F.B. Meyer said, “The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.” How many prayers have you not prayed when you should? “Break Glass in Case of Emergency” was preached by Pastor Pamela on Sunday 19th November 2023.
Sermon Transcript:
I read about a story of a man who encountered a spot of trouble while flying his light aircraft. Desperately, he called the nearby control tower and said,
“Pilot to tower, pilot to tower come in please, I’m 300 kilometers from the airport, two hundred meters above the ground, and I’m out of fuel. I am descending rapidly. Please advise. Over.” “Tower to pilot”, the dispatcher began, “Repeat after me: “Our Father, Who art in heaven…'”
How many prayers have been prayed in planes I wonder? What do you reckon? Millions upon millions?
I know I’ve prayed in a plane.
I can remember waking up, after a light sleep, coming back from New York in 2008 with my children on the same plane. And I noted on the video of the plane’s flight path that we were flying over Afghanistan (of all countries) and I suddenly had a few terrifying thoughts.
(Firstly, we weren’t born with wings, secondly, we weren’t ever meant to be this high up, AND lastly, we could quite easily be hit by a stray missile from the Taliban as we flew over their territory)!
I started praying very seriously for the safety of my children. I did. That was my plane prayer.
You know, I believe that prayer is so popular on planes that I would go so far as to say that somewhere around the world, right at this very moment, as I speak to you, someone is praying desperately in a plane.
My son sent me a video the other week that really made me laugh; it was of a bunch of frantic people on a plane that was having obvious engine problems (I think there was smoke coming out of a wing or something). Most of the people appeared to be black Americans praying in the most Pentecostal way (they didn’t care what the other passengers thought of them) because they saw the very real possibility of going down with that plane.
The plane made it mind you, probably due to their Pentecostal prayers!!
Prayer is a wonderful gift from God. I’ve learnt this over the years. However, what I find sad is that, for many Christians, instead of prayer being something they do every day, like breathing, eating, walking and talking, it seems to have become more like that glass covered box on the wall that says, “Break in case of emergency.”
Could we have the next picture please?
Sadly, prayer often is only associated with a crisis in someone’s life!
But prayer is, for the most part, an untapped resource, an unexplored land where untold treasure remains to be unearthed. It is preached about more than many things, and yet practiced less than anything else.
PRAYER, for the believer, remains one of the greatest gifts our Lord has given us outside of His Word and salvation.
F. B. Meyer, a Baptist minister in the early 1900’s and author of many Christian books said, “The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but un-offered prayer.”
“The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but un-offered prayer.”
How many prayers have you NOT prayed, when as a Christian you (jolly well) know you should have? How many?
The Apostle Paul was somebody who understood prayer and its power. Prayer was a part of Paul’s life, and he took it for granted that it would be a part of the life of every Christian.
You see, the truth is that you can’t really be a good Christian and not pray,
just like you can’t have a good marriage if you don’t talk to your spouse.
Yes, you can be a Christian and not pray, just like you can be married and not talk to your spouse. But in both circumstances you will be miserable, you will be underachieving, you will be settling for the lowest common denominator in your relationship with Jesus.
Things could be so much better on earth if more Christians prayed.
Prayer is the pipeline of communication between God and His people, between God and those who love Him.
The bible says in Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Let us pray,
Lord, let this word inspire all of us to communicate with You more. Help us all to understand the importance of having a real and meaningful relationship with You… Help us all to be who You intend us to be living our lives in service for You. Amen
The Apostle Paul in Colossians 4 speaking to Christians says, ‘Devote yourselves to prayer’.
Devote yourselves to prayer.
The original Greek word for ‘devote’ is a very powerful word and it carries with it the idea of being dedicated to prayer, and this action is a command. In other words, devoted prayer is not an option for the Christian but an order from the Lord Himself.
Jesus wants us to pray, Jesus needs His church to pray. Because Jesus cares about this lost and dying world and He wants His people to invite Him into the desperate situations they see.
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus tells us to pray God’s will on earth as it is in heaven. Why do we have to pray God’s will on earth?
Because most of the time His will is not being carried out, quite the opposite actually!.
Pornography is not God’s will, paedophilia is not God’s will, human trafficking is not God’s will, human starvation is not God’s will, drug abuse is not God’s will, domestic violence is not God’s will, racism is not God’s will. Therefore, we need to pray for God’s will to happen in our families, in our community, in our country, in our church, for our missionaries abroad.
Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful…
‘…being watchful’.
Watchful – means we’re always looking out for what needs our prayerful attention, our prayerful consideration.
We’re scouting, we’re looking, we’re finding things to pray about.
There are truckloads of things we need to pray for. Not sure about that?
Ephesians 6:18 says,
“…pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”
We’re not just praying for ourselves and the odd emergency we may have!
And by the way, it’s okay to pray for yourself, that’s a good thing God wants to be active in your life.
But there are so many other things to pray about that are desperate. Really really desperate. Just watch the news and you’ll see. Actually, you could make the news time, your prayer time.
Prayers don’t have to be long and arduous, you can make them short as you want if need be, depending on where you are and what you’re doing.
But be watchful, be alert and pray when something is not right, when there is an injustice at hand, when you know that evil is taking place, take it to the LORD!
For example,
(Could we have the next picture please?)
who here prayed for little Cloe Smith in 2021 when she was abducted from a camp site in the Gascoyne region of WA?
I think most people in Australia prayed at that time. And God wonderfully answered our prayers working through those brilliant police and their operation. Hallelujah!
It’s with that same desperation and passion we need to pray for others. Just get into the habit of it, being alert, being watchful and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
That’s what the Bible says, give priority to praying for the church!
The pastoral team in this church are very very serious about praying for you. We meet just about every Tuesday and go through our pastoral care list praying for you. Praying for healing, praying for people finding jobs, praying for people experiencing difficult times, praying for people moving house, praying for student’s exams and our children’s welfare at school, PRAYING THAT YOU ALL SHINE JESUS AND REMAIN STRONG IN HIM WHEREVER YOU GO, praying that you resist temptation. We have prayed so many different kinds of prayers over the years for this congregation. Because we take Colossians 4:2 and Ephesians 6:18 very seriously.
And by the way, we enjoy praying for you.
We don’t often pray for ourselves in the meeting because we’re so busy thinking about you. Sometimes one of us might apologize and say, ‘Look I’m sorry but could I ask for prayer for myself?’ And we’ll go oh yeah sure we can do that!
We get so lost in praying for others and that’s good. That’s how it should be. Having an outward focus.
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
AND THANKFUL
Keep a thankful, grateful attitude when you pray. Don’t pray with a spirit of doom and gloom. Some people do that and by the time they’ve finished they’re suffering from depression and so am I (if I’m praying with them). I’m not kidding.
I’ve been in some prayer meetings where I’ve thought ‘Oh dear, this is awful!’
When you pray, pray with a spirit of hope and thankfulness. Believing that God is hearing and answering.
Last time I preached, (two weeks ago) I gave an account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. You remember? In that account, Jesus prays before He commands Lazarus (the dead man) to come out of the grave. In that prayer, Jesus begins with,
“Father, I thank You that You have heard me. I know that you always hear me…”
Can I just say that’s a wonderful example of how to begin a prayer. Jesus begins with a grateful thankful believing heart.
“Father, I thank You that You have heard me. I know that you always hear me…”
How did Jesus know that God always hears Him?
Because in 1 Peter 3:12 it says,
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer…
Are you righteous this morning through the blood of Jesus?
Well, His eyes are on you, and He is attentive to your prayers.
That’s a fact.
Repeat after me please,
For the eyes of the Lord / are on the ME / and His ears are attentive / to MY prayer.
So, don’t come at Him with doom and gloom, don’t spend so long talking about Satan’s work that Satan gets all the glory. Don’t spend hours talking about how bad you are (and what a failure you are) when Christ has redeemed you by the blood of the Lamb. Let’s pray the way Jesus intends us to with a thankful heart full of faith and hope in His goodness.
Here are a few more scriptures on prayer to encourage you this morning. Just in case you’re not believing what I’m saying…
Luke 11:9
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
James 5:16
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
1John 5:14
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Luke 18:1
18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
We should always pray and not give up. Prayer is not a break the glass only in case of emergency box.
We need to pray all the time. Why?
And I’m finishing with these 3 E reasons for prayer.
PRAYER
• Engages God
• Empowers you
• Expands the Church
I really believe that as we approach our Christmas evangelical events. Cityview Church needs to be backed up with solid prayer.
The 12 days prior to our Christmas Concert beginning the 28 Nov through to the 9th Dec. I want 1, 2, 3, 4, or more people on each of those days to pray for specific items that we need you to pray about. Marc after church is going to be walking around with a pen and a 12-day calendar in his hands. He will ask you if you would like to choose one or more of those 12 days to pray for our church.
Now please note, I would like you to pray at least twice on the day you choose. In the morning, and in the evening. And feel free to fast a meal or two it’s totally up to you.
The day before you’re scheduled to pray, we will send you a text letting you know exactly what we want you to pray for.
Now on each of those days we are going to include one of our missionary teams for you to pray for because we have 11 teams and all our missionaries need a lot of prayer around Christmas.
By the way, at Christmas we send them a bonus over and above what they normally receive from us to help them with their Christmas budget. We tell them to spend it on themselves, many don’t I’m sure, but it’s a little something to let them know we love them. But we’re going to include them in the 12 days of Christmas prayer, and I think it would be nice for us to let them know that we’re praying for them too.
What I’m asking from you Cityview Church is not difficult but it’s essential for the work of the LORD that we are doing in this place. I don’t want to do Christmas if Jesus isn’t in it.
So, let’s engage God, let’s empower ourselves through faith-filled prayer and let’s see God’s kingdom expand here this Christmas time.
Amen?
Please stand, lift your hands and agree with me in prayer.
Father I pray that Cityview Church will truly ENGAGE YOU in all our affairs throughout this Christmas season.
Lord, we’re going to make a loud voice and we’re going to keep on shouting until we see Your will be done HERE. We want nothing less than to see Your miracle power working through us saving people, healing people, and setting people free! Amen