The Lord's (Simple) Prayer

Preface - I highly recommend Richard Foster's book, Prayer, as a resource as you study prayer.  Foster's book has been a valuable resource to me as I've developed this series on prayer and in my own efforts to deepen my prayer life.

Introduction

One day an atheist who didn’t believe in God was walking through the woods admiring the beauty of nature and thinking how amazing it was the “big bang” created the whole universe and this marvelous forest.  Suddenly, a grizzly bear jumped from behind a tree and knocked the atheist to the ground.  Just as the bear’s jaws closed in to finish the atheist off, the man cried out, “God help me!” 

Everything in the world around him froze.  Even the wind stopped blowing and the birds ceased their chirping.  And then from Heaven a booming voice spoke.  “I am God.  And even though you don’t believe in me, I love you and want to help you.  What do you want me to do?”

The atheist thought for a moment and said, “I’m not a religious person and I don’t want to become one.  But if you could just give this bear some religion that should do the trick.”

God spoke with a voice of thunder, “So be it!  It is done!”  And then the forest came back to life again and everything returned to normal.  The atheist looked up hopefully at the massive grizzly bear standing over him.  The bear clasped its paws together and began to pray very religiously:

“Thank You, O God, for this meal I am about to receive...”

It seems almost everyone believes in prayer.  Of course, most people who go to church believe in prayer.  However, even people who don’t go to church will ask you to pray for them when they need help; or they will tell you they will pray for you if they hear you are having trouble.  Even atheists often pray for divine help when they are in big trouble!  (I guess it’s hard not to hope for a divine God when you desperately need supernatural help!)

Prayer is essential.  It’s not just something religious people do or something for those who desperately need help.  Prayer is a living relationship with our Creator.  Prayer is what we were made for.  But who really knows how to pray?

Jesus’ disciples asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  And Jesus gave them a simple prayer to model how to pray.  Today, I want to look at that simple prayer we commonly call “The Lord’s Prayer”.  Now, most of us have heard this prayer and recited it again and again ourselves until it’s so familiar we take it for granted.  That can hinder our ability to understand it.  So I encourage you to try to listen to the Lord’s Prayer with fresh ears this morning--like you are hearing it for the very first time.

Matthew 6:9-13

Our Father in heaven,

    may your name be kept holy.

¹⁰ May your Kingdom come soon.

May your will be done on earth,

    as it is in heaven.

¹¹ Give us today the food we need,

¹² and forgive us our sins,

    as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

¹³ And don’t let us yield to temptation,

    but rescue us from the evil one.

A Simple Prayer

Christians often enshrine The Lord’s Prayer as the holiest of holy prayers.  It’s been part of religious tradition for so long and often linked to some of the holiest religious experiences of our lives; we can’t help but think of it as a sacred prayer.  However, Jesus never meant for the Lord’s Prayer to be some super fancy sacred ritual.  When he told his disciples, “Pray like this…” he was actually teaching them how simple and ordinary our prayers ought to be.  In fact, the language he uses in the Lord’s prayer was so common, many of the religious leaders of his day would have considered it sacrilegious.  It was blasphemy for Jews of Jesus’ day to even say the name of God—for His name was thought to be too holy to be spoken by human lips.  To them, Jesus went completely overboard by calling God “Father”.  People thought, “How can any sinful human mortal presume to call the God of the universe, Daddy?”  But Jesus is the Son of God.  And when we trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are adopted into the family.  God is our Father too!

A Daddy Prayer

Calling God “Our Father in Heaven” (or “Our Daddy up in the Sky”) is precisely the point Jesus wants to make.  You see, praying really is very simple.  Now, I know not everyone has had a good relationship with their father here on earth.  However, if you did have a good father you trusted, you knew loved you, who you also loved, a father you felt very comfortable being with and talking to, you would know you could just go to your dad and talk about anything.  It’s what your dad wants you do because your dad loves you and loves to spend time with you.  And Jesus is saying, that’s our relationship with God and that’s what prayer is! 

Prayer is not some highfalutin religious ritual.  Prayer is us talking to our Daddy--our true Dad, our perfect Dad, our Daddy in the Sky, our Heavenly Father.  And that sets the tone for everything about simple, authentic prayer.  We can and should go to God in prayer like a child goes into the arms of a loving, welcoming father.  And God receives us in prayer like a loving, welcoming dad embraces a little child. 

I think we really ought to change the name of this prayer.  Instead of calling it the Lord’s Prayer, we ought to call it the Daddy prayer.  That’s the heart of what it really is.  We are simply talking to our Daddy, who also happens to be the God of the Universe.  What a blessing!

A Model Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer (or the Daddy Prayer) is a model for how we can pray.  Jesus didn’t intend us to have to recite it by wrote—like this was the only words you can pray.  (You can recite it.  I have heard people say sometimes when they don’t know what to say in prayer, they will recite the Lord’s Prayer.  And that works too.  It’s always good to have a few prayers memorized for when you just don’t know what to pray.)  But the Lord’s Prayer (the Daddy Prayer), is really meant to be an outline 
of the kinds of things you could pray about. So what’s in the outline?

• Address God – Our Spiritual Dad 
• Praise Him 
• Pray about our purpose 
• Ask for our basic needs 
• Pray about forgiveness 
• Ask for spiritual guidance 

A Prayer of Praise

In the King James Version, the version we recite on Sunday mornings, we say, “Hallowed be thy name…”  What does that even mean?  It means, “Daddy God, we want You to be revered and honored.”  God is perfect and holy and good and loving and powerful and we were created to love and honor and adore Him.  We want the whole world to honor and adore Him too.  So we praise Him in our prayers.  And in doing so, we lift up our own hearts.  Our spirits soar out of darkness and gloom as we reconnect with our created purpose—to honor and glorify our Holy God.  Every problem, worry, concern seem smaller when placed beside our praise of the One True God.

A Prayer for Purpose

Thy Kingdom Come…  Prayer helps us name and ask God to help us align our purpose with His divine purpose.  Prayer changes things.  And the most important thing prayer changes is us.  We might ask God to change our situations (and sometimes He does), but the most important thing God changes in prayer is our will and our desires.  The greatest blessing in life is to discover what God wants you to do with your life and the joy of living on purpose.  Those who follow Christ ask God to help us discover His will, to help the whole world discover and do God’s will until we realize His Kingdom’s goals on the earth as much as they are a reality in Heaven.

A Prayer about Basic Needs

Our Daddy God cares about our needs.  Jesus said that God knows and cares about every single bird that dies (Matthew 10:29).  You are way more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows (Matthew 10:31).  So we can ask Him to take care of our basic needs.  And doing so reminds us of our complete dependence on God.  Food seems pretty easy to come by for most people today.  But the reality is, every one of us is only a few hours away from being very hungry.  (Some of you are pretty hungry right now and really want me to wrap up this message so you can go have lunch!)  All of us are only a day away from being famished or a few days away from starving if there were no food to eat.  Do you think you are the one who puts food on your table?  “Well, yes.  I have a job and I buy my food.”  But the Christian is one who recognizes it all really comes from God.  Without His provision, we could not survive.  And we ought not ever forget that the simple and basic blessings of having enough to eat could be taken away in a heartbeat.  Some do not enjoy that blessing—maybe by no fault of their own. 

And so we pray, “Give us the food we need.”  And not just the food; what about all the other basic things we need?  We can and should ask our Daddy God for them.  He’s our Daddy and we need Him.  And our Daddy God loves us and will take care of us.  Pray about it.

A Prayer of Forgiveness

If food is our basic physical need, forgiveness is our basic spiritual need.  Without it, we cannot live.  Sin separates us from our Creator, who is the source of life.  And yet “all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  And “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).  “All who call on the name of the Lord [Jesus Christ] shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).  “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:9).  But Jesus also said, “If you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:15).

Forgiveness can be very hard.  I don’t have time today to really address forgiveness.  All I have time to say is this:  we desperately need God’s forgiveness and we desperately need to forgive others.  And forgiveness—real, godly, divine forgiveness—is a miracle that is beyond our ability.  And so we need to pray about it and ask God’s help.

A Pray for Spiritual Guidance

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil..."  This life is a battle ground.  We don’t often realize it as we are driving around in our comfortable Toyata Camrys and SUV’s.  But while we are enjoying our homes—with their thermostatically heated and air conditioned environments—a spiritual war is waging for our souls just beyond the grasp of our physical eyes.  The Devil and His demons wants nothing more than to see you’re soul distracted, disarmed, and destroyed.  He is OK with you living a life of comfort and ease, with few serious problems—so long as that ultimately leads you to join him in hell for the rest of eternity.  Thankfully, God has not left us unprotected in this battle.  The Holy Spirit is available to show you the way of Christ that leads to eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.  The stakes are high.  We desperately need to pray for God to guide us to walk in the light.  “Daddy in Heaven, lead us not into temptation, but deliver from evil.”

A Word About Amen

It has become an almost universal practice to end prayers with the word “Amen”.  The word means “so be it”, and it’s a way of affirming what we’ve just prayed.  For most people, it’s just a way to signify we’re done praying.  Although almost everyone says amen, it’s not really necessary—especially when you are praying by yourself and you don’t need to let anyone else know your done.  You can say it or not say it, whatever you want to do.

Holy Communion

Prayer is communion with God.  Whenever, we have the privilege of sharing the sacrament of Holy Communion, it is also a kind of prayer—a prayer we act out as we take the bread and grape juice and remember the love of God that was so strong it left the glory of Heaven to come down to our broken world to save us from our sins by dying on a cross.  

I hope you will focus on prayer as much as you can.  It is the life blood of our relationship with God.

Examining Prayer

Preface - I highly recommend Richard Foster's book, Prayer, as a resource as you study prayer.  Foster's book has been a valuable resource to me as I've developed this series on prayer and in my own efforts to deepen my prayer life.

Introduction

During Advent, I want to take a closer look at prayer.  Prayer is so much more than what we usually think of.  There are so many different kinds of prayer.  Often, we in the church only think of prayer as what the preacher does on Sunday mornings in worship.  However, public prayer is only one type of prayer—and it is not really a good model for what we do in private prayer.  

Many of us struggle with our private prayer life.  Many do not pray at all.  Others who do pray regularly may feel like their prayers are dull and lifeless, because they’re just repeating the same prayers day after day, week after week—just asking God for the same things over and over.

Pray doesn’t have to be that way.  Prayer can be expressed in so many colorful ways; we never need become bored with it.  We can never exhaust the deep well of true prayer if we understand that prayer is so much more than what we thought it was.  We need a faithful prayer life.  We also need a deep prayer life.  During Advent, I will explore some of the diverse forms of prayer. 

I highly recommend the book Prayer, Finding the Hearts True Home by Richard Foster.  It is a classic and I wish I had read it much earlier in my spiritual journey.  It would have helped my prayer life a lot.  It has helped me a lot his year.  Foster shares 21 different kinds of prayer.  I will share some of them with you over the next few weeks on Wednesday nights & Sunday mornings.

Today, I want to explore what I call, examining prayer and encourage you to practice it.

Psalm 139:1-6, 23-24
O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.
² You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
³ You see me when I travel
    and when I rest at home.
    You know everything I do.
⁴ You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.
⁵ You go before me and follow me.
    You place your hand of blessing on my head.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Examining Prayer

Examining prayer is just what it says—it is a prayerful act of examination.  It is prayer that first invites us to consider how God has been present in our day and second invites God to search our heart and cleanse us.

First, examine how God has been present in your day.

Usually, when we think of prayer, we think of closing our eyes and folding our hands, and saying things like: “Dear God, please forgive me for eating that extra piece of pecan pie and help me not to gain too much weight from all I ate at Thanksgiving this year. Amen.”  But prayer can also be quietly reflecting on our day, intentionally thinking about all the ways God was present with us.

How many times does God show Himself to us—in the beautiful fall colors, in a song on the radio, in the hug or encouragement of a friend, in an idea that pops into our head—but we, in our hurried pace, don’t recognize it as God’s divine presence.  How many times do we feel our conscious tell us, “You should send a card to so and so” or “I wonder why Jeff hasn’t been at church lately” or something else.  But the life rushes on and so do we and we forget these little nudges from the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever found yourself at the end of the day thinking, “Now, I know I was supposed to do something or I had an idea and now I can’t remember it”?  What if we reflected this way intentionally as an act of prayer?  What if we were trusting God to help us remember those things He wanted us to recall?

In examining prayer, we make time to prayerfully go back over our day and trust God to help us remember what’s important—especially the ways He revealed Himself to us or spoke to us or put something on our heart to do.  How helpful could it be for you to grab a piece of paper and a pen and prayerfully examine the events of your day and jot down a few notes about how God spoke to you or something He might want you to do?

Second, invite God to examine you—to search your heart and cleanse you.

Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”  We are broken, sinful people.  Because of our brokenness, we don’t even know all the ways we are broken.  Maybe we are puffed up with pride, thinking we are pretty good people.  Humans are experts at rationalizing our own bad behavior.  We are quick to point an accusing finger at others, naming all the ways they fall short, but we will make excuses for own bad behavior so we can continue to live a self-righteous fantacy.  This is a dangerous handicap for anyone who wants to follow Christ.  We need God’s help to be honest with ourselves and know the ways we fall short.  How can we ask God to forgive our sins and heal us if we don’t even know what they are?  We need God’s help.  We need Him to search us and clean us.

I hope you will not be too intimidated to invite God to examine your life.  It’s not like you could ever hide from Him anyway.  He made you and He knows everything about you already.  He knows you better than you know yourself.  What is missing is a conversation where God lovingly reveals what He knows to you.  I say lovingly reveals, because God is not mean-spirtited when He searches us.  He is gentle and kind.  He is honest.  He does not justify or rationalize our actions the way we would.  But God is also not as hard on us as we might be on ourselves.  We often view our bad behavior, bad attitudes, and mistakes in such a discouraging light, we berate ourselves and fall into despair.  But God knows the truth that it is neither as good nor as bad as we think.  God shows us the truth—which usually lies somewhere in the middle—and then He graciously helps us heal.

An unexamined life is not worth giving.

Romans 12:1 says, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”  Christians are to give themselves to God, completely.  In order to really give yourself to God, you’ve got to know who you really are.  Prayer, where we ask God to search us and reveal ourselves to ourselves is the only way we can then turn our true selves over to God.  Therefore, we need God to help us through examining prayer.

How do you do it?

Examining prayer doesn’t have to be complicated.  It includes two things:  1) considering how God was been present in your day and 2) inviting God to search your heart and cleanse you. 

As I mentioned already, you can simply sit down at your dinner table (or someplace quiet) with a pen and a piece of paper and just ask God to help you reflect on your day.  What did you do?  What details do you remember?  Who did you meet?  What were your thoughts?  What did you notice about the world around you?  Did you have any ideas come to you?  Did you feel there was something you should do?  There’s no need to put too much pressure on yourself or to be anxious that you won’t remember it all.  You see, it’s not all up to you.  You are asking God to help you remember what He wants you to remember.  Don’t you think He is able to do that?  Do you trust Him to help you remember what He wants you to remember and pass over those things He wants you to forget?  As you reflect, jot down some notes on paper so you can look back over your list later and always remember.  Some people find it helpful to use a journal to be more organized.  If that works for you, good; but it’s not necessary.  A simple piece of paper or a notepad will suffice.

Now, also ask God to search your heart and reveal anything that He wants you to know about your life.  Are there sins for which you need to repent?  Is there ungodly behavior or attitudes hiding in your heart?  Do you need to forgive someone?  Do you need to apologize to someone?  Do you need to forgive yourself?  What might be at the root of those thoughts and behaviors?  Ask God to show you.  Again, write down whatever He reveals so you can refer back to it later. 

Writing works well for me.  I truly envy people who remember names, people, details, events, etc. with remarkable clarity.  That amazes me, but that’s not me.  I have a terrible memory, so a written record is not only helpful, it is almost a necessity for me.  So, I like to-do lists and written spiritual journals.  That works well for me.  But these are not the only ways to participate in examining prayer.

Physical activity can be very helpful too.  God can reveal so much to you while you prayerfully reflect while you go for a walk, cut the grass or rake leaves, wash the dishes or vacuum.  So often, we just think of these activities as chores; but done in the right way, they can become prayer that shows us how God is with us all the time and helps us see who we really are.  And if your memory is such that you don’t need to write anything down to remember it, then pen and paper are not really necessary.  The point is to examine your life and let God examine you.

"Lord, Teach Us to Pray"

Introduction
It's time to get ready for Christmas.  In the Christian Church, we call this pre-Christmas season of preparation Advent.  We get ready to celebrate the birth of Christ, when the Son of God came to earth as an infant born in a manger.  We also remember that Jesus promised he would come again as the King of Glory returning in the clouds.  So as we prepare for Christmas, we also prepare for the second coming of Christ.  Are you ready for Jesus to return?

If you could ask Jesus to teach you one thing during Advent, what would it be?  We you ask: "LORD, teach me to raise my kids" or "manage my money" or "find someone to marry," "get along with my spouse," or teach me to trust You."  There are many things we might ask Jesus to teach us.  The Disciples asked Jesus to teach them something in the Gospel of Luke. 

Luke 11:1
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Of All the Things…
Jesus did a lot of amazing things in his life. He healed people who was deaf, blind, lame.  He drove demons out of people.  One time, he drove a whole group of demons out of a man.  The demons begged Jesus to let them go into a heard of pigs and he did.  Then the herd of pigs ran off a cliff and plunge to their death in the sea!  Amazingly, Jesus once walked on water!  Jesus could do things no one else could do.

Of all the things the Disciples could have asked Jesus to teach them, they asked him to teach them to pray.  Jesus’ prayer life must been amazingly powerful to impress them more than all the others things he did.  Jesus’ prayers were special.

You know, when you find something you love to do, you're always trying to find time to sneak off and do it.  Some people sneak off to play golf.  Others sneak off to go fishing or hunting.  Some sneak off to see a football game or to be with their family.  Jesus loved to pray. He was always sneaking off to pray.  Matthew 14:23, " After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone."  Mark 1:35, "Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray."  Mark 6:46, "After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray."  Luke 5:16, "But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer." Jesus loved to sneak off and pray, because he loved to spend time with His Heavenly Father.  No one loved prayer or needed prayer or knew how to pray as powerfully as Jesus.  If you need to know how to pray, Jesus is the one to ask.

We Need to Learn How to Pray
The Disciples needed to know how to pray.  They lived in a tumultuous time. People often didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. Sickness, poverty, oppression, depression, and demon possession were rampant. The world was a dark, dark place. The Disciples desperately needed to know how to pray just so they could survive. So they asked Jesus to teach them.

I don't know about you, but when I look around, and I see a lot of darkness in our world today too.  It is said our country is more divided now than it has ever been.  (It is certainly more divided than I have ever known in my lifetime.)  There is a great darkness over our land – mass shootings, lawlessness, evil.  The Word of God is scorned by those outside the Church and forgotten by so many inside the Church.  I read a story this week about the United Church of Canada, where Canada’s second largest denomination decided to let a self-proclaimed atheist continue ministering in their church. Even though the minister doesn’t believe in God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit, the United Church of Canada has decided not to remove her from ministry.[i]  That just makes no sense!  Sometimes, it just seems like the world is going crazy!  However, I’m not discouraged.  I am in God’s royal family.  I am a king in God's kingdom.  And when we feel like the world is too full of darkness, we can run to God in prayer.  So, we need say, "Jesus, teach us to pray."

It’s not just in dark times that we should run to God in prayer. It’s in all times. We need to learn how to pray—in good times, bad times, times of need, times of thanksgiving. We ought to go to God in prayer continually, as we would go talk to our wife, our husband, our parents, our best friend.

Christmas shows Jesus coming from Heaven to be with us. Prayer is our answer. Pray is us choosing to spend time with God through prayer in Jesus name. We can go confidently into God's presence in prayer. God loves for us to come. The great preacher and missionary Paul Washer said, “Just a glance of our eyes upward makes [God’s] heart beat faster.” 

Prayer is the avenue through which we involve God in every detail of our lives.
I am convinced, now more than ever, that prayer is the life blood of the Christian.  Prayer is not just something Christians do.  Prayer is everything!  Prayer is the life of a Christian.  Prayer is the answer to all our problems.  Prayer is the questions we need to ask.  Prayer is searching and prayer is the finding.  Prayer is the solution to all the personal troubles we face.  Prayer is the solutions to the darkness we see in our world.  Prayer is knowing the actual problems.  Prayer is the way to save a church that is shrinking and dying.  Prayer is the way to bring people to Christ.  Prayer is the way to turn our families back to the Lord.  Prayer is the way to find our way into the future—to know God’s vision for our lives, what career we should pursue, how to raised our family, who to vote for, how to exercise, what to eat for dinner, what to read, what to avoid, who to talk to, who to date, how fast to drive, what route to take home.  Prayer shows what programs our church needs to invest in and which ones we need to say goodbye to.  Prayer is how we find a way through sickness and depression, how we find true healing from the Lord.

Have you ever driven through a thick fog at night?  It so hard to see!  Your headlights only go out so far, so you have to be careful.  Pray is like our headlights that shine out through the foggy darkness to show the way.  Unfortunately, the prayer life of many is so weak, the light barely shines a foot or two out front.  You can't tell what you might run into in the darkness.  Others have no prayer life at all.  It's like their running down the highway at night and have switched off their headlights.  their in complete and total darkness, lost and about to run off the road into a tree!

We've got to pray, folks!  And prayer is not what you think it is.  It’s not just folding your hands and closing your eyes and saying a few words to God.  We’ve got to start thinking of prayer as more than we have before.  It's not just going through a prayer list and praying for people who are sick.  Prayer is not just us sitting around naming all the people we need to pray for and then saying, “We lift up Bobby and Suzy.”  That is one part of prayer, but it’s not enough by itself.  Prayer is so much more.  Prayer is communion with God, our Creator.  Prayer is what Adam and Eve did when they would walk and talk with God in Garden of Eden (before they so foolishly chose to listen to the serpent Satan and eat the forbidden fruit and fell into sin).  Prayer is what the prophet Elijah was doing when he was caught up in a whirlwind and taken to be with the Lord.  Prayer is what Jesus did constantly—sneaking away from the crowds to pray in a quiet place.  He loved to spend time with His Heavenly Father.  It is also what Jesus did to constantly conform His will to the Father’s.  It is how Jesus knew what to do and what not to do and when, so that He was always and everywhere “Lead by the Spirit.”  So the Scripture always says, “He was lead by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted…”  “He was lead by the Spirit to the Jordan river to be baptized…”  “He was lead by the Spirit to Galillee to teach the Gentiles…”  “He was lead by the Spirit to Jerusalem to die on the cross…” 

Invitation

I invite you to join me each week as we ask Jesus to teach how to pray for the next month.  "Lord, teach us to pray.”  I am asking the Lord to show me what He wants us to know about prayer.  I am praying about it daily and studying.  I will share what the Lord gives me every chance I get on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings at my church.  I invite you to come.  I will also share some of what I learn hear on my blog and on my church's Facebook page.  Will you come and hear what the Lord might say to you?  Will you also ask the Lord to teach you to pray?

---

[i] https://www.wnd.com/2018/11/surprise-christian-church-lets-atheist-keep-pastoring/

Sound Different

Introduction
            I will never forget the first time I said "I love you" to Kelly.  She was only 16 and I was 18.  We'd only been dating for a short time.  I walked her to her door after on of our date and said good night and then it just came out, "I love you."  I said ti as much out of habit as anything (that's the what we said when we told each other good night in my childhood family).  There was an awkward pause... and Kelly did not reciprocate.
            Back in the car on the drive home, I was kicking myself.  Why did I say that?  It wasn't appropriate because we hadn't been dating long enough and I didn't really mean it; it just slipped out.  When I got to my house, the phone rang and it was Kelly.  She said, "I think I should explain why I didn't say I love you back.  Those are very important words to me and I don't use them lightly.  I think you should really know that you love someone before you tell them "I love you.""
            Now that sounded different--so much more mature and honest than most 16-year-old girls I knew at the time.  And it impressed me that Kelly had a deeper understanding of love and was willing to stand up for what she believed in and to call me and explain.
            Well, we are supposed to sound different than the world.  You see, long ago, God chose you to be holy different--to think different, to act different, to look different, and to sound different.  How You Sound--what you say--is serious business.  Proverbs 18:21 says, "The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences."  Proverbs 15:4 says, "Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit."  And Proverbs 12:18 says, "Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing."  And listen to what Jesus said about the power of what holy people say. 

Mark 11:22-25

²² Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. ²³ I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. ²⁴ I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. ²⁵ But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”

In the Passage, Jesus Implies 3 Ways Holy People Will Sound Different.

            First, holy people have faith to speak and move mountains. Holy people use their words to change lives and change the world. In the 1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr. looked around and found a world full of racial discrimination and segregation. It seemed like an impossible mountain to move, but King knew it was not right and he was a Christian leader, a holy man. So King began to speak and what he said sounded different from everyone else. He urged non-violent protest. He spoke about how segregation and racial bigotry was hurtful not just black people, but also to white people and oppressors. King preached that we all need healing--even those who are mistreating others.

            Holy people don't just sound different when they speak out on momentous social justice issues.  Mountains are moved in small ways every day.  David Crawford is the music minister of our church.  Not only is he talented, but he also has a Christ-like attitude that blesses so many people in so many ways.  David started attending my church decades ago when Tom Dickson invited him to come.  Tom's invitation was just a small thing, but it has made a world of difference for everyone David blesses at my church is linked to Tom's invitation.

            Holy people pray.  Philippians 4:6 says, "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done."  When others get made, get sad, get worried, get discouraged, holy people pray.  Negative emotions produce more negative emotions.  Worry and stress produce more worry and stress.  Everyone gets to talking and dwelling on their worries and stress and all the negative emotions just get worse and more intense.  But holy people sound different.  Holy people pray and God gives them peace.  And peace gives birth to more peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers…”

            Holy People forgive.  When Jesus was hanging on the cross, he looked down at the soldier gambling for his clothes and said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)  Holy people sound different because they forgive.
            On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof gunned down 9 Christians in a church in Charleston, SC.  The relatives of the slain had a chance to speak directly to the gunman at his first court appearance. One by one, those who chose to speak did not turn to anger. Somehow—by the grace and power of God—they were able to speak life even in the presence of the man who brought death to their loved ones.  [i]Nadine Collier, the daughter of 70-year-old Ethel Lance, said at the hearing, her voice breaking with emotion. “I forgive you,” she told him. “You took something very precious away from me. I will never get to talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you, and have mercy on your soul. … You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people. If God forgives you, I forgive you.”
            Forgiveness sounds different. It brings healing—first of all to you. Bitterness will poison you from the inside out. Holding a grudge will tear you apart and damage all your other relationships.   Forgiveness helps you heal and move on to the brighter future God want to give you.


Are You Ready to Sound Different?
            Thankfully, most of us will never experience the tragedy of our loved ones being gunned down in a church prayer meeting.  But there are still some practical things that everyone can do to sound different than the world.  First of all, get in the Word f God.  Your conversations are not scripted.  They are spontaneous.  It's not practically to measure every word you're going to say and how you say it.  Most of what you say just comes from your heart.  Jesus said, "What you say flows from what is in your heart." (Luke 6:45).  So fill your heart with God's Word.  Dig into the Bible so that you are more and more like Christ in your heart.  Then everything you say will flow from your Christ-like heart and you will sound different and holy.
            Second, refuse to use abusive or vulgar language.  Don't try to tear people down in order to make yourself feel better or right.  There is already too much of that going on in our world.  Holy people should sound different.  Refrain from cutting remarks or trolling on Facebook.  Refuse to gossip or talk about people behind their backs.  Instead of texting or emailing, call or visit and talk to people directly. 
            Third, encourage people with love and grace.  Be kind.  Be positive.  The world has enough negativity and darkness.  Sound different.  Speak light, not darkness.  Speak life, not death.
            Fourth, use your words to invite people to church.  People need to be in the church.  We need Jesus and we need each other.  The Church is the place Jesus chose for his holy people to gather.  Let us gather as many here as we can. 
            Some will say, "But I've already asked everyone I know."  Jesus told a parable about that--the parable of the great banquet.  A master sent his servants to invite people to a great banquet.  One by one, all the guests made excuses why they couldn't come.  So the master sent his servants out saying, "Go out into the highways and byways and compel everyone you can so that my banquet may be full.”  It may be that the people you are asking just don't feel they need to be in church.  But there are many others out there who realize they're in desperate need.  So go.  Invite them!  They may be different from you, but different is OK.  Jesus loves different.  In fact, God chose us all to be different and holy.  So build some relationships with different people.  Invite them to lunch.  Get to know them.  And invite them to church.
            Are you Ready to Sound Different?  Good!  Because God wants you to be holy different--to think different, to act different, to look different, to sound different, to be different.  You are His holy people, a royal priesthood set apart for His special purposes to go into all the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ to build His Kingdom.  Amen.

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[i] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/06/17/forgiving-dylann-roof-is-taking-a-heavy-toll-on-those-left-behind-but-theyre-not-giving-up/?utm_term=.411ff81dd2f0

Ask Pastor Chris: Can Satan Hear Our Prayers?

Dear Pastor Chris,

            Can Satan hear our prayers?  I ask this because I actually pray silently, in hopes that the Devil can't, or maybe won't, be able to know what I am praying.

Your Inquisitive Friend,

Prayer Warrior

Dear Prayer Warrior,

James 4:7 says, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  Humble obedience to God should be our main concern.  If we keep our focus on God, Satan has no chance.  It’s only when we take our focus off God and his Kingdom that we are in danger.

            Sometimes it feels like Satan is taunting me as I pray, trying to discourage me, but I just tell him to get lost.  I’ve even told him, “Say what you want, Devil, but you already know you lose in the end.”  I think that really drives Satan nuts and it ends my concerns on the matter.

            For me, I think the Devil’s presence (or perceived presence) during my prayer times has more to do with my own insecurities.  When I dwell on my sin or failures or shortcomings, it opens the door for Satan to come taunt me.  Thankfully, my faith in God’s goodness, forgiveness, and love reminds me to kick the Devil back out the door and to lock it tight.  I know God loves me no matter what, in spite of all my flaws.  I believe with my whole heart—“…nothing can ever separate us from God’s love” (Romans 8:38).  So the Enemy’s hateful, hurtful words are just his futile attempt to scare me or depress me or distract me, and I’m just not going to let him.

Can the Devil hear our prayers?  Maybe sometimes, but I think this would be true whether we say them out loud or silently in our heart.  I think Satan is a spiritual being and if and when he overhears our prayers, he can overhear our inner prayers too.  Don’t let that unsettle you though.  Satan has no power over God and he cannot intercept, disrupt, or stop our prayers from reaching God.  I suppose some might be concerned Satan will get a little inside information he could use against us.  I just don’t think God would allow it.  God is too powerful.  Actually, it must be incredibly frustrating to Satan to hear you pray about something, to see beforehand how God is going to answer your prayer, and how God’s answer is going to defeat Satan, and Satan can’t do a thing in the world to stop it.

However, if you still have a concern Satan might be eavesdropping on your prayers, I would just start my prayer by asking God to keep the conversation private.  Pray “Lord, stop up Satan’s ears so he can’t hear what I’m about to tell you.”  Done.  God will answer that prayer and Satan won’t be able to hear a thing you pray—whether you pray in your heart or screaming out loud.  (It’s sort of comical to think about really—everyone within ten blocks being able to hear your prayers because you’re screaming; and Satan is totally oblivious.)

Remember, God love you and so do I!

Pastor Chris