Why and How We Pray (Part 1) | Gospel Shaped Worship | Talk 5.1 — Transcript

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1. 0:01[Music]
2. 0:15marty and susan had now visited
3. 0:16five different church services over five
4. 0:18consecutive sundays
5. 0:20and they were no closer to selecting a
6. 0:22fellowship to call their own than when
7. 0:23they started
8. 0:25each found things they liked and didn't
9. 0:27like in each church and after their
10. 0:29latest visit
11. 0:30they began to do some soul searching
12. 0:31about how they were approaching the
13. 0:32entire issue
14. 0:36okay well i don't suppose we'll ever
15. 0:39find a church that seems
16. 0:41perfect for both of us yeah you're right
17. 0:43you're right uh
18. 0:45and while it seemed good at first to
19. 0:46visit all those other places and way out
20. 0:48you know all the other options and stuff
21. 0:50it i don't know the longer we go the
22. 0:52weirder it feels
23. 0:54what do you mean well you know i mean
24. 0:57it makes sense that we try to find a
25. 0:59church that seemed compatible i guess
26. 1:02with our beliefs and preferences but
27. 1:04after a while i started feeling
28. 1:08just felt like we were i don't know
29. 1:09sitting in judgment
30. 1:11you know measuring the church out like
31. 1:12we were customers and
32. 1:14giving feedback i mean it seems it seems
33. 1:17natural on one level but on another i
34. 1:18don't know
35. 1:19doesn't seem quite fair well i i think i
36. 1:22know what you mean
37. 1:24well anyway there were so many other
38. 1:25churches in our area that we could never
39. 1:26visit them all
40. 1:30we should probably go and visit some
41. 1:32more services and then
42. 1:34i think we should expect to have to make
43. 1:36compromises on some of our
44. 1:38preferences i mean no church is perfect
45. 1:42yeah and i'm starting to feel convicted
46. 1:43about going to these places and you know
47. 1:45looking to see what i might
48. 1:46get out of them rather than you know
49. 1:48seeing what good there is and how we
50. 1:49might be able to you know serve and
51. 1:51contribute ourselves do you know what we
52. 1:52haven't done
53. 1:53what in all these weeks of visiting
54. 1:57we haven't once prayed together about
55. 1:59our search
56. 2:03yeah you're right i wonder what that
57. 2:07says about our
58. 2:08approach to choosing a church
59. 2:16[Music]
60. 2:19i wonder what you really think about
61. 2:21prayer
62. 2:22do you find it a duty a struggle
63. 2:25a joy does it leave you a little
64. 2:28confused about how the whole thing works
65. 2:31and why is it so important since god
66. 2:32knows everything anyway
67. 2:35in this session we're going to focus on
68. 2:37reminding ourselves what prayer is
69. 2:40and the place it should have in our life
70. 2:41together as believers
71. 2:45when we revisit our previous sessions
72. 2:46focus passage we see just how important
73. 2:49prayer was to the life of the early
74. 2:51church
75. 2:52acts 2 42 says and they devoted
76. 2:54themselves to the apostles teaching
77. 2:56and the fellowship to the breaking of
78. 2:58bread and the prayers
79. 3:01when we see how central prayer is to the
80. 3:03life of the first believers
81. 3:05we can see one of the most important
82. 3:06aspects of prayer itself
83. 3:08it is a primary way we participate in
84. 3:11fellowship with god
85. 3:13god speaks to us through his spirit
86. 3:15inspired bible and we speak to god
87. 3:17through our spirit empowered prayers
88. 3:20prayer results from the intimate
89. 3:22relationship we have with god
90. 3:24through the gospel of jesus christ and
91. 3:27jesus himself demonstrates
92. 3:29how we participate in this divine
93. 3:31fellowship we call this teaching
94. 3:33the lord's prayer pray then like this
95. 3:37our father in heaven hallowed be your
96. 3:40name
97. 3:41your kingdom come your will be done on
98. 3:43earth as it is in heaven
99. 3:45give us this day our daily bread and
100. 3:48forgive us our debts
101. 3:49as we also have forgiven our debtors and
102. 3:52lead us not into temptation
103. 3:54but deliver us from evil
104. 3:57the very first thing we notice is how
105. 3:59jesus addresses god
106. 4:01he calls him our father in heaven
107. 4:04jesus calls god father in some instances
108. 4:07as a way of talking about his own unique
109. 4:09relationship to the father
110. 4:11to show his deity but he also instructs
111. 4:14his followers to relate to god in heaven
112. 4:16as their father too it is through the
113. 4:19saving work of jesus
114. 4:21that god reconciles sinful children to
115. 4:23himself
116. 4:24establishing the special relationship
117. 4:26christians have
118. 4:27with god through our older brother jesus
119. 4:31we are brought into a relationship with
120. 4:33the triune god
121. 4:34that gives us full access to his love
122. 4:37and guidance
123. 4:39because of the gospel that saves us we
124. 4:42are now able to pray
125. 4:43by the spirit's power through the son's
126. 4:46mediation
127. 4:47right to the father's heart when we pray
128. 4:51either as individual christians or
129. 4:53corporately in times of worship
130. 4:55we are like god's children talking
131. 4:57freely to our abba father
132. 4:59our divine daddy paul instructs the
133. 5:02church family toward corporate prayer to
134. 5:04the father
135. 5:04like this first of all then i urge that
136. 5:08supplications
137. 5:09prayers intercessions and thanksgivings
138. 5:12be made for all people for kings and all
139. 5:15who are in high positions
140. 5:17that we may lead a peaceful and quiet
141. 5:19life godly
142. 5:21and dignified in every way this is good
143. 5:24and it is pleasing in the sight of god
144. 5:26our savior who desires
145. 5:28all people to be saved and to come to
146. 5:30the knowledge of the truth
147. 5:32for there is one god and there is one
148. 5:34mediator between god and men
149. 5:36the man christ jesus who gave himself as
150. 5:40a ransom for all
151. 5:41which is the testimony given at the
152. 5:43proper time for this
153. 5:45i was appointed a preacher and an
154. 5:46apostle i'm telling the truth i'm not
155. 5:49lying
156. 5:50a teacher of the gentiles and faith and
157. 5:52truth
158. 5:53i desire then that in every place the
159. 5:55men should pray
160. 5:56lifting holy hands without anger or
161. 5:59quarreling
162. 6:01paul starts by naming a variety of
163. 6:03prayers and prayerful attitudes
164. 6:05that show a church's god-formed love for
165. 6:08their neighbors
166. 6:09near and far saved and lost
167. 6:12and says this prayerful life results in
168. 6:15peace
169. 6:16and godliness and dignity then
170. 6:19notice what paul says about a prayerful
171. 6:21life
172. 6:23this is good and it is pleasing in the
173. 6:25sight of god
174. 6:26our savior when we talk to god we make
175. 6:30him
176. 6:30very happy when we share our needs and
177. 6:33concerns and desires with him
178. 6:35and know him to be our soul satisfaction
179. 6:38and the supplier of all good things
180. 6:40he rejoices god loves it when we pray to
181. 6:44him
182. 6:46living prayerful lives communing with
183. 6:48god in all kinds of prayers for his
184. 6:50glory
185. 6:51and our neighbor's good pleases our
186. 6:53father
187. 6:54christian prayer is first of all
188. 6:56relational
189. 6:59it is often very helpful for some
190. 7:01christians who struggle with prayer to
191. 7:02think of it in terms of
192. 7:03talking to dad this can help remove the
193. 7:06burden of
194. 7:07thinking our prayers have to be
195. 7:08expressed a certain way or
196. 7:10use a certain kind of terminology in
197. 7:12order to be heard
198. 7:14some people have a mistaken idea that we
199. 7:16must only be positive in our prayers or
200. 7:18never ask for things we want christians
201. 7:21are great at coming up with rules for
202. 7:22prayer
203. 7:23that the bible never actually gives us
204. 7:26if you look through the psalms for
205. 7:28instance you will see how david and the
206. 7:30other psalmist
207. 7:31showed their true selves to god in
208. 7:33prayer they were honest about their
209. 7:35fears about their
210. 7:36confusion their hurts and their doubts
211. 7:38their discouragements
212. 7:40and even their anger in their depression
213. 7:43they
214. 7:43understood that we can't hide that stuff
215. 7:45from god anyway
216. 7:47it isn't as if he wouldn't know we feel
217. 7:49those ways if we just didn't tell him
218. 7:52no when we pray we can bring our real
219. 7:54selves
220. 7:55to the real god to get real help for our
221. 7:58real lives
222. 8:00but to say that we can be ourselves with
223. 8:03god to say that
224. 8:04we can pray as if we are simply having a
225. 8:05conversation with our dad
226. 8:07is not to say that we ought to be
227. 8:09irreverent or disrespectful
228. 8:12god does not require that we grovel in
229. 8:14self-loathing or
230. 8:15jump through religious hoops to talk to
231. 8:17him but this does not mean we speak to
232. 8:19him as if he is
233. 8:20not the perfectly holy lord of all
234. 8:24in the lord's prayer jesus tells us to
235. 8:26address god as
236. 8:27our father but the very next thing he
237. 8:29says
238. 8:30is a declaration of worship hallowed be
239. 8:33your name christian prayer is
240. 8:36respectful prayer we come to god
241. 8:40as his children but also as his subjects
242. 8:43as his creatures
243. 8:44we get to relate to god in ways that are
244. 8:46special unique and intimate
245. 8:48but this should not mean we come to him
246. 8:50casually or flippantly
247. 8:52our prayers don't need to be formal and
248. 8:54eloquent or even particularly
249. 8:56intelligent
250. 8:57but they do need to be respectful
251. 9:01in paul's instructions to timothy about
252. 9:03prayer in the church body
253. 9:04he describes lifting holy hands
254. 9:08he is assuming that however we pray with
255. 9:11supplications or
256. 9:12intercessions or thanksgivings we do so
257. 9:14with reverence
258. 9:16understanding that to commune with the
259. 9:17one true god is a sacred
260. 9:20holy thing