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A Praying Church part 3
Series: A Praying Church
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so He could lay His hands on them and pray for them.
But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering Him.
But Jesus said, "Let the children come to Me. Don't stop them!
For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children."
And He placed His hands on their heads and blessed them before He left.
INTRODUCTION
Good morning Southpointe, we are very excited about what God is doing in this place, last Sunday morning was awesome, God moved so strong as we came to altar and got down on our knees and God moved in so many people lives.
So this morning, I want to talk to you about extending our hands in prayer.
Rick Warren, several years ago, wrote a book called The Purpose Driven Life.
It became the bestselling Christian book of all time.
Let me remind you of the very first sentence of that book: “It’s not about you.” “It’s not about you.”
We all have this tendency to always want to make everything about us, and this selfishness can even reveal itself when we are praying to God.
Rick Warren, several years ago, wrote a book called The Purpose Driven Life.
It became the bestselling Christian book of all time.
Let me remind you of the very first sentence of that book: “It’s not about you.” “It’s not about you.”
And perhaps one of the reasons the book was so compelling is the fact that we all have this carnal tendency to always want to make everything about us, and this selfishness can even reveal itself when we are praying to God.
Dear God in heaven, watch over me.
Keep me healthy.
Lord, I don’t need to get sick with all that’s going on at home and work.
And, Lord, help my house to sell.
And, Lord, when that promotion is talked about at work, may my name be right in the center of the discussion.
Give me safety on my trip tomorrow, and, Lord, help my fantasy football team to dominate today.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
I call those “Me, myself and I” prayers.
Not even a mention of anyone else.
Prayers like this: Dear God in heaven, watch over me.
Keep me healthy.
Lord, I don’t need to get sick with all that’s going on at home and work.
And, Lord, help my house to sell.
And, Lord, when that promotion is talked about at work, may my name be right in the center of the discussion.
Give me safety on my trip tomorrow, and, Lord, help my football team win tonight.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
I call those “Me, myself and I” prayers.
Not even a mention of anyone else.
Have you ever been guilty of praying a prayer that’s all about you and fails to take into account the needs of others?
Our new vision is to be a praying church who reaches out and challenges everyone to follow Jesus completely.
So in this series we are trying to look at the early New Testament church to learn from their emphasis on prayer.
We’ve learned that we can pray with open eyes and bent knees, and today we’ll see that we can have extended hands.
In our text this morning, Jesus actually did this in a physical way.
He extended hands.
But Jesus actually did this in a physical way.
He extended hands.
Look at :
Children were brought to Jesus that He might lay His hands on them and pray.
The disciples rebuked the people but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and He laid His hands on them.
In Acts chapter 9 Ananias came and laid hands on Saul and prayed for him.
But let’s don’t look at this just as a physical expression of prayer; instead let;s see it as an expression that our prayers extend beyond ourselves and that they stretch to others.
So if you get anything out of this message today may it be this: We should intentionally pray for others.
Let’s take a break from our self-focused prayers that we offer and let’s put the attention on someone else.
The early church was a church that did that and they excelled in so many different ways.
The first area is that of fasting and praying.
The church at Antioch in the book of Acts was an example of this.
When they sent Paul and Barnabas off on a mission trip to share the Gospel, they were a praying and fasting church with them.
The first area is that of fasting and praying.
The church at Antioch in the book of Acts was an example of this.
When they sent Paul and Barnabas off on a mission trip to share the Gospel, they were a praying and fasting church with them.
Luke writes in , “Then after they had fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and they sent them off.”
When we fast we are denying ourselves of something that is common, something that is normal and necessary, and God can fill that time and that void by doing a work in our hearts.
If I were to give you a very simple definition of fasting I might say, “Fasting is the abstaining of food with a spiritual goal in mind.”
So it’s not taking a break from food in order to diet or to lose weight—although that’s good.
It’s not when you’re sick and you have the flu and you can’t keep any solid food down so you don’t eat any solid food for a couple of days.
It’s not that.
It is abstaining from food with a spiritual goal in mind, and that way every hunger pang drives us back to God, the One on whom we are dependent.
One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them."
So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.
When we fast we are denying ourselves of something that is common, something that is normal and necessary, and God can fill that time and that void by doing a work in our hearts.
If I were to give you a very simple definition of fasting I might say, “Fasting is the abstaining of food with a spiritual goal in mind.”
So it’s not taking a break from food in order to diet or to lose weight—although that’s good.
It’s not when you’re sick and you have the flu and you can’t keep any solid food down so you don’t eat any solid food for a couple of days.
It’s not that.
It is abstaining from food with a spiritual goal in mind, and that way every hunger pang drives us back to God, the One on whom we are dependent.
When we fast we are denying ourselves of something that is common, something that is normal and necessary, and God can fill that time and that void by doing a work in our hearts.
If I were to give you a very simple definition of fasting I might say,
“Fasting is the abstaining of food with a spiritual goal in mind.”
So it’s not taking a break from food in order to diet or to lose weight.
It is abstaining from food with a spiritual goal in mind, and that way every hunger pang drives us back to God, the One on whom we are dependent.
You see, I believe that prayer and fasting leads us to a life of obedience.
It allows us to have a breakthrough in areas of disobedience.
God responds to the heart that desires more than anything to please Him.
When we fast we’re saying “no” to things that we typically say “yes” to.
We are surrendering ourselves completely over to total dependence on God.
Surrender means we must be empty before we can be filled.
We must die in order to live.
We must give it all up to gain.
For His kingdom to come, our kingdom must go.”
And my own personal experience has been the times that I have fasted, I don’t really enjoy it.
I love food.
I admit it.
I’m always looking forward to that next meal.
Yet every time that I’ve fasted God always teaches me something and I always walk away closer to Him than when I came.
In Matthew chapter 4 when Jesus is fasting and praying for forty days and Satan came to Him with the temptations of pleasure and power and prestige, but Christ overcame every one.
Satan thought that He was physically weak and He was but He wasn’t spiritually weak.
He was spiritually strong, and He got stronger and stronger through the power of God.
Throughout the Bible fasting was a practice.
We already saw it in Acts chapter 13.
We see it in the next chapter as well.
When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.
I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
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