A Time to Pray

Mobilize

I have been talking to you for several weeks about a prayer emphasis beginning today through Pentecost Sunday, which is June 5th. Let me clarify that I believe we are called to always be at prayer, but there have been times throughout the history of the church when people have been called to a deeper prayer life. This is one of those seasons for us.

I believe that prayer is the lifeblood of the church! Five young college students were spending a Sunday in London, so they went to hear the famed C.H. Spurgeon preach. While waiting for the doors to open, the students were greeted by a man who asked, "Gentlemen, let me show you around. Would you like to see the heating plant of this church?" They were not particularly interested, for it was a hot day in July. But they didn't want to offend the stranger, so they consented. The young men were taken down a stairway, a door was quietly opened, and their guide whispered, "This is our heating plant." Surprised, the students saw 700 people bowed in prayer, seeking a blessing on the service that was soon to begin in the auditorium above. Softly closing the door, the gentleman then introduced himself. It was none other than Charles Spurgeon.

I formally invite you to join us in this season of prayer. Together with a half-million other Nazarenes around the US & Canada, we will be praying for God’s protection, direction, and revelation. As you pray, please pray for the church to have a positive impact in our world. Pray for our denomination, The Church of the Nazarene to be protected from the attacks of the evil one. Pray the same for our local church, for your families and for yourselves. Pray for direction for The Church of the Nazarene. We have a delayed General Assembly scheduled for next year - pray for God’s direction for the denomination, for our Pittsburgh District, and for our local congregation. Finally, we ask that you pray for revelation - that God would reveal his will and desires for us as a denomination, as a district, and as a local congregation.

We desire to be what God wants us to be - nothing more, nothing less. Prayer is key in any and every time of spiritual awakening and renewal. We are in need of a mighty revival - and it will only happen as we pray! So I invite you to join us!

We have provided prayer journals for you, and a special publication of Holiness Today. You can also access these digitally by scanning the QR codes on the screen. I want to give you time to do that. There is also an app available for the prayer journal, you can find it by scanning the code that is on the screen here.

Prayer is a Spiritual discipline that, frankly, most of us do not practice like we should. We seem to find time for all kinds of things in our daily lives, but all too often prayer takes a back seat. It is not my intention to make you feel guilty about your level of focus on prayer. My intention through this message and the messages over the next several weeks leading up to Pentecost Sunday is to remind and encourage all of us to remember that prayer is essential to the health and wellness of the church, globally and locally, and every level in between. Prayer is vital to the growth and spiritual well-being of every single individual believer in Jesus. And so, I invite you to join in this prayer emphasis.

Turn with me, if you will to Matthew chapter 6, which sits in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. In this section of the sermon, Jesus focuses on 3 individual spiritual disciplines: Fasting, Prayer, and giving. This morning, as you might imagine, we are going to be laser focused on prayer, and what Jesus has to say about it in the Sermon on the Mount. But there is one truth about all three that ties them together here. Jesus says “When you fast,” “When you pray,” & “When you give.” He knows that disciples of Jesus Christ are going to be characterized by all three of these spiritual disciplines.

Matthew 6:5–8 NIV

5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Olivia Metcalfe - “When prayer becomes an ‘if’ instead of a ‘when,’ we will find ourselves disconnected from God, from our neighbor, from ourselves, and from the world around us.”

I am, by no means, claiming to be an expert on the subject of prayer. We probably will find ourselves at the end of this time of prayer in much the place that the disciples of Jesus found themselves that day. When Jesus talks to them and instructs them about prayer, their response, according to Luke’s gospel was to ask Jesus to teach them to pray. According to Matthew, Jesus just follows up this teaching on prayer by showing them a model prayer that we know as the Lord’s Prayer.

What are some things we can learn about prayer from this passage before us this morning?

Prayer is personal

Jesus introduces His instructions on prayer by telling his disciples what they are not to do.

There are people whose prayers are beautiful and encouraging and almost mesmerizing. We can find ourselves desiring to be able to pray like someone else that we may know and emulate. But prayer is not meant to be mimicked, and it doesn’t have to impress others.

Our prayers are not for others - even when we pray publically like we do in the church service, that prayer is not about impressing anyone, it is completely personal and relational. I am to take my personal praises and petitions before God in the way that I communicate.

Prayer is simply communication with God - we speak and we should listen to God speak in our times of prayer.

There were some religious leaders of Jesus’ day that were hypocritical. They were required to pray three times a day - once upon rising in the morning, once in the early afternoon, and once in the evening. These hypocrites that Jesus refers to would make sure that they were in public places to be seen by others when it was time to pray. It seems that they were impressed with themselves, and they wanted others to hear their beautiful prayers.

Jesus says that when prayer is offered in that way, the reward you will receive is the approval of the people that hear you.

That doesn’t mean that there is no cause for public prayers, or a call to a season of prayer, as the USA/Canada region has called us to. Prayer is personal because it is communication between us and our beloved heavenly Father. Although it need not literally be in a closet, that is certainly to be preferred to the spectacle of making sure others see us.

Prayer is productive

The irony is that what Jesus says here is that those who pray in order to be seen may be rewarded by other people, but the one that prays while hidden in their closet are seen and rewarded by our heavenly Father.

I have had many people tell me over the years that they are no longer able to do anything but pray. When I am told that, I always encourage them to pray then! We sometimes think of prayer as doing nothing - we probably wouldn’t say it that way, but practically speaking that is what we say when we confess that all we can do is pray.

Those words are often uttered as a last resort - as if we have done everything else we know to do, so now all we are left with is prayer.

I want to encourage you this morning that we must pray! Nothing of great significance ever happens in the church of Jesus without prayer.

Without prayer, we are left to our own devices and our own abilities. I am convinced that far too often, we forget that there is power available to us that raised Jesus from the dead!

I have no desire to be the church or follower of Jesus that is only able to accomplish that which I or we can accomplish in our own power. God raised Jesus from the dead - and yet, we sometimes act as if He is powerless over the struggles and the challenges that we face. Whatever you may be facing this morning, whatever we are facing as a church - He Is able!

Prayer is practical

Prayer is something that is practiced by all kinds of people. In our passage that we read this morning, we find that Jesus says even the Pagan people around them prayed. He says that they babble on and on as if their prayer is more likely to be answered because they are using many words. Not only did they use a multitude of words, they often will use particular words and phrases, believing that if they get the words just right, that their prayers will be heard and answered.

As followers of Christ, we must not fall for that line of thinking. It is intriguing to think that if we use just the right words in prayer, that God will more likely hear us and answer our prayers. But when we start to think that way, we are turning our prayer into something more like an incantation, as if getting the words right is the important thing.

Later in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells the people that their righteousness must be greater than the righteousness of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. They were the people that knew all the right things to say and do. They were the ones that would have been considered righteous above all others in Jesus’ day. They got the words right in their prayers, but Jesus clearly desires more from us than getting the words right, and there is clearly more to prayer than saying long prayers.

Jesus tells the people that God already knows their needs before they even go to Him in prayer, so prayer is not about informing God of the things that we need from Him. Jesus knows that prayer is our way of connecting with God and His way of connecting to us. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” You simply cannot pray continuously if it always means to say words. Prayer without ceasing is an attitude of the heart, it is not always about uttering words.

Conclusion:

We have been called to a special season of prayer. I believe miracles can still happen as we pray. I believe that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive and well in us today as we praise and as we pray.

The Communion Supper, instituted by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a sacrament, which proclaims His life, His sufferings, His sacrificial death, and resurrection, and the hope of His coming again. It shows forth the Lord’s death until His return.

The Supper is a means of grace in which Christ is present by the Spirit. It is to be received in reverent appreciation and gratefulness for the work of Christ.

All those who are truly repentant, forsaking their sins, and believing in Christ for salvation are invited to participate in the death and resurrection of Christ. We come to the table that we may be renewed in life and salvation and be made one by the Spirit.

In unity with the Church, we confess our faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. And so we pray: Holy God, We gather at this, your table, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who by your Spirit was anointed to preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, set at liberty those who are oppressed. Christ healed the sick, fed the hungry, ate with sinners, and established the new covenant for forgiveness of sins. We live in the hope of His coming again.

On the night in which He was betrayed, He took bread, gave thanks, broke the bread, gave it to His disciples, and said: “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

Likewise, when the supper was over, He took the cup, gave thanks, gave it to His disciples, and said: “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.” Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Matthew 26:27–29, Luke 22:19)

And so, we gather as the Body of Christ to offer ourselves to you in praise and thanksgiving. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these your gifts. Make them by the power of your Spirit to be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the Body of Christ, redeemed by His blood.

By your Spirit make us one in Christ, one with each other, and one in the ministry of Christ to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, let us pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, broken for you, preserve you blameless, unto everlasting life. Eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and be thankful.

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, shed for you, preserve you blameless unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and be thankful.