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TEACH US TO PRAY - "Praying to Witness" - April 12, 2015 - Senior Pastor Scott Christenson

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St. Paul's Lutheran Church Orange, CA

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plus I mention we are kicking off a new sermon series today called teach us to pray we're going to be looking at any of the great prayers and prayers of the Bible so that we can grow in our own life of prayer with God  this is very sing of course because the Bible tells us we are to pray constantly  but if we're going to pray constantly then there's going to be all kinds of different situations scenarios that are going to call for different kinds of prayers  and so in the weeks to come will be talking about things like praying for healing a praying for guidance praying for forgiveness will also talk about praying for wisdom and praying for God's blessings praying are your enemies all very different kinds of prayers but all very important to growing in our life of prayer and so if nothing else were learning already how faceted this prayer thing is  there's a lot to learn here  but this morning we're going to talk about a different kind of prayer we're talking praying to witness this a good topic for us on the weekend after Easter because we all know that this what God has in rainforest he is called us to witness to share what we have seen and what we have heard what we have rest in Jesus Christ  but we're not supposed to just go and do it God calls us to do it prayerfully to do it in Converse Christian with him  and there's probably no better text of the Bible to teach us about praying to witness than our story for today from ax can I say that because in Acts chapter for witnessing about Jesus has for the very first time become difficult ask for recordes the very first persecution of the church  up until this point in the book of Acts witness scene about Jesus has been pretty easy up until this point they witnessed about Jesus and people were cut to the heart and believe the message by the thousands  but now they're witnessing to Jesus and people are not cut to the heart  in fact hardening their hearts against the message even though they know it's true but worse than that the people were hardening their hearts are the in a 40  they're the people who have the power to do something if they don't like it and that's exactly what they do say Throw Peter and John in jail for witnessing to Jesus and then they threatened them with further punishment if they continue to witness and we can only imagine what that punishment might be that comes next if jail is their first response  and so Peter I'm go home  and they pray and the prayer that they pray is very very helpful for us because it's both a powerful prayer and a surprising prayer it's surprising not because of what they do pray for but because of what don't pray for  they don't pray for protection which I think would be the most natural thing most of us would pray for In A Moment Like This would say dear God please protect us from these hard-hearted rulers don't allow them to 20 more of us in jail  what do something to throw these leaders out of power give us good and godly leaders who will let the gospel be preached unencumbered that's more the kind of thing that we would tend to pray in a situation like that don't you think let me say there's nothing wrong with just like that it's just interesting to me that it's not what they prayed for  they don't pray for protection at all they prayed for boldness verse 29 Lord consider their threats and an able your servants to speak word with great boldness it wasn't dear God don't let anything bad happen to us your. No matter what happens to us give us the strength and the courage we need to keep doing what you have called us to do that's an amazing prayer I think but there's a real Temptation that we face in trying to learn from it the Temptation I for me as a preacher is to preach this text this way to say dear friends in Christ you know you all really stink at witnessing  if you don't do it because you're scared and so you need to do what these people did you need to pray for boldness if I were to preach this that way that wouldn't be totally wrong right many of us probably aren't witnessing very well and many of us probably are scared and many of us probably should pray for what's this like they did it's not that it's wrong the problem is it boils at all down to a technique  reminds me a little end of that Prayer of Jabez phenomenon that hit a few years ago did that hit California like it hit Illinois holy cow for some good things about it some things to learn there but the problem was that many people started to think of this as the magic technique you know this is the match prayer just say the words and poof you get whatever you want let's crazy  that's not the way prayer works do you really want to learn from acts for how to pray better you need to think about the prayer for boldness in the light of verse 20 Peter and John are threatened by the ruling authorities there told in no uncertain terms to stop teaching about Jesus  and the Sun do they say no we're not going to do that because verse 20 we cannot help speaking about what we have seen hurt  that's a very very significant first because it teaches are something very important not only about what sing but about praying to witness  it teaches us not to treat this like a technique who is not simply to copy the words of their prayer the goal is to become the kind of person who cannot help but pray the way they prayed  that's the most important thing I'm going to say to you today so let me say it again so you don't miss it the goal is not simply to copy the words of their prayer the goal is to become the kind of person who cannot help but pray the way they pray  of course this is the problem for many of us that we set out to change the world without first Allowing God change us  the first that cannot work because we cannot give what we do not have molesting reminds me of one of my favorite books on Christian spirituality the author is talking about they're all the various things that Jesus has called to do and then he poses this question at the end he asked are these things hard to do  I love his answer here's what he it is very hard indeed if you have not been substantially transformed in the depths of your being that happens then it is not hard what would be hard is to act the way you acted before when Jesus hung on the awesome prayed father forgive them because they do not understand what they were doing that was not hard for him what would have been hard what have been the curses enemies and spew forth vileness and evil upon everyone that's a tremendous spear winsight  Jesus praying father forgive them was not hard it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do because that's who he was on the inside his heart in his mind were so permeated by love and some Russian and forgiveness and so his worst even his words from the cross reflected that  and so the question is how do we the kind of people for whom amazing prayers like this flown naturally from our lips the course the best way to answer that is to try and figure out how it happened with Peter and John  because they certainly were not always like this especially not Peter you know if you read the gospels much you know that the Peter you mean in the book of Acts is a very different guy from the Peter you meet in the the Peter that you meet in the gospels is not bold and courageous at all he's just an impulsive Hot Head talks a good game in the gospels but Peter doesn't deliver the goods under pressure we see that's not the Peter we meet here in Acts and so you have to ask how did he change  what was going on and all of their life herbs that cause them to become such different people  there's a few things that stand out to me first of all is there obvious knowledge of the scriptures I know if you pick up on this but in verse 11 Peter quotes the Psalms and then in verse 24 as they start to pray there's a clear reference to Genesis  I didn't first 25 we hear the Psalms again and of course what are these cases do any of them have a Bible laying around this is all just being said from memory off the top of their heads  they knew the god well  and because they did they experienced its power and so the what's the news do you know the word of God well enough to experience its power  if you don't know the Bible do all or even if you do know it pretty well but you're not reading it and meditating on it regularly is it really any surprise that you don't pray like this second thing that strikes me about this is is there reference to their Fellowship first 23 says on their release Peter and John went back to their own people see Peter and John weren't just doing this witness anything all on their own  they have brothers Sisters in Christ who knew what they were doing and who were encouraging them and praying for them and reminding them of God's promises again it's been my experience that many Christians do not have this  they haven't taken the time who invest in meaningful relationships with other believers and so they have no one to go back to when tough times come no one who knows them well enough to help them when they're thinking or their lives gets off track  and again if that's like you it's no wonder that you don't pray the way they prayed  third thing that strikes me is the Primacy of Prayer in their lives first 24 says when they heard this they raised their voices together in prayer to God another word talking to God wasn't the last thing they did when troubles came  it was the first thing they've had really didn't say on now all we can do is pray  daily prayer they understood that prayer wasn't for telling God what was going on in their own lives as of God didn't already know they saw prayer as a power source to renew and five their souls again the question is do you use prayer like that or is it just something that you do by wrote you know what meal time and bedtime cuz you're supposed to give me the these three practices studying the scriptures being in fellowship with other believers and prioritizing prayer were vehicles that transform these men  Indian having said that I want to be careful again not to make this into a technique I got if you walk away from this message and you think okay I got my to do list now I got to read the Bible more you I pray more I got Fellowship more you still might miss the boat cuz after all don't we all know a lot of people who do all three of these things and they're still never really changed and they still don't pray like these men Freight  again it's not a technique it's it's not a not a magic trick it's not three simple steps to Chris success  again we have to turn a little earlier in the reading for the key to understanding all this in verse 13 my favorite verse it says when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled ordinary men they were astonished  and they took note that these men have been with Jesus  that's the key  people's lives and their for their prayers are transformed in one way and only one way  by being with Jesus and the scary truth is you can pray and forget all about Jesus  you can say all the right flour play words but forget that there's a real person listening to every word you say  it's amazing to me how quickly we forget that we're not just sitting here talking to the walls or talking to a friend  you can fellowship with other believers and Miss Jesus to you can have all kinds of great conversations and studies and meals together and forget  that's someone promised be there with you whenever two or three Gather in my name did you know you can't even read the Bible and Miss Jesus  you can start to think that knowing the word is the end then forget that it's actually only a means to have the end is getting to know the one who is called the word made flesh  after they the place where they were meeting with shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly but it wasn't because they said all the right words or did the right three steps it was because God is real in the live and loves to answer prayers like this for his children who ask him they did not become bold because they were trying to become bald  he became bald in their witness because they had been Jesus  and when you spend a lot of time with Jesus you start to learn there are more important things to pray for then protection  because life is full of troubles and challenges and even if you're protect from the one that's right in front of you others will surely come  but when you're connected to Jesus  when you live and move and have your bean in him you start to realize there is no ruler and no threat and no Challenge and no sir Stan's that can destroy the foundation that you're standing on so my friends let us not simply copy the search of their prayer  let us become the kind of people who know that and believe that and trust that in the what's a Barbie  because then we won't need to worry about how we pray

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TEACH US TO PRAY - "Praying to Witness" - April 12, 2015 - Senior Pastor Scott Christenson

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