Teach Us to Pray Passionately (2)

Opening: “Lord, teach us to pray” That request means prayer is not something learned automatically. Prayer is not natural. Effective prayer has to be taught and learned. There’s no shame in not knowing how to pray or feeling uncomfortable in prayer. There’s only shame if we don’t ask to be taught and as a result spend years of our Christian lives ineffective in prayer and a life that does not reflect Jesus’ way of life.

Need: The two petitions that Jesus concludes with deal with forgiveness and spiritual temptation. It is hard to forgive and to reject the sometimes gut feelings we have towards people or situations

Matthew 6:9–13 HCSB

“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]

Pray

honor God, Approach bolfly

We can boldly approach God for Forgiveness

Explanation

The Greek word for forgiveness used here means debts. In the New Testament it only appears only here and Romans 4:4.

It is clear that Jesus and Matthew intended “debt” to mean “sins”

Luke 11:4 (HCSB)

And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. And do not bring us into temptation.”

The choice of this word reflects the fact that all sins place us in debt to God

Forgiveness is the release, on the part of the creditor or offended party, of any expectation that a debt will be repaid or that an offender will receive punishment for an offense.

When describing the removal of an inappropriate offense in this way, the removal does not condone the behavior or suggest approval for the offense.

Illustration

Matthew 18:21–35 HCSB

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how many times could my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus said to him, “but 70 times seven. For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began to settle accounts, one who owed 10,000 talents was brought before him. Since he had no way to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt. “At this, the slave fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything!’ Then the master of that slave had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan. “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’ “At this, his fellow slave fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he wasn’t willing. On the contrary, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed. When the other slaves saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. “Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And his master got angry and handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. So My heavenly Father will also do to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from his heart.”

In his novel, The Chain, Paul Wellman wrote what is known as the “four temptation.” According to this beautiful legend, after Jesus had emerged victoriously from His wilderness temptations;

after living courageously and triumphantly throughout His ministry;

after His apostles failed, enemies and friends conspired in crime;

then, while Jesus was hanging in excruciating pain on the cross, the devil returned and whispered in His ear, “They aren’t worth it, Lord.”

It was then, according to the story, that the Master was heard to say, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34)

Niemöller said that if Jesus had cried out in vengeance, there would have been no New Testament, no church, and no Christian history.

What if Christ had not forgiven us?

Your story, your contribution to the church and your ability to fulfill God’s word is also hindered if you are unwilling to forgive others.

Do you forgive well?

Not only does withholding forgiveness impact your spiritual walk but it also impacts your physical walk too.

Argumentation

1. There are health risks of withholding forgiveness according to Karen Swartz, M.D., director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

“There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed,” Chronic anger puts you into a fight-or-flight mode, which results in numerous changes in heart rate, blood pressure and immune response. Those changes, then, increase the risk of depression, heart disease and diabetes, among other conditions.

Forgiveness, however, calms stress levels, leading to improved health.

Application

Who are we to forgive? This Question reminds us that those who persecuted Jesus did so because of His message.

Remember the Lord’s prayer is meant to be lived out not just prayed out. in fact Jesus says we are to do it first before praying!

Our message of grace to the world is best witnessed through our forgiveness of others.

Having received God’s forgiveness motivates us to forgive others.

When we forgive we open our selves to a greater peace from God and a deeper oneness with God.

When we understand the enormous debt we owe to God-who has pardoned us of more than we could ever repay, we then should forgive others of the wrongs they are indebted to us.

We can boldly approach God to overcome temptation

Explanation

Jesus is not saying God tempts us.

James 1:13–14 HCSB

No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God.” For God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn’t tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires.

Evil loves to tempt us to move away from God, God allows us to be tempted so we move closer to Him.

As believer, we petition for both forgiveness and deliverance because both deal with the power that sin can have in us.

1 John 1:7–9 HCSB

But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Both forgiveness and victory over temptation exercise a hope to the day when we will escape the presence of sin.

The Christian who matures and grows in purity and obedience should rely less and less on the prayer for forgiveness and more and more on the prayer for protection.

In this life, believers will have need for ongoing forgiveness, but the many lessons learned will help in avoiding the traps of temptation in later life.

Believers must never let down our guard. We find many exhortations in the New Testament to stay awake and be watchful.

Matthew 26:41 HCSB

Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

The Disciples would face 4 similar temptations that Wellman wrote about.

1. The temptation to boast over successes

2. The temptation to be persuaded by the world to change

3. The temptation to hate the world at their rejection of them and their message.

4. The temptation to say doing it God’s way ain’t worth it. He may not have my best in mind.

Illustration

Temptation knows no expiration date this side of Jesus’ return:

John Summerhoff

At a men’s retreat was an 80 year old man pouring his heart out about the temptation of lusting after women.

1 Corinthians 10:13 HCSB

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.

Bear up under it is what shows God’s power at work in you. The rest of the world crumble under the weight but you bear up under it.

Argumentation

Temptation is not something God will remove in this life because He will not remove your will to choose.

We often plant weeds in our gardens and then get mad when flowers don’t grow.

the greatest lie the devil tempts us with is that we are right to doubt God; both His plan for us and His love for us.

When we look to our own selves

to understand the world we

assume that we are the only

Or the greatest authority on how

the world is.

Doubting the existence of God is in itself a temptation because it causes us to see ourselves as all knowing or at least, the most knowing.

Application

Closing

When the stock market crashed in 1929, J.C. Penney lost almost all of his material assets. Worry and anxiety set in. He became physically ill and deeply depressed. As a result, he had to be hospitalized.Mr. Penney’s illness became so severe that on one particular night he thought he was dying. When he woke up, he realized he was still alive. As he walked down the hospital corridor that day, he heard singing coming from the hospital chapel. The words were “God will take care of you, through every day, o’re all the way.”These words kindled a spark of hope in his heart. He went into the chapel where the prayers and reading of Scripture directed his focus from his problems to God who cared about him and was able to deliver him from his difficult circumstances.This was the turning point for J.C. Penney. He made a complete recovery from his illness and went on to build one of the most successful retail businesses in the United States. He had heeded Jesus’ counsel to turn from worry to God.

Prayer gives us the way to bear up under the temptation.

It helps us place God at the center of our lives allowing us to forgive and be healed of the stresses and depression that comes at times because of lack of forgiveness and faulty thinking that leads us into feeling that we can control out lives and this world.

Closing the series Teach Us to Pray

Jesus used this structure of prayer as a good opportunity to correct some misconceptions about prayer.

Prayer is fundamentally two things:

(1) it is an expression of our powerlessness; and

(2) it is an intimate conversation between Father and child. If we could see prayer in this light, we would long to pray more and we would pray more effectively. Prayer is tapping into the infinite resources of the living God.

Faith is a total dependence on God. And prayer is the voice of faith.

We hope that all of these sermons have helped you develop the core muscles of prayer and that you can continue to work them out for years to come

How can we conclude this summer series?

1. Use the Echo App

2. We want to start a prayer ministry as a church.

Sign up for our prayer team. My hope is that one day this church as we continue to grow, Weill be covered 24/7 In prayer

Can we count on you to honor God and approach Him boldly in prayer?