Prayer as an Expression of Hope
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Matthew 6:13b (NASB95)
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
Prayer as an expression of Hope!
Why do we need hope?
John Maxwell said, “Where there is no hope in the future, there is no power in the present.” Those who find hope in the future have the strength and empowerment to succeed in the present. In our present there is tribulation and pain because the world is a broken mess. Without hope the present tribulations overwhelm everyone. Even those who seem to have it all, they are still broken inside and a mess. They may put on a nice mask but there is still the same mess inside - fear. Fear for the future because they have no idea what is going to happen next. It may not show up until the end but it will be there.
We need the hope. We need the hope that comes from knowing what the final outcome of our lives will be. That is why we need prayer to be:
I. Biblical
II. need prayer to be An Expression of Hope
III. need prayer to be A desire for God’s will to be done
IV. need prayer to be A desire for the Coming of the Son of Man
I. Biblical Hope
A. Hope is forward-looking faith.
1. Hope is an expectation with certainty that God will do what he has said.
Who here believes that God will do what He said? Which leads to the question - Do you know what He said? We are talking about things like: Salvation and Victory over the evil one. Can and will He actually save all those who call upon His name? Can and will He ultimately overcome evil and bring about a new Heaven and a new Earth? He sure is taking His time about it. But that’s the point - it will come about in His time not ours. We just have to maintain Hope that He will. We have to believe with certainty that He will, That is our HOPE!
2. Hope is a future certainty that gives us joy, peace, and patience in the present, Rom. 12:12 says:
12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,
Flip the three over - Prayer, Tribulation, Hope
3. Helen Keller once said, “Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.”
As we said Hope is a certainty of the future that gives us Joy, peace, and patience. Because of Hope we can see the kingdom of God, feel the Kingdom of God and bring about the kingdom of God.
B. Hope is not based on your effort or desires; it is something you receive Rom. 15:13
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Expand on effort & desires don’t give hope - nor salvation. They are both a gift of God - and then explain receiving them.
C. Paul says that struggles are a reason to rejoice because we know they produce hope Rom. 5:3–5 says:
3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Tell a story - tribulations - perseverance - Character - Hope… With the Hope we begin to see the invisible, touch the tangible and do the impossible.
II. Prayer: An Expression of Hope
A. What do you think life without prayer would be like? A life without prayer would be a life without hope.
1. The practice of prayer, is the practice of hope. John 16:24 says:
24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.
Most prayers look forward to receiving something or something happening in the future. Our hope is in the future. The fulfillment of our hopes - brings about prayers of thanksgiving.
B. Genuine hope is found in the power of God because He can do all things.
1. Hope is a confident expectation of what God has promised in His Word, and its strength is in His faithfulness. Heb 10:23
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
On a boat in rough seas… tie things fast so they don’t move (waver) around.
2. What changes our circumstances is taking up God’s open invitation to bring our problems to Him in prayer. Our needs bring us anxiety (our need for money to fix the car to get to work to make money creates anxiety) - so we need to cast our anxiety on Him - because He cares. 1 Peter 5:7 says:
7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Don’t care the anxiety about your daily troubles - cast them on Him. Remember He is faithful.
C. Praying is not wishing. Wishing is: wanting something that cannot or probably will not happen.
Did you ever wish on a star when you were young? Star light, Star bright, First star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish, I wish tonight. Did the wish come true? It may have come true - it might not have come true. It doesn’t really matter. The star can’t do anything for you. But the One who created it can. So, instead of wishing for it, we pray for it. We cast our care on Christ Jesus. We put our hope in God, who is able to change our circumstances because nothing is too hard for Him. Mark 10:27 says:
27 Looking at them, Jesus said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
All things are possible with God. So, when your circumstances leave you wishing they were different stop wishing, that star can’t do anything for you. It doesn’t even hear you. Get on your knees and pray. Let God who is able to change your circumstances do His thing. And then hope in His faithfulness.
III. Ultimately The purpose of prayer is for God’s will to be done Matt. 6:10 says:
10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Do we really want God’s will to be done? If we do then there are a lot of things that fall in line with God’s will but there are a couple of special things we should be praying for on a regular basis. One thing is praying for a decrease in persecution of God’s children around the world.
A. By praying against persecution we are asking God to deliver others from evil.
1. Since 1993, the World Watch List of the Open Doors Organization has revealed the scale and severity of the persecution of Christians around the world. In the last 30 years, the number of countries where Christians suffer high and extreme levels of persecution has almost doubled to 76. Today, more than 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith.
Let’s compare that number of 360 million to the population of the United States. The United States had an official estimated resident population of 333,287,557 on July 1, 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This figure includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Which means if every person in the United States was a persecuted Christian we would have to go get a little more than 30 million more from some other country to make up the difference. Makes me think - it also makes me want to pray.
B. Another thing we should be Praying for is global gospel access. It is said that A.B. Simpson the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance used to wrap his arms around a globe as he prayed for the gospel to be preached to the heathen lands around the globe. Matthew 24:14 says:
14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
If we really want God’s will to be done and His kingdom to come we should at the very least pray that the gospel will be preached to all nations. Unfortunately that means it needs to be preached in all of the hard to reach nations. the Christian and Missionary Alliance calls them Closed Access Countries. The governments of those nations refuse to allow people into their country to preach the gospel. Anyone who is there needs to be there in a creative way. In some countries Christians get into the country by teaching English or music. In other countries they may set up community centers or hospitals to serve the people. There are a lot of different ways to do it. Maybe you are feeling called to preach the gospel where there is no access, with God’s help you can find a way.
Have you read the book “God’s Smuggler”? It is about Brother Andrew who spent years smuggling Bibles through the iron curtain during the cold war. Extend... He also started the Open doors International organization I just mentioned.
IV. Finally we should be praying for The Coming of the Son of Man Mark 13:24–26
24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light,
25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.
26 “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
That’s the second coming of Christ Jesus. It’s going to be a wonderful site - at least for those who believe and are watching for Him. For all the rest it will be a time of fear and confusion.
A. So, when we pray for the appearance this future Kingdom, we are also praying for His Kingdom to be realized in our own lives.
Do we really want to see the kingdom come? Are you ready for it? Are you allowing the will of God to direct your life? What if He knocked on your door this evening - would you want Him to come in. Sometimes I wonder if some of the things I do would be something He would want to see me doing. But then again, maybe He would sit down with us and just spend some time with us. I don’t know, what would He do if He were here? Always praying, always trying to save people - or would He spend some good fellowship time the way we do with what we have?
B. And then to be in the Kingdom of God is to obey the will of God Matt. 7:21
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
The will of My Father. Do you know what the will of the Father is? Let me give you a few hints:
John 6:40 says that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life
1 Thessalonians 4:3 says the will of God is that we be sanctified
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says that we should rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything and...
1 Timothy 2:4 says that God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
These are the big general items that show the will of God. but what do they have to do with saying Lord, Lord and not entering the kingdom of heaven. Well, if you know a lot of stuff about Jesus you might say Lord, Lord but if you don’t believe in Him, He will say sorry. If you are not sanctified by the Holy Spirit you will get the same answer. All of these verses and others point to the fact that we must believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and have a relationship with Him. You can’t just know about Him and do stuff in His name and expect to enter the Kingdom.
C. Effective prayer involves finding the will of God and getting in on it. Adrian Rogers said, “God wants for you what you would want for yourself if you had enough sense to want it.”
Well that makes a lot of sense. I know that I don’t always want the right thing for myself. I have wanted to be many things in my life when I grow up and very few of them worked out. Maybe I should have started out serving God - maybe that was God’s will for me from the beginning but I didn’t have enough sense to want that for myself. What do you think - have you always wanted for yourself what God wanted for you?
So remember:
I. We need prayer to be Biblical so that our Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.
II. We need prayer to be An Expression of Hope because He who promised is faithful.
III. We need prayer to be A desire for God’s will to be done because that is truly what we want to see happen - His will be done.
IV. We need prayer to be A desire for the Coming of the Son of Man because that is what we want to have happen in our lives.
We pray for God to bring His Kingdom, but I wonder if we really want it. Do we really want the Kingdom of God to come? How much do you do to bring about the advancement of the kingdom of God?
Prayer is an expression of Hope. Prayer will help us see the invisible kingdom that is all around us, prayer will help us feel the intangible kingdom that is all around us, and prayer will achieve the impossible in our lives for the glory of the kingdom that is all around us.
Keep praying and keep hoping. Keep looking beyond this present life, the Kingdom of God is near. So near that we can touch it.
“Our prayers can go where we cannot...there are no borders, no prison walls, no doors that are closed to us when we pray.”
- Brother Andrew