2019 Prayer Sermon

UNCTION

WELCOME

Good Morning Church...Bible...My name is

Welcome → Next Steps

Stepping in for Dave who is Sick

Kicking off 2019 with the most important topic:PRAYER

This SERMON is brought to you BY PRAYER

In 2019 we want to grow in PRAY

Nothing happens without PRAYER

So, Let’s PRAY

PRAY

Pray for sermon. Pray for Dave. Pray for nation.

INTRODUCTION

What if you could call THE PRESIDENT?

What would you say? (might not be very nice)

Would you tell him how you feel?

Would you ask him to change things?

(If too difficult, think about your Boss.)

I’ll do you ONE BETTER, WAY BETTER

You CAN CALL GOD, the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE

The ALL-KNOWING, ALL-POWERFUL, ALL-PRESENT God of ALL THINGS

You don’t NEED TO CALL the president.

You don’t EVEN NEED to call your SPOUSE

GOD is the one that CHANGES HEARTS, that ORDERS and ORDAINS things.

If you have a problem, TAKE IT UP WITH HIM.

May sound a little IRREVERENT, but it’s true. You have ACCESS to HIM.

HOW?

Through JESUS CHRIST

He is the OPERATOR SWITCHBOARD PERSON

He gives us ACCESS to the FATHER

WHY?

He is our MEDIATOR

““There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”

JESUS is our PATH to GOD and GOD’S PATH to US

What did it COST JESUS?

We were on the outside, no lines of communication → Because of Sin

Jesus gave his life for ours, was placed outside so that we could be inside a relationship with the Father.

If it COSTS JESUS so much, we are we so NONCHALANT about prayer?

As we look at PRAYER TODAY we must REMEMBER Jesus.

We PRAY

LIKE JESUS,

BECAUSE OF JESUS and

BY THE SPIRIT OF JESUS.

READ SCRIPTURE

(ESV): The Lord’s Prayer 5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: “ Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread,

(ESV): 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

WHAT IS PRAYER?

So What is prayer?

Very simply put: PRAY IS A CONVERSATION between you and GOD made possible by JESUS CHRIST.

Does God hear the PRAYERS of the UNSAVED?

I suppose, he hears everything.

Does he answer them? → I dunno. I’m not God.

Does he hear the PRAYERS of the SAVED → Absolutely

Does he always ANSWER THEM? → Absolutely

We may not like the answer

“Yes” , “No” , “Later”

My DAUGHTERS → pray like kids.

Persistent

Dependent

Earnest

Honest

Three Kinds of Prayer

There are three basic kinds of prayer to God. There is “upward” prayer— praise and thanksgiving that focuses on God himself. We could call this the “prayer of awe.” Then there is “inward” prayer— self-examination and confession that bring a deeper sense of sin and, in return, a higher experience of grace and assurance of love. That is the prayer of intimacy. Finally, there is “outward” prayer— supplication and intercession that focuses on our needs and the needs of others in the world. This prayer requires perseverance and often entails struggle.

WHY SHOULD WE PRAY?

We should pray because JESUS PRAYED

“23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.”

We should pray because JESUS TOLD US TO PRAY

, “When you pray...Pray then like this”

We should PRAY because WE NEED HELP!

When are you most likely to prayer? → In crisis? When you come to the end of your control?

WHY? → The first prerequisite for and effective prayer life is our neediness:

As you develop your relationship with your heavenly Father, you’ll change. You’ll discover nests of cynicism, pride, and self-will in your heart. You will be unmasked. None of us likes being exposed. We have an allergic reaction to dependency, but this is the state of the heart most necessary for a praying life. A needy heart is a praying heart. Dependency is the heartbeat of prayer. So when it starts getting uncomfortable, don’t pull back from God. He is just starting to work. - Paul Miller, A Praying Life

Let me ask you “HOW’S YOUR PRAYER LIFE?

Most common response: It could be better.

“I believe that prayer is the measure of the man, spiritually, in a way that nothing else is, so that how we pray is as important a question as we can ever face”? - J.I. Packer

To the EXTENT that we PRAY, to that EXTENT we are DEPENDENT ON GOD.

Elise and I keep coming to this conclusion. “Man we should pray more.”

My wife, excellent prayer, connects to God in prayer.

We PRAY because WE NEED TO.

At the end of the day, we have nothing else of power.

PRAYER is true POWER.

What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men--men of prayer. - E.M. Bounds

WHY DON’T WE PRAY?

CYNICISM

It won’t do any good. What’s the point.

BUSYNESS

I’m too busy.

Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart. In the midst of outer busyness we can develop an inner quiet. Because we are less hectic on the inside, we have a greater capacity to love … and thus to be busy, which in turn drives us even more into a life of prayer.

Sin

Pride:

If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life. You’ll always be a little too tired, a little too busy. But if, like Jesus, you realize you can’t do life on your own, then no matter how busy, no matter how tired you are, you will find the time to pray.

Sin can block our path to God. Confession removes the obstacles.

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” ()

JESUS DEALS WITH SIN, again the path is always open.

For if you FORGIVE others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

WHAT DOES PRAYER DO TO US?

Allows us to be KNOWN, AUTHENTIC, REAL with God.

Read the psalms, they are BRUTALLY HONEST

Just like any relationship, we have to spend time with God and share ourselves.

Of course he already knows this, but it builds intimacy

ABRAHAM AND ISSAC?

CHANGES OUR HEARTS

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer says, NOT what I WANT, but what YOU WANT

“If it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” ()

Prayer aligns our hearts with God.

We WANT what we WANT

Not a question of IF YOU ARE doing this, but HOW ARE you doing this?

Are you AWARE of yourself

"Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His' voice in the depth of our hearts." - Mother Teresa

HOW THEN SHALL WE PRAY?

1. Regularly, Persistently, Unceasinly

2 Thess 5:17 “ 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you:

Persistent widow → persistent children

This will mean HAVING A PLAN!

Praying in the morning/evening

Praying at Meals

Daily Devotional - Tim Keller’s Songs of Jesus

Also means, all THROUGHOUT your day. There is no PRAYER that is too small.

Pray for that PARKING LOT

Pray for FINDING YOUR WALLET

A praying life isn’t simply a morning prayer time; it is about slipping into prayer at odd hours of the day, not because we are disciplined but because we are in touch with our own poverty of spirit, realizing that we can’t even walk through a mall or our neighborhood without the help of the Spirit of Jesus. - Paul Miller

2. PRAYING TOGETHER

Corporately at Church Service

Throughout the Week in Groups

With spouses, friends, those in need

Pray individually as well.

“12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.”

“25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them”

3. BIBLICALLY

That is using God’s Word, Praying the Scriptures

Best way is the Psalms:

The psalms are already God’s devotional book...Every situation in life is represented in the book of psalms. [Psalms anticipate and train you for every possible spiritual, social, and emotional condition— they show you what the dangers are, what you should keep in mind, what your attitude should be, how to talk to God about it, and how to get from God the help you need]...We are, in a sense, to put them inside our own prayers, or perhaps to put our prayers inside them, and approach God in that way.

How do we do this?

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!

24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

1 Give ear to my words, O Lord;

consider my groaning.

2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,

my King and my God,

for to you do I pray.

3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;

in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you

4. SPIRIT FILLED

Holy Spirit helps us to pray.

He empowers us to pray.

He brings things to mind for us to pray for.

“26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

Related to this is the question of what it means to pray “in the Spirit.”

Paul says, “Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (),

and Jude says, “pray in the Holy Spirit” (). (Grudem, 382)

CONCLUSION

End where we started

We can pray because ase JESUS purchased that right for us.

“16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

COMMUNION

CLOSING PRAYER

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread,

12 and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power, and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen.