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Sermon:
Orison
[awr-uh-zuh] The title of the sermon is, "Orison." This is a Middle English, Old French and Late Latin word meaning "plea", "Prayer" and "Oration." In the Late Latin it has the meaning, "to speak." It is a noun of action. We have all prayed. We have all heard a multitude of sermons on prayer including how and when to pray. The question however is, "What is the good of prayer?" What is its importance? Today we are going to answer these questions as I encourage all of us to know the good of prayer. Know the good of prayer
1 Timothy 2:1-8 [See
Lesson] First of all - That is, as the first duty to be enjoined; the thing that is to be regarded with primary concern. It does not mean that this was to be the first thing in public worship in the order of time, but that it was to be regarded as a duty of primary importance. The duty of praying for the salvation of the whole world was not to be regarded as a subordinate and secondary thing. ~Barnes Notes I exhort therefore, that first of all - The two principal parts of public worship, being the ministry of the word and prayer; and the apostle having insisted on the former, in the preceding chapter, in which he orders Timothy to charge some that they teach no other doctrine than that of the Gospel, gives an account of his own ministry, and call to it, and of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to his trust, and stirs up Timothy to the faithful and diligent discharge of his work and office; now proceeds to the latter, to prayer, and exhorts unto it; either Timothy in particular, for so read the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, "I exhort thee", or "desire thee"; or else the church in general; unless it should rather be thought to be a charge to Timothy to exhort, and so Beza's Claromontane copy reads, "exhort thou therefore": but it is commonly considered as an exhortation of the apostle's, which he was very urgent in: it was what lay much upon his mind, and he was greatly desirous that it should be attended unto; for so the words may be read, "I exhort first of all", or before all things; of all things he had to say, this was the chief, or it was what he would have principally and chiefly done by others: for this does not so much regard the order of time, that prayer should be made early in the morning, in the first place, before anything else is done, and particularly before preaching, which seems to have been the custom of the primitive saints, Acts 4:31 but the pre-eminence and superior excellency of it; though the words may be rendered, "I exhort, that first, the supplications of all be made": and so may regard public prayer, the prayer of the whole church, in distinction from private prayer, or the prayer of a single person; which is expressed by different words. ~John Gill
Quoted verse: First of all (proŻton pantoŻn) - My first request (first in importance). ~Robertson's Word Pictures It was so important that the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray.
Luke 11:1 So we now see that prayer is of first importance and our first duty, but we need to know the good of prayer. Why do we need it? What's the Good of Prayer? 1] We need it because human wits have an end.
Psalm 107:13
Psalm 107:19
Psalm 107:27-28 Man collectively and individually have a limit to their knowledge and wisdom. Not so with God.
Romans 11:33
Psalm 92:5 Our minds are limited in knowledge, understanding and wisdom. God is unlimited in knowledge, understanding and wisdom. How do we get into His mind?
1 Corinthians 2:10
Notice the commentary:
Quoted verse: So what good is prayer? For getting into the deep things of God.
Job 12:22 What good is prayer? 2] Human wills have an end. First a definition on the world, "will."
1) the power of control the mind has over its own actions.
Romans 8:26 When you look at those definitions of "will" we easily conclude that our will is limited. When we hit that limit we put the rest in God's hands. Indeed, we have learned to put our power over actions and choices in God's hands from the beginning. So what good is prayer? To partner our will with His. What good is prayer? 3] Human wisdom has an end
James 1:5 Notice the commentary on, "let him ask of God": Let him ask of God wisdom - of God the Father, who is the only wise God, who has abounded in creation, in providence, and, above all, in redemption and grace, in all wisdom and prudence; and of his Son Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom of God, and has all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in him; and of the Spirit of God, who is a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, and all divine things: ~John Gill And it shall be given him - God has said it, Christ has promised it, and the apostle might, with certainty, say it after them, and all experience confirms the truths of it. ~John Gill God has said it and Christ has promised it and all we need do is ask. He is urging, encouraging and all but commanding that we ask. If we ask, He must fulfill the promise.
Proverbs 2:3-12
So what good is prayer?
So lift up your voice unto God. What good is prayer? 4] We must do it.
Luke 18:1 They ought always to pray - Prayer is a privilege and a duty. ~People's New Testament That men ought always to pray - This is opposed to them, who pray not at all, or have left off prayer before God, or who pray only in distress; and suggests, that a man should pray as often as he has an opportunity; should be constant and assiduous at the throne of grace, and continue putting up his requests to God, though he does not presently return an answer: ~John Gill That men ought always to pray. - That is, we must not neglect regular stated seasons of prayer; we must seize on occasions of remarkable providences as afflictions or signal blessings to seek God in prayer; we must “always” maintain a spirit of prayer, or be in a proper frame to lift up our hearts to God for his blessing, and we must not grow weary though our prayer seems not to be answered. ~Barnes Notes God added 3 words on the end of this verse. Not to faint - Not to grow weary or give over. The parable is designed to teach us that, though our prayers should long appear to be unanswered, we should persevere, and not grow weary in supplication to God. ~Barnes Notes
Romans 12:12
Ephesians 6:18
Philippians 4:6
Colossians 4:2
1 Thessalonians 5:17 So what good is prayer? For the simple fact that we must do it. What good is prayer?
5] To know God Notice the John Gill on verse three: Call unto me, and I will answer thee - This is spoken not to Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of it; but to the prophet, encouraging him to seek the Lord by prayer, promising an answer to him. ~John Gill This means it is talking to us too.
Jeremiah 29:12
Psalm 50:15
Psalm 91:15
Psalm 145:18 So what good is prayer? To know God. What good is prayer?
6] So we can help
others. What? We will do greater works than those Jesus did? He did miracles, healed the sick and raised the dead. How could ours be greater? Easy; His miracles were done only in Judea and seen by few. The meaning here is that our works would be greater in effect in that they would be done by thousands, for a longer time and before a multitude of nations. God is giving us the power, the means and the opportunities to do effective works before all peoples and all nations. Pray to God continually to give you the power, the means and the opportunities to do these great works. See the new Edification Blog at the web site. Notice the John Gill on greater works than Jesus: And greater works than these shall he do - meaning, not greater in nature and kind, but more in number; for the apostles, in a long series of time, and course of years, went about preaching the Gospel, not in Judea only, but in all the world; "God also bearing them witness with signs and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy [Spirit]", Hebrews 2:4, wherever they went: though perhaps by these greater works may be meant the many instances of conversion, which the apostles were instrumental in, and which were more in number than those which were under our Lord's personal ministry: besides, the conversion of a sinner is a greater work than any of the miracles of raising the dead, for this includes in it all miracles: here we may see a sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, quickened; one born blind made to see; one who was deaf to the threatenings of the law, and to the charming voice of the Gospel, made to hear, so as to live; and one that had the spreading leprosy of sin all over him, cleansed from it by the blood of the Lamb yea, though a miracle in nature is an instance and proof of divine power, yet the conversion of a sinner, which is a miracle in grace, is not only an instance of the power of God, and of the greatness of it, but of the exceeding greatness of it: and the rather one may be induced to give in to this sense of the passage, since it is added, as a reason. ~John Gill Look at an example of the new church doing great works:
Acts 5:14-16 Note: Despite the magnitude of drama and glory and awesomeness of these kinds of miracles, we still have a huge multitude of "quiet" miracles taking place today. The numbers are greater today than then. I could give you the example of an announcement of a new local church starting up again after someone attempted to destroy it. Headquarters had no idea who would show up to reestablish the church. Twelve people showed up and as you know that is God's number of organization. When the word went out on this some people were healed after asking that local ICG church to pray for them. About a half dozen were healed including two [as I remember] who were dying of cancer. When that happened, others heard about it and were specifically asking that church to pray for them. Some six more were healed. The miracles taking place in Peter and Paul's day were very public and dramatic. Today these miracles are very personal and/or at the local levels. For some, this makes the test of faith harder. Maybe it is because of where I sit and the communications I see, but many miracles and different kinds of miracles are taking place. So what good is prayer? So we can help others, do great works and usher in a continuing line of miracles throughout the church and throughout the world.
What good is prayer?
Ephesians 1:11 God does all things after the counsel of His own will. This is among the most astounding things we could ever say about the mind of the God. It is rather simple in concept. God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. We need to do the same. To make our will match His; to make our will conform to the image of Jesus Christ and His perfect mind, we need to ask God continually and fervently about His will. God gives us the admonition:
Romans 12:2 What could be clearer? We are transformed by the renewing of our minds. How do we renew our mind? By putting God's mind into our mind or better stated, by immersing ourselves into His mind. Doing so will prove to our minds that good, acceptable and perfect will of God.
2 Samuel 22:31
Matthew 5:48
Psalm 25:4 What did we learn today? Prayer is of first importance. What is the good of prayer? 1] We need it because human wits have an end. 2] We need it because human wills have an end.
3] We need it because human wisdom has an end. 4] We need it because we must do it. 5] We need it to know God. 6] We need it so we can help others. 7] We need it so we know how to do God's will. |
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