People have heard a lot of sermons on the Lord's Model Prayer, but it needs preaching occastionally to remember that Jesus is teaching us how to pray and not just to "repeat." Let's take another look at this important prayer.
I. Verse 9 - Recognition of who and what God is A. "Our Father" Progenitor from eternity B. "Which art in heaven..." He is transcendant, above us. C. "Hallowed be thy name." "Hallowed" means that His name is holy because He is holy. Perfectly holy II. Verse 10 - Recognition of our responsibility to Him A. "Thy kingdom come...." He is above us in heaven, but consdescends to us. His kingcom came in Jesus, and we are in that kingdom because we are in Jesus. His kingdom is within us now. One day there will be the final kingdom. B. "Thy will be done..." In His kingdom, we are to live in His will...Do what He tells us to do. III. Verse 11 - Recognition of our dependence on Him. A. "Give" - God has it all to give and we are to recognize His ownership. Notice the "gimme" comes after praise of God. B. "Our daily bread" We always need to recognize that everything comes from Him. IV. Verse 12 - Recogntion of our need for forgiveness and our need to forgive. A. "Forgive us our debts, trespasses, sins...." Only He can forgive. B. "As we forgive our debtors...." This is not less important than being forgiven. We need to forgive as we need to be forgiven. V. Verse 13a - Recognition of our need for deliverance "Lead us not into temptation" "Deliver us from evil." VI. Verse 13b - Recognition of God's sovereignty and ownership 'For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever...." Notice the Jesus ended the prayer where He started it - with God!!!! This is really a daring prayer and is how we need to pray every day. Jesus did not give it to us to repeat, but as the content of all of our prayers
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(This is the third and final sermon on Jesus' prayer in John 17.)
The first sermon was on His prayer for Himself. The second was on His prayer for His disciples. The final one is His prayer for future believers. I. Verse 20a - Jesus' optimistic prayer A. Jesus knew there would be a future for believers even before His resurrection. B. We would believe because of "their word." This is the New Testament, because the disciples were eyewitnesses and either wrote it or told it to others. (Mark and Peter come to mind.) C. We have eyewitness reports. II. Verses 20b-23 - Jesus' prayer for unity: "That they all may be one..." A. Unified in Jesus. He is our reality and our unity. B. We can disagree about a lot of things, but we can't disagree about Jesus. C. Notice the purpose of the unity: "That the world my know." Our unity as Christians is a witness to the world. III. Verses 24-26 - To be with Jesus. A. Jesus is with us here and now.... B, We will be with Him after death in heaven. C. It is not something to keep to ourselves. Remember: We are the people that Jesus was talking about here. He knew we would be here. (This is the second sermon on the prayer of Jesus in John 17. The first sermon was based on Jesus' prayer for Himself. This sermon is based on Jesus' prayer for His disciples - but it certainly includes us as well.)
In verses 6-12 Jesus shows His claim on His disciples, and us as well. In verse 13, Jesus begins to pray about what He wants for His disciples - and for us. I. Verse 13 - That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. A. Jesus wants His disciples to be joyful people. B. In John 15:11 Jesus shared that He would give His people His joy. So we have His joy all of the time. Our joy is not circumstantial like happiness. C. It is real joy, not momentary but eternal. II. Verse 14a - Jesus gave them His word. A. Verse 8 shares the same promise. B. The "word" was probably Old Testament prophecies as well as other promises. C. We have His word. We call it the Bible! III. Verse 15a - Jesus wants His disciples in the world. A. The world needs His disciples, which includes us. B. He wants us in the world to serve His purposes - to do His will. C. He keeps us from evil, or the evil one. Satan is our worst enemy. IV. Verses 16-17 - In the world but not of it. A. Look at 14b. The world system is under Satan's control. They will not love us - ever. The world will be either indifferent or dismissive, and filled with hatred. B. Paul gave a warning in Ephesians 6:10-13. C. This is why we need to be sanctified - separated. V. Verse 18 - Jesus sends His diciples into the world. A. He saved us to send us.... B. This has always been God's will for His people - His church. C. You need to see yourself as "sent disciple." We are the disciples of Jesus and all of this applies to us as well. For a Christian, prayer is a logical thing. It is as logical as talking to parents, etc. It is our way of communicating with God. Psalm 61:1-3 gives us an example of a "logical prayer."
I. Vs. 1 - A Logical Request A. To be listened to is one of the longings of the human heart. 1. We want other people to hear us. 2. We want to be heard in the course of life: work, church, home, etc. No one really wants to be ignored. B. So, of course, we want God to listen to us, to hear us. C. Good news! God does hear! Exodus 3:7; Acts 10:31; Psalm 28:6; Psalm 61:5 II. Vs. 2 - A Logical Response A. He was calling out to God as from a distance,i.e., from great distress. Sometimes our prayers are like that. B. Therefore, "Lead me in the way that is higher than I..." 1. Would we want to talk to the "lower rock"? Sometimes we do when we depend on self, or the world, alone for help. 2. We know that we need Jesus because He is really higher than we are. Psalm 18:2 a. We need to lean on His power and strength. b. We need to lean on His love and care. c. We need to have help that only Jesus can give. C. Don't we want the "higher rock"? HE IS AVAILABLE!!!!!! III. Vs. 3 - A Logical Conclusion A. He is our shelter to cover us. B. He is our tower to elevate us above Satan and the world. C. He is our hope - period. This prayer is logical and hits at the heart of our own feelings and needs. Note: This is a very brief outline. There is a lot of meat that can be added to these bones. Bro. Joe
Notice that David waited patiently. When we pray a lot, we learn that when we make requests we have to be patient, because the Lord does not work on our timetable. Look closely at this text and you will find that: I. Vs. 1b - God hears and answers us. He is waiting to hear from us. His ears are attuned to us. There are at least three answers to prayer: "yes," "wait" and "no." But He says "no" because He has something better for us. II. Vs. 2a - He delivers us. Have you ever "bogged down"? It seems impossible to get out. Life is like that at times, but Jesus lifts us up and out of our "bogs." III. Vs. 2b - He establishes us. He takes us out of boggy ground and puts us on a solid rock. The rock that the Lord puts us on is "The Rock of Ages" - Jesus. Jesus establishes us for eternity.... IV. Vs. 3a - He renews us. A "new song" means that we have a new heart, new goals, a new attitude and new lease on life. Another name for renewal is revival. V. Vs. 3b - He uses us. When the Lord answers us, delivers us, establishes and renews us, then we are fit to be used. We do not keep what Jesus has done for us to ourselves. Others will hear us, fear God and put their trust in Him. I think our text illustrates that it is worth waiting on God to answer our prayers and change our lives. Prayer doesn't just change things. It changes people. |
All of these materials are free of charge. There is no copyright on them and you are free to use them as you see fit. I am happy to be of assitance to you in your preaching/teaching minstry.
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