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Go Back to SermonsBasic Ingredients of Prayer
Sunday, February 19, 2006
A Pattern for Prayer: Basic Ingredients of Prayer Mount Pisgah Allen R. Hunt
2/19/06 Psalm 100
Adoration
Its not about you. (Rick Warren)
(Psalm 8; Psalm 46; Psalm 103.1)
I invite you to stand and pray with me
Psalm 121 Lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come?
Comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth
Psalm 8 how majestic is your name in all the earth
You have set your glory above the heavens
When I consider your heavens, your stars which you have set in place
What is man that you are mindful of us?
Its not about me it is all about you, O Lord
You are the only place our soul is satisfied
Our hearts were made by you and for you
How majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 100
On your feet now--applaud GOD!
Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into His presence.
Know this: GOD is God, and God, GOD. He made us; we didn't make Him. We're His people, His well-tended sheep.
Enter with the password: "Thank you!" Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship Him. For GOD is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever. (The Message)
O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art
Confession
The true Christians nostril is to be continually attentive to the inner cesspool. (C.S.Lewis)
(Psalm 51.17; Luke 18.13; Romans 7.24; 1John 1.9)
Invite you to kneel where you are or in the aisle if you are able or sit in your seat
O Lord, I admit that my sin hinders prayer it separates me from you
You are holy and I am not
You are God and I am not even though I try to place myself at the head of my life
And I know that you do not hear my prayers when I am cozy with evil (Ps 66)
When my heart is hard and my eyes blinded by my own selfishness
I know you call my nostrils to notice the cesspool inside of my heart and my life before I ask anything of you
So we call to mind right now the ways we offend you
We are embarrassed by some of the things we have done, by some of the feelings in our hearts, by things we have left undone
For the man wrapped up in his work, or his golf game too busy to notice his wife, the one to whom you have yoked him
For the times she has felt the coldness of his lack of attention, his preoccupiedness
For the distance that has created we know it hurts you just as it does her
For the ways we hurt the people we love, not to mention people we do not even know we ask your forgiveness
For the woman, envious of her neighbor eyeing the home next door
Wishing it were hers rather than the simple home she lives in desiring to own the same drapes and living room suit that her neighbor has even wishing that the neighbors car were hers her heart restless out of desire for what she does not have rather than gratitude for what she does have
For the ways we look to satisfy our souls with stuff for the times we do not see people, only possessions, we ask your forgiveness
For the resentments and anger harboring in our hearts for the ugliness that still remains deep within even in spite of our best efforts we ask forgiveness
The aroma of our own sinfulness hurts our nostrils and we ask you to make us clean
We lay before you right now what IS in us not what OUGHT to be in us
And ask your forgiveness
SILENCE
O Lord, we love you
And we trust in our faith in you that teaches us that at the center of the universe is your desire to give and forgive
All believers, come here and listen, let me tell you what God did for me. I called out to Him with my mouth, my tongue shaped the sounds of music. If I had been cozy with evil, the Lord would never have listened. But He most surely did listen, He came on the double when He heard my prayer. Blessed be God: He didn't turn a deaf ear, He stayed with me, loyal in His love. (Psalm 66.16-20: The Message)
Thanksgiving
Be thinkful of your blessings.
(Psalm 9.1; 30.12; 106.1; 1 Thess. 5.18)
Invite you to be seated
And consider the remarkable things God has done in your life just this week
As a friend says, Be more thinkful of your blessings.
Anita and I went to Mercer last weekend for our 20th reunion
Lightly attended and the blessing was spending 36 hours together just us
Talking, walking, reminiscing, giving thanks for our marriage, for how God has been at work over the last 20 years in our lives thinkful of the blessing of some time away to remind me of Gods goodness
Around the sanctuary are some microphones invite you to get up spontaneously and make your way to share a story from this week about a blessing, giving thanks to God
Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
always giving thanks to God the Father for everything,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
(Ephesians 5.20: NIV)
Supplication
God gives where He finds empty hands. (St. Augustine)
(Isa. 55.8-11; Luke 11.5-13; 18.1-8; John 16.24; Phlp. 4.6-7)
Invite you to sit with hands facing upward knowing that God gives where He finds empty hands
O Lord, we adore you, we confess to you, and we thank you
We also come to you in prayer with a lot of people, circumstances, and things on our minds
We do not come alone
Unlike the man who went to the bank, wrote a check for a million dollars to cash and the woman said, You have no account here. Im sorry.
We come to you in the name of Jesus He has told us that His account is our account
We come in His name
Like the persistent widow who day in and day out approached the judge, begging for justice against her enemy until finally the judge relented and granted her request
We come with persistence, earnestness, and intensity we belong to you
We stake our claim there
We know the words Jesus told us
Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives;
he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks, the door will be opened
(Matthew 7:7-8: NIV)
And so we come with open hands
Not bringing anything to you not clinging to our own stuff
But simply waiting on you
And rather than telling you what we want
We sit and listen for what you want
Gently bring to mind the names of people you want us to pray for
Remind us of circumstances in our lives and the lives of our friends that we need to saturate with your presence
May your heart spontaneously rise up in our hearts right now
Break our hearts with the things that break yours
SILENCE
O Lord, we present these requests and needs these hopes and longings to you
For you alone are God
And finally, Lord, we lift a hand toward the front today
As Alpharetta Police officers stand around us we lift a hand to show our love for them and our prayers for them right now
Surround them with grace protect them with your care shoulder their burdens as they labor to protect us
We give thanks for them and some of us covenant today to pray for them each day
O Lord, hear our prayers
Scott move into closing chorus
2/19/06 Psalm 100
Adoration
Its not about you. (Rick Warren)
(Psalm 8; Psalm 46; Psalm 103.1)
I invite you to stand and pray with me
Psalm 121 Lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come?
Comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth
Psalm 8 how majestic is your name in all the earth
You have set your glory above the heavens
When I consider your heavens, your stars which you have set in place
What is man that you are mindful of us?
Its not about me it is all about you, O Lord
You are the only place our soul is satisfied
Our hearts were made by you and for you
How majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 100
On your feet now--applaud GOD!
Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into His presence.
Know this: GOD is God, and God, GOD. He made us; we didn't make Him. We're His people, His well-tended sheep.
Enter with the password: "Thank you!" Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship Him. For GOD is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever. (The Message)
O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art
Confession
The true Christians nostril is to be continually attentive to the inner cesspool. (C.S.Lewis)
(Psalm 51.17; Luke 18.13; Romans 7.24; 1John 1.9)
Invite you to kneel where you are or in the aisle if you are able or sit in your seat
O Lord, I admit that my sin hinders prayer it separates me from you
You are holy and I am not
You are God and I am not even though I try to place myself at the head of my life
And I know that you do not hear my prayers when I am cozy with evil (Ps 66)
When my heart is hard and my eyes blinded by my own selfishness
I know you call my nostrils to notice the cesspool inside of my heart and my life before I ask anything of you
So we call to mind right now the ways we offend you
We are embarrassed by some of the things we have done, by some of the feelings in our hearts, by things we have left undone
For the man wrapped up in his work, or his golf game too busy to notice his wife, the one to whom you have yoked him
For the times she has felt the coldness of his lack of attention, his preoccupiedness
For the distance that has created we know it hurts you just as it does her
For the ways we hurt the people we love, not to mention people we do not even know we ask your forgiveness
For the woman, envious of her neighbor eyeing the home next door
Wishing it were hers rather than the simple home she lives in desiring to own the same drapes and living room suit that her neighbor has even wishing that the neighbors car were hers her heart restless out of desire for what she does not have rather than gratitude for what she does have
For the ways we look to satisfy our souls with stuff for the times we do not see people, only possessions, we ask your forgiveness
For the resentments and anger harboring in our hearts for the ugliness that still remains deep within even in spite of our best efforts we ask forgiveness
The aroma of our own sinfulness hurts our nostrils and we ask you to make us clean
We lay before you right now what IS in us not what OUGHT to be in us
And ask your forgiveness
SILENCE
O Lord, we love you
And we trust in our faith in you that teaches us that at the center of the universe is your desire to give and forgive
All believers, come here and listen, let me tell you what God did for me. I called out to Him with my mouth, my tongue shaped the sounds of music. If I had been cozy with evil, the Lord would never have listened. But He most surely did listen, He came on the double when He heard my prayer. Blessed be God: He didn't turn a deaf ear, He stayed with me, loyal in His love. (Psalm 66.16-20: The Message)
Thanksgiving
Be thinkful of your blessings.
(Psalm 9.1; 30.12; 106.1; 1 Thess. 5.18)
Invite you to be seated
And consider the remarkable things God has done in your life just this week
As a friend says, Be more thinkful of your blessings.
Anita and I went to Mercer last weekend for our 20th reunion
Lightly attended and the blessing was spending 36 hours together just us
Talking, walking, reminiscing, giving thanks for our marriage, for how God has been at work over the last 20 years in our lives thinkful of the blessing of some time away to remind me of Gods goodness
Around the sanctuary are some microphones invite you to get up spontaneously and make your way to share a story from this week about a blessing, giving thanks to God
Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
always giving thanks to God the Father for everything,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
(Ephesians 5.20: NIV)
Supplication
God gives where He finds empty hands. (St. Augustine)
(Isa. 55.8-11; Luke 11.5-13; 18.1-8; John 16.24; Phlp. 4.6-7)
Invite you to sit with hands facing upward knowing that God gives where He finds empty hands
O Lord, we adore you, we confess to you, and we thank you
We also come to you in prayer with a lot of people, circumstances, and things on our minds
We do not come alone
Unlike the man who went to the bank, wrote a check for a million dollars to cash and the woman said, You have no account here. Im sorry.
We come to you in the name of Jesus He has told us that His account is our account
We come in His name
Like the persistent widow who day in and day out approached the judge, begging for justice against her enemy until finally the judge relented and granted her request
We come with persistence, earnestness, and intensity we belong to you
We stake our claim there
We know the words Jesus told us
Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives;
he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks, the door will be opened
(Matthew 7:7-8: NIV)
And so we come with open hands
Not bringing anything to you not clinging to our own stuff
But simply waiting on you
And rather than telling you what we want
We sit and listen for what you want
Gently bring to mind the names of people you want us to pray for
Remind us of circumstances in our lives and the lives of our friends that we need to saturate with your presence
May your heart spontaneously rise up in our hearts right now
Break our hearts with the things that break yours
SILENCE
O Lord, we present these requests and needs these hopes and longings to you
For you alone are God
And finally, Lord, we lift a hand toward the front today
As Alpharetta Police officers stand around us we lift a hand to show our love for them and our prayers for them right now
Surround them with grace protect them with your care shoulder their burdens as they labor to protect us
We give thanks for them and some of us covenant today to pray for them each day
O Lord, hear our prayers
Scott move into closing chorus