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

We Can’t, but God Can

Message at 37:30

We Can’t, but God Can

Dave Riddle - 8/7/22

Key Passage: Mark 10:17-31

“Good teacher, what just I do to inherit eternal life?” 

• Mark 10:17

Jesus’ curious response

• Jesus tailors his answer for the question asker

• Mark 10:18

  • Jesus starts by redefining “good”

• Mark 10:19

  • You know the commandments…

    • He lists five of the six commandments that talk about our relationships with others.

      • He leaves out “do not covet”

  • Jesus knows this man’s heart and sets him up a little bit.

Really!? Wow.

• Mark 10:20 - “I have kept all these commandments from my youth”

  • He saw himself as a good person.

Jesus being Jesus

• Mark 10:21

  • Looking at him, Jesus loved him…

    • emblepō: to observe fixedly, or to discern clearly

    • agapaō: divine, unconditional, perfect love

  • “You lack one thing”

    • Sell all you have… and follow me!

      • Take up your cross and follow me.

      • Jesus knew what one thing stood between this man and his ability to surrender to Jesus.

  • Jesus see each of us clearly and sees OUR one thing that stands between us and our ability to surrender to Him.

A Poignant Moment

• Mark 10:22

  • He was dismayed by this demand and he went away grieving because he had many possessions.

    • Jesus offered him a choice and he chose his own desires over following Jesus.

The Hard Truth

• Mark 10:23

  • What stands between YOU and a full surrender to following Jesus?

• Mark 10:24-25

  • The disciples were astonished.

  • It went against their cultural understanding of blessing and favor.

The original question revisited 

• Jesus’ set up pays off

• Mark 10:26

  • “Then who can be saved!?”

  • “With people it is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God”

• Romans 8:3

  • What the law was powerless to do, God did.

A Strong Word to Would-Be Followers

He Set His Face - A Strong Word to Would-Be Followers

Dave Riddle - 03/24/19

Key Passage: Luke 14:25-34

Luke 9:51 - When the days were coming to a close for Him to be taken up, He set His face resolutely towards Jerusalem. 

• Resolute: purposefully unwavering or determined.

5 Examples to Illustrate 5 Marks of a Follower

1. Family: Love Jesus Supremely

   • Luke 14:26

   • Jesus uses hyperbole to show that nothing should rival the love we have for God.

   • If Jesus is the absolute priority of your life everything else will fall into place.

2. A Cross: Live to Die

   • Luke 14:27

   • Galatians 2:20

   • I no longer live but Christ lives in me

   • Our old self has to die.

3. A Building: All in, to the very end

   • Luke 14:28-30

   • From your entire life, for your entire life.

   • In every facet of life.

4. A War: Surrender to the more powerful king

   • Luke 14:31-33

   • It’s not about winning, it’s about surrendering.

   • How much confidence do you have in your own resources?

   • John 14:27 - Peace eirēnē (Greek: εἰρήνη) - a state of rest, denoting the absence or end of strife. It refers to a state of untroubled, I disturbed well-being. Peace; a state of natural tranquility. 

5. Salt: Reality matches identity

   • Luke 14:34-35

   • Are we marked by our decision to follow Jesus?