back to indexBerean Community Church Praise and Prayer 9/16/2022
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>> Heavenly Father, we come singing this song to you. 00:10:51.440 |
Father, recognizing that so often we don't see you in such a light. 00:10:59.440 |
But God, we come to you tonight with a desire as a church to pray, 00:11:04.440 |
entering into your presence, remembering who you are. 00:11:08.440 |
And so, Father, tonight I pray for a fruitful time. 00:11:12.440 |
Not fruitful just based upon how we might feel or whatever just natural sight that we might have. 00:11:25.440 |
And God, that we would have an opportunity tonight to lay all these things down before you. 00:11:30.440 |
So thank you, Lord, for the privilege to pray together. 00:11:36.440 |
Okay, well, welcome to All Church Praise and Prayer. 00:11:39.440 |
It's dark. I cannot see a single face right now. 00:11:42.440 |
But we are here gathered every once a month to do this, to pray. 00:11:47.440 |
And I hope that it is a sweet time for all of us. 00:11:50.440 |
And tonight we're going to be giving you as much just unhindered time as possible for you to be praying on your own. 00:11:58.440 |
And so we're going to be starting off with just a call into this passage, 1 Peter 4, verse 7, 00:12:04.440 |
which we'll post up for you here where it says, "The end of all things is near. 00:12:08.440 |
Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." 00:12:14.440 |
And one more time, just to look at those words, I've broken it down a little bit. 00:12:17.440 |
But it says, "Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit." 00:12:21.440 |
And then it concludes by saying, "For the purpose of prayer." 00:12:24.440 |
And as we've been having that similar theme for the last couple years, 00:12:28.440 |
just recognizing what it is that sometimes we might sit here and pray for soberness. 00:12:35.440 |
But to recognize that here in this passage it's saying that you don't pray for soberness, 00:12:39.440 |
you need soberness in order to pray properly. 00:12:42.440 |
It's something that we need in order to engage with the Lord. 00:12:47.440 |
And so our effectiveness in prayer is going to be very much based upon our level of soberness. 00:12:55.440 |
Now, sometimes these things become very circular. 00:12:59.440 |
It's not something that we're going to have down all the time. 00:13:02.440 |
It's not going to be--we're in a prayerful attitude and a mood all the time. 00:13:06.440 |
And yet, entering into soberness is something that we can actually do. 00:13:11.440 |
And so tonight, instead of tonight having a bunch of just constant prayer requests going out on the screen, 00:13:19.440 |
what we're going to have for you are four pitfalls to prayer. 00:13:24.440 |
And the reason why I'm going to be putting up four pitfalls to prayer 00:13:28.440 |
is actually to accomplish the very opposite of that. 00:13:31.440 |
So seeing that there are pitfalls in prayer, dangers when it comes to our prayers, 00:13:36.440 |
let's try to be aware of that and then engage in exactly the opposite manner. 00:13:43.440 |
It's usually the way the enemy works is he desires to use whatever advantage that he has 00:13:49.440 |
to kind of manipulate and to provoke and cause us to go down these certain paths. 00:13:54.440 |
If we're aware of some of these pitfalls, then we can be soberly engaging against it. 00:14:02.440 |
So to give a little bit of instruction first before I go into how this is going to look 00:14:07.440 |
means that there's going to be a long, a more extended, maybe about 10, sometimes 15 minutes of prayer 00:14:14.440 |
that's going to be just lengthy where there is going to be no real guidance from me up here 00:14:20.440 |
other than the periodic times I'll take us into some of the prayer requests. 00:14:24.440 |
So during those longer stretches, it is a muscle that you're going to have to build up again tonight. 00:14:29.440 |
That means you will have to fight for soberness tonight because after some time in prayer, 00:14:34.440 |
it might become difficult to continue in prayer, but to wrestle through that. 00:14:39.440 |
Now what the Praise Team is here to do is to help us to be able to actually sing 00:14:46.440 |
and to worship and to pray and to kind of go in and out. 00:14:50.440 |
So without much prompting, sometimes they're going to start singing 00:14:54.440 |
and that's not going to be a cue for you to just stop praying. 00:14:57.440 |
You can continue to pray through those times, or you can join in and sing some more as well 00:15:06.440 |
So that's what it's going to look like tonight. 00:15:08.440 |
So there's going to be five prayer topics we're going through, four pitfalls, and then a final prayer. 00:15:14.440 |
So the first two pitfalls, the first one is going to be praying without thought. 00:15:19.440 |
That's the first pitfall, when we pray without really engaging our minds. 00:15:25.440 |
Now that's why if you are aware, sometimes you become very self-aware of prayer 00:15:31.440 |
when you feel like you're kind of saying things without thinking, 00:15:36.440 |
when phrases that are coming up out of your mouth, out of your heart, seem to be repetitious 00:15:43.440 |
or they don't have a ton of content to it, or it just seems like something that you habitually 00:15:49.440 |
have been accustomed now to say these things. 00:15:53.440 |
A lot of maybe Christian phrases, a lot of filler words, 00:15:57.440 |
and this first pitfall to combat it is to say, "Let's try to pray with thought." 00:16:07.440 |
"And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, 00:16:11.440 |
for we suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 00:16:14.440 |
So do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." 00:16:19.440 |
And so Jesus actually tells this to His disciples, "Don't use meaningless repetition." 00:16:25.440 |
This is an opportunity for us every time we're in prayer to engage with the Lord. 00:16:30.440 |
It's not like the action of prayer in and of itself is anything other than the fact of what it's accomplishing. 00:16:37.440 |
If we just say mindless words, then God would not be pleased with that, 00:16:46.440 |
And so to pray with thought is to also fill our minds then with content. 00:16:51.440 |
Instead of just saying like, "Thank you for food, thank you for my home, 00:16:54.440 |
thank you for all the things that you've given me, my job, I pray for this person," 00:16:59.440 |
tonight really to engage in some of the text that I put up here. 00:17:03.440 |
I know that the font is a little small, so if you can't see it and you're in the back, 00:17:07.440 |
you might want to kind of try to move up somewhere down the nighttime. 00:17:11.440 |
But I put up a few passages here, and some of you know what it is to pray through Scripture, 00:17:16.440 |
but that's what I'm going to be asking you to do tonight. 00:17:19.440 |
So to take time in the middle of prayer to look up, read the text, 00:17:25.440 |
and to pray some of the desires that God has for us and pray it right back to Him. 00:17:32.440 |
So for example, in Ephesians 1, verse 18, when it says, 00:17:35.440 |
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened," 00:17:40.440 |
"God, would you enlighten the eyes of my heart? 00:17:47.440 |
Would you help me in the places where I have grown blind 00:17:50.440 |
or I have turned purposely a blind eye towards?" 00:17:53.440 |
And so to launch off of Scripture and to pray a little bit more content, 00:17:57.440 |
a little bit more what it is that God would desire for us 00:18:01.440 |
because we want to do His will, and He has given us His will. 00:18:06.440 |
And so that ought to be many times how we pray. 00:18:10.440 |
So I just gave two short passages up there that have to deal with just engaging the mind, 00:18:16.440 |
the thought, filling ourselves with understanding, 00:18:21.440 |
and ultimately tonight in this first one to look to God in Scripture 00:18:26.440 |
because if we want to fill our minds with the things of God, 00:18:30.440 |
what else can we actually engage in other than Scripture? 00:18:35.440 |
Everything ought to kind of flow up out of there as a basis. 00:18:39.440 |
And so you don't need to sit there and just pray every line of the Scriptures, 00:18:43.440 |
but let it help become like the propelling agent tonight, 00:18:47.440 |
that the Scriptures would be what you're praying, 00:18:49.440 |
and it would be the rooting factor in your prayer. 00:18:53.440 |
The second one is praying without presence, without God's presence. 00:18:59.440 |
And so then to combat that, to engage in prayer tonight, 00:19:02.440 |
I'm going to be asking you to pray in His presence. 00:19:07.440 |
Now this is such a fascinating thing because we're very much aware that God is an omnipresent God. 00:19:17.440 |
And yet to recognize what it is that He is near is very important when we pray. 00:19:25.440 |
Even though the first pitfall I mentioned was about just mindlessly or thoughtlessly praying, 00:19:34.440 |
It's not sitting down and closing our eyes and having godly thoughts. 00:19:39.440 |
It's recognizing who He is and then praying to Him as if we are talking to someone. 00:19:48.440 |
Now like prayer has become so much so habitual to us where we can pray minutes of prayer, 00:19:57.440 |
just extended times of prayer without ever really engaging the Lord in His presence. 00:20:04.440 |
So in soberness to see, "God, you're here and I'm talking to you," that would be the second pitfall. 00:20:11.440 |
So the passage I have for you up there is in Psalm 63 that shows us what it would be like 00:20:16.440 |
to be someone like David who sees the absolute hunger and thirst that he has inside, 00:20:24.440 |
the craving he has for God and His very presence. 00:20:30.440 |
And so to pray those things right back to God, to pray these words, this Psalm, 00:20:37.440 |
and say, "God, this is what I desire tonight," to pray in your presence. 00:20:43.440 |
Remember how much God desires a relationship with you. 00:20:48.440 |
Remember how much He's probably been trying to catch your attention today. 00:20:54.440 |
How there has been grace after grace after grace that He's been extending towards you. 00:21:01.440 |
Remember that He wants to engage with you, that He wants to love you and He wants you to love Him. 00:21:12.440 |
Remember that God in His joy and delight, He wants to hear from us. 00:21:21.440 |
He wants us to open ourselves to His presence. 00:21:25.440 |
He wants us to kind of look up at Him, to square our shoulders. 00:21:28.440 |
For you parents, if you've ever had a kid come home after some event and you want to talk to them, 00:21:34.440 |
but they don't want to talk to you, you know what it's like. 00:21:38.440 |
They're not engaging, they're giving one-word answers, they're on their phones. 00:21:43.440 |
But what I mean by praying in His presence is to square your shoulders, 00:21:52.440 |
and to pray in a manner that is not just worthy of the gospel, 00:21:57.440 |
but in a manner that He so desires of us tonight. 00:22:02.440 |
So those are going to be the first two prayer requests that we're going to be kind of going through. 00:22:06.440 |
I have on the right side there some bullet points if you need a little bit of help, 00:22:14.440 |
So it is going to be on you tonight to engage. 00:22:17.440 |
So we're going to now have an extended time of prayer. 00:22:20.440 |
And after that extended time, I'll be coming up to give the next two. 00:22:24.440 |
Let me just pray for us to enter into this time. 00:22:28.440 |
Heavenly Father, according to Your Word, the enemy is very near. 00:22:34.440 |
Father, he desires to take down the believer. 00:22:39.440 |
And Father, he will use whatever is at his disposal to manipulate, to topple over, to devour. 00:22:47.440 |
So God, I pray for a hundred sober hearts in this room tonight. 00:22:52.440 |
Father, I pray for every single one of us to engage, that our minds would be engaged, 00:23:01.440 |
And Father, that we would take a moment to say, "This is worth entering into the presence of our God." 00:23:07.440 |
Father, would You let this then be a time that is both pleasing to You and so good for us. 00:58:58.440 |
with the power that you come in, you love us so much. 00:59:05.440 |
And God, you desire to draw near to us as we prayed and sang before. 00:59:36.440 |
Father, bring discipline because we need you. 00:59:42.440 |
Father, continue to care for us in the way only you can. 00:59:46.440 |
We pray for a church that's filled with people that doesn't just talk. 00:59:56.440 |
That we empty ourselves so that you would be seen and that you would be magnified. 01:00:19.440 |
Our last prayer request is going to be just on evangelism. 01:00:25.440 |
And this is a very simple one, and so I didn't add anything to it. 01:00:39.440 |
would you bring all of them into prayer tonight? 01:00:42.440 |
We are not going to be concluding service by breaking off into groups. 01:00:45.440 |
So just use the rest of this time here to pray for everyone you can. 01:00:53.440 |
Remember that tomorrow is not promised to them. 01:00:57.440 |
Pray remembering all of the might and the fear that we would have of God. 01:01:03.440 |
But also all of the love and the grace that we have in Christ. 01:01:08.440 |
That that is all what we would want for them. 01:01:11.440 |
And to pray with hearts filled with real desire. 01:01:22.440 |
Let's take moments to remember the Great Commission. 01:01:27.440 |
When he says that we are called now to go and make disciples of all nations. 01:01:32.440 |
Baptizing, teaching, observing, all of these things. 01:01:46.440 |
a lot of it ought to be shaped by what Christ has called for us to do while we're here. 01:01:57.440 |
And at the end I'll come up and we'll sing a final song and close in prayer for the night. 01:10:18.440 |
>> Church family, as we close out our evening, we're going to go ahead and sing this last song together. 01:10:32.440 |
We realize that as we prayed for those who do not know Christ, we know it's only by Christ's power, the Holy Spirit's conviction. 01:10:40.440 |
So as we sing this last song, we're going to reflect that it's through Christ alone. 01:14:45.440 |
Father, I pray that we leave with united hearts. 01:14:55.440 |
God, that we would leave with the same desire, the same spirit unifying us, the same goals. 01:15:07.440 |
And God, that there would be something in this church that would be led by prayer, that would be led by your spirit. 01:15:18.440 |
And Father, that all these things that we left up to you, God, that we would continue. 01:15:24.440 |
Father, we pray because we very well know how difficult it is for us to pray. 01:15:36.440 |
Father, would you help us to look forward to prayer. 01:15:40.440 |
God, to look forward to being able to talk to you and to enter into your presence. 01:15:46.440 |
And so Lord, tonight we simply want to lift up to you great gratitude. 01:16:03.440 |
Thank you God for everything that you are and that you give to us. 01:16:09.440 |
Alright, well that's it for tonight. We'll see you on Sunday.