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Calvary Missionary Baptist Church |
"The Christian Worship Service, Part 1: Prayer" Tonight's lesson is going to be on the first, and most important element of the Christian worship service: prayer. If a church is going to be successful, they must be a praying church, both privately and publicly. Our power with God comes with prayer, and if we are without prayer we are without God. Prayer is how we build our relationship with God, and without it we will not grow. Our prayer in the worship service should be genuine, personal, and led by the Holy Spirit. If we are to reach out to a dark world, we need to be a praying church! I. What is prayer? Prayer is our communication with God. It is how we speak to God, and how He speaks with us. Prayer - an address (as a petition) to God in word or thought II. When did prayer begin? (Genesis 4:26) Prayer began with the line of Seth in the book of Genesis. That is when men began calling on the name of the Lord. III. God's House is a house of prayer. (Matthew 21:13) We have set aside our church building as a place of worship and prayer. We ought to take very seriously our obligation to keep this place a house of prayer and not a den of thieves. IV. Instructions Concerning Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15) a. We must not pray for the purpose of being heard. (v.5) b. We should pray to our Father in secret (v.6) c. We should not use vain repetitions in prayer, our prayer should be genuine (v.7) d. We should pray for the right things i. Praise to the Father (v.9,13) ii. God's will to be done here on earth (v.10) iii. For our needs to be met (v.11) iv. For forgiveness of our debts and sins (v.12) v. For protection from evil (v.13) V. The Holy Spirit must lead us in our prayers (Romans 8:26-27) The Holy Spirit acts as our guide to prayer. He teaches us what we should pray for and helps us to humble our heart so we can be in the spirit of prayer. Without His help, we fall short in communication, but with His help we can have warm conversations with God. VI. Conditions of Successful prayer a. Righteousness (James 5:16) b. Faith (James 1:6) c. Whole-heartedness (Jeremiah 29:13) d. Contrition (II Chronicles 7:14) e. Obedience (I John 3:22) f. Persistence (Luke 11:5-8; I Thessalonians 5:17) VII. God promises to answer prayer (Luke 11:9-13) |