Sermon Tone Analysis

13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever.

My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

God made this promise concerning the physical structure that Solomon built as a place where God could be found by those who sought Him, a place made with human hands.

In Christ, God made a greater promise concerning a place where God could be found by those who heard His more gracious promise concerning a house not made with hands, but built up by the Holy Spirit.

Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed.

Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith.

May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

We continue reading the Words that our Lord spoke to the disciples just before His arrest leading to His sacrificial death.

Like the believers who first heard these words, we now look at them in the light of His resurrection.

Prayer is the spiritual discipline that separates the mature Christian from the spiritual infant.

It is the one thing that cannot be imitated by the children of darkness, nor can the unbeliever twist it to his own use.

It is the heritage of the saints, to be able to come before the Throne of grace to obtain mercy.

The scope of this promise is equivalent to the power behind it.

What are the limits to God’s power?

What are the limits to God’s knowledge?

What then, are the limits to our prayers?

To whom do these words apply?

To Abraham?

To Jacob?

To David?

Jesus defines the limits when He says, “Whatever you ask in My name.”

When you come before the Throne of Grace, when you come before your Heavenly Father in prayer, you are coming, not based upon what you have earned, but based upon what Jesus has done!

His perfect obedience has earned you the ear of the Father.

To whom do these words apply?

To Abraham?

To Jacob?

To David?

To whom do these words apply?

To Abraham?

To Jacob?

To David?

NO!

They are sinners, no different than you.

To Moses?

To Elijah?

To John the son of Zechariah?

NO!

They are sinners too!

When you look to see who it is to whom these words apply in terms of the qualifications, you see this:

Jesus Christ is the only Man whose delight is in the Law of the Lord, in whose Law He meditated day and night.

This is what Jesus expects when He acts.

This is what Jesus expects when He speaks to demons, when He speaks to sickness, when He speaks to death.

This isn’t me, this is Jesus only!

So when Jesus prays, He prays with absolute confidence.

When Jesus prays, He knows that the Father hears Him.

Jesus defines the limits when He says, “Whatever you ask in My name.”

When you come before the Throne of Grace, when you come before your Heavenly Father in prayer, you are coming, not based upon what you have earned, but based upon what Jesus has done!

His perfect obedience has earned you the ear of the Father.

Who did God hear?

According to Jesus, it wasn’t the Pharisee...

Who did God hear?

According to Jesus, it wasn’t the Pharisee...

Do you want that kind of confidence?

Do you?

There is only one way that you can get it.

The glory of God is not found in our earthly success, our wealthy extravagance, our lifelong achievement awards, or anything else that the world and the flesh, enticed by the devil, focuses on and says - God is there!

Christ appears where the Body gathers together in Witness - Mercy - Life Together.

When believers share the Good News purely with others who do not know that Christ is FOR YOU, when Christians live out their vocations in service to their neighbor, and when the Children of God gather in worship around Word and Sacrament, then the Body of Christ shines as the Light of the World.

It is in this life of Witness - Mercy - Life Together that we are given authority to come before the Father to make our requests known to Him, because then we are walking in the Spirit.

As we are led by the Spirit, we will seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness instead of our own.

Led by the Spirit, We seek His face, rather than our own.

In holding fast to His Word, we are turned by the Lord from our wicked ways, and, despairing of our own strength, we are strengthened with might in the inner man as we pray, “Let Your Kingdom come; let Your will be done!”

It is in the Lord’s Prayer that all these things come together.

We call out to “Our Father in Heaven” and recognize that His name is holy, and that name sanctifies us.

His Kingdom is a Kingdom where peace and righteousness dwells, and we pray for that to come into our lives as we walk as Kingdom citizens with others.

51 “But what is God’s kingdom?”

Answer, “Nothing other than what we learned in the Creed: God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, into the world to redeem and deliver us from the devil’s power [1 John 3:8].

He sent Him to bring us to Himself and to govern us as a King of righteousness, life, and salvation against sin, death, and an evil conscience.

For this reason He has also given His Holy Spirit, who is to bring these things home to us by His holy Word and to illumine and strengthen us in the faith by His power.”

52 We pray here in the first place that this may happen with us.

We pray that His name may be so praised through God’s holy Word and a Christian life that we who have accepted it may abide and daily grow in it, and that it may gain approval and acceptance among other people.

We pray that it may go forth with power throughout the world [2 Thessalonians 3:1].

We pray that many may find entrance into the kingdom of grace [John 3:5], be made partakers of redemption [Colossians 1:12–14], and be led to it by the Holy Spirit [Romans 8:14], so that we may all together remain forever in the one kingdom now begun.

What matters to God? People.

What matters to people?

Go ask your neighbor!

Jesus has all authority:

We have been given clear instructions, and God is highly motivated to see His Kingdom come, and His will be done.

Prayer connects us to Him, our desires to His will.

God has promised to hear and respond.

He has promised that He will neither leave nor forsake us.

He has declared that all things are “Yes” and “Amen” in Christ.

So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.