Prayer Basics

January 9th 2022

Series: Basics of the Faith

Sermon Title: Prayer Basics

Topic: A message on what the Bible says about how to pray and the importance of prayer in our lives.

Key Passages: Various

Sermon Blurb: Have you ever wondered how to truly pray? What does the Bible or Jesus tell us about prayer? In this message, we will cover the basics of prayer according to the Bible.

Sermon:

Family Moment

Hello Family Church!!!

Welcome back to week two of our sermon series called Basics of the Faith.

PAUSE

If you are new, or newer, to Family Church you probably do not know what we do EVERY January around here….so let me explain.

Every January we spend the month talking about things HEALTHY followers of Jesus do.

Because it is our goal for everyone at Family Church to be a healthy follower of Jesus.

So maybe, just maybe, you will walk away from church every week this month with some additional ideas of things you can put into practice in 2022 to become a healthier follower of Jesus.

PAUSE

This month we will be talking about Basics of the Faith.

Let me give you the trajectory for the month.

The first week we talked about Bible Basics. What is the Bible? How did God give us the Bible. How do we study the Bible? And so forth.

Last week we are going to talk about everyone’s FAVORITE thing!!! MONEY!!!

This week we talking about Prayer Basics. What is prayer? How did God teach us to pray? How do we pray? And so forth.

Next week we will talk about Serving Basics. What is biblical serving? How did God teach us to serve? And so forth.

Then we will wrap this month up talking about Fasting Basics. What is Biblical fasting. How did God teach us to fast? And so forth.

PAUSE

I really hope you will make it a point to be here every week and start the year off right!

I want to encourage you to try and make 2022 the year you REALLY try your best to be in church when you are home.

Let’s not let another year go by without growing closer to Jesus.

Let’s not let another year go by without becoming a more committed disciple of Jesus.

PAUSE

Let’s open up our Bibles…..that hopefully after last week you brought with you today….. to

Luke 11

New Person Bible Talk

App Talk

And let me say this….I know we put most or all the Bible verses in your outlines.

I know the verses are on the screen.

But you all need to bring YOUR Bible to church.

Yes, electronic Bibles are fine.

But we should all bring our Bibles to church; because if you do not bring your Bible to church I would be willing to bet you do not take it anywhere outside your home!

Plus, then you can be like sweet Hildred, and you can put a note in when I preach on passages, so you know when I circle back around to it!

Luke 11:1

"One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples'"

You should know by now I love to analyze the parts of the Bible we tend to skim over. I love helping Scripture come alive in front of our eyes. There is a lot we can learn from this passage beyond the significance of The Lord's Prayer that follows it.

For one, we learn that just seeing Jesus in prayer is what sparked the unnamed disciples' curiosity to learn about prayer.

We also learn that John the Baptist, everyone remember John?

John the cousin of Jesus.

John the one who baptized Jesus.

John the one who was the forerunner to Jesus’ ministry.

This passage clearly shows us that John clearly taught his disciples to pray.

But isn’t it interesting that out of all the disciples only one of them asked Jesus to teach them to pray?

It sometimes seems the church is in a similar situation today regarding prayer.

We talk about prayer.

We say prayers over meals.

We study prayer.

Some of us maybe even pray at the start and end of our day.

But….. how many of us earnestly seek God and ask Him to teach us how to pray?

PAUSE

So today we are going to look to Jesus and His prayer life and see what Jesus can teach us.

We are going to look at elements of Jesus’s prayer life because I know there is something here for everyone to grow in, myself included.

So let’s begin with our first observation of Jesus’ prayer life:

How Jesus Modeled Prayer

1. Jesus modeled praying for others. (Matthew 19: 13-15, John 17, Luke 22:32)

And you will notice below each of these sections I will give you some scripture to read later. We cannot walk through them all today so that is a free bonus for you to read later!

Let me give you a little glimpse from those to show you this is true.

In Matthew 19:13, we read, "Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them."

In John 17:9 we read, "I [Jesus] pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given Me, for they are Yours."

This shows us clearly that we need to think about more than just yourself when it comes to prayer.

You can use me as an example I hope most, if not all, of you pray for me.

Pray that the Lord speaks to me abundantly.

Pray that God guides me.

Pray that God protects my family and me.

Pray that I bring more unity to the church and so on.

You can pray for your fellow hunters to get that BIG buck!

Pray for THAT teacher….yes….. you students know what I mean…..

Pray for your neighbor that seems to not be feeling well.

And so on.

It is important to pray for others.

Jesus demonstrated clearly in John chapter 17, where Jesus prays for Himself, His immediate disciples, as well as for all believers.

Read it later today and you can see what I mean.

Don’t forget life not just about you!

The second point we see from the life of Jesus …..write this down….

2. Jesus modeled praying with others.

(Luke 9: 12-17 & 28, Acts 1:14)

Luke 9:28 reads, "[Jesus] took Peter, John and James with Him and went up onto a mountain to pray."

Jesus knew the value of praying with others. He knew that it would create a model for the future and it worked as we read in:

Acts 1:14 "They all joined together constantly in prayer …"

This verse is talking about the early church….after Jesus had gone back to Heaven…..they were still living out his model!

See I would love for this to be something that the community knows about our church…that we are constantly in prayer….

That is why we are a church that prays a lot.

EVERY day at noon we ask everyone to pray…and we have a facebook group to help you with that if you are not aware….

Just search for a High Noon Prayer!

We also have the Family Church Prayer Warriors FB group where anyone can share prayer requests…

Every Tuesday morning Mom’s with children at Woodbridge elementary gather here at Grace to pray.

Every Wednesday a group of women gathers to pray.

We have teams that pray with Pastors every week before services.

We pray during our church services at least 2 times every Sunday.

We are a praying church!!!

And we plan to keep growing that here!

PAUSE

Parents in the room….grandparents in the room….can I talk to you for a second…..

You have to make it a priority to pray with your family. If you do not model this for you children…no one else will.

Let me share a little about this in the Grill family for you.

Every day I drive Addie to school. Do I have to do that, no. But I do it for a reason; prayer. Every day when we reach the lights on Chicago Dr. we take turns praying for her, the family, friends and so on.

At dinners our kids pray out loud. When friends come over for dinner we encourage our kids to pray for the meal, out loud.

At bedtime Jenny and I both pray with our kids.

PAUSE

Parents, grandparents….what are you doing to model prayer in your family?

PAUSE

For leaders out in the working world….you can model this at work….…

Farmers….you could gather your workers to pray at the start of each shift…

Don’t you think God would bless those prayers if you did that?

Company Presidents or Owners….you could lead a prayer group in your work place.

I know that sounds odd…but you could…you run the show…

I am not saying force anyone. But as the owner, leader, manager or just regular strong Christian at your work…MODEL it…

Don’t you believe God will bless that kind of prioritization of His kingdom inside of the kingdom of man?

PAUSE

I know some of you hear me say that and I know what you are saying in your mind, “That is impossible for me.”

Now I know in your mind you’re saying, “Well that is easy for you to say because you’re a Pastor and you don’t work in the real world.”

If you are newer to our church let me fill you in…..I have not always been a pastor.

I worked inside companies that were not Christian based.

At one point I worked for a Jewish owned company and if you want to talk about a group that does not want to hear about Jesus….that is one of them!

I worked in a secular job like most of you for years and can’t even tell you the number of times I was asked to leave my morals at the door.

How many times I was told not to bring Biblical crap into the discussion.

See I made a choice to live my faith out at work…..and I did not listen to what culture said about that or even my bosses….

And did it make my life easier….Not really….

In fact that was the breaking point for one president I worked for and led to me getting “downsized.”

Because he was tired of my “stupid morals.”

But the story is NOT over there…

After I got downsized for my Christian morals….I went through a wilderness season and it was hard…

I didn’t have a job for a few months…and it was rough….

But what came after being fired for my Godly stances and a season of wilderness …… was the biggest promotion in my career!

Before age 30 I became director of all US operations for a multi-national company!

You can do this….God will bless it….the only question is will you follow Jesus’ example in all areas of your life….

And if that scares you….my office is always open and I will help you come up with a game plan on how to do this!

But I can look back…..and say there is no way I could have made it to director of all Construction Services for US Operations for an international company before I was 30 years old if God was not behind it.

And I 100% believe it was God blessing me for honoring Him.

PAUSE

Let me give you one more example….because we have so many successful business people here….and I really want you all to take seriously the platform God has given you!

I have a friend named Matt.

The first time I met Matt was when he walked into my church for counseling because he was having an affair and his wife was going to leave him.

Matt was not buying into the whole God thing, but his wife was…and she was going to give this one last shot…before she took the girls and left.

Matt was a super successful man working in the business and he worked all the time and made some poor choices.

Fast forward in his life he has this affair and gets caught…so he ends up in my church by total chance because they did NOT go there.….

Through that process Matt came to Christ and his marriage began healing….then he joined our small group and grew in his faith….fast forward one more time…

Anyone want to guess who started a Bible study and prayer group in his place of work?

That’s right…..Matt…..in a place where everyone knew what Matt used to be like…in a place where he had had affairs….

Now anyone still think they cannot do it????

You can…..the question is only……will you…..

PAUSE

Let me share another insight into Jesus’ prayer life……

3. Jesus modeled praying alone.

(Luke 5:16, 6:12, Mark 1:35, Matthew 14:23)

Luke 5:16 reads, "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."

As much as Jesus understood the value of praying with and for others, He also understood the need to pray alone.

See prayer is not all some BIG show for others to see. It is a constant dialog with God even when no one is around.

I mean after all true character is who you are when no one else is around…. Or when no one else is looking….

Psalm 46:10reads, "Be still, and know that I am God." Sometimes it's important for us to "be still" before God,

See we live in a hectic culture, that sometimes the only way to hear God is to get away from everything and unplug.

This one is for our hunters!

Jesus prayed in nature.

So, it is totally ok to say, “I need to go hunt to be like Jesus!!!!”

See this is some good practical teaching, right?

Psalm 19:1reads, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

What better place to commune with our Creator than among the wonders of nature?

Luke 6:12 says, "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray ..."

Jesus could have gone to a home or to a synagogue to pray. But there were times when Jesus made the decision to pray where He was, which often happened to be in nature.

We are surrounded by so much that is "man-made" that sometimes it's difficult for us to remember that this is not our world, but God's world full of wonders for us to enjoy in our prayer life.

See my wife Jenny loves to run….and that is her time to be in nature, pray, and talk with God….

PAUSE

I think maybe Jesus was also a long-distance runner at heart because he modeled our 4h point.

4. Jesus modeled praying over the long-haul.

(Luke 6:12, John 17)

Jesus knew how to dedicate long periods of time to prayer. As we read in Luke 6:12, Jesus "spent the night praying to God."

We, too, need to be able keep praying over the long-haul.

PAUSE

Let me give you an example from our life that is a long-haul prayer.

Most of you know our Son Wyatt got diagnosed with Cancer 8 months ago.

We have 2+ years of treatments left.

We are praying DAILY for his healing.

And we are going to continue praying that now….and even after he is fully healed by God through medicine… I know my wife and I will not stop praying for him and that it never comes back.

There are things we need to pray and pray and pray and never give up!

Maybe that is you with:

Your spouse who does not know Jesus yet.

Your kids who have wandered away from God.

Your family member who does not yet know God.

PLEASE don’t give up!!!

Keep praying!!!

And let me wrap this up with a point that is kind of hard to accept…….

5. Jesus knew that not all of his prayers would be answered as expected.

(Matthew 26: 36-44)

This is a difficult prayer lesson to learn, but the fact of the matter is that not all our prayers are answered in ways we expect.

Even Jesus knew this hard lesson as he cried out to God the Father in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-44).

36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

Three times Jesus prayed for God to allow an easier path, but Jesus knew, "Yet not as I will, but as You will" (26:39).

Unanswered prayer is a challenge to the Christian life…

Until we learn the posture of Jesus….

This posture of “Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

Jesus’ posture…. God’s will NOT my will…..

When Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, "Yet not as I will, but as You will," He offered a tremendous but seemingly simple insight into prayer….

This isn’t in your notes but you might want to write it down….

God is in charge.

As we learn from the prayer life of Jesus – and there is much to learn – we need to keep this overarching principle in mind.

PAUSE

I love Ted Loder’s perspective from his book Guerillas of Grace. It is just raw emotion:

How shall I pray?

Are tears prayers, Lord? Are screaming prayers?

Or groans or sighs or curses?

Can trembling hands be lifted to you, or clenched fists

Or the cold sweat that tricks down my back

Or the cramps that know my stomach?

Will you accept my prayers, Lord, my real prayers

Rooted in the muck and mud and rock of my life

And not just the pretty, cut flower, gracefully arranged bouquet of words?

Will you accept me, Lord, as I really am?

Messed up mixture of glory and grime?

Often we can wonder if we must pray beautiful prayers…

You do NOT….God just wants us to communicate with him.

We need to stop praying for comfort and instead pray for the character to make it through whatever is happening in your life.

Don’t pray for an easy way out but pray for the strength to make it through.

If we pray to remove all the pain, we will remove all the gain…

If God answered some of our prayers it would short circuit the plans and purpose of God in our lives.

Maybe we should stop asking God to get us out of difficult circumstances in our lives and start asking Him what HE wants us to get out of those difficult circumstances.

Sometimes our scariest moments will one day be our greatest moments.

Life Application

Make a commitment today to pray MORE than you have in the past. That could mean starting to pray over meals.

That could mean maybe starting to pray with your spouse or kids.

That could mean adding it into your calendar to pray before meetings.

That could mean praying when you first get into the office.

That could mean praying on your drive to work, or the store.

That could mean a lot of things.

I just want to encourage you to do it more…

Take your relationship with Jesus to the next level today.

Let’s Pray…..