Pastor Kent Munsey 8-30-15

12pm Service

PRAYING LIKE JESUS PART #3 REVIEW: ABC’s of Prayer: Prayer is Amazing, a Big Deal, and a Catalyst. Less than 10% of Christians enjoy prayer. Jesus prays 17 times that are recorded in the Bible; 12 of them are in Luke. Through the first 8 times, we learn:

1. WHAT we can expect when we pray

2. To WITHDRAW often

3. WAITING for Clarity is a Necessity

4. WHEN you can’t get away, pray anyway

5. You WILL be changed

6. Prayer WORKS when you work it

7. WHO is praying for us

8. Prayer gives us a WILL for what we don’t want to do.

THIS WEEK:

9. WHEN it hurts like Hell, forgive like heaven. Luke 23:34 [NKJV] Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” His followers had turned on him, He was stripped naked and crucified, and all his disciples except John had run away. “Them” includes all who have and will ever sin (us). God forgives instantly. Isaiah 55:7 “God is merciful and quick to forgive.” MYTH: Feeling guilty makes me a better person FACT: No, Feeling guilty makes you a miserable person! God forgives completely. The one thing we can do that God can’t do is remember our sins. We’ve learned that it is more respectful, or more spiritual to show feelings of guilt as an act of atonement, but this behavior implies that Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t enough. God is not in the punishing business; He’s in the relationship business. Jesus already paid it all. When Jesus died for your sins, which ones did He include?

Colossians 2:13-14 “He has forgiven ALL your sins. He has utterly wiped out the evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross.”

God forgives repeatedly. Have you ever committed the same sin more than once?

Do you then feel embarrassed to ask for forgiveness again?

Jesus is always interceding for us, even while we are in the midst of sinning, even for sins we have yet to commit. Hebrews 7:25 “[Christ]... is always interceding on our behalf.”

God forgives freely. Forgiveness is our greatest need as human beings; it is

God’s greatest gift. You’ll never earn or deserve God’s forgiveness. It’s a gift of grace! Ephesians 1:7 “For by the sacrificial death of Christ we are SET FREE, that is, our sins are forgiven! How great is the GRACE of God!”

Forgiveness does not mean reconciliation, but it clears the path for it.

10. WHAT God desires most…

To be trusted. He needs and wants our trust.

Luke 23:46 “Jesus had cried with a loud voice….Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ”

• Psalm 31 excerpt that Jesus is referencing in his dying

breath, “...into your hands I entrust my spirit. You redeem me, O God of truth.”

• Three of the gospels tell us of this great cry (cf. Matthew

27:50; Mark 15:37). John, on the other hand, does not mention the great cry but tells us that Jesus died saying, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30).

• In Greek and Aramaic ‘It is finished’ is one word.

• “It is finished” and the great cry are, in fact, one and the

same thing. • Jesus died with a shout of triumph on his lips. He did not

whisper, ‘It is finished’, He shouted it like a victor who has won his last engagement with the enemy and brought a tremendous task to triumphant conclusion.

• The greatest victory we will ever experience as children of

God is complete and total surrender.

11. WHY our scars matter Luke 24:50-52 [NKJV] “He led them out as far as Bethany and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass while he blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great JOY.” The disciples can hardly believe their eyes when they see Jesus resurrected. They inspect his hands and worship his divinity, but are blessed by his humility. Its nail-scarred hands that release blessing into our lives. The best way we can bless people is by opening up in humility to show our own scars. Through our greatest pain we find the clearest path to our highest purpose. God never wastes a hurt.

Conclusion:

The enemy wants us to believe that we must be perfect in order to help others. Jesus shows us humility by letting us investigate his scars, his pain and his humanity. Scars show our vulnerability and that God is able. His power is made perfect through our weakness.