Requests and Behavior
Redirecting our Perspective • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Prayer
Prayer
“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
‘Give us this day our daily bread.
‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
AUTOPSY OF A DECEASED CHURCH
One former deacon of a closed church reflected that ‘There was a day when prayer was powerful in our church, People would pray before the worship services. Small groups spent a lot of time in prayer. We prayed intensely for our community.”
Then,” he stopped. It was like a light when on. “Then our community started changing,” he spoke methodically and slowly. “We were afraid. Many members sold their homes and got out as quickly as they could. We started focusing on the fear. We stopped serving the community.”
And...” Tears welled in his eyes. He started again. “And we stopped praying with the passion we once had. That’s it. That was the beginning of the decline that led to our death. We stopped taking prayer seriously. And the church started dying.”
No prayer. No hope. And the church started dying
Every closed church that was interviewed would eventually come to an admission: Prayer became more like a routine or ritual. Prayer in the years before they closed would barely qualify as corporate prayer in the New Testament sense.
Prayer in the New Testament wasn’t an add-on to give them permission to eat a meal. It was serious stuff for a serious group of church members.
Prayer was the lifeblood of the early church.
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
As these closed church members would reflect. Their eyes would open. They would remember those days when church members came together for powerful times of prayer. Some recalled twenty four-hour prayer emphases the chruches had. Those “good old days” of prayer typically coincided with the best days of the churches, at least to the best of their recollection.
Not coincidentally, Prayer and the health of the church went hand in hand. When the church is engaged in meaningful prayer, it becomes both the cause and the result of greater church health.
Charles Blondin
tightrope walker in the 1800s
He was famous for tightrope walking over niagra falls
1,100 ft (340 m) long,
3.25 in (8.3 cm) in diameter rope
and 160 ft (49 m) above the water
he did it a bunch of different times and different gimmmicks
blindfolded,
in a sack,
trundling a wheelbarrow,
on stilts,
carrying a man (his manager, Harry Colcord) on his back,
sitting down midway while he cooked and ate an omelette,
or standing on a chair with only one of its legs balanced on the rope
one time, after pushing a wheelbarrow across, he addressed the crowd
and he asked if they believe that he could do it again with a person in the wheelbarrow
the crowd responded with a yes
He then asked if he had any volunteers
no one volunteered
Let’s spend a moment in prayer right now
Our main passage today is, in many ways a continuation of what Jesus taught about prayer in Matthew 6.
“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
“But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
Let’s say the Lord’s prayer together
“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
‘Give us this day our daily bread.
‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
In our passage today, we get further teaching on prayer
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
“Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?
“Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
We see almost the same exact wording in Luke’s Gospel
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
“For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.
“Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?
“Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
We get some typical Jewish parallelism in the first two verses
Ask, and it will be given you
Seek and you will find
Knock and it will be opened to you
For everyone who asks receives
and the one who seeks finds
and to the one who knocks it will be opened
First it is worded as a command, then it is worded as a statement
the door that will be opened is the gate of salvation
Last week we talked about not judging others.
it’s a good implication that even if you can’t judge others, you can always pray for them
and we know that prayer is powerful and effective
God can supply anything to the righteous who seek his purposes
God can supply anything to the righteous who seek his purposes
Just a chapter earlier, Jesus is telling his followers to trust God for our daily needs:
remember give us this day our daily bread
a reference to mana in the wilderness
“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
“And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
“And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
“For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Jesus is promising us, as his disciples, the extraordinary power of God, like that of Elijah
the power of our word.
at one point, Peter even asked Jesus if they should call down fire on a town that rejected them
he may have missed the point of Jesus’ love, but he had the faith that what he asked for would happen
Jesus is not speaking figuratively, but training us to express bold faith
There is an implication that the person praying will be as commited to God’s purposes as Elijah and like-minded servants of God were
There is a new access to the power and presence of God through Jesus
when Jesus died, the veil was torn
mankind can finally know the presence and will of God for the first time since the garden
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
mankind no longer had to depend on chosen holy prophets
we are all prophets who can hear the voice of God
This statement of power (ask and it will be given) comes shortly after the command to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness
This verse also suggests the kinds of prayers we are to pray
we often pray like we are advising God
Lord, if it be your will, please heal Susie of her pain, and let your will be done, and if it isn’t your will to heal her, then give her comfort during this time.
God didn’t give us a spirit of fear or timidity
For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
English Standard Version Chapter 1
7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
God didn’t give us a spirit of fear or timidity
I think we all could use some scriptural reminders to be bold
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
Hebrews 4:16 (NASB95)
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
How many here are in a time of need?
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.
Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,
What is our hope: that the glory of God is among us and is forever with us.
Hope spurs us one to great boldness
Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
Do you begin to see a pattern of confidence and boldness that comes through God’s presence, through faith in Him, and through the Holy Spirit living in us?
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Father, give us boldness in our prayers, in our relationships.
Help us to pray with confidence and not allow a single doubt be entertained within us.
Fill us with your Holy Spirit today.
God’s fatherly care for his children is their assurance that he will answer them
God’s fatherly care for his children is their assurance that he will answer them
Some of you may be thinking some doubts: How come when I asked to be given super powers or to win the lottery, God didn’t answer my request?
God, who gives “good gifts” to his children, may not grant a child’s request for something harmful
but he will not withhold any good thing from those who desire and seek what is right
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
Note the intimacy implied here with God
Our Father, who is in heaven
your father who is in heaven
we are God’s children
Some of us may not have had a good father by the worlds measuring, but God is perfect
a good father provides for his children
a good father protects his children
a good father emPowers his children
300 Illustrations for Preachers (Eating Snail Mucus for God)
The gospel and religion are not synonyms. The things people preach and practice in religion can be crazy, even if they’re very interesting. Charles Stewart, the leader of a Florida religious sect, pressures followers to drink the mucus of giant African snails as part of the African religion Ifa Orisha. “I did not invent this,” Stewart told The Miami Herald. “It’s something that is part of our religion.”
I am so thankful I don’t have to ingest snail juice or do any other weird things to prove my worth to God.
Just surrender
Golden Rule\
Golden Rule\
I was surprised to learn this was actually scripture.
I grew up in a christian school and I remember still seeing it on the walls of the public school.
So I assumed that meant it was just some wise saying.
However, It’s still a rule that almost every child learns,
because it’s truth cannot be denied.
“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus ends his section on prayer with a basic rule to guide our interactions with others
it is no mistake that he teaches his disciples to pray with boldness and intimacy with the Father and then directs their interactions with others
we are to be so in tune with God’s will, that our interactions and prayers for others should reflect that:
If my Father in heaven loves that person, then I should love that person
If my Father in heaven loves me, I should treat myself as worthy of good treatment
I should treat others the way I want to be treated
In Jesus’ time there was a lot of debate, stress, and general concern with following the old testament law
Jesus is simplifying it down for his disciples
He is saying to not stress about the specifics.
He later again simplifies all of the law by saying:
But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.
One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
“This is the great and foremost commandment.
“The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
“On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Jesus regularly pointed out that following him, and being his disciple wasn’t a list of do’s and don’ts
Love God
Love People
Treat others the way you want to be treated
Here’s the main problem: We all deal with memory issues
I’m not talking about forgetting where you set your keys or misplacing your phone
I’m talking about us regularly forgetting about what God has done for you
He saved you from yourself, and he loves you.
if you were thinking of the great love that God has for you, you wouldn’t say the hurtful things you said or think the terrible thoughts you were thinking about.
Sin, as a Christian, is a momentary lapse of memory of what Christ has done for you.
Jesus makes our responses clear
Jesus forgives you
you forgive others
even those who hurt you
especially those who hurt you
Jesus gives you grace
give others grace
even those who deserve justice and punishment
God says that vengeance is His
don’t take what belongs to God
Jesus loves you
love others
even those who who are hard to love
especially those who are hard to love
Altar call- It is fitting that we end today’s service in prayer. I encourage you to stick around. Don’t let whatever you have going on after church or maybe even fear stop you from receiving from God today.
there are those here looking for forgiveness
there are those here looking for help forgiving others
there are those here who need God’s grace
there are those here who need a reminder of God’s love
there are those here who need a touch of God’s power in their life
There are those here looking for a miracle
I’m not going to preach about praying without giving you a chance to pray.
let us put our faith in action: find another person here and pray together.
pair up before I give instructions.
groups of two or three
preferably, not the people you came with today
Ask them what they want prayer for their lives.
Prayers for sons and uncles and pets are just fine.
I love praying for others
but we all need God’s help with something
Be specific but brief
we don’t need your whole medical history
I want you to spend more time praying, then talking about what your are going to pray about
Pray with Authority
healing
salvation
strength
patience
anxiety
depression
addiction
relationship
forgiveness (others or yourself)
REMINDER OF PRAYER ROCKS AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT PRAYER AND SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER