Lent 3 Prayer Luke 6:12-19 3-11-07

Sermon Lent 3: Prayer 3-11-07 Luke 6:12-19

Types of prayers we pray illustrate our presuppositions-our image of God

What kind of prayers did Jesus pray?
He prayed all night. He gathered his community. He went to work.
His prayer set the stage for life.

How do we pray?

There are those who do not pray….its like walking in the jungle blind folded.

selfish Christians play the role of God in prayer
grandmother "took her grandson to the beach one day, complete with bucket, shovel and sun hat. The grandmother dozed off and as she slept, a large wave dragged the child out to sea. The grandmother awoke and was devastated. She fell to the ground on her knees and prayed, 'God, if you save my grandchild, I promise I'll make it up to you. I'll join whatever club you want me to. I'll volunteer at the hospital, give to the poor and do anything that makes you happy.'

"Suddenly, a huge wave tossed her grandson on the beach at her feet. She noticed color in his cheeks and his eyes were bright. He was alive. As she stood up, however, she seemed to be upset. She put her hands on her hips, looked skyward, and said sharply, 'He had a hat, you know.'"--Bombeck,

dogmatic Christians demand that others follow their rituals
emperor heard of a very holy man in his kingdom
decided he must visit this man. On the faraway island, where the man lived. Found a poor simple fisher man.
Can I watch you pray the emperor asked……….sure

The emperor watched the man closely for an hour.
The fisherman closed his eyes, held his head skyward, and moved his lips as if in prayer, but he did nothing else. Finally, the emperor stood up and asked the fisherman to stop praying.

He then began scolding the fisherman, telling him that his method of prayer was completely incorrect.

The fisherman listened patiently as the emperor gave him lessons, repeating the words and the phrases just as the emperor told him to.

When the lesson was over, he humbly thanked the emperor, bowed, and left the shore to return to his home.

The emperor boarded his boat to return to his palace, proud of the good deed he had done in instructing the poor fisherman how to pray correctly. Suddenly, though, as the boat was approaching a quarter-mile out to sea, one of the servants on the boat came running to the emperor, frantically pointing back toward the shore.

The emperor gazed into the distance, and lo, he saw the fisherman running after them -- on top of the water. "Excuse me, Your Highness," the fisherman called out from the side of the boat, "but I have forgotten the words you taught me. Would you please instruct me again?" The emperor waved his hands to the fisherman, gesturing him to go back to shore. "No, no," he apologized to the old man. "Forget what I have taught you. Just continue praying as you did before my visit."________________________________________
How do we pray?
911 Christians dial God in an emergency They turn to God for help and guidance, and dial the "911 God."
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How do we pray?
Inward focused Christians miss the point…..
There was once a woman who was religious and devout and filled with love for God. Each morning she would go to church. And on her way children would call out to her, beggars would accost her, but so immersed was she in her devotions what she did not even see them. Now on day she walked down the street in her customary matter and arrived at the church just in time for service. She pushed the door, but it would not open. She pushed it again harder, and found the door was locked. Distressed at the thought that she would miss service for the first time in years and not knowing what to do, she looked up. And there, right before her face, she found a note pinned to the door. It said, “I’m out there!”
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I have learned something in the last 2 years that has totally changed my perception of prayer

When you pray Do you see the problems or do you see the good

If in your prayer life you look up, do you see the clouds or do you see the sky

Bicycle story
"A man left a brand-new bicycle unattended at the marketplace while he went about his shopping. He only remembered the bicycle the following day and rushed to the marketplace, expecting it would have been stolen. The bicycle was exactly where he had left it. Overwhelmed with joy, he rushed to a nearby temple to thank God for having kept his bicycle safe only to find, when he got out of the temple, that the bicycle was gone"

The want” in prayer brings on anxiety.
Can we learn to pray so that we have no wants other than to be with God

We cannot speak both to God and to the world at the same time.
--Teresa of Avilia

Two farmers were having a long bitter feud over a fence line. The quarrel became more and more vitriolic until finally, under cover of darkness, one farmer went to the other's well and dropped bags of salt into it to contaminate it. He thought he had really showed his opponent who was in charge until a few days later when he lifted water out of his own well and discovered that it had a salty taste; both farmers' wells shared a common underground water table.

In the same way, many of our deepest desires, whether made known or kept hidden, have a way of infiltrating the entire substrata of our souls, that which sustains and waters our spirit. Spiteful, salt-infused prayer can wash its way throughout our whole being, contaminating it just as easily as that farmer's well.
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Jesus prayed prayers that released him from his human wants
-father forgive them, they no not what they do
-yet not my will, but thy will be done

True prayer teaches us to be released from things and people who upset you so much…

"Father, I thank you for the people in my life who seem to bring more pain than joy, for I believe you have let our paths cross for important reasons. Thank you for the good things you want to do in my life through the things that bother me.

I'm so glad that you are also within me working to make me more like Jesus -- more patient, more gentle, more loving -- through the very things I dislike.

How did Jesus pray
He prayed prayers that set the stage for your living

Prayer is the one thing all Christians can do. We can not all sing. We can not all teach Sunday School. We can not all preach. We can not all even read our Bibles. But we can all pray.

Jesus prays in a way that prepares him for living
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With a heart full of prayer, he Creates a Community
He calls his disciples
Culture-it springs from the heart of who you are…………

Having connected with who he was and gathering his team,
He takes Action

Many people want to skip steps one and two and just take action…..
They pray, god, What shall I do?
Who you are vs what you do
You cant skip the who to get to the what

Story of the fire……….all the rituals, but none of the fire,
A man invented fire and took it to far away lands
They loved it.
They worshiped the fire and the man moved on.
They built temples and put the fire tools on the altar.
They developed liturgy and ritual.
They got so busy doing religious things that they forgot the fire and let it burn out
So they had nice temples, but no fire.

Where is the fire of the Christian life? In the prayer.

If you r a Christian u have a great treasure in your relationship with God

Have you heard how the South African mines were discovered? There was a traveler seated at the door of the village chief’s house. He saw the chief’s children playing with things that looked like marbles. He picked on of them up and his heart exploded with joy it was a diamond. So he went to tell the village chief. My children also play with these stones. They call them marbles. Could I take some of them home with me Id be happy to give you tobacco in exchange. The chief answered, we have millions of them here. It would be robbery to accept your tobacco, but Ill accept whatever you give me. The man gave him the tobacco, went home, sole the diamonds, came back bought all the land. And became the richest man in the world. Here s the point of the story…..those people were walking on top of a treasure and didn’t know it.

Life is a treasure that we have not yet discovered. If prayer were suitably practiced and understood. It would provide the kind of wealth that would make things unimportant.

Conclusion
You have heard the story of the little boy who kept following his mother around the house, from one room to another, until she said: "What is it that you want?" The lad replied, "Nothing, I just want to be where you are."

That, is prayer. We simply want to be where God is
Does this feel good? It is what we are created for

In prayer, Discover who you are. Create a community, a culture. Act in the name of the Lord.