message notes
 |
Elements: A Guide to Prayer |
- Last week I talked about prayer as the means by which we communicate with God on a personal level.
- The prayer that Jesus teaches his disciples begins by addressing God as Father.
- The main point was that prayer is the means by which we establish and maintain our relationship with God.
- We talked about the cultural hang-ups that this causes for some people who struggle with male dominant language or negative father figures.
- After the service, one of my friends thanked me for the message and shared that his faith was growing and he needed healing because his dad died when he was a teenager and he felt a lot of regrets.
- I realized that I didn’t speak to that issue.
- Frankly, I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t have regrets if one of their parents died when they were a teenager.
- My dad died in my early 40s, and I still have feelings of regret that I missed a lot of opportunities to thank him and to show him my love.
- All the more reason to establish our relationship with God as Father.
- As we focused on our relationship with God, we also considered His holiness and learned that as we pray we can come to him as a loving Father, but also as a God who is totally distinct from us in His nature also.
- That is the first element of Prayer!
- Element 2: ____________________
- Matthew 6: 9 "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 10 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 'Give us this day our daily bread. 12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. <For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.>'
- It is not so much of a prayer that Jesus is teaching us to pray, but a whole new attitude towards life in general
- Pat Morley I Surrender p.1 Jim and Sandy had both been doing their own thing ever since their honeymoon. Jim had gone off to conquer the corporate world and Sandy had thrown herself into raising the perfect and beautiful two children. Jim shared that as he was dressing for work, Sandy calmly told him, “I don’t love you anymore. I filed for a divorce yesterday.”
After sharing together for a few minutes, Pat Morley asked him, “Does Sandy have a Christian life view?” After a long pause, Jim cautiously responded, “I’m not sure what you mean.”
To that Morley said, “I know that Sandy is a Christian, but what I’m asking is different. Does Sandy have a distinctly Christian way of looking at things? In other words, when she has a problem to solve, a plan to develop, a priority to set, or a decision to make, does she think about these things Christianly--does she have a Christian life view?
Jim responded slowly, “Well, no, now that you put it that way, I would have to say no, I don’t think she does.” - Do you have A Christian Life View?
- Not are you born again, not have you received the assurance of your Salvation: Though important aspects of faith, and actually essential to one developing a Christian Life View, the question stands as one distinctively different.
- Do you have a Christian Life View?
- Element 2: A Christian Life View
- Developing a Christian Life View is really the ultimate goal of the Lord’s Prayer
- Jesus teaches His disciples to pray: Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
- A Christian Life View focuses on God’s Kingdom and Will
- Thy Kingdom Come, or Your Kingdom Come. Thy Will Be Done, or Your Will be done.
- Any Bill Cosby fans: Story of Jeffrey -
- Child’s first words Mine, Mine, Mine!
- Prayer is Thy, not my.
- In our American version of English, we don’t have a spoken formal word for any pronoun.
- Thy is not a word unique to us as Christians, it really comes from the Elizabethan English of the first major translation of the Bible into English
- Thy is the formal use of you when you addressed a superior, in more modern English we signify the formal by capitalizing the Y in Your
- Though I know this is not a concept we are now used to in our modern English, I like to use it from time to time because it keeps me sort of honest in my relationship with God.
- God is my Father, but He is also Holy, there is a certain amount of respect due Him.
- Titles are an interesting thing, I am an ordained minister, and my title is appropriately Reverend, but I rarely use it.
- Often people use my title, thinking that it really shows me respect, when in actuality I would rather have people, from the retirees down to the children’s ministry, just call me Gee.
- Respect is shown by your title, it is ultimately shown by your love, by ones ability to come along side another and participate in an activity.
- So in the same way God is not very impressed by our thees and thous in our prayers.
- Prayer brings our unholiness into the presence of a Holy God.
- We learned that last week, when we pray Hallowed be thy name. Holy be thy name.
- When we come into the presence of God, we begin to seek holiness for ourselves. We start desiring the life of God.
- Prayer is a migration from the Kingdom of the Earth to the Kingdom of Heaven
- In effect, Jesus’ life, death and ministry instituted a new set of legislation for Heaven’s Immigration policy.
- A large part of the Mission of Jesus was and is to introduce us to the Kingdom of God and to invite us to change our citizenship.
- Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God 52 times in 51 verses in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Kingdom of Heaven is used 32 times in 31 verses
- Mark 1:14-15 14 And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
- Luke 4:43 But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent."
- Matthew records Jesus talking about the Kingdom of Heaven in a lot of parables, using symbolic language: Kingdom is like a man sowing good seed in a field, like a mustard seed that is very small but grows into a large tree, it’s like the yeast that makes the dough rise, like a hidden treasure in a field, a very large pearl found in a field, that is worth more than the purchase price of the field, for you real estate developers.
- In Mark, Jesus tells us that it is hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, but that it is easy for children, Jesus isn’t excluding the wealthy from the Kingdom, but just stating when your earthly kingdom is so full, it’s sometimes difficult to sense the need for a Heavenly kingdom or a kingdom that you don’t control.
- Actually in Luke 6:20, looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
- He equates the kingdom of God with healing and deliverance from demonic oppression.
- Luke 10:9 and 11 Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God is near.
- John 3:3 .. "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
- John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
- All of these begin to tell us that what Jesus has planned for each of us is something quite different from the life that we know
- There is a supernatural side of life that Jesus wants to see break into our normal mundane life
- There is a naturally super side of life that Jesus wants us to know about also
- Kingdom of God, or kingdom of Heaven, describes a state of affairs quite different from the normal day to day
- In some cases Jesus deals with specifics: like healing
- Sometimes he just deals with a type of life where material wealth and possessions, power and position makes no difference.
- A kingdom where love rules, and the rules are very different.
- Where fears disappear, and anxiety is replaced by faith, because The Ruler of this Kingdom is our Father, and He is Holy
- The Disciples prayer teaches us that it is God who is in control, not us.
- Tommy Tyson at a conference I attended in 1991 at St. Simons Island said the Kingdom of God is not a Democracy
- Experiencing God Day-by-Day The Devotional and Journal Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby P. 22 "You do not 'organize' the kingdom of God, you 'agonize' the kingdom of God. You cannot be close to God without being affected by His love."
- There is no time to pray for My Kingdom, when you are praying for God’s Kingdom to Come and are openly offering yourself for citizenship
- Prayer is seeking God’s Will
- A Christian Life View doesn’t go very far with a Cosby Kid mindset of Mine, Mine, Mine,
- Jesus even understood that as he prayed the night before he would be crucified, Luke 22:42 "Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done."
- Jesus lived by his own teaching Matthew 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
- In the Mitford series by Jan Karon that told the story of an Episcopalian priest, Tim Kavanaugh, who, whenever he was faced with what seemed to be insurmountable odds, would pray what he called “the prayer that never fails, ‘Thy will be done.’”
- an unStoppable force Erwin Raphael McManus pp. 33-34 "To live outside of God's will puts us in danger; to live in his will makes us dangerous."
- Even the most mature of Christians and deeply serious about their faith and those grateful for their salvation, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives finds themselves saying or thinking:
- I must have it my way or no way.
- I must make so much money.
- I must be married.
- I must marry this type of person.
- I must live in this neighborhood.
- I must live in this type of house.
- I must drive this type of car.
- I must send my child to this school.
- I must have no worries.
- Me, Me, Me!
- Mine, Mine, Mine!
- It is maybe a source of inspiration to memorize the Lord’s Prayer, but it is life-changing when we began to practice it.
- There is no time to pray for My Will, when you are praying for God’s Will.
- This prayer that Jesus taught us to pray becomes more than even a model prayer, it becomes the Whole Life View of a Christian, a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ!
- You begin to ask yourself as you pray, whether weekly, daily or moment by moment, is this an action that brings glory to God. Does this advance the kingdom of God or is it hindering it.
- Is my lifestyle consistent with God’s kingdom, or is it in opposition.
- Or is it like most of us, just a fairly apathetic approach to God’s kingdom.
- When you quit praying this repetitively, and pray it as an approach to a brand new view of how you will live your life, transformation begins to occur.
- And the transformation begins in you, God’s kingdom comes in your life, and you become a citizen in his kingdom.
- Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) “When we are right with God, he gives us our desires and aspirations. Our Lord had only one desire, and that was to do the will of his Father, and to have this desire is characteristic of a disciple.”
- Too Busy Not To Pray, Bill Hybels p. 179 "What is God's will?
- The Will of God
- The will of God will never take you
- Where the Grace of God cannot keep you,
- Where the Arms of God cannot support you,
- Where the Riches of God cannot supply your needs,
- Where the Power of God cannot endow you.
- The will of God will never take you
- Where the Spirit of God cannot work through you,
- Where the Wisdom of God cannot teach you,
- Where the Army of God cannot protect you,
- Where the Hands of God cannot mold you.
- The Will of God will never take you
- Where the Love of God cannot enfold you,
- Where the Mercies of God cannot sustain you,
- Where the Peace of God cannot calm your fears,
- Where the Authority of God cannot overrule for you.
- The will of God will never take you
- Where the Comfort of God cannot dry your tears,
- Where the Word of God cannot feed you,
- Where the Miracles of God cannot be done for you,
- Where the Omnipresence of God cannot find you. Author Unknown
- Prayer is the communication with God that you desire to serve Him, that His will trumps your will.
- His kingdom is mightier than any earthly kingdom.
- Celebration of Discipline / The Path to Spiritual Growth Richard J. Foster p. 175-179 Chapter 12. The Discipline of Guidance: In our day heaven and earth are on tiptoe waiting for the emergence of a Spirit-led, Spirit-intoxicated, Spirit-empowered people. All of creation watches expectantly for the springing up of a disciplined, freely gathered, martyr people who know in this life the life and power of the kingdom of God. It has happened before. It can happen again.
- 'Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 10 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 'Give us this day our daily bread. 12 'And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. 13 'And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.'
- Invitation
- This Kingdom
Jesus God’s righteousness revealed, the Son of Man, the Son of God, His kingdom comes; Jesus redemption’s sacrifice, now glorified, now justified, His kingdom comes:
And this kingdom will know end, and it’s glory shall know no bounds, for the majesty and power of this kingdom’s King has come; and this kingdom’s reign, and this kingdom’s rule, and this kingdom’s power and authority, Jesus, God’s righteousness revealed
Jesus the expression of God’s love, the grace of God, the word of God, revealed to us; Jesus, God’s holiness displayed, now glorified, now justified, His kingdom comes.
"That we believe in his love and power.
"That we come to him in sincerity and trust.
"That we clear away barriers between us, including preoccupation and excessive busyness.
"That we listen for his still, small voice and obey it when we hear it.
"That we live in his presence and enjoy him forever.
"Prayer is the way to turn dry theological descriptions into warm, living, personal realities."