How to Make Prayer Important: A Commitment
to Prayer
Sunday, June 4, 2017
Series: This is Us.
Scripture: Acts 4:23-31 (pg. 1656)
Theme: Prayer as an important part of faith.
[PIC] This is a guy named Robert Tilton – you may
remember him, maybe not…
Back in the day, 20 or so years ago, Robert Tilton
was a very successful TV preacher.
At his peak, Robert Tilton was bringing in about
$80 million a year…
And was pastor of a mega-church of about 8,000
people… but not anymore.
Robert Tilton’s fall was steep and sudden…
And today, although he still has a website filled
with all kinds of despicable ways to get your money --4 out of the 6 buttons on his home page will ask
you to send him money…
Robert Tilton today is pastor of a church that
meets once a month in a hotel conference room in
southern California where about ½ dozen people attend.
[OFF]
And what exposed Robert Tilton as a fraud – was
prayer… or, I should say, the lack of it.
Over a period of a few weeks, investigators found
10s of 1000s of unopened, unread prayer requests that
had been sent to Robert Tilton’s ministry…
-2Although Robert Tilton promised to personally pray for
you if you sent a donation along w/ your prayer
request…
It became obvious that although the money found
its way to the right place, the prayer requests never did…
And once Robert Tilton was exposed as a praying
fraud, more embarrassing revelations quickly followed
and great was the fall.
What ruined Robert Tilton… was a simple failure to
pray.
Which leads me to humbly say, I hope my life as a
pastor is never measured by my praying.
Like most of you, like most human beings – I do pray.
I pray when I wake up… I pray before meals…
First thing in the office 6 mornings a week, I will
spend some time writing my prayer…
I pray in the car… when I ride my bike… I pray
when I meet with you… I pray when I go to bed…
I pray, because I have no choice...compelled.
Nevertheless, praying often seems like a duty…
Like brushing your teeth… I don’t remember the
last time brush my teeth was an adventure… but I do it.
Sometimes I wonder if God is as weary of my
praying as I am…
I want praying to be important.
I want it to matter… I think you do, too.
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[SLIDE]
So, because the Bible compels to, we have made prayer
one of our 5 commitments as Partners in Horizon.
This is the 4th of 5 we’ve been talking about.
And I hope we can make prayer important to us.
I hope it matters.
I think that if I were just released from jail… and if my
life was threatened if I ever talked about Jesus again…
I think, when I prayed, I would say, “O God, keep
me safe. Hide me and the people I love from those evil
men. Don’t let me ever go to jail again, O God; keep me
safe from harm.”
What’d’ya think- Sound like a pretty reasonable prayer?
Now, because there isn’t 1 way to have a conversation…
There isn’t 1 way to pray.
But we’re going to look at 1 prayer because it’s a church
prayer.
This prayer we’re going to look at happens as a
result of a rough patch for the very first group of
Christians.
Peter & John, who were the leaders of the church
in these very early days – they were arrested…
Wasn’t the first time in trouble… won’t be the last.
They got roughed up a little bit…
Threatened with worse treatment if they continued
to talk about Jesus…
And then released.
The very 1st thing Peter & John do is to find their church
friends…
And the 1st thing they all do, is to pray.
I want to read for you their prayer.
Acts 4:23-31, pg. 1656, SLIDES
=========================
These people never pray that pretty reasonable prayer.
I don’t know if this is a word-for-word transcript
of their prayer…
More than likely, I assume it’s an accurate
summary of what they prayed…
And if it is, it took them awhile to get around to
asking for anything in their prayer…
And when they did, it wasn’t for safety they askedIt was for courage.
It’s as if they all just knew, “Well, we ain’t gonna stop
talking about Jesus, so we better just ask for courage.”
So they did… and it worked.
Their prayer was answered… they continued
speaking boldly about Jesus was the summary verse.
But most of their prayer wasn’t asking for something at
all…
Most of their prayer was stating what they believed
about God and what they saw in the world…
I think this is important ---
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Most of their prayer was what they believed about God
and what they saw in the world.
In English – a “Despot” is a person who has absolute
power and who abuses it…
Often a Despot will use his absolute power to
oppress the people under him.
So – what did they believe about God?
Very simple: They believed God has the final
word.
This is his world.
He made it.
He’ll fix it.
It’s his.
There’s a very interesting word that gets used when they
pray…
v. 24 – “O Sovereign Lord…”
That’s not usually how I start my prayers…
Sometimes I say a kind of formal, “Dear Lord…”
(Don’t know there’s a right way… but…)
“Lord” is by far the most common way to address God in
the Bible… [SLIDE]
There’s a very normal Greek word for ‘Lord’ in
the Bible – It’s the Greek word, “Kurios” – 99% of the
time when you see the word, “Lord,” it’s probably the
word, “Kurios.”
However, 6 times there is another word used & it’s the
one used here … it’s the word, “Despota” – [SLIDE]
Does that look familiar at all?
It’s where we get our word, “Despot” - and our
word, “Despot” is not a very nice word.
Now – In Greek – the word didn’t have that negative
flavor to it…
It simply meant the person who had absolute power.
Josephus, who was a Jewish historian writing at
about the time of Jesus, wrote that when people used the
common expression, “Caesar is Lord,” they often used
the word, “Despota” –
Because they were confessing that there was no
power higher than Caesar.
They weren’t saying Caesar used his power in cruel
ways- just that there was no one who could overrule him.
[OFF]
So a despot was someone who could bend events –
Or bend history to his will because he had the
power to do so and no one could overrule him.
So – that’s what they believed about God: He has
ultimate authority… It’s his world…
He made it… he’ll fix it… it’s his.
He has the power to bend history to his will.
Now – hold that thought: What did the see in the world?
Well – it doesn’t always look like it’s God’s world.
It doesn’t look like God has all power.
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What they saw was a world that often appears to be in
rebellion against God…
In fact they quote their Bible… if you are looking
at what we read in your Bibles, you can probably see that
there’s a quote…
It comes from Psalm 2 – and Psalm 2 is all about
how the world doesn’t look like it is ruled by God…
It sometimes looks the opposite.
[SLIDE]
Psalm 2 says this:
Why are the nations so angry?
Why do they waste their time with futile plans?
The kings of the earth prepare for battle,
They plot together against the Lord and against his
anointed one.
‘Let us break their chains,’ they cry,
‘And free ourselves from slavery to God.’
But the one who rules in heaven laughs.
The Lord scoffs at them.
On the day that they prayed this prayer…
They are only a few weeks removed from Easter.
The world rebels… and goes its own way…
But rebellion, in the end, is futile.
The rebel world cannot win.
The world can throw all of its might and its force
and its violence and its darkness against God--And still, the world cannot win.
In fact, the men & women who are praying this prayer
were eye-witnesses of the world’s attempt to squish God.
Unlike you & me – they didn’t have to accept the
resurrection of Jesus on faith…
They didn’t have to believe…
They saw… they were witnesses, most of them.
Which (I hope you hear this) is the only acceptable
explanation for the existence of the early Church.
What fools they would be if, a month or 2 after the
crucifixion of Jesus, they were running around claiming
victory if Jesus was simply a rotting corpse in a tomb.
It would be insanity…
There is no victory for followers of Jesus if he
stayed dead.
Yeah – maybe some delusional people 1000 years later
might believe the myth…
Or maybe believe in some moral victory…
But 2 months after the crucifixion… what lunatic
would thumb his nose at Rome & say, “Yeah, you killed
him and all, but we still win.”
No – if he’s dead – we lose.
These people were eye-witnesses… it’s the only reason
they have to be still identifying themselves w/ Jesus.
They saw the rulers of Judaism all line up against 1
solitary man and threaten to extinguish him.
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They saw Pilate, representing the might & power of
Rome confront this solo preacher, “I have the power to
free you or kill you, don’t you know?”
They saw King Herod, full of distain and
disrespect, treat Jesus like a nothing-bug about to be
squashed…
He told how, when they were hooking him up w/
electrodes to torture him w/ electric shocks – he started to
pray… he had no more teeth in his blood-filled mouth; he
could no longer see--- but he prayed.
The police officers heard him praying to God and
this old, black man said they laughed & spit in his face…
“We are God here,” they said, while he prayed and
they tortured.
A world in rebellion… raging against God…
But it is futile rage.
They saw the rulers of the world rage & plot & launch all
of their power against Jesus…
And for a few lonely hours… it looked like they
won…
But heaven laughs… God scoffs.
These people saw – they saw Jesus win.
Which is why they believed what they did about God:
God is sovereign.
It is his world.
He made it… he’ll fix it… it’s his.
He has the power to bend even the worst moments
of history to his will.
They saw it… and they knew.
In South Africa … in the days after Apartheid collapsed,
one old, black man was giving his testimony of abuse
before the Truth & Reconciliation Commission…
He told the story of his unjust arrest by the white
policemen… he told how they beat him to a bloody mess
w/wooden clubs & iron rods…
And on this day, the Truth & Reconciliation showed how
futile is the world’s rage --This old black man was a witness to truth, who
gave his testimony and was then a man free to go home.
The former policemen were now sitting in the
prisoner’s box – heads hanging in shame…
As one accuser after another paraded before the
courtroom, pointed their voices at the 2 men once so full
of hate & violence…
And one after another, the accusers said, “There,
those 2 small, broken men, they are the ones who once
claimed to be god.”
This is how the Church prayed… this is what they say in
their prayer:
“God, you have the final word. This world is
yours. You’ll fix it; it belongs to you; your will will
prevail. See how the world rages in vain against you.
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See how futile is the world’s plotting; how empty the
world’s threats. How do we know? Jesus.”
When we pray, we are rebelling against whatever power
there is in this world that keeps people from God…
Praying is rebellion against poverty, against the
lostness of people we love, against oppression and
cruelty that ruins people…
And then, they make their very simple request: “Lord,
make us bold.”
It’s a magnificent prayer for courage.
Which means: Prayer is subversive.
That’s what prayer is – subversive.
What we do when we pray is to have a conversation.
The activity of prayer is talking – even if it’s just
talking in our minds or on a sheet of paper.
But what prayer is – is subversive.
I’ve been thinking a great deal about what prayer
is… I went looking for definitions & for synonyms and
that’s the best there is, at least in my mind -Prayer is subversive. [SLIDE]
According to Google… the current authority on all
things as they are…
To be subversive… is to be disruptive, troublemaking, seditious, revolutionary, rebellious, a renegade.
That’s what prayer is… that’s who pray-ers are.
That’s what we’re doing when we pray:
Disrupting the world that is against God & his will.
Making trouble for whatever is opposed to God,
whether it is disease or death or fear or loneliness—
Prayer is partnering with God to disrupt whatever there is
that comes between people…
It’s disrupting anger… impatience… prejudice…
It’s rebelling against our pride… our bitterness that
keeps us from forgiving…
It’s rebelling against our greed that keeps us from
being generous…
Our worry that keeps us from sleep…
Our shyness that keeps us from relationships…
Our lack of tact that keeps us from being
sensitive…
Our lack of courage that keeps us from talking…
Our busyness that keeps us from loving…
When we pray for our prodigal children, we are
renegades against a world that has our lost children in its
grip…
When we pray for our aunts and uncles and moms
and dads who may be sick and might be dying --When we grab their hands and pray by their
bedsides…
We are rebelling against the power of death which
frightens us and whispers that it will separate us…
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But we are standing firm with David who once wrote,
“Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will not fear, for you my great, magnificent God,
you are with me, even here.”
[OFF]
This is what we do when we pray --How important do you think this might be?
This is how it came to be that this small group of
people, a handful of Christ-followers, ultimately turned
the world upside down… they prayed:
“O God, the world is yours. See how futile is the
world’s rage? O God, give us courage, make us bold.”
And God answered.
Our Prayer Room is open whenever the building is
open…
On Wednesday mornings, we’ll check the prayer
box and we’ll pray for whatever needs are there…
Feel free to join us – about 8:30 in the morning…
Stay for as long as you want…
We want to make prayer important – here.
I’m grateful for a small group of people who also
want to make it important here…
If I try to name them, I’ll miss someone, so I won’t
try…
Except for JoAnn, who has made prayer cards &
who asked Doug Lapp to make a prayer box…
Several others who have been making a Prayer
Room --- downstairs – we also call it our Purple Room,
when you’re in it, the reason is obvious…
The insert in your bulletin JoAnn made explains some
very practical ways we hope you will partner with
Horizon in making prayer important – by praying.
Maybe you want to meet here during the week with a
partner or two – pack a lunch and meet in our purple
prayer room… and pray.
There are prayer cards in our prayer room for you to
write your requests – put the cards in the section mark
‘Prayed’ as a visible reminder that we do, in fact, pray…
When a prayer is answered – record it on the
section of the bulletin board that says, “Answered.”
Our Purple Prayer Room isn’t entirely finished –
But I hope you’ll wander down there today and
take a peak inside…
More than that – I hope you will use it…
I hope you will pray.