Sermon Tone Analysis

David Chapel iAM Ministry’s Discipleship Academy

David Chapel iAM Ministry’s 2022 focus: relationships and training.

Our motto is “Grow in Grace!”

Purpose of Discipleship Academy is spiritual (marks of discipleship) and personal (daily living) young adult development.

Overview and structure of Discipleship Academy - 1st Saturdays, various facilitators.

Session 1: Prayer; Session 2: Nutritional Coaching (Extracurricular) with Chris Haskin; Session 3: Logos/Read and Study the Word with Kathryn Freeman.

Prelude

Before we get into the Lord’s Prayer, I wanted to talk about prayer in general.

Thesis/Key Take Away: Prayer honors God and strengthens our faith in Jesus Christ as we yield our lives to the will of God through the Holy Spirit!

We need a strategy for prayer.

Why can we have confidence in God?

How can we can pray and know God’s will?

If we do not get what we ask, there must be some other information in the Bible about why, right?

1 John 5:14 “14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

Prayer is our communication WITH God.

It is the confidence which we have before Him that gives us the purpose and power of prayer.

In the previous vv11-13, John reminds us of the assurance that we have- God has given us eternal life, and this life is in and through His Son Jesus Christ.

Now, there is a secret purpose and a secret power of prayer.

God wants us to ask Him = purpose of prayer.

Ask anything according to His will = power of prayer.

It is why Paul writes Phil 4:6 “6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Everything means all, every, collectively, each, all things.

It doesn’t mean that anything we ask for will be granted, but we should pray about everything - nothing is too big or too small for God.

So it begs the question: Which part of our lives are we leaving out of prayer?

When we look at our “Life Pie,” what are we giving to God and what are we withholding?

Character.

Business/Work.

Resources.

Health.

Relationships.-

Daniels.

God’s will - it is easy to only be concerned with our will before God.

We need God for His will.

John 15:7 “7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, [THEN] ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

John stresses that we know He answers if we ask anything according to God’s will.

Will we always know what God’s will is?

What did Jesus do when He was not sure that what He desired was what His Father wanted?

Discuss Luke 22:42 “42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.””

with the group.

The psalmist was overwhelmed with that confidence when He wrote, “I love the LORD, because He hears my voice and my supplications.

Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live” (Psalm 116:1–2 “1 I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. 2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.”).

If we don't get what we ask for, why not?

Why might God not hear us when we pray?

What does God tell us to do with that problem?

Psalm 66:18 “18 If I had cherished iniquity [SIN] in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”

Isaiah 59:1-2 “1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

James 4:3-4 “3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

4 You adulterous people!

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

1 John 1:9 “9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

ADD Non-sinful things and reasons why God doesn’t move the way we want Him to.

Introduction

So now that we understand the purpose and secret power of prayer, as Disciples of Jesus Christ, it’s important to model our lives, including our prayer lives after Him.

Let’s use the Lord’s Prayer as our practical example of prayer.

Do we use the prayer verbatim or theoretical?

Can we glean any insights from key phrases?

Matthew and Luke purpose for including Lord’s Prayer -

There were two instances in which Jesus whipped out the Lord’s Prayer, in both instances he was teaching.

Let’s read them together; reading from the English Standard Version (ESV)

I like Matthew’s version because as a whole he was writing to address hypocrisy.

Matthew is referencing the Pharisees, these were Jewish religious groups.

Important characteristic to note: the main emphasis of their teaching was ethical rather than theological.

Jewish people tried to practice literally the command of Ex 13:9 “9 And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth.

For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt.”

So they made boxes of scriptures called phylacteries and they strapped them to their head and to their left hand…only during prayer.

Once it was over, they removed it.

The issue wasn’t about honoring God, the issue is their motive to draw honor for themselves.

So this is why when he gets to Jerusalem, he warns against hypocrisy.

Matthew 23:3-7 “3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do.

For they preach, but do not practice.

4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others.

For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.”

From the book 10 Power Principles For Christian Service, it talks about character.

“People with character have integrity; what they say and do comes from a heart fully dedicated to God.

Integrity means inner wholeness; we’re not trying to fool others (hypocrisy) or fool ourselves (duplicity).”

Many scholars suggest that Matthew writes especially for Antioch in Syria.

Antioch had a large Jewish community, one of the few Jewish communities not devastated by the Judean war; this was an early Christian center of mission to Gentiles.

During the sermon, Jesus teaches on righteous living…beatitudes, salt and light, Him fulfilling the law of the OT prophets and what that means for you, loving your enemies.

After the demand for perfection (Matthew 5:48 “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” ) introduces correlative warnings against rank hypocrisy with special attention to the proper way to go about the three traditional manifestations of Jewish piety - alms, prayer, and fasting.

When you, do this… each time, Jesus reminds the crowds, when you are living righteously, do not be hypocritical.

Do not be an actor under an assumed character.

In MSG Bible - “Grow up, You’re kingdom subjects.

Now live like it.

Live out your God-created identity.

Live generously and graciously towards others, the way God lives toward you.”

Luke- stresses the importance of the priority and purpose of prayer.

Jesus is on a Journey from Galilee to Jerusalem…to do the work He was sent to do.

But on that journey, he stopped and prayed.

Prayer is a critical part of our faith journey.

Concept versus Context - as we study the Lord’s Prayer, I want to discuss the context for key versus and I want to review the concept for those key verses.

I want to study Matthew’s version of the prayer.

Concept = strategy

If you want to develop a strategy for prayer then ensure:

Part I

Matthew 6:9 “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

Concept - Prayer seeks God’s glory, not your own glory.

Context - Our “Our” is 1st person plural, denotes the possessiveness of Jesus; it is distinctive showing the separation between ours and theirs, denoting the different motive in which we pray versus how they prayed- to a God who came to fulfill the law through Jesus and to a God who requires His people to do so; “Our” also suggest that Jesus Himself internalized and personalized His relationship.

“Our” presupposes the community of believers we pray with and for.

Father “Father” Abba was unique to Jesus in how He addressed God, but later adopted by His followers; intimate expression; in this context it was referred to someone who was loving and trustworthy, on who a child could depend for them.