Restoration 2019:  Brokenness

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Restoration Ministry

2019:  Evening and Sabbath Meetings

Dean Cullinane

Father of the Fatherless

When God’s Not Around

God’s Quiver

God’s Dirty Underpants

The Seeds of Babylon

The Privilege of Prayer

The Second Milers

Samson and the Holy Spirit

The Darkest Hour

How to Walk on Water

I think that many people presuppose that if you are a Christian, that if there's 1 thing that you know how to do, it's pray.

You may not have been asked to give someone a Bible study, You may not have been asked to give someone a Bible study.

You may not have been asked to baptize someone, but the chances are you've been asked in your time as a Christian to pray for someone.

It is, at least to those that are not perhaps in our midst, a given that if you're a Christian, you know how to pray.

The disciples were what you and I would at least call today, Christians.

But it seemed as though they confessed themselves that praying was not something that they'd done all too well.

We see this in the book of Luke, chapter 11 and verse 1, that the disciples come to Jesus and they ask Him, Master, teach us how to pray.

If you would, I'd like you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew chapter 6, we have the famed Lord's Prayer.

And it's here as well as Luke 11 that Jesus answers their question, that Jesus teaches them in fact how to pray.

If you wanted to know how to preach a sermon, Jesus is your guide.

If you wanted to know how to teach on the Bible, then Jesus is your guide.

So if you want to know really how to pray, how to speak to the Father, then Jesus is your guide.

And so I really do want this evening to look at the privilege that we have, the true privilege of prayer.

Father in heaven, Lord, I pray that you would speak through me, but also that you would speak to me.

Speak to all of us gathered here this evening.

I pray, Lord, that at the end of this message we would be willing to enter into a conversation, a real and genuine conversation with You.

Matthew chapter 6, Jesus gives some tips.

Look at verse 5, And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites.

In other words, there's a wrong way to pray.

For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.

Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

But you, when you pray, Enter into your closet or your private quarters and when you have shut the door pray to the father which is in secret and Thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly and then he goes on to say But when you pray do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do." In other words, don't just keep repeating the same thing over and over and over again in a mantra-type way.

And then he explains why, "'For they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." In other words, he's saying that in his time, don't miss this now, that there was a religious group of people that believed that the reason that God was hearing Their prayers was because of the words that were coming out of their mouth.

Jesus is saying that this is not why those prayers are heard.

And then he begins to teach, Verse 9, after this manner therefore pray ye, our Father which art in heaven.

I want you to notice something that I think is quite important.

Jesus doesn't spend, when he's instructing the disciples on how to pray, does not spend an inkling of time teaching them the forms that they must take.

Now, various religions right across the world believe that it is possible to communicate with their deities.

And there are things that you can do to help that process Jesus says although there might be nothing wrong with clasping your hands There may be nothing wrong with closing your eyes and going on your knees or as they might have done in the time of Christ, literally lying prostrate on the floor, that it's not about the form.

The reason why God hears our prayer is not because our eyes are closed.

It's not because we've clasped our hands.

Now do those things show signs of reverence?

Do they show that perhaps we are being serious, we are taking this privilege, or we're not taking this privilege lightly?

But Jesus says, this is not why your prayers are being heard.

He spends absolutely no time talking about the forms.

And that speaks to me, because I'll be honest with you all, there are times where I don't feel like praying.

There are times when I get to the end of the day and I'm tired.

And the only thing that my brain wants to do is just shut down and go to that place that I love so much called unconsciousness.

The reason why I don't sometimes pray, listen to me now, is not because I don't want to kneel down.

It's not because I'm like, I really can't be bothered to close my eyes because inevitably that's what I'm going to end up doing either way.

It's not because I simply don't want to clasp my hand.

The forms are not what keeps us from praying.

When it comes to prayer, there's something deeper.

And you can imagine that the disciples, seeing the power of Christ, seeing the miracles that he's done throughout the time that they followed him, they recognize that he has a connection with God that they long for.

They see something different in the way that Jesus prays compared to the way that they pray.

And you can imagine that they're there waiting on abated breath, just listening out for the first thing that comes from the mouth of Christ, their Messiah, their leader.

And so he says, okay, here, pay attention now, pay attention.

The very first thing that comes out of the mouth of Christ is simply this.

The most important thing that you and I need to recognize about prayer is not so much the words that are coming out of our mouth, but who in fact we're speaking to.

And I often wondered why did Jesus start like this?

People sometimes think that there's ways that you should start prayer.

You might have heard this, you know, you start with praise or you start with supplication or you start with all of these various things, different ways to start prayer.

Jesus says that he starts prayer by recognizing the 1 to whom he's speaking to, our Father.

Now what do you think that Jesus wants you to know about the Father?

In Psalm chapter 103, it says in the 13th verse, "...like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those that fear Him." I'll say it again, Psalms 103, 13.

Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those that fear Him.

How many of you here this evening are parents?

And don't be ashamed if you're a parent, that's fine.

And if, you know, let's include everyone, let's be inclusive, right?

If you're not a parent, just imagine for a second that you were.

As long as you know you're on a suitable age, okay?

But I want you to imagine if you're not a parent, that you are a parent, and that you have just 1 child.

I want you to imagine that that 1 child is a boy, it's your son, and he reaches the age of 16, the age that society has now told him that he has become a man.

I want you to imagine that he's 16 years old and he comes to you and he says, Mom, he says, Dad, listen, I'm going to leave home now.

Give me, give me, give me all that I am due.

I'm sure you've all at some point left home, at least most of you.

Hey, Jesus didn't leave until he was 30, so if you're struggling along, hang in there.

I'm sure the right opportunity will come along.

I want you to imagine that he leaves home.

And not only does he leave home, but he cuts off all forms of communication.

Series

2019: Evening and Sabbath Meetings

The Privilege of Prayer

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Urgency

1h 25m

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

43m

Be Careful What You Ask For

40m

OYC 2011 Plenary Meetings

The Ministry of Healing

46m

The Shaking

3. The Shaking: Today’s Challenges

1h 29m

Health Ministry in Church

31m

Dave Fiedler: Core of the Controversy

Omega: Nothing New Here

58m

The Great Reset: The Love Factor

01 The Great Reset: The Love Factor

56m

Confidence in Crisis

Confidence in Crisis - Part 1: When Nature Dies: The Almost Last Supper

1h 7m

Lessons from the Great Physician

Lifestyle Medical Ministry Today

59m

Being Adventist

The Terrifying Tyranny of Adventist Eschatology

1h 7m

Addiction & the Devil's Battleground

Addiction & the Devil’s Battleground: Knowledge is Power

42m

Sound Doctrine