Corporate Prayer

Introduction

Do you know what is in 129 days? Christmas!

As Christians, we have the best news of all to celebrate each Christmas season as we celebrate that our God sent forth His Son into this world as a baby boy who would grow up and save sinners like you and me. But we know that a lot of people like the Christmas season for another reason and that reason is that people like to get things called Christmas presents - earlier this week I came across an article from last Christmas with the top 8 things that men and women have on their Christmas list.

Women:

Money

Gift card

Clothing/Shoes

Cosmetics

Jewlery

Books

Food

Phone

Men:

Money

Gift card

Clothing/Shoes

Phone

Food

Computer

Electronics

Watch

If you could have one thing, one present, one gift, one thing, what would it be? Some would say money, a special ability, a game, an experience, a day just to sleep in and relax - right young parents?

Consider the example in the Old Testament of Solomon. Solomon became the king after his father, David. The kingdom was growing and things were going well - and God asked Solomon a question - “What should I give you?” Can you imagine that? God asking you, what do you want? We have our list ready to go with lots of things that we’d love to have. But do you know what Solomon asks God for? He asks God for wisdom in order to rule over God’s people well. Not riches. Not power. Not love. Not possessions… wisdom.

This morning, as we continue walking through our first sermon series together and looking at the building blocks for Christ-Centered Churches, we come to something that is foundational to our lives as Christians, but sadly forgotten all too often - Prayer. See, the disciples were around Jesus more than anyone else during His earthly ministry. They could ask Him all sorts of questions and have Him teach them many things that we read about in the Gospels… but here in Luke 11 we see the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.

If you were around Jesus, with all the wisdom and power He possessed, would this be on your radar? Sadly, prayer is one of the most underused and misunderstood things in the world, especially inside the church. This morning as we look to God’s Word we’re going to be reminded that prayer is powerful, not because we’re powerful, but because the One to Whom we pray to is all-powerful

Luke 11:1–13 CSB

1 He was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say, Father, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. And do not bring us into temptation.” 5 He also said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’ 7 Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s shameless boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. 9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

We serve a good God, don’t we church? Let’s go to Him in prayer right now

We Must Recognize God’s Greatness (1-4)

What exactly is prayer and why do we pray? These are two questions that people have had for years and there have been a variety of answers over the years as well. Some say that God wants to know what’s on your heart and they call that prayer - just telling God what’s on your heart. South Gate friends, I know that we’re still getting to know one another, but I believe you all are students of Scripture. Think through that statement for a moment - God wants to know. What’s problematic with that statement? God is OMNISCIENT - He knows everything. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He knows the number of grains of sand on the beach. He knows what you’re thinking right now. Prayer is not informing God what’s going on - God already knows. So then, what is prayer? We could say that prayer is communicating with God, trusting in God’s provision, and yielding to God’s will.

Some want to know, though, if God already knows then why should I pray? That’s a good question and our text gives us the answer. For one, we are instructed to pray. How do we start our prayers according to Jesus in Luke 11? With the character of God. When you and I pray, we are recognizing God’s greatness, holiness, sovereignty, grace, mercy, and justice and we are praying that God would reveal Himself to ourselves and others in a powerful way by providing for us, forgiving us of our sins, and delivering us from temptation. Prayer starts with the glory of God - not “informing” God. He already knows. He delights in answering the prayers of His people. This is why James 4:2-3 shares, “You have not because you ask not.” We are commanded to pray because God answers prayer. Prayer is often the means through which God accomplishes His ends for His glory and our good. Prayer starts with understanding who God is and who we are.

Fundamentally, we see in our text that prayer starts with the glory of God.

We start with the “YOUR” before we get to the “OUR” - start with God’s glory before getting to your need

5 aspects to this prayer

Recognizing God’s Holiness

Look at how this prayer starts - some of you know this prayer by heart and most of us have Matthew 6 memorized, not Luke 11, so let’s look at the text. When you pray - say Father Your name be honored as holy. When we first pray we recognize that God is holy. We are ascribing honor to the Lord for who He is and we are asking that He make His holiness known in this world. The highest priority of prayer is the glory of God just as the chief end of man is to glorify God. We start with God’s character.

Realizing God’s Kingdom

Because God is holy and because we are sinners living in a sin-filled world, this model prayer moves to ask God’s Kingdom to come. Shouldn’t this be our prayer every single day, Christian? That God would move in such a way through our lives that His light shines bright into the darkness and that more people would come to know Christ each day until the consummation of the Kingdom whenever Jesus Christ returns. We start with Who God is, we move to what He will do.

Relying on God’s Provision

Give us this day our daily bread - We move from the future to the present here. From the “YOUR’ to the “OUR.” We ask God for the things that we require - which includes everything because He is our Sustainer and all of our days are held in His hand. This picture of daily bread draws back on the Israelites in the Wilderness as they had to rely on God to provide them with manna every single day. Do you remember what happened whenever they tried to save some? It went bad. In our modern world we’re tempted to think that we’re self-sustaining and prepared because of our due diligence. Somehow, people think that they don’t need to depend on God anymore. This is as far from the truth as can be. We are just as much in need of “our daily bread” as Jesus’ followers 2000 years ago! We humbly ask Him to provide what we need - not necessarily what we want.

Remembering God’s Forgiveness

Next, we ask Him to forgive us our sins. We remember that God is a forgiving God. Are you thankful for that truth? As those who have been forgiven, what is our expectation? To forgive others. This requires divine help at times, and this is why this shows up in this model prayer. Jesus’ argument goes like this, “Since you, as sinners, can forgive others, God, who is merciful, can forgive.” And if you don’t forgive others, it is a sign that you likely haven’t been forgiven by Jesus because when you realize how serious your sin is before Him, suddenly the sin that people commit against you looks a whole lot smaller. We remember what God has done.

Finding Refuge in God’s Power

We end this prayer with a request to not bring us into temptation. Some wrongly think that this means that it is God who tempts but we know that this isn’t true as James 1:13 tells us that God cannot tempt anyone to sin because He Himself is not tempted by evil! What is this saying? That when we are in times of trial and temptation, that God would remind us to find refuge in His arms. This is Psalm 91:1 language about dwelling in the shelter of the Most High. This is asking God for spiritual protection.

The Lord’s Prayer, or the Model Prayer is all about the Lord! His greatness. His power. We must recognize who He is before we pray and as we pray, we reflect who He is to others. “The immediate purpose of prayer is the accomplishing of God’s will on earth; the ultimate purpose of prayer is the eternal glory of God.”

We Must Recognize God’s Generosity (5-10)

Now, the text moves to give us a parable about prayer. As you read in the Gospel’s - you see that Jesus taught with stories often and these stories are what we call, parables. Jesus always had a teaching that He wanted to communicate to His people through these stories. Sometimes the meaning was easy to understand - like the story of the Good Samaritan. We see in that story that the one who honors God isn’t always the person with the right lineage or background but the person who truly follows through with Christ-like love. That is what Jesus wants from His followers. There are other times where Jesus’ parables are harder to figure out. Here in Luke 11 we see a parable on prayer as Jesus is communicating what it looks like to be a prayer warrior of sorts. We’re not just supposed to simply follow a pattern of prayer, but to be people of prayer and to be a person of prayer you have to be persistent in prayer! (see 1 Thess 5:17) This story of a person who goes to his friend at midnight and knocks on his door, asking for bread.

We have a hard time with this story because of culture - so let’s put our context hats on here and go back to the Middle East 2,000 years ago. You’ve traveled a long way and arrived at your destination and you’re exhausted and hungry. There’s no Buc’ees or Wally’s to go to. There’s no Holiday Inn Express. There’s no McDonalds. You’re stuck looking for a friend and you remember that you have one in town. You’ve traveled all night to avoid the scorching heat of the sun, so you arrive at midnight. You knock on the door of this friend’s house and you are grateful but you are hungry and the host has no food. This is every grandmother’s worst nightmare, isn’t it? The grandsons are coming over and there isn’t any food! In this culture, hospitality was a big deal because the reputation of the family and the entire village/town was at stake. There’s no bread booth open at the market because it’s midnight. There’s nothing in the house. So what does the host do? He goes to his neighbor and tells him the situation - what does Jesus’ story share next? The neighbor says to go back to bed and leave him alone. Kind of like when you get a call at 1am that wakes you up from an unknown number. What are you thinking? I’m not picking that thing up. But then the person calls back again, and again, and again. What do you do? You pick up the phone. The neighbor opens his door and gives the man the bread that he needs. As Tim Keller once shared, “The only one who dares wake up a king at 3am for a glass of water is a child - we have that kind of access!”

Jesus is sharing with us that God answers prayer - but we know that He doesn’t always do this in the way that we expect. Look at the promises that follow in verses 9-10, three present imperatives. Commands for us to do whenever we pray at all times. When we come to God in persevering prayer, God will give us our requests as we find answers and doors are opened. In other words our needs are met because God is generous. Think about what you and I deserve today, right this very second. We deserve punishment as a result of our sin. That’s what our actions and righteousness deserves. Eternal separation from God. Yet, what is God giving every single person in this room right now? Generosity. Mercy. Grace. We recognize that God is generous to not give us what we do deserve. As we come to Him through Jesus Christ, we are told to ask, seek, and knock and we receive from the Lord.

Now, this is where some people go down the rabbit hole of prosperity theology where God promises to give you the desires of your heart and will make you happy, healthy, and wealthy if you just declare it with boldness and have enough faith in Him then you can name it and claim it and speak it into existence with a “Word of Faith.” There are many, many people who believe that if you just have enough faith then God will answer these requests how you ask and give you the healing or breakthrough. In fact, a man named Bill Johnson, from Bethel Church in California, is wellknown for saying and teaching that it is always God’s will to heal. Bill isn’t alone, televangelists and other YouTube ministers as I call them have also said this same statement. Luke 11:9-10 is often cited as evidence.

Let’s think through this, church. They posit that it is always God’s will to heal - this is fundamental to their theology - note these references, quickly, Mark 1:35-38, John 5:1-16, 2 Timothy 4:20, Matthew 13:58, Luke 5:17-26 as we see here that this is not the Biblical Gospel - so what happens whenever someone prays and they aren’t healed? Who is the problem with? It’s not with God. Who is the problem? The person - clearly, you didn’t get healed because you lacked the faith to be healed. You need more faith. You need to believe more. Do you see how bad theology hurts people?

Haddon Robinson cautions preachers with this warning, “There is no greater abuse of the Bible than to proclaim in God’s name what God is not saying.”

Does Jesus believe that having enough faith leads one to be healed and avoid suffering? Is that really what the Bible says?

Think of Jesus Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane

Matthew 26:39 CSB

39 Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Matthew 26:42 CSB

42 Again, a second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

Jesus, fully-God, fully-man, more faith than we can imagine because HE IS GOD - what is His prayer when facing suffering, pain, and the cross? Your Will Be Done.

What about Paul? A man of faith who was used mightily by God… Paul was suffering. He was in pain. He had a thorn in the flesh.

2 Corinthians 12:8–10 CSB

8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul doesn’t pout. He boasts in his weakness because in his weakness, the strength and greatness of Jesus is magnified!

Friend, if you are here this morning and you are suffering and you are struggling, though you may never understand the reason as to WHY you are suffering… you can know that HE is with you in your suffering. HE knows what it is like to suffer. You can know that He is working all things for His glory and for your good - even when things might not feel good.

What is the true Biblical teaching? God decides what is best. We don’t. God decides what the answer is. Sometimes God’s generous answer is “Yes, what you ask for is what is best for you.” Sometimes God’s generous answer is “No, what you asked for is not what is best for you.” Sometimes God’s answer is “Wait, it’s not time yet. Be patient and trust in Me.” As we pray we have to remember that God is sovereign, not us. He gives us what we need, when we need it. He has our best interests at heart and we must recognize that what God gives is generous and more than we could ever earn or deserve ourselves. God’s “no” is a billion times better than our “yes.” We ask, seek, and knock to discern what His will is. We are commanded to ask, seek, and knock to align with His will as God answers prayers! If we fail to ask, seek, and knock then we demonstrate that we believe more in our self rather than our Savior - that’s idolatry. We ask Him for help and He answer us. He helps us. God is not annoyed when His children call at 3am. He’s still awake.

We Must Recognize God’s Goodness (11-13)

We have a good heavenly Father. Not a cruel one. Not a sinful one. Not a mean one. We have a good one! This is foundational to understanding our relationship with Him and why we pray in the first place. This prayer begins with 2 words, “Our Father!” Has that ever taken you aback in your prayer life? The God who spoke the universe into existence. The God who knows the number of beats your heart has made, and the number it will make until it’s your time to go home. The God who designed the intricacies of existence and placed our planet in the perfect location for life to flourish. This God, Sovereign, Savior, Sustainer, Who exists outside of time and made all things by His own design, is your Father. That’s humbling. And that’s the foundation for our confidence at the same time, isn’t it? In ancient religion it was not normal to think of a singular God in the first place nor was it common to think of “god” as being one’s father except in extreme situations where there was a hero like Hercules or leader like Caesar who claimed divine status. Jewish culture was not big on calling Yahweh, Abba. Yet this is what Jesus routinely did and what He calls on His followers to do. We pray to our Father, through the Son, by the prompting of the Spirit. Our prayers are Trinitarian.

What do earthly father’s do for their children? Dad’s desire what is best for their children. They give their children good gifts. Now, sometimes dad’s are jokesters and other times dad’s have to teach a lesson with some tough love. But dad’s desire what is best for their kids. They give their children good gifts. When a child asks for food, the father doesn’t respond by giving the child a snake or a scorpion to inflict harm and danger. That’s cruelty! Even as flawed, imperfect, sinful people, father’s try their best to provide - that’s what children expect from their earthly fathers… Maybe you didn’t have that example. Maybe you didn’t have a good father. Maybe the concept of God as a Father is hard for you to fully comprehend because that word has been weaponized as the role of the father has been sinfully minimized in our culture. Maybe you’re here and you are a father and you feel like a failure because you haven’t been a good one. Regardless, look at the expectation Jesus gives at the end of our text. We expect our earthly (sinful) fathers to give good gifts to children, and we should expect this even more from our heavenly Father to provide exactly what we need, exactly when we need it. This is why James tells us that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. How does God come through with what we need? Verse 13 - by giving us the Holy Spirit. This comes to pass in Acts 2 in the second book we have from Dr. Luke as the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. But this is also true today - Christian. When you are in need and you ask the Father for help. What does He do? He provides because He is good. God provides by giving Himself

Romans 8:32 CSB

32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?

He is good! He works all things for His glory and our ultimate good as Romans 8:28 tells us

Romans 8:28 CSB

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Spurgeon shared it like this years ago, “He who counts the stars and calls them by their name is in no danger of forgetting His own children.” We pray to a God who knows us. A God who is good. A God who is generous. A God who is faithful. A God who is sovereign. A God who declares the end from the beginning. A God who wins. A God who is seated. These truths are wonderful - so, why do we pray to our God? John Stott once shared, “The purpose of prayer is emphatically not to bend God’s will to ours but to align ours with His.” We need God’s help with this, church.

Why is this a value of a healthy church? If prayer is talking to the Lord and if God has committed to answer the prayers of His covenantal people who are saved by grace through faith in Christ, then of course we must be a people of prayer! Here’s why: God uses the means of prayers to accomplish His sovereign purposes! Think of the people in Scripture who cried out to the Lord and how God not only heard their cries but answered. This is prominent in the Psalms as Psalm 34:4 says this

Psalm 34:4 CSB

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears.

We see this with Jonah in the whale. He was in danger, prayed, and the Lord answered.

We see this with Paul in prison and in times of suffering. He prays and the Lord answers.

These people in Scripture talk to the Lord - they come before Him with boldness - as we can do because of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:16) - and asked the Lord to do something. They knew He could. They believed He would. They had faith, even if He had something different in store. This is prayer.

Prayer is the thermometer of the Christian and the Church

God delights in hearing the prayers of His people. As we pray, we grow to be more like Him and as we pray we become united as a body of believers in line with His will. Understand this, friend - in your seasons of struggling and suffering when God says, “No” or “Not Yet” - you’re not alone. We’ve all been there.

We remember that when we are weak, He is strong. One day, all the suffering that we experience in this life. The loss, death, loneliness, anxiety, stress, worry, depression, heartache, disappointment, it will all cease. But that day isn’t today. In our waiting, we pray. In our longing, we pray. In our suffering, we pray.

God will heal all of His children one day. Sometimes God heals immediately through miracle or over time through medicine… but do you know what the best news of all is? God promises to heal His children for all eternity through the magnificent work of Jesus in saving sinners like you and me from eternal separation from God. That’s better news than anything we could experience in this lifetime.

As we better understand who our God is, our prayers change

When We Pray, We Praise God

There are so many reasons for us to praise God today. We praise Him for another day. We praise Him for the opportunity to come to church this morning. We praise Him for the ways that He has blessed our lives. We praise Him for WHO He is! We start with praise.

When We Pray, We Repent From Our Sins

After we praise God, we ask God to forgive us of our sins. 1 John reminds us that God is faithful and just to forgive us of our unrighteousness - do you know what one of our greatest problems is? We pray like this - “God if there’s anything that I’ve done wrong, please forgive me.” What does 1 John 1:9 say? If we CONFESS our sins. Church, we must confess not our sinfulness, but our sins to God and repent and ask Him to help us.

When We Pray, We Ask God to Act for His glory and our good

Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17 - He prays for God to sanctify His people with the truth of His Word. It is good to pray for God’s glory to be made known and for others to grow. God delights in hearing these prayers!

When We Pray, We Yield to God’s Will

Think about Jesus in the Garden - not as I will but as you will. Prayer is not a way to manipulate God or to twist His arm to get Him to do what we want… We pray to know God’s will. For His will to come and for us to align with it. Sometimes, that means that we have to wait.

When We Pray, We Pray For God to Save Souls

There is no one too far gone for the grace of Jesus Christ! Ask, and keep on asking. Seek, and keep on seeking. Knock, and keep on knocking.

Illustration with grandpa Hayworth finally coming to faith in Christ at the end of his life - do not give up

South Gate Baptist Church must be a church that “PRAYS” and the reason why this is a value is because the Bible says that it must be a value for all Christians. As Martin Luther once put it, “Pray and let God worry.” (Obviously, He doesn’t worry about anything!) We pray and we know that God works through prayer. He accomplishes His purposes and He changes us to be more like Him. A praying church is a healthy and dangerous church! We believe in the value of corporate prayer because prayer points us to Jesus… and this is what we need - more of Jesus, less of us!

Where is your prayer life at? Which part of this acrostic do you struggle with the most? Are you the worry wort who has difficulty yielding to God’s will? Are you stubbornly refusing to repent from a sin that you know you need to confess and repent of? Are you too busy telling God what to do that you’re missing out on how He is currently working a situation out for your ultimate good?

Friends, we all struggle at times with prayer… but we don’t have to! As we get ready to pray and respond however Christ is calling us to, let’s align our hearts with one another today and in the days to come to pray for the following things: God’s Glory to be made known | God’s Kingdom to continue to grow in our community | God’s Will to be done in our lives and in this world. Let our prayer be that we would be a people of prayer as we pray for ourselves, our faith family, other believers and other churches, and those who do not yet know Christ!