I’M GLAD YOU ASKED …

Q. In Sunday School we talked about God’s will; how do I know if I’m praying outside the will of God?

A.  There’s an easy test … “is my prayer consistent with what Scripture teaches?”  Let me suggest an obvious scenario to show what I mean.  Suppose we have Christian who has been unemployed for some time.  He needs money, so he begins to pray that he won’t get caught when he robs a gas station.  That’s praying outside the will of God.  Scripture teaches … “Do not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)  Here’s a less obvious example.  A Christian woman is asking God to bless her upcoming marriage to a non-Christian … is that praying in or out of God’s will?  We read in Scripture, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.  For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?  Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)   It would appear that God has already declared His will concerning that.  Now situations may come up where answers can’t be found in Scripture.  In this case, find a person who is mature in the faith and seek his/her counsel.  Finally, listen to your heart.  If you have sincerely prayed about something, and don’t have a peace about it, that’s probably The Holy Spirit prompting that what you’re about to do isn’t God’s will for you.  Hope this has been helpful.
I’ll see you in Church (& Sunday School) …
 Rande

Teach Us To Pray - 5

“LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY”

based on Matthew 6:9-13  

    This is our final message of this series where Jesus has been teaching us how to pray.  And I’m going to try to bring it altogether this morning with the question … what do we pray about when it comes time to pray?

    Last year I started noticing that our car was drifting to one side as I drove.  I kept putting off doing anything about it, and by the time I finally had it checked, my tires were really worn.  Bad alignment led to a costly repair … I had to buy 4 new tires.

    Likewise, I believe that “bad alignment” can also be hazardous to our prayer life.  If I get lopsided in my prayers, if they’re not “balanced”, then my relationship with God is going to get all out of kilter.   

    If I’m not prioritizing thanksgiving in my praying, I might actually forget that God is the One who provides for me.  If I don’t ask God for anything when I’m praying, I might begin to believe I can provide for myself, and that I really don’t need Him. 
    If I don’t confess my sins when I pray, I might forget that I actually need a Savior.  If I don’t spend any time praising God when I pray, I can lose sight of who He truly is, and my prayers will simply become a kind of therapeutic exercise. 

    But if I’m balanced in my prayers, if I’m hitting on all those points, my prayer life thrives … and as a result, so does my relationship with God.  Praying in a balanced way helps us to pray rightly.  It causes us to pray the way the Lord wants. 

    “The Lord’s Prayer” is a balanced prayer.  That’s not all it is, but it is that.  And that’s how we’re going to approach our study of it this morning.

    I’m going to be asking 3 questions … and the answers to those questions will help us achieve balance in our prayer life.

    Listen to Good News from Matthew, as he records the words of Jesus, to you here at Community Church.  Within your hearing now comes the Word of God …

    “This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven:
May your holy name be honored;
may your Kingdom come;
may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need.
Forgive us the wrongs we have done,
as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
Keep us from being tempted,
and protect us from the Evil One.’” (Matthew 6:9-13)

May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion, to His glory and to our edification.  Amen

    Question #1 … should we use patterns or should we be spontaneous in our prayers?

    I remember taking a speech class in college.  My 1st assignment was a “how to” speech.  I had to explain “how to do something” to the class.  And the topic given to me was … “how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

    1st I had to identify the purpose … “I’m going to demonstrate how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I’m going to explain the steps that are involved.”  And then I made one.  My goal was that when I finished I’d get an “A” on my “how to” speech.

    Jesus is giving a “how to” speech.  He’s an excellent pray-er, and He wants to teach His followers how to pray.  He has a goal and purpose in mind.  He wants His disciples to become good pray-ers.  And He’s giving them a pattern so that they can accomplish that.   
    Jesus didn’t say … “This is what you should pray;” He said, “This is how you should pray.”  Jesus just doesn’t tell us to pray … and then leave us guessing on how to do it.  He gives us a pattern to copy.  “Pray like this.” 

    Let’s 1st take a look at the prayer as a whole, and keep in mind the balance I was talking about. 

“Our Father in heaven.”

    He begins with an address to God, which is followed with 2 sections that make up the bulk of the prayer.

“May your holy name be honored;
may your Kingdom come;
may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

    This 1st section makes 3 requests that relate to God.  God’s the focus of the 1st ½ of the prayer.  This is exactly like the 10 Commandments. (Exodus 20:3-17)  The 1st 4 Commandments relate totally to God.  God should always be 1st. (Matthew 6:33)  All too often, we get the order reversed, don’t we?  We begin with our human needs, and unfortunately, never get around to God and His glory.   

“Give us today the food we need.
Forgive us the wrongs we have done,
as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
Keep us from being tempted,
and protect us from the Evil One.”

    This 2nd section has 3 requests that relate to human need.  3 for God … 3 for humanity.  It’s a balanced prayer.  Jesus gets an “A” in His “how to” speech.  He gives us a pattern to copy, and He does it in a perfectly balanced way.

    But remember our question, when we pray, should we use patterns or should we be spontaneous?

    Obviously we don’t want our prayers to have a lifeless sequence to them.  We don’t want to pray simply by rote.  In fact, Jesus Himself was concerned about that very thing.

    Immediately before presenting this prayer He discusses ritual abuse. (Matthew 6:5)  Jesus was talking about giving, fasting, and prayer, and He says that each of those things can be done with selfish motivations.

    And He contrasts a self-centered, me-centered, ritual type praying with a God honoring, earnest, unselfish type praying.  Jesus wants to get us to personally commune with God.  And when we do that our prayers won’t be mechanical or self-seeking. 

    So this prayer is not to be simply memorized and repeated without thought.  On the same token, here is the model prayer that Jesus presents when His disciples asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1)  Jesus responds, “This is how you’re to do it.”
     And that answers our 1st question … “should we use patterns or should we be spontaneous in our prayers?” … While recognizing that this can always be abused, Jesus offers us a good pattern to follow.  

    Okay, it’s Monday morning, you’ve listened now to 5 sermons on prayer, and you want to be obedient, (James 1:22) so you’ve set aside some time to pray.  And you’re going to use the Lord’s Prayer as your conversation with God. 

    So you pray it … and it takes about 20 seconds.  And you think to yourself, “Hey, not bad, I can be finished with my prayer time in less than a minute.” 

    But there are a couple of problems with that.  We learned in the 1st message of this series that we’re to develop a relationship with God … and that’s simply not going to happen in 20 seconds a day. 

    The other problem is equally obvious … most of the needs and issues in our life aren’t identified in this prayer.  It’s a nice pattern, but it’s not dealing with all the stuff each of us will be dealing with this week. 

    That’s why Jesus has given us this prayer simply to guide our praying. 

    The Lord’s Prayer provides the boundaries.  It furnishes the topics.  And from there we’re to be spontaneous in our conversations with God. 

    Okay, I’m confused.  Should we use patterns or be spontaneous?  Which is it?  We should be both.  Jesus gives us the “Lord’s Prayer” as a guide.  But He wants us to personalize it with our own praise and requests 

    Kathy is amazing in her creativity.  For example, she made 2 little quilts for the twins over in England.  She came up with this idea of what she wanted to do.  Then she got a couple of books and magazines to see how other people did similar things.  And then she put it all together and made something really creative and unique.  

    This is what’s supposed to happen in our prayer life.  We use this pattern that Jesus has given us.  But then we incorporate personal stuff, and all of a sudden our prayer has become spontaneous. 

    Jesus’ prayer assures us that we’re going to strike the right balance.

    Now one of the ways we can use the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern in our prayers is to take it, line by line, and expound on it a little bit.  And I’m going to show you how to do that in just a moment. 

    Another way is to take the 7 items in this prayer and use one each day during the week.  Sunday, use “our Father in heaven” as the theme of your praying.  Then on Monday … “may your holy name be honored.”  Each day focus in on a specific thought in your prayer.
    Another way to use the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern is to highlight the themes that are mentioned … praising God and confessing sins.  I’ve talked about this before.  One of the ways I learned to pray, as a boy, was to use the acronym, ACTS: A … C … T … S

                            Adoration
                            Confession
        Thanksgiving
        Supplication 

    That’s a really useful pattern because it helps us remember that we’re talking to God, and we adore Him 1st.  And then we confess our sins; which gets us into a right relationship with Him before we begin to ask for things.

    Use a pattern and be spontaneous. 

    The 2nd question … should we express intimacy or reverence in our conversations with God?

    The 1st Church I pastored was in Niagara Falls.  We had a pretty active young people’s group there.  And one day the youth group leader was teaching on prayer.  He was trying to get the kids to really pray personally.

    And to emphasize his point he told them to talk to God like they talked to anyone else.  And they seemed to connect with that idea.  A few weeks later, Gary asked me to lead the group, because he was going to be away. 
    I presented a lesson, and then we got in a circle to close in prayer.  And the kids started to pray.  “Hey good buddy” … and they used all kinds of personal, familiar language as they were talking to God. 

    So later that week when Gary stopped by to see how things went, I told him that I appreciated the openness of the kids in their prayers, but … they hadn’t been taught the whole story.

    Jesus did call us friends, (John 15:14) and there should be a familiarity in our prayers, but there also must be reverence because we recognize that this is also Almighty God. (The Revelation 14:7) 

    So should we be expressing intimacy in our prayers or should we be showing reverence? … Both.  We should be doing both … because if we leave out either one our praying will be imbalanced. 

    Take a look at the way Jesus balances both intimacy and reverence in His prayer.

“Our Father” …

    Actually, when Jesus prays He uses the term, “Abba,” which means “Daddy.”  Talk about intimacy!  And Scripture teaches, “The Spirit makes us God’s children, and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, ‘Abba! my Father.’” (Romans 8:15)  We’re given that same intimacy.
      Jesus tells us that God knows what we need even before we ask Him. (Matthew 6:8)  He says that God forgives those who come to Him with a repentant heart.
                                                                          (Matthew 6:14)

    He forgives, He knows our needs.  So in prayer we encounter a loving and personal God, our Heavenly Father, and we can pray to Him as such.  That’s great news! 

    But then Jesus balances it out …

“Our Father in heaven.”

    Jesus tells us that God is in Heaven. (The Psalms 115:3) 
Scripture teaches …

“The LORD placed his throne in heaven;
he is king over all.” (The Psalms 103:19)

    God is a personal loving Father, and He’s also the Creator of all things.  God’s our Heavenly Father, and He’s a powerful King.  So when we’re praying we need to remember who we’re talking to so that we come to Him with the proper respect; we approach Him reverently.

    Back in 1983, I received a phone call from Linda Moore, who lived in Indiana, PA, inviting me to come and offer the invocation at Jimmy Stewart’s 75th birthday party.  Well, I thought about it for a fraction of a second, and then, very humbly, accepted.  I was excited.  This was an incredible honor. 
    So, on 20 May 1983, I found myself sitting next to him at the head table.  And during the meal, as we’re talking, he says to me, “Call me Jimmy.” … No way!

    Jimmy Stewart was an Academy Award winning actor.  He’d received A Lifetime Achievement Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  He had been a Major General in the Air Force. 

    You can see my point coming from a mile away.  If I have this much respect for a mere mortal, who does deserve respect and honor, how much more should we give reverence to God, who is our Father in Heaven?

    There’s a real delicate balance here. 

    When we approach God in prayer we need to remember who we’re talking to.  We must come to Him with the right frame of mind, demonstrating humility.  He rules the heavens … and He’s my Heavenly Father.

    It’s a good idea that before we spend time praying to pause for 15 seconds and consider … “who am I about to talk to right now?”

    We need to praise God in our prayers for His attributes.  He’s holy.  He’s loving.  He’s all-knowing.  He’s all-powerful.  He’s eternal.  He’s faithful.  He’s creator.  

    One more quick thought on this point.  To think about God as Father is a wonderful and comforting truth. 
    The Apostle John says this, “To all who received him and believed in him, Jesus gave them the right to become God’s children.  They did not become God’s children by natural means, that is, by being born of a human father; God himself was their Father. (John 1:12-13)

    You can call God, “Father”, if you have come to faith in Jesus Christ. 

    So we’re trying to balance our reverence and intimacy.  We’re trying to balance patterns and spontaneity.

    Here’s our 3rd question … should we focus on big stuff or small stuff? 

    I know people who actually pray about getting parking spaces, or what clothes to wear.  I know other people who only come to God if it’s a life and death situation.  So which is it?  Should we be praying about small stuff or about big stuff?  Both!  We should be praying about both.

    I’m going to read the whole prayer again so that we can think of the complete context.       

”Our Father in heaven:
May your holy name be honored;
may your Kingdom come;
may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need.
Forgive us the wrongs we have done,
as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
Keep us from being tempted,
and protect us from the Evil One.”

    Earlier I pointed out that Jesus gives 2 sets of requests.  The 1st 3 concern God’s glory, the big huge things.  The other 3 are related to human needs, the smaller daily issues in our lives. 

    Now I’m not going to go into these in detail, but I think it’s important to know what each phrase means and why they matter.  I’m going to explain each of the 6 items so that when you pray you’ll know what you should include. 

    1st … “May your holy name be honored.”

    We’re asking that God receives the respect that’s due Him.  We’re asking that God’s name be treated as holy.  It already is, but it needs to be regarded as such in the lives of those who bear His name.  That’s us. 

    When I come to this category in my praying I pray for people who have huge influence in this world, in their platforms as followers of Jesus, that they would honor God, not dishonor Him.  I pray for brothers and sisters in the faith who are being persecuted, that they would be able to stand firm and honor the name of Jesus.
     I pray that Jesus’ name would be treated as holy by those who claim to be His followers. 

    2nd … “May your Kingdom come.”

    We’re asking that the Kingdom that Jesus launched in His 1st coming be brought to culmination when He returns the 2nd time to reign. (The Revelation 22:20)

    And then we grab the newspaper and read about all the awful things going on in the world and pray for God to come and save us from ourselves.  We pray for believers to be bold and witness to the reality that Jesus is the only way to eternal salvation. (The Acts 4:12)  We pray for our Church.  We pray for our missionaries. 

    3rd … “May your will be done.”

    We’re asking that our lives confirm to God’s will that’s made known in the Scriptures.  We have the newspaper in one hand, and the Bible in the other. 

    In Matthew’s Gospel, right before the Lord’s Prayer is presented, Jesus teaches the Be-attitudes. (Matthew 5:3-12)  This is what our character is supposed to be as we conform to God’s will.  “Lord, help me be these things.” 

    4th … “Give us today the food we need.”

    As we pray this sentence we recognize that Jesus delegates our daily earthly needs. 
    We’re praying that God will put in us a daily dependence upon Him.  And then we’re actually asking that He’ll provide the things we need. 

    John Calvin says that Jesus is referring to more than bread or even food here; He’s talking about all our daily needs: food, health, families, anything small, anything that concerns us in this life. 

5th … “Forgive us the wrongs we have done,
    as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.”

    We’re confessing our specific sins.  Conversations, thoughts, actions, things we didn’t do, things we should have done … anything that offends God.

    And then we think of people in our lives to whom we need to extend forgiveness, or from whom we need to receive forgiveness. 

    And 6th … “Keep us from being tempted,
                      and protect us from the Evil One.”

    We’re asking God to protect us from the various sins we’re prone to … probably those that we just confessed.  And then we pray protection from evil and the Evil One, and his deceitful tricks to accomplish that evil. (1 Peter 5:8) 

    6 requests, perfectly balanced on God’s glory and on our needs.  6 requests of things that God cares about.  6 requests that should be regularly in our prayers. 
    If Jesus was standing here this morning, and we had the opportunity to ask Him what we should be praying about.  He’d say …
•    God’s name
•    God’s Kingdom
•    God’s will
•    Humanity’s needs
•    Humanity’s deliverance
•    Humanity’s forgiveness

    These are the things that God cares about and we should be praying about.  And we should be praying about them in this order. 

    We pray for God’s glory 1st, and then humanity’s needs 2nd.  Praying with this kind of balance places God in the position where He belongs. 

    It’s very difficult for me to pray selfishly if I’ve just been praying for God’s name, and God’s Kingdom, and God’s will to be done. 

    It’s very difficult for me to pray with doubt if I’ve just prayed “God, you are holy.  God, you are King.  God, you are sovereignly bringing your will into accomplishment.  God you’re doing all these things.”

    Heaven comes to earth as God responds to our dependent prayers for these things.  That’s the meaning of the little phrase right in the middle of the prayer.
    You can see up on the screen that that line …
“may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
… is right in the middle between both sets of requests. The 1st 3 are answered in Heaven.  The 2nd 3 are on earth requests. 

    And God responds when we pray every day for our dependence on our needs, every day for forgiveness for our sins extended and received, and every day for obedience in the face of trials and temptations.

    Honor God’s name.  Bring God’s Kingdom.  Accomplish God’s will.

    We should pray about these things because God cares about them, and we pray them in this order.  Pray about big things.  Pray about small things

•    Patterns and spontaneity
•    Intimate and reverent
•    Big and small

    And as we close, let me issue a word of caution.  In fact I think that there should be a warning label on the Lord’s Prayer.  Sincerely praying this can turn your life upside-down.  We’re praying against our natural tendency, our self-centeredness … we’re praying for God to take total control of our lives.  Wow!  May it be so.

MARANA THA

Prayer - 4

LET’S PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

based on John 17:1,6-12,15,17-18,20-23

    I’d like to introduce you to Naomi Peters.  Naomi was a member of Graystone Presbyterian Church years ago back when I was active in that congregation.  Naomi was a widow, who had raised a couple of kids.  She lived a very simple lifestyle, partly because, I suspect, she had very little to live on. 

    But Naomi was a woman of prayer.  She was what we would call a prayer warrior.  She’d spend chunks of time each day in conversation with God. 

    Upon learning that I was going off to Seminary she sat down with me one evening to talk about it.  She apologized for not being able to provide any monetary support … however she promised to pray for me each day that I was in Seminary.  And she did. 

    3½ years later, after graduating from G.C.T.S. and Princeton Theological Seminary, I was ordained at Graystone Church … and Naomi was there to share in the celebration.
    Seminary was tough.  Greek, Hebrew, Theology were extremely difficult.  But I honestly believe that one of the major influences of my completing those 2 graduate degrees was Naomi Peters interceding for me in prayer. 

    I want to challenge you today to become intercessory pray-ers.

    I suspect that one of the most important things we do when we gather on Sunday mornings is the Prayers Of The People.  It’s when we pray for each other.  We intercede for each other.

    We’re in the 4th week of a 5-part series on prayer.  We’re learning essential lessons about prayer from Jesus.  And today’s study is all about intercessory prayer.  In fact, our text this morning is one long intercessory prayer that Jesus prayed.  He prayed this prayer for His disciples … and He prayed it for you. 

    Jesus is praying to His Heavenly Father, and He’s talking specifically about His disciples, but then He adds something that ought to give each one of us goose bumps.  “I pray not only for them, but also for those who believe in me because of their message.” (John 17:20)

    So my question is … “have you believed in Jesus because of the message in this Book?”  Because if you have, then Jesus was looking down the corridor of time and He’s interceding for you. 
    But there’s something else I find amazing about this prayer that we’re going to be looking at … it’s the selflessness of it.  Think of the context.  Jesus and His disciples have finished eating the Last Supper and are about to head out to the Garden of Gethsemane. 

    Jesus knows that His arrest, His torture, His crucifixion are only hours away.  And facing that unimaginable pain, He unleashes one long intercessory prayer for you and for me.  Amazingly unselfish. 

    Some Bible scholars refer to this prayer as the real Lord’s Prayer.  They call it the real Lord’s Prayer because that title has been given to another prayer, “Our Father, who art in Heaven …,” which we commonly refer to as the Lord’s Prayer. 

    But Bible scholars say, “no, that the ‘disciple’s prayer.’  That’s the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray.  If you want the prayer that Jesus Himself prayed, the real Lord’s Prayer, it’s found in John 17.”

    So, listen to Good News this morning, from the Gospel of John, to you who have gathered here at Community Church.  Within your hearing, now comes the Word of the Lord.

    “After Jesus finished saying this … (for the past 3 chapters Jesus has been doing some powerful teaching, I mean John 14 is the greatest chapter in the Bible).
    “After Jesus finished saying this, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father … I have made you known to those you gave me out of the world.  They belonged to you, and you gave them to me.  They have obeyed your word, and now they know that everything you gave me comes from you.  I gave them the message that you gave me, and they received it; they know that it is true that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.

    ‘I pray for them … and my glory is shown through them. … I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world.  Holy Father!  Keep them safe by the power of your name. … While I was with them, I kept them safe … I protected them ….  I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but I do ask you to keep them safe from the Evil One. … Dedicate them to yourself by means of the truth; your word is truth.  I sent them into the world, just as you sent me into the world. … 

    ‘I pray not only for them, but also for those who believe in me because of their message.  I pray that they may all be one.  Father!  May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me.  I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as you and I are one: I in them and you in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me.’”
                                                             (John 17:1,6-12,15,17-18,20-23)
May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion, to His glory and to our edification.  Amen

    Jesus had been giving His disciples their final instructions.  Some really good stuff, and then, with them still sitting around the table, Jesus breaks into prayer.  In one breath He’s talking to them, and then in the very next breath, He’s talking to His Heavenly Father. 

    Picture this … they’re all sitting there listening in on His prayer.  What does this tell us about how we learn to intercede? … We learn how to intercede by hanging out with people who are interceding.

    Isn’t that how we learn how to talk?  When you were a little toddler, how’d you learn how to talk?  You learned how to talk by being surrounded by talking people.  You listened and you listened and you listened and one day you decided to give it a shot yourself. 

    What were the 1st words out of your mouth? … “I’m sick and tired of smashed squash … somebody order a pizza!”  No, you said something like, “Mama.”  You might not have even been looking at Mom when you said it.  You may have been looking at Daddy and said “Mama.”  But no one cared … they thought you were brilliant. 
    “Did you hear what he/she just said?  ‘Mama!’”

    When you become an intercessory pray-er, you don’t have to say anything brilliant.  You don’t even have to speak in full sentences.  You listen to other people talk to God, and you think, “I’m going to try that.”  People learn how to pray by praying.

    So if you’re one of those individuals who think, “Well, I just don’t pray out loud.”  Then how are the people around you going to learn how to pray?

    If we took that attitude in regards to talking, “hey, I just don’t talk out loud at home” … our kids would never have learned to talk! 

    So the way we learn to pray intercessory prayers is by listening to others … and then jumping in. 

    Now I know that some of you are already tuning me out because you’re thinking, I could never do this.  I get in a group and there’s somebody who prays this flowery prayer … and I feel awkward trying to do that.

    Well, how would you like to be one of the disciples?  You’re Peter, James, or John, and you’re listening to the Son of God talk to the Father, and then Jesus looks at you and says, “okay, it’s your turn.” 

    So don’t be intimidated.  The way we learn how to pray, is by listening to others interceding to God.
    Here’s a 2nd question … who do we intercede for?  

    How many of you have ever used a drive through window at a fast food restaurant? … How many of you have ever used a drive through teller at a bank? … How many of you have ever used a drive through car wash? … How many have ever used a drive through pray-er? …

    There’s a Church down in Aurora that once a year provides drive through praying.  The Fourth Street United Methodist Church sits on a busy street and they get a couple of their members standing out front with placards … “Free Prayer.” 

    People pull into their parking lot, roll down their windows, state their concern, and someone reaches in, puts a hand on their shoulder, and prays for them. 

    When I read about that, I thought … what a neat idea!  I could see us doing this.  We have Kirchoff Road, for Heaven’s sakes!  Put out the free prayer signs … and pray for the people as they drive through. 

    Here’s a better idea … how about instead of praying for a handful of strangers once a year, what if every day we interceded for the significant people in our lives? 

    Who did Jesus pray for?  He prayed for His disciples.  “I have made you known to those you gave me out of the world. 
They belonged to you, and you gave them to me.  They have obeyed your word, and now they know that everything you gave me comes from you.  I gave them the message that you gave me, and they received it; they know that it is true that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.  I pray for them.  I do not pray for the world but for those you gave me, for they belong to you.” (John 17:6-9)

    Jesus is praying for His close friends, who also happen to be the future leaders of the Church, so I guess we could argue that He’s praying for Christian leaders. 

    And we read a few verses later that He’s looking down the corridor of time, and praying for all who would become His followers … He’s praying for unbelievers who will become believers.

    Here are some categories of people to pray for …

•    Friends
•    Christian leaders
•    Unbelievers

    Let me make an observation here.  I think most of our intercessory prayer ends up being for “squeaky wheel” people.  Right?  “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”  We apply the “grease” of our intercessory prayers mostly for people who have major problems. 
    Stop and think about it.  Who do you pray for?  I’m guessing for many of us, in order to get onto our prayer lists something bad has to happen.  Right?

    In order for you to recognize that there’s something that needs to be prayed for … somebody’s got to lose their job, or have a heart attack, or suffer chronic pain … and then it dawns on us … we better pray for them. 

    I’m not saying we shouldn’t be praying for people in those sorts of situations … I’m just saying that we ought to be praying for significant people in our lives even when they’re not in dire straits. 

    Years ago I went to a leadership conference.  I don’t remember who the speakers were.  I don’t remember the subjects covered.  But I’ve never forgotten one of the points that was made.  One of the habits that successful people practice is that they can separate the important from that which is merely urgent.  

    You see, many of us get caught up with that which is merely urgent, while important things get left undone. 

    There are 4 kinds of activities in our lives.  On one end there are activities that are both important and urgent.  For example, if it’s April 14th and we haven’t paid our taxes yet … it would be a good idea to do so.  That’s important and it’s urgent.  We have 24 hours to get those taxes in the mail. 
    At the other end are those activities that are unimportant and non-urgent … and unfortunately that’s where we spend a lot of our time.  For example, reading the newspaper.  The newspaper was out on the end of our driveway this morning.  Whether or not I read that newspaper today is neither important nor urgent. 

    It’s a nice thing to do, if I have the time.  But it’s not critical and it’s not pressing. 

    Now between those extremes are 2 other activities.  There are those that are unimportant, but they seem to be urgent.  They’re screaming at us … “Do this!”  Even though the reality is they’re not that important. 

    We’re out and about doing some chores and the Bears are playing, and we keep looking at our watch, “I got to make it back for the 4th quarter.”  We’re racing against the clock.  It’s urgent … but is it important?

    No!  No, if we miss the 4th quarter, if we miss the game, it’s not a life and death situation.  Unimportant, but screamingly urgent. 

    But there’s a final category … and it’s the most important of all.  This separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls; this is the practice of highly effective people.  They know how to attend to those important activities, but not seemingly urgent.  Let me give you an example. 
    Brushing your teeth.  (I got Pam’s attention, she’s nodding her head.)  Brushing your teeth is important.  It’s an important thing to do.  Is it urgent if we don’t brush our teeth today?  Will they fall out by bedtime?  Probably not.  It’s not a screamingly urgent thing.

    However, if we neglect them day after day after day, because it’s not urgent … it’ll become urgent, and they may fall out. 

    So, what does all this have to do with intercessory prayer?  Intercessory prayer is one of those important, but not seemingly urgent activities. 

    There are times when it’s urgent.  There are times when there’s a crisis is going on in the life of a loved one or a friend … and we better pray and we better pray right away. 

    But I want to talk to you about those times when there’s no crisis, and yet it’s still critically important to be praying for the significant people in our lives.  It’s one of those important, but non-urgent activities; because if we don’t do it, it may become urgent along the way.

    So how do we decide who those significant people are?  For me, I have a list, because if I don’t write names down, I may not remember to pray for them until a crisis comes along.  And here’s how I do my list; and if this is helpful for you, great. 
    I put my prayer list in my computer.  I have 5 categories of significant people in my life. 

•    Family members (obvious one)
•    Friends
•    Neighbors
•    Leaders here at Church
•    Government leaders (Scripture tells us to do that)

    So I have these categories on my computer, and then I put in specific names.  These are my significant people to pray for.  If you do this you may have 20 people on your list, you may have 50. 

    As I pray my intercessory prayers I start down the list.  I may only have 5 or 10 minutes to pray, so I highlight the last person I pray for.  And then, that’s where I pick up when I start praying again.  And I go down several more names, praying for that group of people. 

    Now for me, my best time is right after lunch.  It’s a break in the day, that’s pretty much uninterrupted.  (And by the way, if I skip a day, or even a week, of intercessory prayer I don’t beat myself up.  I don’t go on a guilt trip.  I just go back to my list and pick up where I left off.)  This is how I do my intercessory praying. 

    Please don’t misunderstand, I always praying for those crisis situations, which I intercede for. 
    But at the same time there are important concerns in the lives of significant people in my life and if I’m not praying for them systematically those important things will be forgotten. 

    So, what are the important things that we ought to be praying for?  I’m glad you asked, because that’s our last question.  What should we intercede for?

    If you’re not praying for something urgent; someone facing surgery, a couple having marital difficulties … if there’s not a crisis, what do you intercede for?

    I see at least 3 major things in Jesus’ intercessory prayer.  Here’s the 1st one, and you’ll want to jot these down because these are the things that we need to be praying for with those significant people in our lives.

    #1 … salvation.  People’s relationship with God.  Listen to how Jesus begins His prayer.  “After Jesus finished saying this, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come.  Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you.  For you gave him authority over all people, so that he might give eternal life to all those you gave him.  And eternal life means to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent.’” (John 17:1-3)

    What topic is foremost in Jesus’ mind as He begins His intercessory prayer? …
    Salvation … eternal life pops up several times here.  Jesus wants people to know God, and His saving grace. 

    So what ought to be a prime concern for us as we intercede for our family?  What ought to be a prime concern of us as we intercede for our neighbors?  It should be that they come to faith in Jesus. 

    Let me tell you about De Witt Talmage.  He was like the Billy Graham of the early 1900’s.  He pastored the Brooklyn Tabernacle that had a sanctuary that held 5,000 people, and each week every seat was filled.  He preached to packed crowds.

    His sermons were printed in newspapers across the country with an estimated 25 million readers.  And as a result many people came to faith in Jesus through De Witt Talmage’s ministry. 

    So how did he come to faith?  As I was reading about him I learned that he was the youngest of 12 kids.  And every Saturday afternoon his mother, Catharine, would disappear for a couple of hours.  And the kids would wonder, “Where did Mom go?”

    What do you think?  The woman has 12 kids!  She’s taking a much deserved break.  Well, it wasn’t until after she passed and her kids read her journals that they understood where Mom had been going every Saturday afternoon for 2 hours, week after week, year after year.
    She had been going to a neighbor’s house where 5 Moms had gathered together every Saturday afternoon to pray for their kids … specifically that their children would come to faith in Jesus. 

    And not surprisingly, all 12 Talmage kids, did … through their Mom’s intercessory prayers. 

    When I hear a story like that, it encourages me, because there are a number of people on my intercessory prayer list who have not come to faith.  They need salvation.  So here’s what I pray for them.  I pray that God would bring circumstances into their lives that would create a sense of need. 

    Even if it’s trials and tribulations … if that’s what it takes, I say “God, turn their hearts to you.”  I pray that I might have an opportunity, and be bold in my conversations about the Lord.  I pray that other believers would cross their path.  I’m praying for individuals’ salvation. 

    And let me point out, when Scripture uses the word “salvation” it’s not just talking about the initial moment when someone comes to faith. 

    Salvation is a bigger word.  It refers to every aspect of our spiritual lives.  When Jesus talks about eternal life He defines it as “knowing God, and knowing Jesus Christ, whom He has sent.”
    So when I pray for salvation, when I pray for eternal life for people, I’m also praying for all spiritual aspects in their lives.  I pray that they would study the Scriptures.  “Lord, help them get into the Bible and nourish them with it.”

    I pray that they’d be generous stewards with the resources that God has given them.  I pray that they would have an opportunity to share their faith. 

    And then 2ndly … I pray for protection.  Now when we normally think of protection it’s usually for safe travel, or from disease, or for job security.  Things like that. 

    But when Jesus prays for protection for His friends He has something else in mind. 

    “And now I am coming to you; I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world.  Holy Father!  Keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one just as you and I are one.  While I was with them, I kept them safe ….  I protected them. … And now I am coming to you, and I say these things in the world so that they might have my joy in their hearts in all its fullness.  I gave them your message, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.  I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but I do ask you to keep them safe from the Evil One.” (John 17:13-15)
    As Jesus prayed this prayer of protection, what was He praying that His friends would be protected from? …  A wicked world, the Evil One.

    Think of the people who will be on your list; the 10, 20, 50 people.  As you’re praying for them, pray for protection. 

    As you’re looking at their names, ask yourself, “What kind of temptation do they face on a daily basis?  What bad habits do they struggle with?  What idols in their lives push God into the corner?  What negative influences are they blind to?  God, protect them from those things.”

    Do you see how this works?  This reminds me of Simon Peter.  On the night that Jesus was arrested … Peter denied knowing Jesus 3 times. (Matthew 26:69-75) 

    Peter messed up.  But fortunately for him it wasn’t a train wreck that destroyed his life.  Fortunately for Peter he didn’t turn away from the Savior entirely. 

    Peter repented of his sin.  He was extremely remorseful.  And Jesus reinstated him into a leadership position.  So what kept Peter at this horrible moment in his life from throwing in the towel completely?

    It was Jesus’ intercession on his behalf.  In the middle of the Last Supper Jesus prays for Simon Peter.
    “Simon, Simon!  Listen!  Satan has received permission to test all of you, to separate the good from the bad, as a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail.  And when you turn back to me, you must strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)

    “Peter, you’re a going to take a direct hit from Satan himself.  But when it’s all over you’re going to be still standing … because I’m praying for you.”

    This is one of those important areas, even though we don’t think of it as urgent, to pray for God’s protection from the Evil One, for God’s protection from temptation, for the people on our list.   

    There’s one final thing that we find Jesus praying for … relationships.  Lucy, from the old Peanuts comic strip, said it best … “I love humanity … it’s people I can’t stand.”

    Jesus knows that one of the greatest challenges we face in this world is getting along with other people.  And so when He intercedes for His close friends He prays hard that they’ll get along with each other. 

    He prays that they’ll resolve conflicts, that they’ll strive for unity, that they’ll value oneness.  As I read the closing paragraph of this prayer, note how many times Jesus uses the word “one.”
    “I pray not only for them, but also for those who believe in me because of their message.  I pray that they may all be one.  Father!  May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me.  I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as you and I are one: I in them and you in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me.”
                                                                        (John 17:20-23)

    What should we be praying for as we intercede for the people on our prayer list?  We need to be praying for the relationships in their lives … for oneness. 

    If you’re praying for a married person it’s a good thing to be praying for their relationship with their spouse.  Don’t wait for a crisis, pray it now.  If they’re working in a difficult job, pray for their relationship with their boss, and co-workers. 

    No person is an island.  Everybody is connected to other people.  So when we’re interceding for those on our prayer list, begin by praying for relationships. 

    Who wants to be an intercessor? … This is a privilege.  This is how we communicate value to others.  We’re standing in front of Almighty God petitioning for someone else.  It’s an incredible ministry.  It’s an amazing privilege. 
    So, how do we learn to be intercessory pray-ers?  By being around people who are doing it, and at some point we jump in.

    Who do we pray for?  Not just those who have an impending crisis.  That’s a great place to begin, but create a list of people that you’re going to systematically pray for: family, friends, neighbors.

    And what do we pray for?  We pray for salvation, meaning all things spiritual.  We pray for protection from sin and temptation and the Evil One.  And we pray for the relationships that are going on in their lives. 

    Let’s be intercessors.  In fact, we’re all going to do it right now for 1 minute.  The truth of the matter is, you can be an intercessor wherever you are.  You’re standing in line at Jewel, and there are ½ dozen people ahead of you, so you have some time.  Say to God, “I’m going to pray for the next person you bring into my mind, whoever that is.”  And God will bring somebody into your mind, I guarantee it.

    So right now, who is God putting on the screen of your mind?  Whoever that is, you have 1 minute to pray for them.  Pray for salvation.  Pray for protection.  Pray for relationships.  You’re going to be an intercessor for the next 60 seconds.  Let’s pray ….   

MARANA THA

Prayer - 3

LET’S PRAY LIKE THIS

based on The Acts 4:23-31 

    How many of you have ever had a character sketch drawn of you? … They say that character sketch’s date all the way back to Leonardo da Vinci.  Here’s one that was done of me around 30 years ago. 

    Now what character sketches usually do is accentuate prominent traits of the individual being drawn.  Let’s put a couple up on the screen.

•    Albert Einstein … what’s his main trait? (bad hair)
•    Elvis … (snarl)
•    President Obama … (big ears)

Those are things that a character artist picks up on. 

    Now let me give you another one which will be a little harder because you never saw this fellow in real life.  His name is James, and he’s the author of one of the books in the N.T.

    If a character artist were to do a sketch of James, what he/she would exaggerate would be his … knees! 
    According to the 1st century historian, Josephus, James prayed so much that he had knees “like camel’s knees.”  In fact, that was his nickname … “camel knees.”  I’m not making that up.  But isn’t that a wonderful image?  James’ knees were visibly calloused from spending so much time on them!

    Today is the 3rd of a 5-part series on prayer.  And if you’ve missed any of the sermons, they’re on our website.  We’ve talked about praying alone, and praying together.   

    Now James writes a very practical letter.  In many ways, it’s the most functional epistle in the N.T.  It’s just chalked full of useful stuff to apply to our daily Christian living.  And James concludes it with instructions about prayer.  In fact, in the final 8 verses there are 7 specific references to praying or prayer.  Old “camel knees” is explaining to followers of Jesus the practical ways that they’re to be engaging in prayer. 

    This morning we’re going to look at 4 different kinds of prayer.  So as you’re listening and taking notes, I want you to be particularly aware as to which areas of prayer you need to be working on.  

    So, Good News this morning, from Jesus’ ½ brother, James, to you who have gathered here at Community Church.  Within your hearing, now comes the Word of the Lord …
    “Are any among you in trouble?  They should pray.  Are any among you happy?  They should sing praises.  Are any among you sick?  They should send for the church elders, who will pray for them and rub olive oil on them in the name of the Lord.  This prayer made in faith will heal the sick; the Lord will restore them to health, and the sins they have committed will be forgiven.  So then, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed.  The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect.  Elijah was the same kind of person as we are.  He prayed earnestly that there would be no rain, and no rain fell on the land for three and a half years.  Once again he prayed, and the sky poured out its rain and the earth produced its crops.

    My friends, if any of you wander away from the truth and another one brings you back again, remember this: whoever turns a sinner back from the wrong way will save that sinner’s soul from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.” (James 5:13-20)

May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion, to His glory and to our edification.  Amen

    We’re going to start this morning in the middle of our passage rather than at the beginning.
    We need to learn something about the power of prayer before we talk about various kinds of prayer.  Don’t you want power in your prayers?  Do you want to know that your prayers are making a difference? 

    Scripture teaches that prayer can be powerful.  Prayer invites God to intervene in human situations.  But there are 2 qualifications that must be met for our prayers to be effective. 

    “The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect.  Elijah was the same kind of person as we are.  He prayed earnestly that there would be no rain, and no rain fell on the land for 3½ years.”

    In the original text the word order here is a little different.  In Greek if we want to emphasize a word or thought, we put that word at the beginning of the sentence.  And guess what word is at the beginning of the passage I just read? … (powerful) 

    James literally writes, “Powerful is the prayer of a good person.”  Unfortunately English translators come along and try to make the sentence read better; and as a result, they miss the emphasis that James is making.  James wants us to pray with power.

    Would you like to pray with power?  Do you want your prayers to make a difference?  Well, James says that there are 2 essential qualifications. 
    1st, we need to be a good pray-er.  “Powerful is the prayer of a good person.” 

    What are the requirements to be “good”?  Does “good” mean sinless?  “Powerful is the prayer of a ‘sinless’ person.”  Well, I hope that’s not what “good” means, because my prayers will never be powerful … and neither will yours … because we’re not sinless. (Romans 3:23)

    The word “good,” as it’s used here, describes people who have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ, and are now striving to walk in obedience to Him. 

    Have you ever surrendered your life to Jesus Christ?  Have you ever asked God to forgive your sins? 
(1 John 1:9)  When we give God our sins, He exchanges them for His goodness.  This is an incredible swap.  Stop and think about it.  Jesus invites us to give Him our sins, and what He gives us in exchange is His goodness.
                                                                              (2 Corinthians 5:21)

    Have you ever done that? … If you have, then Jesus credits His goodness to your account. (Romans 4:5) 

    If you’ve come to faith and are striving to live for Him then your prayers are going to have a powerful effect.  And if you haven’t done that … then just save your breath, because your prayers aren’t going anywhere.  They’re not going to accomplish a thing. 

    So the 1st qualification is that the pray-er is “good.”
    The 2nd qualification is … we must be an earnest pray-er.  James uses the example of Elijah here. 

    Elijah was a superhero to the Jews of James’ day.  In fact there are no less than 29 references in the N.T. to this O.T. prophet.  Elijah was a big deal.  And most of James’ readers could recount stories about his exploits. 

    There was the time he went toe-to-toe with the 450 wicked prophets of Baal on the top of Mt. Carmel.  Elijah was a superhero in Jewish history. (1 Kings 18:20-40)

    One of the things that Elijah was particularly known for was his powerful praying.  On one occasion God brought a drought because of Elijah’s prayer.  3½ years of drought.  And then Elijah prayed again and rain came. (1 Kings 17:1-7,18:41-45)  How many of you have ever gotten results like that from your prayers? …

    So we’re tempted to say, “James, can you give us another example of powerful praying besides Elijah, because we’re not in his league?  He was a superhero.” 

    James responds, “Not really, Elijah was the same kind of person as we are.  God listened and responded to his prayers because he prayed ‘earnestly.’”

    I love the literal Greek here.  “He prayed with prayer.”  In Jewish understanding if we want to emphasize something … we repeat it.
    So the prophet Isaiah writes,
“Holy, holy, holy!
The LORD Almighty is holy!” (Isaiah 6:3)

Isaiah is highlighting the holiness of God! 

    And here James wants us to know that Elijah was a fellow who knew how to pray.  “He prayed with prayer.”  There was intensity about his conversations with God. 

    Is there an earnestness in your prayers that convinces God that you really mean what you’re praying about?  Scripture teaches that God doesn’t take our prayers seriously if we pray them ½ heartedly. (James 1:6)

    If we want our prayers to be powerful, to make a difference, we must be “good” pray-ers, and “earnest” pray-ers.

    Now James is going to give us 4 types of prayers, and God wants us to be actively involved in each one. 

    The 1st is the singing prayer.  (Our choir especially likes this one.)  “Are any among you in trouble?  They should pray.  Are any among you happy?  They should sing praises.”  Praying and singing praises go hand-in-hand. 

    It doesn’t matter if you’re having a good day or a bad day … express yourself to God in singing.  And when you do you bring Him into your situation.  Augustine, a 5th century theologian, said … “He who sings – prays twice.”
    When we sing praises we’re not only worshipping God, we’re also praying.  So if you want to double your prayer … just sing.  And by the way, it doesn’t matter if you’re a soprano, alto, tenor, bass, baritone, or a monotone. 

Scripture says …
“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.” (The Psalms 100:1)

    So, James tells us to become a singing pray-er … because when we sing, we pray twice. 

    #2 … the healing prayer.  “Are any among you sick?  They should send for the church elders, who will pray for them and rub olive oil on them in the name of the Lord.  This prayer made in faith will heal the sick; the Lord will restore them to health.”

    Let’s look at the 3 steps of the healing prayer that James lays out for us.  This way, when you need it … you’ll understand how it works. 

    Step #1 … the sick person contacts the elders.  “Are any among you sick?  They should send for the church elders, who will pray for them.” 

    In our congregation we don’t have elders … but our Deacons assume this role.  They’re the spiritual leaders of this congregation.  They have committed themselves to pray for each of you.  All of you are being prayed for throughout the week by our Deacons.  That’s a given.
    But James wants to take us to a deeper level.  If you’re sick, and want God’s healing, then you’re to contact the Deacons, (and each of you have a Deacon contact), and they will come and pray specifically for you.  But you have to initiate it.

    What’s going on here?  Why does God want you to contact the Deacons?  Very simple … He wants you to display some faith.  God wants you to show that you really believe that He can bring healing.  

    At your invitation, the Deacons will come and anoint you with oil.  “They will rub olive oil on the sick person in the name of the Lord.”

    What’s that all about?  The oil serves as a symbol. It’s not medicine … it’s a symbol.  It’s, in some ways, like when we take Communion.  We get a piece of bread, and a cup of juice, which symbolize the body and blood of Jesus, who died on the cross to pay for our sins.
(1 Corinthians 11:26)  It’s a physical reminder of Jesus’ death. 

    Oil in the Scriptures is a symbol of The Holy Spirit.  When Jesus was beginning His ministry, in His hometown of Nazareth, He read a passage from Isaiah.


“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news.” (Luke 4:18)

    “The Holy Spirit has been poured out on me,” Jesus says, “like oil.”
    Oil becomes a symbol of the outpouring of The Holy Spirit.  If you contact the Deacons to pray for healing; they’ll come and rub some oil, like I do at the Ash Wednesday service, on your forehead as a physical reminder that we’re asking The Holy Spirit to get involved in your healing. 

     Once again, there’s nothing magical about the oil, and there’s nothing particularly special about the way we pray; we’re just being obedient to what Scripture teaches as we ask God to intervene. 

    This brings us to the 3rd step.  The Deacons pray in faith.  “This prayer made in faith will heal the sick.”  They pray a prayer in faith. 

    When we pray, when I pray, I pray with expectation.  I believe that God is going to do something. (Mark 11:24) 

    So does this mean that God will always heal the person? … Not necessarily.  Praying in faith simply means that we believe certain things about God.  And one of those things is that He has the power to bring healing to this person. 

    The other thing that we believe, when we pray in faith, is that God is sovereign and knows what’s best.  So at times He may withhold healing for reasons known only to Him. (John 9:3)  But regardless, we pray like crazy for the person to be healed. 
    And if it doesn’t happen we say … “God be praised” … because we know He has a better plan. (The Psalms 33:11) 

    But the obedient step is that we give the Deacons the opportunity to pray the healing prayer.  So, if you’re ill, and you’re wondering why God hasn’t made you better … maybe He’s waiting for you to follow His instructions. 

    #3 … the restoring prayer.  “This prayer made in faith will heal the sick; the Lord will restore them to health, and the sins they have committed will be forgiven.  So then, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed.”

    James makes a connection in these sentences between sin and sickness.  So, what do you think?  Let’s take a poll here.  Is sickness a result of sin in your life?

    How many of you say “yes”?  Sickness is a result of sin? … How many of you say “no”?  Sickness is not the result of sin? … How many of you say, “maybe?” … The “maybes” win. 

    Because what we learn in Scripture is that sometimes sickness is the result of sin.  And sometimes sickness has nothing to do with sin. 

    Let me illustrate this with 2 incidents from the life of Jesus, both from the Gospel of John.  Jesus is in Jerusalem for a religious festival. 
    And He comes across a fellow who had been sick for 38 years … and He heals him on the spot.  Now later that day Jesus runs into him again in the Temple, and He tells him, “Listen, you are well now; so stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14)

    In other words, “That sickness that I healed you from this morning was connected to a sin in your life.  So don’t go back there or you’re going to get sick again.”

    Now lest we think that’s always the case, a different story is told several chapters later.  This time Jesus heals a man who has been blind since birth.  And His disciples are remembering the lame man’s story, so they’re wondering, “Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born blind?  Was it his own or his parents’ sin?”

    “Jesus answered, ‘His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents’ sins.  He is blind so that God’s power might be seen at work in him.’” (John 9:2-3)
“God’s going to do a miracle here.  It has nothing to do with anybody’s sin.” 

    So sometimes sickness is the result of sin in our lives, sometimes it isn’t.  And that’s why James wants us to examine our lives when we’re sick to see if there’s any sinful pattern going on that we need to confess.

    God may be using sickness to get our attention so that we’ll confess our sins.  I want to say that again. 
    God may be using sickness to get our attention so that we’ll confess our sins.

    “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed.” 

    Ultimately, of course, we confess our sins to God, but here James tells us to “confess our sins to one another.”  Why does he say that?  What’s the possible benefit of confessing our sins to someone else?  Well, remember the context … this is all about prayer.

    So when I confess my sins to somebody, I say, “I’m really struggling in this area; I’m not doing too well.”  And the next line out of my mouth is, “Will you pray for me?”

    By the way, this is where our Roman Catholic friends get the idea that sins must be confessed to a Priest.  But you don’t see any mention of a Priest here.  “Confess your sins to your Pastor” … that’s not what it says. 

    Believers are to confess sins to other believers.  It may be a Pastor or Priest, it may a spouse, it may be a close friend.  It may be the Deacons … because this whole passage is about Church leaders.

    We’re to call the Deacons if we’re sick to come and pray and anoint.  And we may have to confess … “The reason I’m sick is because I’m run down and my schedule is just all out of whack.”
      Or, “I have bitterness in my life toward a certain person, and I just can’t forgive them.”

    And the Deacons will say, “Let’s pray.  We’ll pray for your physical healing, and we’ll pray for your spiritual healing, that you’ll experience God’s forgiveness and the breaking of this pattern of sin in your life.” 

    This is the Scriptural model.  “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed.”

    One of my favorite passages of Scripture is 1 John 1:9.  “If we confess our sins to God, he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.” (1 John 1:9)

    How long has it been since you prayed the restoring prayer?  Has it been 48 hours?  Has it been a week?  A month?  Do you ever invite someone else to pray for you concerning a particular sin?  To “have your back” as it were.  You’re missing out if you don’t.

    #4 … the retrieving prayer.  “My friends, if any of you wander away from the truth and another one brings you back again, remember this: whoever turns a sinner back from the wrong way will save that sinner’s soul from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.” 

    When Kathy and I were in England last month we got a GPS on our rental car.  Best money I ever spent. 
    We came home from our vacation still speaking to each other!

     Well, we named our GPS appropriately, “Kate.”  And Kate guided us perfectly all around Great Britain. However, occasionally I’d make a wrong turn, which Kate was quick to point it out … “Turn around as soon as possible.”

    James is telling us that followers of Jesus are to be like Kate.  This command is for each of us.  If we see someone wandering from God … tell them to turn around!

    You know, we pride ourselves in caring for each other … and yet we’re not willing to say the hard things. 

    Let me give you 3 resources to use when you have to do this.  The 1st is prayer.  We never approach retrieving without a lot of prayer, otherwise we’re going to be doing things only in our own strength and power … and that’ll never work. 

    The 2nd resource is Scripture.  James describes the person as having “wandered away from the truth.”  This is a really important point.  We live in a culture that no longer believes in the truth.  We live in a culture that no longer has an absolute standard of right and wrong.  Our society believes it would be intolerant to insinuate that a person has wandered from God and needs to turn around.  “How dare you suggest that?  Mind your own business!”
    “Who are you to think that something is wrong and needs to be changed in my behavior?  Who are you to say what’s right or wrong?” 

    Well, if we know God’s Word we can identify bad behavior.  It’s not based on our opinion, but on what Scripture says.  God tells us what is right. (John 17:17) 

    And James was certainly not timid when it came to getting into a friend’s face.  Throughout his letter, he says, “You’ve got to stop doing that.”  Or, “you’ve got to start doing this.”

    Which leads us to the 3rd resource … love.  All the way through his letter James addresses his readers as “my friends.”  In fact, that’s how he starts this final section, “my friends.”  “Hey, I love you guys.  And I have to say something hard here, but I want you to know that it’s motivated out of love.” 

    This is not a guy who’s doing this to show that he’s right and they’re wrong.  This is a guy who loves you and the goal of his turning you around is to save the “sinner’s soul from death.”  Now that may in fact include physical death, but his real concern is spiritual.  “Get right with God.  Confess sins that need to be confessed.” 

    If this person is a nonbeliever then they’re headed for eternal separation from God.  They’re going to spiritually die.  They’re headed for hell and destruction.
    If the person is a believer, and has temporarily wandered off the path, there’s a spiritual deadliness that’s taking place in their relationship with God, and we can save them from that.  Don’t you want to do that?

    Besides that James says, it’ll “bring about the forgiveness of many sins.” 

    We confront the person with Scripture, and they acknowledge … “oh yeah, I need to get right with God.”  And they confess their sins, and then the blood of Jesus Christ covers them. (1 Peter 4:8)  This is wonderful! 

    Does it work all the time?  No, sometimes the person becomes extremely defensive … but doing nothing won’t bring them back to God either. 

    So, how’s your prayer life when it comes to these 4 kinds of prayer?

•    The singing prayer?  Be bold and sing out.
•    The healing prayer?  Has it ever occurred to you to go to the Deacons for prayer?
•    The restoring prayer?  Is there stuff going on in your life that needs to be confessed?
•    The retrieving prayer?  If I asked you to write down the name of somebody who has wandered away from God, every person in this room could bring someone to mind.  Start praying for that person right now.

MARANA THA

                                                                           from the desk of . . .
                                                                          Rande Wayne Smith
                                                                         D.Min., Th.M., M.Div.

          20 October 2013

                                                                                                                                  Teach Us To Pray - 2

                                                                           WE PRAY TOGETHER

                                                                                                                 based on The Acts 4:23-31 

    I was 29 years old when God called me into the ministry, and He guided me to G.C.T.S., which is about 30 miles north of Boston.  The Seminary itself sits way up on a hill.  In fact, planes flying into Logan Airport use the lighted cross on top of the academic building as a location marker at night before making their descent. 

    Anyway, I lived down in the married student housing, which was a little more than ½ mile from the academic buildings.  So for the 1st couple of months I would drive up the steep hill.  But then, because of the cost of gas, and the fact that we only had 1 car, I decided I would start walking to my classes. 

    Well, the 1st time I did I was totally out of breath.  And I thought to myself, “This is ridiculous.  I’m 29 years old, and I can’t even walk up a hill!”  So I began taking time each day, between classes, to go to the gym to build up my endurance.  I would run around the outside of the gym floor.  (This was Boston in the winter, lots of snow, so I couldn’t run outside.)

    Well, one day another student came down and began running with me.  Now this guy was a good runner.  And I really enjoyed the camaraderie.  But more than that, he held me accountable.  He urged me on.  And when the weather got nice, we began running outdoors.  We’d run for miles and miles and then finish by running up the hill that a few months earlier I struggled to even walk up! 

    Well, running became part of my daily routine.  And in the years since, I began to compete in road races, and have had some success, winning some trophies.  I know how to train.  Running is part of my life.  But I got to this place because, years ago, a runner, and I’ve long since forgotten his name, came and ran with me when I was just beginning.  We ran together during those initial days and weeks.  He provided support and encouragement.     

    This is the 2nd week of a 5 part series on prayer.  We’re looking at essential lessons that Jesus is teaching us about conversation with God.  And this morning we’re going to learn about praying together; the camaraderie, support, and encouragement of one another.

    Our Scripture passage is found in the 4th chapter of The Acts.  Peter and John are making their way through the streets of Jerusalem.  This is just a short time after Jesus has ascended back to Heaven, and the 2 disciples are headed to the Temple for their afternoon prayers.  Jews would go to the Temple 3 times each day for prayer … in the morning, at 3:00, and at dusk.  So as Peter and John are entering through the Temple gate a lame man holds up his hand begging for money.  And Peter says to him, “I have no money at all, but I give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I order you to get up and walk!” (The Acts 3:6)  And the man is instantly healed!  He leaps to his feet and begins jumping around and praising God!

    Well, everybody is excited … everybody that is except the priests and the Sadducees.  Because they had just put to death, weeks earlier, this Jesus, in whose name the lame man had been healed.  So they send some guards to haul in Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, who give them a very stern warning that they’re never again “to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.”  (The Acts 4:18)

    And that’s where we pick up the story.  Peter and John have just been released.  So, Good News to you who have gathered here at Community Church, written by Luke, and recorded for us in The Acts, within your hearing now comes the Word of the Lord …

    “As soon as Peter and John were set free, they returned to their group and told them what the chief priests and the elders had said.  When the believers heard it, they all joined together in prayer to God: ‘Master and Creator of heaven, earth, and sea, and all that is in them!  By means of the Holy Spirit you spoke through our ancestor David, your servant, when he said, ‘Why were the Gentiles furious; why did people make their useless plots?  The kings of the earth prepared themselves, and the rulers met together against the Lord and his Messiah.’  For indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together in this city with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Jesus, your holy Servant, whom you made Messiah.  They gathered to do everything that you by your power and will had already decided would happen.  And now, Lord, take notice of the threats they have made, and allow us, your servants, to speak your message with all boldness.  Reach out your hand to heal, and grant that wonders and miracles may be performed through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.’  When they finished praying, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim God’s message with boldness.” (The Acts 4:23-31)

    May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom                     with really increasing devotion, to His glory and to our edification.  Amen

    This morning I’m going to make 3 observations about praying together from our Scripture passage.

    #1 … praying together is a high priority for followers of Jesus.  “As soon as Peter and John were set free, they returned to their group and told them what the chief priests and the elders had said.  When the believers heard it, (say it with me), they all joined together in prayer to God.”

    There are a couple of things I want you to especially notice in those sentences.  Peter and John “returned to their group.”  Now as an old journalism major I always ask, “who, what, where, when, why, and how” when I read passages of Scripture.  So, “where” did they return to? 

    The only place that Scripture mentions that the disciples have ever been since Jesus’ death and resurrection is the Upper Room.  And what big event happened in the Upper Room? … (The Last Supper)  Bible scholars tell us that the Upper Room was in a home owned by the mother of John Mark.  Now John Mark wasn’t one of the original 12 disciples, but he was an early follower of Jesus, and a close friend of Peter.  And later, based on the information he received from Peter, he wrote a biography of Jesus which we have in our N.T. called, the Gospel of Mark. 

    Mark’s Mom owned the house where Jesus’ Last Supper took place, and where the believers continued to meet after Jesus ascended to Heaven.  And when they did gather together, one of their primary purposes was to pray as a group.  In fact, circle the word “together” in the 2nd sentence.  “They all joined together in prayer.” “Together” is one of Luke’s favorite words.  And he uses it often as he tells the story of the early Church to show that togetherness should be a mark of followers of Jesus.  We need to be experiencing togetherness here.

    But notice that it’s not just togetherness for the sake of togetherness … it’s togetherness for the sake of prayer.  “They all joined together in prayer to God.” 

    So praying together was a big deal to those early followers of Jesus.  And it wasn’t because they couldn’t pray by themselves in their own homes.  It was because prayer is something that God wants His people to do together, as well as individually.

    In fact, let’s take a quick tour of The Acts, the story of the 1st century Church, and see how much these followers of Jesus valued praying together.

 
    Chapter 1 … takes place about 6 weeks after Jesus’ resurrection, and shortly before He ascends to Heaven.  These are His parting instructions to His closest followers.  “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift I told you about, the gift my Father promised.  John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (The Acts 1:4-5)  Jesus is standing on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the city of Jerusalem, and He tells them, “Don’t leave town until I send you The Holy Spirit.”  So again, my journalism question is, “what are they supposed to do while they’re waiting?”  Luke doesn’t tell us what Jesus said in this regard, but we can assume that He had some specific instructions because of what His followers did. 

    “Then the apostles went back to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is about ½ a mile away from the city.  They entered the city and went up to the room where they were staying.” (The Acts 1:12-13)  The believers have gathered together in a familiar place … the Upper Room.  "They gathered frequently to pray as a group, together with the women and with Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers.” (The Acts 1:14)  (Actually by this time the group has grown to about 120.) 

    And what are they doing as they wait for the promised Holy Spirit?  They’re praying together.  And Scripture tells us that they prayed together “frequently.”  This wasn’t a sporadic activity of the early Church.  This was something that they did often.  Praying together was a priority for these followers of Jesus. 

    Moving on to the 2nd chapter.  “When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers were gathered together in one place.” (The Acts 2:1) (They’re back at their favorite location, the Upper Room.)  And Luke has already told us that when they’re together they pray.  “Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there.  They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.” (The Acts 2:2-4)

    Let me paint the picture a little more fully.  This is the birth of the Church!  This is a huge, huge event.  It’s the outpouring of The Holy Spirit, the gift that Jesus promised.  And this takes place while these 120 believers are in Jerusalem for a religious celebration.  There were thousands and thousands of people from all the surrounding countries, speaking a wide variety of languages.  And so The Holy Spirit comes on this group of believers and they’re suddenly able to communicate in the languages of everyone there the story about Jesus.  And 3,000 people came to faith that day! (The Acts 2:41)  And what launched this?  A prayer meeting! 

    So now we have all these new believers?  How do we mature them?  “They spent their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers.” (The Acts 2:42)

    Here are 4 activities that were an essential part to these new believers’ spiritual growth.  And notice that they’re all corporate activities.  Gathering together to hear God’s Word taught, hanging out with each other, participating in the Lord’s Supper, and prayer.  In fact, it says, “and the prayers.”  There were set times when the believers got together for prayer; they committed themselves to praying with each other.  That’s why they grew up so quickly in their faith, and made such a difference in their world. (Romans 1:8)  They were taught, right from the start, the importance of praying together.

    Let’s jump ahead to The Acts 12.  Peter is in prison, for the 3rd time for preaching the Good News.  But this time it’s really serious.  His close friend, James, has been put to death by King Herod. (The Acts 12:2)  And Herod has let it be known that Peter’s next. 

    So what’s the Church doing?  “Peter was kept in jail, but the people of the church were praying earnestly to God for him.” (The Acts 12:5)  The Church was earnestly praying. 

    I’m not going to read the whole passage, but this is a great story, and you all should look at it yourselves sometime during the week … The Acts 12.  It’s actually pretty amusing.  And as a result of their praying God sends an angel who breaks Peter out of jail.  His chains fall off, and the iron gate opens and Peter is set free.  So “Peter went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.” (The Acts 12:11-12)  Praying again in the Upper Room.

    A final passage in The Acts 13 … “In the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (called the Black), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (who had been brought up with Governor Herod), and Saul (Paul).  While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, to do the work to which I have called them.’  “They fasted and prayed, placed their hands on them, and sent them off.” (The Acts 13:1-3)

    This is the launching of the worldwide missionary movement.  This explains why Christianity didn’t remain a little localized religion, and why those of us who believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior had the opportunity to hear about Him in the 1st place.  It was because early on, this group of believers felt motivated to do something bold and take the Good News far and wide.  They sent out a couple of missionaries, Paul and Barnabas.

    And why did they do that?  They were gathered for a prayer meeting.  And while they’re praying God’s Spirit prompts them to do this wild and crazy thing. 

    Now I hope as I’ve taken you on this tour of The Acts that you’ve come away with a sense that God wants the Church to make praying together a high priority.  So the question is … how’s the Church doing?  How is Community Church doing?  And even though most of us will acknowledge that prayer is important … yet we won’t take the time to come to a service devoted to prayer. 

    In fact, it’s hard to gather people together these days for anything … much less prayer.  There’s this tendency in our culture to see a relationship with God as a highly personal thing.  As a result, we don’t believe that it’s totally necessary to be in Church.  So if our weekend becomes busy, and we can’t make it to Church … hey, it’s no big deal.  We can listen to a Bible teaching on Moody radio.  We can worship by listening to Christian music.  Who needs the Church?

    Evidentially we all do.  Togetherness was a theme in the early Church.  And not only that, but we’re actually commanded to be here.  “Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing.  Instead, let us encourage one another.” (Hebrews 10:25)  Scripture teaches, “Don’t miss the opportunity to come together as a Church.  When we get with a group of believers, who are worshipping together, singing together, praying together … it encourages our spiritual life like nothing else.” 

    Another reason it’s hard to get people to pray together is that we tend to view prayer as a private deal. 

    9 out of 10 people in our country say that they pray on a semi-regular basis … and that they’ve seen answers to their prayers.  That actually surprises me.  Lots of people are praying, and they’ve even seen God respond.  Another survey says that 62% of the people who say they pray never pray with others.  So they’re praying, but the husband never prays with his wife.  The Mom and Dad are never praying with their kids.  Maybe they say grace at mealtimes… but that’s it.  62% of the people who say they pray never pray with anyone else.  Never. 

    Now I recognize that praying out loud in a group can be a threatening thing.  But I want you to trust me that if you’ll ask God for the courage to do this, it’ll transform your life.  And it will transform our Church.

    I know that we always begin and end our meetings here at the Church in prayer.  But I wonder at times if that’s enough.  What would happen if we spent some real quality time in prayer as a Council, as Deacons, as Trustees, as a Christian Education Committee, as a Music Committee, as Ignite, as a Vocal Choir, as a Bell Choir, as a Ladies Bible Study, as Faith Lift Women’s Group, as a Men’s Study & Support?  In fact, those groups can just be a great place to learn how to pray together.  So commit yourself to praying with others. 

    The 2nd thing we discover coming out of The Acts 4 … praying together goes hand-in-hand with worship. “When the believers heard (Peter and John’s report), they all joined together in prayer to God.  (And this is their prayer.)  ‘Master and Creator of heaven, earth, and sea, and all that is in them!’” (The Acts 4:23-24)

    What an interesting way to begin a prayer … with praise and adoration and worship.  There are a lot of prayers recorded in Scripture that start this way.

    King Hezekiah is being besieged in the city of Jerusalem. The Assyrians are banging at the door with their battering rams.  So Hezekiah prays, and listen to how he begins.  “O LORD, the God of Israel, seated on your throne above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world.  You created the earth and the sky.” (2 Kings 19:15)

    If I had been in Hezekiah’s sandals, and the Assyrians were attacking me, my prayer would be a quick, “God, help!”  But not Hezekiah, he begins with adoration and praise. 

    The early believers here in The Acts also begin their prayer with worship.  “God, you’re the God of creation.  God, you’re the God of revelation.  God, you’re the God of history.  You made.  You spoke.  You decided.  And things happened just as you planned.  Praise you!”  And at that point they pray a prayer that’s based on the 2nd Psalm.  “By means of the Holy Spirit you spoke through our ancestor David” … and then they quote him.
 
    Praying together and worship go hand-in-hand with each other.  And when God’s people worship the Lord, they always do 2 things: they pray, and they reflect on the Scriptures.  Prayer is our talking to God; the Scriptures is God talking to us.  And the 2 always go together.  And the early Church was doing just that.         
    One final thing that I observe in The Acts 4 about praying together … it unleashes God’s power in the Church.  Listen to the closing verses of their prayer.  (This almost gives me goose bumps.)

    “‘And now, Lord … allow us, your servants, to speak your message with all boldness.  Reach out your hand to heal, and grant that wonders and miracles may be performed through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.’  When they finished praying, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim God’s message with boldness.” (The Acts 4:29-31)

    Let me remind you from our quick survey of The Acts of what happened when the Church gathered and prayed. 
Minutes after Jesus left the planet, the disciples immediately went to a location where they could gather, and they began to pray.  And 10 days later the Spirit of God is poured out and 3,000 people come to faith … all because these believers got together and prayed. 

    I didn’t read this, but Luke tells us that the group of 3,000 will grow to 5,000. (The Acts 4:4)  So we have the Church growing from 120 to 3,000 to 5,000 because the power of God had been unleashed through prayer. 
    And it doesn’t end there.  One of the 1st things these new believers are taught to do is get together with other followers of Jesus and pray.  And that makes them mature believers in the faith. 

    And it doesn’t end there either.  Persecution heats up, but in the midst of it these believers get together and pray … and they face it down. (2 Thessalonians 3:2)  And they’re given more boldness.  But it doesn’t end there.

    In the midst of their prayers God tells them to set aside some missionaries.  “Carry this to the ends of the earth.” (The Acts 1:8)

    What would happen if we gathered together and took this seriously, and prayed earnestly for our missionaries: Brian and Karen Cordes (Camp Good News), and David and Patricia Carwell (Mission Aviation Fellowship), and Tim and Beth Wood (Africa Inland Mission), and Phil and Carol Miglioratti (Prayer, Inc.), Elaine Scherrer (Wycliffe Bible Translators), and Pacific Garden Mission, and California School Project? 

    What would happen if we gathered together as a Church and prayed earnestly? 

    I’d love to see God’s power unleashed in our midst.  Wouldn’t you?  Well, praying together is what sets The Holy Spirit loose.

                                                                                                                                         MARANA THA

   from the desk of  ...

Rande Wayne Smith

13 Ocotber 2013

                                                                                                                                        Teach Us To Pray - 1
                                                                                            I PRAY ALONE

                                                                                                  based on John 15:1-8 

Suppose I could offer you today “how to” lessons from a famous person.  Let me call out some names and you tell me what you’d like that person to teach you. 

•    Serena Williams (tennis) … I’d like her to help me with my serve,
•    Rachel Ray (food) … I’d like to teach me recipes,
•    Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough (dancing) …
             (Last year’s winners on “Dancing With The Stars”) … I’d like them to teach me some moves,
•    Jesus Christ … well, it could be any number of things.

    Isn’t it interesting that with those other celebrities only one thing comes to mind immediately, but when we think of Jesus …
“would you teach me to walk on water?”
“would you teach me how to love my enemies?”
“would you teach me how to cast out demons?”
“would you teach me how to heal the sick?”
I would love to learn leadership at the feet of Jesus.

    But interestingly, in the 4 Gospel accounts, there’s only 1 occasion when Jesus’ closest followers asked Him to teach them to do something.  Only 1.  Let’s read it aloud together. … “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1) 

    What’s the 1 and only thing that Jesus’ disciples ever asked Him to teach them to do? … (pray)

    Evidentially, on this particular occasion, when Jesus finished praying, there had been something so compelling, so powerful about the way He prayed that His disciples, who had been closely watching Him, said, “Hey, will you teach us how to do that?”

    In fact, if we look at the verb tense, the disciples really didn’t ask … they demanded.  This was said forcefully.  There was a sense of urgency to it. 
                                    “Lord, you have to teach us to do this right now.”

    This is the 1st week of a 4 week series … “Teach Us To Pray.”  We’re going to look at 4 essential lessons on prayer … and our teacher is going to be Jesus. 

    Now today’s lesson is on personal prayer … we’re going to learn how to make prayer a regular habit in our daily lives.  Prayer shouldn’t be a hit or miss thing.  Prayer shouldn’t be just the one-liners that we throw up to God whenever we find ourselves in trouble.  We need to be disciplined when it comes to prayer.  And don’t be turned off by the word “discipline”.  I know that “discipline” sometimes carries a negative connotation.  It’s making yourself do something that you really don’t want to do. 

    Praying?  It’s like making your bed, or shoveling snow.  But let me remind you that the word “discipline” comes from the same root as the word “disciple.”  And so if you want to be a disciple of Christ, if you consider yourself to be a committed follower of Jesus, then there’s got to be some measure of discipline in your life. 

    But, having said that, I’m not sure that the issue is really with discipline; I think our biggest problem is motivation. 

    What motivates you to pray?

    I know that some people pray out of a sense of duty … “I’m a follower of Jesus, and followers of Jesus are supposed to pray.”  If we pray for that reason … we’re going to hate it.  If we pray out of a sense of guilt; if we pray out of a sense of fear … we’re never going to develop a life of disciplined prayer.  We can’t pray for the wrong motivations. 

    So what are the right motivations?  Well, let’s see what Jesus has to say.  Now as I read this passage I want you to pay attention for repeating words or ideas.  I know I’ve told you this before, but whenever God says something more than once in the same passage we know that’s what He wants to direct our attention to.  So as I read this, listen for repetition.  These are words of Jesus, as recorded by John, to you who have gathered here at Community Church.  Within your hearing now, comes the Word of the Lord …

    “I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit.  You have been made clean already by the teaching I have given you.  Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you.  A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine.  In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

    “I am the vine, and you are the branches.  Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.  Those who do not remain in me are thrown out like a branch and dry up; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, where they are burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it.  My Father’s glory is shown by your bearing much fruit; and in this way you become my disciples.” 

    
          May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion, to His glory and to our edification.  Amen

    As I read our Scripture what were some repeating words?  (fruit, branches, vine, remain)

    Jesus says, “Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you … and you will become a fruitful person.”

    I like how some of the other translations record this thought … “make a home with me”, “stay joined to me,” “be united with me.”  Jesus is talking about an intimate relationship between Him and us. 

    Now prayer, which is going to pop up a little later in the passage, is one of the key ways that this intimate relationship is enhanced.  If we’re praying on a regular basis, not just quickie prayers, but setting aside time in our daily schedule in which to pray … we’re going to grow closer and closer and closer and closer with Jesus.  And if we don’t do this, our relationship with Jesus is going to dry up.  So our 1st key to praying alone is … the relationship motivation.

    I understand that this sounds pretty basic, but I also recognize that many of us, me included, often approach prayer with a transactional rather than a relational view.  We’re in it for the transaction. 
    We give God something He wants, namely prayer, and in return we get from God something that we want, the answer to that prayer. 

    We view God as a cosmic vending machine.  When faced with a problem, we put in our coins, (we pray), we pull the lever, and watch to see if our candy bar comes out.  And that candy bar can be, depending on what we’re praying for: money, healing, the return of a wayward child, a job …. 

    Jesus says … wrong view of prayer.  It’s not about a transaction, it’s about a relationship.  “Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you.”  That’s what we’re to be aiming at. 

    This whole metaphor, branches in a grapevine, suggests a connection, intimacy.

    By the way, Jesus didn’t make this metaphor up.  This was a popular O.T. image.  The grapevine or the vineyard is ancient Israel, God’s people. 

“Israel is the vineyard of the LORD Almighty;
the people of Judah are the vines he planted.
He expected them to yield a crop of justice,
but found bloodshed instead.
He expected righteousness,
but the cries of deep oppression met his ears.”
                                                                                       (Isaiah 5:7)

    God’s people wandered away.  They didn’t produce fruit, they produced garbage.

    Jesus wants to change all that.  Jesus wants to create a people who stay intimately connected with God, who draw their spiritual nourishment from Him, whose lives produce rich fruit.  Jesus is all about relationships. 

    The reason we’re to carve out a chunk of time every day to engage in prayer isn’t to get more from God, but to get more of God.  Do you see the difference?  The reason we pray isn’t to get more from God, but to get more of God.  It’s not for the sake of the transaction … it’s for the sake of the relationship. 

    And so if prayer seems somewhat boring to you … maybe you’re not in it for the relationship. 

    Just imagine how horribly insulting this must be to Jesus.

    Picture a couple at marriage counseling.  They have some problems.  They need some help.  And after the 1st session the counselor tells them, “You need better communication.  Communication is the key to a good marriage.  So here’s your homework assignment.  Before we get together next week, I want you, every day for 20-30 minutes, to sit down and talk.  I don’t care what you talk about.  You’re just to sit down and talk with each other.”
    And the husband looks bewildered at the counselor, “are you kidding me?  20-30 minutes a day!  Can’t we shove it all into one day, a Friday night date, and not have to do it during the week?  It’s not like we’re not talking to each other.  I tell her what I want for breakfast.  I ask her to pick up stuff at the store.  I remind her about a program she wanted to watch on TV.”

    Wouldn’t you like to just smack that husband across the head? 

    But isn’t this how we often approach prayer?  “I pray.  I talk to God.  I tell Him what I want.” 

    I’m not suggesting that prayer has nothing to do about making requests.  Scripture encourages us to make our requests to God. (Philippians 4:6)  But I want to underscore the fact that Jesus says that prayer is primarily about a relationship … remaining in Him and having Him remain in us.

    The 2nd key to praying alone is … the desperation motivation.  “I am the vine, and you are the branches.  Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.  Those who do not remain in me are thrown out like a branch and dry up; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, where they are burned.”

    “You can do nothing without me.” 
    In the original Greek text it’s stated even more strongly.  Jesus uses a double negative, something we don’t do in English.  Jesus literally says, “Apart from me, you cannot do nothing.”

    And you know … I’m not sure if we really believe that.  At least we don’t pray as if we believe what Jesus says.  We pray on the basis of the fact that we believe there are some things we can do without His help.  And so we don’t pray about those things.  But there are other things which seem a bit beyond us, and so we go to Him with those in prayer.

    We create these imaginary lists and there’s a line somewhere in the middle; and everything above the line are things we can do on our own, and everything below the line is a little more difficult, and so we pray about those things.

    We get a cold … what do we do?  We go to the drugstore and get a decongestant.  But if the Dr. tells us that we have heart disease … woo, we better pray about that.  There’s a line there.

    If it’s above the line … we can handle it ourselves.  If it falls below the line … oh, oh, we better pray. 

    Jesus says, “You can do nothing without me.”  “You can do nothing without me.”  “You can do (say it) nothing without me.” 

    We have to stop treating prayer as a last resort. How often have you heard someone say, “Well, there’s nothing else we can do, so I suppose we should just pray”?  What kind of a perspective is that?

    It assumes that we’ll do everything we can, and then when we’ve run out of options, then we’ll pray.  We far overrate our own capacity to take on any challenge.  We have to wake up to our desperation that without Jesus … we can do nothing. 

    Jesus Himself, in His humanity, models this dependence upon the Heavenly Father for us.  Jesus was constantly telling His disciples, “I don’t do anything on my own.” (John 5:19)  And this is the 2nd Person of the Trinity speaking.  But in His humanity Jesus says, “Everything I say, everything I do, has to come from the Father.”  (And that’s why we see Jesus constantly retreating to places of prayer.) (Matthew 14:23) 

    We read the 4 Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and He’s always praying.  Isn’t that interesting?  The Son of God … He’s always praying. 

    In fact, the Gospel of Luke is referred to as the “Gospel Of Prayer,” because every time we turn the page, we find Jesus praying about something. 

    Jesus’ ministry is inaugurated at His Baptism, and as He comes out of the water, He’s praying. (Luke 3:21)
    Jesus heals a leper, and He prays. (Luke 5:16)  He’s praying as He chooses the 12 Apostles. (Luke 6:12)  And when the other Gospels say Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi, Luke adds the phrase, “Jesus was praying alone there.” (Luke 9:18)  He was praying at the transfiguration. (Luke 9:18)  And before Jesus teaches His disciples to pray, He’s found praying. (Luke 11:1)  He prays in Gethsemane, (Luke 22:41) and He prays on the cross. (Luke 23:34,46)

    Jesus was always praying because He realized how dependent He was on His Heavenly Father. 

    So if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, found it necessary to get alone, to be dependent upon Him, in prayer, how much more do you and I need to carve out time in our daily schedule to meet with God in prayer? 

    The fact is, some of us are not just desperate enough. 

    I remember Ron and me talking about prayer last summer, and what motivates us to pray.  And after thinking about it for a while my answer was … desperation. 

    Are we desperate enough to make prayer a part of our daily schedule?  Let’s get real practical here.  When and where in your day can you carve out time to pray?  I’m not talking about quickie prayers.  I’m talking about a chunk of time every day.  If you’ve never done this before, start with a block of 10 minutes.  Where can you fit 10 minutes into your day to pray?  Because you want a relationship with Christ that grows, and you know that you can do nothing without Him.

    So start with the “when.”  Maybe it’s the 1st part of the day.  You get up early, read the Scriptures, and pray before anything else interrupts your day.  So to do that this week you’ll have to set your alarm 10 minutes earlier to squeeze that in.

    Or maybe you have some alone time in the middle of the day, that’s the best time for you.  Maybe you like to do this at bedtime.  When is the best time for you?

    And then where will you do it?  Is it in your comfortable chair where you read your Bible?  Will it be somewhere outside?  Is it in your car when you’re driving?  Where’s the best place for you to pray?

    If you don’t determine right now, when and where you’ll carve out time to pray … you probably won’t do it.  Are you desperate enough to really pray?

    Here’s a 3rd key to praying alone … the fruitfulness motivation.  “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it.  My Father’s glory is shown by your bearing much fruit; and in this way you become my disciples.”

    God wants us to bear much fruit.  What does that mean?  If we trace the word “fruit” in the Scriptures, with respect to what our lives are to produce, we discover several ideas. 

    Sometimes Scripture uses the word “fruit” to speak of the character God wants to produce in us.  Paul calls it the fruit of the Spirit … “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

    Sometimes when Scripture uses the word “fruit,” it’s speaking of good works that are done in Jesus’ name.  “You will live the kind of life that honors and pleases the Lord in every way.  You will produce fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:10)

    When we use our spiritual gifts in ministry, the ones that God has given to us … that’s called fruitfulness. 

    Another way that Scripture uses “fruit” is to speak of the people we introduce to Christ.  They’re our “fruit.”

    And a 4th way is how we find it here in John 15.  Fruitfulness means answers to prayer.  Jesus says, “Pray about everything and God will give you what you ask for.”  And in the next sentence He calls this the fruit that brings glory to God.  In fact, I would dare say that the fruit of prayer kind of encompasses the other meanings as well.
    We’re praying about Godly character … “God make me a gentler person.”  And when He does, the fruit is not just the gentleness; it’s also the answer to our prayer.  If we’re praying for a lost friend … “God, bring Jason to faith” … and Jason comes to faith, Jason is not only our fruit, but our fruit is also the answer to the prayer for Jason’s salvation. 

    And according to Jesus, God wants us to be fruitful people.  In fact there’s a fruitfulness progression in this passage.  (By the way, this is why it’s good to bring your Bible to Church so that you can make notes in it.  The Deacons want me to encourage you to begin doing this.)

    Verse 2, Jesus says that God, the gardener, breaks off every branch in us that bears no fruit.  Circle “does not bear fruit;” that’s where it begins, fruitlessness.

    Verse 4, “You cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me.”  Circle “fruit.”  We’re making a progression.  We’ve gone from no fruit to fruit. 

    Verse 8, “My Father’s glory is shown by your bearing (say it) much fruit.”  We’ve gone from no fruit to fruit to much fruit.  Circle “much fruit.”  But we’re not finished. 

    Verse 16, “You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures.” (John 15:16)  In other words, fruit that is of eternal value.  Circle “fruit that endures.”
    God wants us to be fruitful.  God wants us to go from no fruit to fruit to much fruit to eternal fruit, and the way that that happens is through prayer.  God delights in answering our prayers, because He delights in our becoming fruitful people. 

    What if I asked you today … tell me about some answers to prayer in your life recently?  Would you be able to reel off 5 or 6? 

    Because if you can’t … then maybe it’s time that you get serious with prayer so that you can “bear much fruit” for God’s glory. 

    In fact Jesus says that this is how we show that we’re His disciples … by bearing fruit, (answers to prayer).  An unfruitful follower of Jesus is an oxymoron.  It’s a contradiction in terms.  No such thing.

    Jesus says that if we’re not bearing fruit it’s because we’re not completely connected to the vine.  We think we are, but we don’t really have the relationship with Him that we think we do … because if we did we’d be bearing fruit.  “Those who do not remain in me are thrown out like a branch and dry up; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, where they are burned.” (John 15:6)

    Fruitfulness is a big deal to Jesus.  He wants our life to be fruitful. 
    He wants us to be praying about stuff and seeing answers. 

    Look again at this promise, it’s amazing.  “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it.”  Wow!

    Okay, wait a second, does that mean that I can ask God for the Bears to win the Super Bowl this year, and He’ll be obligated to do it?  Don’t forget the 1st part … “If you remain in me and my words remain in you.”

    If we’re hanging out with Jesus, and we’re spending time with Him, His words are in us, and we’re reading the Book, we’re studying the Book, we’re applying it to our life … then what kinds of things do you think we’re going to pray for? 

    We’re not going to pray for a black Jaguar.  If we’re hanging out with Jesus and His Word, we’re going to ask for things that please God, that honor God.  And God’s going to say, “I’ve been waiting for you to ask that.  I’d just love to give it to you.”

    Does this mean that God never says “no”?  At times He says “no” to even “good” requests for reasons known only to Him. 

    Now I recognize that there are always those who are confused by this.
      The moment I start talking about prayer there will be those who say, “I’ve just given up on that.  There’s this thing I’ve been praying about and God’s never responded … and so I just don’t pray anymore.”

    My response is always, “Really?  God didn’t give you one thing?  Because as I read Jesus’ words in John 15, I’m told that there are many things that God wants to say ‘yes’ to … if we’ll just ask Him.”

    “You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it.” (James 4:2)  Period.  End of sentence.

    We don’t pray.  This fruitfulness motivation ought to drive every one of us to carve out time daily to meet with God and lay it all out before Him because He’s just so eager to give us positive responses.

    I try to imagine standing in Heaven, and Jesus says, “Rande, come with me, I want to show you something.”  And He takes me over to this huge warehouse complex, which takes up acres and acres.  We walk inside, and there’s an area called “the Rande Smith Section.”

    There’s row after row, shelf upon shelf, of packages.  Little packages, big packages, all different shapes and sizes, and they all have my name and address on them.  And I glance at Jesus, “what’s all this?”  And He looks right at me, “This is what I wanted so badly to give you … but you didn’t ask.  You didn’t pray for it.”
    So what does God want to give us? … He wants to give us life - “life in all its fullness.” (John 10:10)      He wants to give us peace. (John 14:27)  He’s just waiting for us to pray.  Just pray. 

    Carve out time.  Stop living by the quickie 1 liner method.  That’s wonderful throughout the course of the day if it’s built upon a prayer life that’s a chunk of time. 

    So when and where will you meet with God for prayer?  Where will you carve out that 10 minutes of time?

    Don’t do it out of a sense of duty.  “Well, the Pastor’s preaching a series on prayer so I ought to do this.”  Don’t do it out of guilt.  Don’t do it out of fear.  Do it because you want a deeper relationship with Christ.  And you remain in Him and He remains in you, when you hang out with Him in prayer, that’s how you grow in this relationship. 

    Do it because you’re keenly aware of your dependence upon Him, and you can do nothing without Him.  Not even the smallest thing is effective when done without Him. 

    And do it, finally, because you’re convinced that God has so much more in store for you, and He’s waiting to give all of it to you if you’d only pray. 

MARANA THA