Sermon Tone Analysis

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! Introduction
            Our son had a hockey game in a town in which we had not been before.
Since we were late,  I didn’t want to stop to ask directions.
I reasoned, “how hard can it be to find an arena in a rural Canadian town?”
Well, it was harder than I thought.
After driving several of the streets, I finally found someone who lived in the town and asked them for directions and got to the arena just in time, with a very nervous hockey player.
On Tuesday, I was in Winnipeg and took the ink cartridge from my printer to a place in St. Vital mall which refills cartridges.
They also sell a kit so you can refill  the ink yourself.
The guy at the counter told me that people buy the kit and then return it saying it doesn’t work.
When he looks at the kit, he notices that the instruction booklet hasn’t even been opened.
Why are we like that?
They say that men don’t ask for directions, but I think that sometimes we can all be like that.
How many of you have read the instruction manual for your answering machine or your VCR?
We would rather figure it out on our own or not figure it out than ask for help.
There is something very independent in our spirit that makes it hard for us to ask for directions.
Last week we examined the importance of prayer.
We learned that we have an invitation to pray and a command to pray.
We learned that God has chosen to act in response to the prayers of his people and that therefore, our prayers are important.
Yet do we pray as we ought?
What will move us to prayer?
 
! I.
The Sin Of Prayerlessness
!! A. Why Prayerlessness Is Sin
            This is much more serious than we think.
Andrew Murray has written a book called “The Prayer Life” and in that book he talks about “the sin of prayerlessness.”
Corrie Ten Boom has also said that prayerlessness is a sin.
The Bible concurs with this serious statement.
In Zephaniah 1:4,6 God says,  “I will cut off…those who…neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him.”
I suspect that all of us pray, but how seriously do we take prayer?
How often and how much do we pray?
Is it a priority in our life?
We may tend to look at little prayer as merely a weakness, but as we see from God’s word, it is a sin.
Why is prayerlessness a sin and not just a weakness?
Prayerlessness is a sin because it is disobedience to the command of God.
Last week, we saw that God has not only invited us to pray, but has also commanded us to pray.
Very simply stated, when we don’t do what God asks us to do, that is sin.
It is sin for other reasons as well.
It is a rejection of what God has already done for us.
If I wasn’t so much like them, I would be even more amazed at the actions of the Israelites.
They had just observed God redeem them from Egypt and lead them through the Red Sea.
There was no doubt that these events were done by the powerful hand of God as an expression of his love for them.
Just days later, they found themselves without water.
Did not run to God for help and thus affirm their joy at being redeemed from Egypt? No, instead, they complained to Moses.
The story is found in Exodus 17:1-7.
It seems to me that this action was a rejection of God’s goodness already demonstrated as they failed to go to God for help when they again found themselves in need.
Failing to ask God for help is also an indication that our life is lived under the power of the flesh rather than in dependence on God.
Andrew Murray says, “A life lived according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit- it is in this that we find the origin of the prayerlessness of which we complain.”
We recognize that a life lived in the power of the flesh is a life of sin.
Furthermore, when we depend on self instead of on God, we reveal the real problem and that is that we don’t trust God.
In Matthew 13:58 we are told that Jesus “…did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.”
Lack of prayer is the sin of lack of trusting God.
!! B. Overcoming This Sin
So we see that not praying is sin.
What can we do about that?
Andrew Murray says, “Many think that they must, with their defective spiritual life, work themselves up to pray more.
They do not understand that only in proportion as the spiritual life is strengthened can the prayer life increase.”
We will pray more and overcome the sin of prayerlessness as we make our relationship with God a much greater priority in our life.
If knowing God and having a friendship with God is what is important to us, we will soon find ourselves praying more.
Haddon Robinson tells the following story.
“When our children were small, we played a game.
I'd take some coins in my fist.
They'd sit on my lap and work to get my fingers open.
According to the international rules of finger opening, once the finger was open, it couldn't be closed again.
They would work at it, until they got the pennies in my hand.
They would jump down and run away, filled with glee and delight.
Just kids.
Just a game.
“Sometimes when we come to God, we come for the pennies in his hand.
"Lord, I need a passing grade.
Help me to study."
"Lord, I need a job."
"Lord, my mother is ill."
“We reach for the pennies.
When God grants the request, we push the hand away.
“More important than the pennies in God's hand is the hand of God himself.
That's what prayer is about.
When you go to God in prayer, the name that should come easily to your lips is Father.”
So the starting point of more prayer is to ask ourselves about our relationship to God.
Spiritual renewal will move us to prayer.
Are you open to God’s renewing work in your heart?
We will be moved to pray when we trust God and when our hearts are turned to God.
!
II.
Our Desperation
What else will motivate us to pray?
A few years ago, someone came to our church looking for gas money and some food.
Of course, we gave what we could.
Later, I found out that he had done this in every church in town.
What is our opinion of someone who is always looking for help.
Don’t we become tired of such a person and although we may help them, they become a drain on us and our resources.
As a result, our understanding becomes that asking for help is not a good thing.
The sense that we should look after ourselves and be self sufficient is very strong in us.
The problem is that we transfer that attitude to our relationship to God.
We think that we should be independent and only ask God when we are really in trouble.
With God, however, the truth is exactly the opposite.
He wants us to ask Him.
He wants us to be dependent on Him.
Look at what the Scripture says.
In Psalm 147:10,11 we read, “His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”
God doesn’t want us to become self sufficient, he wants us to live in dependence on Him.
We will pray when we understand our utter dependence on God.
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