Prayer – Communication
(Because of the video clip. This sermon was appealing to all ages. Kids to adults.
The difference:
• Men and women are different
• This may sound like a simple statement.
• “Bro. Moore, most of us know that by now.”
• Well, there are more differences then people give credit.
• I have a couple I was counseling.
o They were holding many conversations.
o Sometimes with great volume.
o Bro. Tenny would call it “intense fellowship.”
o I became the interpreter.
o Yes, they both spoke “English”
o But, he was speaking man, and she was speaking woman.
o I would say to the man,
“You said this, but meant this.” “Correct”
“Dear Lady, you said this and meant this” “Correct”
o You see, they were talking but not communicating.
• Communicating is the key to conversation.
• Communication = the exchange of feelings and facts, sending and receiving ideas. (Communication is not just one direction)
• Mastering communication makes all the difference…think about this…
o When Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product something that when pronounced sounded like "Coca-Cola." The only problem was that the characters used meant, "Bite the Wax Tadpole." They later changed to a set of characters that meant "Happiness In The Mouth."
o When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life". But the slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From The Grave."
o Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."
o The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. In Spanish "No Va" means "Does Not Go"
• Men, how many times have you told your wife something and she still got it wrong?
• Ladies, how many of you have told your husbands something as clearly as possible and he still got it messed up?
• Parents, how many of you have told your children something as clearly as possible and they still did just the opposite?
• Many times when you do, “Get through” to the other person they say, “Oh! Is that what you wanted?”
• No matter who you are in this life, communications has its challenges!
Marriage
• The late Johnny Carson said, “If love is a dream, marriage is the alarm clock! If marriages are made in heaven, so is thunder and lightning!”
• My wife and I can talk all day and never communicate our ideas to each other. We have learned that we must communicate to the other person the way the receive information.
o Example: When the ladies in my house make me a grocery list. It must be placed so all the items are one below the other. If a note is on the side of the paper, or the bottom, I never see it. It is just the way my brain processes a grocery list.
• It’s not about the words said, it’s about getting your message across.
• This brings me to the subject for the night.
• PRAYER!!
Prayer
• Let’s discuss some aspects of prayer.
• We are a people that believe prayer works. “Amen!”
• We believe Prayer changes.
• We believe Prayer makes things happen.
• I had rather stand against the cannons of the wicked, than against the prayers of the righteous.
Thomas Lye
• Let’s study some aspects of prayer
Some Aspects of Prayer
I. PETITION
• This is the time when you ask God for specific needs.
• Attending church in Kentucky, a man watched an especially verbal and boisterous child being hurried out, slung under his irate father’s arm. No one in the congregation so much as raised an eyebrow -- until the child captured everyone’s attention by crying out in a charming Southern accent, "Ya’ll pray for me now!"
Jean McMahon (Dyer, Ind.) in Reader’s Digest, April 1980.
• Ask God for Personal Needs.
• Ask God for Family Needs.
• Ask God for Church Needs.
• James 4:2 “…ye have not, because ye ask not.”
II. INTERCESSION
• Pray for Salvation of Souls.
• For your Family.
• For Your Friends.
• "There is nothing that makes us love a man so much, as prayer for him.
William Law
• For Your City.
• For the World.
• We need to be praying for our Governor. His inauguration was today.
• The Legislator just started session.
• We need to be praying for our government to make the right decisions for South Carolina.
III. PRAISE
• Always end your prayer with Praise.
• You start with praise and you end with praise.
• (If you want to know more, Read “The Prayer Journey” by Sis. Freddy Trammell. This will teach you the method of praying.)
• This final step, of praise, is so important!
• There are many steps to prayer and we have only covered a couple of them, But…
• It is as important to end your prayer with Praise as it is to begin with Praise.
• When you pray you encounter the Spirit World.
o It is like a surgeon opening a wound for repair to your body.
o When you pray and you tell God your needs and you pray for souls you encounter the spirit world.
o Not only is God in the Spirit World but the Devil is in the Spirit World as well.
o A surgeon doesn’t repair a person and then leave them exposed.
o The stitching back of a person is as important as the opening of a wound.
o Now I didn’t mean to insinuate that Prayer is like surgery.
o But you are asking God to fix things in your life.
o You don’t want to leave prayer without Praise God because the Devil leaves when you praise.
o You end intercession with Thanksgiving, for the same reasons.
o You feel “heavy” in Intercession.
o You feel “light” finishing in Praise.
Dealing with Prayer:
• To night dealing with prayer I think…
• People misunderstand the concept of prayer.
• Many think prayer is petition.
• Petition is just simply a part of prayer.
• Prayer is not “just” bringing your needs to God. It is a part of prayer.
• It does not, however, encompass the whole definition of “prayer time”.
• Let me show you a video that may explain it a little better.
• (Show Video Here)(The video is used is located here at SermonCentral. It is called Enpowerment. It features a hillbilly couple. A must watch video)
• Faith without works is dead.
o You have to put action to your prayer.
• Prayer without power is nothing
o You have to connect to the power source if you want something to happen
• This is just like the new power saw the man received.
• He was excited, and even jubilant.
• You may have noticed he did not know how to use his new toy.
• He did however find some creative ways to use it.
• It could be said his ways worked. But just not well.
• I have seen people treat Prayer the same way.
• They are handed this powerful new tool and excited about using it. Never taking the time to learn how.
• They use it in a lot of creative ways, but never in the way it was intended.
• Prayer, when connected to the power source, is unstoppable.
• This is because you become consumed with His will not your own.
• That’s why it is unstoppable!!!!
• Let’s make this very simple.
• Even though there are many aspects of prayer.
o Many levels of prayer.
o Many ways to enhance your prayer.
o Many ways to progress your prayer.
o Prayer is still simply one thing.
o Communication!!!
• Not just talking to God, But communicating with Him!
• This is why we must learn how to pray.
• But, it’s still just communicating with the master.
• You can learn the aspects of prayer, but must have a heart to start.
• We must fall in love with the master.
• You don’t just talk to your friends when require something of them or need to give them information.
• You will hold conversations with them about your daily life.
• Why not Tell God about your day,
o A funny story you heard,
o a beautiful sunset you saw,
o about something nice someone did for you today,
o Just have a conversation with Him!
• Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer."
John Bunyon
• Why is this statement true?
• Because when you are around people who don’t like a certain genre of music, you try not to listen to it.
• When friends don’t like certain games, you don’t play them.
• When you are communicating with God so much He sticks around, You don’t want to do things (sin) because you are afraid of hurting His feelings.
• See, Communication it truly the key.
My Life
• When this becomes a part of you your whole world will change.
• Your lifestyle will be different.
• Your conversation will change.
• Your likes and dislikes will change.
• You will find it easy to talk about God, because you have been talking to Him so much.
Conclusion Story:
Roger Simms, hitchhiking his way home, would never forget the date--May 7. His heavy suitcase made Roger tired. He was anxious to take off his army uniform once and for all.
Flashing the hitchhiking sign to the oncoming car, he lost hope when he saw it was a black, sleek, new Cadillac. To his surprise the car stopped.
The passenger door opened. He ran toward the car, tossed his suitcase in the back, and thanked the handsome, well-dressed man as he slid into the front seat.
"Going home for keeps?"
"Sure am," Roger responded.
"Well, you’re in luck if you’re going to Chicago."
"Not quite that far. Do you live in Chicago?" "I have a business there. My name is Hanover."
After talking about many things, Roger, a Christian, felt a compulsion to witness to this fifty-ish, apparently successful businessman about Christ. But he kept putting it off, till he realized he was just thirty minutes from his home.
It was now or never. So, Roger cleared his throat, "Mr. Hanover, I would like to talk to you about something very important." He then proceeded to explain the way of salvation, ultimately asking Mr. Hanover if he would like to receive Christ as his Savior.
To Roger’s astonishment the Cadillac pulled over to the side of the road. Roger thought he was going to be ejected from the car. But the businessman bowed his head and received Christ, then thanked Roger. "This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me."
Five years went by, Roger married, had a two-year-old boy, and a business of his own.
Packing his suitcase for a business trip to Chicago, he found the small, white business card Hanover had given him five years before.
In Chicago he looked up Hanover Enterprises. A receptionist told him it was impossible to see Mr. Hanover, but he could see Mrs. Hanover. A little confused as to what was going on, he was ushered into a lovely office and found himself facing a keen-eyed woman in her fifties.
She extended her hand. "You knew my husband?"
Roger told how her husband had given him a ride when hitchhiking home after the war. "Can you tell me when that was?"
"It was May 7, five years ago, the day I was discharged from the army." "Anything special about that day?" Roger hesitated. Should he mention giving his witness? Since he had come so far, he might as well take the plunge.
"Mrs. Hanover, I explained the gospel. He pulled over to the side of the road and wept against the steering wheel. He gave his life to Christ that day."
Explosive sobs shook her body. Getting a grip on herself, she sobbed, "I had prayed for my husband’s salvation for years. I believed God would save him."
"And," said Roger, "Where is your husband, Mrs. Hanover?"
"He’s dead," she wept, struggling with words. "He was in a car crash after he let you out of the car. He never got home. You see--I thought God had not kept His promise." Sobbing uncontrollably, she added, "I stopped living for God five years ago because I thought He had not kept His word!"
J. Kirk Johnston, Why Christians Sin, Discovery House, 1992, pp. 39-41.
Conclusion:
o If this man had not been contact with God, he would have had nothing to tell Mr. Hanover about his friend (God) in the car.
o He may have said to himself, “I’ll just send him a letter.”
o It’s so important we learn the power of communication, Oh sorry, Prayer!!!
o We need to learn how to have fellowship with our maker
o If we do all will be ok!
o Let’s Pray!!!
Segments of this sermon adapted from “Mastering Communication” by Dave Kinney
“Mastering Communication” is a great message to study with this one. This message goes in a different direction, but good parallel study.
Thanks also to Pastor Mark Hopper. (No sermons posted here) But great mentor and resource for me.
If I missed someone it was not intentional. Thanks to all who help provide great resources.
