A persistent prayer life: Church of Christ sermon

[Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to LG ministry we're glad you have chosen to watch our program my name is Coogan Collins and I'm the minister at the Longborough Church of Christ our hope and desire is that you will open up your Bible and study along with us be sure to check out all of our lessons on YouTube now let's get to our lesson you prayer is one of the greatest privileges we have been given because it allows us to talk to God anytime we want to our lesson begins with the parable of Luke 18 verse 1 then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart saying there was in a certain city a judge you did not fear God nor regard men now there was a widow in that city and she came to him saying get justice for me for my emissary and he would not for a while but afterward he said within himself though I do not fear God nor regard man yet because of this widow troubles me I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me then the Lord said hear what the unjust judge said and shall God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him though he bear long with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless when the Son of Man comes will he really find faith on the earth Jesus was very concerned about his disciples and he wanted them to learn to be persistent in their prayer loss and to use the power prayer to overcome discouragement of course the same is true for us today the more we pray the more we realize how much we rely upon God the more we pray the closer we will become with God the more we pray the more we will appreciate the fact that God hears our prayers continually no matter what time of day we pray James says in James Piper's 13 is anyone among you suffering let him pray Peter says first Peter 5 verse 6 therefore humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time casting all your care upon him for he cares for you the word care also means anxiety so in other words whatever is causing you to hurt or worry turn it over to God and put it in his hands knowing that he loves you hears you and will answer your prayer now let's take a close look at this parable starting at verse 2 there was in a certain city a judge who did not fear god nor regard man the apostles were certainly familiar with judges because there were judges under the law of Moses these judges were appointed to every city and they were supposed to be just judges as can be seen in deuteronomy 16 verse 18 you shall appoint judges and officers and all your gates which the Lord your God gives you according to your tribes and they shall judge the people with just judgment you shall not provoke or shall attain or take a bribe for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twist the words of the righteous you shall follow what is all together just that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you they were also familiar with judges he worked for Rome which is most likely who the judge is in the parable because he did not fear God nor regard man now look at verse 3 now there was a widow in that city and she came to him saying get justice for me for my adversary and he would not for a while but afterwards he said within himself though I do not fear God nor regard man yea because this Widow troubles me I will avenge her less by her continually coming she weary me here we have a widow who wanted justice we're not told the specifics but we do know that her adversary had done something wrong and she wanted this judge to take care of the matter she did not come to him just once and then give up no she continued to come to him often asking for justice at first the judges blew her off but because of her persistence he was ready to give in not because if your God or man and not even because he wanted to do the right thing it was because he wanted to get this woman off his back here's where a word study will help us and it will tell us some more about this situation I want you to notice what the word weary means it means to blacken and I give in a black eye strike in the face to bring someone into submission by cost and annoyance wear down while I word weary can mean to literally give one a black eye it also carries the idea of brow beating someone until they give in so this is what this judge was feeling like due to this widow's persistence next Jesus tells us the hope point of this parable starting in verse 6 then the Lord said hear what the unjust judge said and shall God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him though he bear long with him I tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless when the Son of Man comes will he really find faith on the earth so Jesus wants us to learn from this by noticing what the unjust judge said because of his situation even though he was not a good judge and he didn't respect man this widow lady was able to move him to action through persistence so the point is this if an unjust judge would listen and be moved to action by persistent Widow how much more will God listen and be moved by his people whom he loves this is an argument from the lesser to the greater it contrasts an unjust judge who really wanted nothing to do with this widow to a just judge which is God who loves and wants to hear from us and is involved in our lives now I can certainly see how some can look at this parable and think if they persistently pray enough they can Bend God to their will as the widow bent the judge to her will but this is not what the parable is about yes it teaches that we should be persistent in our prayer life but the main point is that God loves to hear from us he answers our prayers and he is involved in our lives every day however no amount of praying is going to change God's will for example if you pray every day that you'll win the lottery and millions of dollars I do not believe that this will happen if we pray that God will put a curse on someone that you don't like again this is not going to happen again if you pray that all the gnats and mosquitoes and snakes will disappear it's not going to happen we need to listen to what John says in the 1st John 5:14 now this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything notice according to his will he will hear us and if we know that he hears us whatever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him whatever we pray for will only happen it's a court in accordance with God's will while there is nothing wrong with praying a similar prayer every day or even praying for the same thing we must make sure that we do not pray with vain repetition where we just chant the same words over and over again with no thought thinking that if we chant them enough God will just make it happen Jesus warns against this in Matthew 6 and verse 7 and when you pray do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they will be heard for their many words therefore do not be like them for your father knows the things you have nita before you ask him when we pray we are to pray with faith knowing that God is listening to us and that he will answer our prayers in a way that is best for us as James says James 1 verse 5 if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him but let him ask in faith with no doubting for hew doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind for let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord he is a double-minded man unstable in all his ways when it comes to God taking vengeance on those who treat Christians poorly we need to realize that it's going to be on God's timeline ultimately we know that all enemies of God will be punished when Jesus returns at the final judgment as can be seen in 2nd Thessalonians 1 in verse 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God you know those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes in that day to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed in the meantime we should pray for enemies that they might change their wicked ways and turn to God we know that our God is long-suffering and he wants all to repent so let us do our part to encourage the sinners of our world to turn from their sins and to embrace the love of God let us never forget that prayer is a wonderful gift we have been given that allows us to talk to God and that will help us to remain strong in the Lord and will help us to overcome discouragement if you find that you're struggling with worry stress and discouragement then take a close look at your prayer life because most likely your prayer life needs improvement or maybe you're struggling with having enough faith when you pray that God is listening and working in your life even if you don't get the answer you're looking for let us never forget that God is going to do what is best for us even if we do not know what that is keep this verse in mind Romans 8:28 and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose now that Jesus has taught us about the importance of prayer and how God listens and how we should be persistent in our prayer life he is now going to teach us a parable about having the right attitude about prayer in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican Luke 18 verse 9 also he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others two men went up to the temple to pray one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself god I thank you that I'm not like other men extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this tax collector I fast twice a week I give a tithes of all that I possess and the tax collector standing afar off wouldn't so much as raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast thank God be merciful to me a sinner I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and He Who humbles himself will be exalted our parable is about two different men who went to the temple to pray again this is something that the disciples would be familiar with because the Jews were used to praying three times a day we know that Daniel did this in Daniel 6 in verse 10 we also read in Psalm 55 17 evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice for the Jew the first our prayer happened at 9:00 a.m. our time but to them it was called the third hour and it happened at the morning sacrifice as can be seen in acts 2 and verse 15 the second hour prayer which is noon hour time is called the sixth hour of the day and the third hour prayer was 3 p.m. our time and was called the ninth hour which happened at the evening sacrifice which can be seen in acts 3 verse 1 in chapters 10 and verse 30 the first man in our parable is a Pharisee the word Pharisee means separated ones this group of men started about a hundred and fifty years before Christ was born these men didn't want anything to do with the culture of Greece and they opposed anything that had to do with pagan rituals they wanted to separate themselves from this so they became very close followers of the law and their father's traditions during this time those called scribes were those who copied the law and they were considered experts of the law however they would interpret the law and add to what it said and the Pharisees would adhere to it and teach whatever the scribes added as if it were from God for example Moses had said not to work or carry a burden on the Sabbath and the scribes interpreted this to mean that a man could not use his wooden leg on the Sabbath nor could a doctor render aid to a person on that day by the time of Christ we know that the law had been perverted in many ways and Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and the scribes for not keeping the law as they should and for making their traditions equal to and sometimes greater than the Word of God as can be seen in Matthew 15 starting in verse 3 why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition for God commanded saying honour your father and your mother and he who curse his father or mother let him be put to death but you say whoever says to his father and mother whatever profits you might have received from me as a gift to God then he need not honoring his father or mother thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition hypocrites well it theya prophesy about you saying these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me and in vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men Jesus also spoke about how these Pharisees were self-righteous and how they did everything for show to get praises for men in Matthew chapter 23 now the second man was a tax collector or we could say a publican these men were tax collectors for the Roman government they were considered as traitors by most Jews they put them in the same class as Gentiles harlots and sinners these tax collectors were bad about taking more than they were supposed to so they could line their own pockets with money let's examine the Pharisees prayer again and look 18 verse 11 the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself god I thank you that I'm not like other men extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this tax collector I fast twice a week I give tithes of all that I possess the first thing we notice is that this man stood and prayed no doubt he wanted people to be able to see him prayed his prayers tarts off pretty good and even seems like he's giving thanks to God but we quickly see he doesn't give any thanks to God nor does he ask God for anything instead he just uses his prayer as an opportunity to talk about how good he was in fact he uses the word I five times in this prayer because it was all about him it's almost as if he'd just pray to God to brag about his righteousness and perhaps he wanted God to thank him for how good he had been this man had no regard for others and he thought he was far above all of them especially this tax collector this man was just the opposite of what Paul taught us in the following verses in Romans chapter 12 arting in verse 3 for I say through the grace given to me to everyone who was among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith 2nd Corinthians 10:12 for we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise this Pharisee had a lot to learn about being humble and realizing that he was not any better than anyone else as Christians we should never have the attitude that this Pharisee did now let's look at the tax collectors prayer again starting in verse 13 and the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner what a humble prayer his attitude was completely opposite of the Pharisee notice he didn't try to look around and find someone who is a worse sinner than he was he didn't try to offer any excuses for his sins this man understood what sin was and that only God could forgive him of his sins notice that this man was standing afar off and he was so ashamed of his sins that he couldn't even look up to heaven we have an example of this in the Old Testament as well with the Prophet Ezra Ezra 9 in verse 6 we also notice that this tax collector beat his breast we need to understand that this was a gesture they did back then to show the sincerity of the grief they were going through and to show that they were truly sorry for their sins then this man pleads with God to have mercy on him because he is a sinner this guy is a great example for us about the attitude we should have when it comes to the sin that is in our lives and how humble we should be as we approach God in prayer like this tax collector we should fully understand how horrible sin is the writer of Hebrews tells us that when we willfully sin it's like trampling the Son of God underfoot and counting the shedding of his blood as a common thing which is an insult to the spirit of grace Hebrews 10 verse 29 Paul tells us that the wages of sin is death in Romans 6 in verse 23 once again the Hebrew writer tells us that when we fall away and sin it's like recruit buying Jesus all over again Hebrews six and verse number six though we don't deserve it thankfully God provided us a way to be forgiven of our sins we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God Romans 3 verse 23 in fact let's read what John has to say about this matter first John 1 verse 7 but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in this after these two men said their prayers and we're on their way home we find out the result of their prayers Jesus said in verse 14 and I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and He Who humbles himself will be exalted the Pharisee did not receive anything from God because of his haughty attitude and besides he really never asked God for anything in the first place he might as well have stayed home but due to the tax collector sincerity and humility he was justified and was forgiven of his sins the main point Jesus wanted to make with this parable was to show these people who thought so highly of themselves that if they wanted to be exalted which means to be lifted up they must humble themselves before the Lord certainly Christians must also learn to be humble in their prayer lives and in their lives in general notice how the following verses teach us this very principle first Peter 5 verse Bob likewise you younger people submit yourself to your elders yes all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble therefore humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time casting all your care upon him for he cares for you Matthew 18 verse 4 therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the great in the kingdom of heaven Philippians 2 verse number 3 let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interest of others let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name no matter how many good things we do no matter how righteous or smart we may be we have no room for boasting instead we need to remember the words of Jesus and Luke 17 verse 10 so likewise you when you have done all those things which you are commanded say we are unprofitable servants we have done what was our duty to do so let us learn from this lesson to always be persistent in our prayers and to have a humble attitude about it all when we have the right attitude not only can we be confident that God hears our prayers we can know that our problems and concerns are being heard and that God will make everything work out for the best way that is according to his will so never neglect the wonderful avenue of Prayer hope you found this lesson helpful no matter what lesson I preached I want you to test what I say where any person says about God's Word by comparing what is being said to the Bible don't ever be lazy in this area because it is too important to simply trust in what a man is saying because we are all human and we're capable of being wrong one thing we know for sure is that God's Word will not lead us astray so we can always trust in it as Psalm 146 3 says do not put your trust in Princes nor in a son of man and whom there is no help Psalm 18 verse 30 as for God his way is perfect the word of the Lord is proven he is a shield to all who trust in him I will always do my best to preach the truth but I hope if you catch me teaching error that you will contact me so that we can discuss the matter if you would like to learn more about LG ministry and the congregation I preached at feel free to visit our website at LG Church of Christ comm on our website you will find a lot of material that can help you with your spiritual growth on our main page you will find an online correspondence course that you can take that will walk you through the basics on our sermon page you'll find just about every sermon I preached at my local congregation you will also find some audio sermons and bible class materials that you're free to study and use on our article page you will find tracts that you can read and print off and articles that have been written for our local paper finally on our video page you'll find our new video lessons like the one that you're watching now I know we live in a fast-paced world where it seems like we don't have time to do much of anything but I want to encourage you to find time out of each day to sit down and to study God's Word life is great and there's nothing wrong with being busy but we must be careful that we don't get to the point where we get so busy that we fail to take time to feed ourselves spiritually from God's Word we must remember that God is supposed to be our number-one priority if you find my lessons to be helpful be sure and tell people about our program so that others can hear sound lessons from the Bible I hope you have a blessed day [Music] by [Music]

Channel: Cougan Collins

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Keywords: LG Ministry, Cougan Collins, Lone Grove Church of Christ, church of Christ, sermons, devotionals, A persistent prayer life

Id: T64jaBDDv60

Length: 26min 0sec (1560 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 29 2019