Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Bott

My Health Report

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I want to talk to us for just a little bit tonight on a prayer model that was developed and was and is still used by the Mangun family for decades.

Bishop G. A. Mangun used this model for 70 years.

His Son G. Anthony Mangun, the current pastor of one of the largest churches in the UPC, uses this prayer model every day.

His son Gentry A. Mangun who has already been named the next pastor of POA, uses this model every day to.

Now, why does that make it so special?

Well, if you’ve ever been to POA, you’d probably know what I’m talking about.

It is a church that seats around 3,000 souls in a town of less than 50,000.

To put that in perspective, we have a church that seats 300 in a town of 150,000.

The Manguns are soul winners.

They attracted the attention and gained the respect of presidents, governors and other high ranking officials.

They’ve done it without compromising the truth.

When you go to BOTT, you realize instantly that the church is full of the Holy Ghost.

It is saturated in the spirit.

They aren’t messing around.

The people of POA are all involved in prayer.

They have one lady that has a daily prayer meeting at her house that is been going continuously for over 500 days and has a few hundred people coming and going at any given hour of the day.

This prayer model that I’m going to share with you tonight is what the Manguns used to build their church.

There are other models, including the one Jesus gave us in Matthew chapter 6.

In fact, the model I’m giving you tonight very closely resembles that one.

You can use any model that works for you, but use something.

Without some type of prayer model we tend to have ineffective prayer time.

If you have ineffective prayer time, eventually you will start skipping prayer.

If you start skipping prayer, the church gets weaker.

There is a stark difference between a church that prays and a church that doesn’t.

We’ve felt it here.

We’ve come in this place after a season of prayer and felt the difference.

At the section 1 Ministers Christmas party last month a prayer need was brought up at the start of it.

Instantly all the preachers stood and began to pray, and without missing a beat the Holy Ghost swept into that place.

It didn’t take hours, minutes or even seconds.

It was instant.

I told michele afterwards, did you feel that when we all started praying?

She said, yes, I wondered if you noticed it.

There is something different about prayer when a lot of saints get together that are ready to pray instantly.

It is way more effective, way more powerful.

You can feel a difference in the atmosphere.

I believe we can have that every time we come together if we will follow a model for prayer.

Here’s the kind of prayer that we have without a model:

Demonstrate weak repetitive prayer

Let’s face it, we all do it at times.

We’re all tired.

We’re all in a hurry.

We want to get into the Holy of Holies and make a request of God.

So, we try to skip right to it.

Listen,

Don’t be so quick to enter the Holy of Holies that you blow right by the brazen altar.

God expects a sacrifice before he lets us into his presence.

When we look at the Lord’s prayer, he warns us of this weak prayer life that has no effect.

Matt 6:5-

From that passage we learn that we can’t be proud of our prayer life.

It is meant to be a sacrifice, not something to boast about.

We also see that we shouldn’t use vain repetitions.

Don’t just keep repeating the same words over and over.

Ironically, many people vainly just repeat the word’s of the Lord’s prayer over an over even though it was mean to be a model.

He said, pray after this manner.

The 3rd thing we learn from Matt chapter 6 is that God already knows what we need before we ask it.

So, why are we rushing to the Holy of Holies to ask him something as if He doesn’t already know.

He knows the words in your mind before they tough your tongue.

So, the models for prayer are not so God can learn what we are dealing with, he knows that already, the model for prayer is so that we can make a sacrifice and give God the Glory that he deserves.

Alright, let’s get into this lesson.

The first thing we should notice about our text is that the tabernacle was supposed to be a pattern.

The primary purpose of this pattern was to create a way for God to dwell among us.

That’s all that God really wants.

He wants communion with us.

He wants a relationship with us.

The tabernacle was the Old Testament pattern for this.

Today, we are the tabernacle.

1 Cor

So, today we are God’s tabernacle.

Tabernacle literally means dwelling place.

I’m God’s house.

You’re God’s house.

He longs to live inside of you.

So, how do we make that happen?

We can follow the Old Testament pattern to see how they were able to keep God dwelling in their Tabernacle.

We’re going to touch on 8 parts of the Tabernacle and use them as a model for prayer that is effective at entering into the Holy of Holies every time you pray.

They are:

The Entrance gate

The Brazen Altar

The Laver of Water

The Five Pillars (Entrance to Holy Place)

The Holy Place

The Golden CandleStick

The Table of Showbread

The Altar of Incense

The Holy of Holies

For each piece of furniture in the tabernacle, I’m going to give you a brief description for the sake of time, and then some verses that go with this stage of prayer, then some specific things that you can pray during this stage, and then a short example of how you might pray.

Entrance Gate

Desc

There was only one entry into the Tabernacle, and it was also the exit.

There was no side door, or back door that you use to take a shortcut to the throne room.

Jesus said, I am the door and no man comes to the Father but by me.

The gate had 4 columns which are symbolic of the 4 gospels of Jesus, and they were draped with linen twisted together of blue, purple and scarlet.

The blue represents the deity of Christ, the purple his royalty, and the scarlet for the blood he shed for us.

He is the way, the Truth, and the life.

Focus

When you are starting your prayer at the Gate, your primary focus in on praising Jesus.