Ascension Sunday 2019 - Prayer
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
2 Timothy 4:3-4
“The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
“They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
Isaiah 53:5-6
“He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.
“All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Please open your Bibles to: Acts 1:4-11
(The Life of the Son of God)
The Eternal Trinity (brief description)
Jesus, the Son of God, has come into the world; “And the Word (the second person of the Triune Godhead) became flesh and made His dwelling place among us.” John 1:14
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth and during His ministry He was based in Capernaum.
During the three years of His earthly ministries Jesus performed many signs and wonders showing that He was the Son of the living God.
He taught many things about the way of salvation and about how we should live in relationship with Him and with one another.
Very near the end of His earthly ministry when He was having His last meal with His twelve chosen disciples it says in John 13:3 that, “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God.”
Shortly after that Jesus was arrested by the Jewish leadership, turned over to the Romans on false charges, crucified, dead and buried.
Three days later Jesus rose from the dead and was seen by the apostles and other disciples. 1 Corinthians 15:6 even says that, “… He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time ….”
Let’s continue the story by reading from: Acts 1:4-11
May God bless the reading of His Word!
(Prayer for help with today’s message)
OK. So the great incarnation has happened
God the Son came and lived among us.
God the Son, also being the Great High Priest offered Himself as the one and only perfect sacrifice on the cross to atone for the sin of the world.
He was raised in mighty power and has ascended into heaven.
Why?
Well, one reason is so that He could be our Mediator!
1 Timothy 2:5-6
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people - this has now been witnessed to at the proper time.”
When would this happen? It would happen and did happen when Jesus ascended to the Father 40 days after His resurrection.
When Jesus said, “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. “ in John 14:6 was He just talking about salvation or was He talking about prayer as well?
Let’s talk about prayer OK? First, who DON’T we pray to?
We don’t pray to Mary the earthly human woman who was chosen to be the conduit through which the eternal Son of God would enter into humanity.
We don’t pray to any “saints” who have been venerated by any church.
And, we certainly don’t pray to false gods or mother nature or anything else that would set itself up as a god.
How do we know this? We know this by the Word of God.
Acceptable prayer to anyone other than the LORD God Himself is not found anywhere in the Bible.
Prayer to any false god or idol or person in the Bible is looked upon as grievous sin.
So, how does prayer work?
Each of the 3 persons of the Trinity have a function.
(The Holy Spirit)
Ephesians 6:8a says,
“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”
Jude 1:20 NLT says,
“You, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray(ing) in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit is instrumental in:
- calling us to prayer
o at our regular personal prayer times
o whenever we see or hear of a tragedy
o whenever we see the hopelessness of a life being lived without Christ
- directing our prayers
o when we don’t know what to pray
? the ambiguity of someone’s broken marriage
o whenever we feel helpless
o when we pray for those who may be attacking us
- empowering our prayers
o when we are certain that we are praying according to the Lord’s will
o when we are praying for boldness in the Lord
The Holy Spirit is in us; guiding our prayers if we let Him.
We have already spoken about Jesus being our Mediator in our prayers.
The Holy Spirit is our prayer motivator and Empowerer.
So, Who DO we pray to? The Lord? The Father? God? Jesus?
I am sure that all of them are acceptable. Jesus prayed to the Father.
Jesus starts what we call the Lord’s prayer with, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name’” Matthew 6:9
If you read through the great prayers of Jesus in John 17 you see Jesus addressing the Father in those prayers no less than six times.
The apostle Paul on the other hand prayed:
- Romans 8:1, “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you …”
- Ephesians 1:15 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.”
- Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
In essence Paul was praying to God the Father through Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
So, in essence, we are to pray to God the Father.
The function of God the Father is to hear and answer our prayers.
So, what is Jesus’ function? We have already shown that He is our One and Only Mediator, taking our prayers and presenting them to the Father.
Holy Spirit – prayer motivator and prayer empowerment
Jesus – mediator
Father – prayer receiver and answerer
One other aspect of prayer is that we are to pray in Jesus’ name.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus instructs us to ask or pray in His name.
John 14:13, John 15:16, John 16:23 and John 16:26
We are told to baptize in the name of “the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” in Matthew 28:19 but never instructed to pray that way.
So, what does it mean to pray “in Jesus’ name”?
It means that we are praying:
- According to the Lord’s will
- In the authority of Jesus’ name
- And always deferring to His will if it happens to be different than mine
So, how does all of this work in reality; in real life?
Do you remember the Bible verse we used when it came to prayer time in the service?
Let’s look at an example of a need for prayer and the requirements of the proper attitude for prayer.
First, the example of a need for prayer …
Proverbs 15:8 NIV
“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.”
How do you get from the right side of that comma to the left side of that comma?
How do you get from wicked to upright?
How do you get from abomination to the Lord to being His delight?
Many people live intentionally on the “wicked” side of that comma.
Others have been deliberately deceived by false preacher into thinking they are upright and are not because they have been taught a false gospel.
Entire nations have slid at an almost imperceptible rate from upright to wicked. Such is our nation right now. Such are many churches right now.
A nation or person that believes that cultural norms are more important than the Word of God is a wicked nation or person.
A nation or person that believes the Word of God is outdated and can be disregarded off hand will naturally be a wicked nation or person.
Churches or people who embrace sin as a form of “love” while trampling the Word of God underfoot will be a church or people.
So, how can a person move from wicked to upright?
How can a church move from wicked to upright?
How can a nation move from wicked to upright?
Israel was the Lord’s chosen nation. They were not only to love and obey Him but they were to declare His might and power to all the nations of the earth. They were to bring glory and honor to Him in all they would say and do. But … they did just the opposite and went from being upright to being wicked.
But the Lord not only called them back but told them how to become upright once again ….
The passage we are about to look at is a favorite in churches when it comes to our sin-saturated society. Why is it such a favorite? Because it ends with the five words, “… and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
We all would love America to turn from being a wicked nation to being an upright nation, wouldn’t we? But, our nation cannot be our driving motivation. The Lord is God, the Lord is King, the Lord and His glory is our undying should be our undying desire!
And, that calls for US to be upright and not wicked.
But, what if we are wicked? What if I am wicked? How do I move from wicked to upright especially if I already claim to be a Christian?
If My people …
- The people of Israel never really gave up the LORD their God, they just added so many others that He became a minor god in their assortment of pagan gods
- Christians were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26)
- Christians are followers of Christ; we are called by His name
- Many who call themselves Christians are so enraptured by this world that Christ actually becomes a minor god in their assortment of worldly possessions and passions.
- Are we REALLY His people … Am I REALLY a child of God?
Who are called by My name …
- Do you identify as a Christian?
- Is the Lord God the prominent passion of your life or is He like a half-hearted hobby that you can lay down or pickup as you please?
Will humble themselves ...
- This is not just a half-hearted “sorry” so let me into heaven …
- This is a fall-on-your-face grieving for offending the Lord
- Godly sorrow for sin and spiritual conviction of sin
- Understanding the vast disparity between God’s greatness and our smallness
- Understanding the vast disparity between God Holiness and our wickedness
And pray …
- Seeking forgiveness
- Seeking reconciliation with God
And seek My face …
- Earnestly desire His presence and approval
- Earnestly desiring reconciliation
And turn from your wicked ways
- Total and permanent absolute of the world and the desire for all evil
THEN I (the LORD) will hear (you) from heaven
- (this statement can be confusing. Ex. If you are speaking in the dining room with someone and then go on to explain it again to someone who was in the kitchen they might say, “I heard you from the kitchen.”)
- You will NOT be heard by the Lord until you
o Humble yourself
o Pray
o Seek His face
o Turn from your wicked ways
THEN the LORD will forgive your sins …
THEN the LORD will heal your soul …
THEN you will have become a delight in the eyes of the LORD!
And THAT is why it was so important that Jesus ascended again into heaven to become our Mediator!
Final thoughts and moving into COMMUNION
