Sermon Tone Analysis

May 11, 2008                                                                                                          SD21

An Amazing Prayer Partner.doc

file: G2

An Amazing Prayer Partner

(Mother’s Day)

Third in series on the believers Senior Partner

 

(open with illus re: mother’s day—10 things mom really wants for Mothers Day)

!! What Mom Really Wants for Mothers Day

* *

10.

To be able to eat a whole candy bar by herself, and drink glass of  

Coke without any "floaters"

9.     To have my 14 year old answer a question without rolling her eyes in that "Why is this person my mother?"

way.

8.     Five pounds of chocolate that won't add twenty.

7.     A shower, without a child peeking through the curtain with a "Hiya, Mom" just as I put razor to my ankle.

6,     A full-time cleaning person, who looks like Brad Pitt.

5.     For my teenager to announce, "Hey, Mom!

I got a full scholarship

and a job all in the same day!"

4      A grocery store that doesn't have candy~/gum~/cheap toys displayed

at the checkout line.

4.     To have a family meal without a discussion about bodily secretions.

2,     To be able to sit down on a plane with my toddlers and not have

some pencil-neck-yuppie moan, "Ohhh, nooo!

Why me?"

1.       Four words: Fisher Price Play Prison.

Today is Mother’s Day and also Pentecost Sunday—

And This is the third in a sermon series on the Believer’s Senior Partner…the Holy Spirit

 

If there is anything a Mother needs it is a Senior Partner in the work of parenting…(Fathers too!)

And you especially need a partner in prayer.

Because a mother’s Prayers can make an eternal difference

 

And today I want to talk to you about an amazing prayer partner.

How many of you believe that prayer is important???

We all agree!

But let me ask you a few more questions

 

Have you ever struggled to pray? (Guilt; Busyness; Weariness)

Have you ever struggled to stay focused while praying?

Have you ever been confused about what to pray for; or how to pray about it?

(Some counsel us to "Be Specific With God" -- we would if we could!

Is God really waiting on us to word the prayer right before He'll consider it?)

I was looking through my file on all the articles and books I have saved on the subject of prayer—

 

The hour that changes the world—how to praying one hour a day

Praying without ceasing

100 reasons why I must fast

19 ways to pray for our missionaries

101 ways to pray without ceasing

The sixty second sin

31 Biblical Virtues to pray for your kids

30 Scripture based Prayers for your pastor

 

Now  don’t misunderstand me!

I believe in prayer!

But what I don’t believe in is guilt-motivated prayer…I believe in Spirit driven prayer…

 

Much of what I read on prayer makes me feel very un-spiritual…and so there is this tendency to “leave it to the ones who really know how to do it right…”   It makes me feel that if I can’t do it the way the spiritual people can then why do it at all?

 

Chuck Swindol writes: “To be painfully honest with you, most of the stuff I have ever read dor ehard said about prayer has either left me under a tone-and-a-half truck-load of guilt or wearied me with pious-sounding clichés and meaningless God=talk.

Without trying to sound ultra cynical, I frequently have walked away thinking, “who needs it?”

Because I didn’t spend two or three grueling hours a day on my knees as dear Dr. So-and-so did…or because I failed to say it just the “right way” (whatever that means)..or because I wasn’t able to weave several Scripture verses through my prayer…or because I have not been successful in moving mountains, I picked up the distinct impression that I was out to lunch when it came to this part of the Christian life.

It seemed almost spooky, mystical, and (dare I say it) even a little superstitious.

A lot of the verbal mumbo jumbo laced with a secret jargon some people had and others didn’t.

And I definitely didn’t…”

 

Can you relate to Chuck’s thoughts????

 

We all have some time thought that prayer was just too mysterious for us---something that ought to be left to those especially called to this ministry of prayer…the very spiritual!

But the power of prayer is available to each and every one of us and it is not all that secret…

      The secret of prayer is just pray!

Just talk to God!

                 

True spirituality is very natural---it is supernatural but it is very natural to the one who has been born from above—born again by the Spirit.

It is not some ethereal mystery—

      You can be naturally spiritual—living life to its fullest!

Today I want to talk to you about your prayer partner—your senior partner in life is also your partner in prayer---he is the one who will teach you to pray!

He is the one who will help you keep the communication lines open…

 

This “prayer partnering relationship” we are meant to have with the Holy Spirit is made clear in three powerful passages of scripture:

 

*PPT*  Jude 20 — "But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit."

*PPT*   Ephesians 6:18 —"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

*PPT*   Romans 8:26,27 — "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."

*I want us to focus on 3 very practical ways the Holy Spirit partners with us in prayer—*

 

*PPT**  1.

The Holy Spirit Stirs Us to Pray*

If the truth be known —

* There are many of us who view prayer as our idea -- as something we initiate –

·         let’s be honest, it's most often when we're in a jam —

 

Like the pilot of a single engine plane who radioed an urgent message to the control tower:

“Pilot to tower, I’m 300 miles from the airport, 600 feet above the ground, and I’m out of fuel.

I am descending rapidly.

Please advise.

Over.”

Moments later the air traffic controller responded —

“Tower to pilot ... repeat after me — ‘Our Father who art in heaven...’”

 

For many people prayer is a way of trying to get God’s attention and help for our specific problem…a way to get God to do what we want him to do….*for us!  NOW!*

 

*LISTEN*-- Prayer doesn't start with us knocking on God's door … prayer starts with God knocking on our door!

Revelation 3:20  “behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in to him and eat with him and he with Me.”

This verse is not about evangelism for the lost it is about God’s call for fellowship to a group of people (a church) that had lost its vital connection with Him.

 

*PPT *and this is  *relational prayer*

*      The Holy Spirit stirs us to – relational prayer*

*            *Getting closer to God—we build our relationship with God through prayer---

 

*PPT ** The Holy Spirit stirs us to – Fighting prayer*

*      Warfare prayer—*

*            Front line battle*

* *

Do you know that our greatest battles are not financial?

They are not physical or relational