Sermon Tone Analysis

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:

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

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:

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:

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

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:

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:

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:

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:

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.