Sermon Tone Analysis

[TITLE SLIDE]

We’re continuing our series called Holy Things and we’re going to begin looking at Practices of Holy People for the next 4 weeks.

Today’s practice is prayer.

Prayer simply means talking to God.

Most religions have some form of prayer.

In some religions prayers are merely rituals.

In some religions prayer has more to do with you than the god or gods you are praying to.

But, in Judaism and Christianity, prayer has more to do with God than than it does us as God’s people.

Our text for today comes from the Old Testament, which means it was originally written to the nation of Israel, to the Jewish people.

I believe this text explains the way that God has designed prayer to work.

Anecdote

INTRO: Story — The Building of the Temple

Our text for today comes from the Old Testament, which means it was written to the nation of Israel, to the Jewish people.

And I think this text explains the way that God has designed prayer to work.

PAUSE

I’ll give you some context.

Some time after the Lord had delivered the Israelites into the Promised Land, the land we know as Israel, there was a King named David.

King David wasn’t by any means perfect, but he was a righteous king.

Later in life, though, David sinned against God.

He failed to trust the Lord and began to trust instead in his own wisdom and power.

David tried to repent of his lack of trust, so he wanted to build a temple to worship God in Jerusalem.

But the Lord forbid it and told David that His son would be allowed to build the temple instead of him.

And that’s exactly what David’s son, Solomon, did.

Here’s what the author of Chronicles wrote about the building of the temple in Jerusalem.

King David of Israel, sinned against God.

He failed to trust God and as a consequence God told David he could not build

(CSB) — Solomon finished the Lord’s temple and the royal palace.

Everything that had entered Solomon’s heart to do for the Lord’s temple and for his own palace succeeded.

Solomon built an amazing temple for the Lord.

And the Lord was pleased with Solomon.

(CSB) — Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple of sacrifice.

God heard Solomon’s prayer.

How many times have we prayed and wondered if God had even heard our prayers?

[TITLE SLIDE]

God heard Solomon’s prayer and God was pleased with Solomon so He chose the temple that Solomon built to be His temple.

Solomon offered this amazing temple to God and God was pleased to reside there.

PAUSE

But, the Lord does not dwell in the temple any more.

You may know this, but the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD.

And that’s okay, actually, because we don’t need the temple any more.

In the book of Acts, Stephen said,

(CSB) — The Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands.

The Lord no longer resides in temples made by human hands, but now he lives in the temple that He made—not a temple that man made, but a temple that God made.

The Apostle Paul wrote,

(CSB) — Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

You are God’s temple and God resides in you as a Christian.

[TITLE SLIDE]

Solomon offered a physical, man-made temple to God and God was pleased to live there for a time.

But, today, you offer yourself, your body, your mind to God as a temple and God is pleased to come and live in you.

You are the temple of God.

When you commit your life to Jesus Christ, he responds to you, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen you for myself.”

When you commit your life to Jesus Christ, he responds to you, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen you for myself.”

PAUSE

What’s interesting about this passage is that the Lord knew that the Israelites were disobedient to the law and that they would sin against him.

After the Lord commended Solomon for the temple, His very next statement addressed what would happen if they disobeyed.

The Lord said,

PRINCIPLE: The prayer that resulted in the activity of God was a prayer of humility.

It was a prayer that seeks.

This is actually how someone becomes a Christian.

They confess their sins and then seek God for forgiveness which He has graciously offered us through Jesus Christ.

We pray today, not because our prayers bind God to act, but because God chooses to work through our prayers.

The man or woman of faith is a praying man or a praying woman who knows that God listens and knows that God will act.

(CSB) — If I shut the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on my people, and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

My eyes will now be open and my ears attentive to prayer from this place.

The Lord is speaking of discipline for disobedience.

The Lord spoke of discipline.

But, he promised that, although we may undergo discipline when we don’t submit to his Lordship, he will not abandon us.

EXPOSITION:

[TITLE SLIDE]

He will hear us from heaven.

He will forgive our sin.

He will open his eyes to us and hear our prayers.

PAUSE

But, I want you to notice, there are four criteria in those verses I just read that God requires in order to hear our prayers.

I’d like to go through each one briefly.

Prerequisites

So often we feel as though God is not hearing our prayers and it is quite possible, based on this text, that we are right.

I guess it’s not that he can’t hear the words.

It might be clearer to say that God may not be listening or paying attention when you pray.

So, we’ll go through these four criteria so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Prayer is for people who bear the name of Christ.

The first criteria is…

Prayer must be done in humility.

Christ

Prayer seeks God’s face (countenance, glory) not the glory/purpose of the self.

…himself.

Prayer can be hindered by our sin.

There are many people who claim to be very spiritual.

They try to be good people and they read the Bible or other spiritual literature.

And of course they pray.

But, notice in our passage, if you don’t have Christ then you don’t pray as you ought to pray.

The Lord said,

Restilts

(CSB) — [If] my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven.

Foregiveness

Now, I won’t say that God never hears the prayers of an unbeliever.

Providence

[CHRIST]

Certainly, God can listen to whoever he wants to listen to.

But, here there is a promise made to those who bear the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.