INVINCIBLE CHURCH 2-25-24

Invincible Church Sermon Notes
2/25/2024
How to be a True Follower of Jesus pt 3
1 Thessalonians 5:12-25
Beginning to End … Pray like Jesus!
God’s got a plan! He created us for His glory and pleasure! Sin separates us from God, but if we choose to receive the free gift of salvation from Jesus, He saves us from our sin and reconciles us to God. Then, we become citizens of heaven and we’re just passing through this life on earth!
Our identity is "IN" Jesus and we become a follower of Him. So, God includes us in His plan. We’re an ambassador, warrior, servant or saint for Jesus! And, if we want to honor God, we’ll follow the instructions that Jesus gave us when God raised Him from the dead!
The instructions are called the Great Commission and Jesus gave them to us right before He ascended into heaven to be seated at God’s right hand! It’s the basic outline for the life and work that Jesus expects all His followers to be doing until He returns or He calls us home.
We know the instructions for life Jesus gave us are to LOVE – PRAY and BE THANKFUL for all things… GO – MAKE – and TEACH disciples… ASK – SEEK – and KNOCK on the doors of opportunity that God gives us to serve. These 9 action items are the way every follower of Jesus brings glory to God!
Last week we started with the greatest command in God’s plan and the instructions from Jesus which is to love God and others unconditionally and sacrificially! It’s the entire foundation of God’s law! So, the 10 Commandments from God are based on God’s love!
Now, the second part of God’s plan and the instructions from Jesus is to pray continually… and pray according to God’s will! Praying according to God’s will includes asking Him for wisdom, word and ways to get His kingdom work done, so we can all accomplish His will!
Also, we pray for the faith to trust the will and way that God gives us to accomplish the work He has for us to get done! And, when we pray for wisdom, we have to trust that God is always gracious and willing to answer our prayers for His glory, which is always good for us!
So, when the instruction is for sure from God, He’ll always give us the right thing to do at the right time. And it’s always right, no matter what the world says or what our own prior experiences tell us! So, how do we know for sure it’s from God? We pray and we discern!
1 Thessalonians 5:12-25 NIV – 12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in The Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. 16 Rejoice always, 17 Pray continually, 18 give Thanks in all circumstances … for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench The Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil. 23 May God Himself, The God of Peace, sanctify you through and through ... May your whole :> - Spirit – Soul - and Body be kept blameless at The Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The One Who calls you is Faithful, and He will do it. 25 Brothers and Sisters … Pray for us! …
Think about this… The Bible isn’t going to tell us what to do or what not to do that isn’t the right thing to do... or something that’s not the will of God! So, why wouldn’t we be working hard to do it? The best life practice is to pray continually, which means consistently and constantly!
So, as for a follower of Jesus, we have to make prayer a way of life! We pray, learn and train how to be in a continual attitude of prayer from our heart! Not just a programmed activity or kneeling and reciting some form of pre-printed prayers!
True followers of Jesus ought to recognize that our natural power is insufficient against the super natural forces of darkness. So, we’re okay being totally depended on the Holy Spirit of God to help us fight spiritual battels. It’s why we have to be in a constant attitude of prayer.
Because everything in this life is prone to be impacted by the enemy in spiritual battle! The Good News is that prayerful followers of Jesus, who trust in the power of the Holy Spirit can have true joy and peace in the midst of spiritual battles and the struggles of life!
The ultimate example of the right attitude we ought to strive for in prayer is the prayer of Jesus on the night before His crucifixion! He petitioned the Father for relief from the suffering, but He stayed faithful, loyal and obedient to endure it for God’s will and glory!
Luke 22:42 NIV – 42 “Father, if You are Willing, take this Cup from Me; yet Not My Will, but Yours be done!”
So, the urgent advice and encouragement from Paul to all believers is “pray continually”! It’s a mandate from God! The Greek word for prayer in the New Testament encompasses all the aspects of prayer: praise, submission, confession, intercession, petition and thanksgiving!
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray the way He prayed… and He gave them a template or outline for how we should form prayer in our heart as we talk to God! We see the response Jesus gave the disciples in…
Matthew 6:9-13 NIV – 9 “This, then, is how you should Pray … “‘Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name, 10 Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth as It is in Heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
We know that Jesus perfectly practiced what He preached (100%). So, we need to follow His lead and gain the wisdom to pray like Jesus prays! The best way to do it is to look at the circumstances Jesus faced… listen to the words He spoke… and learn from His positive attitude!
Pray Like Jesus
1) Follow His Example!
Jesus was fully God and fully human! He had a physical body and a human mind. His human body and mind wasn’t somehow absorbed into Him being God… which means he experienced everything we do: pain, suffering, emotion, temptation – everything!
So, Jesus was completely human! The Bible says, “He was as we are, but without sin!” As a human, Jesus exuded a positive attitude as a leader, teacher, friend and an authoritative miracle worker… but sometimes His soul was very sorrowful…
… especially on the night before His crucifixion! We know it’s cold that night because the servants of the high priest had built a fire to huddle around. But Jesus is sweating profusely! And it’s not because He’s afraid to suffer horrific torture and be murdered.
It’s because of the reason He’s being subjected to all this! The reason is because God’s creation… God’s people... haven’t loved God the way He’s loved them! They’ve egregiously sinned against God and separated themselves from Him! So, Jesus has not saved us from ourselves!
The burden of His mission is putting “intense pressure” on His emotions… and the only way to be at peace with it is to pray! He cries out to God in prayer! God gives His answer… and Jesus carries on with the decision with confidence, courage and peace.
It’s overwhelming to think about the weight of the responsibility on Jesus… the creator of the universe… and the physical suffering He’s about to endure… plus the sorrow He feels for people who dishonor God in such a disrespectful way. But He’s going to follow the will of God no matter what! So, yes, we need to prayerfully follow His perfect example! Then,
2) Listen to His Instruction!
Jesus is reminding us that God always gives the right thing to do at the right time, no matter how difficult or wrong it might seem to us at the time. Jesus was in intense distress when he prayed for God to allow this responsibility to pass!
But God had His reasons for not granting the request made by Jesus… and Jesus obeyed because He wasn’t relying on the prayer itself. Prayer is just the means of communication. Jesus was trusting God to answer His prayer according to God’s wisdom!
Jesus is telling us that our faith doesn’t need to be in the fact we prayed. That makes it about us. Our faith and trust is in the Father who answers the prayers! Then, we’re to be obedient in taking the action God gives because God gives good things to those who ask Him. Then,
3) Learn from His Teaching!
Jesus was the perfect person… and He’s the perfect God. So, we need to try our best to be the perfect student and learn from His perfect teaching! We’re going to look at 3 ways to learn from His teaching so we can pray like Jesus prays!
I. Learn from The Person of Jesus (His Incarnation).
Jesus isn’t a detached Savior! He’s involved! His willingness to identify with sinful man got Him in trouble with the religious leaders, but only because He is who He says He is… the eternal sovereign God in human flesh!
He came in human flesh and lived among disease, death, blasphemers, poverty, sadness – all of it! He was a social and religious outcast among the religious elite! He faced everything bad that humans could face! He was exactly what He calls us to be… salt and light!
He did real ministry among real people! We’ll never reach people with the truth if we refuse to understand what they’re faced with… and help them understand the supernatural forces they’re being manipulated by! Religion doesn’t save people… Jesus does!
II. Learning from The Passion of Jesus.
Jesus understands turmoil! When we’re under intense pressure… or overwhelmed with any kind of emotion… or there’s something we can’t get settled in our soul, we learn from and then lean on praying with the passion that Jesus prayed with in the garden!
Jesus experienced everything He experienced and endured it because it was the Father’s will! Jesus is always with us, so we don’t have to endure the struggles, distress, suffering trials and temptations alone! We’ll always find relief when we look to Him!
He may not deliver us from the storms or problems, but He’ll be right beside us through every bit of whatever it is! It’s because of His sufferings that we can have confidence, courage, certainty and faith! Prayer is how we rejoice through it all and it’s with Him!
III. Learning from The Petition of Jesus.
This might be the most important one because we learn that God doesn’t grant all requests… even from Jesus! When Jesus prayed to ask God if there was any other way, He encompassed His prayer in His affection for God… and inside the will of God!
Jesus knew before He prayed and asked that “In God’s wisdom”… He doesn’t always give us what we ask for! And praise Jesus that He doesn’t because sometimes what we ask for isn’t the best thing for us!
In God’s economy the things we think are “good” might actually turn out to be bad! And what we think might be bad could be an important part of God’s plan to train and equip us to be a better follower of Jesus!
If we don’t take into consideration how faithfully Jesus prayed during His earthly ministry, then we won’t understand and fully benefit from the Biblical command to pray continually. The New Testament gives us all kinds of examples of the consistent prayer life of Jesus and here are…
7 Biblical Instructions for Praying like Jesus
1) Pray for The Things The Bible Commands us to Pray for!
The Bible tells us to pray for our enemies, for missionaries, protection from temptation, for messengers of the Word, for government leaders, for relief from affliction and for the healing of fellow believers! So, where God commands prayer, we can be confident that we’re praying according to His will!
2) Learn from The Prayers of Godly Characters in Scripture!
Paul prayed for the salvation of Israel! David prayed for mercy and forgiveness when he sinned! The early church prayed for boldness to witness! All of these prayers were according to the will of God, just like our prayers ought to be today!
3) Pray with The Right Motive!
The Bible says selfish motives won’t be blessed by God! Also, we’re not supposed to pray just so people get to hear our religious words and see how spiritual we are! We’re mostly supposed to pray from our heart… according to God’s will. Then, we’ll be blessed!
4) Pray with a Spirit of Forgiveness Toward Others!
The Bible says a spirit of bitterness, anger, revenge or hatred toward others doesn’t allow our hearts to pray in total submission to God! Just like we’re told not to give offerings to God to try and resolve a conflict with a fellow believer. God doesn’t want us offering prayer for petitions until we reconcile conflicts with our brothers and sisters in Christ!
5) Pray with Thanksgiving!
We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter what or how bad we think things are in our life! We don’t have to like bad things, but we have to find a way to be thankful! It’s not easy, but it’s possible because all things are possible through Christ who strengthens us!
6) Pray with Persistence!
Just like every good thing in life, we should persevere in prayer! Never quit or be depressed/dejected because we don’t get an immediate answer or the answer we want! Part of praying in God’s will is believing in God’s perfect timing. His answer is Yes – No – or wait! We’re going to accept His judgment, submit to His will and keep on praying!
7) Rely on The Holy Spirit of God in Prayer!
The Bible says… when “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will”!
We have the Holy Spirit’s help in praying! So, at the times of our deepest depression or sorrow … and we feel like we just can’t pray… we have the promise of knowing that the Holy Spirit is actually praying for us! Man!! God is AMAZING!!
God’s got stuff for us to do! So, we need to always be in an “attitude of prayer” from the heart. While we’re praying, we need to keep the belief, faith and trust that God’s working all things together for our good… no matter what our current circumstances happen to be!
Romans 8:28 NIV – 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who Love Him, who have been called according to His Purpose.
So, if we really do want to accomplish God’s purposes… and we really want to pray like Jesus, then we’ll submit our will to God, The Father’s will, in every circumstance and situation, with the attitude of prayer that Jesus taught us when He said to God, “Not My will, but Yours!”
How do we get the stuff done that God’s got for us to do? We start by loving God unconditionally, loving others sacrificially… and praying like Jesus continually! Next week we’ll talk about being thankful in “all things”!
Let us pray…