Date Sunday 25th July 2010 Sermon

The Uniting Church in Australia

Trinity - Dandenong

 

P-R-A-Y-E-R
Jesse: 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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
Travis Prayer. Martin Luther once said that to be a Christian<br>
without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without<br>
breathing. Maybe that is why the influence of the people of<br>
God within our communities seems dead. Most people who call<br>
themselves Christians have lost not just the art, but also<br>
the desire to pray.
Sam We have confused praying in the mind and praying in the
spirit with silent prayer. We give emphasis to one teaching
of Jesus about praying in private and so it is often so
private that God doesn't know about it either.
Emily Prayer is often used as a synonym for a wish, a vain hope. Or as something akin to a good luck charm - say a prayer for me.
Graeme Jesus teaches us the power of prayer in the very short prayer that we now refer to as the Lord's Prayer.  From beginning to end it is an invasion into territory held by Satan and claiming the sovereign rule of God which has already defeated the power of Satan's rule. By speaking it out, this rule of God is brought into being.
  So what is prayer? Let's try and spell it out.
Jesse P.  Prayer is PRAISE –
this is like adoration and recognizes who God
is and that he is able to do more than we can
ask or think or imagine, because He alone is
God.
Travis POWER.-
it is the means by which the Holy Spirit uses us to bring our will into harmony  with the will of God.   When we use the keys of the kingdom of God then the powers of hell will not prevail against us. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow. That is a great POWER.

There is POWER in PRAISE.  Praise of God is the  key which unlocks His power. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say it. Rejoice. In everything give thanks. Praise moves you from being OK "under the   circumstances" to be "over the circumstances."
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

             

 

                                                                    

 


 

- it is the means by which the Holy Spirit uses us to bring our will into harmony  with the will of God.   When we use the keys of the kingdom of God then the powers of hell will not prevail against us. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow. That is a great POWER.

There is POWER in PRAISE.  Praise of God is the  key which unlocks His power. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say it. Rejoice. In everything give thanks. Praise moves you from being OK "under the   circumstances" to be "over the circumstances."

           


 

Sam                                     PERSISTENT

Keep at it - sometimes we need to keep praying in the same way we need to keep scrubbing to get off the dirt, or to clean the battery terminal to allow the power through. It’s not that God is deaf, or playing around with us, but that we need to be serious. The answers to our prayers can be blocked. Check Daniel 10:12-20

 

Graeme               Prayer requires us to humble ourselves – pull down our PRIDE

If we won't He won't.

 


 

R

Prayer  is        REJOICING in what God has in Christ. It is claiming the                    promise of life and the way it should  be lived that God,      through the whole of the Scriptures has given.

Jesse                                      RESTORING - .it is the means by which God's ruIe is                                                                                     restored in the world. Your will be done. Let earth be                                                               like it is in heaven; Gift of daily bread; Sins forgiven as                                                           we forgive; Saved from the punishment of the final                                                                        trial; delivered from evil and/or the evil one.

 

Travis            A

Prayer is to  ASK (Ask, Seek and Knock)  Jesus talks alot about prayer.                                                    If we lack wisdom, ASK for it. James 4;2. We don't                                                        have things because we are too proud or stupid to ask                                               for them. Or we ask, so you say, but don't receive. But                                                     this is because we ask from wrong motves, not firstly                                                        seeking first the kingdom of God and His                                                                  righteousness, trying to determine the will of God.

Sam                                    ACTS – We have not just been talking about this, but                                                                 actively doing this through the service.                                                                           Adoration, Confession, Thankgiving,                                                                              Supplication

 

Emily              Prayer has ALL quality about it - In ALL circumstances give thanks pray in                                                           the Spirit on ALL occasions pray with ALL kinds of                                                                 prayers and requests pray for ALL saints. ALWAYS                                                                keep on praying

 

Graeme          Y    Prayer is YOKE-WEARING

.

Jesse                                                  Jesus.says that if we are to follow him we are to wear                                                             his yoke and learn from him. We have no choice about                                                          whether we wear a yoke or not. The only choice is                                                                   whose yolk we wear, who our Lord is. There is no                                                                     midway position. Either Jesus Christ is Lord and we                                                                      follow Him, or he is not our Lord which means we then                                                        take upon ourselves the yoke of the ruler of this world.                                                             One is easy and other burden is light. The other is                                                                   onerous and the burden weighs us down to death.


 

 

Travis                   Prayer is YES   In prayer we are agreeing wjth God. His yes becomes                                                   our yes. Whereas Jesus is God’s yes to us, Prayer is                                                                       our yes to him. Whenever, you and God work                                                                           together, you are a majority of one in any situation.


 

Sam               E                             While prayer might be EXHILERATING it can also be EXHAUSTING, Our prayer lists may be ENDLESS because there is so much need. When Jesus prayed in one circumstance it was so intense that drops of blood fell to the ground.

 

 In all prayer we ENTER the throne room of God. We join with Jesus in inter­ceding for a lost world and a lost people.

 

Emily              Prayer is ENLARGENING.  Firstly it enlargens our.understanding and gives us insights into the purpose and meaning of life. More importantly it brings about an increase in the kingdom of God so that eventually the kindgom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He will reign forever and ever. But, we do not yet see everything subject to Him. Yet, we do see Jesus.

 

Graeme          R   Prayer is RECLAIMING for God that which is His. But it requires REPENTANCE. And we need to understand something important. God is a good God. Sin and Satan have fouled things up. Original sin, that is, the built-in desire in each one of us to do things our own way continues to frustrate God's intended processes for all humankind.

 

Jesse                            The REDEEMED, that is those who by their own choice                                                      have received and responded to God's gift of life in                                                     Jesus, are the main channels of Gods dealing in                                                           grace and goodness on this earth.

 

Travis             Jesus is on the side of sinners. He asks that sinners come to his                                                     side. God's concern is not just for people but for the                                                    whole of his creation.

 

Sam                            PRAYER.   P- R- A- Y- E- R  We finish where we started: 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 will I hear from heaven and                                                     will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Are we game?

 

Are we game to learn to understand the heart of God?                        Trust in the certainty of His Word.

Wait with patient and persistent prayer for His time and listen quietly for His voice. Amen.


 
 

 

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