2014.8.24 礼拝

Life Church Retreat on Sept 14-15th: Focus on Prayer
Kids Message: Question to Kids – What is prayer?
Answers: Asking God for something. True but also other prayers.
Some Japanese think prayers are just words repeated over and over again.
What does the Bible say about prayer?
Matthew 6:7 says: And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
Prayer is much more than repeating words. One thing is that it is an important discussion with God.
Today we will look at what God says about prayer.
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One of the goals for our church camp in September is to go back to the basics of Prayer.
1. First of all ……… PRAY.
Matthew 6:9 – Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Matthew 14:23 – And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
How many of you have prayed more than 3 hours solid? 2 hours? 1 hour? 30 minutes?
At the camp we want you to experience praying continuously for a length of time. It is actually not as hard as you might think.
Coming back to the question of “What is Prayer?”
Not just kids but adults as well will say prayer is asking for something. Asking for something is not bad but that’s not all of what prayer is about.
2. Distinguishing between Public Prayer and Private Prayer.
When Mark stands before everyone at the beginning of the service and prays it is a public prayer. He is leading us all in prayer. There are times for public/corporate prayer.
The Bible also tells us about private prayer.
Matthew 6:6 – But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Mark 14:36 – And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Anyone ever talk to their Dads on a super polite honorific way? There may be some but most of us tend to approach our Dad in an informal way. We can approach our Heavenly Father that way too.
3. We need to believe and know that God is with us.
As a Japanese, we tend to think we have to go to a place to meet God and ask Him for something. God is where we are. He is with us in our secret places as well as our public places.
Matthew 6:6 – But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 18:20 – For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Romans 8:9 – You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
We simply need to know God is there and we can approach Him as we are.
The basics of Prayer is fellowship with God.
Luke 5:33 – A Question About Fasting
And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.”
What about the disciples? Were they wrong in not obeying all the religious laws? No. They were with Jesus all the time. That was enough because they were associating.
4. Prayer is Trusting God
God already knows what you want and need before you ask.
Matthew 6:8 – for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
From next week we are going to look at the Lord’s Prayer.