Through Prayer Pt 6 Series

Opening Video: The Mighty Influence of a Praying Mom: Rhonwyn Kendrick’s Story

Series: Find Joy in The Journey Through Prayer

Thesis: Jesus was filled with joy and this inner joy came from His relationship with God the Father through prayer. Prayer and inner joy are linked together because prayer opens a door to the presence and guidance of the Lord. Prayer is connected with joy! Prayer is also connected with praise.

Scripture: Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

Summary:

Sermon 1: We observed some of the prayers of Jesus – to show us how He prayed.

Sermon 2: We studied the prayer Jesus gave us on - How to Pray called, “The Lord’s Prayer.”

Sermon 3: We studied last week “Why Pray?”

Sermon 4: We learned “Where should we pray?” The answer was Anywhere at any time!

Sermon 5: What happens when we pray? Answer: Miracles happen! Seriously – people get healed, lives get set free, people get delivered, families find forgiveness and inner healing, relationships are mended, marriages restored, cities changed, communities are changed and even countries are changed.

Sermon 6: P.R.A.Y.

Thesis: Misconceptions about prayer are common today so we need to have a proper understanding of the word - PRAY – P = Presence of God – R = Reminder of the race we are in – A = Awareness of the spiritual realm – Y = Yeshua in Hebrew means to rescue or deliver and is rooted in the name of Jesus.

Introduction:

The movie War Room:

Review of War Room:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Room_%28film%29

War Room is a 2015 American Christian drama film directed by Alex Kendrick and written by himself and Stephen Kendrick. It is the Kendrick brothers' fifth film and their first through their subsidiary, Kendrick Brothers Productions. Provident Films, Affirm Films and TriStar Pictures partnered with the Kendrick brothers to release the film.

The film was released in North American theaters on August 28, 2015, and received generally negative reviews from critics, but became a box office success and a sleeper hit, grossing $74 million worldwide including $67.8 million domestically to become the 7th highest-grossing Christian film in the United States.

Here is Roger Ebert’s review of the movie: from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/war-room-2015

“Attention all God-fearing victims of domestic abuse—have the Kendrick brothers got a film for you. They’re the moviemaking duo (Alex Kendrick directs and co-wrote this film with brother Stephen) whose Christian-themed pictures “Fireproof” and “Courageous” made a splash with church-going audiences long before last year’s swath of faith-based indies were put into production. Now the Kendricks have returned, raking up surprising sums at the box office with their latest wide release, “War Room.” It may not be as brazenly offensive as “God’s Not Dead” or as spectacularly inept as “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas,” but it’s still awful, offering all the forced humor and superficial substance of a half-baked homily…

…Spirituality can be a beautiful thing to explore in cinema, but “War Room” has no interest in engaging its audience on a personal level. It has one single goal, which according to the Kendricks, is the only goal worth having. The film wants to evangelize by preaching an ideology that requires its followers to view the world in black-and-white terms…

…The multitude of problems in their marriage can be boiled down to one cause: Satan. Once the evildoer is cast out of the house in a stirring, borderline psychotic monologue delivered by Elizabeth, everything changes…

…They must acknowledge that life is far more complicated than the typical Sunday sermon would indicate, and that faith means more than submitting to a controlled existence ruled by fear. They must portray the full dimensionality of the material world before they can begin to explore the spiritual one.

Despite the criticism from the world’s movie critics the movie has impacted many who have watched it and reminds us Christian of the power of Prayer – the critics don’t believe in prayer so they rip the movie as unrealistic – but it shows their ignorance to the power of prayer.

Quotes from Movie see Power Point slides:

I. P - Presence of God

a. Misconceptions of prayer: Prayer is not a practice but a lifestyle – Prayer is not about a planning session with God of what you want Him to do – prayer is not about provoking God to action – prayer is not to be a pretend action with God – prayer is not to be work but a pleasure – prayer is not about doing my time to please God – prayer is not a duty I must do three times a day – prayer is not a spiritual plateau it’s a beginning of an amazing journey with God – prayer was given to us not to be used to protest to God.