Devotion to Prayer

an atheist was taking a walk, hiking in fact, out in the Canadian wilderness,

standing in awe as he walked, and of just the natural beauty that was there,

that was there by a freak of nature, an accident,

when all of a sudden in his delight of daydreaming as he wandered,

this huge grizzly bear was belting down towards him, down the trail,

and he realised he had no chance, and before he knew it, he was flat on his back,

pinned to the ground by this huge bear, and this bear, one paw on his chest,

the other one up, ready to strike him, and without a thought,

he blurted out at the top of his voice,

Oh God, help me!

And the bear was momentarily startled by such a scream.

Everything went into slow motion at that point,

and the atheist all of a sudden realised the inconsistency of living his life confident

that God doesn't exist, and then calling out to him when he had his time of need,

and so he calls out a second time,

I don't believe you exist, God, and I don't care if you do,

but if you do, prove that you are good, and that you are powerful,

as people say you are, and make this bear a Christian.

He thought that was a pretty good move,

because if the bear was a Christian,

then he'd have to obey the command to turn the other cheek and not kill him.

And to his great surprise, in that instant,

the bear's demeanour just changed,

and he pulled back his paw,

and he knelt down beside him,

he clapped his paws together,

and he started to pray.

For what? I'm about to receive.

May the Lord make me truly thankful.

Now I'm pretty sure that story's not true.

Bears don't speak English.

And I'm not convinced bears pray,

but most humans on this planet,

at least some time in their lives, pray.

While it's true that prayer is practically a worldwide activity,

what we actually mean by prayer

is vastly different from group to group,

individual to individual.

The difference in what prayer is or means or how we go about it

is in what we think God is like,

and what we think our relationship with him is like.

You see, when a Buddhist spins his prayer wheel

or a Hindu sits in mystic silence

or the Muslim with his prayer mat

facing Mecca five times a day,

they are all reflecting the character of the God

or the gods they're praying to

and what they think their relationship with that God is like.

It's no different for the Christian.

Our prayer is shaped and defined

by the God to whom we are praying.

And so there are many Bible references

and multitude of Bible references

that shape the Christian prayer life.

And I'll just give you a couple.

Jeremiah 32, 17.

That shapes your prayer life,

as does the whole chapter of Romans 8.

It's the stunning picture of the Christian life

that is laid out before us,

where it says that we were once slaves to sin

and death and fear.

We were hostile to God.

We were unable to please Him.

There was a gap that we could not communicate with Him.

But we are now free,

sons of the Father,

co-heirs in His kingdom with Christ

through being united with Jesus

who died to free us.

We are now new.

We have a new life

which God Himself dwells in us by His Spirit.

It's because of the saving work of the Lord Jesus

that we are raised up from our low position

of being cut off from any access to God.

And have been granted free access

to the God who rules all things.

Or Psalm 145.

God, my translation of Psalm 145,

God bends His ear and delights to hear your prayers.

You see, prayer is not an addition or an appendix

to the Christian life.

It is the heart of who we are as Christians

and how we relate to the God

who is in charge of all things.

It's crucial for us because we sit in a room here

and I imagine most people say that they pray in this room.

But so does a Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist,

as I've already said.

Multitude of people, many people,

most people in this world pray.

But how does the Christian pray?

Today is the first Sunday in February

and it traditionally signals the start of ministry programs

as we've just seen a moment ago in the new year.

And as we kick off this new year of ministry,

we are doing what we've done in the previous two years.

And we're beginning the ministry year with a week of prayer.

And we do this to make a statement as a church.

It's a statement to God, to the world,

and to our own consciences

that we exist as a church

to do things that we cannot do

without the supernatural grace of God.

Everything good and worthwhile and eternal

and God glorifying that we want to do as a church,

we cannot do without the supernatural grace of God.

And so Prayer Week proclaims St. Paul's exists

mainly to do the humanly impossible.

And that's written on the back wall of our church

as you exit.

We have a stated objective to grow,

to be a healthy church with 150 call members

and 500 attending by the end of this year.

That is humanly impossible.

Our corporate objective was set at the end of 2011

for the three years up to the end of this year.

And the intention and vision behind our objective

is to see people know and treasure the Lord Jesus

for the very first time

through the people in the ministry of St. Paul's Chatsworth.

And here we are now.

Two thirds of that time is gone.

It's 2014 and January is over already.

And we have a fair way to go.

But our Lord has not called us to an impossible mission.

He's called us to a demanding one.

And I chose Colossians 4.2.4 for the beginning of Prayer Week

for that very reason.

Because if I understand this text correctly,

the human key that might unlock

the blessing of God's power and grace

in our mission to Chatswood

is devoted, watchful and thankful prayer.

This text gives me strong hope

that God will open a door for the word in Chatswood

and faith will come to many people

if we pray for him to do it.

In Colossians 4.2.4, Paul is urging the Colossians

to pray just like I'm urging us to pray today.

In fact, to pray for something quite specific.

I see two things that he wants them to pray for.

And we'll look at those first

before we turn our attention to

how to pray for them.

The two things are an open door

for the word of God

and for a powerful word to go through that open door.

Paul wants God to work both

in the recipients of the message

and in him, the proclaimer of the message.

So in verse 3 he says,

And pray for us too

that God may open a door for our message

so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.

And there are at least three other times

in the New Testament

that Paul uses the exact same image

of an open door.

In Acts 14.27, in 1 Corinthians 16, verses 8 and 9,

1 Corinthians 16:8

in 2 Corinthians 2.12.

Each time the open door

seems to be a remarkable set of circumstances

that would have been very effective for the gospel.

And so when Paul says in verse 3,

Pray for us too

that God may open a door for our message

that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.

I take into mean that God changes things

when his people pray.

Circumstances and attitudes

and receptivity of the gospel

change

so that instead of hitting a brick wall,

the gospel finds an open door

and becomes unusually effective.

Such as in the case of Duncan Campbell,

a minister of the United Free Church of Scotland.

On the Monday after Easter in 1952,

Campbell was seated on the platform

of Hamilton Road Presbyterian Church

in Bangor, a Northern Ireland.

I apologise

if I've murdered that.

Particularly to you, Katrina.

It's a church that Nat and I have visited twice

and a dear close friend of mine

was on staff there for a number of years.

He had just finished speaking

to the Faith Mission Convention

where he sensed the inner voice

say to him,

Bernare.

And I apologise again

if I've murdered that.

He bowed his head

while he sat on the platform

and he prayed.

Again, the name came to him, Bernare.

He prayed again

and the name came to him a third time, Bernare.

And so Campbell turned

while he was sitting on the platform

to the chairman of the convention

and said to him,

Brother, you're going to need to excuse me.

The Holy Spirit has just told me

that I'm to go to Bernare.

And the chairman objected.

You're the tomorrow speaker.

But he couldn't convince him

and off he got from the platform

and away he went.

Went to his hotel,

packed his two suitcases,

contacted the airport

and he'd have a flight to Bernare.

They said, no thing exists.

They said, well get me,

how do I get there?

Here's one island which is close.

He caught a flight to that island,

walked down to the,

the fishing port,

asked the fisherman,

how do I get there?

He said, there is no commercial way

to get there

but you can get on my boat

and I'll take you there.

It'll cost this amount of money

and it's almost exactly

what he had in his pocket.

Fisherman took him,

dropped him on the beach

and he was there

with his two suitcases,

climbed over a little bit of a hill

and thought, what do I do next?

He came to the edge

of a cultivated paddock,

saw a farmer work in the paddock.

He called the farmer over

and he says,

go to your pastor

and tell them

that Uncle Campbell has arrived.

We don't actually have a minister right now

was the reply.

He said, do you have elders?

Yes we do,

we'll go and tell your nearest elder

that Uncle Campbell has arrived.

Farmer looked at him quite quizzically

then amazingly started off

across the field,

left his work,

came back after some time,

Duncan Campbell sitting there

on the hillside,

sitting on his suitcases.

Farmer says,

the elder's expecting you.

He has a place ready for you

and he has announced

that the meetings will begin

at nine o'clock tonight.

While Campbell was speaking

in Bangor, Northern Ireland,

this elder had spent the day

praying in his shed

for God to send revival

to the island.

His wife in the house

overheard him pray,

Lord, I don't know where he is,

but you know where he is

and all things are possible to you,

so send Uncle Campbell

to Burneray.

And he was so sure

that God would do that

and that he would do it

in three days,

that he made all the arrangements

for the local church

and announced all the services

across the island

and great revival

broke out

across Burneray.

A great door

for the word

was opened,

a door that no person

could shut

because God had opened it.

And so my friends,

the first thing

we should be praying

for this year

is that God

would work in

all the circumstances

surrounding our people

and our ministry,

including the hearts

of everyone

who hears the gospel

to open a wide

and effective door

for that gospel.

Let this sink

not just into your minds,

but into your hearts.

The key to opening

the door of God's blessing

on our vision

to see people come to Christ

will be prayer

if God so chooses.

That's the first thing

that Paul mentions for prayer.

The second thing

to pray for

is the clarity

of the message

and boldness

of the messenger.

Verses 3 and 4,

pray for us too

that God may open

a door for our message

so that we may proclaim

the mystery of Christ

for which I am in chains.

Pray that I may proclaim

it clearly

as I should.

And so Paul exhorts

the Colossians here

to persevere in prayer

and follows it immediately

with a request

to pray for him

and for his co-workers.

The content of the prayer

is not for the personal benefit

of Paul

or his companions,

but for the preaching

of the gospel.

He mentions

he's in chains

for his preaching,

but he doesn't ask

for prayer

to be released

from those chains

in order to keep preaching.

He doesn't pray

for personal benefit,

he prays

for the effectiveness

of the message going out.

And we see here

at a number of points

in the New Testament

that Paul places

a significant importance

on his converts

and other Christians

partnering with him

in prayer

as he seeks

to win the Gentile world

for Christ.

He sees them

as partners

with him

in that task.

He earnestly desired

their help

and their support

as he laboured

to see the gospel

spread to the ends

of the earth.

And there is no better way

to express this partnership

than in accessory prayer.

When he calls

these Christians

to pray for him

and his colleagues,

he is calling them

to an ongoing activity.

This is a prayer

for the preacher,

for the evangelist,

for the community group leader,

for the music director

and for every Christian

who has the word of God

on their lips.

Friends,

let me say

how consistently aware

I am

that I need your prayers.

if Paul needed

their prayers

because he could

imagine himself

speaking the gospel

in such a way

that was not clear

or bold

or powerful,

how much more

can I imagine

that for myself?

The greatest preacher

and missionary

who ever lived

said that the effectiveness

of his preaching

depended on the prayers

of the church.

And if that's true

for Paul,

that's true for me.

100,

200,

300 times over.

What happens right now?

Right now

is the Bible's open

in front of you.

even as this word

of Colossians 4

is right in front of us

depends in great measure

on how you have prayed

up to this point.

And so there are

two prayer requests,

one for an open door

in the lives

of unbelievers

and for a clear

and powerful gospel message

to go through that door.

And it is with a real

sense of urgency

that I called you

to devote yourself

to pray like that

in 2014.

And this is,

brings me to how

we are to pray.

Paul mentions three things

in verse 2.

Devote yourselves to prayer,

being watchful

and thankful.

Pray with the devotion,

with watchfulness

and with thanksgiving.

The call of God's word here

is to devote yourself

to prayer

and it shouldn't come

as a surprise to us

given what he requests

prayer for

in verses 3 and 4.

If prayer is so great

and central to us

unlocking God's purpose

for the universe

and your life,

it is not surprising

that God would command us

to devote ourselves

to prayer.

The word be devoted to

or persevere in

or continue in

occurs six times

in the New Testament

connected to prayer.

Acts 1.14,

they all joined together

constantly in prayer.

Acts 2.42,

they, that is the early church,

devoted themselves

to prayer.

Acts 6.4,

the apostles said

that they would devote

themselves to prayer

and the ministry

of the word.

Romans 12.12,

be joyful in hope,

patient in affliction,

faithful in prayer.

Ephesians 6.18,

pray in the spirit

on all occasions.

It means to pray regularly

and to pray often.

Prayer is not infrequent

and prayer is not meant

to be hit and miss

for the Christian.

Being devoted to prayer

means that we are

not to be haphazard,

we are not to be forgetful.

It means that we take steps

to see that it is part

of our regular life

the same way that

eating and sleeping is.

I think it's also implied

in the word watchfulness

to describe the sort

of prayer life

that we are called to have.

Watchfulness is often used

as a reference in the Bible

to particularly

in the New Testament

the second coming of Christ

and the final judgment,

the end of all things.

The vision of the future,

God's plan and purposes

coming to their final end

in Christ,

is to govern not just

the content of our prayer life

but our devotion to it.

God is working out

his purposes

and he will bring it

all to completion

and so don't go to sleep

at the wheel.

Direct your mind to Christ

and his coming

and the fulfillment

of all our hope

and our joy.

Labor against distractions

and hindrances

and the temptation

towards prayerless praying.

Be vigilant,

my friends,

like a sentry on duty

outside the camp

at night

knowing that

if you go to sleep

the enemy

can overthrow

your mission.

This is the tempo

of prayer

I think that is often

missing

when the church

has settled

into the world

and is just using

prayer as

a domestic intercom

rather than a battlefield

walkie-talkie.

Paul urges the church

to be devoted to prayer

because of how

tremendously serious

the battle is

that we're involved in.

Heaven and hell

hang in the balance

for many people

this year

and so be watchful,

awake,

vigilant

and pray.

Pray the way

you would

if you knew

that two of your

unbelieving friends

would hear the gospel

for the last time

next Sunday.

And finally

Paul calls us here

to pray with thanksgiving.

It doesn't seem right

to pray

for God

to open a door

of faith

for others

without remembering

that he did

that very thing

for you.

Does it?

When we pray

for the salvation

of others

isn't the fervency

of our prayer

a mirror

of how thankful

we are

for our own salvation?

If we don't feel

thankful

for our own salvation

for the time

when God

opened the door

of our hearts

and unlocked it

so that we saw Christ

in all his glory

and beauty

then how can we pray

with devotion

and watchfulness

and urgency

for the salvation

of others?

I suspect

that we

grow in thankfulness

for our own rescue

as we do that

we will pray

with a new zeal

for the rescue

of others.

So friends

go to your word

and remind yourself

of the gospel

every day.

Amen.

On the back wall

of our church

just as you leave

in our welcome centre

downstairs

a bunch of stuff

that I've written

around the place

we have a core value

called devotion

to prayer

and I wrote it

and it's based

on this passage

Colossians 4

2

4

but I

the one who

penned those words

need

this word

from Colossians 4

to penetrate

my heart

and to shape

my life more

in 2014.

Prayerlessness

or haphazard

prayer life

makes me feel

like a hypocrite

more than anything

else.

More than anything

else.

I've always found

prayer to be

hard work.

I'm an activist

which means

I don't often stop

and for me

I've had to learn

to pray and walk

and I have to

take steps

to ensure

that prayer

deliberate steps

to ensure

that prayer

is incorporated

in my daily life.

our core value

says that as a

church we are

committed to

consistently bringing

all things to God

in prayer

intentionally

building prayer

into the centre

of our life

together

developing a

culture of

natural

and instructed

prayerfulness

when interacting

sorry

unstructured

prayerfulness

when interacting

with each other

encouraging

and equipping

for prayer

for personal

and family level

and incorporating

prayer into

every church

activity.

So friends

can I encourage

you to join

together in

seeing this

core value

written on our

hearts in such

a way that it

shapes our

actions and our

attitudes

into 2014.

in the immediate

can I call you

to join with me

in this prayer

week

in being devoted

to praying

that a door

would be open

for the gospel

among many

precious

unbelievers

and that we

would proclaim

the gospel

with clarity

and with power

and can I call

you to be

committed to that

devoted to that

throughout the

course of this

year here's a

really simple

way of going

on this

in terms of

the gospel

going out

pray one

plus one

plus one

one plus

one plus

one

equals one

it's bad

mathematics

but it's a

good point

commit to

praying for

one person

for one

minute

once a

day

and pray

that God

would bring

that one

person into

his kingdom

one plus

one plus

one equals

one

I've got

one plus

one plus

one in my

diary

in my

electronic diary

it pops up

every day of

the year

as a reminder

and my

one plus

one plus

one equals

and I've got

the initials of

the person

that I'm

praying for

brothers and

sisters pray

for a door

to be open

to the gospel

as we labor

to make it

known with

clarity and

with boldness

and with power

in our mission

field here at

St Paul's

let's pray

Father

you're

you're a God

who controls

all things in

this world

you have all

the power

where we have

none

and it is

your plan

and purposes

to call people

from every tribe

and language

and nation

under the

lordship of

the Christ

and we pray

Father

that you

would do

that in

our midst

and we pray

Father

that we

would not

sit back

in comfortable

mediocrity

but that we

would see

the mission

that you

put before

us as a

demanding

mission

but you

are an

even greater

God

and we

pray Lord

that you

would help

us to pray

in the same

way that the

Lord Jesus

taught his

disciples to pray

men who had

prayed all

their life

I pray

that you

would teach

us to pray

in a new

way

to pray

for your

kingdom

to come

to pray

for your

kingdom

to come

in the

hearts

of many

and so

Lord

as we

move into

2014

we pray

for every

instance

where your

word

will be

proclaimed

and I

pray Lord

it will be

done with

boldness

and with

clarity

and with

power

and we

pray Father

that you

would send

your spirit

and you

would unlock

the doors

of people's

hearts

so that

they not

just understand

the gospel

but they

see the

beauty of

it and

they would

receive the

Lord Jesus

with joy

and we ask

it for your

sake

Amen

for Lord

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