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.

The Lords Prayer...Part one Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon The Lords Prayer...Part One Matthew6:5-15

Will I be able to realte to what they talk about at church today?

• Beyond the world of rituals, give me something that I can understand
• Everyone relates to the Lords prayer
• Let us learn to speak it with meaning, not simply to recite it

General Thoughts
In Luke Jesus disciples asked...Lord, "Teach us how to pray."

• He answered by teaching them the prayer we call the Lord's Prayer
• the Lord's Prayer is a basic Christian prayer
• As a model of prayer, every Christian learns it by heart
• it appears everywhere in the church's life; in it liturgy and sacraments, in public and private prayer
• It's a prayer Christians treasure.

Our Father...we are his children [catch this later]
Describes our relationship to him, not him
not masculine...mysterious...holy...

6Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
7Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the Lord.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.

Paul on Road to Damascus, Isaiah in the throne room, Moses before the burning bush,
You can only worship that which is greater than you are...

Halloed is you name...
His name is holy, it is up to keep it holy

1. Don't take his name in vain
I was the cut down king....
the yo mommo show....

Other funny options
Humor takes the sting out of the moment...
Be above the moment...

From the movie Hook...

• Paramesian brain
• Substitute chemistry teacher
• rude crude bad of pre-chewed food dude

There's no crying in baseball
I think I hear the whambulance

From Monty Python and the Holy Grail...
You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottom, sons of silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur King, you and all your silly English k-nnnnniggets. I don't wanna talk to you no more, you empty headed animal poor trough wiper! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

Knight - Is there someone else up there we could talk to?

French Guard - No. Now, go away, or I shall taunt you a second time-a!

Honor is name
Consider our behavior
Walk the walk...problems that this language brings

Mel Gibson...is Mel Gibson's deal...

• should be be better...not for me to consider
• It is for Mel Gibson to consider
• Just as our behavior is for us to consider

Our Father...we are his children
Kids on the missions trip
Heat, bugs, wasps, mud filth, suffering...
Glad to go, glad to have a home to come to

Ernest Hemingway writes about a Spanish father and son with a shattered relationship. But when the rebellious son ran away, the father placed an ad in the paper saying, "Paco, Please meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon. All is forgiven. Love, Father." He was amazed the next day when 800 sons, al named Paco, showed up seeking reconciliation with their fathers.

Our father...we have a place to belong...

this is not just the Lord's Prayer, this is our prayer
This is a prayer that everyone can learn and every one can know and everyone can use.

Largely Passed Over Matthew 6:5-15 Aug 13, 2006

Sermon August 13, 2006 Matthew6:5-15

Largely Passed Over

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven

This section of the Lord's Prayer is a plea that we would live God centered, not self-centered lives

Daily bread

1. Bread, not steak, not the buffet line
2. Lord, give it to us...we are beholden to him for so many blessings

Daily Bread...How much do we need anyway?

• can only survive for 3-4 days without water
• need 10 cups of water per day for normal living
• a person can live without food for quite some time, usually for many weeks. The body will use it's fat and protein stores (muscles) to help it survive

You need approximately 2904 calories per day to maintain your healthy weight based on your current activity level.

• whopper 760
• starbucks frapachino 430
• general zao chicken 844
• taco bell burrito 440

when considering Daily bread....
There exists a Gulf between the 2 planes...what we need and what we want

Asking for what you want...Luke11
9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

Scripture interprets scripture

James4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done
Again there are 2 planes of existence - Thy kingdom and my kingdom

Monday - my bad day...the world won't allign itself to make me happy...

My kingdom
Living in the world where it is all about me...

• We ask God for what we want, it is not good for us, we don't get it, and then we are mad at him because he didn't give us what we wanted
• Or because he did give it to us and it didn't work out
• if you were not actively engaged in making yourself miserable you would stand a chance of being happy
• you are clinging to the very things that bring death
• the very things that we are praying for may be keeping you from finding the kingdom
• our chase for things has robed us of joy. Where is your joy? Job, wife, money, kids, if so then these are the things that are your prison. Kids are nice kids, but bad gods
• If you let go of the earthly things, then you are able to cling to the one thing that will not let you down...Jesus

Two kingdoms, each with their own kinds of prayers
Mu kingdom, I offer prayers for what I want...
its okay to pray for your friends who are sick...

remember...God is not primarily concerned about the size of our house or that our car runs
When we pray for God's kingdom to come, we are no longer praying for our desires, but for his.

I wonder where are the prayer requests...

• God make me a better husband
• Give me the power to forgive
• God teach me about brokenness
• Let me understand the sufferings of Jesus Christ

These are the prayers of his kingdom

So what is The Kingdom of God like?
Different from our kingdom...anew principle is coming soon...new sheriff in town
Byron Gilbreath vs Steve Johnson

Tough for humans to imagine tge world where God's kingdom reigns
A zookeeper allegedly discovered the key to the peaceable kingdom. In the same cage he kept a lion and a lamb. Someone asked him how he did it. "Oh, I just put in a fresh lamb each morning."

Kingdom of God
In kingdom of God, gods will is done
In kingdom of God, he is loved
Lives are focused on him, not ourselves

Ann Weems...I keep thinking...one...morning...I will wake up and
The hungry [will be] fed. The dying held.
The maimed will be walking, The violent calmed
The oppressed freed, The Oppressors changed,
And every tear wiped away...

I would add to her thought
when the kingdom of God arrives
the selfish will become generous
the broken will become whole
resentment will be replaced with forgiveness
our insecurity will be swallowed up in confidence and trust
our sins are forgiven
the driving force in our living will be the love God and each other

Romans14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,

An honest talk about this section of the prayer
We don't want a cure, we want relief
Give me what I want
Cess pool story...can you help me...make the people stop making waves

When you pray do you want help, change or relief?
would you trade sucess for happiness
This is a plea not to live our lives for ourselves, but to throw ourselves in faith upon the greatness of God...its not too late.

Closer...fisherman with precious stones...threw them into the sea all night...still have 4 left

Why not give the stones that you have left i nyour life, to the purpose and will of God

Let us pray

Lord's Prayer Luke 11:1-13 4-28-02

Sermon 4-28-02 Luke 11:1-13

People were attracted to Jesus because he was simple
No secret knowledge…..
Disciples asked him about prayer
Johns disciples had taught them to pray with petitions…
Not like Jewish prayers
Jesus gives them a prayer

introduction
Our Father Who art in Heaven …we are his children

7 Petitions
1. Hallowed, holy is your name

2. Your kingdom come
Seek first the kingdom of God mt 6:33

3. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
evil opposes the will of god
1 jn 5:14 this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us

4. Give us today what we need for today [joyfully]
Manna from heaven

5.Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who sin against us
Mark 11:25-26

6. Lead us not into temptation

7. Deliver us from evil
take from us or help us bear our cross

Conclusion
Thine is the kingdom, power & glory forever amen

The inopportune visitor….

Giving good gifts….
Not a snake
Giving the holy spirit

The Lord's Prayer Part 2 5-5-02

Sermon 5-5-02 lords prayer part two

Hardbody Henderson…..tough man champion
We are the champions
Spirituality is not supposed to be this way
It is a matter of the heart

Lead us not into temptation
Help us to make choices that are healthy
We lead ourselves into most temptation/self generated

Deliver us from evil
The room is cold, the face is evil incarnate
May die, but will be protected Heb 11, the world was not worthy
Blood of Jesus, claim the blood

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us
Debts, trespasses or sins
Plain sense…god cannot if we do not forgive
Doesn’t say that…..
Means our heart cannot be filled with joy and love & unforgiveness

What is really in there??
4 him – accountability board

Take care lest a root o bitterness rise up and by it many be defiled
Meant to live in joy, not in judgement of another

Do you want to love God more or hold onto resentment?

What is really in there??
Story of moms death…
Unresolved guilt….I am not a bad kid

communion
Thine is the kingdom, the power & glory forever

Prayer - John 12:23-32 - March 25, 2001

Sermon 3-25-00 Prayer John12:23-32

Two men were talking together. The first challenged the other, "If you are so religious, let's hear you quote the Lord's Prayer. I bet you $10.00 you can't." The second responded, "Now I lay my down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." The first pulled out his wallet and fished out a ten dollar bill, muttering, "I didn't think you could do it!"

Jesus Knows about prayer, even as suffering looms
I know he hears me, the voice was for your benefit
Faced suffering with confidence….Jesus prayed, knew he was connected
Prayer = being connected to God

How?? Rope
1. tug of war
2. lead a dog
3. ship to pier

we humans struggle with self interest in prayer
Attending church in Kentucky, we watched an especially verbal and boisterous child being hurried out, slung under his irate father's arm. No one in the congregation so much as raised an eyebrow -- until the child captured everyone's attention by crying out in a charming Southern accent, "Ya'll pray for me now!"

It is strange that, while praying, we seldom ask for change of character, but always a change in circumstance.

Two men were enduring all the horrors of a Soviet prison camp. One day one of them is praying with his eyes closed when a fellow prisoner notices him and says with ridicule, "Prayers won't help you get out of here any faster." Opening his eyes, the friend answers, "I do not pray to get out of prison but to do the will of God."

as prayer life matures, focus leaves self & grows to communion w God
1. saints never prayed selfish prayers
2. God's ability to change me, help me
3. Thanksgiving
4. Greatness of God/praise

Is there never a time to pray for what we want, sure, but
Those in tune with the spirit, know what to ask for.
- pray for me that I will sell my car
Those who know how to pray will pray for what is truly best

When Robert Louis Stevenson was a boy he once remarked to his mother, "Momma, you can't be good without praying." "How do you know, Robert?" she asked. "Because I've tried!" he answered. This brings to mind a story about another little fellow -- one who had been sent to his room because he had been bad. A short time later he came out and said to his mother, "I've been thinking about what I did and I said a prayer." "That's fine," she said, "if you ask God to make you good, He will help you." "Oh, I didn't ask Him to help me be good," replied the boy. "I asked Him to help you put up with me."

Prayer reminds me that the concerns of today will grow smaller in the face of God's presence
- Jesus not worried about his suffering, this too shall pass
- There are other things that are more important

When we pray, remember:
1. The love of God that wants the best for us.
2. The wisdom of God that knows what is best for us.
3. The power of God that can accomplish it.

God, dwell within me, guide me by your love
Jesus prayed
Let us find the place of prayer where our souls meet the Lord
Where we know, he always hears us

Conclusion An unknown Confederate soldier.
I asked God for strength that I might achieve.
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked God for health that I might do greater things.
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy.
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for--but everything I had hoped for...
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men most richly blessed.