Prayer Is About Resting Pt. 1

[Music] open your Bibles with me through the Gospel of Matthew at chapter 6 the game and rest number 9 the because of verse number 9 Matthew in chapter 6 our Father which art in heaven thank you you may be seated I want I want to continue our series that year last Sunday I'm sorry last Sunday we talked about praying without pretense and prayer does not have to be long it does not have to be worthy because praying long will not make you more spiritual God is not deaf you don't have to pray loud and then you can pray anywhere anytime any season don't pray like the hypocrites who'd like to be heard for their much speaking they like to prey on the street corners and in the market place so that people will see them being pious and religious and don't use vain repetition like the heathen do for your heavenly father knows what you have need of even before you asked the disciples noticed Jesus routine and Jesus always in prayer and on one occasion they say Lord teach us to pray and jesus said after this manner pray like this and then he gives them and us a model for prayer a template for prayer not not to be repeated per se every day every three times three times a day like like they repeated the Shema or the 18 benedictions but it's a model for how we ought to pray it's not the Lord's Prayer the Lord's Prayer is in John chapter 17 it is the disciples prayer or the model for how believers or to pray he gives us these six words these words these six seven words our Father which art in heaven these words do not comprise even a complete sentence but they contain a wealth of truth whose depths cannot be fathomed and whose breaths cannot be spanned they teach the precious and powerful truths that prayer is about resting that's what I want to preach about this morning prayer is about resting in light of verses 7 and verse number 8 it is ironic that this prayer has come to be repeated mechanically in many Christian traditions accompanied by the notion that frequent repetition develops spirituality it is not a mantra to be repeated mindlessly or superstitiously but an example of prayer informed by kingdom values in such prayer doxology always precedes and permeates requests for our physical needs before you start telling God what you need you need to stop thanking God for who he when this prayer is prayed God's goodness and God's greatness must be carefully balanced to achieve intimacy without sentimentality intimacy without sentimentality we must balance our prayers so that reference is without austerity we can come near to God but stay at a safe distance because God is not the man upstairs God is our Father that's God's eminence but he lives in heaven which is God's transcendence God is not the force God is not a superior being God is not some sublime Authority God is the creator of the heavens and the earth he's the self-existent one who needs no thing or nobody he lets us call him in prayer not because he's uninformed but because he wants to be in relationship with us [Applause] which leads me to that word our Father our Father speaks of relationship the Greek word father translates or transliterate the Aramaic word Alba which is near to our English word daddy it's not quite that word but it's as close to English as we can get to that Aramaic word daddy use of this intimate term for God was virtually unparalleled in first century Judah they would never dream to refer to God as father if they needed something in a hurry they had a name for God Jehovah Jireh if he was sick they had a name for God Jehovah Rapha if they were in trouble they had a name for God Jehovah Shama if they were Restless they had a name for God Jehovah Shalom but jesus said we don't need to go through all of those mechanics we don't have to go through all of those names and rehearse all of those histories all we need to do is relate to God as our Father and when you relate to God as your father he's jehova sholom jehova sitka new Jehovah Rapha whatever you need is encapsulated in the relationship with God as your father thank God we have a relationship rather than a religion because if you are only religious you don't know anything about our Father I wish I had somebody to help me appreciate it but when you talk about God as father that means he or his child and if you're his child the father will not let a need arise in the life of his child that he's not able to supply my God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus I let nothing separate me from the love of God height nor depth angels principalities things present things to come nothing will get in the way of my relationship with God as my father I need to hurry and see those brothers and sisters the to many of us here at this church prioritize too many things before God amen we put all kinds of things before God we put our children before God we put our jobs before God we put our money before God and God says in the Ten Commandments you shall have no other gods before my face I want to stay there a minute all that I've done for you don't bring another God before my face all the doors are opened for you how dare you parade another God before my face somebody ought to help me talking I need to say this too particularly to young adults and and and I want you to get this I'm not after you I'm not trying to pick at you I'm too big for that I'm not fussing at you because you've grown I'm trying to help you to get to understand something stop putting everything ahead of God like all these activities outside of church and you got you got children and you got jobs and how old do you think we were when we started working in church all of us here who are working in church right now we're young adults at one time come on help me preach if you can since the turn I didn't start working in the mission when she was 80 she was a young woman in her thirties and fourties with responsibilities you you're having responsibilities ain't nothing new people been having responsibilities before you join the church but they just prioritize and put God first and God made the difference in their lives because if you seek first the kingdom of heaven and it's righteousness I was ahead of Bible reader all these other things shall be added unto you don't put anything or anybody before God I had a child but I came to church I had a family but I came in the church I had responsibilities bills car notes ice roads but that didn't stop me from giving God the tithe [Music] you see I'll hit you with a right cross you thought I was gonna talk about something else I don't put my money in front of God because where your treasure is there will your heart be also if God is your father and if you are in relationship with him that's a two-way street you don't just receive from God without giving anything back I wish a head of witnessing I wanna give God my hallelujah I wanna give God my money I want to give God in my life I'm gonna put my crazy child in God's hands I'm gonna put my innocent grandbaby in God's hands I want to put my enemies in God's hands I want to put my brother my sister my friends my family all of it is in God's hands [Applause] and when I put it in his hands he does whatever pleases him and I can still come to church and pray our Father a little girl was on the train and it was late at night and the train was going through some dangerous curves and this little girl was skipping up and down the aisle and running and some nervous older person said to her baby sit down this this train could derail and all of us could lose our lives where's your momma where's your daddy sit down with all that running this train could be real it's time to pray we need to get still and pray and a little girl stop skipping and stop singing and said my daddy is the engineer and he knows that his little girl is on board go to sleep nothing that's gonna happen to this trend cuz my daddy is the engineer someone ought to help me preach it I don't I don't get nervous about what this world is doing what the enemy is doing what people are doing behind my back threat not yourself I wish I had a Bible reader because of evildoers neither be envious against the records of iniquity they shall soon be cut off like grass and they shall wither like the greener the Lord is my light I wish I had two or three more with me and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked even my enemies and my falls came upon me to eat up my flesh just before they got to me they stumble and they fed the host should encamp against me I wish ahead of witness and this will I be comfort in one thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after let me dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life here it is for in the trouble hey nothing's gonna happen to this string because my daddy is the engineer and he knows that his little girl is on board how fun that's that's that's relationship which art is reality you must first believe that he is the Hebrew says and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him so the wolf and the warp the ground of prayer is she got the first believe that somebody's listening [Applause] because it don't make sense to pray if you don't believe somebody's listening [Applause] the ground of Prayer the foundation of prayer is the presupposition that somebody's listening this reminds us that God is the self-existent one he has existed unchanged from eternity past he continues to exist in the present and he will continue unchanged into the reaches of eternity future prayer is not an exercise in futility the prayer is an humble heart approaching a holy God it's a redeemed Saint entering the presence of God to transact heavenly business I'm going to the throne room to talk to him who sits at the seat of mercy prayer is about resting resting is relief or freedom from anything that where is the soul troubles the soul our disturbs the spirit resting is a place that provides shelter our lodging for the weary traveler it is peace of mind and peace of spirit this is prayer may not the circumstance but it'll give me peace in the midst of it I wish I had somebody to help me if I pray my mama might not get well but Playa will make me be alright with that I can pray and my child may never come to her senses but prior can make me be alright with it I wish I had somebody to help me right here I can pray for my enemies and they may never speak to me again but prayer will make me be alright with that this prayer may not change the situation as much as it changes the one doing the praying you have like I have prayed for some things we thought we should have got because somebody say if you pray and pray right he will hear and answer your prayer and you prayed and you prayed right and the situation still didn't change but don't stop praying God might have answered no see Aquatica treta because you've been listening to the charismatic sand you've been listening to the fortune prophets and you've been listening to the health and wealth crowd saying that if you can just believe it if you can just name it then you can claim it that's not prayer that's magic if you're from Louisiana that's who dude that's group adducts thrown on the floor and throwing some salt behind your back after you salt your meat come on talk back to me here that's spitting on the broom after somebody sweeps on your foot that's going on another Street when a black cat crosses your path that's knocking on wood when you want something to come true I wish I had somebody to help me here that's reading your horoscope and saying I ain't getting out the house today because I'm a Sagittarius no you're a sinner you're wicked you're messed up you're evil and if the law don't help us I wish I had a witness listen brothers and sisters brass will not always fix it prayer will sometimes fix you yea though I walk through the valley that's a crime of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for God is with me your rod and your staff they comfort me you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil then the midst of my mess my cup is just running over with all the stuff I've gotten myself into surely I wish I had some help in goodness and mercy I don't deserve it I haven't earned it I'm not worth it I'm not worthy of it but because he loves me [Applause] even when I try to get away it keeps following me you have to you have to ground your prayer in the reality of God's existence he's omnipotent he's omniscient he's omnipresent in another generation they had arguments for the existence of God the the cosmological argument the ontological argument the teleological argument for the existence of God Greek Church councils were held to argue God's existence I wasn't there when Anselm argued I wasn't there when Athanasius made his claim I was nowhere around when Martin Luther attacked his 95 theses on the door of the church at Vinton Berg I was not there to hear swingley preach or John Calvin preached I just believe what my grandmother said he's a rock in a weary land he's a shelter in a time of storm I believe it because I've been in some storms myself and somebody he'll who's got your own testimony you don't pray because of what somebody told you you pray because of what you've been through on your own that's it's about relationship father which art is about reality but in heaven brings us finally to a realization since he is in heaven he is in the position to move in power and in response to our petition since he's in heaven he is to be exalted and honored by those who dwell below we should enter his presence brothers and sisters first of all humbly we ought to come before God humbly don't just take for granted that God lets you pray I said God lets you pray don't don't take prayer for granted like that God's just supposed to hear you cuz we will never be good enough for God to hear us we will never be worthy of God hearing us I wish I had somebody to help me because we've got too much filth on us we got too much dirt on us we've got too much evil in us that we just walk up to God's presence like we belong there you have to be of a certain generation to help me shout right here but coming up as a boy children boys girls didn't get ingrown folks face and put your eyes in their eyes and talk to them like we talking man to man someone ought to help me here see something some of y'all can't get that because y'all have these parents who just let you do what you want to do but my momma say who you think you talking to you better watch your tone of voice I wish I had somebody who was raised like I was ringing I brought you in this world now if I had to have reference from my I flip parents come on help me live this a little higher I don't come in God's presence and say listen uh JC [Applause] hey bro I here's what I want God said who you think you're talking to you the only way we come in God's presence is unbelie-- through the blood of Jesus Christ because of Jesus we can be assured of two things we can be assured of an audience and an answer y'all don't know window-shop when we come before God with Jesus we have the assurance of an audience and an answer he gotta bring us in and he said listen when you get in ask in my name and whatsoever you shall ask in money God will give it to you everything we get is because of Jesus I wish I had a witness we ought to come in God's presence only and then we should enter God's presence confidently but it seems to be a contradiction how can you come on Blair and confidently at the same time I'm glad you asked to approach God confidently you can't come to him doubting [Applause] because doubt closes the door on answered pray I get I get nervous and I know people mean well and I know people think that they're praying alright but some of the stuff we say in prayer we say because we heard somebody else saying and we say cuz it sounds pretty on the internet and it sounds good when Bishop so-and-so says it but uh we say stuff like um God if it's your will make me holy I mean you go to a holy God and ask him if it's his will make it like him y'all still ain't getting this to pray in accordance with God's will we talked about it Tuesday night is to read God's Word you're wired to have I hid in my heart that I might not sin it your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light on my pathway don't pray outside his word to pray with confidence means that I know because I know God hears me and I know he hears me because he said he would and his word can't return boy God cannot yeah I wish ahead two or three more witnesses if God could tell a lie the heavens would call themselves in sackcloth and ashes the Sun the Moon the stars were real from their courses the universe would rock and a hollow wind would moan across a ruined creation that God himself has told a lie they do it it's not in his nature if he says ask and it shall be given he means ask and it shall be given if he says seek and ye shall find he means just that seek and you shall find if he says knock and the door shall be opened he means just that keep knocking and the door shall be over I suspect brothers and sisters that the reason many of our prayers go unanswered is because we give up too soon we stopped praying too soon you remember that story in the gospel who this woman who went to this unjust judge I wish I had a Bible reader and she got up there early in the morning and stayed in his office all day got up the next morning and went and stayed in his office all day got out his house she was there got in his car she was laughs went to lunch she was there went back to work she was there on his way home she was there and that man that judge said I got that answer this woman or she is going to wear me now the analogy is not that our praying and praying and praying and praying where God out the analogy is if this Whittle can be persistent in her prayers then we can be persistent in our prayers not to where God out but to let God know we seriously want an answer [Applause] even if the answer is no I want God to answer we should approach God not only confidently and umbly but we should approach God worshipfully now hear me brothers and sisters I'm trying to hurry but worship is not just confined to Sunday morning I get excited when I stop thinking about God's grace and God's mercy towards me and God's compassion in my life and God's just wanted to be a friend of mine when I start praying sometimes I get lost in worship I don't even get to what I need because I get lost in who is my provider now if you don't pray like that don't don't don't hate on me because I shout in my prayer time if you don't pray like that don't get mad with the person who's learning how to worship in prayer because prayer is not always asking God for something sometimes it's just telling God how much you appreciate what he's already done anybody here pray like that sometime I don't do it all the time but every once in a while I just get on my knees or stand up for a drive or sit down and just thank God that I got some red of sleep tonight I thank God that I got a choice of what I want to wear this morning I thank God that I got food to eat and then I thank God that I was lost and on my way to hell and he sent Jesus to come and save me [Applause] some of you haven't moved yet because you praying about some promotion you praying about some job you praying about some man you praying about some relationship a small insignificant stuff if you got God's favor you can get a promotion and if God doesn't shoe to promote you he can make you live in what you're making [Applause] [Music] Lord you don't have to move the mountain [Applause] just give me the strength to climb god you don't have to take away the stumbling block just move me around it something ought to help me here it's more than one way to get a prayer answered God if you don't choose to answer this way I'm satisfied that way anyway you bless me though I'll be fine I'm trying to hurry Paul said I've learned you can help me preach this water and whatsoever state I find myself in I've learned to be continued I know how to abound I know how to be a I don't know how to act when I'm up I can praise God when I'm down I know how to shout when I got money I can give God when you don't know I'm down to my last dime because my prayer is not to you my prayer is up to him to satisfy me in whatsoever things he has given to me they like yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart I mentioned the Tuesday night and I got to hurry one of the most often quoted passage of Scripture but often misread passage of Scripture is in proverbs chapter 3 trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path we quote that scripture often but you got to zero in that word direct direct means God is not gonna take your hand and say don't get on 45 get on 59 though he grits this morning eat oatmeal this morning don't wear these black pal pants wear these green pair pants that's not God directing you like puppet that's God making your way smooth God will give you the wisdom that the choices you make your date will go along smoothly folk ain't speaking to you but you're still smooth your boss piling more work on you but you're still smooth your wife rocking the food but you're still smooth and they're looking at you saying there are no things above in her I know stuff is getting on your nerve but you trusting in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths smooth like listening to Barry White [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the devil trying to stop you the enemy trying to set a trap for you but he'll lead you around your enemy's devices because God will not let anything happen in your day that's gonna take him by surprise I got to hurry I gotta move on but then prayer is not only confidence it's not only approaching God humbly it's not only approaching God worshipfully but it is approaching God hopefully okay an essential essence of prayer an essential element of prayer is hope not a misplaced kind of hope like like not your semen now you don't starlight star bright first star I see tonight I wish I may I wish I might have the wish I would have to be from Louisiana to be able to get to be able to help me right here this is a little child's prayer when you first sees the first star at night and you just wish upon a star no prayer is not wishing on a star prayer is confident hope that I am away from home so I want home where I am [Applause] it is said that when cicero was banished from rome and when demosthenes was banished from athens that each of them would weep every time they looked toward their homeland so great was their love for their fatherland and so great was their desire to return that they were consumed with the desire to be there again such is a desire within the heart of every saint of God who has felt the breeze of heaven on your soul every time you feel the breeze of heaven on your soul it makes you lonesome for home I'm not there yet but I'm living like a man so in the meantime I want what's going on at home to take place here on earth that's why we pray your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven I'm gonna be through here in just a minute but let me just give you this analogy I've been waiting all the week to say this those of us who are serious prayers are like Milton's Paradise Lost in the garden Adam and Eve lost paradise and God expelled them from home and since their expulsion every one born of the seed of Adam's ring has been looking backwards toward home but because of their sin we can't go home that way and to make sure we never go home that way he plays a terrible with a flaming sword to guard the entrance to the garden unless we eat of the Tree of Life and die in sin so we can't go home that way but in Jesus he provided another way because that sword that was flaming and turning every way to God the entrance to the garden was extinguished when that soldier pierced Jesus in his side and the frame from that sword went out nah man I don't go home that way I got another way here me and I'm free here's the shout here here's the shot I've been practicing this all the way when I go to a hotel I never unpacked my stuff I don't open the drawers and put my underwear in there I don't I don't I don't put my suits in the closet I don't put my toiletries out I don't do that I don't know who Ben I'm not a germaphobe I'm not I'm not obsessive compulsive it's not my home and I'm never comfortable until I get home I leave my stuff in the suitcase because it's not my room I'm renting it [Applause] it's a temporary stopping place that's why I can't ever get comfortable in this world because it's not my home I'm living here temporarily I haven't unpacked yet cuz I'm not home yet but just as soon as my feet stretch and I take my stuff and I'm at a job thank you for bringing me oh I wanna see them look upon his face that is same forever of his saving grace on the streets of gold let me lift my voice cares all past home at last I got a muddle over there I got a father over there my grandmother's been waiting on me since 1973 but all of them have got to wait because I want to see Jesus and thank him for finally bringing me home so brothers and sisters prayer is just homesickness [Applause] that's all prayer is prayer is just homesickness God I want to get home but until I get there our Father which art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done in earth as it is in heaven I'm not home yet so I need home to come to where I am and I feel like going home because when I pray it makes me lonesome for my differently Oh [Music]

Channel: lillygrovembc

Views: 75,351

Rating: 4.7312393 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: hmgaEzn83Dg

Length: 49min 24sec (2964 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 23 2018