Anchor of Prayer
Notes
Transcript
So with me having not been here for multiple weeks in the month of May, I decided that we will march through our typical MONTH OF MAY series...
This month - and so - starting today.
I think I will adjust a bit - the topics we cover this month - BUT - to remind you of the PURPOSE of doing this...
Approaching these sermons topically - for the next month (5 weeks)...
These topics are topics that I feel are needed - to come back to - with a focus on these things...
Year after year - topics that we may not really touch - if we continue to march our way through whole books of the Bible.
And so being TASKED with providing the MEAL each week - I think these topics are helpful to REVISIT - and TYPICALLY - have used the month of MAY to do this....
the topics this year will be:
Prayer
Faith
Discipleship/Missions
Giving
Baptism
And so today will be - PRAYER
And we’ll look at 3 aspects of it… hopefully to help us in this area.
HOW MANY of you would like to have a better prayer life??
Today we’ll look at....
SLIDE:
What
Why
How
What is it?
Why do it?
How we do it?
These are the questions we’ll look at...
The first aspect of PRAYER that we’re going to look at
…IS -
SLIDE: What is Prayer?
What is Prayer?
What is Prayer?
…regarding WHAT PRAYER IS...
we need to know - it is - INDEED - a Privilege!
SLIDE: What is Prayer? A Privilege Bought with Blood
What is Prayer?
What is Prayer?
· Within the past several years - something in our society that has been BLURRED...
Has been the concepts of...
Privilege
Rights
· And what we’ve seen is this idea that EVERYONE in society should be the same…
· That if John Doe has 2 cars – then EVERYONE should have 2 cars
· If John Doe has a college degree – then EVERYONE should have a college degree…
And it’s this idea that EVERYTHING has to be EVEN amongst all people… (same results)
and it boils down to a CONFUSION of privileges - and - rights
When it comes to PRAYER – we need to know it’s a PRIVILEGE!
- And the COST to PURCHASE this privilege was – BLOOD
• Back in the OT times, within the Temple in Jerusalem...
• ..there were different areas/courts...
• You had the outer court… where people could mingle...
• Then you had the inner courtyard....or the Priests Court - where sacrifices could be made...
• And then you had the Holy Place....a separate structure that housed the Altar of Incense...
• A Table of Showbread...
• And then what was called - the Holy of Holies...
• It was the Holy of Holies where the presence of God dwelt…BUT...
• there was a giant VEIL that separated where men dwelt, from where God dwelt...
NOW - let’s READ through Hebrews 9:1-8…
It’s going to describe what we’re talking about...
1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.
2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place.
3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place,
4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties,
7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing
• So - we see that the Temple was constructed the way that it was - for a REASON...
• WHAT DOES THE CURTAIN represent?
• It represents SIN....in that SIN is what SEPARATES us from God...
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
• The VEIL in the Temple - represented the SIN of mankind…in that it SEPARATES us from God...
• And ONLY the High Priest was allowed to go through the VEIL (once a year)…to atone for SINS...
• So now - let’s look at what happened when Christ died on the cross...
Matthew 27:50–51 (ESV)
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
• Notice how it tore...
• from TOP - to - Bottom
• ONLY God could have done this...
• This veil, by all estimates, was about 60 feet tall...
• And when Christ died…the BARRIER of SIN was now REMOVED....FOR WHO?
• For all who would BELIEVE!!
• So BEFORE - where in the Old Testament - the high priest needed to CONTINUOUSLY make sacrifices for sins...
• we KNOW based on the fact that this had to be done YEAR after YEAR...
• …that it was just a TEMPORARY atonement... Hebrews 10 speaks to this...
Hebrews 10:1–4 (ESV)
1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
• And here’s where Christ comes in to play...
24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,
26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
• Jesus Christ - purchased US with His blood!
• He was our SACRIFICE - ONCE for ALL…and when He died...
• …what SEPARATED man from God (SIN) - that BARRIER fell - FOR ALL THOSE WHO BELIEVE in Jesus!
• And so - Understand the PRIVILEGE we have
SLIDE: Know this...
We have God’s ear (through PRAYER) - if we have Jesus Christ as our savior…if we believe and are a follower of Him!
If we TRUST Jesus fully…
And SO - a PRIVILEGE it is - to have God’s ear - in prayer.
But Prayer is not JUST a privilege… ANOTHER - what...
SLIDE: What is Prayer? Personal Communion with God
What is Prayer?
What is Prayer?
• As Christians we MUST not forget - God wants to hear from - YOU!
• God CREATED PRAYER to be a means that we use to - GLORIFY Him!
• And in many ways...
SLIDE:
God created prayer as a means by which we can enjoy Him
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
ALSO...
SLIDE:
God created prayer as a means by which we confess our sin
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• So PRAYER - is the vehicle we use to CONFESS OUR SINS to God...
• we DO NOT confess our sins - BY DOING GOOD THINGS for God!
• we DO NOT confess our sins - and receive forgiveness - by speaking them TO A PRIEST... LISTEN - PRAYER to GOD - is the MEANS by which we - CONFESS our sins...
Not only did God create PRAYER as a means by which:
• we enjoy Him
• we confess our sin BUT...
SLIDE:
God created prayer as a means by which we ask Him to meet our needs
15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
• God says - PRAY to Me - and I will DELIVER YOU!!
• Now - again - does this mean - God’s saying - I WILL PHYSICALLY DELIVER you!!! all the time!???
• NO - “Deliver you” here means - I will BE your SATISFACTION - so that you can RESPOND to life like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego..
• These guys were about to get tossed into a FURNACE…burned alive…and they SAID this...
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
• These men end up SURVIVING the fiery furnace, because God saved them physically...
• BUT - even if they had burned… God DELIVERED them!
• Their SATISFACTION was ROOTED in God - not their physical lives...
• and THEREFORE - God delivered them…!
• They had BEEN delivered by God - because NOW - in their hearts and minds - God was ULTIMATE…not their physical lives...
Yes - God created PRAYER as a means by which...
• we enjoy Him
• we confess our sins
• we ask Him to meet our needs
But it’s also...
SLIDE:
God created prayer to be a means by which we align our wills with His.
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
• This here, I believe is one of the most neglected PRAYERS that we make as Christians...
• I think we’re really good at making REQUESTS known to God...
• whatever it is...
• health
• wealth
• prosperity
• We’re good at asking for these things...
• But asking that OUR WILL in life - line up with His will for us?
• Do we truly ask God - “Lord - help me do what You want me to do today!”
• “Wherever You want me, SEND me!”
Prayer is a PRIVILEGE bought with BLOOD – AND – it’s Personal Communion with God
AND YET – the question still lingers out there…
SLIDE: Why Pray
Why Pray?
Why Pray?
- Why PRAY??
· I think there are MANY reasons WHY we pray…
· And I’m sure we’ve experienced the BLESSINGS that come FROM prayer…
· How many of you have experienced the BLESSINGS that flow from OTHER’s prayers?
· From your OWN prayers?
· And yet – WITH THAT said – today I want us to see a connection between OUR PRAYERS – and something we often sing about!
SLIDE: Why Pray? The Victory of Christ
Why Pray?
Why Pray?
• What we need to understand as Christians, and always remember...
• ..is that THE VICTORY of Christ - is HERE NOW - and ULTIMATELY - is coming!
• And a point to make here - is to help us see - that it’s coming BY MEANS of OUR prayers!
• SO - let’s start by looking at - the VICTORY of Christ!...
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Jesus said - I HAVE conquered - the world!
I STAND in - Victory!
This is Christ - our King -
He stands in VICTORY over all OUR enemies
He REIGNS - RIGHT NOW - over ALL things...
He reigns - RIGHT NOW - over all kings and rulers.
AND - He’s coming back!
9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
• This is the Victory of God - that is coming!
• Jesus Christ is coming back –
• to punish all those who have rejected His grace!
• To gather to Himself his elect...
• …and to establish justice, righteousness, peace, and joy...
• …on the new earth....FOREVER!
Christ’s VICTORY is HERE - and ultimately - coming...
• NOW tying THIS victory to our prayers... - i think more often than not - our prayer lives CONSIST of us:
• asking God to help us in the DETAILS of our lives...
• The smallest of details...
• Maybe we pray about:
• our kids health
• our health
• our jobs
• our finances
• schooling
• social relationships
• possessions / lack thereof
• THESE and MORE - fill up our CUPS as we offer them to God.
NOW - not a bad thing.
• Is it bad or wrong to pray for our kids… NO
• Wrong to pray for our finances… NO
• wrong to pray for relationships …or health…NO
• BUT - the hope for this sermon is that we’ll catch of BIGGER GLIMPSE of the IMPACT of our prayers...
• SPECIFICALLY in what we pray for...
• And i get it - some of us are like - LISTEN - I’m just trying to get through TODAY...
• I just want my marriage to survive - TODAY...
• I just want my kids to LOVE Jesus - today!
• I get it, but at the same time, what we’re looking at today - WON’T ROB you of FAITH...
• BUT INSTEAD - will FREE you...
• Liberate you as you now SEE all of your consuming problems in CONNECTION to God’s Victory!
• SO YES - God cares about the DETAILS of your life...
• He cares about our sick kids...
• He cares about your marriage...
• your depression...
• BUT ALL of those things ONLY have their GREATEST MEANING in relation to the Victory of God in Christ!!
• *If you think of the large scale WARS that have happened in our history... - and ALL of the widows that resulted FROM those wars.
• All of the loneliness and heartache - FINDS it’s DEEPEST meaning in the great, larger purposes of those WARS...
• And so it’s no different with OUR SUFFERINGS - under the larger banner of God’s Victory!
• And so TODAY - I hope we see the CONNECTION between our lives and the victory of CHRIST - Being PRAYER!
• We need to know - that OUR PRAYERS are the means that God uses to accomplish the Victory of Christ over this world...
• And I know for most of us - we usually don’t pray about these things...
• And so I think God wants to help us with this...
• What an amazing CALLING we have in Christ!
• SO - let’s walk through some scriptures now that will show you the connection between our PRAYERS and the coming Victory of God..
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
• The coming of God’s kingdom and the DOING of His will on earth - the way the angels do it in heaven - IS the VICTORY of GOD...
• THIS is what everything is moving toward!
• And Jesus says here - • PRAY FOR IT!!
• Therefore prayer is God’s way of DISPLAYING His victory - through you. .. in this world!
Pray for this He says!
In Matthew 24 Jesus said this...
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
• So what is this saying?
• It’s saying - The good news of Jesus will SPREAD to ALL NATIONS…and then what?
• “and then the END will come”
• and then the final PIECE of this VICTORY will take place!
• But how does the good news of Jesus SPREAD throughout the world?
• How has it SPREAD throughout the world up until THIS POINT?
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
• Will Jesus one day RETURN when the last soul is saved on this earth?
• YES - but listen...
• That WILL come to pass - by means of - PRAYER...
WHY PRAY?
There’s a MILLION reasons - yet we pray...
To help us WALK IN… the victory of Christ
AND TO HELP OTHERS - walk in the victory of Christ
NOW - to close out - the LAST piece...
- We’ve seen WHAT prayer is -
- we’ve seen WHY we pray...
And now - -
SLIDE: How do we pray?
How Do We Pray?
How Do We Pray?
I hope you’d agree - that we can find no better teacher - than Christ Himself - in ANY matter of life.
Jesus actually gives us - in Scripture - an EXAMPLE prayer that we can follow (not WORD for WORD - every time - but as a guiding principle)
To see this prayer let’s go to Matt 6.
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Let’s use this prayer as our guide.
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
What do we see here…?
How does Jesus START this prayer?
Our Father in Heaven - Hallowed be Your name
It STARTS - with an - ACKNOWLEDGMENT of WHO God is...
An Acknowledgment of His greatness!
HOLY is Your name!!
No PLEADING at this point...
No ASKING for anything...
Just simply - GOD - You are HOLY!
I ACKNOWLEDGE this truth!!
And it’s such a blessing - when we come across PEOPLE in our LIVES - who live this out.
Who acknowledge this very thing!
To close out today - in MARCHING through this prayer of Christ...
I will be calling up men from my discipleship group = to PRAY for us...
TO PRAY this specific prayer over us...
[KEN] = Matt 6:9.
As we continue ON with Christ’s prayer - we come to v10
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
What do we see here?
We see Christ here - REFERENCE His VICTORY - in that God’s WILL - WILL be done on this earth!
And Christ here - is asking us to PRAY for this.
To PRAY that God’s WILL be done...
In other words - that we would DESIRE HIS WILL - above all else - to be DONE and accomplished.
Not our will
Not my will
But HIS will!!
[PHIL] - Matt 6:10.
We continue on and come to v11
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
What is Jesus teaching us here?
He wants us to - UNDERSTAND - that ALL we have - comes from the Lord!
The air we breathe - from the Lord
The strength to stand - from the Lord
The SIGHT to see - from the Lord
The food we eat - from the Lord!
ALL things~!!
And so Christ wants us to SEEK HIM - above all things...
including shelter
money
food
Whatever...
[COLIN]
We continue on - and come to v12
12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
What do we see here?
Christ wants us to VIEW OURSELVES - always in light of who GOD is over us.
“forgive us our debts”
We should live lives of confession to God
Christ ALSO wants us - to VIEW others in this world - ALWAYS in light of who God is OVER THEM -
BUT ALSO - view them in light of the MERCY of God that WE’VE been shown
…FORGIVING others
Christ here is speaking to the posture of our hearts
And so Christ wants us to GET LOW - in this world - and STAY low!
[CALEB BORLING] - Matt 6:12.
And to finish up (SOMEONE GO GET THE KIDS from classes) - we come to v13
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
The Bible says much about evil in this world - and specifically...
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
And this LION - the devil - wants to DEVOUR our faith.
HOW does he do it?
busyness (who’s been there?)
hunger (who’s been there?)
loneliness
heartache
uncertainty
long moves across the country
Each of these things - and A MILLION MORE - opportunities for the devil to DEVOUR our faith.
How do we FIGHT against this?
We pray...
What did it say...
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
I’d like to have my Rachel (the elders) - Sean and Heidi and the girls -
And my discipleship guys come on up.
I’d like to finish this out by praying for the Bacon family.
SUMMARY
SLIDE:
Anchor of Prayer
What - A Privilege Bought with Blood
Why - The Victory of Christ
How - Acknowledge God, His Authority, and Plead His Faithfulness
Have a Great Week
