Sermon Tone Analysis
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On Thursday, I attended a funeral for an eight-day old child.
When the preacher eulogized the child, He began by quoting Romans 1:16-17,
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
He went on to list events in which both parents exhibited great faith.
Then he gave several references to people of great faith in the Bible.
He told the story of the Shunamite woman who had befriended Elijah and built a room for him on the roof of her house.
You know the story, her son becomes ill and she goes to get the prophet, who comes back to her house lies on the boy and raises him from the dead.
Another time, the prophet Elijah sees a funeral and stops the caravan to raise the boy from the dead.
He also referenced the Roman officer Jairus whose little girl was sick.
Jesus goes with him to his home after being told that the girl had died.
Jesus tells them that the girl is not dead but sleeping, and to have faith.
Jesus raises this girl from the dead.
As I was trying to figure out where the pastor was going in his message.
He brought up the topic of living by faith again.
He said that God had not taken this child's life.
That the enemy had done that - after all, it was his job to kill steal and destroy.
The preacher went on to tell the story of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised after four days in the tomb even after his body had begun to decay.
Then he went back to the faith topic, how circumstances in our life were stepping stones to growing our faith.
He talked about how we were coming into the end times, and how the power to raise the dead would become natural to us.
I expected him to go over to the coffin, lay hands on it, and called the child back to life.
He didn't.
I remember when my father died; my son's reaction was to tell me that he and his father were going to Madison, WI to raise grandpa from the dead.
My response was that Grandpa was fine where he was.
Did that mean that I had weak faith?
Did the preacher at the funeral I attended have weak faith?
Or are we as a church in such a place that some of our prayers are unanswerable?
You know that I am an avid reader; I am often reading two or three books at a time.
In addition to textbooks and research materials I read mysteries, legal thrillers, and church history.
I noticed something recently that both caught my attention and humbled me spiritually in three separate pieces of fiction.
Each story contained a character who was a Muslim.
Each in his own way was carrying out jihad against the hero of the story.
What caught my attention was the fact that every time the Muslim characters mentioned the name of Mohammed, they added the tagline "blessed be his holy name".
Before the Muslims took any action, they get out their prayer mats and prayed.
We in the Christian church are quick to point out that the Quran is not true and that Mohammed is not God.
We summarily dismiss Islam is a cult.
We are not going to discuss an Islamist morning.
I merely wanted to pint out the devotion and intensity of respect Muslim’s exhibit when they pray.
To me, their outward expressions would lead the observer to believe that they walk out their faith.
I got to thinking that it's time we in the church ramp up our faith.
It's time we start living our faith.
It's time we started demonstrating our Christianity outside the church.
So where do we start?
What is the one thing that makes the born-again Christian, different from any other form of religion?
Answer, his personal relationship with God.
We all know that you cannot have relationship with our open communication.
I believe the key to building faith is that relationship building open communication.
This morning I want to talk about your communication time with God.
We in the church call communication with God prayer.
Prayer is one of the key disciplines in the Christian life.
You know the disciplines: prayer, Bible study, meditation, fasting, and worship.
Those things pastor encourages us to do all the time.
But have you ever thought of them as disciplines?
Things that train you spiritually?
You can take a spiritual thermometer reading of a believer by looking at the way he handles circumstances.
That's why pastor encourages us to spend more time in the disciplines.
I don't have to teach you how to pray this morning.
We've all been doing that for a long time.
My intent this morning is to look at the way we pray and at the end of this lesson, to examine whether our practice of the discipline is truly building relationship with God.
It is said that
“Prayer is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul.
Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God”
- Martyn Lloyd-Jones
That's the picture of prayer I had as child growing up in the Catholic Church.
I needed to be on my knees begging and pleading with God.
When I got saved, I was told the essence of prayer is simply talking to God as you would to a friend.
God was not some ruler, I needed to approach a fearfully.
He was a friend who I could sit down with a cup of coffee and chat.
After reading about the way Muslims practice their religion, I began to wonder if born again Christians hadn't taken the practice of prayer to a place of flippancy?
We all know that communication with God is vital.
Scripture tells us that the effect that
The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James 5:16
Clearly, it is God's plan for the Christian to pray.
What I believe, many Christians fail to recognize is that when we don't pray, or pray with the wrong attitude, we are fulfilling the enemy's plan to keep us a more intimate relationship with God.
Let's examine some attitudes about prayer.
· For some prayer is a routine: now I lay me down to sleep…
Or, God is great; God is good, let us thank him for our food…
· For others - prayer something you do in crisis.
When things are good, you don't need to pray.
· For others - they just don't have time to pray they're too busy.
· Some people actually believe that prayer is the time when you bring your laundry list of needs before God and demand that he fulfill them.
What is the one thing, all of those attitudes have in common?
There is no respect or sense of awe being associated with the presence of God.
Prayer should be like breathing pure oxygen.
It rejuvenates the body, the spirit, the soul.
It brings you into the presence of God.
And only in the presence of God is there wholeness, peace, joy.
Imagine yourself being thrown into a pool with heavyweights run your ankles.
Initially, you have enough strength to come up for a gulp of air.
But the more you struggle against the weight, the harder it is to come up for air.
When you failed to pray, it's like holding your spiritual breath.
Living a hit or miss prayer life deprives your spirit and soul of what they need to prosper.
Too many believers become satisfied with physical blessings that they have little desire for spiritual blessings.
Don’t deprive your spirits; feed them, in the presence of God.
So how do we keep that flow of divine oxygen supplied to our spirits?
Let’s look at Jesus.
· How much time did he spend in prayer?
· We know he got up early, often before daybreak to commune with his father.
· In the evenings he would go to the Mount of Olives or some other quiet place to pray - usually alone.
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