Preaching on Prayer

Reading: Matthew 5:1-12

 

Oct 2nd the birthday of the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. His favorite passage in the Bible was the Sermon on the Mount. A portion of this Sermon (Mt 5:3-10) is engraved in the Gandhi Memorial in the city of Chennai. Reading through the Sermon on the Mount once a month will keep our walk trim before God and man.

 

Matthew 5 through 7 can be actually called a Sermon on Prayer. Here the Lord elaborates more on prayer than any other subject. At the very heart of this passage is a prayer which we call the Lord's Prayer (6:9-13). The priority Christ demands for prayer in our life cannot be over stressed. We shall be meditating on these passages today and the next four days.

 

 Mt 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."

 

Prayer is a great sanctifier. A sinning man stops praying and a praying man stops sinning. The passion for righteousness should outrank our physical hunger and thirst. E.M. Bounds (1835-1913), an Apostle of Prayer, said, "Prayer and a holy life are one. The absence of one is the absence of the other."

 

 Mt 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God."

 

Do not rush into prayer inadvertently. The heart must be quietened and mind calmed to see if there is any wicked way in us. Our prayers should begin with, "Search me, O God!" Hidden and confessed sin weakens prayer. It hides God's face (Isa 59:2). Take time to be holy!

 

 Mt 5:23,24, "If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled and then come and offer your gift."

 

Prayer is an altar. Cain must get right with Abel if God should accept his offering. While talking about reconciliation, we are not to find who is on the wrong. The one who comes to the altar should take the initiative to reconcile. A clear conscience means being right with God as well as with man. A. B. Simpson (1843-1919), the Founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, has this observation: "The spirit of prayer is essentially a spirit of love."

The Unwanted Is Wanted

 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone"

(Mt 21:42)

 

As a building engineer I have heard this statement made in various forms and occasions by masons. Looking for an ideally shaped stone they would keep rejecting one after the other. Finally they would settle for the best among the rejected ones! Jesus saw Himself as a rejected stone. Prophet Isaiah portrayed Him as "a Man of sorrows ... despised and rejected by men" (Isa 53:3).

 

None of us who truly follow the crucified Savior can escape the cross of rejection. No man is fully accepted until he is totally rejected. Joseph was rejected but finally crowned. David was despised but finally enthroned. Jesus was rejected and despised by relatives and religionists. The world still hates Him. He has forewarned us, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you" (Jn 15:18). Apostle John repeated this warning, "Do not marvel, my brothers, if the world hates you" (1 Jn 3:13). Apostle James went one step further when he wrote, "Whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (Js 4:4b).

 

It was not an exaggeration when Paul testified, "We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. We respond gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world's garbage, like everybody's trash—right up to the present moment" (1 Cor 4:12,13). At the same time it is possible we antagonize the world by unsocial gestures and lack of wisdom. This is wrong. Jesus grew in favor with men, didn't He? (Lk 2:52). The message here is that an evil world will not love a good Abel; an unrighteous world will not applaud a righteous Noah; a licentious world will not tolerate a virtuous Joseph; a corrupt religion will not accommodate a sincere Jeremiah; an immoral ruler will not garland a forthright John the Baptist; and a world sold out to sin will not embrace us if we stand against sin.

 

The context of this proverbial passage teaches us another valuable lesson (Mt 21:33-41). God's serious view of fruitlessness in the lives of His people is vividly illustrated here. If we keep on disappointing God, we alone will be the losers. God knows no defeat. He knows when to do what, how and through whom.

 

No one ever cared for me like Jesus;

There's no other friend so kind as He;

No one else could take the sin and darkness from me—

O how much He cared for me!

                             (Charles F. Weigle, 1871-1966)

Jesus Expressed Himself As

Luke 4:12     And in response, Jesus said to him, “It is said: "You shall not tempt the Lord your‪ ‎God‬”

John 10:33 The Jews answered Jesus, "We're going to stone you to death, not for any good things you've done, but for dishonoring God. You claim to be #God, although you're only a man.

John 14:10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak from Myself. But the Father who stays in Me does His works.

About trinity:

John 10:30  "I and the Father are one. "

Jesus is clearly explaining about father and son are one:

Luke:44 And He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all have to be filled that were written in the ‪‎Torah‬ of Mosheh and the ‪‎Prophets‬ and the ‪‎Psalms ‬concerning Me.”

45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
46 and said to them, “Thus it has been written, and so it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise again from the dead the third day,
47 and that ‪repentance‬ and‪ ‎forgiveness‬ of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations, beginning at Yerushalayim.
48 “And you are witnesses of these matters.
49 “And see, ‪I‬ am ‪sending‬ the‪ ‎Promise‬ of My Father upon you, but you are to remain in the city of Yerushalayim until you are clothed with power from on high.”Jesus christ  said to david in Psalms 110:1 why did Jesus he will sit on the highest position in heaven.

Psalms 110:1
The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit in the highest position in heaven until I make your enemies your footstool."

Psalms 118:22
The stone which the builders rejected is become the chief corner-stone. 

Matthew 21:42

Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner-stone. This was from and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 

Lets see from Thora

Leviticus 26:12   So I will live among you and be your God, and you will be my people.

God himself saying that he will live with us

Deuteronomy 18:18

‘I shall raise up for them a Prophet like you out of the midst of their brothers. And I shall put My Words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

Zechariah 2:10
“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Tsiyon! For look, I am coming, and shall dwell in your midst,” declares יהוה.

Zechariah 2:11
“And many gentiles shall be joined to  in that day, and they shall become My people. And I shall dwell in your midst. And you shall know that  of hosts has sent Me to you.

 Isaiah 35:6

Then the lame man shall leap as a hart, and the tongue of the mute shall sing. For waters in the wilderness shall break out, and streams in the desert.
Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 

Matthew 1:20,21,22,23.

20 But while he thought about this, see, a messenger of appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Yoseph, son of David,do not be afraid to take Miryam as your wife, for that which is in her was brought forth from the Set-apart Spirit.

21 “And she shall give birth to a Son, and you shall call His Name  for He shall saveb His people from their sins.”
22 And all this came to be in order to fill what was spoken by through the prophet, saying,
23 “See, a maiden shall conceive, and she shall give birth to a Son, and they shall call His Name Immanuel,” which translated, means, “El with us.”

To prove the sayings Jesus Christ was born to a virgin.

13: I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven someone like a son of man. And he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
14: And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.With this HE was called as son of man.

Malaki 4:5;6

5 “See, I am sending you Ěliyaha the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of יהוה.

6 “And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with utter destruction .”

Matthew 11:14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah, who is to come.

[ DEAR FRIENDS , JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY GOD WE HAVE, ACCEPT HIM AS YOUR SAVIOUR . ]

Can I know I am saved ?

 

Yes, salvation is both a present reality and a future prospect.  Apostle John writes, “We KNOW that we have passed from death to life” and “We KNOW that we are of God” (1 Jn 3:14; 5:19).

When you receive Christ and believe on Him you are given the authority to become a child of God (Jn 1:12).  You are saved (Acts 16:31).  Your sins are forgiven and you are washed by the blood of Jesus (Rev 1:5).  This assurance is yours by the Holy Spirit.  He bears witness with your Spirit that you are a child of God (Rom 8:16).  For this purpose He primarily employs the written Word of God (Jn 20:31).

There will be certain positive indications when a person is saved. The guilt is gone and there is the joy of salvation.  A new love for God and His Word is born.  Prayer becomes a delight.  A desire to live holy is obvious.  The very outlook on life is changed.  Fellowship with the children of God is pleasant.  A burden for the salvation of others is usually felt.  These things may not manifest to the full measure but as a newborn child you will start growing in these things.

Salvation actually belongs to three tenses.  Salvation past is deliverance from the penalty of sin.  Salvation present is deliverance from the power of sin.  And salvation future is deliverance from the very presence of sin.  Salvation today is not absence of temptations.  Therefore don’t be alarmed at the increasing measure of temptations.  Temptation is not sin, only yielding to temptation is.

The devil is a liar.  Turn a deaf ear to him.  Suppose you fall in a temptation he will immediately whisper that you are no more a child of God.  But remember you don’t lose your son ship if you sin.  Only the fellowship with God is affected.  Confess and be cleansed at once (1 Jn 1:7-9).  You are safe and secure in the hands of God.  No one can snatch you away (Jn 10:28,29).  Rejoice!

Offerings vs Obedience

 

    

        In which is the Lord delighted: sacrifices or obeying His voice?...

          To obey is better than sacrifice" (1 Sam 15:22)

 

 Missionary T.G. Ragland (1815-1858) is one among those who testified through life that obedience to God is better than offerings. When he was the Treasurer of Friends Fellowship of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) at Cambridge University, God called him to go as a Missionary to India. He implicitly obeyed. For Christ's sake he was beaten, ill-treated and humiliated. Yet he established Christian witness in more than one thousand villages in South India. He fell and died on Indian soil like a grain of wheat.

 

King Saul stands out in the Scriptures as a monument of disobedience. In the battle against the Amalekites, Saul obeyed the Lord only partially. Incomplete obedience is disobedience. He spared the best of the animals for himself as against the Lord's command to utterly destroy all. When confronted by prophet Samuel, Saul duped that those animals had been spared in order to sacrifice to the Lord. Instantly Samuel challenged him, "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice!" (1 Sam 15:22,23). Nothing offends and provokes God like setting up our wills in competition with His.

 

Christ entered the world with a commitment to His Father: "Sacrifice and offering You do not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me... Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God" (Heb 10:5-9). Even if the offerings are made "according to the Law," they cannot replace obedience (v8). The offering of Christ's body on the Cross was the culmination of a life totally lived out in obedience to God (Eph 5:2).

 

The second great commandment equal to the first commandment is to love others as ourselves. But with all hatred, anger, jealousy, unforgiveness, backbiting and lying we dare to walk boldly to the altar with our offerings. God cannot be bribed. He totally rejected the first offering of the first son of the first parents. He has never changed. He does the same today unless we exhaust all possibilities to live in peace with all men (Mt 5:23,24; Rom 12:18).

 

Marital unfaithfulness means disobedience to a covenant. Unless we break extramarital relationships mercilessly, God will have no regard for our offerings (Mal 2:13-15). When spouses obey God and walk in His ways, love between them will be supernaturally natural !

Isaiah 43:2