Sermon Tone Analysis

March 9, 2022 A Christian's Prayer

1. Imagine that your prayers, like those in the Psalms, were recorded for others to read.

What would people learn about your image of God?

For instance, what is David’s image of God in Psalm 4?

Psalm 4 (NASB95) For the choir director; on stringed instruments.

A Psalm of David.

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.

2O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach?

How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception?

Selah.

3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself; The Lord hears when I call to Him. 4 Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.

Selah.

5Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the Lord.

6 Many are saying, “Who will show us anygood?” Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O Lord! 7 You have put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound.

8In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.

David believes:

God hears (1, 3,

God is the source of our righteousness

He give relief when we face distress

God sees those in right-relationship with Him differently

God does not like sin

God is trustworthy

God’s attention (countenance) results in our good

God gives joy and gladness

God gives a peace that allows me to sleep

God presence is a place of safety

So, examine your prayer life and write down what it tells yourself and/or others about your belief in God.

Purpose: To learn how we should pray.

The fundamental difference between various kinds of prayer is the fundamentally different images of God which lie behind them.The "Lord's Prayer" was given by Jesus as a model of what genuine Christian prayer should be like.

According to Matthew he gave it as a pattern to copy ("This is how you should pray"), according to Luke as an actual prayer ("When you pray, say . .

.").

We are not obliged to choose, however, for we can both use the prayer as it stands and also model our own praying upon it.

Either way, Jesus not only teaches us about prayer but also gives us a greater vision of the God we call "Our Father."

As we continue to think about Jesus’ commandments concerning prayer I would like us to talk about corporate prayer for a few minutes.

We read a few weeks ago:

Matthew 6:5–6 (NASB95) “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.

So, Jesus commanded and modeled private prayer.

Matthew 14:23 (NASB95) After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.

He gave only a few examples of public prayer

John 11:38–43 (NASB95) So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb.

Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”

Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they removed the stone.

Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 “I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”

But not corporate prayer, per se — prayer in the Garden?

Matthew 26:36–38 (NASB95) Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.

38Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”

But the early church engaged in public, corporate prayer:

Acts 1:13–14 (NASB95) When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the sonof James.

14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with thewomen, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

Acts 1:23–26 (NASB95) So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias.

24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen 25 to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

26 And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Acts 2:1 (NASB95) When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

Were they praying?

We have always thought so.

(Corporate or personal?)

Acts 2:42 (NASB95) They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 3:1 (NASB95) Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.

Acts 4:23–24 (NASB95) When they had been released, they went to their own companionsand reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

24And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them,

Acts 4:31 (NASB95) And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and beganto speak the word of God with boldness.

Acts 12:5 (NASB95) So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

Acts 12:12 (NASB95) And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.

Acts 13:1–3 (NASB95) Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

Corporate prayer:

In Acts, encouraged in other passages:

1 Corinthians 14:13–17 (NASB95) Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.

14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

15 What is the outcome then?

I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also.

16 Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?

17 For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified.

Cultural but not relevant to the 21st century?

[1] Sacks, Cheryl.

(2007).

The Prayer Saturated Church: A Comprehensive Handbook for Prayer Leaders (p.

189).

NavPress.

Unless God’s people humble themselves in fervent, corporate prayer, revival just doesn’t happen!

Only sustained, consistent, concerted, corporate prayer will release the reign of the Lord—His power and glory over our communities.

Read what happened when a lone intercessor began a prayer meeting for businessmen in New York City.

The date was September 23, 1857.

An intercessor named Jeremiah Lanphier had posted a sign on the Fulton Street Church building that read, “Prayer Meeting from 12 to 1 o’clock—Stop 5, 10, or 20 minutes, or the whole hour, as your time permits.”

Jeremiah waited ten minutes, then ten more.

By 12:30, no one had come.

Then at 12:30, one man entered the room, then another and another until there were six men praying.

Nothing extraordinary happened that hour, but the men decided to meet to pray the following week.

That time, twenty men came; the next week, forty.

Because of the climbing interest in prayer, Jeremiah decided they should meet for prayer daily.

Within days of that decision, a financial panic hit the country.

Banks began to close and people lost their jobs.

Conditions were ripe for a revival.

Soon, three thousand people were jamming into the Fulton building to pray.

Within six months, twenty thousand pray-ers came and at least twenty other corporate meetings had begun in the city.

Corporate prayer movements such as these began to spread quickly across the nation and in different parts of the world.

The years of 1858–1859 became known as the Annus Mirabulus—Year of Miracles.

During this era, powerful missionary movements were birthed and great leaders such as Dwight Moody, Andrew Murray, and William Booth came to fruitfulness.