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Worship Celebration June 3, 2023
Order of Service and Sermon Notes
Order of Service
Welcome & Announcements
Worship in Song & Proclamation
God So Loved
Be Thou My Vision
Christ Our Hope in Life and Death
Sweet Hour of Prayer
Moment for Missions
Prayer
Scripture Reading Mathew 6:5-8
Message Becoming a Praying Church, Part 1: The Lord’s Prayer
Worship in Song
Worthy is the Lamb
Going into the world
“We are committed, multiplying followers of Jesus Christ – Reaching UP, Reaching IN, Reaching OUT.
Sermon Notes
Becoming a Praying Church, Part 1: The Lord’s Prayer
Scripture Reading: Mathew 6:5-8
““And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
So we are told to not be like the hypocrites.
What were the hypocrites doing and who were they?
They stood in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen when they prayed.
They were doing this to be seen.
There is a play between public and private and being seen by people, and being seen by God. We don’t need to have others see us pray, God sees us and he sees our hearts. This isn’t a declaration against public prayer, it is a condemnation of public prayer for being acknowledged for our piety.
We are also told to not babble like the Gentiles.
Babble or your translation may say thoughtless repetition, doesn’t have a great translation into english. It encompasses both unintelligible speech and route repetition. Gentile (Pagan) religions had practices that the more they repeated their prayers the more likely their god(s) were to hear them.
As a church who desires to be a praying church we will take to heart the example of the Lord’s Prayer and seek God in prayer with a right attitude.
Prayer is God Centered.
“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
Remember who you are praying to. This is God creator of heaven and earth, who we are privileged to call Father. There is an acknowledgement of intimacy and closeness with God in this statement. There is a call to acknowledge God’s holiness, His set apartness, His uniqueness, and His perfect wholeness.
When we Pray we Affirm God’s Will.
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
God’s kingdom is the upside down kingdom where the first will be last and the last will be first. To gain your life you must lose it.
When I lead us and pray for opportunities to connect with our community and our neighbors it is to share the love of Christ. It is to be hands of feet of Christ and it is for us to be the inbreaking of God’s kingdom.
When we Pray we can Ask of God for our Needs..
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
“Give us this day our daily bread,”
So first Jesus started with who God is and God’s desire and His kingdom, lastly he turns to that which is likely the most familiar component of prayer to us, petition for ourselves.
So we need to remember our needs in light of God kingdom. That doesn’t mean when we are struggling financially we can’t bring that concern before God, it just means we need to check our heart.
“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
Why would we ask God to forgive us as we forgive others?! When people wrong us, we want them to deserve forgiveness, but that isn’t how God forgives us is it?
This is really an appeal for God to transform our hearts. This reminds me of the parable of the unforgiving servant from
Our attitude and actions matter to God. So we should be praying for transformation and compliance in our life. This is a deep need for us, though we may not recognize it. As we look at further prayers in our series, we will see obedience and compliance with God’s commands pop up again.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Temptation in this case may be better translated as testing. We know from
that God doesn’t tempt us into doing evil. He does however allow tests of faith in our lives. This is a prayer that acknowledges our weakness and our frailty. We don’t like pain and suffering, but sometimes we must go through it. We are ok to pray about circumstances that we do not enjoy or do not desire to go through. Notice that it doesn’t end with simply a petition to avoid testing, but then immediately goes on to ask for deliverance out of evil, temptation, sin. This isn’t much different than Jesus praying in the garden, asking that this cup would pass from him, in other words, praying for an alternative. And yet, just like here Jesus in the garden moves on to say, not my will, but your will be done.
Conclusion
This prayer is the ultimate example to us as we come to petition God. It helps us stay God centered in our prayer, it helps us to seek and affirm God’s will, and to know that we can bring all ofour needs before God.
As a church who desires to be a praying church we will take to heart the example of the Lord’s Prayer and seek God in prayer with a right attitude.
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