OPEN: There’s a favorite Christian song from years ago called “I walked today where Jesus walked” and it goes like this:
“I walked today where Jesus walked, in days of long ago.
I wandered down each path He knew, with reverent step and slow.
Those little lanes, they have not changed. A sweet peace fills the air.
I walked today where Jesus walked, and felt His presence there. “
It’s a beautiful song that tells of visiting Bethlehem, the Hills of Galilee, the Mount of Olives, the Mighty Jordan and ultimately speaks of climbing the Hill of Calvary – “where on the Cross He died”.
It’s a beautiful song, and it’s been heard by 1000s of believers.
But 1000s more have actually had the privilege of going to the Promised Land.
To actually see the places where Jesus walked.
Now, most of the time, those are guided tours, where folks get onto huge tour buses and are driven down the road to visit various holy sites where Jesus would have been.
But, a few years ago, someone put together a 40 mile hiking path called the “Jesus trail”. Travelers can hire a guide, download GPS coordinates from Jesustrail.com or pick up trail maps at tourist sites.
The path is meant to be hiked in four days.
You can start off the trail in Nazareth, and sleep in the town where Jesus lived in as a boy. And as you hike the trail you can stay at occasional guest houses or you can carry tents with you and camp out along the path.
Tour Buses only stop at the known holy sites, but this path lets you actually see the flowers, and sense the feel of the land as you walk for 4 days … “where Jesus walked.”
Now wouldn’t that be cool?
Wouldn’t you love to be able to experience that trail?
I’d love to try it.
But that’s just tourism.
That’s just sight-seeing.
Year ago, I went to visit St. Louis and I loved visiting the various sites there. But I didn’t really get to feel what it was like to live in that city. I was just a tourist. I didn’t really walk where people who lived there walked.
If you and I really want to walk as Jesus walked we need to learn to live like Jesus lived. And one of the most prominent parts of Jesus’ life was His prayer life.
One scholar read through the book of Matthew and he focused on the top 10 topics Jesus taught . Coming in at number 9 was prayer (46 verses)
(James E. Smith, “The Restoration Herald”)
Someone else did a study all 4 of the Gospels and found that there were 17 different times when we’re told that Jesus prayed. They found that:
• He prayed early in the morning, late at night, all through the night.
• He prayed at the beginning of His ministry. (Luke 3:21-22)
• He prayed before He chose His 12 disciples. (Luke 6:12-13)
• He prayed before healing the crowds. (Mark 1:35)
• He prayed before He fed the 5,000. ( Mark 6:41)
• He prayed before bringing Lazarus back to life . . . ( John 11:41-43)
• Jesus prayed before His Transfiguration . . .( Luke 9:28-29)
• Jesus prayed at the Mount of Olives before being betrayed . . . (Luke 22:39-42)
• And He prayed while He was on the cross . . . (Luke 23:34)
And Romans 8:38 tells us that Jesus is STILL praying!!!
Jesus is now “at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
You see, if we want to walk today where Jesus walked you and I need to learn to kneel as Jesus knelt. One of the verses of that song I shared at the beginning of the sermons said:
“I knelt today where Jesus knelt, where all alone he prayed.
The Garden of Gethsemane, my heart felt unafraid.”
(PAUSE)
Now many folks have a problem when it comes to a preacher getting up and preaching on prayer. The reason it’s a problem is that it is a “guilt” thing. They feel guilty because they don’t feel like they pray enough throughout the week.
Have you ever felt guilty about that?
Me too.
One man once asked: I wonder why we don't sing, "Sweet minute of Prayer" as opposed to “sweet hour of Prayer” because we only seem to pray a few minutes each day.:
A lot of good Christians beat themselves up over the they don’t spend as much time as they’d like in prayer.
Now, I don’t think the problem is the amount of time we spend in prayer.
I think the problem is that many Christians see prayer as an obligation.
They see it as something they HAVE to do.
Not something they GET to do.
ILLUS: To illustrate this point, I want to substitute another word for “prayer” this morning.
I want to substitute the word “cellphone”
Now this is my Smart Phone.
I can do all kinds of things with this phone.
• I can play games
• I can put notes to myself as reminders
• I can use it as a scheduling calendar.
o I can surf the internet
o Send text messages/ emails/ twitters
o OR I can do what you always should use a phone for (call up a friend)
Now, do you think I worry about how LITTLE I use my phone?
(NO)
That’s right. Nobody worries about using their phones too little.
In fact, if anything people worry about using their phones too MUCH, because many phone companies will charge you a hefty sum if you go over your limit.
So, folks like me pay for a cell phone plan called an “unlimited” plan. Under that kind of plan, no matter how many minutes we use our phones to call, text or surf internet, it’s all good… because it’s all covered.
I use my phone many times throughout the day.
In fact, cell phones become so much a part of people’s lives I’ve heard of a phenomena called a “phantom vibration”. That’s when you ordinarily carry the phone in your shirt and pants pocket, and even when you don’t have the phone with you, you can feel it vibrate.
Nobody ever worries about using their phones too much… because we all find we need it.
Now WHY do I use my cell phone so much?
Is it because I feel guilty if I don’t use it?
Is it because I feel an OBLIGATION to use my use my cell phone?
OF COURSE NOT!
I use my cell phone because I understand its value to me.
You see – there are many folks that see prayer as a religious obligation.
You gotta do it because that’s what religious folks do.
And thus we can end up being like pagans who think they’ll be heard for their many prayers.
ILLUS: There are folks who look at the Muslims and say
“Look how religious they are. They pray 5 times a day!”
Have you ever heard someone say that?
But their prayers are nothing more than recitations.
They memorize it and recite it from memory.
It’s a religious obligation for them.
Their prayers aren’t heartfelt pleas – they are religious commitments.
Do you think that’s how Jesus prayed?
Do you think Jesus prayed out of a religious obligation?
Do you think Jesus prayed because He saw it as commitment He had to fulfill?
No.
Jesus didn’t pray to fulfill an obligation.
When Jesus prayed, He did so because He felt the NEED to pray.
ILLUS: Now, not everybody believes that.
As I was researching this text, I encountered the following quote from a famous commentator named Adam Clarke who implied that Jesus didn’t really need to pray:
Commenting on our text for this morning, he wrote:
“Not that (Jesus) needed any thing, for in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”
Now, was Clarke right???.
Did the fullness of the Godhead really dwell inside Jesus?
That’s what Colossians 2:9 says:
“For in (Jesus) the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” (ESV)
So, Clarke was right - Jesus was God in the flesh
The fullness of the Godhead dwelt inside His human body.
However, what Clarke is implying is this:
Jesus didn’t need to pray.
The only reason He did so was to “put on a show for our benefit”
But that’s all wrong.
Jesus NEEDED to pray. And the proof of the fact was in HOW Jesus prayed.
• Many times Jesus would get up and go off by Himself to pray
• Sometimes He’d pray all night by Himself
• He wept when He prayed
• And once - when He prayed - He bled drops of blood.
To say that Jesus was just doing His prayers for show would be to put our Savior on the same level as the Pharisees… who did all their praying for show.
But Jesus DIDN’T pray for show.
Jesus prayed because He needed to pray.
But now, wait a minute. If Jesus was God… why on earth would He need to pray?
Well, several reasons come to mind, but I’m going to focus on two reasons this morning.
Philippians 2:5-8 tells us:
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
Jesus literally set aside His God-ness to come down to earth.
He surrendered His divinity and allowed Himself to be clothed in human flesh.
He gave up the safety of heaven and exposed Himself to hunger, thirst, pain and sorrow.
When Jesus became human it wasn’t like putting on a Halloween costume.
It wasn’t like He was pretending to be something He wasn’t.
He set aside WHO He was to become WHAT we are.
Thus, because Jesus became what we are He needed prayer like we do.
He was NO LONGER God in Godly robes -He was now God in human flesh.
Being human meant He was faced with the same weaknesses and limitations as we are.
So, when Jesus prayed, He prayed for the same reasons we do.
A couple of reasons He prayed are these:
1st He needed prayer for strength.
One man asked this question: Where was it that Jesus' sweat was like great drops of blood?
Was it when He was being put on trial before the Sanhedrin/Herod/Pilate?
Was it while He was being beaten by the Roman soldiers?
Was it while He was carrying His cross up the hill to Mt. Calvary?
No… It was in the Garden of Gethsemane.
We’re told that there He "offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death" (Hebrews 5:7).
This man asked: “If we had witnessed His struggle that night, we might have said, ‘If He is so broken up when all He is doing is praying, what will He do when He faces real crisis? Why can't He approach this ordeal with the calm confidence of His 3 sleeping friends?"
Yet when the test came, Jesus walked to the cross with the courage, and His 3 friends fell apart and ran away.
What Made The Difference?
Jesus prayed… His friends didn’t.
So, first Jesus prayed for strength
If Jesus need prayer for strength… so do we.
2nd - Jesus prayed for direction.
In our text this morning, we read about Jesus being in Capernaum. It’s been a powerful time in His ministry. People are amazed at His teaching. People are healed of demon possession and various diseases.
But then in Mark 1:35 we’re told that
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
Jesus had been gone so long that His disciples finally came to find Him. People were waiting for Him to show up and He had been nowhere to be found. What did He think He was doing?
In answer to their rebuke, Jesus abruptly says:
"Let us go somewhere else— to the nearby villages— so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." Mark 1:38
Just like that Jesus up and decides to leave a totally successful area – a place where people literally breaking down the door to be with Him, to feel His touch, to hear His preaching. People would have come from miles around to hear Him preach and see Him do His miracles.
But suddenly Jesus decides it is time to move on to “somewhere else.”
Why would he do that?
Because He had spent time in prayer.
He had been involved in a strategy session with the Father. And when He came out of prayer He set His face toward plowing more ground for the Kingdom. His prayer had refocused His purpose and goal. “This is why I have come.”
That’s a major reason why you and I need prayer.
You and I NEED to talk over our plans with God.
To ask His guidance. To seek His will.
As Psalm 127:1 says “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.”
Where can we get involved in our plans? When we dedicate ourselves to prayer.
When we spend time in prayer we make our plans with more confidence, because then we’ll we’ve involved God in our plans.
Do you realize that when we pray, God gets into our minds and tinkers with our thinking?
Prayer literally changes our minds.
ILLUS: In fact, recent research proves that very thing. Several doctors from the University of Pennsylvania, recently authored a study where they demonstrated that praying actually changes the physiology of the brain.
(http://member.compuserve.com/health/special.jsp?floc=MM7-Mon_am-mm2slot2_link)
But God said that a long time ago: Prayer changes us. It brings us into contact with the almighty Father so that He can reach into that grey matter we call our brains and direct and guide us.
CLOSE: One last thing. It occurred to me as I was preparing this sermon that the Bible never teaches us about how long we should pray. Did you know that? And nobody ever asked Jesus “how long should I be praying.”
And that makes sense really. If I (picking up my cell phone again) call Don here and he answers, do you think I ask “Don, how long should we talk today?”
Have you ever done that in any conversation with anybody?
Of course not. That would be rude. It implies that you really don’t want to talk with them very long so you want to put a time limit on the conversation.
And it’s interesting Jesus’ disciples didn’t ask Jesus HOW MUCH they should pray.
They asked Him HOW to pray.
So, let’s do a quick look at what Jesus’ taught them.
Repeat this with me:
“Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
Notice what Jesus is teaching us to do here: Start your prayer by focusing on God.
He’s our Father. You’re talking to a God who loves you.
Now, most of us have children or grandchildren.
You and I both know that kids ask us for stuff. Daddy, can I have this? Mommy, can I have that? It starts out asking for toys… then money… then the keys to the car.
And parents don’t have a problem doing that
But have you ever had a child come and just want to sit on your lap?
They’re there because they want to be WITH you.
ILLUS: A man recently told of the time his 8 year old daughter came from school. She’d had a particularly difficult day and seemed sad. She asked him if she could sit in his lap, and she climbed up on his lap and sat there for the better part of 20 minutes without ever saying a word.
Do you think that father was upset with that? Oh, no. It meant as much to him (maybe more) that it did to his daughter. She was in his lap because she just wanted to be with him.
ILLUS: Let me share something I do in my prayer time. I come here to church and stand right here in front of the communion table. I close my eyes, lift my hands and try to focus totally on God. One of the things I do to accomplish that is to go through the alphabet, using each letter for something I think about when I think about God.
“God you are the Alpha and the omega, the Beginning and the end, the Creator. You Direct my pathes. You are Everything to me…. Etc.
And then I just shut up and focus on being in His presence.
And I stand silently before Him as long as I feel it is appropriate. I don’t keep track of time, I simply focus on Him as long as I can feel close to Him.
Repeat with me the next phrase of the Lord’s Prayer:
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Notice – Jesus gives us permission to ask for things.
There’s nothing wrong with approaching your Heavenly Father about your needs and hurts. And there’s nothing too small to pray about. You can buy a loaf of bread down at the store for about $1.50… but Jesus says you have permission to ask about even simple things like bread. Nothing is too small to be a concern for your Father.
Now, repeat with me the words Jesus uses to end this prayer:
”For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
You know, I used to think of those words as a throwaway phrase.
Kind of like ending a letter with “Sincerely, Jeff”
But those words mean far more than that.
Those words mean that we come and pray confidently before God because it’s His KINGDOM. And He has all the POWER and the GLORY.
ILLUS: Just as an example of what this means, consider this illustration:
Today I got my check. Tomorrow, where do you think I’m going to take that check?
That’s right – to the bank.
But why? Why would I take my check to the bank?
Well… that’s where all the money is. Where else would I take it.
And in our prayers:
God is the right place to go… because that’s where all the power is. We’ll never get the kinds of answer we need taking our requests anywhere else. Because ALL the power is with Him, and ALL the answers we’d ever want will come from His throne.
Now this week, you’re assignment is to set aside time at least once this week where you go off by yourself and focus on God. I want you to go through the alphabet and describe what each letter reminds you of when you think of God. Just a clue: q and x can get complicated, but that doesn’t matter because the key here is focusing your mind on God and Him alone.
And when you get done with your alphabet… just be still. Don’t ask Him for anything – just fill your mind with Him. You can ask anything you want later, but for that period of time give Him your total attention and love.
That’s a powerful way to pray, but it can only be completely powerful if you belong to Jesus. That’s why we offer an invitation at the end of every service.
INVITATION
