The Prayers of the Saints

The Prayers of the Saints

Revelation 8.1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne.4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before Godfrom the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

I do not think we realize the power of prayer. They are precious to the LORD. We are going to look also at their eternal nature this morning. God is collecting these prayers. He is going to use them in the last days. This message will inspire us to pray, to continue to pray for an outpouring of fhe Holy Spirit upon our church, the Island and the nation. Let’s look at these truths about the prayers of the saints, you guys, as we get into the Word this morning.

1. They are powerful

James 5.16b.  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

When we pray in the will of God He answers!

He does immeasurably more, exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or imagine!

2. They are precious.

To the LORD

To us.

People are comforted to know we are praying for them.

To the people we pray for.

Sam Vassel

3. They are collected.

In Heaven

God is keeping our prayers in heaven and one day they will be released. Please collect them. We collect stamps and coins miniatures if you have a collection of something that studio but the dearest thing that has come from earth to heaven are the prayers of the Saints. And God treasures them!

In a Golden Censer

The things you treasure the most you keep in gold or silver.

Saved until the end

4. They are eternal

Keeps going after we are gone.

We do not think often enough about the Eternal nature of our prayers God is putting things in her heart to lift up to him. We are praying to the God of heaven. We are praying for him time and space into timelessness an eternity. He’s place eternity in our hearts. Prayer is an echo of that portion of our heart back to God.

Part of Christian Maturity is praying in a way that sees beyond our years, doesn’t say or think, well I won’t be here too much longer. “I am glad I am on my way out,” does not reflect Christ. As He faved death, He was concerned for His disciple . He still is!

5. They went up to heaven and they are coming back to the earth.

Like Jesus!

6. Christ is coming!

Soon and very soon

7. When He comes will He find faith expressing itself in persistent prayer?

Luke 18.1-8

Period.

In Your Life

In the church

Keep on praying and believing. Do not give up. Pray for the Holy Spirit to be outpoured!

7 more weeks! It will bring us to the day I leave for Haiti, October 10th.  More to come...

Jesus Prays For His Disciples

Jesus’ Prayer For His Apostles

John 17.6-19

This is a very special prayer. We see into the heart of Jesus here.

Into the heart of Jesus
Deeper and deeper I go,
Seeking to know the reason
Why He should love me so -
Why He should stoop to lift me
Up from the miry clay,
Saving my soul, making me whole,
Tho I had wandered away.

Into the love of Jesus
Deeper and deeper I go,
Praising the One who brought me
Out of my sin and woe;
And thru eternal ages
Gratefully I shall sing,
"O how He loved! O how He loved!
Jesus, my Lord and my King!"

Jesus is praying for the eleven apostles. Judas was with the chief priests at this time. Soon he will lead them to the Garden of Gethsemene where he would signal which one was Jesus with a kiss. He knew the place because Jesus had oft met their with His Disciples. The previous meetings he had been a part of. This was he was absent from. It is a tragic thing whenever anyone who had been part of meetings with Jesus leaves fhe group. Many times it is over money, like with Judas. Other times it has been because of power. If God has called you to preach the Gospel do not stoop to be a king! Other times it is a woman. The gold, the glory and the girls. Money, sex and power. They have ruined souls. They have disqualified men for the ministry. They have taken them out before they knew what was happening, like Samson. Young people need to be warned. In this time of rebellion many do not listen. I remember many a times sitting with someone in danger and them not heeding the warning. It is heart breaking indeed. The end of that soul is tragic.

The devil had already entered Judas. He had betrayed the Master. It will remain a mystery forever what he was thinking. It appears by his response he was trying to force the LORD’s Hand to set up His Kingdom on earth. It could be Judas understood more than we realize. He may have come to understand that the LORD was not at this time going to restore the Kingdom to Israel. He will one day otherwise He would have told His Disciples. What He did say it was not for them to know the times and the seasons the Fathef has set by His own authority. His soul was lost. It would have been better for him if he had not been born.

Jesus is lifting up the foundation of the church. 

Ephesians 2.19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the LORD.

Jesus is praying about two things these men would give themselves to:

The ministry of the Word and prayer. These are vital and to be the center of the church. The Word is be served to the people. Praying permeated the early church. We need a revival of that today.

Acts 6

3 "Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;

4 "but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word." Ministry= serving

1. The Word

Obedience to it

John 14.15 “If you love Me, keep My commands.”

Acceptance of it.

We either accept or we reject the Word of God. Too many have debated over it.

I have seen people try to twist scripture or isolate passages to suit their own fleshly desires. 

Faith In It.

We are tested. It is often alomg the lines of our faith in God’s Word. Remember the first temptation, “Did God really say...?” Once the serpent got Eve to question God she slid right down into disobedience.

We need a rock solid faith in the Word of God. We need to listen to those who teach.

Hebrews 13.17 Obey your leaders and submit yourselves to them for they wat h over yourselves, as thdy must give an account, that they may do it with joy...

This is what Jesus is praying about!

The church in America needs a Bible Revival among other things. Abortion and Same Sex “Marriage” is wrong according to God’s Word. It is not about rights. It is about what does God say? We need to be compassionate with those in sin but not fall into accomodating or agreeing with their sin. A church strong in the Word and filled with the Spirit will respond correctly. The fact that we feel the need of endless seminars and conferences in the church of Jesus Christ shows we lack the power of the Holy Spirit and we fail to hear the Word of God.

The Direction it gives. 

Mega Bus on Thursday to my Mom’s. I was at Peter Pan the night before after work we’re meeting.. they were telling me that the bus left between 11 and 12 avenues on 34 street. But the confirmation told me to go to the Portiphar. So I went to the place where I had gotten the mega bus before and was told you need to go to the board authority. Fortunately I made it in time. But I had to work a lot harder and walk a lot longer then I would’ve if I had listen to the confirmation from mega bus. Listening to God get us to where he wants us to be is the shortest possible time. If we listen to others advice rather than the word of God or even to our own hearts which are deceitful at times, we will take the long way around. Keep doing that and will lose our way. But there are people and things that God puts in our path along with his word they can get us back on track again.

2. Prayer

Praying for them.

Jesus is praying for us and He prayed for the flock as it began.

The Bible tells us he was the firstborn among many brothers. He stands and shepherds his flock. Part of shepherding is to pray for the flock to lift him up to the Lord. Intercessory prayer in the pastors life is one of the finest works he can do. It is not seen by anybody but God. He is felt in the hearts and the lives of the people under his care. Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, our great high priest is interceding at the right hand of God the Father always as we spoke about last week.

This prayer gives us insight into the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, Intercessory Ministry.

We are told that He bears up little lambs up. You see the picture of the shepherd caring the sheep the lambs when they could not walk he carries them up in his arms. 

Isaiah 40:11

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carriesthem close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

The head lifeguard at the Casamento Islip Town Pool, Jessica, said I’ve got this picture in my mind of you in the pool with four of your grandchildren holding onto your back. What a sight! Some of the ones that can I go to deep water will hold onto me so that they can stay above the water and go out to the deep. Jesus does that for us. When we go through deep waters he’s promised us we will match round because he’s holding us up.

Protection of this flock

Micah 5:4

He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.

Full. 

Full Meaure of Joy

3. Their Sanctification By The Truth.

We are to be set apart for the LORD. Friendship with this world James tells us is hatred towards God. Anyone who choses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James 4.4

James 1.21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the Word planted in you, which can save you.

1.27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

In our lanuage

In our relationships

In our finances

In our hearts... set apart Christ Jesus as LORD...

Jesus prayed for His Disciples

Jesus is praying for you!

More on Persistency In Prayer

More About Persistency in Prayer

Luke 11.5-13

continued, shameless knocking

Now Jesus is giving us an illustration of prayer. But it is important to note that Jesus often illustrated with contrast. So that the man knocking at the door is a type of a man praying. Asking for a need of a friend. Intercessory Prayer. We must come to him by prayer for others as well as for ourselves.

And this man is persistent. He continues to knock on the door until he gets his desired response. Now, does that mean that we have to continue to pray until we break God down, until He gets so sick of hearing us that He finally gives in and gives us what we want? No, again we have a contrast. If a man, a friend, will do something because of persistency, how much more will your Father? 

It is similar to the unjust judge. He didn’t want to get eventually worn out by her continual coming. This man did not want the household woke up. His “friend” was not going away until he got the three loaves of bread.

It was unusual to travel at night. Dangerous. What do you do when unusual things happen in your life? Something unexpected, something at the “wrong” time. Have you said, “Now this?” or This could not have happened at a worse time! We see through as well as dimly or dark like as a poor reflection but one day will see face-to-face one day window even as we are noon. So God knows all things. He knows when unexpected things come to us we need to remember they are not unexpected to God.

So this man had unexpected company in the middle of the night. It was his friend. He traveled a long way. No doubt he had travel by foot. He was hungry. He had nothing to set before him. This was embarrassing for both the traveler and the host. In that culture in that time it would’ve been considered disgraceful. I have had fair share of contact with people from the Middle East the east  and the far east. I am related to some by marriage. I have been in their homes I have watched how they will cook more than enough so that you do not feel that you are needing to watch how much you eat. So he asked for three loaves of bread.

This traveling friend must have been in some type of emergency. As I said normally you would not travel at night. It was dangerous. It was dark. Animals of prey both human and literal lurked in the darkness. Bands of theives were around turns waiting for unsuspecting innocent person to pass by. We see this in the Good Samaritan in a few chapters.

So it was an inopportune times for both the visitor and his host.

1. The Most Inopportune Times v.5-6

occurring at an inconvenient or inappropriate time.

Store Clerk to my Dad when he had the Drakes Cake Route. Here on the Island, actually he worked in Brooklyn, he had a Wise Potato Chip Route. Kids from the neighborhood remember it to this day 45 years later. Upstate Drakes Cake, then the Franchisor for the whole region.

• We may come with the more boldness to God in a strait, if it be a strait that we have not brought ourselves into by our own folly and carelessness, but Providence has led us into it. This man would not have wanted bread if his friend had not come in unexpectedly. The care which Providence casts upon us, we may with cheerfulness cast back upon Providence. -Matthew Henry

2. The Refusal of the Neighbor v.7

 Don’t bother me.

The reasons or excuses... we can tell the difference!

• The door is shut and locked, his children are asleep in bed, in the same room with him, and, if he make a noise, he shall disturb them. His servants are asleep, and he cannot make them hear; and, for his own part, he shall catch cold if he rise to give him.

He had the bread! 

God has things to give us as we put ourselves out, we sacrifice to pray.

Jesus prayed all night... for his disciples, picked and in peril

In the Garden He said to them after they pledged to die with Him,  “Could you not keep watch with Me for just one hour?”

3. The Answer to the Request. v.8

fervency, and constancy, in prayer

Intercessory prayer

Continual shameless audacity in knocking.

We ought to continue instant in prayer, and watch in the same with all perseverance.

4. How Much More! v.9-13

So he keeps knocking and perhaps even shouting out, “I need bread!” The friend inside thinks, “I am not going to get rid of him until I give him what he wants.” This is the same idea as in Luke 18.1 that Jesus expressed, He gave them this parable to show them that men ought always to pray and not give up.” We cannot be a pain to God when we are praying. We cannot change His will. He cannot be convinced by such action.

We win over men because they are displeased with it 1976, Colorado Springs 7-11. Jerry Erickson, supervisor, “You are not going to stop bugging me until I give you a job, are you?”

We get answers from God because He is pleased with it.

Prayer is a family matter!

It is between our  Father in Heaven and His children here on earth.

This is the way this section begins and concludes.

To encourage us in prayer. If importunity could prevail thus with a man who was angry at it, much more with a God who is infinitely more kind and ready to do good to us than we are to one another, and is not angry at our importunity, but accepts it, especially when it is for spiritual mercies that we are importunate. If he do not answer our prayers presently, yet He will in due time, if we continue to pray.

Bread and eggs from our earthly fathers

The Holy Spirit from our Father in heaven... give good gifts... what can better than to serve the LORD in the power of His Spirit! We need Him. We need to filled again!

Ask

Seek

Knock

For answers

But definitely for the Holy Spirit

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Teach Us To Pray

Teach Us To Pray

 Luke 11.1-13

The word teach:

1. to impart instruction
2. instill doctrine into one
3. to explain or expound a thing
4. to teach one something
   
   
   Root words of prayer: To take advantage of, to draw near, be close by and to wish.
   Prayer is getting close to God and conversing with Him. It is talking to Him.
   
   
   
   
   

1. The Desire. V.1

Jesus’ private prayer life

*They had observed it

In this verse one

They no doubt noticed the closeness Jesus had with the Father

They saw the tranquility and the contentment and the joy of prayer in Jesus praying.

They saw the joy.

They longed to reach out to God.

Genesis 4.26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.

*It made them hungry

I told you about my Nana on that summer morning over 50 years ago. It lodged in my mind and made me hungry... my cousin Lori also. Just spoke to Helen Pawson about that on Wednesday.

*Spontaneous

*Unrehersed

Not recited but conversation with His Father.

Intimacy with Jesus

Friendship With Jesus

Friendship with Jesus!
Fellowship divine!
Oh, what blessed, sweet communion!
Jesus is a Friend of mine.

2. The Model. vs.2-4

The LORD’s Prayer

First concern- The Glory of God

First Petition or Request His Kingdom Come

3. The Components.   vs.2-4

Our Father in Heaven

God’s Glory

God’s Kingdom

God’s will

God’s Provisions

God’s Forgiveness

Our relationships

It is interesting that we have one main section of scripture devoted to instructions for praying for the healing of our bodies when we are sick (James 5.13-16). It is not mentioned in the LORD’s prayer directly, although if His Kingdom comes people will be healed. We have numerous places including John 3.16 where salvation in preemminent. We have numerous places where we are directed to pray for the spread of the Gospel.

Luke 10:2

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord ofthe harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

Ephesians 6.18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Colossians 4.2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Pray for the Spread of the Gospel

We read that the early Christians "continued steadfastly… in prayers." (Acts 2:42)

Pray for a specific individualPerhaps a person you know well, or even someone you have just met today. We know so many who still need God’s salvation. Pray earnestly for their soul, that God will deal with them as he has with us. We probably little realize how many prayed for us.

Pray for a missionary or evangelistMany men and women have left family and friend behind to go forth and preach the message of God’s salvation. They need our prayers as they face difficulties we may never experience. Pray regularly for them by name, asking God to meet their specific needs. Pray for the missionaries in Haiti.

Pray for an area of need
It may be a country far away, or a little town nearby. Remember the multitudes in need, many of whom don’t have the privilege of hearing the gospel message preached. Ask God to raise up those to go among them and present Christ as Saviour.

Pray for a specific workIt may be that your first encounter with the gospel was someone preaching or handing out papers on a street corner. Ask God’s continued blessing of this work. Pray that the many Bibles and New Testaments handed out will be read and used of God. Remember the texts and pamphlets given door to door. Seek God’s blessing for the gospel being presented on the Internet

And yet far too often our prayers are just centered on those sick in body and not those who need to come to Christ.

What We need to change

What we are asking for... 

V. 13 Asking for the Holy Spirit

Be filled and keep on being filled Ephesians 5.18 Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit

Not for spectacular but very practical and empowering.

A prayer for us:

Acts 4.23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“‘Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth rise up
    and the rulers band together
against the Lord
    and against his anointed one.

27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

We all need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

He is the Breath of the Church. Without Him working we are just going through the motions.

In this account by R.A. Torrey there are things that we need to hear, particularly the power (the dunamis) that the Holy Spirit brings upon people when they are baptized in the Holy Spirit. I believe we need a revival in the Church of the Nazarene of this type of preaching , teaching experience and testimony:

Time and again Mr. Moody would come to me and say: “Torrey, I want you to preach on the baptism with the Holy Ghost.” I do not know how many times he asked me to speak on that subject. Once, when I had been invited to preach in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York (invited at Mr. Moody’s suggestion; had it not been for his suggestion the invitation would never have been extended to me), just before I started for New York, Mr. Moody drove up to my house and said: “Torrey, they want you to preach at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. It is a great, big church, cost a million dollars to build it.” Then he continued: “Torrey, I just want to ask one thing of you. I want to tell you what to preach about. You will preach that sermon of yours on ‘Ten Reasons Why I Believe the Bible to be the Word of God’ and your sermon on ‘The Baptism with the Holy Ghost.'” Time and again, when a call came to me to go off to some church, he would come up to me and say: “Now, Torrey, be sure and preach on the baptism with the Holy Ghost.” I do not know how many times he said that to me. Once I asked him: “Mr. Moody, don’t you think I have any sermons but those two: ‘Ten Reasons Why I Believe the Bible to be the Word of God’ and ‘The Baptism with the Holy Ghost’?” “Never mind that,” he replied, “you give them those two sermons.

Once he had some teachers at Northfield–fine men, all of them, but they did not believe in a definite baptism with the Holy Ghost for the individual. They believed that every child of God was baptized with the Holy Ghost, and they did not believe in any special baptism with the Holy Ghost for the individual. Mr. Moody came to me and said: “Torrey, will you come up to my house after the meeting tonight and I will get those men to come, and I want you to talk this thing out with them.” Of course, I very readily consented, and Mr. Moody and I talked for a long time, but they did not altogether see eye to eye with us. And when they went, Mr. Moody signaled me to remain for a few moments. Mr. Moody sat there with his chin on his breast, as he so often sat when he was in deep thought; then he looked up and said: “Oh, why will they split hairs? Why don’t they see that this is just the one thing that they themselves need? They are good teachers, they are wonderful teachers, and I am so glad to have them here, but why will they not see that the baptism with the Holy Ghost is just the one touch that they themselves need?”

I shall never forget the eighth of July, 1894 to my dying day.  (124 years ago to this day!)

It was the closing day of the Northfield Students’ Conference–the gathering of the students from the eastern colleges. Mr. Moody had asked me to preach on Saturday night and Sunday morning on the baptism with the Holy Ghost. On Saturday night I had spoken about, “The Baptism with the Holy Ghost, What it is, What it does, the Need of it and the Possibility of it.” On Sunday morning I spoke on “The Baptism with the Holy Spirit, How to Get It.” It was just exactly twelve o’clock when I finished my morning sermon, and I took out my watch and said: “Mr. Moody has invited us all to go up to the mountain at three o’clock this afternoon to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. It is three hours to three o’clock. Some of you cannot wait three hours. You do not need to wait. Go to your rooms, go out into the woods, go to your tent, go anywhere where you can get alone with God and have this matter out with Him.” At three o’clock we all gathered in front of Mr. Moody’s mother’s house (she was then still living), and then began to pass down the lane, through the gate, up on the mountainside. There were four hundred and fifty-six of us in all; I know the number because Paul Moody counted us as we passed through the gate.

After a while Mr. Moody said: “I don’t think we need to go any further; let us sit down here.” We sat down on stumps and logs and on the ground. Mr. Moody said: “Have any of you students anything to say?” I think about seventy-five of them arose, one after the other, and said: “Mr. Moody, I could not wait till three o’clock; I have been alone with God since the morning service, and I believe I have a right to say that I have been baptized with the Holy Spirit.” When these testimonies were over, Mr. Moody said: “Young men, I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t kneel down here right now and ask God that the Holy Ghost may fall upon us just as definitely as He fell upon the apostles on the Day of Pentecost. Let us pray.” And we did pray, there on the mountainside. As we had gone up the mountainside heavy clouds had been gathering, and just as we began to pray those clouds broke and the raindrops began to fall through the overhanging pines. But there was another cloud that had been gathering over Northfield for ten days, a cloud big with the mercy and grace and power of God, and as we began to pray our prayers seemed to pierce that cloud and the Holy Ghost fell upon us. Men and women, that is what we all need–the Baptism with the Holy Ghost.

Acts 2.38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

This week we wll meet on Wednesday. Even if you are not part of a Bible Study, come!

This is for the whole church.

You can join in as a silent partner, no one will be forced to pray.

We will call upon God for His Spirit to be outpoured.

We will pray for His Will to be done here on the Island and around the world.

We will pray for souls to be saved.

We will look to heaven for Him to forgive and heal our land.