A Call to Prayer
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08-16-2020
Making the Main Thing the Main Thing
This morning we will continue with our series of making the main thing the main thing
If you will recall last week we introduced our series
13 “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14 and 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, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Remember this is not a check list to create
But rather it is a call to action
A call to begin to do the things we read in scripture
Last week looked at being Humble
Last week we challenged you to pray for humbleness in your own life
We also said that those were dangerous prayers
Not sure if God answered your prayers but I know that I was humbled
We are to humble ourselves so that we are in the proper position in relation to God so that we can be used of God
God will only use the humble
10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
When we are humbled we are then exalted by God
This morning we will continue in order
Remember this is not a check list for you to create but rather a call to return to our first Love
To main the Main Thing the Main Thing
Our main thing is doing the work of Christ
Our main thing is to share the Gospel
That doesn’t happen apart from a relationship with Christ
What is being talked about in 2 Chronicles is about a relationship with Christ
These are not a check list to do once and your done this is what a relationship with Christ is
This week it is a call to prayer
This might be a sermon that you think we don’t need because you pray
This might be one of those sermons that you think I have heard this before
You are right
This is a call to prayer
5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
When you pray it is not something to be done for the sake of others
When you pray you are not to pray so that others see you
Prayer is to be an intimate practice between you and God
When you pray it should be for you and God
Prayer at it simplest form is communication to and from God
It does not involve others
Please hear me there is a time when we as believers gather together to pray together
But as this follows being humble it is not about how you sound to others
When we pray it is about coming into the throne room of God
And to come into the throne room of God you need to be in the right position in relation to God meaning you need to be humble to come into the throne room of God
Church you have heard it before
We are to be praying
17 pray without ceasing;
We are to be in constant communication with God
We live in a world that is in constant communication with each other and when you call or text someone and they don’t respond
It drives you crazy
We even can tell know when they read your message
And when you send it to them and we can see they have read it and they still don’t respond it drives us crazy
Think of it from Gods point of view
He has sent you and I a message through His son, through His word
He can tell wether or not we have read it or not and then God is waiting for us to respond
Prayer is how we respond to the Word we have been given by God
I know this seems simple and maybe its the simple things we over look
But church this morning is not a if I pray God will do x
No this morning is a call to return to prayer, and not just a laundry list of please do this God but to be in constant prayer to be in constant communication to God the Father
3 ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
When we pray part of that is listening to God and when we listen God has something to say
Do you begin to see how this works
When you are humble and when you are in right relation to where God is
You can then enter into the throne room of God and then after you are don’t sharing with God you have the ability to listen to God
I think we say a prayer and say amen and are done and then run about our lives
When we should be praying and listening to God as we go through our lives!
God has things to share with us if we will just listen to Him!
No some of you aren’t sure how this whole praying constantly works
Maybe you are saying but I don’t know what to say or what to pray about
I am so glad you asked
1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
We are to be praying for our leaders
We are to be praying for our church leaders
I know some of you have been praying for me and my family and the elders and deacons
I know we so appreciate your love and prayers!
We are to pray for bosses
We are to prayer for each other
Then you continue to lift them up and listen to what God has to say
Or maybe you struggle with what to pray
26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Praise the Lord God sent a helper to us in this life
The Holy Spirit will go to God on our behalf when we don’t know how to pray for things
Who better to God then the Spirit of God
Sometimes there are difficulties that we do not know how to pray or you are struggling so much that you don’t know what to pray but you know you need to be praying
That is when the Holy Spirit comes to our aid and goes to God on our behalf
Praise the Lord for our Helper
This morning church it is all about the importance of prayer
and that is when and where we hear from God is through prayer
Prayer only comes about when we are humble
Then we are in right relation to God’s position and we can be used by God
We are also able to enter the throne room of God
It is in the throne room of God that prayer happens
We can meet with God and communicate with Him
Share with Him our praises, our struggles, our concerns, our requests, concerns for others, ask for wisdom, and guidance and direction, and then maybe the most important part is to listen to what He has to say
The first sermon I ever preached was titled turning down the volume
Sometimes we need to turn the volume down on everyone else and listen to God
Because when we listen to God that is when we get wisdom, peace, understanding, grace, mercy, courage
Church do you begin to see how this is not just a thing you can check off, rather this is a lifestyle
To be in prayer is not a switch you can turn off and on, it is a call to a praying lifestyle, because it takes work to hear the voice of God, it takes time to pick it up
It requires you to spend time with God day after day to know His voice over the others
This morning is a call to prayer Church
To humble ourselves and go into the throne room of God and meet with Him and share with Him our concerns, to lift our leaders up, to repent of our sins, to seek out Gods wisdom, and then church to listen to what God says and then
Go and Do IT
So this morning as we move into this time of invitation
The invitation is this
If you are here today and do not know Jesus and you want to know Jesus, we want to invite you to the front
Someone will be down front who can open up the Bible and show you how Jesus died for your sin and how He desires a relationship with you and I, and how you can enter that relationship through repentance and believing in Him
Or if you simply need to spend sometime in prayer the altar is open