Praying in Lord's Day Worship

Prayer as an Essential Element of Corporate Worship

Alright, well, tonight we are going to continue our study of Lord's Day Worship, understanding proper Lord's Day Worship, and we are going to be looking at praying. So far, we have looked at the importance of Lord's Day Worship, the priority of Lord's Day Worship.

That was our first lesson. We have looked at how Lord's Day Worship has been misunderstood and misapplied within the church. And last week, we looked at preaching in the Lord's Day service, and the value of God's Word being spoken through God's man to God's people.

And today we are going to move on in our study of the liturgy of the church, or the elements of worship. We are going to look at the subject of prayer. You will notice in your folder, or your handout that I gave you, I have a little introductory statement.

An element which is becoming conspicuously absent in modern worship is the practice of intentional corporate prayers. And the prayers that do exist tend to be filled with repetition, shallowness, and clichés.

Prayer is an essential element of corporate worship and mustn't be seen as a mere formality. Open your Bibles with me to Acts, the second chapter. We are going to go to Acts 2 and look at verse 42. You will remember this is right after the Holy Spirit has fallen on Pentecost, and He has empowered the church to begin evangelizing the world.

And so we see in the second chapter of Acts the establishment of this new body called the church. And we see how the church was operating in its most formative of days. Here we see in Acts chapter 2 and verse 42 an outline of what we call the earliest liturgy of the church.

This is the outline of worship in the early church and what it looked like. It says in Acts 2 and 42, And they devoted themselves to four things. And you will see what those four things are. One, the apostles' teaching.

Two, the fellowship. Three, the breaking of bread. And four, the prayers. Now, what we need to understand is that the word prayer there is given the article. It is an articular noun. It has the article in front of it and the article is the word the.

It tells us that it is not just that they came together and prayed, but within the worship service they had the prayers. Often times we might go right over that and not realize the significance of that being an article.

But what it is identifying is that there were specific prayers which were made within the worship of the church. So tonight what we are going to talk about in our lesson is we are going to talk about what prayers are appropriate for Christian worship.

What prayers should be included in the corporate Lord's Day expression of worship. And as I said earlier, the intentional prayers. We are praying these on purpose and we are praying these with purpose.

And it is part of our regular Lord's Day observance. So, our first letter here. What prayers, our first question, what prayers are traditionally offered within Lord's Day worship? Letter A, the prayer of invocation.

The prayer of invocation. What does it mean to invoke something? Anybody know? What does it say? Not quite provoke. To invoke means to call upon or to invite, to welcome. The prayer of invocation is the starting of the worship service.

God, be among us, bless us, and fill us with Your Spirit as we worship You. That would be a prayer of invocation. We are inviting, we are asking that God's presence be among us. It is often that the prayer of invocation would either precede or would conclude a call to worship.

Now you will notice in our worship folder we have the call to worship. What is the call to worship? That is a reading from God's Word that we start the service with so as to bookend the worship service with Scripture.

We begin with Scripture. So, an example might be Psalm 42. If you want to just turn in your Bibles quickly and look at Psalm 42, this would be an example of a text which would be a call for God's people to worship.

Psalm 42 says in verses 1 and 2, As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before the Lord? That would be an appropriate Scripture verse to open or to begin a worship service.

And often times that would either be preceded or concluded with a prayer. God, please be among us. Make us pant after you. Within the prayer, use the Scripture that you have just read as part of the prayer.

Psalm 150 is one that is often used. You don't have to turn there, but most of you are familiar with Psalm 150. Praise the Lord. Praise God and His sanctuary. Praise Him in the mighty heavens. Praise Him in His mighty deeds.

Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with trumpet sound. Praise Him with lute and harp. Praise Him with tambourine and dance. Praise Him with sounding cymbals. Praise Him with loud crashing cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And it ends with that exclamation of praise God. Praise the Lord. So we begin worship. We invoke God's presence. We ask the Holy Spirit to be among us.

And that would be the first element of prayer in a worship service. The second that we see here is the prayer of intercession. The prayer of intercession. I left out an R. Excuse me. Often times we call this the pastoral prayer.

If you want to write that off to the side. The pastoral prayer. This is where, as the minister, I stand up before the people of God. And I seek to intercede on the behalf of God's people. We will pray for confession of sins.

We will pray for God's leadership over the church. We will pray for people who are ill. We will offer up both confession and petition to the Lord in that prayer. And typically that prayer is the longest and most expressive prayer that is within the worship service.

Sometimes taking 5, 7, 8, 10 minutes to pray that prayer. Because it's the opportunity. I don't get to come to your house every day and pray for you. I don't get to come over at night and pray over your children.

And I don't have an opportunity to do those things. I pray for you in my home. And I pray for you with my children. But that is the opportunity for the pastor to lift up his hands over the people of God.

And pray for them. And to ask God's mercy on them. This is something that is very, very absent in a lot of the contemporary church. To see prayers that are lengthy and deep and powerful and scripture filled.

We just don't see that often in the church much anymore. And that is a precious time within the worship service. To have the pastor intercede on behalf of the people. So that is the prayer of intercession.

Often called the pastoral prayer. The next we have is called the prayer of consecration. The prayer of consecration. The word consecrate means to be associated with the sacred. That's what the word consecrate means.

The prefix con means to be with or to associate with. And when we put that in front of the word sacred it becomes consecrate or consecration. When we come around the communion table. You ever notice I read the same verse of scripture every week?

And I rarely deviate from that particular passage. Do you know why that particular passage? It isn't because I lack creativity. But it's because that particular passage of scripture. 1 Corinthians 11 is wherein the apostle Paul is quoting the Lord Jesus Christ.

In giving the elements of bread and wine their special characteristic. Why is anything holy? Because God makes it holy. Because God proclaims it as holy. I don't remember if you remember our study of the holiness of God.

And you remember one of the students of Dr. R .C. Sproul. Says why can't we have donuts and coffee as communion. Or something like that. I don't remember what it was. It was like potato chips and soda pop or something for communion.

And he got upset. He said because Christ didn't consecrate potato chips and soda pop. He consecrated bread and wine. And so when we come around the table. We are consecrating these elements. Remember what holy means.

In it's most simple form. Holy simply means to be separate. Or to be separated. So we are separating this bread from all the other bread. We are separating this wine from all the other wine. And we are saying this bread represents Christ's body.

This wine represents Christ's blood. And we pray a prayer of consecration. God separate out these things. That's the elder that comes and prays over the bread and the cup. Separate these things out for the purpose of use for your holy will.

And that's a special important prayer in the service. Lord separate these things. Consecrate these elements. Make sense? Alright. I'm not trying to go super fast. But I do have my gas pushed in a little bit tonight.

The next one is the prayer of dedication. The prayer of dedication. We can call this the operatory prayer. Or a prayer of oblation. We can call it anything. It's the prayer of the giving. It's the prayer over the offering.

That which we are offering up to God. So we pass a plate on Sunday. And we invite people to worship through giving. As a regular part of worship. But before we pass that plate. We pray a prayer. God dedicate the gifts that are being given to your service.

Dedicate the gifts that are given to minister your word in this world. This is why we are specific by the way about what we want prayed at certain times. You know Jack and I we've talked about this. And we've talked about this among the elders.

About at certain times we pray for certain things. This is not a time to pray for a whole bunch of different things. This is a time to pray for God to take this offering and dedicate it to His work. It doesn't have to be lengthy.

It doesn't have to be complicated. But it does have to be intentional. Because that's what we are doing. It's an intentional prayer. We are asking that God use these gifts for His work. Some churches have taken out the plates.

And removed them. And instead replaced it with offering boxes. In the backs of the church. What do you think about that? Do you think there's benefits and detriments? What would you think? And I promise you I'm not going to say oh you're wrong.

I mean unless you're wrong. No, but I mean this is an opinion question. And you're fine. What do you think are the reasoning for that? Taking away the plates and adding the box. Yes sir? Privacy. That's a good one.

What else? And you would say that's a detriment. Because you feel like it takes away. And that's kind of what I was wanting to say. Because I visited a church during my sabbatical this year. And while I was there I noticed they didn't take an offering.

And they had boxes in the back. And so I went to the pastor and I said why did you do this? And he kind of like Richard mentioned the privacy thing. He even said that the guys who were taking offering.

Often times were having issues because they would see people put money in. Or not put money in. And they would have a bad soul about themselves. Like they would judge people not want to. But it was just so natural to judge someone.

So they just stopped. And they put the little offering box in the back. Well I think that by having the plates passed. As Lee said it does offer up an opportunity to worship through giving. In the midst of the service.

That it's not something we just drop off in a box on the way in. Or drop off in the box. A lot of churches have gone that way with communion too. The communion is just set up in the back. You take it as you leave.

Kind of like an aspirin. You just pop it in. Take it and go on. After communion. Or after service. The bags. Yeah. I like the bags. I like the bags for several reasons. Number one I think they look nice.

And they don't make noise. The plates ding, ding, ding as we get them. But I don't know if you guys remember when we were there. They were handled bags that you just passed. Yeah. Nice felt bags. Maybe that will be something we talk about in the future.

But the plates have always. They make the ding, ding noise. And we've had them be dropped. And it's. Yes sir. Well there are. You know we have to be careful looking at biblical narrative as being. As being something that is.

Is telling us something that happened. Or telling us something that should happen. Yeah. Well I think there. You know. There are times in scripture where offerings are given in different ways. Bring your.

Bring your grain into the storehouse. Bring your offerings to the storehouse. So there's certainly different ways. In scripture. But I do think. I think Lee hit the nail on the head though. With the issue of.

When it's not a part of the worship service. It sort of removes that element. From the action. Of doing it in the midst of. Of worshiping. But. Oh yes. Well the way that this church did it. Was just before or after the service.

It wasn't in the midst of the service. It wasn't like they created a line and came up. We do that. We do a special offering a couple times a year. Where we'll have people come up and give offerings. But that's.

That's like our manger offering. We set up a manger at Christmas. And we have a special time. For people to bring their offerings up. And that always goes to some type of a missions project. Or something that's going out of the church.

It's a special offering. Done in a special way. Because we want to kind of sanctify that out. And make it different. But I just. You know. That really was. I just kind of wanted to hear your thoughts.

Because. Over the summer. I saw a church do it different than ours. I knew other churches did it differently. And I just kind of. Wanted to throw that out there. And since. This is. Part of worship. You know.

I appreciate everybody's thoughts. So we pray to dedicate the. Offering. Now. The next one. Is. The. Prayer. Of benediction. The prayer of. Benediction. Latin. It comes from the Latin root. It's. Decare.

Which is to speak. And. Bene. Which is blessing. Or to. Speak well. At the end of the worship service. I ask everyone to stand. I raise my hands up before God. And I. Do what? May God bless you. May God lead you.

May God take the message. That has been preached to you. And apply it to your hearts. May we follow. What we've been commanded in scripture. Amen. It's always a little different. But it's effectively that.

It's a blessing. And a commission. And it's a speaking well. To the people of God. Well. I look forward to it too. The most famous. Benediction in scripture. Is. Number six. Twenty four to twenty six.

This is the one that I give. If I'm having. If we're doing a high church service. Or if I'm. Preaching a funeral. May the Lord bless you. And keep you. May the Lord make his face. Shine upon you. And be gracious to you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance. To you. And give you peace. Amen. That's the. The one that's kind of the. It's the. It's the staple. Among benedictions. It's a blessing. Moses. From Moses. To the people.

And it's a. It's a. It's a very common one. That you'll hear in high church. Liturgies. So that's. One. Another one. That you might find. Interesting. Is in Philippians. Chapter four. Very simple one.

But it would still be considered. A benediction. Philippians. Chapter four. And verse. Twenty three. The grace. Of the Lord. Jesus Christ. Be with your. Spirit. That's. Simple isn't it? But that was Paul's.

Benediction. To the letter. To the church. Of Philippi. May the Lord. Be with your spirit. Amen. Yeah. So that's. They can be. Longer. Or shorter. But the intention. Is what? Sending you away. With the blessing.

Of God. To do his will. So. This is the key. Word. Tonight. Intentionality. We pray. With intentionality. We don't. Just pray. Haphazard. Prayers. We don't. Just pray. Prayers. That are. Not. Thought.

Through. But we pray. With intentionality. With purpose. In our prayers. I think. It's a. Valuable thing. That is often. You know. Because. I know. Pastors. Spend. Spend hours. And hours. And hours. And hours.

On sermons. And spend. No time. Considering. Their prayers. You know. Should we. Consider. What we're going to say. Before the people. Of God. In prayer. I think so. I think so. All right. So. What prayers.

Are traditionally offered. Prayer. Of invocation. Prayer. Of intercession. Prayer. Of consecration. Prayer. Of dedication. And prayer. Of benediction. That's the. Five. And they're. Traditionally. Found.

In. Your. Traditional liturgies. You know. A lot of those are left out. In. In. In. Some of the more contemporary services. But we see this. In more traditional liturgies. And I think that each one. Has a.

An appropriate intention. Now. What additional prayers. This is. Roman numeral two. What additional prayers. Are appropriate. Corporate. Worship. Well. Let me. Make a. Spot on the board. Here. I want to write.

These for you. The first one. Would be. Prayers. Of protection. And conviction. I want to be clear. These are not. The traditional names. Of these prayers. I don't know. That there are traditional. Names for this particular thing.

These are additional. Prayers. But I call it. The prayer. Protection. And conviction. Does anybody want to try to guess. Where those are. Before I preach. And after I preach. You notice. When I pray. At the beginning of my prayer.

What do I say. God. Protect me from error. God. Put a hedge of protection. Around your people. That they would not be influenced. By error. May it be. That their minds are clear. And ready to receive your word.

It's a prayer of protection. It's a prayer. I don't want to. Mishandle. God's word. I would rather. I would rather. Fall under. Serious. Injury. Than to. Spiritually. Imperil myself. By mishandling. The word of God.

And that's. The prayer. It's a prayer. Of protection. And that begins. The sermon. But then later. In the sermon. When it's concluded. After we have. Given the concluding. Words. And we've. Brought to bear.

All that has been said. In this sermon. And we finish. The sermon. We say. Let us. Pray. And we pray. What? God. Apply. The words. Of this sermon. To the hearts. If it be. Unbelievers. Convert them. If it be.

Believers. Convict them. But ultimately. It's always. It's a prayer. Of conviction. Convict the unconverted. To come. To. To. To. New life. And bring them. To yourself. Convict the converted. To live.

A life. Of holiness. Closer walk. With Christ. All those things. So we. Begin. With a prayer. Of protection. We end. With a prayer. Of conviction. H .B. Charles. Who is a. He's actually a local pastor.

But he's getting some notoriety. He's a reformed guy. And he said this. He said. I need God. To help me speak. The congregation needs God. To help them hear. He said. I need God. To help me speak. The congregation needs God.

To help them hear. So I pray. Before I preach. And I pray. After I preach. And then my prayer. Is bookended. My. Sermon. Rather. Is bookended. With. Prayer. Now. The next one. Is. A prayer. Of supplication.

Of supplication. For an individual. Which. Would include. The individual. The elders. Laying on. Of hands. Turn in your Bibles. To James. Chapter 5. By the way. The word. Supplication. Means. Literally.

Asking. Or begging. For something. We're asking. On behalf. Of a person. For something. We're asking. For something. So. We go to. James. Chapter 5. And we see. What we're commanded. In this scripture.

Look at. Verse. 14. Is. Anyone. Among. You. Sick. Let. Him. Call. For the elders. Of the church. And let. Them. Pray. Over him. Anointing. Him. With. Oil. In the name. Of the Lord. So. Many. Of you. Have seen this happen. After. I'm done. Praying. Or preaching.

I pray. My. My. Prayer. Of. Conviction. And then. I walk. Down. And I say. If. Anyone. Needs. Prayer. Now. Is. The. Time. It. Doesn't. Happen. Every. Service. But. There. Will. Often. Times. Be. A. Person. Who. Is. Ill. Or. They're. Going. Through. Something. In. Their. Life. For. Which. They. Want. The. Elders. To. Pray. And. They'll. Come. To. Me. Sometimes. It's. And. I'll. Look. To. Jack. And. I'll. Look. To. Richard. And. I'll. Look. To. Byron. And. I'll. Say. And. I'll. Just. Do. This. Come. And. We. All. Come. And. We. All. Hands. On. This. Person. And. We. Pray. And. We. Beg. And. Beseech. And. Seek. God. On. Their. Behalf. We. Pray. A. Special. Prayer. Of. Supplication. For. That. Person. In. The. Midst. Of. The. Congregation. You've. All. Seen. It. Right. You've. All. Been. Here. And. We've. Done. That. Now. The. Part. Of. This. Scripture. That. Often. Raises. The. Most. Questions. Is. You'll. Notice. That. James. Said. To. Pour. Oil. On. Them. And. Pray. Read. It. Again. Says. Is. Anyone. Among. You. Sick. Let. Him. Call. For. The. Elders. Of. The. Church. And. Let. Them. Pray. Over. Him. Anointing. Him. With. Oil. In. The. Name. Of. The. Lord. Now. I. Don't. Want. To. Get. Into. A. Long. Discussion. On. This. Because. It. Is. Certainly. One. That. Could. Take. Us. On. A. Major. Rabbit. Trail. But. There. Is. A. Question. Among. Theologians. As. To. What. James. Means. By. Putting. Oil. On. Someone. Because. In. This. Particular. Time. In. History. Oil. Had. A. Medicinal. Value. Meaning. That. Anointing. Someone. With. Oil. Was. Often. The. Way. That. Helped. With. Their. Physical. Ailment. That. If. They. Were. Sick. You. Would. Anoint. Them. With. Oil. Because. It. Would. Help. Them. Feel. Better. It. Was. As. Close. To. Today. As. Giving. Someone. Medication. Is. The. Way. That. They. Would. Take. Medication. Then. Would. Be. To. Rub. Oil. On. Them. To. Help. Them. Feel. Better. That's. One. Way. To. Interpret. This. Passage. The. Other. Way. Is. That. Oil. Represents. The. Presence. Of. The. Holy. Spirit. And. By. Pouring. Oil. On. A. Person. You. Are. Symbolically. Expressing. The. Holy. Spirit's. Watch. Care. Over. That. Person. Now. I'm. Not. Going. To. Tell. You. Either. One. Is. Necessarily. Right. Or. Wrong. I. Will. Tell. You. This. If. Person. Comes. To. Me. Says. Pastor. I. Am. Sick. And. I. Want. You. To. Put. Oil. On. My. Head. They. Don't. Get. Oil. On. Their. Head. If. They. Feel. That. Need. For. That. If. They. Want. To. Be. Comforted. In. That. Way. I. Certainly. Can't. Look. To. This. Verse. And. Prove. Them. To. Be. Comforted. That. I. Certainly. Can't. Verse. I. Certainly. Can't. Look. To. This. Verse. And. Prove. Them. To. Be. Comforted. Way. I. Certainly. Can't. To. Verse. And. Them. And. In. Some. Churches. Oil. Is. Huge. And. They. Use. It. All. The. Time. And. They. Base. It. On. This. Scripture. And. Anytime. Someone. Sick. They. Come. Up. And. Rub. Oil. On. Head. That's. That's. Their. Conviction. That's. Fine. Any. Questions. On. That. They. May. Wondered. About. That. Before. You. Guys. Are. Awful. Quiet. Tonight. Feel. Like. That's. Okay. So. We. Would. Have. The. Elders. Come. And. Lay. Hands. On. Someone. Who. Is. Sick. Now. The. Next. One. There's. Three. Blanks. We. Have. Prayers. Of. Commission. Ordination. Installation. Commission. Ordination. And. Installation. This. Also. Includes. The. Laying. On. Of. Hands. If. You. I'll. Just. Read. These. To. You. If. You. Want. To. Write. Them. Down. Acts. Chapter. Six. And. Verse. Six. When. The. First. Deacons. Were. Chosen. It. Says. These. They. Set. Before. The. Apostles. And. They. Prayed. And. Laid. Their. Hands. On. Them. So. They. Brought. These. Men. The. Six. To. The. Apostles. And. The. Apostles. Laid. Hands. On. Them. And. They. Prayed. And. They. Commissioned. Them. To. The. Duty. Of. A. Deacon. And. Laying. Of. Hands. Was. Part. Of. The. Expression. Of. That. Service. We. Also. See. This. In. Acts. Thirteen. It. Says. That. When. Paul. Was. Going. A. Missionary. Journey. Sol. And. Barnabas. Are. Going. Out. To. Missionary. To. Missions. Work. And. So. The. Church. Comes. Around. Them. And. The. Elders. Lay. Hands. On. Them. And. Pray. God's. Spirit. Over. Them. And. Send. Them. Off. To. Their. Work. So. Very. Quickly. I. Made. A. Distinction. Between. Commission. Ordination. And. Installation. Can. They. Used. Interchangeably. Sometimes. Yes. But. Typically. When. We. Talk. About. Commissioning. That. Is. A. Duty. Given. To. A. Person. Or. A. Group. For. Instance. We. Talk. About. The. Commissioning. Deacons. Because. It's. A. Servant. Position. We. Commission. You. To. The. Role. Of. Servant. Within. The. Church. Ordination. Typically. Refers. To. Holy. Orders. Meaning. That. This. Is. A. Ministerial. Office. Someone. Who's. Going. To. Be. Handling. God's. Word. So. Typically. We. Talk. About. Ordaining. Elders. And. Commissioning. Deacons. There's. A. Little. Difference. There. Not. Exact. That. I. They. Could. Be. Interchanged. But. So. Pastor. But. Yes. So. You. Are. Oh. Yeah. Well. Yeah. In. The. Military. Yeah. Commissioning. We. Are. Very. Familiar. With. That. Term. Installation. Is. What. We. Do. When. Someone. Already. Has. A. Particular. Title. But. Not. Among. Us. When. Richard. Came. He. Was. Already. Ordained. Minister. So. We. Didn't. Have. To. Ordain. Him. Again. But. He. Wasn't. An. Elder. Here. So. We. Installed. Him. As. An. Elder. He. Already. Had. The. Title. He. Already. Had. The. Position. That. He. Had. Ordained. In. Another. Church. If. I. Were. To. Be. Called. To. Another. Church. They. Wouldn't. Have. To. Reordain. Me. To. The. Gospel. Ministry. But. They. Would. Not. To. Install. Me. To. The. Service. Of. That. Congregation. Don't. Get. Excited. I'm. Not. Leaving. But. I'm. Saying. That's. The. That's. Where. We. Would. Make. A. Slight. Differentiation. Between. Commissioning. Ordination. And. Installation. And. All. Of. Them. Would. You. Know. Would. Include. Or. Could. Include. The. Laying. On. Of. Hands. And. The. Praying. Over. That. Person. For. That. Particular. Duty. Make. Sense. Okay. Now. Last. Question. What. Should. Be. Included. In. Corporate. Prayers. What. Should. Be. Included. We've. Said. What. Are. The. Traditional. Prayers. That. We've. Asked. What. The. Additional. Prayers. But. We. Ask. This. Final. Question. What. Should. Be. Included. In. Corporate. Prayers. The. First. One. Is. A. Recognition. Of. The. Holiness. Of. God. Huh. You. Was. Coming. Well. That's. True. Though. Prayer. Should. Never. Be. Entered. Into. Flippantly. Or. Lightly. This. Is. Especially. So. In. Corporate. Worship. Because. This. Is. A. Reverential. Time. It. Is. A. Fearful. Thing. To. Fall. Into. The. Hands. Of. The. Almighty. God. You. Know. This. Is. A. Real. Real. Life. Stuff. So. First. Need. What. Did. Jesus. Say. Our. Father. Who. Art. In. Heaven. Hallowed. Be. Your. Name. You. Know. That. That. Hallowed. Holy. Is. Your. Name. And. When. We. Pray. We. Need. Remember. To. Whom. We. Are. Praying. Jesus. Is. Not. Our. Homeboy. I've. Said. That. Before. You. Know. We. Don't. Need. To. Have. That. Flippant. Attitude. In. In. In. In. Worship. In. Prayer. Doesn't. Need. To. Be. Flippant. It. Needs. To. Be. Reverential. That's. Number. One. The. Second. Thing. That. Could. Should. Be. Included. In. Corporate. Prayer. Is. A. Recitation. Of. The. Attributes. Of. God. Worship. Is. Meant. To. Glorify. God. And. Prayer. Is. Worship. So. Prayer. Is. Meant. To. Glorify. God. That's. Syllogism. Now. I. Just. Want. To. Read. You. One. Prayer. From. The. Bible. First. Samuel. Chapter. Two. This. Is. The. Prayer. Of. Hannah. And. I. Want. To. Rejoice. Salvation. Holy. Like. The. Lord. For. There. Is. None. Besides. You. There. Is. No. Rock. Like. Our. God. Talk. No. More. So. Very. Proudly. Let. Not. Arrogance. Come. From. Your. Mouth. For. The. Lord. Is. A. God. Of. Knowledge. And. By. Him. Actions. Are. Weighed. The. Bows. Of. The. Mighty. Are. Forlorn. The. Lord. Kills. And. Brings. To. Life. He. Brings. Down. To. See. All. And. Raises. Up. The. Lord. Makes. Poor. And. Makes. Rich. He. Brings. Low. And. Exalts. He. Raises. Up. The. Poor. From. The. Dust. He. Lifts. The. Needy. From. The. Ash. Heap. To. Make. Them. Sit. With. Princes. And. Inherit. A. Seat. Lord. Will. Judge. To. The. Ends. Of. The. Earth. He. Will. Give. Strength. To. His. King. And. Exalt. The. Horns. Of. His. Anointed. What. Do. We. Hear. Through. That. Prayer. The. Lord. This. The. Lord. Is. That. His. Strength. His. Mightiness. His. Power. His. Virtue. All. Of. These. Things. Are. Recited. In. The. Prayer. And. That's. I. Mean. When. Say. The. Recitation. Of. The. Attributes. Of. God. Oh. God. Who. Made. The. Heavens. Who. Formed. All. Things. By. Simply. Speaking. Them. Into. Existence. Who. Brought. Man. Out. Of. The. Dust. Of. The. Earth. And. Breathed. Into. His. Nostrils. The. Breath. Of. Life. Oh. God. Who. Has. Created. Universes. Unknown. And. A. World. To. House. Your. Person. Man. Who. Beareth. Your. Image. I'm. Not. Just. Doing. That. To. Be. Fancy. When. You. Pray. Like. That. You're. Praying. To. Recite. The. Attributes. Of. God. Because. God. Is. Glorified. When. His. Attributes. Are. Exalted. God. Is. Glorified. When. His. Attributes. Are. Recited. Among. His. People. So. That's. What. Should. Be. Included. In. Corporate. Prayer. Third. A. Saturation. Of. The. Word. Of. God. A. Saturation. Of. The. Word. Of. God. Oftentimes. You. Might. Notice. That. When. I'm. Praying. I. Will. Begin. To. Just. Simply. Quote. Scripture. Why. Because. Those. Quotes. That. I'm. Quoting. Are. Either. Recitations. Of. God's. Attributes. Or. Reminders. Of. God's. Promises. Or. Their. Examples. Of. God's. Fidelity. They're. For. Us. But. They're. Also. As. We're. Speaking. To. God. Together. Reminders. Of. His. Faithfulness. And. Reminders. Going. Upwards. Saying. God. Remember. Your. Promises. To. Your. People. You. Might. Say. God. Never. Forgets. His. Promises. Why. We. Have. To. Remind. God. Of. His. Promises. Well. We. Don't. Necessarily. Have. To. Remind. God. Of. His. Promises. But. In. Praying. Back. His. Promises. We. Show. Our. Trust. In. His. Promises. All. Throughout. The. Bible. We. See. Moses. God. Remember. Your. Promises. To. Your. People. We. Our. Songs. Song. Among. The. People. Of. God. The. Psalm. Book. The. Hundred. Fifty. Psalms. Is. God's. Inspired. Song. Book. But. There. Are. Also. Prayers. Because. What. Is. A. Him. Or. Spiritual. Song. What. Is. A. Psalm. It. Is. A. Prayer. To. God. It's. Singing. To. God. So. When. We. Pray. I. Say. Honestly. If. You. Want. To. Learn. To. Pray. In. Such. A. Way. That. Your. Prayers. Will. Be. Manifestly. Deeper. Wider. And. Broader. Begin. To. Commit. To. Memory. The. Psalms. Portions. Of. God's. Holy. Inspired. Hymnal. Commit. Them. To. Memory. And. Pray. Them. In. Your. Prayers. And. You. Will. See. A. Depth. And. A. Breath. In. Your. Prayer. Life. That. You. May. Not. Have. Seen. Before. So. That's. This. Part. Of. When. We. Pray. We. Pray. God's. Word. Back. To. Him. In. Trust. That. His. Word. Is. In. Fact. What. It. Claims. To. Be. All. Right. Finally. What. Should. Be. Included. In. Corporate. Prayer. And. Instruction. For. The. People. Of. God. So. We've. Said. A. Recognition. Of. The. Holiness. Of. God. A. Recitation. Of. The. Attributes. Of. God. A. Saturation. Of. The. Word. Of. God. And. Finally. An. Instruction. For. The. People. Of. God. Many. People. Do. Not. Know. How. To. Pray. And. Say. This. Only. Because. Jesus. Is. Disciples. After. Jesus. Had. Been. Praying. He. Came. To. Them. And. What. Did. They. Say. Teach. Us. To. Pray. Right. So. When. The. Pastor. Or. The. Elders. Stand. Up. Before. God's. People. In. Times. Of. Prayer. Certainly. We're. Focused. On. God. But. There's. Also. A. Didactic. Element. In. Corporate. Prayer. Because. Teaching. God's. People. How. To. Pray. We're. Teaching. God's. Through. Example. What. Prayer. Looks. Like. You. Might. Say. Well. Prayer. Simple. It's. Just. Talking. To. God. Yes. But. As. Mentioned. Already. We. Can. We. Can. Go. Deeper. In. Our. Prayer. Life. We. Can. Expand. Our. Prayer. Life. To. Include. The. Attributes. Of. God. To. Include. The. Word. Of. God. To. Expand. Out. Our. Understanding. Of. God. And. Reciting. Those. Things. Back. To. Him. In. All. This. Is. Done. As. We. Learn. To. Pray. It. Is. This. Adoration. Confession. Thanksgiving. Supplication. Did. Get. That. Right. Richard?

It. Has. Been. A while. Since. I. Taught. On. That. But. Yeah. Adoration. Is. What. To. Adore. God. Our. Prayer. Should. Begin. Our. Father. In. Heaven. Hallowed. Be. Your. Name. Lord. Forgive. Us. Of. Our. Sins. As. We. Forgive. Those. Who. Sin. Against. Us.

It's. I. Model. That. When. I'm. Praying. And. Why. Do. You. Think. We. Pray. The Lord's. Prayer. Every. Sunday. Because. It. Has. A. Didactic. Element. In. It. You. Know. So when I was a kid, and when some of you guys were a kid, there was a time where they actually prayed that prayer in school.

They don't do that anymore. And some people don't pray that prayer anytime except for on Sunday morning when we do. So why is that prayer part of our liturgy? Because that prayer is a holy didactic, by the way the word didactic means teaching, it is a holy didactic prayer.

The disciples said, teach us to pray, and Jesus said, this is how you pray. Here are the elements that should be included, here is how you do it. So we do it so that our people, old and young, will learn how to pray.

Alright, so let's finish up with our last questions here. Why do you think so little thought and time is given to prayer within the body? Why do you think that that is so? I think that's a good answer.

Yeah, that's what she said. Yeah, Ruthie said, people get in a rush, people get in a hurry. We allow the prayer time to be the hanging chad of the worship service. It's just the thing that's just kind of there.

That was a nice little political reference since yesterday was voting day. It's the hanging chad, it's that one part that's just sort of there. It's not the most precious moment of the service, it's just the necessary have to to get to the next thing.

I think that's a good answer. I think that's right. And also, I think, too, that people have become so caught up with the idea that everything is supposed to be extemporaneous, and that just simply means to be off the cuff, that everything is supposed to be extemporaneous now, that the concern is that if I actually sit and think about what my prayer is going to be, if I actually write out a prayer, that's too high church, that's too old school, that's not hip, that's not cool to actually think about.

I need to just come right up. But what you know happens with prayers like that, they become very repetitious, very cliched, because there's not a lot of thought that goes into them. So I'm not against written prayer as long as we're putting thought into it.

You know, we're thinking about what we're doing when we're writing them out. Finally, do you think an entire service dedicated to corporate prayer would be appropriate? Yes. OK, good, good. Lorena made a good point that it would not take the place of Sunday Lord's Day worship because that includes all the elements, but a special prayer service.

I think so. I think it's one of the things that we often miss out on is taking time for we just dedicate ourselves. Do you know why most churches don't offer prayer service? Because they are the least attended services.

And that's sad. People won't come just to pray. They won't come just to pray. And that's why they're least they're least attended. So they go the way of, you know, of most everything else that's badly attended.

It's got to go away. Yeah. And a lot of times that willingness to be open with others because in prayer times, in services like that, it's often the time to open up. People don't want to open up.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

It's six people to eight people. And, you know, it's a shame. And I speak, you know, we don't have a dedicated prayer service. But at the same time, I think looking at what prayer ought to be, it might be something in the future we need to look at, because I think the corporate body gathered to pray together is a precious time.

It's a precious time. All right.

Yes, sir. Saul and Barnabas. Yeah. Yes. You're praying a blessing over them.

Yeah. Yeah. It could be. Yeah. But that is that's what I was saying is that's commissioning them or or sending them out. But but they are certainly sending them out with the blessing of God. So, yeah, it would have a benedictory element to it.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. Not a lot.

It's hard to get this. It's hard to get the students silent for anything. And I speak empirically on that because I work at a school. They do. That's fantastic that they do it at a lot of coaches and a lot of teachers go beyond what necessarily the school would do.