Prayer

Plug into the Power of Prayer

Romans 8:26-27

Sunday, March 12th, 2017- MRWC

We are in Part 4 of our sermon series called Plug into the Power of Prayer, which, we hope has been serving as a guideline, or a step by step model to help you “tap into” the power of prayer; which is a resource that is often under-utilized by Christ followers. 

Many times we don’t pray enough; or we don’t know what to sat when we pray. 

We’re good at little pop-corn prayers, the ones we say when were in a pinch, such as this one….

ILLUSTRATION- A man named Jack was walking along a steep cliff one day, when he accidentally got too close to the edge and fell. 

On the way down he grabbed a branch, which temporarily stopped his fall. 

He looked down and to his horror saw that the canyon fell straight down for more than a thousand feet. 

He couldn't hang onto the branch forever, and there was no way for him to climb up the steep wall of the cliff. 

So Jack began yelling for help, hoping that someone passing by would hear him and lower a rope or something. 

“HELP! HELP! Is anyone up there? "HELP!" 

He yelled for a long time, but no one heard him. 

He was about to give up when he heard a voice. 

“Jack, Jack. Can you hear me?" 

"Yes, yes! I can hear you. I'm down here!" 

"I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?" 

"Yes, but who are you, and where are you? 

"I am the Lord, Jack. I'm everywhere." 

"The Lord? You mean, GOD?" 

"That's Me." 

"God, please help me! I promise if, you'll get me down from here, I'll stop sinning. I'll be a really good person. I'll serve You for the rest of my life." 

"Easy on the promises, Jack. Let's get you off from there; then we can talk."

"Now, here's what I want you to do. Listen carefully." 

"I'll do anything, Lord. Just tell me what to do." 

"Okay. Let go of the branch.”

"What?" 

"I said, let go of the branch. Just trust Me. Let go." 

There was a long silence. 

Finally Jack yelled, "HELP! HELP! IS ANYONE ELSE UP THERE?"

We’re good at praying prayers when we happen to be in trouble, and there is nothing wrong with praying those kinds of prayers; heaven knows I’ve sent off more than one of them… 

If we truly want to plug into the power of prayer— a very real power that is at our disposal, then we need to have practical steps that we can put into practice so we can make the most of our time with the Lord in prayer. 

Our key verse for this series says it the best… keep in mind that this is God speaking to His people: “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chr .7:14, NIV)

God wants us to be a praying people; He expects us to be a praying people, He has even said He would do great things if only we would pray….

But how? More specifically, what do we say when we pray? Well, let me answer that question in a few different ways. 

First of all, Just start talking. 

Author and Pastor Keith Drury tells us that “Prayer is a conversation with God through which we come to know him better and develop greater reliance on him… prayer is a  means of drawing near to God and sensing Him draw near to us.” (Drury, 2005, 125)

You can boil this quote down by saying that: “Prayer is a conversation with God.” This what prayer is. It’s not more complicated than that. It’s a conversation with God. 

When you pray, you talk to God just as you would talk to your spouse or our BFF.. (assuming you talk to either of them….).

I will tell you though, that having an open and honest conversation with God doesn't happen overnight, it takes time. 

ILLUSTRATION- My wife and I talk about anything and everything. (most of the time I listen, but that's another story…)

But, it wasn't always this way. When we first started dating, I wouldn’t have dreamt of telling her my deepest darkest secrets for fear that she would drop me like a bad habit. 

As we got closer in our relationship, I could tell her anything, and she could tell me anything, and now, we're at the point, that nothing is off the table. 

She even talks about my death as I’m sitting right beside her… 

Our secret to marriage survival has been communication. 

There have been days that I don’t talk to her, and our relationship suffers because of it, but we are where we are at in our relationship because of communication. 

All of this is exactly like our prayer life with God. We should talk to Him as we talk to our spouse, actually, we should talk to God more than we talk to our spouse. 

If, as Keith Drury says, “prayer is a conversation with God.”, then start talking! 

I have talked to just about each and everyone of you and believe you me— you can talk! 

You all have something to say— Even if it happens to be ‘God: get me outta here…” You need to start somewhere…

So keep in mind that, prayer, at it’s core is simply a conversation with God.

The first piece of advice I can give you about prayer is Just start talking. 

Secondly, Don’t worry about the words you use. I think this one is really important.

Sometimes we can get caught up in trying to say just the right thing, that we actually end up saying nothing at all! 

Sometimes we can get frustrated for not knowing what to say when it comes time to pray, so we get frustrated and don’t pray at all! 

But I want to tell you, don’t worry about the words you use… 

Look at Romans 8:26-27 for a moment…”And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” (NLT2)

What is this verse saying? Though me might not know what to say, though we might not have just the right words, God’s Holy Spirit is praying for us on our behalf with heavenly words… words that we cannot comprehend.. “groanings”. 

The Holy Spirit is interceding on our behalf! 

If we don’t have just the right words, The Holy Spirit is on the job and He is pleading our case before the Father! 

Don’t get caught up in using big long words… In fact Jesus said: “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.” 

(Matthew 6:7, NLT2)

Don’t get caught up in the words you use; just start praying…

If prayer is a conversation with God—and it is —and if we’re not to worry about the words we use when we pray— and we’re not— How then do we pray, or more specifically, what do we say when we pray? 

Well, it almost sounds counter-intutitve for me to give you some words to use when you pray, just as I said don’t worry about the words you use, so I won’t give you words to use, I will give you a model that you can implement to help you pray. 

If you use this model— or any other model of prayer— you will plug into the power of prayer and unlock some sweet time of prayer with God. 

This is simply intended to be a guideline for prayer, something to help you talk to God, something to help you know what to say when you pray.

Many of you may have heard this model, or even used this model at one time or another. Its called ACTS.

The first part of this prayer is Adoration.

Jesus said: “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name….” (Matthew 6:9, NIV)

This is probably the most important aspect of prayer. It shifts our attention on to God instead of on us. 

Adoration is not us reminding God how great He is; it is us reminding us how great God is.  

God alone deserves the praise. God alone is worthy, and when we begin to pray, we begin by adoring God, by basking in His goodness. 

The Psalmist wrote as He was taking to God: “You are good, and what you do is good…” 

(119:68, NIV)

As we being our prayer time, we being by praising God for Who He is: The Unchanging One. The One who Was, who IS and who IS to Come. 

After Adoration, comes CONFESSION. 

This part of prayer is asking God to search us deep, as the Psalmist asked in Psalm 139: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 

24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.(NLT2)

We not only ask God to go there in our heart and life, but we confess any unconfessed sin, because “unconfessed sin is a barrier to our relationship with God, blocking us from drawing near (to Him).” (Drury 2005, 132)

So we ask God to cleanse us, and we are reminded in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 

(NIV)

As we spend time praying, we will ask God to remove any sin blocker that might be in our lives; but we also confess our need for Him. 

We confess that without His involvement in our lives, we are sunk. 

We confess that we need Him and His help to live the life that we have been called to live. 

Remember what John 15:5 says? “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (NIV)

When we confess, we not only seek forgiveness of and for sin, but also for help to live the life we’ve been called to live. 

After a time of confession, comes Thanksgiving. 

This is where we take some time and think back over our lives and remember how God was faithful in the past, and how He will be faithful in the future.

The first couple verses of Psalm 138 read this way: “I give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart; I will sing your praises before the gods.

2 I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.” (NLT2)

David was giving thanks to God….

Psalm 136 has a major theme running throughout the entire Psalm… Can you figure it out? “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!” 

(NLT2)

When we pray, we should spend some time thanking God for Who He is and What He has done. For how He has shown up in our lives. For how He has worked in our lives. 

For sending Jesus; for freedom from sin, for guidance and direction, for being a friend who sticks closer than a brother.. 

If we have nothing else to pray for, we can spend all of our time in thanksgiving to God, because He is good and His love endures forever. (even when we don’t feel that way…)

After Thanksgiving comes “Supplication” or Requests, or petitions, or intercession) 

In my opinion, this is our secret weapon.. When someone tells you off, you get to pray for that person! 

When someone makes you mad, you get to pray for that person… (remembering that words don’t matter….)  

When something happens around the world that doesn't make you very happy, you have the opportunity to do something about it: you can pray! 

God invites us to pray for other people! Listen to just a few selected verses:

Eph.6:18- “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” (NLT2)

Paul wrote this in 1 Timothy: “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 

2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. 

3 This is good and pleases God our Savior…” (NLT2)

God’s Word tells us— rather compels us to pray for all people, the ones we like, the ones in authority over us, the ones we don’t like… We are to pray at all times and on all occasions. 

We get to— not have to— but get to talk to God and pray for other people and ourselves. What a great privilege!

ILLUSTRATION- I enjoy praying. I think it’s one of the few things I do really well. (That and worrying…) 

I tell God what is on my mind, I tell God what I am excited about, I tell God what I’m not so excited about; I tell God about the people and situations that make me mad. (We’ve had a lot to talk about as of late….)  

The writer of Hebrews reminds us of this great truth: “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Heb.4:16, NLT2)

We are invited by God Himself to come into His throne room and pray, to bring our A-C-T-S of prayer before Him and step back and let Him do what He does best.. Be God. 

So, what do I want you to do with what you've just heard? This one thing… 

First of all, I want you to PRAY.

Jesus assumed His followers would pray. “When you pray…:” (Matt. 6:5, NIV) Jesus said…. 

The Master assumed His followers would pray, so I want to ask you to take one, two, or all 4 aspects of the A-C-T-S prayer model and spend some time praying.

Carve out 5 minutes for starters. Take a piece of paper with you if need be, and begin to Adore God, Confess your need of and for God, Thank-Him for Who He is and make your petitions known to God…. and don’t forget to Listen! 

Listen to what God might me saying to you… 

Don’t worry so much about the time frame and or the words you use, just as long as you get away and pray..

“When you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you” (Matt.6:6, NLT2)

For us to Plug into the Power of Prayer, we must actually Pray, so take a some time this afternoon and begin praying… There are tons of people and requests for you to pray for in the bulletin; use that list to guide you.

You could even use our One for One challenge as a prayer model… Hopefully we all know one or more people who are far from Jesus so we want to pray for them, and see things through until they become fully devoted followers of Jesus. 

Sometimes we need a Prayer- starter, so use this reminder:

I have copies of this prayer available, if you’d like to have it in print. 

In order for us to Plug into the Power of Prayer, we’ve actually got to pray, so take some time this week and apply the A-C-T-S model to your life and see how God works in and through your time of prayer! 

We’re going to spend just a few moments actually praying…. as the band comes back and gets ready for our last song, I want to invite you to take a few moments and pray… 

maybe you know someone who is lost; you want to pray for them

maybe you know someone who is hurting; you want to pray for them

maybe you need some prayer; we want to pray for you… 

The alters are always open for you to come and pray, so let’s come and pray…. 

And Peter....

Here is a copy of my sermon that I spoke at MRWC... let me know what you think

Cast of characters, Part III

“Peter”

Sunday, January 29th, 2017- MRWC

We’re in week three in our sermon series called Cast of Characters, based on the book of the same name by Max Lucado.

I may have said this before, but, Max is one of my favourite authors and everything he writes I tend to read… and this book was no exception. 

This book is a reminder of who exactly it is that God uses. 

God does not use the person who is super-skilled, although He could. 

God does not use the person who is high on themselves, although He could. 

God does not use the extraordinary people in our world, although He could. 

God can use whomever He wants to use. 

The people that God tends to use more often than not are the everyday, ordinary, people; the everyday, ordinary people who are surrendered to His will. 

Believe it or not, God will even use the people who have messed up again and again. 

In fact, God is in the business of using messed up and broken people. 

I know this to be true because of two small words found in the Resurrection account.

I must tell you the comfort I found in those two small words when I read them for the first time, and the comfort I still find in those two small words when I read them again. 

I want to share them with you today, with the hope that you will find comfort in these 2 small words as well. 

If you have a Bible with you, I invite you to turn to Mark chapter 16. 

“When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of 

James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body.   

2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 

3 and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"

4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

6 "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.

7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'"

8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” (Mark 16:1-8, NIV84)

Would you dare to take a guess at the two words that I have underlined in my Bible? 

Would you dare to take a guess at the two words that I have found—that I still am finding—solace in? 

Go for it, take a guess!

The words that I have underlined in my Bible are the words in the middle of verse 7. The words are: “…and Peter…” (Mark 16:7, NIV)

I think that each one of you should underline those words in your Bible, because those words are words that you and I can relate to— or will need to relate to at one point in time our in our lives.

Included in the account of Jesus’ Resurrection are these 2 small but very significant words. But why are they there? 

Why did Mark include these two small words, while the other Gospel writers left them out? 

I’m not completely sure. But I’m sure glad that he included them. 

Now maybe you are asking yourself “What had Peter done to warrant this kind of attention from the Heavenly Messenger that day”? 

Well, let’s look back into the last week of Jesus and see if we can put all the 

pieces of this puzzle together. 

Look first of all at Mark 14 verses 27-31. Immediately after Jesus and His disciples had shared in the Last Supper, Jesus said this to each of them: 

“You will all fall away,”…”for it is written: "'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' 

28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."

29 Peter declared, "Even if all fall away, I will not."

  30 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "today-- yes, tonight-- before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times."

31 But Peter insisted emphatically, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the others said the same. (Mark 14:27-31, NIV84)

Jesus was telling His disciples that they would all flee from His side when things got a little hot; but Peter jumped in and said: “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.” (Mark 14:29, NLT2)

‘I promise Jesus, I won’t leave you! I’m your man! You can count on me, I’ll never leave! 

Jesus, knowing Peter’s heart, said “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” (Mark 14:30, NLT2)

After hearing this, Peter again says: “No!”… “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” (Mark 14:31, NLT2)

It seems to me that Peter was arguing with Jesus… was Peter really so brazen to insist that he knew better than Jesus? 

We sometimes do the same thing don’t we? When the Holy Spirit tells us not to do something because it’s wrong, we justify it and say it’s not wrong; or a little bit won’t hurt. 

It seems that we are more like Peter than we first thought! 

Peter said with certainty that he would be by Jesus’ side. He would go with Jesus all the way. In fact, all the disciples said they would stay with Jesus, and would go with Him all the way. 

Well, let’s fast forward just a bit and look at Mark 14:50: “…everyone deserted him (Jesus) and fled.” (Mark 14:50, NIV84) 

All the disciples, Peter included, had left Jesus’ side. (Maybe God does know more that we think!)

Let’s look ahead just a little more, this time look at Mark 14:66 and on: while Jesus was “on trial”, “…Peter was in the courtyard below. One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest came by ⁶⁷ and noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. 

She looked at him closely and said, “You were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth.” 

⁶⁸ But Peter denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just then, a rooster crowed. 

⁶⁹ When the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, “This man is definitely one of them!” 

⁷⁰ But Peter denied it again. 

A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean.” 

⁷¹ Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”  

⁷² And immediately the rooster crowed the second time. 

Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept.” (Mark 14:66-72, NLT2)

The very thing that Peter swore he’d never do, he just did. 

Not once, not twice, but three times Peter had denied that he knew Jesus. 

If you study this passage just a little deeper, you will notice that each denial was a little bit worse than the one before it, with the final one being equivalent to: “I swear to God that I don’t know that man!”

Here, now, is Peter, broken and abandoned. He just denied the Man who changed his life, the Man with whom he had spent the last 3 ½ years of his life with. He had denied Jesus, and he knew it.  

How would you feel? A better question to answer is how do you feel when you do what God forbids? 

How do you feel when you watch the show that you know that you shouldn’t watch? 

How do you feel when you say the word that you know you shouldn’t say? 

How do you feel when you do the thing that you know that you shouldn’t do? 

If you have any love for God at all, hopefully you feel just like Peter did when he denied Jesus: broken. 

The Bible is quick to remind us that Peter, after he had denied Jesus,“…broke down and wept.” (Mark 14:72, NLT2)

And this is, I imagine, how Peter is still feeling on Resurrection morning. 

The One he loved was dead. The One he rejected was dead. 

So when we arrive back to the events that on that Sunday morning, that are recorded for us in Mark 16 and when we read again verse 7 which says: “But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee...'" (Mark 16:7, NIV) It’s actually Good News! 

It’s Good News because Jesus is alive, and it’s Good News because God is a God of second chances!   

I believe that the Heavenly messenger was told by God himself to tell the women at the tomb that day to seek out Peter specifically and tell Him that Jesus is alive, because God wanted Peter. 

God wanted Peter to know that He is a God of second chances.

Even though Peter had rejected Jesus, Jesus was still ready to welcome Peter back again. And John chapter 21 records that event for us:

“Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. 

² Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. 

 ³ Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” (What else was he going to do… the last three years had been spent with Jesus, but that was over now, so He was going back fishing) 

“We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night. 

⁴ At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. ⁵ He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?” “No,” they replied. 

⁶ Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it. 

⁷ Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. 

⁸ The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. 

⁹ When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread. 

Let’s jump down to verse 15 of this same chapter:

¹⁵ After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” 

“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” 

“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. 

¹⁶ Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” 

“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.

 ¹⁷ A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” 

Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.” (John 21:1-17 NLT2)

Three times Peter had denied Jesus, and three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him, and 3 times Peter responded by saying that he did love Jesus. 

In this instance, Jesus had restored Peter, because God is a God of second chances. 

Friends, this is good news for all of us!  God gave Peter another chance and He is willing to give you another chance and He is willing to give me another chance. 

God is a God of second chances. God is a God of 3^rd chances, of 4^th, of 5^th, of 6^th chances… 

Now, because this is true, it does not give us the right to live any old way that we want to live… 

Paul wrote in Romans 6 “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 

2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (NIV)

While we don’t have a license to sin, if we do happen to blow up at our spouse, if we do happen to say something that should not have been said, if we do happen to do something that we shouldn’t have done, God is a God who will welcome us back home. 

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (1John 2:1, NIV84)

If we do mess up, if we do sin, if we do deny Jesus as Peter did, we can still be welcomed back into God’s arms, because God is a God of second chances. 

Peter never forgot the second chance that God gave Him. In fact, the book of Acts records for us the second chance Peter. He went everywhere boldly proclaiming the Truth of Jesus Christ. 

Peter needed and Peter received and Peter made use of the Second chance that he’d been given.  

“It’s not everyday that you find someone who will give you a second chance—much less someone who will give you a second chance everyday. But in Jesus, Peter found both” (Max. CoC. 217)

 Friends; (and this is the what do I want you to do with this message) if you’ve blown it this week, this month or this year, know that you can come back to God for a second chance; you can come back to God and start over one more time. 

If you need a second chance, or a millionth chance, God is waiting for you to come back to Him. And He wants you to come now! 

The invitation is given to us in Isaiah 55: “Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. 

7Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the LORD that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.”(Is. 55: 6-7, NT2)

God is offering each and every one of us a Second or 400th chance, and that chance is to come back to Him and let Him fix our brokenness. 

“Come to me, Jesus said, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV84)

Will you come— either for the first time, for the second time or for the 400th time—back to God and receive His forgiveness? 

I believe the words “and Peter” (Mark 16:7, NIV) are in the Bible to remind us that God uses all kinds of people in His Cast of Characters, especially those of us who need second chances! 

If you need a second chance, or even a first chance to make a second chance possible, we’re going to sing something in just a moment, and this is your moment to act. 

Some of you have been waiting for a long time to make some sort of decision… well, this is the time and this is the place to receive a second chance from God. 

The words ‘and Peter” were recorded in the Resurrection account for you, for me, for all of us who need a second chance. 

Remember loved one: Our God is a God of second chances!