Pray With Purpose, Part 5

Calvary Temple

Pray With Purpose, Part 5

January 14, 2001 • Pastor Star R. Scott

Praise You, Jesus! Let's turn to Matthew and continue our study on prayer--praying with purpose. Those that come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him, the Scripture says. So we pray with a purpose: to have our prayers answered. And we saw that the reason that we pray is not for our own personal gain or ease but that God could be glorified.

Prayer is that vehicle given to us to access the presence of God so that we could, in encountering Him, be changed more and more into His image and represent Him more effectively. The disciples came, and they said, Lord, teach us to pray like John taught his disciples. The Lord responded and said when you pray, you're not to be like the heathen and pray in vain repetitions or like the Pharisees who love to pray to be seen of men. We don't pray to be seen; we pray to have God seen. So He says make sure that you pray this way or after this manner, and then the very familiar model prayer was given to us: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

We've been talking the last number of sessions about that aspect of it--being able to pray with a total awareness of our dependence on God for everything because John 15 said without Him we can do nothing. In that prayer chapter of John 15--the abiding in the vine, if we abide in the vine, if His words abide in us, we can ask what we would, and it would be done--we saw that it was to enable us to bring forth fruit, and if we brought forth fruit, the Scripture says He would purge us that we might bring forth more fruit. And it's in that much fruit, the Scripture says, that our Father is glorified. So prayer really is for the purpose of glorifying God, and we've been looking at that aspect of it: the ability to walk in dependence upon God as the source, and to make sure then that as we approach Him we're not praying to try to enact our agenda but to find out what the real eternal purposes of God are...

Pray With Purpose, Part 1

January 3, 2001 • Pastor Star R. Scott

Hallelujah! Amen! Amen! Just remember to continue to pray for the work in Africa and the registration as the Lord is moving. There are some new things that are developing. Actually, we'll know some more as we get into next week; but, it looks like there are some doors opening in an avenue that is actually be better for us than that we were pursuing. That sounds like the Lord, doesn't it? As we continue to pray and believe God that there's something that is a very, very, obscure law--one that fits us very well. It's unique unto us, in fact. It would allow us to operate, actually, under our constitution and by-laws as we're set up here in the country. It would circumvent many of the laws in Africa and allow us to function as though the church were an American church, and be able to meet all of the needs that we're looking for over there. So just pray and believe God to open those doors. I can't get into all of the details of it right now, but it would be something that would really suit us even far better than that we were seeking. It would be a miracle, but we're believing for that. It would be good to see it done here in the next 45 days. Can you say amen to that? As you're praying, also remember that we're believing the Lord to sell the building in Baltimore and we're not just looking to sell it; we're looking for at least $300,000 out of it. You can sell it easily. Right? How many of you would buy it for a dollar? So you realize that there is that that we're believing for and be able to re-invest that into the building of the new facility. The church has just purchased, as we were sharing, a beautiful 7-acre parcel looking to put up a building right now that would be about a 10,000 square foot building. That is the size of the gymnasium. The sanctuary would be half of that and with the raised ceiling in there. The other half would be two-stories. They were going to have to spend about $30,000,00 to bring in fill dirt. I said, "Why don't you dig a basement?" It looks like the basement would just about provide the fill dirt, so it will pay for the basement, praise God. We're going to provide our own fill dirt and just build a basement at the same time, so it will have double the footage. It's a blessing...

Pray With Purpose, Part 2

January 7, 2001 • Pastor Star R. Scott

Hallelujah. Let's turn to Matthew Chapter 7. One of the great commentators said about this subject that it's the most written about in all Christendom and least practiced, and that's the subject of prayer. Aren't you glad that's not the case in our midst? A lot of books written. You can find just book after book written on the power of prayer and the need of prayer and the privilege of prayer, the purpose of prayer, all of these different books by great men that have been practitioners themselves of this great privilege. Yet, so much of Christendom really don't avail themselves of the privilege of coming boldly into the presence of a living, loving heavenly Father. Bold access having been provided us by the blood of Jesus and, yet, there just seems to always be something else to do in the lives of so many people. When we look at the subject, as we spend these next weeks going over this subject, we need to remind ourselves of the privilege and also the purpose of prayer. Why are we coming before Him? So much of modern day Christianity has made prayer a grab bag and made God the great genie or the Santa Claus, if you please. Some see Him as Santa Claus, that He just comes and delivers what He wills; and others as a genie that see God as someone who has to respond to their wishes. Of course, we know that the Scripture teaches that God isn't either of those, but He is a loving heavenly Father, and He knows the things that we have need of. Amen? That's exciting for us. The disciples, then, in Chapter 6 of Matthew, when the Lord was with them and they were taken by His prayer life. As He would slip away in the evenings when they were grabbing a few extra hours of sleep and those last few little moments that they would rest, He would slip away and spend time in the presence of His Father. The Scripture says very clearly that He had meat to eat that most men didn't know anything about. It was to do the will of His Father that had sent Him. We don't know that there was any visible change in His outward appearance, as there was on the mount of transfiguration at that time that He was in the presence of God and the inner circle of disciples. Peter, James, and John saw Him transfigured before their very eyes. We don't know that there was any special glow that came from His face like there was from Moses when he was in the presence of God. It's very obvious that when He came back from those sessions, if you read the Scripture closely, that the disciples were taking note. Something was happening in His life...

Pray With Purpose, Part 3

January 7, 2001 • Pastor Star R. Scott

Just allow the Lord to continue to encourage our hearts and stir us with His words and the great privilege that we have of accessing the throne of God. Every time you read these words in Matthew, the words of the Lord, there are no more effectual words than those that come to our hearts from the Lord Himself, He who really is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. You know, I think when we identify with His lordship and His humanity we see the fullness of the godhead bodily expressed in Him, but we see the empathy of God and His triune being expressed in Jesus. Because of that there is such a love and appreciation for His words, those that He speaks experientially having been tempted in every way such as we are and yet without sin the Scripture says, so when He was asked by the disciples to teach them how to pray, you have to remember, that He was a man just like you and I. He hungered, He thirsted, and yet when you study the Scriptures when the disciples slept, He prayed all night. He would separate Himself from them, the Scripture says. I think you need to understand that a life of prayer will separate you from other people. It will make you different. It's something, when everybody else is hanging out you are choosing to be with Father. Now He wasn't antisocial. He spent time with them and fellowshipped and communed, but on top of all that there was bread to eat that others didn't know anything about and He would find that time to commune with His Father and to be strengthened for the task that was at hand...