3-Getting the Conversation Started
Getting the Conversation Started – part 1
“Can You Hear Me Now?”
March 11, 2004
Adapted from a sermon by Chris Seidman, Farmers Branch Church of Christ
Communication Impaired. Have you had trouble getting through to somebody?
How many of you get email telling you about bizarre stories that have happened. They are almost unbelievable. Well the story I’m about to share with you has been validated by Snopes.Com. This is a web page that searches out urban legends to see if they are really true. They have verified that the story I’m about to tell you really occurred.
FBI agents conducted a "search and seizure" at the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in San Diego in 1993, which was under investigation for medical insurance fraud. After hours of poring over many rooms of financial records, some sixty FBI agents worked up quite an appetite. The case agent in charge of the investigation called a local pizza parlor with delivery service to order a quick dinner for his colleagues.
The following telephone conversation took place:
Agent: Hello. I would like to order nineteen large pizzas and cases of soda.
Pizza man: And where would you like them delivered?
Agent: To the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital.
Pizza man: To the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent.
Pizza man: You're an FBI agent?
Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is.
Pizza man: And you're at the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go through the front doors. We have them locked. You'll have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.
Pizza man: And you say you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza man: And you're over at Southwood?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza man: And everyone at Southwood is an FBI agent?
Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're starving.
Pizza man: How are you going to pay for this?
Agent: I have my check book right here.
Pizza man: And you are all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right, everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked.
Pizza man: I don't think so. Click.
Have you ever had trouble getting through to somebody? Communication is hard work. It’s not just a struggle among people. We have struggles communicating with God. This is why we are spending time talking about prayer in the series, “Can You Hear Me Now?”
The issue we are dealing with today is not so much that people have struggles talking with God; they don’t talk to God at all. Sometimes a sign that your marriage could be in trouble is that you have never have communication problems. You may not be trying to communicate with each other at all.
This morning I want to attempt to help you establish a foundation to have a conversation with God, for some of you to start talking with God again. How you start a prayer life or kick start your prayer life with God? I want to give you three foundations to start or kick start your prayer life.
First, It is by grace we pray. This is very important to understand because many feel they are wasting time. The primary reason is because we don’t feel ready to pray. We have to get things just right. I want to pray but I don’t. I need to know more about prayer. I need to know more about God. What should I pray for and should I not pray for? I have a mix bag of motives, selfish and unselfish, pure and impure, merciful and unmerciful, and holy and unholy. Why would God listen to me when I don’t even know what my motives are? I need to get my act together before I ask God for anything.
Listen to me, IT ISN’T YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER SO YOU CAN PRAY TO GOD.
Hebrews 10:19-22
19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
20. by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
21. and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22. let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
In the temple of the Jews, the High Priest could only go into the Holy of Holies once a year to offer an atoning sacrifice for the Jewish people. He would go behind a curtain that was 18-24” thick of animal skins. It wasn’t just your basic piece of fabric hanging there. This curtain was put there because they had sinned against God. Therefore, they would have very limited access to God. They had to have someone, the High Priest, go to God in their behalf.
Everything changed when came to earth to die on the cross and be resurrected from the grave. So when we put our faith in Jesus to save us and take charge of our lives. Jesus Christ comes to live in us. When He lives in us then His righteousness is your righteousness; His purity is your purity; His holiness is your holiness; and His access to God is your access to God.
We can have confidence to enter the most holy place before the throne of God. How can we do that?
Matthew 27:50-51 (NIV). 50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
This was a visual commentary of what the death of Jesus is all about. The curtain has been split and opened. You no longer a priest. You no longer are closed off from God. Through Jesus Christ, you have access to God.
My confidence to enter the Most Holy Place has nothing to do with what I do or don’t do. It is based on what Jesus Christ has done. We are not just saved by the grace of God but by the grace of God you pray.
Galatians 3:26-27 (NIV)
26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
When we are immersed in the waters of baptism we come up out of the water clothed with Christ. Christ covers us. Therefore, we can enter the Most Holy Place in prayer. If you come before God in the name of Jesus Christ then you have access before God.
Some of you will say that I’m not worthy. Welcome to the club. None of us are worthy. What condition would we be in if didn’t have Jesus? Isaiah 59:1-2 (NIV)
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. This is our condition without Jesus.
Chris Seidman tells about his wife giving him a great gift for his 30th birthday. She gave him a practice round ticket to the Masters in Augusta, GA. He flew to Atlanta and drove to Augusta. He was in golf heaven. As he was walking around, he saw Lance Barrow who was a member at Richland Hills church across town from Chris. Lance is the Executive Producer for CBS golf and football. He has to be at the Masters every year, poor guy. Chris didn’t know if Lance would recognize him so he walked up to him and started to introduce himself when Lance said, “hey Chris, it’s great to see you.” After they caught up, Lance said he had a couple of hours before the next meeting so would you like for me to take you on a tour. Chris jumped at the opportunity. They went where only the players could go, Chris had lunch with Jim Nance, Dick Enberg, and Vern Lundquist. Next they went to the Butler Cabin where to give the winner the traditional green coat. Chris actually got to sit in the traditional chairs and see himself on the tv monitor. It hit him as he sat in the chair, “What am I doing here?” The only reason he had access was because of Lance. It wasn’t what he did or didn’t do but it was WHO HE WAS WITH!
You see the connection. When we are with Jesus Christ we don’t have to get our heart straight before we pray, it’s who we are with. So when we pray, we pray by grace.
Second, We are not alone when we attempt to pray.
Hebrews 7:25 (NIV) 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Did you hear that? He “always lives to intercede for you.” Even when all your motives are pure and you are ignorant about what you are praying, He intercedes for you. He isn’t the only one.
Romans 8:26 (NIV) 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. The Holy Spirit helps us when we pray. This has a dual edge. Look at it this way. When our granddaughter, Daisy, was just a baby she would express on many occasions that was uncomfortable. She may have needed her diaper changed or she was hungry. It was up to her parents to discern what she needed. When we don’t know God or know what to pray, the Holy Spirit prays for us. Don’t assume that if you are silent that doesn’t mean heaven is.
There will be a day when Daisy turns five years old. She will know what she wants but won’t know how to ask for it. The same is true for us. The Holy Spirit stands beside you and speaks for you. God may not always act according to you will. Sometimes He will say yes and sometimes He will say yes to the Holy Spirit. The bottom line is that you are not alone in prayer. The whole Trinity is involved when and wherever you pray.
The third key to starting your conversation with God is COME AS YOU ARE. If we wait till we have it all together we won’t. Because of what Jesus has done we can come as we are.
Luke 18:1-14 (NIV)
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men.
3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men,
5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ ”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.
7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?
8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The tax collector went home justified. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. The greatest form of exaltation is when God lifts you up.
Let show the picture of JFK and his kids, John, Jr. and Caroline in the Oval office. The dichotomy is that the most powerful leader in the United States is watching his kids play who have no idea what he is to the rest of the world. They have total access to the most powerful man in the United States.
Prayer is coming into the Oval Office of the Universe. Jesus taught us in the Lord’s prayer to call God our Father. Not Sovereign one. Not the great judge. Not our savior of our souls. He has us calling him Father, Abba. It would be like saying “daddy.” Just as a good parent wants to talk with their children, God wants to talk with us.
I can prove to you that God has answered your prayers. You’re saved aren’t you? At some point you were lost. You prayed for Him to show you the way. He heard and someone shared God’s Word with you. In all your ignorance, sin, and impurities God hears your prayers.
We are going to close out this morning with a prayer. If you are willing I want you to participate in this prayer silently. I’m going to make three statements and want you to finish them in your prayers. Let’s pray. Our Father, hallowed be Your name in all the earth. We are coming before you this morning because we need You. Father, I want you to know where I am this morning. Father, here is what is important to me whether is ought to be or not. Father, here is what I know to be important to You. Lord, I know that Most Holy Place is crowed. Not here in this place but before your throne room. This is Your place where we can come as we are into the Oval Office of the Universe. Thank You that the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ always intercedes for us especially, when we don’t know what to day. Please help us to see that it not what we do or don’t do but who we know, Jesus Christ. So Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.