Sermons

FILTER BY:

← back to list

Jun 16, 2024

The Privilege of Prayer

The Privilege of Prayer

Passage: Hebrews 4:14-16

Speaker: Ken Downer

Series: Practice the Presence - Prayer

Keywords: duty, delight, wonder, privilege, cherished, welcomed

Prayer is so much better than a duty. It is an amazing privilege to be able to come at any time into the presence of God to worship Him and to share our hopes, dreams, hurts and needs. We would give anything to have this privilege were it not already bought for us at a great price. When we can shift to see prayer as a privilege, we come to it from a different place in our hearts and experience God in a new and wonderful way.

Readings & Scripture

PRE SERVICE TEXT: Hebrews 4:14
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

PREPARATION: Ephesians 1:3-6
ALL: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
LEADER: 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
ALL: 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

PRAYER:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

CENTRAL TEXT: Hebrews 4:14-16
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

CONFESSION OF SIN:
ALL: Gracious Father, we live between two desperate errors. We forget that there is nothing we
have that we did not receive. We live as unto our own and forget we belong to you who both made us
and bought us at cost to yourself. Likewise we slip into thinking we were given your salvation and
Spirit by some righteous act, some honorable deed. On both counts we are in the wrong. On both
counts we need your pardon. On both counts we need your Spirit to remind, guide, and bring us the
peace this world cannot provide.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON Romans 4:7, 8 (citing Psalm 32:1, 2); Ephesians 1:7
LEADER: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the
man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”In him we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of his grace.

BENEDICTION: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
LEADER: 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

POST SERVICE: Hebrews 4:16
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace
to help in time of need.

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Romans 3:23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
  • Matthew 22:37-39 - You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
  • Romans 8:34 says “…Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
  • Ephesians 2: 8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
  • 2 Corinthians 9:8 - And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
  • 1 Corinthians 15:10 - But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. What was the role of the high priest in the Old Testament?
  2. How is Jesus a “great” high priest?
  3. What is being described here with the writer saying Jeus has “passed through the heavens?”
  4. What is the confession that we are holding fast?
  5. How is it so helpful to us that Jesus is able to sympathize with our weaknesses?
  6. What would be the result of a high priest who was unable to sympathize with the people’s weaknesses?
  7. What do you think about Jesus being tempted just like we are?
  8. Why was it vital that Jesus be tempted, but remain without sin?
  9. Where do we get our confidence to draw near to the throne?
  10. What is the difference between mercy and grace?
  11. What do you think of the acrostic: GRACE – God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense
  12. How is it helpful to know that the bible describes grace as both unmerited favor and the power to help us live more of a Christlike life?

ILLUSTRATIONS:  

 

 

QUOTES: 

 

  • “He (the high priest) was the mediator between God and the people. God would come in judgment because of the sins of the people and the high priest would stand in their place, offering sacrifices that satisfied God’s justice and demonstrated His mercy by punishing an innocent animal in place of a guilty human being.”   R.C. Sproul

 

  • “As God’s adopted children we are loved no less than is the one whom God called His Beloved Son.”   J.I. Packer
  • “My love of the Gospel became all about how I am doing getting that sanctification bus down the road. It was all about how I was doing with my Bible reading, with my prayer, with my Church attendance, with my holiness. In my pursuit of godliness, I had left Jesus behind. Elyse Fitspatrick”
  • “This is not good news because He is with you in it, as a misery loves company kind of thing. It is good news because He did it perfectly for you, so you have His perfect record.” Elyse Fitspatrick
  • Tim Keller gives us the prayer: “Lord, so many of my problems stem from not remembering you. I forget your wisdom and so I worry. I forget your grace and so I get complacent. I forget your mercy and so I get resentful of others. Help me remember who you are every moment of the day. Amen.”

BOOKS / DOCS

  • Praying Through the Lord’s Prayer  J.I. Packer

SERMONS/TALKS