayer

Does prayer do anything? What happens when we pray

How should i pray? ....what exactly can i include in my prayers

What kinds of prayers are there (they are many & you need to know them)

How often should i pray?

WE WILL GET THE ANSWERS TO ALL THESE AND MORE AS WE GO ALONG HERE IN THIS BRAND NEW SERIES BUT HERE IS MY BURDEN FOR THE SERIES:

HERE IS MY BURDEN FOR THE SERIES:

thast we will...... recover the “Lost art”… the “mysterious supernatural rhythm” called PRAYER in our every day lives. and our JOY will abound because we simply pray more. ....The goal of the series is to get you excited about PRAYER ALL OVER AGAIN and get you praying more and hearing GOD and ultimately BEING CLOSER to God because your prayer life is greater and your connectivity is greater!

HERE IS ONE OF OUR MAJOR CONVICTIONS TO COME AROND:

write this down: “PRAYER DOESN’T GET ME WHAT I WANT, IT GETS ME WHAT GOD WANTS”

here is a three reasons & three points as we get some structure set up here for our new series as a church:

1.prayer is foundational

PRAYER Communication with God, primarily offered in the second-person voice (addressing God directly). May include petition, entreaty, supplication, thanksgiving, praise, hymns, and lament.

....The very basis of of our christian faith is rooted, is founded in this thing called prayer.

It starts with “the sinners prayer” or a prayer of invitation and accepting of His forgiveness. its done through PRAYER

....I love that THIS HOW IT STARTS OUT!

You cannot “walk” as a Christian without some form of prayer

Write this down: “Prayer is simply talking to God”

*story: i didn't grow up in a Christian home but my parents sent me to a christian private school where Priests ran the school and we would always have very written out formal prayers that we would recite, that we would say out aloud. they were beautiful, but they were dated, they were formal in their language and so they felt rehearsed and foreign to me. thats what i thought prayer was.

So when i was radically saved at 19, my prayers were extremely formal almost as though if they were though through and perfect God wouldn't accept my prayers.

That couldn't be FARTHER from the truth:

God Loves it when you pray.. and here is why… it opens up your line of communication with him.

“Prayer is two way communication”

You talk, You listen,

He speaks, you respond.

You Ask, He answers

He says something to you (impression iin your heart, or brought to min) and you do something about it.

BUT LETS NEVER FORGET HOW FOUNDATIONAL THIS IS TO OUR FAITH.

GODS WORD. HIS SPEECH. IS WHAT HAS CREATED THE WORLD. every thing we see, we touch, we comprehend to be real it all was created by the spoken word of God

Now i want you to think about your life......

EXAMPLE: When you were born and you began to grow.... you would “HEAR” speech… words… tone.. some of which we recognize is directed at us, some not but we hear it anyway.... and as you began to become aware of all this you noticed your parents were actually “SPEAKING TO YOU”… and you would eventually FIGURE OUT HOW TO SPEAK BACK.

DONT MISS THIS:

Its exactly the same with God and our spiritual lives & with prayer: Little by little as we read the word and we attend church and we spend time in worship when we are “little christians” our speech is shaped by the speech we spiritually hear over and over

tone after tone

syllable after syllable

word after word

sentence after sentence..

verse after verse...

AND WHAT HAPPENS IS....

and what happens is we begin to answer the one who has been initiating speech to us from the very beginning and before the foundation of the earth: We are simply starting to REPLY .. IN OUR OWN WORDS. IN PRAYER.

WE NEVER INITIATE SPEECH WITH GOD: HE DOES. WE JUST RESPOND TO HIM IN PRAYER

HE IS ALWAYS SPEAKING TO US.... SHOWING US, TEACHING US, GROWING US

& THAT WONT HAPPEN IF THERE IS NO CONNECTION. NO MEETING. NO TETHER. NO HEART TO HEART MEETING

NO APPOINTMENT EVERY DAY.

becausde without the appointment how we would we know whats being transmitted to therefore be able to respond?

**Series challenge: Up your TUNE IN TIME ..... your prayer frequency / If your pray a few times a week. pray every day. and watch the way you notice that God is already speaking to you. Now you get to respond!

Prayer is our opportunity to TALK, and CONNECT with God. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY - RESPOND!

PRAYER IS FOUNDATIONAL.

Prayer is our connection point with GOD WHO IS IN HEAVEN. WITH US HERE ON EARTH.

2.prayer is formative

Prayer is one of the primary things that FORM us as believers:

There are three main things that FORM US (put us together as believers: Prayer - Bible Reading - Worship.)

This is why it is so important if you are a new believer you pray every day.

and If you get the revelation - you begin to pray continually throughout the day.. and the dialogue never ENDS.

We get distracted, but we can also be disciplined: WE ARE CREATURES of HABIT

We can HABITUALLY FORM a lIFE OF PRAYER

and that PRAYER LIFE because formative: and INVALUABLE.

WHEN NOT IF.......

Back to our CHIEF text here for the series:

Look at the leading into the delivery of the Lords prayer Here:

Matthew 6:5–8 (ESV)

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

three verses in a row / quick succession / Jesus says not IF YOU PRAY.. but when you pray

When you pray

You form

You grow

You become

YOU PRAY

..... and the supernatural tether comes in & connects you with the supernatural reality called GOD IN HEAVEN

YAHWEH

FATHER

SON

THE HOLY SPIRIT

3.prayer is final

The beauty of our connection point which is foundation and formative for us - its also FINAL./

once God gets involved thats all we need.

ITS GODS JOB TO BE GOD, ITS OUR JOB TO PRAY

Remember the best part about prayer is it reminds us who is God and who is not!

THAT IS WHY WE GOTTA BE A PRAYING PEOPLE!

We cant HEAL, but We can PRAY

We cant give ourselves peace, But we can PRAY

We cant make seas part, but we can pray

We cant get ourselves into HEAVEN.... but WE CAN PRAY

You see when you pray: .....you should have confidence.. that the SAME GOD who parted the seas, that set the stars in the sky, that caused a VIRGIN to concieve, that brought LAZARUS back to LIFE..

.. and i COULD GO ON

BUT THAT VERY SAME GOD… IS NOW WORKING ON YOUR BEHALF!

If we KNEW how much this was true… we wouldnt stop praying!

1 Thess 4:13 “13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”