January 2, 2000
INTRODUCTION
Well, it looks like we made it. Our second day safely into the new millenium. I was talking to Al Hsu the week before Christmas, and he said most preachers get to preach several messages at the beginning of a new year. You may even have opportunity a few times to preach a sermon that kicks off a new decade. But how many times in your life to get to preach a message that begins a new century? And beyond that a new millenium? Just once. That’s why I’ve known for quite some time what I would share with you today.
Whether you’ve considered it or not…
This is the century in which you will die.
That may be a rather morbid or depressing thought for the dawn of a new year, new century and new millenium. But I believe this thought holds out a tremendous challenge for us. Probably every one of us in this room will not live to the year 2100. So we are faced with the reality of what our tombstones will say. 19 something to 20 something.
I like what H.J. Brown says…
A. “Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the ones you did.” (H. Jackson Brown, Jr., Life’s Little Instruction Book.)
There is a lot of truth in that statement. The areas of life we omit are harder to accept forgiveness from God, from others and from ourselves for than some of the sins we commit. Because constantly lying within the righteous things we don’t do is the possibility for something better.
The potential always exists in the things we are not doing right now for dreams to come true for wishes and hopes to become reality. And when it’s all said and done, those hopes, those dreams, those aspirations, those possibilities and potential – if we have not come to peace with what could have been, what might have been, or what should have been – we risk in our later years only having glimpses of a life that never materialized. We risk spending our final days watching life slowly disappear like a vapor that lingered here for a moment, but really didn’t matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. Yes, when we look back on life, we very well may regret the things we didn’t do a whole lot more than we regret the things we did.
So we could take a step in the right direction and resolve to:
Spend more time with family
Exercise more
Read more
Eat healthier
Continue our education
Do more for the community
Find a cause to defend
Take up a new hobby
Enjoy the outdoors more
Travel to places we’ve never been
Tell someone we love them
Become fluent in a second language
B. Yes, there are many, many good things we could do with the remaining time we have in life. But if we were to narrow it all down – if we were to do only one thing, and concentrate on it for the rest of our lives – what should that one thing be?
And when it’s all said and done, wouldn’t you like to have the peace and sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing you chose the right thing?
And what would you think if I were to tell you that by doing just one certain thing all the other important things in life would naturally start to fall in line?
What is this one thing? The answer is found in the Bible. Colossians 4:2.
C. “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” (Colossians 4:2)
D. THESIS: We should make prayer our main priority in the new millenium.
TRANISTION: If we do only one thing, we should devote ourselves to prayer.
I. “DEVOTE YOURSELVES TO PRAYER”
A. The word “devote” is also translated as “to adhere to, to persist in, or to busy one’s self with.”
When I learned that “devote” means “busy yourself,” I asked myself a series of questions to see if this was true of me. To see if I was really devoted to prayer.
B. Are you devoted to prayer? Answer these questions to help determine your answer: (I’ve included these same questions in your bulletin).
1. Yes / No When others refer to you, are they likely to say, “He/She is a person of prayer?”
2. Yes / No When you tell someone, “I’ve been busy,” is it primarily because you’ve busied yourself with prayer?
3. Yes / No Do you find yourself daydreaming about the next extended period of time that you could be alone with God?
4. Which is more likely of you?
a) To say no to something because it would cut in on your prayer time. OR…
b) To skimp on prayer because you have a lot of other things going on.
If we are busy with prayer, it seems that the first 3 questions would be quite easily answered “Yes” and the 4th would be letter “A.”
When I answered those questions, it became clear that, no, I am currently not “busying myself” with prayer. So that means that something the Bible asks of me is not yet true.
Are you devoted to prayer? I hope that by answering those questions, many of you could say, “Yes.” Because you busy yourselves with prayer.
But, I’m certain that some of you, like me, would have to say, “No, I haven’t really devoted myself to prayer in the sense that I could say I have busied myself by talking to God.”
If no, you haven’t been devoted to prayer, why after all these years should you change?
TRANSITION: If you are currently not devoted to prayer, why should you be? Well, I looked through many passages in the Bible in search of an answer to why people should be devoted to prayer or why people should busy themselves with prayer. And here’s what I found…
II. WHY BE DEVOTED TO PRAYER?
7 reasons – Don’t be alarmed!!!
A. #1 - Because it’s our duty as Christians
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)
“Pray continually.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” (Colossians 4:2)
So reason #1 to be devoted to prayer is because God says so. It’s our duty. It’s expected of us as Christians.
B. #2 - Because we are promised that God hears
This isn’t some pointless activity. We are promised that when we talk to God, he actually listens.
ILLUS – I can remember as a Freshman in college having to adjust to dorm life and the late hours I started keeping night after night. When I had lived at home I was seldom in bed after 10:00 p.m. Like most college students, my body was constantly sleep deprived, and when I went to bed it didn’t take too long to fall asleep. One night after turning out the lights my roommate started opening up some things going on in his life. He was lying in his bed, and I was in mine doing my best to listen and interact. But then moments later (I don’t know how many moments later) I found that I was totally lost as to what he was talking about. I had fallen asleep! So I interrupted him and said, “Darren, I have no idea what you’ve been saying. I fell asleep.” He wasn’t real impressed with my listening skills.
But the Bible says that when we talk to God he always listens he always hears.
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.” (Psalm 34:17)
A pretty good reason to be devoted to prayer.
C. #3 - Because we need to hear from God
Not only does God hear us – we need to hear from Him.
“I wait for you, O Lord; you will answer, O Lord my God.” (Psalm 38:15)
Sometimes we might forget that prayer is 2-way communication. It’s as much about listening as it is about talking. God promises to answer our prayers. Life would be pretty lonely if we didn’t have the reassurance that we could hear from God in response to prayer. We need to hear from Him. Prayer is a channel to hear.
Devote yourselves to prayer - Being watchful and thankful. Pray – watch for answers – thank God when the answers appear.
D. #4 - Because we need strength in temptation
“But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
A great reason to be devoted to prayer is to learn that way out. Remember, we hear from God in response to prayer. If we ask, He’ll show us how to steer clear from giving in to sin.
ILLUS – If you’re in a non-residential building that catches fire, you need to find a way out. Fortunately for you there are lighted exit signs clearly pointing the way to safety.
Once you see the sign, you have a choice. Take the way out, or stay inside and take your chances.
That’s a lot like how I view God’s help when I’m being tempted. I have said on many, many occasions, “God, I’m being tempted here, show me the way out.” And without fail, every time he has shown me an exit sign – a way to get out of having to give in to temptation. But after seeing the way out, I have a choice. Take the escape route or stay in temptation’s trap and take my chances. I’d like to say that I’ve chosen the way out every time God has shown me one, but I sure haven’t. However, I keep on asking him to show me the exits because I can’t always seem to find them on my own. I pray because I need strength in temptation. I imagine sometimes you might need that strength too.
E. #5 - Because we need to overcome our own wills
The night before Jesus was put to death he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” But in the end he still wanted God’s will to be done.
“Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)
And how did he ensure that God’s will would be done? By praying. Taking every decision to God in prayer greatly increases the likelihood of God’s ways triumphing instead of our own wills. I don’t know about you, but my will is quite often (most often) not God’s will. That’s yet another reason why I pray, so that his will gets done instead of mine.
Jesus probably didn’t want to go to the cross, humanly speaking. And humanly speaking, I don’t always naturally want to do the things that are truly God’s will. It’s not natural for me to turn the other cheek, to love my enemies, to pray for my persecutors.
It’s not natural for me to go the second mile, to make sure the sun doesn’t go down on my anger, to love my neighbor as myself. I have a strong will that quite often goes contrary to God’s will. And I want – no I need that will broken. And so I pray – looking forward to the day when my life is shaped more by His will instead of mine.
F. #6 - Because we need help for what lies ahead
Not a one of us can predict the future, but we can often see what lies just up ahead. Perhaps a surgery, a job change, a worrisome confrontation with another individual. Maybe a move is in store, a decision needs to be made regarding finances, or a big choice is facing your family. The Psalmist says…
“Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me…” (Psalm 25:4-5)
A great reason to be devoted to prayer. When we pray, God’s direction becomes clear.
G. #7 - Because unbroken communion with God is possible
Is that true? Is it possible to live minute by minute in the presence of God?
One man wrestled with this question. His name was Frank Laubach (and Max Lucado quotes him in his most recent book, Just Like Jesus)
Laubach wonders, “Can we have that contact with God all the time? All the time awake, fall asleep in His arms, and awaken in His presence? Can we attain that? Can we do his will all the time? Can we think His thoughts all the time?…Can I bring the Lord back to my mind flow every few seconds so that God shall always be in my mind? I choose to make the rest of my life an experiment answering this question.”
So Frank Laubach did just that. At the age of 45 he resolved to live in what he called, “continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect response to His will.” And in his journal he chronicles how his life began to change.
Unbroken communion with God is possible, but the pathway is through devotion to prayer. Here is how King David described what this constant communion is like:
“I’m an open book to you; even from a distance you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start my first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there too – your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful – I can’t take it all in!” (Psalm 139:1-6, The Message)
TRANSITION: So if you want life to be different. If you want to have the peace and sense of satisfaction that comes from doing one thing and knowing you chose the right thing. If you want to know the joy that comes from doing something you may have been omitting and seeing the hopes and dreams for your spiritual life and communion with God become a reality – THEN DO THIS ONE THING… DEVOTE YOURSELF TO PRAYER.
CONCLUSION
Application:
Ideas for doing this one thing:
A. Begin to take every thought to God.
(First thing when you wake up, when you’re waiting somewhere in line or at a stoplight, when you’re working whisper to him what’s on your mind, and at the end of each day let your mind settle on Him and go to sleep in His arms – take every thought to him)
B. Get a good Quiet Time resource.
(We have a great one for sale here today)
C. Keep a running prayer list or a prayer journal so that you can be both “watchful” and “thankful.”
There are many good things that you could do, but if you do only one thing, won’t you consider devoting yourself to prayer?
