Sermon Tone Analysis

*Prayer of Preparation            *One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.

I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.

Psalm 84 The Message

*Prelude*

*Introit*

*welcome, announcements, joys and concerns*

*~*Hymn                        Precious Lord             #422 *

*~*Call to Worship        *Psalm 84:1,2 -- "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord.

My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

*~*Invocation* ~/ Lord’s Prayer(sung)  # 433

In confidence we come to thee, O Lord, asking assurance in our faith, asking direction in our decision making, asking strength in our difficult work, and asking love in our relationships.

In Christ's name we pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, at it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever.

Amen

*~*Gloria Patri *

*Responsive **Reading**  *Habakkuk 3:1,2,17,18,19 NLT

/1//This prayer was sung by the prophet Habakkuk:/ 

*2**I have heard all about you, Lord, and I am filled with awe by the amazing things you have done.

In this time of our deep need, begin again to help us, as you did in years gone by.

Show us your power to save us.

And in your anger, remember your mercy.*

/17//Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, /

*18**yet I will rejoice in the Lord!

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.*

*/19/**/The Sovereign Lord is my strength!

He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains./*

* *

*(Young’s Peoples Moment )* 

Call to Prayer   Psalm 130:1 We can cry out to God in prayer even from the darkest night of despair.

He will hear us.

Prayer Hymn

*Pastoral Prayer          *Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love.

It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear.

Open our hearts not to just those whom are close to us, but to all humanity.

Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.*

*

Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the one who cut us off in traffic last night may be a single mother who worked nine hours and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

\\ Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly may  be a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

\\ Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day may be a slave to addictions that we can only imagine! in our worst nightmares.

\\ Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

\\ ~*Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love.

Open our hearts to all humanity.

Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.*

*

*Musical response*

*Offertory sentence  *I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.’

*offering*           Doxology

*of*fertory prayer Receive these our offerings and bless their use, that they may find diverseavenues of service in this place and throughout the world.

AMEN

Hymn                           Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart            #182

Scripture Text   Ephesians 6: 18-24

18Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication.

To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

19Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains.

Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

* *

*Keep In Prayer* by Michael Adkins \\ Do you spend time praying?

~/    Why?~/

What is the purpose of prayer?

~/ Do you pray in order to change the mind of an unchangeable God, a God who is outside time?

~/           Or ~/ do you pray like Aladdin to the genie in the bottle, thinking that God will grant you 3 wishes?

~/ Or ~/       did you try that, and the wishes didn’t come true, so now you pray out of obedience but you don’t understand why? ~/ Does prayer work?

~/ Is anything accomplished through prayer, is anything changed by you or me getting on our knees and talking to God? \\ I believe every Christian struggles with some of these questions at times.

Each one of us has deeply desired something - the salvation of a loved one, victory over persistent sin, the healing of a sick person, revival in our country, - we’ve deeply desired something, prayed earnestly for it, and seen . . .

nothing.

\\ This is a common experience of Christians, and I am certain that some here are feeling: "I’ve tried and tried to pray; I’ve tried to be like that persistent widow knocking on the door of the unjust judge - and I don’t see results.

Why keep trying?"

\\ Let’s listen once again to these verses - this time as translated in The Message.~/~/ Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words.

Learn how to apply them.

You’ll need them throughout your life.

God’s Word is an indispensable weapon.

In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare.

Pray hard and long.

Pray for your brothers and sisters.

Keep your eyes open.

Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

And don’t forget to pray for me.

Pray that I’ll know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one and all, the Message that I, jailbird preacher that I am, am responsible for getting out.

In these verses Paul gives us at least 7 lessons for effective prayer, for prayer that works.

First, Effective prayer follows putting on the armor of God.

In verse 10 Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

He then instructs us to put on the full armor of God, and tells us about that armor in verses 11-17.

\\ Remember, putting on the armor consists of turning our thoughts to God and the truths of our position before Him: He has given us His truth, which is completely trustworthy; we’re covered by the righteousness of Christ, and thus can never be condemned; God has granted us his peace, peace between us and God, peace between man and man.

Then we are to take up the shield of faith, our confidence in what we cannot see, so that we are not fooled by appearances.

And we are to take up the helmet of the hope of salvation, knowing that we are predestined to be glorified in the presence of Christ.

And finally we are to take up the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, as God makes particular parts of his word come alive for us just when we need them.

\\ Putting on the armor of God allows us to see the world as it really is.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:7 to walk by faith not by sight, not by appearances.

\\ True reality is invisible to us; putting on the armor allows us to see things as they really are.

If we don’t first put on the armor, we will pray out of misconceptions concerning the nature of reality, who we are, and who God is.

Furthermore, if we jump into prayer without first turning our thoughts to these truths, we are not protected against Satan’s attacks.

\\ Our initial turning to God in prayer causes an alarm to sound in Satan’s headquarters - he will do anything possible to keep us from praying.

So as soon as we turn to God, Satan frequently attacks in any way possible.

We are most in need of the armor when we begin to pray.

So effective prayer requires first putting on the armor.

Second, Effective prayer includes all types of prayer.

Paul says we are to pray "with ALL prayer" in verse 18.

The Greek word used can mean "all" or "all types".

There are many ways to pray, many types of prayer.

Our prayer should not be the same or even of the same form each day.