Latest / Bible stories / Solomon_s Dedication Prayer A Model for Prayer and Worship _biblestudy

Transcript

Solomon_s Dedication Prayer A Model for Prayer and Worship _biblestudy · Bible stories

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hello everyone, welcome to our lesson summary, Solomon's Dedication Prayer,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: 1 Kings 8, 22-30. Alright, the big idea, God's people
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: can experience his ongoing presence by not abandoning him to
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: serve idols. Our introduction, Solomon's prayer is long, yes it is,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: but Yeah, it runs from, you know, verses 22 all
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the way to 53. But, of course, we're going to
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: only focus on verses 22 through 30. This is a solid,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: very solid piece, section of the prayer. The temple has
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: been finished in the context here. And this is a
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: big moment. Generations had waited for this day. People are gathered.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Emotions are high. And Solomon stands up in front of everyone,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: but Solomon does not start talking about the building, as
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: most would have, right? He does not talk about his leadership.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: He does not celebrate his accomplishment. He puts or points
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the spotlight where it belongs, and that is on God. Why?
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Because God kept his word. What God promised David years earlier,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: He just brought to pass. So picture yourself there. There,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: you know, with the crowd. A crowd that's full of expectation.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: This is a holy moment. A sense that God has
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: done something only God can do. And Solomon's message is simple.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: This is not about us. This is about the God
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: of heaven who keeps every promise he makes. And so
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I gave you three questions to perhaps ponder or questions
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: you could even ask your students in class, if you will.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: So the outline is simple. Prayer should point to God,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: praise God, and then petition God. Another way, a different
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: way of looking at that is kind of funny because
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I'm always looking at all of our summaries, believe it
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: or not. I mean, I'm a preacher. This is what
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: God called me to do. And so I can't help
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: myself but to see most of these summaries and they
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: end up being sermons. So if I were to preach this,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: possibly if the Holy Spirit doesn't change it, I would say,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: look to God. That's the first thing he did. He
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: looked to God. The second thing he did was He
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: lifted him up, and then finally he let him know,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: or he told him, if you will, as the songwriter says,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: you know, have a little talk with Jesus, tell him
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: all about your troubles. He let him know. And so
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: we'll get to that piece. I love that third point.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Each one of these points are phenomenal because all three
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: of them are elements that should be in a prayer.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: So he pointed to God. The text says in verse 22,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord. His
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: posture pointed to God. You know, sometimes our bodies are
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: in church, but our hearts are still somewhere else. Really, seriously.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Posture points to God. In other words, my posture means
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: or it should say, God, you have my undivided attention.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: He is standing before, notice, the altar of God. And
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: notice that Solomon took this position before the altar, not
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: within the temple. This was appropriate for him to do
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: because he was king and he was not the priest.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Also notice that he didn't ask a priest to do this.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: He did it himself. Today we pray standing, sitting, lying down,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: eyes open, eyes closed. I mean, we can go on
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: and on. But the most common posture of prayer in
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: the Old Testament, especially for Jews that they were familiar with,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: was to spread out one's hands toward heaven in a
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: gesture of surrender, openness, and ready reception. He stood before
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: the altar of the Lord. He pointed to God. So
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: recognize that your physical posture in prayer is, can actually
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: reflect the attitude of your heart. The way you feel
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: on the inside shows up on the outside, right? Your
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: body language speaks the truth about your heart. Your posture
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: before God should not be lazy and it should not
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: be lethargic. It shouldn't be casual, right? So when you pray,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: the question is, are you present? Or are you just
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: going through the motions while you think about everything else?
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: You know, what temperature did I leave that chicken on
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: in the oven? I know, I know, modern day ovens, well,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: my oven is going to shut off. It has an
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: automatic shut off and all. But I'm thinking about that,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: you know, in other words, while you're in church, you're
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: thinking about that. Or you're thinking about that football game
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: or that basketball game or whatever. Where are you when
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: we're in worship is the question. I never will forget.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: as a kid, learning this firsthand, the importance of prayer.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: I was looking for my dad, and I found my dad,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: and I noticed that the bathroom door was slightly open,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: and he was kneeled down in front of the faucet.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: He had one hand up, and his head was holding
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: the sink, and and his head was down, he had
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: his hand on his head, and I found him, I
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: was like, I called him, I said, hey dad, dad, dad,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: and I wanted to tell him something, and I touched him,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: and I kept touching him, and he didn't move, and
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: I stood there for a long time, and I was like,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: oh god, something wrong with dad, you know, what's going
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: on with dad, he won't answer me, he's not moving
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: at all, and I don't know how long it was,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: maybe whatever the time frame was. It was a long
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: time because I was almost in tears because I was
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: thinking something is wrong with my dad. You know, shut down, whatever,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: call 911 or whatever. And finally, he stopped what he
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: was doing and he got up and he said, son,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I was praying. And I was like, wow. He was
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: so focused, much like Solomon was. He took this focused
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: posture and would not stop his prayer until he had
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: finished talking to God. This is what Solomon does. His
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: posture preached louder than his mouth. This before, by the way,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Solomon even said anything to God. He's looking to God.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: He's focused. Your posture reveals your priority. Yeah, like my dad.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Your posture reveals your priorities. Casual body, casual heart. Focused body,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: focused heart. So we got to have this awareness of
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: our posture, making sure our posture points to God. But
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: then he pointed the people to God. This is all
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: in verse 22. He pointed the people to God. Not
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to himself, by the way. The text says in the
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: presence of all the assembly of Israel. Notice that Solomon
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: was not praying to be seen by people like the
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: hypocritical Pharisees in Matthew 6, verses 5 through 6, who
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: put on, in the words of Eugene Peterson, the late
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Eugene Peterson, put on a theatrical show when they prayed
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: before people. In other words, they prayed to be seen
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: and not to point people to God. So the question
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I need to ask myself is, does my prayer life
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: point people to God? Is my prayer God-centered or me-centered?
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: You know, oftentimes my brother, Reverend Fitzgerald, at least when
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: I was in the preacher's class, I'm all over the
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: place now. I'm serving all, I'm a servant. That's what
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: I am for y'all. I'm a servant. I'm a servant.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: So I'm all over the place. I don't get a
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: chance to do a whole lot of fellowship with my
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: brothers like I used to in class. But one of
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the things that actually rubbed off on me, and that's
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: what I love about being around other believers, is Reverend Fitzgerald,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: before he starts his prayers, he would always say, let's
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: look to the Lord. I liked it. I remember the
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: first time when I first joined Lily Grove and Fitz
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: and I, we became brothers, you know, great brothers, and
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: I love him. But I remember the first time he
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: said that, and I was like, wow, I got to
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: use that. I got to use that. That's what preachers do,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: by the way. Let's look to the Lord. That's what
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Solomon was doing with the people. Let's look to the Lord.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I've taken this posture, but I also, and he's trying
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: to prepare the people for worship. Let's look to the Lord.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: The question is, is my prayer focused on God again?
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Is it on God or is it on me, myself,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: and I? Solomon prayed in front of the people, but
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: he did not make it about himself. Real prayer does
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: not show off your words, by the way. It shows
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: off your God. So consider ways your life and actions work.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: direct others toward God. When people, when they watch your life,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: do they see you or do they see the God
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: you serve? And then his hands pointed to God. I've
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: already mentioned this, but notice what the text says, and
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: spread out his hands toward heaven. Hands lifted up simply
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: means this, Lord, I need you. This was not a
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: show again. It was a sign of dependence upon God.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Solomon's hands were saying what his heart already knew his body.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: That's body language. As I mentioned earlier, it's saying to God,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: I cannot do this without you. I cannot make it
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: in this life without you. Now, pride is going to
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: fold its arms, right? A prideful person, they're going to
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: fold their arms. But one who is faithful, one who
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: has faith in God, lifts their hands. Now, it doesn't mean, look,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: that lifting hands is the only right way to pray. No,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: that's not what it means. That's not what it means.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: This was Solomon's practice. This was the Jewish practice. But
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: the question is, regardless of how you do it as
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: far as your posture, do your hands lift? Point people
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: toward God, not just in church, but in how you live,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: the way you serve, the way you give, the way
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: you help and love others. Does it show where your
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: trust really lie? Do you only reach for God when
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: life falls apart or do you live dependent on him
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: every day? Do you only reach for God when life
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: falls apart? Seriously. Or do you live dependent on him
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: every day? What are you doing with what God has
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: put in your hands that shows others you rely on him?
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: And so he looks to God, but then he lifts
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: him up. Right. He lifts him up. He praises God.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: He praises God. So first thing we said is he
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: pointed to God, right? Now he praises God. He lifts
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: him up. Notice before he asked God for anything, we
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: haven't even gotten to that part yet. That's why I
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: love the third section of this particular pericope. He hasn't
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: even gotten to the point of asking God for anything.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: The first thing he does is he points to God
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: and now he praises God. And he reminds everyone, he
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: reminds his audience who God is and what God has done.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: In other words, he put God first by bragging on
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: him in a nutshell. He praises God for who he is. Oh, Lord,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: notice what he says. God of Israel, there's no God
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: like you. Stop right there. Verse 23. In other words,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: God is unique. Praising God for who he is is
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: called adoration. Compared to all of the other gods that
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: other nations worship, by contrast, the Lord demonstrates he is
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: God all by himself and he keeps his promises. Jesus,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: when you look at not only this verse here that
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Solomon mentions, where he mentions who God is, Jesus is
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: the monogamous, only begotten of God. Monogenes in the Greek
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: simply means this. It's a word that's used in John 3.16
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: to describe the uniqueness of God's only son. You see
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: the parallel? The uniqueness of God's only son. He is
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: the one of a kind and only one like him.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: 1 Samuel 2.2. There's no one like him. Jesus is
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: not just a son of God. He is the son
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: of God, sharing the very nature of God. So there
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: has never been another like him, and there will never be.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: He's in a class all by himself, as I said before,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: and he don't need nobody's help. Therefore, when we look
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: at the uniqueness of the father that Solomon mentions, and
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: the uniqueness of his son that John mentions, we're talking
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: about a one of a kind God gave a one
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: of a kind savior in a nutshell. If God is
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: unique and he is, then he alone can save. He
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: alone keeps promises. He alone deserves worship. So that's why
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Solomon praises him. And that's why John tells us to
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: believe in his son. Both verses, point to the same
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: exact truth. There is no one like him. So Solomon
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: started with who God is, not what he needed, you know,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: because most of us start our prayer like a grocery list, right?
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: We wake up talking about bills. We drive talking about problems.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: We pray talking about the pressures of the world. But
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Solomon said, before I ask you for anything, Lord, let
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: me tell you who you are. Let me tell you
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: who you are to me, in other words. That raises
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: the real question. Is God your focus? Is he first,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: in other words, or is he just your emergency contact?
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: If he is truly one of a kind, he should
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: get your first thoughts, not your leftover time, your best praise,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: not tired leftovers, your attention, not your distractions. We know
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: every detail about celebrities. It's amazing. We know a whole
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: lot more actually about celebrities and social media drama, but
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: struggle to describe the God who woke us up this morning.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: That is why Solomon paused and said, there is no
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: God like you. Because when you remember who God is,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: it changes how you see what you are going through.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Do not just ask God for things. Brag on him
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: first because worship is not about what God gives. It's
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: about who God is. But then he praises God for
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: keeping his promises in the past. Verses 24 through 25,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: what he has done. You have kept, the verse says,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: you have kept what you promised to your servant David.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: He's referring to his father, Solomon is. He prays God
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: for what he does is actually called thanksgiving, Psalm 152.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: God made a promise with David in the past. He
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: made a covenant with him. In order for this promise
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: to continue, the sons of David needed to walk faithfully
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: before God. Unfortunately, we know, we already know, they failed miserably, right? However,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Solomon praises God for his faithfulness to the covenant with
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: David in the past so when I think about the
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: goodness of God there it is and all past all
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: he has done for me my soul cries out hallelujah
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: if God did it before he can do it again
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: look back over your life the doors he's open the
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: dangers he's blocked you from the ways he's made the
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: prayers he's answered You're still here because God kept his
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: promise to you. We praise him today because yesterday proves
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: he's faithful. But then he praises God for his covenant
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: fulfillment in the future. Praise him because of what he
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: did in the past, but I'm praising him what he
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: will do in the future. 1 Kings 8, 26. Now, therefore,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: O God of Israel, let your word, this future oriented,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: come true. Solomon is not just thanking God for yesterday.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: He's trusting God for tomorrow. He asked God to continue
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: keeping his covenant by ensuring that one of David's descendants
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: would rule forever. Now, Solomon did not fully see it,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: but we do. God fulfilled that promise in Jesus Christ,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: the son of David, the descendant of David. Jesus died.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Sinless and eternal is the one who established the throne
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: of his kingdom forever. 2 Samuel 7, 13. Earthly kings
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: came and went, but Jesus reigns without end. We do
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: not just praise God for what he has done. We
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: praise him for what he is still going to do.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: So your future is not in the hands of politicians,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: thank God, or the economy or the circumstances. around you
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: it's in the hands of a promise keeping God if
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: he kept his word then he will keep his word
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: now so lift up your head God is already working
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: in your tomorrow here's the last thing he petitions God
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: He petitions God. He points, right? He points to God.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: He praises God, but then he petitions God. He looks
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: to God, right? That was the first thing he did.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: He looks to God. He lifted him up, praised him,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: and now he petitions him. He let him know. He's
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: telling him all about his troubles, if you will. Too
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: often we petition or ask for things before we point
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: before we point to God or praise him. God had
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: a special presence in the temple, even though he was
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: far too great to be restricted to a building. After
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: acknowledging the temple could not contain God, Solomon emphasized the
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: major theme of this prayer, which is for God to
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: confirm his covenant by being attentive to hear the prayers
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: of his people and forgive them. So the first part
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: of this is a petition to hear his prayer, his
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: personal prayer. Verse 28, yet regard the prayer of your
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: servant and his supplication. Supplication mentioned here simply means a humble,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: heartfelt request made to God because you know you need him. Yeah,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: this prayer is not boastful. He's not telling God what
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to do. That's why I wanted to clarify when I
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: said let him know. It's not about being boastful. It's
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: about being humble. It's about saying, as I said earlier, Lord,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: I need your help desperately. It shows our dependence on
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: our creator. Solomon mentioned that God is too big for
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: a building in verse 27, but still close enough to
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: listen to our prayers. The God who runs the universe
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: still makes time to hear your prayer. Micah 7 says that,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: but as for me, I will look to the Lord.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I will wait for the God of my salvation. My
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: God will hear me. Do you pray like God is
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: really listening or like you're just repeating words? Prayer is
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: not a ritual. It's a conversation with the God of heaven.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: So slow down, speak honestly, make room to listen to him.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: God is not ignoring you, but sometimes we rush through
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: prayer without really seeking him. Let me pause there for
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: a moment. One of the things that I do in
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: one of my leadership classes, my organizational leadership class that
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: I teach, is I get my students... Many of you
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: know I teach at CBS College of Biblical Studies. I
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: will give my students, I'll tell them, okay, we're going
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: to take 30 solid minutes, 30 minutes, and we're going
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: to pray. However you want to pray, if you want
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: to pray silently, if you want to pray, you know,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: out loud, it's up to you. In every case, for
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: the most part, everybody is going to pray silently. So
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: for 30 minutes, nothing will happen but prayer. And I
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: tell them, you do whatever you need to do. You
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: need to go and get in a corner. You need
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to lay down flat. You need to sit down. You
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: need to turn your back. Whatever works for you, go
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: and do that for 30 minutes. And so I'll let
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: them do that for 30 minutes. When it's over, we
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: will debrief. And I will ask them, what was the
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: hardest thing for you to do as far as focusing
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: on God and making sure that God will hear your prayer?
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Any and everything you can imagine. Well, for the first
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: give or take 10 or 15 minutes, they were focused.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: But many of them fell off the wagon. And it's
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: for various reasons, because perhaps every now and then somebody
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: may knock on my door. Or every now and then
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: you hear somebody walking down the hall and people are talking.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Or we may hear something drop above, maybe upstairs. And
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: if we're downstairs, we hear somebody walking upstairs. It's so
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: many different things. In other words, distractions to where they
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: felt like the prayer was not intimate anymore. It became
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: more of, okay, let me just get through this assignment
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: kind of thing. Well, that's not what Solomon is talking
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: about right here. What he's talking about right here is,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: is as he has already mentioned in the context, if
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: I'm already focused on God, yeah, thank you, Holy Spirit.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Going back to my dad, my dad was so focused
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: on God that he did not allow even his own
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: son to interrupt his prayer with God until his prayer
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: was complete. That's the idea here. It's praying... Like, yes,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: like my heavenly father is listening to me right now,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: and I'm not going to let anything else distract me. Okay,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: let me move on because I can talk about that forever.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Petition to hear the prayers of the people. So he
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: petitioned to hear his personal prayer, but then he petitioned
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: to hear the prayers of the people. Pray for others,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: in other words. This is what he's talking about in
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: verse 30. And listen to the plea of your servant
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: and your people. Solomon established a Jewish custom of turning
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: towards Jerusalem, that is towards the temple, which is the
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: location of the temple. This is a prayer of intercession.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Be specific in your prayers, not only about your own needs,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: but the needs of others. Somebody is always standing in
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: the need of prayer. Real prayer is not just, Lord,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: help me. It is, Lord, help us. And how can
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: you boldly yet humbly bring your request before God, trusting
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: in his provision? Here's the last thing. Petition to forgive others.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: This is a prayer of forgiveness. Verse 30. And he
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: says it. And forgive your people who have sinned against you.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Beyond having the right posture before God and praising God,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: it is important to remember to confess our sins to God.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Solomon knows people will fail. You look at the life
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: of Israel. Time and time and time again, they fail God.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: They sinned against God. And so Solomon is praying and
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: asking God, Lord, please forgive them. Reflect on the importance
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: of forgiveness in your community. What steps can you take
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: to promote reconciliation and healing today? among those around you.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Is there sin you, in your life, have talked around,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: in other words, you beat around the bush, but you
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: haven't confessed it to God? God knows, and it's time
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: to let him know, to acknowledge it. If we confess
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: our sins, 1 John 1, 9, he is faithful, thank God,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: to forgive us of our sins. And to cleanse us
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: from all unrighteousness. So. As I close. If Solomon taught
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: us anything. It is this. Look to God. This is
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: what your prayer should be filled with. Look to him.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: It's pointing to him. Lift him up. Right. And then
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: let him know. Tell him all about your troubles. Look
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: to God because of who he is. God. Is in
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: a class all by himself. Lift him up. Because there's
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: nobody like him. He kept his word yesterday. He's keeping
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: it today. And he will keep it tomorrow. And then
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: let him know. What's on your heart. Because the same
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: God who sits high. Still leans low. To hear his
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: children pray. When you look to him. Praise him. And
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: talk to him. You stay connected to the one. Who
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: controls everything. And that is reason enough to give God
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: glory right now. Amen. Amen. Amen. You be blessed, my
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: brothers and sisters.