Prayer

Passionate Prayer

House Rules - Prayer

Dave Riddle - 10/23/2022

Key Passage: Ephesians 3:14-21

Passionate Prayer

  • growing in our desire and commitment to seek God (individually and with others) and yield to His will for our lives.

Key Concept: Surrender!

  • Prayer is acknowledging that we don’t have complete control

Posture of Humility

  • Ephesians 3:14

  • Philippians 2:10

  • Pray = proseuchomai (Greek: προσεύχομαι) to pray to God, supplicate, worship.

  • Worship = proskyneo (Greek: προσκυνέω) - to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence

Phenomenal God

  • Ephesians 3:14b-16a

  • Ephesians 3:20

    • dynamis (Greek: δύναμις) strength, ability of power, especially inherent power, residing in something (or someone) by virtue of its (or their) nature.

Passionate Request

  • Ephesians 3:16

    • Praying for spiritual maturity

  • Ephesians 3:17

    • Praying for a strong foundation

  • Ephesians 3:18-19

    • Comprehend, know, filled with the fulness of God

      • Know = ginōskō: to know in a deeply experiential way.

Point of it All

  • Ephesians 3:21

The Rich Young Ruler & Ludwig Zinzendorf

Message begins around 14:45

The Rich Young Ruler & Ludwig Zinzendorf
Global Missions Emphasis 2021
Dr Jon Hardin - Frontiers

Key passage: Matthew 19:16-22

Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf and the early Moravian Church.

  • a wealthy young man embarking on a trip that was meant to launch his life and career.

  • Has a life changing encounter with a painting of Jesus.

    • “This is what I did for you. What will you do for me?”

  • He buys a large estate and opens it up to Moravian refugees.

  • He meets with them in their homes and studies the Bible with them.

  • August 13, 1727 - the Moravian church experiences a powerful revival.

    • The village began sending out missionaries all over Europe.

  • He met a former slave named Anthony who inspired him to send missionaries to the Caribbean island of Saint Thomas.

    • Over the next few years the Moravians sent out more missionaries than all Protestant churches in the previous 200 years.

    • They sent out 1 out of every 12 congregants.

      • HOW!?

Worship

  • The worship of Christ was like the fuel of life in these communities.

    • They loved to worship!

The Word

  • Zinzendorf was a pioneer in the world of daily devotions.

  • The Moravian daily text, first published in 1723 is still published today in more than 50 languages.

Prayer

  • They arranged a 24 hour prayer vigil that went unbroken for more than 100 years.

    • At least one man and one woman for every hour of the day.

Where does this kind of zeal come from?

  • In 1747 Zinzendorf commissioned a painting to depict their passion for global missions.

    • “The first fruits”

    • Inspired by Revelation 7:9-10, Revelation 14:4, and other texts.

    • Portraits of real people who were the first converts in their particular unreached people group.

Missions was an “all hands on deck” situation for the Moravian church.

  • A fully mobilized church

  • 1 of 12 going. The other 11 supporting.

  • The Great Commission: The whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world.

Pray for Me!

***We’re sorry to say that this week’s message was not recorded due to some technical difficulties. The notes from the message can be found below and we hope to be back up and running with audio next week. We’re sorry for the inconvenience! ***

Pray for Me!

Dave Riddle - 2/23/20

Key Passage: Romans 15:30-33

Paul’s Passionate Plea

  • Romans 15:30 - “I appeal to you”

    • “Appeal”: parakaleō (Greek: παρακαλέω) - to beg, entreat, beseech. 

  • Romans 15:30 - “strive together with me”

    • synagōnizomai (Greek: συναγωνίζομαι) - agonize together, struggle in company  with, to labor fervently, i.e. (figuratively) to be a partner (assistant):—strive together with. Used to describe ancient Olympic wrestlers.

  • Why don’t we ask for prayer in this way?

    • Pride? Unbelief?

Paul’s Specific Requests

  • Related to Jerusalem

    • Protection

      • Romans 15:31 - “pray that I may be rescued...”

    • Reception

      • Romans 15:31 - “pray... that my ministry will be acceptable to the saints”

      • Why is Paul asking this?

        • The offering we talked about last week.

        • There was some tension between Paul and the Jewish believers who felt that he had devalued his Jewish heritage.

  • Related to Rome

    • Arrival

      • Romans 15:32 - “that, by God’s will, I may come to you with joy.”

        • He has been prevented many times from visiting them already (Romans 15:23b)

    • Rejuvenation 

      • Romans 15:32 - “refreshed together with you.”

Paul’s prayer for them:

  • God’s Serene Presence

    • Romans 15:33 - “May the God of peace be with all of you. Amen”

    • eirēnē (Greek: εἰρήνη) - peace between individuals, i.e. harmony, concord. The tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is 

How does the story end?

  • we can assume the Roman believers prayed along with Paul for these things.

    • Most likely an answered prayer

  • We don’t know how the Jewish believers accepted Paul’s gift.

    • From what we can see this gift didn’t appear to have caused any problems. 

      • Most likely an answered prayer.

  • Was Paul protected?

    • A mixed bag of answered and unanswered prayers.

      • He went through some terrible things and was protected from some terrible things.

  • Did Paul arrive in Rome safely?

    • An answered prayer, but not in the way Paul expected. 

      • Paul arrived, but as a prisoner after a long and harrowing journey.

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Spiritual Formation Pt. 2

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Vitals - Spiritual Formation Pt. 2
Dave Riddle - 07/14/19
Key Verses: Philippians 3:10, Galatians 4:19

ginōskō (Greek: γινώσκω) - to know by experience, in contract to an intellectual or intuitive type of knowledge.

  • it’s one thing to know what sunburn is, it’s another thing completely to ‘experience’ sunburn.

symmorphizō (Greek: συμμορφίζω) - to receive the same form as; to be conformed to.

  • Luke 6:40 - ...everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

  • We are being transformed, not by our own power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Practices & Rhythms

  • Not obligations, but invitations!

Study

  • Philippians 4:8 - “...dwell on these things”

  • Repetition, conversation, reflection

Meditation

  • Psalm 63:6 HCSB): When I think of You as I lie on my bed, I meditate on You during the night watches

  • On scripture, on the works of God, on the things we see happening around us.

Prayer

  • “Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life. Of all the spiritual disciplines, prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the father.” -R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

Fasting

  • Luke 4:1-2 - Jesus fasted.

  • “More than any other discipline fasting reveals the things that control us.” - R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

  • Matthew 6:16 - not a requirement, but it does appear to be an expectation. “when you fast”

Solitude

  • Mark 1:35

  • Solitude =/= loneliness

  • Let him who cannot be alone beware of community... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone... Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.” - Bonhoeffer ‘Life Together’

Simplicity 

  • “The central point for the discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and righteousness of his kingdom first and then everything necessary will come in it’s proper order.” - R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

Submission

  • To God, to the cross, to scripture, to our family, our neighbors, to the needs of others, to the body of Christ.

Service

  • John 13:15 - "For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you. "