Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: The importance of this letter and its companion from Paul cannot be over overstated.

We do not know for certain that the Apostle was ever able to visit them personally.

He intended for it to be read by the churches and individuals.

These believers were dealing with several issues relating to the second coming and Paul seeks to encourage and build them up.

Let’s read our text:

Someone said, “Prayer is the best way to meet God.”

That is certainly true in salvation for a sinner must pray a prayer of confession, repentance and faith in Jesus as his/her Lord and Savior.

But what about after we become followers of Christ?

What does the Bible say to us about the subject?

What we find in this passage is one of the shortest statements about prayer found anywhere in God’s Word.

Paul admonishes the community of Thessalonian believers in several areas of community conduct: love and respect your leaders, encourage and correct those among you that are being irresponsible, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, and be patient with everyone.

Most of all, do not repay evil for evil, but instead see to it that you pursue good for one another and for all.

What identifies this body of believers as belonging to Christ is their community life.

The community is only as strong as their commitment to community living, as Jesus modeled and as the apostles are now modeling, teaching, and encouraging.

Paul instructs the community to always be rejoicing, always be praying, and always to give thanks in everything “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (v.16-18).

In doing so, the body will not stifle the Spirit of Christ.

Don’t despise prophecy, but test it, to see what is good, and reject what is bad, what is false, thus you will stay away from every kind of evil (v.19-22).

These are the practices of a healthy community following Christ.

Christian community is not based on what I feel and experience, but in what we hold in common.

We hold Christ.

We are bound together by our common faith in Christ, and our committment to that faith in Christ allows us to experience community.

Those of great committment to faith in Christ, will experience community in Christ, and be held together in Christ.

Just as Israel experienced the blessings of God in their committment to God, as a community, the Church will experience the blessings of Christ, as we commit in our relationship to Him as a community; being held together by that very commitment to faith in Christ.

What is one of those sinues that binds us to Christ, in community?

Prayer.

We will look at the other sinues and ligaments over the next weeks, but today I would like us to look at prayer.

How important is prayer to be in the community life of a church?

Prayer is the secret to intimacy with God.

Sadly, many Christians never know this kind of relationship.

Many never pray unless they are in a crisis.

Others pray when they want something.

Others have never developed the discipline of prayer.

Prayer is life changing but it is also challenging.

I.

The Exhortation to Prayer

a.

The Scriptural Imperative

The first good reason for doing anything is that God has commanded it.

And God has commanded us to pray.

Throughout the Bible there are Scriptures with the imperative command to pray.

Mt 7:7

b.

The Scope of Intercession

A Christ follower is to pray literally about everything.

We are commanded to pray not only at all times, but for all men.

c.

The Saints Inclusion

Prayer, then, is a duty expressly commanded for every Christian, all the time, and about everybody and everything.

Not to pray, would be the sin of disobedience to the plain and often repeated command of God! Samuel said to the people of Israel in 1 Samuel 12:23,

Christians ought to pray because it is encouraged and our duty before God and the community of believers.

II.

The Explanation of Prayer

It is interesting that the disciples never did ask Jesus to teach them to preach but they did ask Him to teach them to pray.

I believe that they heard the Lord in prayer to the Father many times and that they were impressed with the intimacy of the Lord’s prayers.

Luke 11:1

What can we learn about prayer based on the Lord’s teaching?

a.

The Essence of Prayer

Billy Graham quote: “Prayer is simply talking to God—and the most important thing I can say about this is that God wants you to talk to Him!

He loves us and He has promised to hear us when we pray.

How can you learn to pray?

First, understand why prayer is possible.

Prayer is possible because Jesus Christ has removed the barrier between us and God—a barrier caused by our sins.

You see, sin separates us from God, and because of that we have no right to come before Him.

But by His death on the cross, Christ paid the penalty for our sins and removed the barrier.

God then gives us the privilege of coming into His presence when we commit our lives to Christ.

The Bible says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

Have you asked Christ to come into your life today?

Understand that God welcomes you into His presence and promises to hear you when He is part of your life—and He cannot lie.

The Bible says,

Trust His promises and learn to bring every concern to Him in prayer.

b.

The Elements of Prayer

The elements of prayer can be summed in four words: First, is adoration; second is petition; next is repentance and finally there is thanksgiving or I have used the acronym ACTS to teach about prayer.

It stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.

These are the elements of prayer and we should learn them and intentionally use them when we pray.

c.

The Enduement in Prayer

When we pray, we do not pray alone.

We have a helper in our prayers…and He helps us in our prayers…even when we do not know how to frame the words.

John Bunyan said, “The best prayers often have more groans than words.”

Romans 8:26 , 27

III.

The Execution of Prayer

Now we come to the last point in our little verse.

What does it mean to pray “without ceasing?”

It does not mean that we enter into a monastic life in a convent or that we lay aside every other aspect of life.

It means that we develop our prayer life to the degree that it becomes the natural outflow of our spiritual life.

It becomes the first resort instead of the last resort.

What is required to develop the prayer consciousness?

E. M. Bounds said, "Prayer is not learned in a classroom but in the closet."

a.

The Discipline of Prayer

E. M. Bounds - Perhaps little praying is worse than no praying.

Little praying is a kind of make-believe, a salve for the conscience, a farce, and a delusion.

Intimacy in a relationship takes time.

This is certainly true where prayer is concerned.

We must be committed to “asking, seeking and knocking,’ not just occasionally but consistently, persistently.

Intimacy in prayer takes perseverance.

Listen again to the story Jesus tells His disciples…