Why Pray? Selected Scriptures - NCBC, February 5, 2017

Transcription

1 Why Pray? Selected Scriptures - NCBC, February 5, 2017 Main Point: Prayer connects our lives with the power of Christ s Spirit. together and worship Jesus together as an assembly of His blood-bought and forgiven children. Let s continue our worship now by opening the Holy Scripture to the Gospel of Luke chapter 11. Pray because God commands you to pray. Pray because prayer glorifies God. Pray because prayer benefits you. Application: Repent of prayerlessness and reprioritize your worship of prayer. Opening Announcements: Women s REFRESH Together event 2/24 <<Sweet Hour of Prayer>> If you don t have a Bible with you this morning, please catch the attention of the ushers now. You are welcome to take this Bible home as our gift to you, or just simply return it after our service by placing it on the table in the back of the room. We ve started this year with a series of messages on key Spiritual Disciplines to stoke our passion for Christ. We ve covered a full range of topics seeking to grow in our understanding and application of Biblical precepts. Thank you church for singing out your faith to our great God of Rescue! It s a sweet hour we enjoy to gather Next week we have a very special installation service planned for our new deacons. It s a humbling privilege whenever a church family gets to prayerfully commission Page 1a of 15 Page 1b of 15

2 and formally recognize the spiritual leaders that God s Spirit has entrusted to our church family. And then the following week, we plan to have Jerry McCorkle from Spread Truth Ministries in our pulpit. I m so excited to have Jerry open God s Word for us and stir up our hearts for greater evangelistic faithfulness in our God-given mission. But first today, our Bibles are open to the main points today. Let the Scriptures wash over your soul, and ask God to transform your beliefs and your lifestyle of prayer through the preaching of His Word. You will find our text on page in the giveaway Bibles. In honor of God s Word, I d invite you to stand as I read from Luke 11:1: 11 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach 2 us to pray, as John taught his disciples. And he said to them, When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation. Luke 11, as we answer the question of why prayer must be at the very center of our lives. Again today s message is not an expository sermon but rather a topical survey of the Scriptures to help stir up our spiritual desperation and devotion to prayer. So for all of you faithful note-takers this morning let me start with a warning. Don t worry about writing down all the Scriptures today. Rather sit back and really consider This is the inspired word of God. You may be seated. Please pray with me. This past Tuesday our staff devotion came from Exodus 1 chapter 17. We read together how Amalek came and fought against Israel. And how Joshua led the Israelite army out against their enemy while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of a nearby hill. 1 Exodus 17:8-15 Page 2a of 15 Page 2b of 15

3 Do any of you remember what Moses did up on the hillside while the battle raged below him? Whenever Moses help up the staff of God with his hands, Israel prevailed over their enemy. But whenever Moses grew tired, and lowered his hands, the enemy gained ground. So Aaron and Hur sat Moses down on a rock, and stood on both sides of him holding up his hands until the victory had been secured for God s army in front of them. What a compelling visual of the power of prayer for us this morning! The staff of God represented God s miraculous power and presence with His people. And Moses holding it up above his head pictured his people s utter dependence upon God for victory! They could not overcome the enemy with their own strength and strategy. They looked to God for what they needed! Moses lifting up his hands was a picture of dependent prayer crying out for God Himself to show His power and His presence through the efforts of His people. Incidentally, Pastor Somers noted for us that Exodus 17 explains why Moses was the first NFL referee touchdown! Seriously though, this passage has much to teach us about the necessity and priority of prayer for our lives and our ministry. Have you grown tired of praying? Are your 2 hands drooping and your knees weak? There s no doubt about it. Prayer that pleases God requires a lot of energy. It s hard work. And so this week as I ve prayed for our worship together, I ve been praying that the Aaron of God s Spirit, and the Hur of God s Word would come alongside each of us this morning with strengthening power upholding and lifting up our hands and reawakening us to our desperate and weak condition apart from God s Spirit. For, Prayer connects our lives with the power of Christ s Spirit. Prayer is not just shooting blanks to get the real work started. Prayer is not just the Christian zipper that opens and closes some event. Biblical prayer connects our lives with the power of Christ s Spirit. Period. Do our public and private prayers show that we believe this? 2 Hebrews 12:12 Page 3a of 15 Page 3b of 15

4 This week I read a book about Acts 6:4 where the apostles refused to shift their priority from a total devotion to prayer and the ministry of God s Word. It was so convicting to me, that I m asking all of our church leaders to read it as well. I ve had to confess this week that my ministry - my leadership - has crowded out my priority on prayer. It s not that I despise prayer or don t believe in it of course frankly I enjoy praying. But the growing ministry responsibilities have slowly gotten more and more of my attention, and this week God used this book that I ve recommended to you on the back of your notes back to awaken my heart to repentance. To return prayer to the center of my own life and ministry. Because prayer connects our lives with the power of God s Spirit and there can be no true spiritual life or ministry apart from abiding in Him! because God commands you to pray. We who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died and rose again to give us life! And our God makes it very clear with many Scriptures that we must pray! So this morning I want to simply survey the Scriptures to remind you why prayer must be at the center of your life. Why you must not go through a Thursday or a Monday or a Saturday ever again without a conscious awareness of your desperate need for God s Spirit. If you are not desperate for God s Spirit, then you are deluded and deceived by your own perception of strength. May God give us hearts to hear and obey His Words this morning. So the first reason you pray is, Colossians 4:2 charges us to continue steadfastly in prayer. Some translations say, Be devoted to prayer. God commands us to pray With dedication. Page 4a of 15 Page 4b of 15

5 Romans 12:12 teaches us to be constant in prayer. Ephesians 6:18 exhorts us to pray at all times in the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 urges us to pray without ceasing. And in Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable of the persistent widow to the effect that the disciples would always pray, and not lose heart. Are you devoted to prayer? Like Epaphras in Colossians 4 who Paul wrote was always struggling 3 on behalf of the believers in his prayers. What kind of spiritual revival might God be ready to pour out among us in the fraternity of Epaphras together? whole-person response of submission and adoration to God for all that He is and has done for us. So as Philippians 4:6 teaches, we let our requests be known to God with thanksgiving. Giving thanks in all 4 circumstances, according to His command. Do you take seriously God s commands to prayerfully worship with dedication, thanksgiving, and Loved ones, God commands us to pray with dedication, and then, as you can see at the end of Colossians 4:2, With faith? James 1:6 teaches us to pray and ask in faith with no doubting Jesus teaches in Mark 11:24 that whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. With thanksgiving as well. Because prayer is worship. Prayer is not putting tokens in a heavenly gumball dispenser. Prayer is a 3 Colossians 4:12 So without faith, it is impossible to please God in our 5 prayers. We must pray with faith. But what does this mean? 4 1 Thessalonians 5:18 5 Hebrews 11:6 Page 5a of 15 Page 5b of 15

6 Biblical faith cannot be forced. It s not some kind of emotional frenzy that we work ourselves into. Biblical faith is a gift from God s Spirit that causes us to believe in Jesus Christ who He is, and what He has done. The prayer of faith therefore is a prayer that trusts in 6 Jesus more than myself. Trusts in Christ s person and power more than my own. In short, God commands us to pray, Now listen carefully prayer is how we abide. Prayer connects the pipe to the pump. If we are sailboats, prayer is what turns our sails in order to catch the wind of God s Spirit! Warren Wiersbe says, The trouble with too many of us is that we thank God called us to be manufacturers when He really called us to be distributors. He alone has the resources to meet human needs; all we can do is receive 7 His riches and share them with others. Don t miss this. No matter how well packaged life prayerlessness disconnects us from God s true 8 work. We must fight against the delusion of our own strength. Only prayer is able to connect our lives with the power of Christ s Spirit. God knows we are forgetful people of this reality so He commands us to pray. With dependence. So why must we reorder our lives for prayer? First, because God commands it. But second, because, Remember what we learned from the Upper Room? Jesus taught us that He is the vine, and we are the branches. and apart from me you can do nothing. Let that sink in for a moment. Picture a branch lying on the ground disconnected from the vine. How much fruit will that life produce for God s glory? Zero, right? 6 Hebrews 10: Warren Wiersbe, On Being a Servant of God, 5. 8 James 4:2-3 Page 6a of 15 Page 6b of 15

7 prayer glorifies God. Does the idea of bringing glory of God thrill your soul? For all who truly know Christ, there s no higher privilege or calling than to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. There s no greater joy in my life than when I m assured that God s all-sufficient beauty has been put on display through my life. So there s several ways the Scripture reveals how our devotion to prayer brings glory to God. First, genuine prayer glorifies God by, Exalting my weakness. When you don t pray, you believe you re strong. But when you know you re desperate and weak you pray. In 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat and all of Judah face a great multitude of warriors who band together for battle. God s people are greatly outnumbered, and the people were overcome with fear. What was the king to do? In verse 3, he proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah. And he led the people in a prayer saying in verse 12, We are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are 9 on you. 9 Sounds a lot like Psalm 121 doesn t it? I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Page 7a of 15 Page 7b of 15

8 God s response is glorious! He responds saying the battle is not yours but God s. And then He routs the 10 enemy only using their weapons of faith and praise. In Matthew 6, Here s the point God is glorified every time His people turn from trusting in human achievement to trust in divine accomplishment! Prayer shows that you haven t forgotten who really has the power. Prayer acknowledges the surpassing power 11 belongs to God and not to us clay pots! Prayer thus glorifies God by, You ll notice that the 6 petitions of the Lord s prayer can be divided into two basic parts. The first three requests in verses 9-10 are about God s name, God s kingdom, and God s will. The three requests in verses are about our food, our forgiveness, and our holiness. So meeting the mundane needs of our own lives follow after the majestic priority of exalting the supremacy of God. Exalting God s supremacy. Everything about prayer centers around who God is, what He has done, and how He is to be exalted and glorified. But notice carefully that there s something unique about the first petition of this prayer, isn t there? The verb is passive meaning God s Name receives the action of the verb. Hallowed be your Name is a prayer asking God to keep the Father s Name holy and set apart in my own heart. Cause my own heart to consider your Name or Reputation as most holy. None of the other five requests are praying for our own heart response like this. In other words, I appreciate how John Piper has shown that this prayer could also be divided 10 2 Chronicles 20: Corinthians 4:7 Page 8a of 15 Page 8b of 15

9 differently: Verse 9 being the main point, and verses serving that singular purpose. So then Jesus is teaching His disciples to pray because prayer exalts God s supremacy! Nothing is more significant than praying to keep the Father s Name holy and set apart. His kingdom comes for THAT. His will is done for THAT. He sustains our lives with food for THAT purpose! He forgives our sins for THAT. Holiness is granted for That! All so that the Father s Name might be exalted and praised above all else! So when you pray, don t start in verse 11! We pray to glorify God by exalting our weaknesses and God s supremacy, and by, forgive your sins and welcome you into your eternal home. Jesus died so you can call God Father. And prayer exalts in this reality! For when we pray to God as our Father, we not only acknowledge our responsibility to obey Him, but we are confessing that He has the right to give us what He knows is best. We are His children. He s the good parent. Our finalized adoption through the mediation of Jesus Christ is 13 the basis of our boldness in speaking with our Father. Do you trust your Heavenly Father even to talk with Him? Even to believe that He will give the Holy Spirit to whoever 14 asks him? Every time you pray you bring glory to your Heavenly Father who cares for you. So cast your cares upon Him, because prayer also glorifies God by, Exalting God s fatherhood. We can become so numb to referring to God as Father. But have you considered recently what it took for God to be called Father by you? You had to be adopted. And the adoption process required God to sacrifice the only Son He had in order for Him to 12 Let Us Pray, God-Centered Prayers, John Piper, Hebrews 4:15-16; 10:19-22; Ephesians 2:18 14 Luke 11:11-13 Page 9a of 15 Page 9b of 15

10 Exalting His sovereignty. Prayer confesses that we believe God s power is sufficient to order all things according to His purpose. Now some may object well, if God is all sovereign and He already knows everything and controls everything then why should we pray? Because God doesn t just ordain the ends He ordains the means as well. And prayer is the means by which we participate in God s sovereign rule over the universe. Our prayers are a means of God s providence. Just think of this for a moment! Why Pray? Because every time you pray according to the revealed will of God He is pleased to use your prayers to bring about His sovereign will for His greater glory! Your prayers allow you to participate in God s sovereign decrees of history! Now here s the wonder of it all that there s nothing that is more beneficial for us than the glory of God. So while we should be devoted to prayer out of love for His glory you should also pray for how Is God sovereign over salvation? Yes, praise God He is! Well then why do we evangelize? Because God is pleased to use the foolishness of preaching to bring 15 about faith in the hearts of sinners. So if you ask, Does prayer change God s mind? To be precise in our theology, we d have to answer No. Our prayers cannot manipulate the sovereign decrees of an eternal God. Prayer does not change God s mind. But if you ask, does prayer change things? Why yes, of course! All throughout Scripture we see God changing things through the means of prayer. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man has great power as it is 16 working. prayer benefits you. By now it should be clear that prayer is not primarily about communicating your needs and desires to God. Prayer is about worship. Prayer changes hearts and 15 Romans 10:17; 1 Corinthians 1:21 16 James 5:16-18 Page 10a of 15 Page 10b of 15

11 Aligns my will to God s. Often our wills wrestle with God s will and this is done in honest, fervent communication of faith. Just like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane praying, Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Now to pray for God s will to be done requires that we know and trust His character doesn t it? When I don t trust God knows better than me, then I ll refuse to submit to His will won t I? Sacrifices self for God s Kingdom. It s for His kingdom come. His will be done. For Jesus that meant crucifixion. For us it means dying to self, picking up our cross, and rejoicing that we are counted worthy to suffer for the sake of the Name of Jesus. The prayerfulness of a person is exposed by the purifying heat of persecution. For prayer, But maybe it s worth asking, What would it take for you to not walk with God? How much does Jesus mean to you? What do we treasure more than knowing Christ? You see, we must be a praying people because prayer, Provides humble boldness & words for ministry. Page 11a of 15 Page 11b of 15

12 Church if you really want to be a good soldier for Jesus Christ, then you will have to learn how to say hard things and do hard things. You ll have to learn how to fear God more than people. And prayer makes it possible for our mouths to boldly proclaim the mystery of the Gospel with humility and Spirit-given power. The church is not a cruise ship. We are an offensive battleship engaged in a war for the glory of God. And the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but are weapons of righteousness powered by the Spirit of God 17 prayer and the ministry of the Word. If you ask, you will receive. God generously gives His wisdom to whoever asks for it. He does not withhold His Spirit from His children who ask. Prayer cuts through the fog and gives you spiritual insight. The Scriptures go on and on extolling the benefits of prayer. In Mark 9, Jesus teaches his disciples how prayer is able to, The Gospel proclamation of a church will only be as effective as its prayer ministry. Do you believe this? Prayer also benefits you by, Break strongholds even the strongholds of demonic possession. Providing much needed wisdom & discernment. Isaiah 58:6 teaches the same thing that profound seasons of desperate prayer and fasting are employed by God to loose the bonds of wickedness, undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke Corinthians 10:3-6; 6:7; Acts 6:4 Page 12a of 15 Page 12b of 15

13 Translation prayer and fasting is God s means of securing freedom from addictions and slavery to false thinking. Remember repentance is a gift from God. So people in their own strength do not even have the will to change and please God. Lasting change to the glory of God has to be initiated and completed by God Himself. And God is pleased to use prayer to bring about that benefit. If we really believed this why wouldn t we pray more? Individually, and together as a church family crying out to God for the revival benefits that are promised in His Word for those who pray. In short we must pray because, prayer Will you, Repent of prayerlessness and reprioritize your worship of prayer. If you will, I welcome you alongside myself and the leaders of our church as we pray about how God is calling us to shift our priorities. May we all refuse to let anything distract us from the priority of prayer and the ministry of the Word. And may we really pray out of obedience to God s commands, for the glory of God, and the joyful good of our own souls. connects our lives with the power of Christ s Spirit. So what is your response? 18 Acts 8: Timothy 2:24-26 Page 13a of 15 Page 13b of 15

14 Let s pray. <<Lord I Need You>> Let s pray our Benediction now, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Recommended Resources on Prayer: Psalm 38:15; 66:18 2 Chronicles 7:14 Matthew 6:5-18; 18:19-20 Mark 11:24-25 Luke 5:16; 6:12; 11:1-13 John 14:13-14; 15:7; 16:23-24 Acts 6:4 Romans 8:26-27 Ephesians 6:18 Philippians 4:6 Colossians 4:2 1 Thessalonians 5: Timothy 2:5 Hebrews 4:15-16; 10:19-23 James 1:5-8; 4:3; 5: Peter 3:7, 12; 5:7 1 John 3:21-22; 5:14-15 Jude 20 Page 14a of 15 Page 14b of 15

15 Old Paths New Power, Daniel Henderson (** encouraging all leaders to read this month) A Praying Life, Paul Miller The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett Power Through Prayer, E.M. Bounds 5. Have you ever prayed Scripture back to God? Discuss how you seek to pray Scripture-led prayers to assure that you are praying in Jesus Name, or according to His will. (1 Jn. 5:14-15) Growing Deeper: Life Group Questions 1. There are at least four primary obstructions to prayer: the personal sin in our hearts (Ps. 66:18; 1 Pet. 3:7); the ignorance of our minds (Jer. 17:9-10; 1 Cor. 2:14); the infirmities of our bodies (Matt. 26:41); and the opposition of Satan (Eph. 6:12). In light of Romans 8:26-27, how can we achieve mastery over these oppositions to our worship as prayer? 2. Read Matthew 6:6 and Colossians 4:2. How can we guard against complacency, routine, or distraction in our worship of prayer? 3. Compare Luke 11:13 and James 4:3. What do you pray for when you pray? How does God want your beliefs/actions to change in this area of your worship? How can you accomplish this change? What is the first step toward bringing about this change? 4. Read Matthew 6:9-13. Notice all the plural pronouns in the prayer. Does it help you to pray with other Christians? Why or why not? How could you pray together more with other believers? Page 15a of 15 Page 15b of 15