Our Monotonous Prayer List

So I won't take up much time. I'll look at my watch. Make sure I keep on time today. Ask you a question that the Bible asks. What does the Lord require of us? And you would say Micah 6, 8, right? It says to do justly, to love mercy and walk humbly with your God. We must love mercy. We must show mercy. We must learn to do right when wrong is in front of us. And we must have the humility that Christ came and exhibited to us. So the Bible says that is what is required of us. But what should God expect from us? Think about it. What should God expect from us if we say we are His followers? Well, I think there's two things He expects from us, and I think most of you would agree. It is prayer in His Bible study. It's hard to follow God without knowing what He's trying to teach us, without reading the Word. And it's hard to have a relationship with someone if you don't ever talk to each other. It's my alarm telling me it's time to quit. That was a quick sermon. Old Fred Keller's trick that he used to put on. You remember that? I still remember that. If the watch went off, it would matter if He's in the middle of the Word.

But I want us to think about prayer in Bible study. Most of us have a prayer life. Most of us read the Bible. So why would I bring this up? Well, because if you, like so many people I've talked to and myself, you've experienced something during the last year to two years that you probably haven't experienced before. And that is, the title of my message today is, our monotonous prayers list. Our monotonous prayer list. They say, well, what do you mean? But have you ever felt that way? I have during the last year or two. I have because I've been praying. And you have to ask yourself, has my prayer life become repetitive, mundane, tedious? Because I seem to be praying for the same people about the same thing all the time.

And sometimes we can get like, there it is. It went that far. Have you ever felt that way? No. Because day after day after day after day, chances are I pray for the brethren I am responsible for. I pray for my wife. I pray for my family, even Mark. So there are things that we pray for constantly. And it seems like, man, and then I look at your bulletin here, and I open the front, and here it is. Prayer request. One, two, three, four, five, six. Doesn't it seem like this is getting old? Does it seem like how long do I have to keep praying? Is God going to answer some prayers? I'd like to go back to the F&B handbook. No. No. It's not Facebook. It's a flesh and blood handbook. It's a flesh and blood manual we're given so that we can know how to live this life. Because Christ said He came that we may have life and live it... What? More abundantly. In the last couple years, I don't know that it's been that abundant. My brother in the back lost his wife. He lost his grandfather. Just in this congregation, I lost my incredible deacon. He was only 50 years old. We've lost a lot of people. That I spent more time on my knees this year in the last year and a half than I have in a long time. Because there's a lot to pray for. So I sometimes would have to talk to God. I wonder if He's listening. So I want to today go to this owner's manual that he's given us, the Bible. I don't have a lot of scriptures. The scriptures I read are from Christ. And I want to look at it and maybe answer our question about our monotonous prayer life. Because God does answer every prayer. Every single prayer. Yes, no, or not yet. A lot of times we don't like the answer. And that builds, hopefully builds, incredible patience with us. As with me. So in the manual, Christ gave two specific prayer parables. Just for us. Like to go there, read those two parables. And perhaps they may help you as much as they have helped me. To not feel like I have a low ceiling. And my prayers only hit the ceiling and bounce back down. I want to give these because Christ at the time was standing with his disciples and some Pharisees came up, the religious leaders of the day, and they asked him a question. When will the kingdom come? Have I ever heard that before? Oh, you see what happened on the news? Oh, I were one step closer. Oh, do you see this? Oh, wait a minute. What's happening over in Europe? Well, they looked at the same thing, except they were looking, when are you going to get these Romans out of here, God? When are you going to instill in us all the promises of Isaiah and Ezekiel? And so here was a preacher, a straight preacher, that they tolerated. They first liked him in John 3 when they sent Nicodemus to go recruit him, but when he wouldn't have any part of them, then they turned against him. So now they get a chance to ask him this question. When will the kingdom come? They ask that if you look in your Bibles in Luke 17, verse 20. But I won't turn there because I want to go to his answer. Are we near the end? When will the kingdom come? When will you come back? What would it be like in those days? Well, he tells them exactly what it will be like. So if you will go with me to Luke 17. Luke 17, I'll be reading from the New King James version. Luke 17, in verse 26, he says, And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man. Okay. So before he comes, this is what the world's going to look like. Wow! He's going to reveal this to us so we can know.

He said they ate, they drank, they married wives. They were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. So life went on. People were living life like nothing was going to happen except what happened the year or two years before or the 10 years before. It's what it was like in the days of Noah.

Likewise, in verse 28, Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so, it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. So we get to see what it was like then, as Jesus Christ is describing his own word, as the word he was there, he saw this, he experienced it, and now he's saying, before I return, this is what it's going to be like.

And do you know what it says? We don't need God. We don't need God. We don't need God. What's our world becoming today? It's only God. If I have a Bible question, I just dial up Mr. Google. He'll tell me everything. I can find everything in Google and search, I can find the answer that I want. Can't we?

So, I find this an interesting story, because as he's telling what it will be like, he then finishes his story, and then, then, he says, or is translated here, in chapter 18, the word then. Which way do you have then or therefore? It's following up on what was just said. So, he's about to give two incredible parables about prayer and God. And to us, it's written for us. So, let's go there. Luke 18. Luke 18, verse 1. Then, he spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not, what? Lose heart. They always ought to pray and not lose heart. There's two things in that sentence that we ought to pray. We know that, don't we? But do we always? Do we always get up off our knees and go, I'm right with God now. Or do we, well, let's see, how much time do I have to pray? But here, he's telling that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Not lose heart about what? That stuff that we pray about. That's what's tied in here. We have to sometimes keep praying. We may not get the answers that we want, when we want. But we're going to find out, we're going to get an answer.

Because we know God. So then, let's look at this parable that starts in verse 2. He says, there was a certain city, there was in a certain city, a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. So what can we say? He's an atheist. That'd be shocking to have a judge that's an atheist. Not in today's world. It wasn't back then. And can you imagine? I always read these parables and think because he was the word 4,000 years before he starts in what we're reading here. That in the 4,000 years that he was God, and he was the word, and he saw everything, was there ever a parable he gave that he didn't actually see? Because he had millions upon millions upon millions of examples. So could this have happened? Well, it could have. But he gives us this parable for that reason. So here we see a judge.

And he didn't care about God, he didn't care about man, he didn't care about anybody but himself. It was all about him. He was a judge. Verse 3. Now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, Avenge me of my adversary. Verse 4. And he would not for a while. Why? Because he wasn't letting anybody tell him what to do. But afterward he said within himself, Though I do not fear God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. She weary me. So he's going, I want to get this done. I got to get her out of my head. She'll call me every day. She's going to wear me out. It's interesting there, the word weary there in the Greek comes from the word which means to hit in the eye. Like you're getting a black eye. So that's what it felt like to him. And this widow would just call, get a hold of him. We might have it today where they pick up the phone. I remember when I had my company here and I had a job to do, and we went out and did this job. There's a lady, a widow. She was a nice lady. And so somebody came by after, right if we did the job, and they knocked off an elbow, off a downpipe, something pretty small. And she said, they just came and knocked it off. Could you come and put it back on? And I said, yes, when we're by the area, you know, I'll just swing by one of the guys or myself and we'll put it on. Take two minutes. Well, other people called. Business is going on. A week went by. I had forgotten completely about it. And this woman calls. We opened up our office at seven o'clock. I usually get there about a quarter till 7.05. She called. Oh, you didn't forget about me, did you? That elbow? Well, yes, ma'am, I did. Oh, well, I'll get by there. We'll get by there this week. Guess what? Didn't do it. Other stuff was busy. I mean, it's an elbow. It's a two-minute job. Why do I need to take people off and have to go over there and do that? Every day for the next three days, she called me at 7.05. I knew I picked up the phone. It was her. You haven't forgotten about me, have you? You know, it only went three days because I didn't want to have that fourth day see at 7.05. It was her. You haven't forgotten about me, have you? So you bet. I drove out there and fixed it. And the next morning, I looked. It was 7.05. I didn't have a phone call. So I can understand this judge because this one was not going to stop. And it's amazing that Christ gives this story because the judge here is not a good person. He's not a godly man. He didn't care about human beings either. He's all about himself. And yet, what is God giving us a parable comparing? Let's look. Let's look.

Verse 6. Then the Lord said, hear what the unjust, corrupt, unjust judge said.

I'm going to take care of it. Isn't that interesting? That Christ would give a parable comparing God to an unjust man. His father. That's the reason I bring these up. Today, because most people don't really understand what a parable is about or for. I know there's one definition I looked up and they said a parable is a simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson. That sounds all good, but that really doesn't explain how this works. Because the word parable in the Greek comes from either parable or parabola. Para means to come alongside or compare. And by low means to see. So it means to come alongside something, look at it, and compare. Compare not only what's it like, but what's different. Because then you get a true understanding of a parable. Now I have here an apple and an orange. If I am to compare them, what can I say? Well, let's see. They're both round, right? They both grow on a tree. They both have seeds. And they're both fruits. There it is. There it is. But what about the difference? If you examine them, there's a lot of difference, isn't there? And that is what he wants us to do with the parable, is be able to look at it. The same in the differences, because the greatest lessons. Red, orange. Right? This one, to me, is sweeter than this one. I don't like oranges. I like apples. This one I can just bite into, start eating. Is there anybody that just bites into this and starts eating? My wife eats these oranges and I, you know, she'll, she peels the thing. There is a lot of difference, a lot of differences between these two things, and there's a lot that's in common. But it's how we look at it. It's your point of view. Now, some of you may like, I mean, like apples better than oranges. Only one apple. Only one person. Everybody else likes oranges better than apples. There's something wrong with you people. Good thing I moved. Good thing I moved. Boy, I believe that. That you like that. So, there, this is, this is what we need to look at when we read parables, because a lot of people go, I don't understand parables. Well, I don't understand this one, because there's a lot of people who say, because they're not looking at, they're looking at it like, oh, well that will explain it. Sometimes it doesn't. They even ask Christ, why do you speak in parables? Did he say, oh, so you guys can understand? No. He gave them, so we have to look at it. Break it down. And learn the lesson. So, here we go in verse 7, because I think it's important that we look at this, because if we go back up to the weary comment, have you ever felt that you weary God? Can you pray so much to God that he goes, I don't want to listen to that. I'm so tired of listening.

No. Do you know, he has over, what, 7.78 billion children on earth. Now, that's a big father today.

How many of his children actually pray?

One-seventh, one-tenth, one-hundredth.

I never totally understood this, still. I was about to move out of the house, and my younger brother, Mark, was about 12. No, you were about eight or nine, I guess it was. Had to get out of the house, and Penny was young. And so, I would come in from working, and we'd have dinner together. My mother'd have dinner sitting there. And so, we would all be talking around the dinner table, and they would bring up the most asinine of stupid things anybody could bring up when you were kids. And Sally said, over here, and I did this over here, and in class, we did, and our teacher said this, and I'm going, shoot me.

But you know what? My father and my mother, they listened to them. They didn't go, shut up, like I wanted to do. But they, why? They were interested in them. That was their children. And I realized they did the same thing to me. Except, God did here occasionally. Can't you ever just be quiet?

So, this is God. God does not get tired of hearing from us. Because you've got all these kids that don't even care anything about him. Most of them don't believe in him, and if they do, they don't even honor him like he wants to be honored.

So, how important is your prayer? Pretty important to God. God, do they ever get monotonous? Only to us. Only to us. He wants to hear from us. The good and also the bad. Because usually, too many times, we come to him and it's time to get it out first. God, I know I shouldn't have done that. But I did. Please forgive me. And you know what? Sometimes people just come and they don't tell him about the good things. They just tell the bad. He wants it all. He wants to hear us. Oh, I messed up. Boy, did I have a great day-to-day God.

Do you ever cry out to God thinking he's unjust? Don't think so. He knows. He's right every time. He knows what we need, when we need it, and when we don't need it. That's a beautiful thing. Like Eric was talking about not worrying. You know, don't worry about it. Dad's got this. Our father's got this. So if we do that, we can go on and carry on with our lives and have it, as Christ said, life and living more abundantly when we're not worried.

So let's go on to this. Verse 7. And shall God not avenge his own elect to cry out day and night to him, though? He bears along with them? Yes! He bears along with us. With me, probably longer than many of you.

Shall he not avenge? Take care of things. My father, he wants to. He wants to be involved. He wants us to ask his help in everything. And he really doesn't take that long.

No one's asked me, do you pray three times a day? And I said, no, I usually pray five or six times a day. But sometimes it's in my car. Sometimes it's right before I'm walking to meet somebody. Sometimes it's only a 30-second prayer. But I have time when I'm able to lay it all out. I try to do that in the morning with God. It's almost like in my life, Mary and I call time out. Because I know where she's going to pray. I know where I'm going to pray. I want to get this over with because if not, chances are neither one of us will like each other very much by the end of the day. Not only married people can understand that. But here's the thing.

In verse 8, this is God. God telling you, I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Wow! So why has he been delaying some of this stuff to me? Am I not one of them? No. He's telling me not yet or no. And you know, that's very, very hard. Got my water today. Is this water? Doesn't look like water. But you know what?

It's kind of like the person that says, I want patience, God, and I want it now. That's not really the way it works. God's going to answer because he's not going to let it go. So guess what? When you ask, he's answering it. He's giving you your answer. Not yet. Or no. Very hard to take a no sometimes. Very, very hard to take a no. And as I found out in my life, that requires a great deal of faith to accept a no. A lot more than a yes. So when we get yes, we're just like, oh, yeah, everything's great. Everything's great. And when God answers your prayers time and time and time again, and then all of a sudden, you no longer hear a yes but a no. That builds patience. Are we getting a not yet? Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. I appreciate it. Thank you. Now I can carry on. He is an EMT. Is that why you hadn't come up here? Oh, it may fall out. Haven't we all experienced that?

My sister-in-law. They're sitting here. I won't tell this just to upset you. But the greatest lesson I ever learned was because she gave us before they were married, she gave Mary and I the responsibility of looking after her dog, Cabbock. And I so remember that. And I, at that time, I must say, I was as spiritually strong as I'd ever been in my life. I had prayer every day and I had this reaction and God just kept blessing me. Everything gave yes. Yes. Yes. So there wasn't anything I thought I could do because God just constantly gave yes. Until we would take care of that little puppy, beautiful puppy. Puppy stayed with ours and we were afraid it would run off. She was off on a volleyball tournament somewhere. And so I tied him to the front porch. I didn't want him to run off. He stayed with our dog. I got up that morning then and I went out there and the little dog had fallen off the porch and it hung himself with his legs about that far from the ground. And I couldn't believe it. It was just like a shock. And so I reached and grabbed the dog and because I grew up on a farm and animals, I laid the dog. He was still warm and I laid him on the ground and I blew into his mouth and I did all this stuff thinking, you know, and then, but he was dead. But it didn't even, no thought came into my mind. She's like, okay, what am I doing? And I got up and went into the bedroom where I prayed and I kneeled down and I asked God, this is nothing for you. Bring life back into that dog. Don't make me go through this. Don't make us go through this. Don't make Neverland go through this. Put life into that dog. No, it's nothing for you. And I walked back out and I just knew, I knew that dog was going to be up and breathing. Didn't. So I did it again and I did it again three times. And my faith was as shaken as it's ever been in my life, because I just knew, I just knew God was going to answer those prayers. But he did answer the prayer and it was no. And it took me months, months, if not two years to ever get my, my faith back, because my faith was so shaken. Because all I got was yeses. And I got a no. And it was a no when I, all I wanted was a yes. And I thought I deserved it.

Brethren, that's why prayer is so important for us to learn these lessons. Learn how our Father does things. Now, I can't say the same thing. When I grew up, my sister and I were like 12 years older than Mark and Penny. And of course, my father didn't give me everything I wanted. They got everything just about they wanted. They got to do this, they got to do that. And we were like, just work on the farm.

But what, so God tells us no sometimes when it's for our benefit, because you have to understand he's got all the right answers he knows. And we have to look at that as tough as it is. Mike Deacon, I loved, I performed the marriage three years ago between him and his wife. Just wonderful couple, just loved him and he served. It was a Deacon, he just, and I prayed. I prayed as fervent for him when he was on a ventilator. Just knew God, because I needed him. And God said no. God said no. And I can accept that because my relationship with God.

See, I knew what Mark does and Pennywood and Ronnie Wood and my mom knows, my dad would do anything when he's alive. He'd do anything for you. Many of you knew him. Well, neither of you knew him. If ever needed something, all he had to do was ask my dad. He was over. He just, he loved helping people. So I know the character of my father. And I knew that when he would tell me no or not yet, I could accept it because I knew him.

And how much greater is God? My father. This is our father who knows everything. So this is why it's important for our prayer lives. That if it's right, if it's good for him, for us, them, whoever's involved, God will take care of this. He's going to do it the right way. This is an incredible parable. Because then it goes down to verse 8. I tell you that he will avenge him speedily.

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he... What's it say? Really? Uses an adverb. Modifies a verb. Will he really find faith on the earth? What is that telling us? What is that telling us? That people don't... They're going to be the same way. As they were when there was Noah a lot. They don't need God. Will he really find faith when he comes back? Will he really, really, really, really find faith? That's what he's saying. Because why? Because we go back and the examples he gave that people didn't need God. They didn't have a relationship with God. They didn't need God. Brethren, he needs to find faith.

And he needs to find it here. He needs to have a place here in Murfreesboro that he finds it. He needs to find his people. They have faith in him, and they will have that faith because they know he will say yes, no, or not yet. And they say, okay. I've known people who blame God. Why did God let this happen? It's a wrong question. Wrong question. See, God cares for us and looks after us.

Even it's not our time. Somebody else's time. I had COVID. You had COVID? We had people in here who had COVID? Okay. I've had 12 days. I wondered if I didn't know where I was. Six of dogs didn't care if I died. But it wasn't my time. But yet it was Dwight Harrison, my deacon's time. Because God's in charge. He's that loving Father. Loves us more than anything on this earth. More than anybody. Right, Morgan? You know Will. Will, he loves you more than anybody, right?

Right, Will? I didn't see you shake your head. There's an answer here. Don't. I didn't set you up. But you see, God loves you so much more than Will. You can't even imagine it. Will's not going to do anything except the way he wants to irritate you. Not that you don't like, right? This is the thing. God, we have to have that faith and trust in Him. And we build that relationship because we talk to Him.

When we pray, we talk to Him. When we read His Word, He talks back to us. Will He really find faith? Boy, does He want to. But Christ is asking the question because He saw it before. Let's go down. Finish this now. I'll have to look at my watch. Because then, He gives another parable. He said, Also, He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were what? Righteous. And they despised others. Ever met somebody like that?

Oh, you know what He's talking to here? The religious leaders. You ever met a minister like that that had all the answers? I had so many more answers before I became a minister. Oh, I thought I did. I got so many more questions. And I realized the book is where the answers are, not between my ears. So, let's look at this. He said, Two men went up to pray. He went up to the temple to pray.

One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. Hmm. One of those dreaded tax collectors. Publican. Disgusting person. Maybe a gentile. Because they hated gentiles at the time. Pharisees did. Is there someone, maybe you being a religious person, that you despise? Hmm. Let's look at that. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Hmm. That's a problem. God, I thank you that I am not like other men. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, and even as this tax collector. Ooh. It's nasty. Tax collector. You got somebody you don't like?

God. God. Thank you that I'm not like these Sunday keeping swine-eating pagans. Didn't borrow that from you many years ago, Leon. Now he gets up and walks off. He's offended. Well, we need to look at this from our, about ourselves. Because we aren't supposed to be a religious leader, either in your family on your street, in the church. Wherever you're at, you're a religious leader in God's eyes. So when we pray, do we pray thus, as it said here? Do we look down on anyone, which we shouldn't? Oh, they're vaccinated. They're not vaccinated. Look at this. It's kind of silly. When we pray, would we pray? Oh, wait a minute. God, I thank you that I'm not like Clark Earls. He was a pugilist. He beat people up for a living, and he enjoyed it. Glad I'm not like him.

Larry Parriman, he raised chickens and fought. She raised chickens, and they fought and geese, sold money and made money off of them. Oh, thank God I'm not like him. Ellen Smith. She used to work for the Election Commission. She put some of these corrupt politicians in office. I'm glad I'm not like her. I used to have some friends here. But I help you know I'm cynical when I say that. But see, we have to make this personal. So that I mention my friends, but what about if you're not my friend? Am I looking there and going, boy, I'm glad I'm not like that? No. This is the example of two people who went up to pray. One was supposed to be religious, and the other wasn't.

Well, we have that kind of attitude, because that's what Christ is trying to teach us. Let's finish this up, and I'll get you guys out of here. So the Pharisee, of course, said, I prayed thus and within himself, and that's not who you pray to. And then he said, I fast twice a week. Do any of you fast twice a week? I don't. Okay? I don't fast once a week. I know there's times I should have fasted every day for a month, but I don't. But here, the Pharisee was saying, here, God, I'm getting right with you, because the Pharisees fasted every Monday and every Thursday. And if you fasted on Wednesday, you weren't as righteous as they were. If you chose another day or two days, you weren't as righteous as them. Remember Micah 6'8", walk humbly? I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I possess, because I can buy my way into the kingdom of God.

Verse 13, and the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me. What's it say? A sinner. But you know, in the majority of manuscripts in the Greek, that's not how it's written. And that drives an incredible point home, because in the original majority manuscripts, in the Greek, there is the definite article, the, not a. We should read God, be merciful to me, the, the sinner.

Not a sinner, but the focus is on me. I know what I've done. I'm wrong. I'm wrong. Forgive me. Doesn't matter about anybody else. Well, they do that, so I can do that. No, it's like me, God. I got to get right with you. The sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be abased. And he who humbles himself will be exalted. What do we want? Because God's going to answer it. God's going to answer this. He's going to take care of this. He's going to wait for us. And wait for us. And sometimes have to wait for us even more. Because we forget to pray. We have a lot of older people down in Florida, and I met some, and they so want their children sometimes to just give them a call. And they don't. Almost sitting by the phone waiting, they just want to hear their kids' voice. You ever think God's that way sometimes with us? Come on. I want to hear from you.

Will he hear our prayers? Are they monotonous? No. It's kind of like what he told Samuel. Because in the book of Samuel, he says that he did not let one of Samuel's words fall to the ground. When Samuel prayed, God heard every word, and he did not let one word fall to the ground. Because he treasured those, they were so precious to him. And, brethren, so are yours.