January 14, 2018
Stetson Memorial UMC
Sermon Series:
Lord…Teach
Us To Pray
What
are we really asking and praying for…?
Psalm
139:1-6, 13-18
Luke
11:1-4 The Voice
(Matthew
6:9-13 King James)
Lord…Teach
Us To Pray
The Lord be with you…
And also with you…
Let us pray…
Pray
that the words spoken are not my own but God’s Words…
Please
stand for the reading of the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 11, verses 1-4.
Listen to and for the Word of God for the people of God…Jesus’ disciples…
Good morning. By a show of hands how many of you
remember the first prayer you were ever taught? Give time to respond. What was it? Give time to answer. I think
the first one I remember is “Now I lay me down to sleep…I pray the Lord my soul
to keep…If I die before I wake… I pray the Lord my soul to take.” I know…kind of morbid for a kid, right?
Learning prayers is a great way for us to remember who God is and what God has
done and is doing in our lives.
But sometimes…prayer can be so mindless and
automatic that it loses all its true meaning. Some religions believe that you
have to say certain prayers for certain things. But what can happen is that
those prayers can become so repetitive that it becomes what we do instead of
what we feel. This can make our
relationship with God seem very distant. There is no real intimacy with God…no closeness
and warmth with Him.
There are prayers in the bible that others have
prayed that can help us get through each day. The 23rd Psalm is one
that we pray a lot. You here this one a lot at funerals. People are feeling
vulnerable and want to know God is near. The prayer of Jabez is another one (it’s found in 1 Chronicles 4:10). In
the middle of all this genealogy you have Jabez’s prayer… “Jabez cried out to the God of
Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your
hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain."
And God granted his request.” The one I use at the end of the service
is one that Aaron prayed of God’s people after they had assembled to here God’s
instructions…Numbers 6:24-26:
24 “‘“The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’
25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’
But the one that I think is the most prayed if
the one we call “The Lord’s Prayer”,
the one He taught His First Disciples. We still pray it today every Sunday at
the end of our prayer time. But have you ever really thought about what you are
praying? Have you ever really thought about what you and I are truly asking
from God? We recite it but have we grown numb at the beauty and affection it
encases within itself? Jesus taught His disciples to pray this way because it
was how He prayed. Remember, the
disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray because they saw Him go away, many
times, to sped time with God. They wanted the same relationship they saw Jesus
have with their God.
Each part of the prayer has meaning. It is not a
prayer of recitation but a prayer with and of purpose. It wasn’t just
happenstance that the prayer is prayed in the order that it is prayed. Have you
ever thought about Jesus’ prayer as many
call it? I would like to propose something for us. We have a little of 5
weeks before Lent… I would like for us to look at Jesus’ prayer…the Lord’s Prayer.
Let’s break it down together.
I would like for us to maybe recapture or maybe for the first time the meaning
behind the words we pray. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a
mindless drone just reciting the words. I want to be an intimate disciple
praying, pleading, feeling each and every word, I speak to God. I think it
would be a spiritual and spirit filled way to prepare for the Lenten Season of
contemplation of the high, wide and never-ending love of God for His creation
as God hung on a cross in the form of His Son…the babe in the manger we just
celebrated.
The journey is going to be fun, contemplative
and hard at times, but I think it is important as Jesus’ Followers to not just
be drones but be living, breathing, brothers and sisters having a relational
experience wit our Father, whom art in heaven.
Let
us pray…pray about the journey to the heart of God we are about to take.
Amen, amen, and AMEN!
=====================
January 14,
2018
protect us
from evil
Luke 11:4c
(John)
Wesley’s Notes on the Bible
Luke
11
11:1 Lord,
teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples - The Jewish masters used
to give their followers some short form of prayer, as a peculiar badge of their
relation to them. This it is probable John the Baptist had done. And in this
sense it seems to be that the disciples now asked Jesus, to teach them to pray.
Accordingly he here repeats that form, which he had before given them in his
sermon on the mount, and likewise enlarges on the same head, though still
speaking the same things in substance. And this prayer uttered from the heart,
and in its true and full meaning, is indeed the badge of a real Christian: for
is not he such whose first and most ardent desire is the glory of God, and the
happiness of man by the coming of his kingdom? Who asks for no more of this
world than his daily bread, longing meantime for the bread that came down from
heaven? And whose only desires for himself is forgiveness of sins, (as he
heartily forgives others,) and sanctification.
11:2 When ye
pray, say - And what he said to them is undoubtedly said to us also. We are
therefore here directed, not only to imitate this in all our prayers, but to
use this very form of prayer. Matthew 6:9-13.
11:4 Forgive
us; for we forgive them - Not once, but continually. This does not denote the
meritorious cause of our pardon; but the removal of that hindrance which
otherwise would render it impossible.
&
January 14,
2018
starting with
God
Luke 11:2b
“Father,
hallowed be your name.” (NRSV)
edited January
14, 2018
praying daily –
v2
January 14,
2018
praying daily
January 13,
2018
we breathe in
His prayers
January 13,
2018
teach us, Lord
Jesus
January 13,
2018
submit to
Christ’s teaching
January 13,
2018
do you just
mouth the words
January 13,
2018
in prayer, in
trust, in submission
January 13,
2018
modeling
prayer
January 14,
2018
Stetson
Memorial UMC
Sermon Series:
Lord…Teach Us
To Pray
What are we
really asking and praying for…?
Luke 11:1-4 (The
Voice)
“The Lord’s
Prayer”
Matthew 6:9-13 (King James Version)
“The Lord’s
Prayer”
Psalm 139:1-6,
13-18 (Complete Jewish Bible)
1 Chronicles
4:10
“Prayer of
Jabez”
Number 6:24-26
and sermon “Lord Teach Us to Pray…”
text
video
by Pastor Ruth
Foss
sermon blog
meditation
blog
“God’s
Whisper” blog
Children’s
Message
by Pastor Ruth
Foss
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
January 14,
2018
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