Matthew 6:9-13
On this date in 1790 the US Coast Guard was founded.
On this date in 1830 Plans were laid out for the city of
Chicago.
On this date in 1929 the Cleveland Indians, trailing 6-5 in
the 9th with 2 outs score a record 9runs beating the
NY Yankees 14-6.
On this date in 1956 Elvis Presley released “You ain’t
nothin but a hound dog”
On this date in 1928 my father, Richard Cooper was born.
On this date in 1963 my mother and father were divorced.
On this date in 2005 my father, Richard Cooper passed away.
On this date, Aug 4th, 2019 Ashland Church learned
about Prayer as Worship.
Some dates are significant, some are never remembered. Aug 4th
2019 should be remembered as the day you understood how prayer is an act of
worship.
I might go so far as to say, our time in corporate worship
is more of a prayer service than anything else.
When does prayer first enter the Sunday worship service?
Pastor Jeff & Becky pray about the message and the music
and the flow of our time together.
We pray for the people who will be here in worship…we pray
for you!
There are people (should be everyone) who pray for me, Becky
and others as we prepare to lead worship. We should all pray for ourselves
prior to coming to worship that we will come in a way worthy of the Christ who
gave his life for us.
Our singing is one of 3 things - Us speaking to God, God
speaking to us…PRAYER - or instruction about God.
Communion is about prayer. The sermon is the Holy Spirit
communicating with you about His word…PRAYER. There is very little that takes
place in worship that is not some aspect about prayer.
Our prayers tend to fall into one of two categories - prayers for the sick or prayers
of forgiveness. Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in
everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving (worship), present your requests to God.
Biblical prayers tend to fall into one of two
categories as well. Prayers of Praise or prayers of forgiveness. Most prayers in the Bible are
quite brief. A typical prayer group will list what they want prayer for
(majority for the sick) and then they will ‘pray’. What if instead of doing
that, we spent time in praise - in communion with God - in God’s presence, then
prayed for needs instead of listing them, just pray them.
Matt 6:7-8
And when you pray,
do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because
of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need
before you ask him.
THE LORD’S PRAYER - THE DISCIPLE’S PRAYER
Matthew 6:9-13 NIV
“This, then, is how
you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your
kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our
daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'”
Matthew 6:9-13 The MESSAGE
“With a God like this
loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, Reveal
who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best — as above, so below. Keep us
alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! You can do
anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes.’”
THE WISE MEN - 3 Kings
Matt 2:10-11
When they saw the star, they were
overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and
they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and
presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
When we come to worship we don’t
seek the treasures of this world, we bow down and seek to give God our
treasures. In prayer we give God our Heart, Soul and Strength.
THE WISE WOMAN - Mary
Luke 10:38-42
As Jesus and his
disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha
opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the
Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was
distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and
asked, "Lord, don't you care that my
sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is
better, and it will not be taken away from her."
See how worship
is a time to listen to the voice of God - that is prayer. Worship is prayer -
not so much us talking but us listening. How many of you remember calling information
before Google existed? What was the number ? 411 Sometimes we called it
directory assistance but usually just said…call information. We called it to
have the person listen to us then give us the information we requested - it
still exists today (call 411 and put on speaker). We used that voice, that
service to meet our needs without thought as to who that person was. That is
how we often approach worship as prayer. What if, just what if the one with all
the information - the wisdom of the ages, wanted to do more than give us
information or assistance - what if that person just enjoyed spending time with
us. If we see the 411 operator as God, maybe we should see how God is ready to
do more than answer our requests…that God instead enjoys just being with us.
Somehow - instead of being like Martha and using “Information” to get what we
think we need because we are too distracted to take the time to develop a
relationship with someone who seems out of reach, we can, in worship, give that
relationship all the time it needs, if we will only listen.
INFORMATION
PLEASE
A man tells the story about a special friend he made while just
a boy. When quite young, Paul’s father had one of the first telephones in their
neighborhood. Paul was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen
with fascination when his mother talked to it.
Then Paul discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device
lived an amazing person – her name was “Information, Please” and there was
nothing she did not know.
“Information, Please” could supply anybody’s number and the
correct time. Paul’s first personal experience with this genie-in the-bottle
came one day while his mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing himself at the
tool bench in the basement, Paul hit his finger with a hammer. The pain was
terrible, but there didn’t seem to be any reason in crying because there was no
one home to give sympathy. He walked around the house sucking his throbbing
finger, finally arriving at the stairway.
The telephone!
Quickly, Paul ran for the foot stool in the parlor and dragged
it to the landing. Climbing up, he unhooked the receiver in the parlor and held
it to his ear. “Information, Please,” he said into the mouthpiece just above his
head.
A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into Paul’s ear.
“Information.”
“I hurt my finger,” Paul wailed into the phone.
“Isn’t your mother home?” came the question.
“Nobody’s home but me” Paul blubbered.
“Are you bleeding?” the voice asked.
“No,” he replied. “I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts.”
“Can you open your icebox?” she asked. He said he could. “Then chip off
a little piece of ice and hold it to your finger,” said the voice.
After that, Paul called “Information, Please” for
everything. He asked her for help with his geography and she told him where
Philadelphia was. She helped him with his math. She told Paul that his pet
chipmunk, which he had caught in the park just the day before, would eat fruit
and nuts.
Then, there was the time Petey, the pet canary died. Paul called
and told her the sad story.
She
listened, then said the usual things grown-ups say to soothe a child, but Paul
was inconsolable. He asked her, “Why is it that birds should sing so
beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers
on the bottom of a cage?” She must have sensed his deep concern, for she said quietly, “Paul, always
remember that there is another world to sing in.” Somehow he felt better.
When Paul was nine years old, his family moved across the
country to Boston. Paul missed his friend very much. “Information, Please”
belonged in that old wooden box back home, and he somehow never thought of
trying the tall, shiny new phone that sat on the table in the hall.
As he grew into his teens, the memories of those childhood
conversations never really left him. Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity
Paul would recall the serene sense of security he had then. He appreciated now
how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little
boy.
A few years later, on his way west to college, Paul’s plane put
down in Seattle. He had about half an hour or so between planes. He spent 15
minutes on the phone with his sister, who lived there now. Then without
thinking what he was doing, Paul dialed his hometown operator and said, “Information,
Please.”
Miraculously, he heard the small, clear voice he knew so well, “Information.”
He hadn’t planned this but he heard himself saying, “Could you
please tell me how to spell fix?” There was a long pause. Then came the soft-spoken
answer, “I guess your finger must have healed by now.” Paul laughed.
“So
it’s really still you,” he said. “I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during
that time.”
“I wonder,” she said, “if you know how much your calls meant to me. I never had any
children, and I used to look forward to your calls.” Paul told her
how often he had thought of her over the years and asked if he could call her
again when he came back to visit his sister.
“Please do,” she said. “Just ask for Sally.”
Three months
later Paul was back in Seattle. A different voice answered, “Information.” He asked for
Sally. “Are you a friend?” She asked.
“Yes, a very old friend,” Paul answered.
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this,” she said. “Sally has been
working part-time the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks
ago.”
Before he could hang up she said, “Wait a minute.
Is this Paul?”
“Yes,” Paul replied.
“Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down in case
you called. Let me read it to you.” The note said, “Tell him I still say there’s
another world to sing in. He’ll know what I mean.”
Worship as Prayer
Moving beyond just ‘Information’
to ‘formation’ of a relationship
COMMUNION
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