Call Home: Where do I start?
Call Home • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 views“You gotta ‘pray through it’.” ”Pray constantly.” “Pray inspite of…” We’ve all heard those statemements. We know prayer is important… We know we need to do it… But… Where do we start?!? Jesus started with “Our Father in heaven…” Four simple, yet powerful words… “Our Father in heaven…” not an earthly, broken, failure of a father, but One who loves us unconditionally and unendingly, who will literally sacrifice everything for us…. Calling Home is having a conversation with our true Father.
Notes
Transcript
Stan Toler tells the story of two mountain climbers, Fred and Bert… One day they were hiking, when Bert fell into a 500 ft crevasse…
“Are you all right, Bert?”
“I’m still alive, thank goodness, Fred.”
“Here, grab this rope.”
“I can’t! My arms are broken.”
“Well, fit it around your legs.”
“I can’t! They’re broken too.”
“Put the rope in your mouth.”
So Bert put it in his mouth and Fred began to haul Him up… 490 ft… 400 ft… 300 ft… 200 ft… 100 ft… 50 ft… “Hey, Bert, how are you doing?”
“I’m fine… Uh-oh!”
Don’t let go of the rope!
Calling Home… Prayer… Talking to God about our struggles is our rope!
To often, when we face troubles, we abandon or avoid prayer and run to our comfort zones… Amen!
How does that turn out for us?!?
17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’ ”
This is an interesting verse… It’s middle verse of the OT… It’s found in the midst of King Jehoshaphat’s story.
King Jehoshaphat faced enemies on 3 sides… He was in a hopeless situation… But… He resolved to “Call Home” — to seek God for what to do…
3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.
4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
Look at :
2 Chronicles 20:6 (NIV)
6 and said: “Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.
Then in verse 12:
2 Chronicles 20:12 (NIV)
12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
That’s when God says to him:
17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’ ”
Does anybody know the end of that story?
— Jehoshaphat lines his army up… little bitty Judah facing three armies… Then he does something crazy… He chooses his best singers, and tells them to sing praises to God!
— as they sing, God set up ambushes against the invading armies, and Judah won the battle!
What gives us that kind of Faith??!
How can we pray like that?
Where do we start?
Keith Newman says “[Prayer] is as simple as having a conversation with a friend.”
“Prayer is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking alone time with Him who we know loves us.” — — St. Teresa of Avila
“Prayer, Praising God, and persistently asking Him to meet our needs [is] an integral part of the dedicated life.” — — Holman
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Prayer feeds our faith, strengthens our core, helps us heal past hurts, and prepares us for what is coming… Amen?
BUT…
Where do we start?
Would you agree that the disciples were good leaders?
(yes)
Then, let’s look at what they did…
They knew they needed to learn… to connect better with God. They knew they needed to grow…
So… they did what great leaders do… They watched.
They followed Jesus, they got close to Him, and they asked questions!
Then… (listen) … They paid attention to Him!
Jesus modeled for them the importance of prayer… On the busiest days, He would slip away to pray…
Luke tells us that on this “day, Jesus was praying,” and the disciples were sleeping… NO!!! They were watching Him!
1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
— — I’ve been watching season 4 of The Chosen. One thing I noticed is Peter — unlike in the previous seasons, Peter is hanging on Jesus’s every word, He’s on the edge of his seat, intently studying Jesus’s every move… I think that’s how they were here!
They knew how powerful John’s prayers were, and they had seen how Jesus’s were answered, and they wanted Jesus to teach them how to pray like that!
So they waited… they watched intently… trying to hear His words… trying to gain strength for their own prayers, until… FINALLY! He’s done!
And they ask, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Where Do We Start?
Right there!!!
Right there… with those words… AND THEN WE LISTEN!!!!
“How do you pray?!”
“Just do it! Just go talk to God!” — that’s the Church’s answer, right?
Jesus said:
2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”
The NKJ captures the sense of Jesus’s words better here…
Where do we start?
We start where He started!
Where did Jesus start?
“Our Father in heaven…”
Four simple, yet extremely powerful and descriptive words…
“Our Father in heaven…”
Now… let me stop for just a minute…
— the Lord’s Prayer is not a “rote prayer”
— nor is it a “formula” meant to give us an “order to pray”
5 finger prayer - praise, thanks, repent, ask, others, or… family, teachers/pastors, government, healing/others, self
CHAT — confession, honor, ask, thanks
ACTS — adoration, confession, thanks, supplication
PRAY — praise, repent, ask, yield
— Those are good methods to help us, but they aren’t required…
— It is an example of the “substance of prayer”
Wilcock states: “The Lord’s Prayer is a model, not in the sense that these are the actual words we should pray, but… that these are the lines along which we should pray.”
In other words, Jesus is giving us a “road map,” or “recipe”, but if we are going to follow it, then we need to understand the “ingredients.”
(think about it — baking a cake, rebuilding a car, designing a computer)
This is how we need to understand prayer… And it starts with what?
— — God — —
“Our Father in heaven…”
(draw God example)
Our image of God… How we see Him… effects our willingness to “Call Home”.
— If we see Him as a judge, we plead our case, hoping for leniency, or we don’t plead at all….
— If we see Him as distant, removed, uncaring, we probably won’t pray at all…
— If we see Him as an absentee dad, we may not feel like He will answer at all…
Are you getting the picture?
In these four words… Jesus gives us an entirely new image of God.
OT — called Him YAHWEH — rarely spoken, and when it was, the vowels weren’t pronounced. It came out more as a breath…
— God was not called “Father” in the OT.
— “Father” was only used to refer to Him 7 times…
Now, contrast that with the NT.
— Jesus calls God “Father” over 200 times!
I think He wanted us to understand something!
It is often difficult for us to understand the implications of calling God “Our Father”…, BUT, I want you to see something.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
“Abba” is an important term. It means more than “male parent”; it refers to a “daddy.”
Do you understand the difference?
A “daddy” nurtures…cares for… provides for… and loves his children. Their children become their life!
— most if us struggle with this, because we didn’t/don’t have that kind of father, do we? Our experience of a father is often quite the opposite, amen?
Look at what Paul says:
Romans 8:15 (NIV)
15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Do you know what that means?!
Do you understand it?!?!
(listen)
You were CHOSEN to be a CHILD OF GOD!!!
19 “I myself said, “ ‘How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.
“Calling Home” is all about RELATIONSHIP.
We are naturally drawn to talk to people we have a connection with.
10 Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
With those 2 words, “Our Father”, Jesus is reminding us that we are welcomed by God into His Kingdom!
— We are loved by Him…
— we are chosen by Him…
— we are His children!
“Our Father” reminds us that, as God’s children, we are ENTITLED to the Rights, Privileges, and Responsibilities of being called His children.
Are we praying like we are?!
Think about the parable of the Prodigal Son…
— gives us the perfect example of “Our Father”… (explain)
That’s how God treats us!
— He gave us forgiveness, beginning with Adam and Eve.
— He gave us His Son…
— He gave us the Holy Spirit…
— He gives us provision and direction!
Look at Psalm 23.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
That’s provision!
Psalm 23:2 (NIV)
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, …
Instruction
Psalm 23:2–3 (NIV)
… he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
direction/restoration
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Protection
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Preparation/provision
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Destination/promise
We have a “Father” — a daddy — who loves us, who care for us, and who protects us… He has proven that He will do anything for us…
Where do we start?
Right there!
By realizing who He is… By allowing that truth to draw us into a relationship with Him.
James 4:2 (NIV)
…You do not have because you do not ask God.
We do not ask because we have not accepted God as “Our Father”.