03-15-2020

Dr. E. Dale Locke and Pastor Efrain Silva
Sermon Series: How to Pray, A Simple Guide for Normal People
Week 2: Pause
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The following questions are designed to help the sermon go deeper in your life.  You can think them through on your own, or discuss it with your spouse, family, or small group – whether in person or through an online platform like Skype, Facetime or Google Hangouts. 

If you have kids, be sure to check out our kids’ resource at https://communityofhope.church/coronavirus. There you will also find a prayer resource, and ongoing updates of our church’s response to this situation.

We hope you will continue to support our church by giving online at https://communityofhope.church/give.

1.    Talk about the thoughts and feelings you’ve had about the Coronavirus crisis our world is experiencing.  

2.    How does your faith in Jesus impact your thoughts, feelings and reactions to this crisis?

3.    Read Psalm 46: 
God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
    God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
    the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
    to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

What do you notice in this Psalm that encourages you today? 

4.    Read Jesus’ words in John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  What truths in this verse help you at a time like this?  

5.    Read our memory verse for this sermon series out loud together - Luke 11:1 - “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’”  Review the key points of last week’s sermon, in which we dispelled some myths people believe about prayer. 

4 Myths regarding prayer:

Myth: Only a few people pray.

Truth: We all pray. Even people who don’t believe in God pray.

Myth: Only a few people know how to pray.

Truth: We all can learn more in this area.

Myth: Prayer always works if you do it right.

Truth: Even Jesus lived with unanswered prayer.  (See Matthew 26:36-45)

Myth: God does whatever He wants whether we pray or not.

Truth: Prayer changes things.

6.    Over the next 4 weeks, we will use the acronym P.R.A.Y. from Pete Grieg’s book, How to Pray, A Simple Guide for Normal People to talk about prayer.  The ”P” stands for pause.  This is the first step in prayer.  Why is it so important to pause before you start to pray?

7.    Blaise Pascal wrote in the 17th century, “All of humanity’s problems stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”  What did he mean?

8.    Pete Grieg writes, “Prayer easily becomes a frenetic extension of the manic way I live too much of my life.  Distracted and driven, I step into the courts of the King without modulation, without introduction, without slowing my pace or lifting my face to meet his gaze.  But the sages teach us that true prayer is not so much something we say, nor is it something we do: It is something we become.  It is not transactional but relational.  And it begins, therefore, with an appropriate awareness of the one to whom we come.”  What is his point here? 

9.    David wrote in Psalm 23 that the Lord “makes me lie down in green pastures.”  Share about a time in your life when God “made” you lie down and rest with him, even though you didn’t want to. 

10. What are some things you could do to help you pause?

11. Take some time right now to simply pause and quiet your mind and heart before the Lord.

12. Community of Hope will have a 24-7 Prayer Week from Sunday, April 5th – Sunday, April 12th.  Sign up for a time-slot to pray at https://communityofhope.church/24-7praye