Untitled Sermon

Prayer for Rain - Prayer for Repentance

Prayer of Repentance (Based on Isaiah 40:1-11)

Hear us now, most Holy God. Father, Son, Spirit. Hear our cry. We have all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Lord Jesus, we come to you broken and repentant. Lord Jesus, heal our brokenness and forgive us our sins.

Lord Jesus, in our world full of luxury cars and lottery tickets, I repent of my sins of Greed. We repent of our sins of Greed. PAUSE. Lord Jesus, forgive our sins. Create clean hearts in us and make our old bones new through Your Spirit.

Lord Jesus, in our world full of quickness to binge watch and slowness to binge bless, I repent of my sins of Sloth. We repent of our sins of Sloth. PAUSE. Lord Jesus, forgive our sins. Create clean hearts in us and make our old bones new through Your Spirit.

Lord Jesus, in our world full of beatings and beratings, but lacking in beautifying and breathing, I repent of my sins of Wrath. We repent of our sins of Wrath. PAUSE. Lord Jesus, forgive our sins. Create clean hearts in us and make our old bones new through Your Spirit.

Lord Jesus, in our world of Baconators and Buffets, but lacking in slowness and satisfaction, I repent of my sins of Gluttony. We repent of our sins of Gluttony. PAUSE. Lord Jesus, forgive our sins. Create clean hearts in us and make our old bones new through Your Spirit.

Lord Jesus, in our world full of skin aplenty but empty of trust in your goodness and provision, I repent of my sins of Lust. We repent of our sins of Lust. PAUSE. Lord Jesus, forgive our sins. Create clean hearts in us and make our old bones new through Your Spirit.

Lord Jesus, in our world consumed with the desires of the day with barely a thank you for our many blessings, I repent of my sins of Envy. We repent of our sins of Envy. PAUSE. Lord Jesus, forgive our sins. Create clean hearts in us and make our old bones new through Your Spirit.

Lord Jesus, as it has been for humans for all of time, as it was for the Israelites, as it is for us, we are so prone to giving into what many would say is the granddaddy of them all. I repent of my sins of Pride. We repent of our sins of Pride. PAUSE. Lord Jesus, forgive our sins. Create clean hearts in us and make our old bones new through Your Spirit.

Lord Jesus, whether our sins in these categories be sins of omission, or commission, we repent, and ask that our sins be forgiven.

We come today praying for precipitation, rain, yes, but also for a rain of the Holy Spirit to cover the world and bring repentance, revival, and Scriptural holiness.

In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

My Points

Water can be scary

My time in the fishing boat at Pomme by myself…the power of water?

Remember EF Hutton? When God speaks, Water listens:

New American Standard Bible (Chapter 17)

1 Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water so that we may drink!” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” 3 But the people were thirsty for water there; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why is it that you have brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and bour livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “What am I to do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!” 5 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 Then he named the place aMassah and bMeribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us, or not?”

We see it with Jesus

Mark 4:35-41 “Later that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” They left the crowd and took him in the boat just as he was. Other boats followed along. Gale-force winds arose, and waves crashed against the boat so that the boat was swamped. But Jesus was in the rear of the boat, sleeping on a pillow. They woke him up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re drowning?” He got up and gave orders to the wind, and he said to the lake, “Silence! Be still!” The wind settled down and there was a great calm. Jesus asked them, “Why are you frightened? Don’t you have faith yet?” Overcome with awe, they said to each other, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!””

Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?

How we identify Jesus has consequences

Rembrandt painted this scene - and painted himself into the picture, looking at us, as if asking, “how will you respond?”

Jesus calms the storm, he commands elements of creation that, in some sense, are alive

Mark 6:45-52 “Right then, Jesus made his disciples get into a boat and go ahead to the other side of the lake, toward Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After saying good-bye to them, Jesus went up onto a mountain to pray. Evening came and the boat was in the middle of the lake, but he was alone on the land. He saw his disciples struggling. They were trying to row forward, but the wind was blowing against them. Very early in the morning, he came to them, walking on the lake. He intended to pass by them. When they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost and they screamed. Seeing him was terrifying to all of them. Just then he spoke to them, “I AM. Don’t be afraid.” He got into the boat, and the wind settled down. His disciples were so baffled they were beside themselves. That’s because they hadn’t understood about the loaves. Their minds had been closed so that they resisted God’s ways.”

I AM on the water

Jesus spends quality time in prayer right before this!

Water appears something like 478 times in Bible