Prayer

Well, thank you, Cleo, and thank all of you for your singing. You know, that's a big part of our worship service here as we come together and praise God and worship Him in song. That's a wonderful thing to be able to do. It's an enjoyable thing. Thank you, Heather, for piano playing today. That's wonderful to have that available as well. I mentioned to you, I think, a couple of weeks ago or last week, or I'm not sure when, but I was talking to you about Luke and how the Gospel is presented there and how it is that the power of God's Spirit is presented.

And I also mentioned that there are other things that we can learn out of the book of Luke, and one of those is regarding the topic of prayer. And I want, that's what I'm going to be discussing or talking about throughout the sermon here today. And I had thought I would at least mention to you one thing that I was told, I guess it was last week. This is regarding one of our little members, one of our little boys up in the Bolton area, actually Brian and Carol's Hauslton's little boy, the bigger one, Max.

And Carol was telling me about Max's prayers. Now, I asked if it was okay to use this, so I hope it is. I know it is from their standpoint. But, you know, it's interesting that we and perhaps should think about this because, you know, children can learn to pray, and they, you know, they can have their own type of prayers, and some of those may be, you know, a little unusual to us, but nonetheless, you know, they are what they are. And I certainly think God hears them. If we hear them as parents, then we're often delighted to be able to hear that type of thing.

But Carol was, she was telling me how that Max was one night here several weeks ago. Max was saying some prayers at night, and he was talking about this and talking about that and going on and on and on and on. Of course, she decided, I think he's just trying to stay up. And so she said, okay, Max, I think it's about, you know, about time to wrap up. He said, Mom, my prayers are long.

And so he pointed out to her that he had a lot to say to God. But he also said, and this is something my wife found very humorous, because Max prayed for a girl, Mr. Dobson. My wife has not been up there to services. I've told him about her, and they know of her, and she corresponds with them. And yet, I guess Max couldn't exactly figure out how to describe her. But he said, and for girl Mrs. Dobson, help her to get better to where she can come to church.

And hopefully, she'll bring some goodies and ice cream. So I think he has a connection with her that may come true. You know, if she's able to be up there, I would imagine she'll have to. I know she sent some goodies up there, and I think he realized that's where those come from. So he said, this would really be a good deal if she could be here more often and bring goodies.

Anyway, I wanted to at least start off our thinking about prayer with that little story. And I'd like for us to realize that the book of Luke does reveal a great deal about prayer. Not that other parts of the Bible don't, but there is a significant amount that we can learn from just studying certain sections here in Luke that will point out of maybe things that we we can focus on, because it is an important aspect of what Luke focuses on.

Here in Luke 11, I think all of us are familiar with these statements. And I think these are just things that we can learn as we look at the book of Luke and see how it was that Luke was writing a historical record of what he had learned about Jesus Christ. See, he directly stated that what I wrote in my first message to Theophilus was really what it was that Jesus said, what it was that Jesus did, what it was that I can record for you and verify this is, you know, this has come from a valid source.

This has come from people who were there. This has come from, you know, the ones who saw him and heard him say the things he did. And here in Luke 11, you know, I think we're all familiar with this section that does include at least a part of what we also find in Matthew as far as what we would call the model prayer or the Lord's Prayer, a model that Jesus gave.

But what I want to point out is just what it says here in verse 11, or excuse me, chapter 11 in the very very first verse. Because many times we'll read through this and then we will focus on, you know, Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

You know, we're familiar with what that pattern and model prayer is. But what I want to focus on is in verse 1. See, what does Luke record? He says Jesus was praying in a certain place.

And after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. Now, there are several things that are mentioned there. You know, you can easily read over them. But of course, the focus is teach us how to pray as John taught his disciples. And apparently, they were seeing that, well, John's teaching his disciples how to pray, but you're not telling us anything. You're not saying directly what we should say or what we should do. And of course, he then does go ahead and tell them, well, these are kind of major categories of things you could pray about. He doesn't say to repeat that over and over again and mindlessly do that without thought. And of course, it's not wrong to repeat that given prayer. But it should be used more or less as a model. But what I'm focusing on is in verse 1. See, what was it that Jesus was doing? Well, He was clearly setting an example. He was certainly setting a pattern because it says He was praying in a certain place. And after He finished, one of His disciples came to Him and asked, well, can't you help us? Can't you tell us? Can't you show us what it is? How it is that we ought to commune with our Heavenly Father? And of course, He did. But I think the important thing is to realize as we read the very first verse there that the Son of God, God in the flesh, the Lamb of God, our Savior and Redeemer, had all power and authority when He was here on this earth. He was here for a purpose. He was here for a reason. He came to help us. He came to be the Savior for each and every one of us. He is the reason why we will have success. It's not because of us, as Ken mentioned. It's because of Him. It's because of the power that comes from God, the power that comes from Jesus Christ.

But see, here it was. He was, at this point, a human being. He took upon Himself the form of a servant. And as a servant, as a human, He clearly acknowledges the need for every human to pray to their Heavenly Father. Now, He knew this far better than all the rest of us. And yet, Luke records this. And I'm going to show you that this is a little unique. Even though these things sound familiar to you, it is unique because Luke is recording what Jesus was doing. He was praying. And it says a certain place. I would almost imagine it was maybe a familiar place, but probably a private place. And not to say that all of our prayers would be private, but that He was setting an example. He was showing a pattern. And if He needed to pray, how much more do I, how much more do we need to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father that is cultivated in bending our knees and bowing our head and asking God for His guidance and direction, His help, His strength. All of the things that we know that we should pray about. Actually, in chapter 18, you see another statement that Luke makes.

Chapter 18, verse 1. Then Jesus told them a parable.

And so this is a parable about the widow and the unjust judge. And I'll go back to this after a little while. I'm wanting to focus just simply on what verse 1 says.

Because what Luke records is that Jesus told them a parable about what?

Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.

Again, I think these are easy enough to just write down as far as what Jesus said. He said, everyone needs to pray. And here, He points out very clearly that every one of us have a need to pray always and not to lose heart. That's one benefit of prayer. To ask God to revive, to ask God to restore, to ask God to strengthen, to ask God to lift up and encourage us.

Now, He goes ahead and gives a parable, which I'll come back to later. But I just want to focus on this is what Jesus said. Not only what He did, but this is what He said. And of course, in chapter 21, chapter 21, verse 36, chapter 21, here He's exhorting us to be watchful, beyond guard. Verse 34, beyond guard, so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life and that that day catch you unexpectedly. He was talking, of course, about the end time and the coming of the Son of Man. And yet, here in verse 36, He says, Be alert. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength.

So here He tells us to pray for strength. You know, does He think we all have all the strength we need? Does He think we are, you know, powerless? Well, I think He realized when He made that statement, He says, Well, I can tell people correctly to pray for strength, to escape the things that are going to come to pass, and of course, then to stand before the Son of Man.

See, that's our responsibility. I mean, that's what we are to do. We can follow Christ's example as He prayed. We can understand what He stated about our need. We can see that He tells us to pray for strength. And if we go on to page 857 in my Bible, the next page in your Bible, probably, or at least it is in mine, here in chapter 22, in verse 40. Verse 39, He came out and went as it was His custom to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed Him.

And when He reached that place, this is right, of course, before He was going to be taken. He was going to be betrayed. He was going to be ultimately crucified. But as He went out into the garden, in verse 40, when He reached the place, He said to them, What do you need to do? What does everybody need to do? What do I need to do right now?

What do you need to do? Pray that you may not come into the time of trial. You may not enter into temptation. See, here He was directing them. They didn't realize what they were up against. They didn't realize, as Christ did, the power that He needed and that they needed.

And of course, the disciples, they didn't heed very well. They got tired. They went to sleep.

They ignored the very clear instruction of Jesus Christ that you need to pray. Down in verse 46, He essentially says the same thing. He said to them, Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.

Again, He was telling them that praying to God, praying to our Father, is a human necessity.

It's a human need. We need to pray for strength. We need to pray for encouragement. We need to pray to be uplifted. And yet, we need to be able to be strengthened by our prayers.

And that, of course, is something that God says He will honor, that He will provide.

And so, I hope we can see just from these few verses that there is a special emphasis in Luke on prayer. There's a special emphasis on prayer. And as I mentioned to you, some have even called Luke the gospel of prayer, the gospel about prayer. And I think that could very likely be the case, as we'll show here throughout. If we go back to chapter 18, I think all of us are familiar. There are several parables here in Luke that are focused on prayer, one of them very specific here in Luke 18 starting in verse 9. He told us this parable to some. And so, here he was pointing out something. This was a parable about prayer. It was a parable about a Pharisee, and it was a parable about a publican going to pray. And this was a parable that Jesus spoke. And He said this parable is, to some who trust in themselves that they are righteous and who regard others with contempt. Now, this is what He was telling them that they needed to avoid. They need to realize that as they understand their need for prayer, as they understand the limitations of their human condition, as they understand how they can have power from on high, how they can have the strength to endure, well, they need to realize that, well, we don't want to trust in ourselves that we're righteous. We don't want to regard others with contempt. And that's what this parable was about. He said, two men went up to the temple to pray. One a paracy. The other a publican or a tax collector.

And the paracy in verse 11, standing by himself, was praying to us. He said, God, I thank you that I am not like other people. Well, that sounds like a pitiful way to start out, as far as I can tell. You know, if any of us want to start our prayers out like that, I think we're going to find they're probably going to, you know, not go very far. Because, you know, thanking God that I am not like other people. Thieves, rogues, adulterers, even this tax collector over here. You know, that was a horrible outlook, a horrible example. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of all I possess.

You know, he was quite impressed with himself. He certainly felt, you know, I'm plenty righteous, and that's why I'm praying to you because I'm righteous. Well, I don't know that that's always going to be the case, brethren. You know, we ought to pray to God because we want to be righteous.

Most of the time, we're going to be praying for help. We're going to be praying to ask God to help be and actually to give us the righteousness that comes from Him and comes from faith in Him.

And so that's the type of prayer, you know, I think that we want to emulate. And it goes ahead in verse 13, the tax collector standing far off would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

His prayer was quite different. And of course, the attitude that's involved, the example, the illustration that Christ is making is, it's explicit. You know, it's really emphatic. It is ridiculous to be like the first of these two examples. And the other one is one of contrition, one of seeing that I need help, seeing that I need God, and then praying because I do need God and He says, I tell you, this man, in verse 14, went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.

No wonderful parable, you know, not recorded anywhere else. I think it's recorded here only in the book of Luke. You know, and it's remarkable that, you know, Luke has the insight to be able, in God's inspiration, to be able to write down things that, in other ways, were not covered. But this is probably one of the more familiar parables that we would, you know, be able to remember, pretty easy to remember the vast difference between the way the Pharisee approached prayer and the way the publican realized, I just need help. I need to be encouraged. I need to be uplifted. And brethren, that's the way, you know, we often are. That's certainly the way I am at times. You know, I don't know where to turn. I don't know what to do next. And, you know, there are a lot of times when we don't know exactly what we need to do. And we certainly need to just bring that to God, to ask God to help us be able to know how it is that He wants us to live. We could back up in a few verses here in earlier verse 2. He says, in a certain city, there was a judge neither heard God or feared God nor had respect for other people. You know, so here He's giving another parable of a judge who didn't seem to care much about God or other people. He just had his job. He did his job. He did it however he wanted. You know, he was basically unencumbered by any feeling of responsibility. Didn't feel like he had a responsibility to God. Didn't apparently have much to answer to anyone else. But it says, in a city, there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, Grant me justice against my opponent. And for a while, he refused. But later he said to himself, Though I have no fear of God and I have no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.

To here he's giving an illustration again, an illustration of a judge and of a widow, a widow who's pleading for justice, pleading for help, pleading for mercy. And the judge doesn't seem to be inclined to give it to her, except she just keeps coming back, and coming back, and coming back, and coming back. Just to get rid of her! I'm going to do what she wishes. And of course, Christ goes ahead in verse 7.

Listen to what this judge says. God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night.

Will he delay long in helping them?

I'll tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.

This is an illustration that Jesus gave of persistence. Persistence in prayer. We don't always get what we pray for immediately. We all don't know that. We know that we often pray for different things, and sometimes we happen to get them relatively soon. Sometimes it's a little later. Sometimes it's a long time later. But this is an example that Luke gives of praying, and another parable that Jesus spoke regarding praying that just dealt with persistence.

It dealt with persistence. Let's back up to chapter 11 again. We're going to be in Luke in its entirety today, so you won't have to flip very far. But here in Luke chapter 11, you see in verse 5, he said to them, Suppose one of you had a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him. In chapter 11, verse 7, he answers from within, saying, Don't bother me, the door's been locked. My children are with me in bed. I can't get up, and I can't give you anything. And in verse 8, I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you anything because he's your friend, at least because of his persistence, he will get up, and he will give him whatever he needs. See, now, he was connecting this with praying. He was connecting this, of course, this is right following the example prayer, the model prayer that he gave, verse 2 and 3 and 4. You know, this is connected to that, and of course, down in verse 9, he says, Ask, and it will be given. Search, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you.

For anyone who receives, or who receives, and anyone who searches, for everyone who asks, excuse me, receives, and everyone who searches finds, and anyone who knocks, the door will be open. So that's what we want to be doing with our prayers. We want to be asking, or knocking, or seeking. We certainly want to be, as the category is described here in verses 5 through 8, we want to be persistent. Persevering in our prayers with God. And, of course, you know, we often pray about ourselves, or we pray about other people, and we're asking God to, we're asking Him to intervene. We're asking Him for His blessing, for His intervention. And yet, it's important, I think, that we remember that we, you know, we want to be persistent with those requests, because He will hear. He will answer. He will help. But He also wants us to develop some, you know, persistence in our, in our approach to Him. I'd like to read something that Leonard Ravenhill wrote.

He actually was a preacher, mostly, I think, through the, I think of the 1900s.

They spoke some very insightful words about Luke's focus on prayer. And he says there's nothing more transfiguring than prayer. People often ask, why do you insist on prayer so much? And the answer is very simple. Because Jesus did.

You could change the title of the Gospel according to St. Luke to the Gospel of Prayer, because it's the prayer life of Jesus Christ. The other evangelists say, so he's speaking of others, of the writers of the Gospels, or even talking about Paul, or others who wrote the New Testament. The other evangelists say that Jesus was in the Jordan, and the Spirit descended on Him as a dove. But Luke says it was while he was praying that the Spirit descended on Him. The other evangelists say that Jesus chose 12 disciples. Luke says it was after he spent a night in prayer that he chose those 12 disciples.

The other evangelists say that Jesus died on a cross. Jesus says that even when He was dying, Jesus was praying for those who persecuted Him. The other evangelists say Jesus went up on the mount and was transfigured. Luke says it was while he was praying that he was transfigured.

Scriptures say that disciples went to bed, but Jesus went to pray, as was His custom. It was His custom to pray. Now, of course, Jesus was the Son of God. He was definitely anointed for the ministry and the mission and purpose that He had in life. If Jesus needed all that time in prayer, don't all of us need that time in prayer. Those statements are really very true. When you look at all of them, there is a special emphasis that Luke puts, and we will read some of these, as we've already read and read several, the special emphasis that Luke puts on the prayer life of Jesus Christ. Because that's exactly what he's recording. He's recording the fact that as the Son of God, as the Lamb of God, as a human servant and as a model for us, He shows us the basic need that we have to have a close communion with our Heavenly Father here in chapter 3. Luke chapter 3.

We have a section here starting in verse 21. That's an example of what we just read about how it was that Jesus was be praying. And again, you see these same examples mentioned, at least some of them in others of the Gospels. And you see what happened. But you don't always see what Jesus was doing. Here in verse 21, and now when all of the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized, and so this is at the time when He had come to John, He was asking John to baptize Him, not that He needed to be forgiven, but that He was going to set an example. He was going to set a pattern for human life. And again, as Ken mentioned, baptism was needed. It's necessary.

It's necessary because we're following the example and the pattern of Jesus Christ. And of course, He, in this case, was baptized. It says, when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was open and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove.

And a voice came from heaven that says, you are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. So that had to be an extraordinary event, not only to Jesus, recognizing how His Father was clearly watching over Him, how He was very pleased with Him, how He was the beloved Son of His Father, but that He was well pleased with what He had been doing, with how it was that He was actually going to be entering into His ministry. He had actually just been living His life. He essentially was about 30 years old at this time. It says in verse 23, Jesus was about 30 when He began His work.

And so up to this point, 30 years, He'd been setting an example. He had been the type of a young person, a young adult, growing into adulthood that had been positive in every way.

And the Father could honor Him by saying, you are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And yet, when He was baptized, what does Luke record? He says, well, He was not only baptized, but He was praying when the heavens opened and a dove descended. Where others saw that, and they heard what was said. They heard this voice from heaven, verifying who it was that they were dealing with. Again, Jesus and His example was one of praying. Here in chapter 5, you see an example here of Jesus cleansing a leper. And it says in verse 12, when He was in one of the cities, a man covered with leprosy, saw Jesus and bowed of His face to the ground and begged Him, Lord, if You choose, You can make me clean. So He stretched out His hands and touched Him, and He says, I do choose, be made clean. And immediately, the leprosy left Him. And it says in verse 14, He ordered Him to tell no one, Go and show yourself to the priest, and as Moses commanded, make an offering for your cleansing, for a testimony to them.

Verse 15, But now, more than ever, the word about Jesus spread abroad. Many crowds would gather to hear Him and be cured of their diseases. So even though as He was performing this type of miracle, even as He was healing, in this case, someone with leprosy, even though He wasn't trying to advertise, His fame was clearly expanding considerably. He was being known more and more and more by what He was able to do, how He was able to help. I thank you all for helping Mr. Zish stay in his chair there.

I had to help him the other day at the nursing home, try to scoot up in his chair.

But what does verse 16 say?

But He would withdraw to deserted places and pray.

So He wasn't always out there just advertising who He was and what He could do.

He was doing those things for a purpose. He was doing those things to fulfill the mission of God and the purpose of His human life. He was fulfilling that purpose for Him and for us.

But verse 16 is not recorded in others of the type of accounts that we have.

Luke sees fit to say that Jesus would withdraw to a deserted place and pray.

It's remarkable to see the type of example that is recorded for us in these situations.

Here in chapter 6, in verse 6, He is healing a man with a withered hand.

He clearly is able to do that. He is able to do that on the Sabbath if He wishes.

He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He can do what He wishes.

And of course His sanger, those who were with Him.

And when He said in verse 10, Stretch out your hand, and He did so, and His hand was restored, and they were filled with fury. Discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. You know, this infuriated people.

People that He would be interacting with. People that He was not directly changing right there. Certainly their attitude was one of hostility. Their attitude was one of resistance. That was for the people in general. Or maybe the religious leaders, certainly.

Some of the people certainly were filled with excitement when they saw what Jesus was able to do.

But in verse 12 it says, Now during these days He went out to the mountain to pray.

And He spent the entire night in prayer to God.

Now some of us may have done that.

I don't know. I don't know if I recall or were trying to pray that long. I don't recall that myself. Some of you may have gone through situations where you felt like that was needed. But it says He went out to the mountain to pray. And He spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples and He chose 12 of them, whom He would name to be apostles.

And of course it then lists those who were designated as apostles by Jesus Christ. Again, an example of praying over a decision.

That could clearly be something that we might consider whenever we have a decision to make. Not that we necessarily want to pray all night and then groggily try to make some decision the next day. I don't know that that's what it's telling us, but it's telling us what it was that Jesus did. In this case, He had a decision to make. There were a number of disciples who were with Him. You know, I was thinking about this when you enumerate the disciples. I don't know.

Maybe, and I didn't look this up, and so it could be wrong, Nathaniel is not listed as one of the apostles. But he was listed as one of the very first disciples because he was the brother of Philip, I think.

And, yep, you know, he's not listed here. And so, I think that there were a number of people that Jesus was very familiar with, that who were around Him and followed Him and knew what He was doing, they potentially could have served in that way if He had given them that designation.

But here, He was making some choices. He was choosing. And, of course, the example, again, what Luke records, is that He was praying on the mountain, on the ground, during and throughout the night.

Let's move on to chapter 9.

Chapter 9, you've got numerous examples, again, of Jesus. This one, actually, you know, He's being transfigured. Well, I'll get to that in a second. Let me go back up a little bit.

Luke 9, in verse 12, the day was drawing to a close. 12 came to Him and said, send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages, get something to eat and figure out where they're going to stay. You know, they were thinking very pragmatically, telling them as their leader that, well, they need to take care of themselves. In verse 13, He said to them, well, you give them something to eat.

And they said, well, we don't have any more than five loaves and two fishes, how are we going to go buying food for all these people?

In verse 14, there was five thousand men, and He said to the disciples, we'll make them sit down in groups of fifty each.

They did so, and they made them all sit down, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, and He blessed them, and He broke them, and He gave them to the disciples to sit before the crowd. And so, everyone ate and were filled, and what was left over was gathered up, and twelve baskets of broken fragments or broken pieces were left.

So again, another example, not directly of Jesus simply praying by Himself, but praying over a meal, praying over the bread.

I know that certainly is something that we want to do on a commonly basis as far as our homes, as far as here at our services, and whenever we have a potluck, we want to bless the meal, ask for God's blessing. And in this case, Jesus was performing a miracle, but He was simply asking His Father to be able to do so.

Down in verse 28, it says about eight days after these sayings, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and He went up on the mountain to pray.

Again, what was Jesus's example? What was His pattern? What did He show as a way of life?

Well, He not only obeyed God, He did what God said to do, and of course He was able to heal the sick, but He showed as a way of life, you know, that He was, He clearly understood the need for prayer.

So it says He took James and John and Peter and went up on the mountain to pray.

In verse 29, while He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became dazzling white.

Suddenly, they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to Him, and they appeared in glory, and were speaking of His departure, which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

And now Peter and his companions were waded down with sleep, but since they had stayed awake, they saw His glory, and the two men who stood with Him, and just as they were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, "'Master, it's good for us to be here. Let us make three dwellings, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.'" Not knowing what He said, while He was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and were terrified as they entered the cloud.

From the cloud came a voice that said, "'This is My Son, My Chosen One. Listen to Him. This is My Son, My Beloved, listen to Him.' And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone, and they kept silent, and those days told no one any of the things that they had seen." See, in this case, Jesus exposed these three apostles who actually would go on to do very marvelous things in the New Testament Church. He exposed them to something that He didn't share with everybody, but He did, in a sense, show them this vision, even though they were kind of groggy, they were sleepy, they weren't quite sure what He was doing.

But what we see in verse 28 and 29, they were there to pray, and while He was praying, His appearance changed. He was transfigured before them. They were given a vision of something that was extraordinary.

That was a remarkable thing for them to go through. They didn't know exactly what they should do. They decided they wouldn't say anything, according to what it says in the last verse there. In verse 36, they said they just kept that to themselves.

Some of these things were things that Jesus did.

They were examples that He set, or that they were patterns that He showed them, knowing that they would later, as His servants, be reminded of what it was that they had seen, what it was that they knew took place, verifying over and over again who they were dying for. Because that's what ultimately they were going to do as Christians and as servants of Jesus Christ.

Most of them gave their life in His service.

So, in many ways, Jesus was verifying and giving them a great deal of desire, in this case, to support Him and appreciate Him and be thankful to God for Him. We mentioned in chapter 11 how that when Jesus was praying, that's when His disciples, 11 verse 1, that's when His disciples came to Him and asked Him, you know, well, help us to pray. We don't know how to pray. We don't know what to do. We're unfamiliar with this. In chapter 22, if we turn on over to chapter 22, we actually find another example where Jesus is praying for, in this case, Peter, verse 31. In chapter 22, verse 31, He says, Peter, Simon, Simon, listen. Satan has desired or demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail.

See, he knew how limited Peter was. He'd been helping Peter as much as he could. He knew the type of person Peter was. He knew certain things that he had said or done that hadn't turned out quite like he probably anticipated.

Other things were going to happen even before Jesus would die regarding Peter.

But in verse 32, he says, I've prayed for you, and I've prayed for you, for your faith to be strengthened.

See, that's what Jesus knew. That's what he saw that Peter needed. If Peter was going to be an example to the church, if he was going to be able to serve the church in a powerful way, then he was going to need to have faith in God. And of course, this is an example of what we can pray for each other, but also something that I think we should pray for ourselves. And that God would strengthen our faith. So I've prayed for you that your own faith would not fail.

And that you, when once you have turned back, that you will strengthen your brethren.

So he said, I want you to have a great deal of faith, and because of that, then I want you to serve others.

I want you to be able to strengthen your brethren. I want you to be able to do the same thing for them, to pray for them, to pray for their strength, pray for their faith, pray for them to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus was saying he had prayed for Peter.

And of course, Peter didn't really understand. He said to him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you to prison and to death.

And of course, then Jesus said, well, look, you're going to deny me, real obviously, very clearly here in a very short time.

You don't know the forces in power that are going to affect you.

You're going to need my power. You're going to need my strength. You're going to need the strength of our heavenly Father, my Father and your Father. You're going to need faith in that in order to strengthen your brethren. Here in chapter 22, again, we already read in verse 41 and verse 45.

And he was getting to a point where he came to the garden.

Verse 39, he went out to the Mount of Olives and disciples followed him.

He reached the place and he told them, pray that you may not come into the time of trial.

This is clearly something Jesus knew he was going to be facing. He knew what would be expected of him prior to the time when he would be betrayed, prior to the time when he would be mocked and ultimately beaten and then slaughtered as the Lamb of God. He knew what was going to happen.

But his example was praying and praying and praying. See, that was what he realized. Even though the disciples were told to do that, they couldn't do it. They didn't do it. They went to sleep. He'd go back, find them to sleep again, wake them up, tell them, pray that you would enter not into the time of trial. He knew what he was facing. They didn't. And yet he was pointing that out to them very clearly. And of course, one of our final examples here in chapter 23, whenever you see the crucifixion, as it starts the account in verse 36, maybe we can drop down in verse 32, two others also who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with Jesus. And when they came to the place that is called the skull in verse 33, chapter 23, verse 33, when they came to the place that is called the skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right, one on his left. And Jesus said, verse 34, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing.

So even as he was at a point in his life where he was very near death, he was thinking of others. He was praying to his father. And of course, down in verse 46, you have a similar example.

Maybe we can back up to verse 44. It was about noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon when the sun's light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

And then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. See, his thoughts, his focus, his understanding of what does a human being need under the most extreme of all circumstances was a relationship with the Father, a closeness with the Father, a connection and a communion with the Father that reflected not only his forgiveness, which he clearly stated, but also that he knew that he was simply in the hands of God.

That was what he acknowledged. That was what he realized. That was what he appreciated.

And of course, that was a part of the plan. That was a part of what he was commissioned to do. That was a part of what he was going to fulfill. And of course, it's an example of what he can help us fulfill as we look into our lives and as we go throughout the remainder of whatever our lives will cover. Nobody knows what we will be running into between now and the time any of us die. We just don't know. But it's very clear from Jesus' example and from Luke's account of Jesus' life of prayer that seeking God in prayer is always going to be the right answer. Here in chapter 24, you have another example, the final one here in Luke, regarding what it was and how it was that Jesus had an intimate prayer life with His Father. Here in Luke 24, he says in verse 28, Again, just another example. This was after He had been resurrected. This was after He was appearing to His disciples once again. This was at a time when He was starting to help them more.

But again, His thoughts, His example, His pattern, was to pray, in this case over this food, and ask for God's blessing upon it. And then as He gave it to them, their eyes were opened.

The prayer life of Jesus Christ is, I think, highly explained or elaborated on here in the book of Luke. Now, you can look at the accounts, similar examples, and other of the Gospels, and I think you'll find very similar descriptions of what happened. I think you'll also find that they're not mentioning what Jesus was doing in praying all the time through those different occasions. Because it is kind of a unique thing that Luke had, perhaps even perspective in looking back, or in what was even asking, in a sense, what was going on. What was happening? Well, Jesus was praying whenever this happened. Jesus was praying whenever that happened.

Those were all things that we can appreciate, I think, about what Luke had to say. So, in order to conclude this, I wanted to focus on Luke 1, because this is kind of a concluding statement that I can make regarding this discussion of Luke emphasizing Jesus's example, and of course showing us the pattern, showing us the example that he wants us to follow. So, it's interesting to see here in Luke 1 that Luke records the incident, and the only place that this is recorded, regarding Zechariah. Zechariah and Elizabeth were the father and mother of John the Baptist. John was, of course, going to be the cousin of Jesus. He was going to be a little older than Jesus. He was going to have an extraordinary life himself. He was going to be a specially commissioned person. And yet, as Luke records, Zechariah was at the temple.

It says, in verse 11, there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing at the right hand of the altar of incense, and Zechariah saw him. He was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. So, this was at a point to where Zechariah didn't know exactly what was happening, and ultimately, later, he was not going to be able to speak. He was going to come out of there. People were going to think he was crazy. People wondered, really, what had happened to him when he was in there serving in the temple. Actually, in verse 8, he says, once he was serving as a priest before God, and his section was on duty, and he was chosen by law according to the custom of a priesthood to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. So, this is the setting where he was. This is what it was that Zechariah was going through. And, of course, Luke is recording this as a record of what Zechariah had said had happened. But, in verse 12, Zechariah saw the angel was terrified and was overwhelmed. In verse 13, the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been hurt. He goes on and talks about your wife, Elizabeth, going to be bearing the Son. And this is what you're going to call him, and this is what he's going to do. But the focus that I want to make on this is, as all of us cultivate our prayer life, as we cultivate the relationship with our Heavenly Father that He wants us to have and that we want to have, we want to clearly understand the example of Jesus. We want to understand the emphasis, even out of the book of Luke, on how He prayed and what He prayed about and how He included prayer in everything He did. We see later Paul talking about being instant in prayer. That's what we're supposed to do. That's what we're wanting to be. And yet, it's easier to do that if we're consistently confident in our prayers and we are drawing closer and closer to God through prayer, as Jesus did, and that we can be assured, even as the angel was assuring Zechariah.

He said, Zechariah, don't be afraid. I know you're startled by an angel appearing to you. I know this is extraordinary. I know this is not the norm, but don't be afraid, for your prayers have been heard. See, does God hear our prayers? Well, here in this case, it's very clear that Zechariah's prayer had been heard. The God had heard. He was clearly aware of something He was going to do.

He had sent an angel to communicate to Zechariah what was going to be with John, their son. And yet, a statement that you can read over and probably even not even emphasize, but I want to emphasize that as an example of what all of us, as we cultivate our prayers with God, as we draw closer to God, we can certainly be assured, as Zechariah was, that God does hear our prayers. And He will hear and answer the prayers of His children.