Reality Boston

In life it's so easy to fall into the trap of showing the best version of ourselves. This can also be true of our approach to God in prayer. In Luke 18 Jesus contrasts two different people and their posture to prayer, and in this parable, he points out that the calling of prayer is about brutal honesty with who we really are in the light of God's presence, and our great need for HIm.

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There are few things we despise more in life than being asked to wait. Proverbs 13 says that hope deferred makes the heart sick. Throughout the scriptures and in our own experience we find ourselves and others waiting on God. Waiting is such a common part of life, but how, as followers of Jesus, do we wait well? In Luke 2 we are introduced to Simeon and Anna, two godly people who show us a path for what it looks like to wait faithfully upon God.

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When it comes to asking God for forgiveness, many doubt that God is willing to forgive them. Not only that, we likely mistake worldly sorrow with Godly sorrow and true repentance. From Psalm 51, a prayer of repentance from King David, Ruthie Kim shares about how passionate God is about forgiveness, and true intimacy with Him.

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What do you do when things in life seem to have taken a turn for the worse? God oftentimes strategically places us in a particular time and place to stand up in prayer and to petition the things that counter His kingdom. Nehemiah here in chapter 1 was in a time and place where he had the opportunity to stand in the gap for the people of God who were being exploited and oppressed. This Sunday we will explore how God's restoration in the world is released from a place of compassion, courage, and prayer.

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When we hear the words, "the last shall be first," it sounds like a promise that won't come to pass in our lifetime, or a platitude. In the Old Testament, the story of Hannah shows us something different-- God hears, and answers the prayers of the lowly, and it seems that he is very much so interested in raising us up from the ashes and restoring our joy. While the Lord will allow deep pain into our lives, he will also develop our character by showing us more of his character.

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We cannot talk about prayer without looking at the lives and prayers of those who came before us. In Exodus 33 we find Moses praying to God on behalf of the people of Israel, not for things, but for God's presence. Pastor Rashad explores this prayer and how God longs for us to desire Him. The shape and direction of our prayers ought to be rooted in presence, because that's the goal.

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Throughout scripture, God's word commands us to pray. When we consider how our relationship with the Father directly influences our prayer life, we see that the beginning stages look very different from the latter years as maturity comes. Our desires begin taking on the shape of the Kingdom, and our requests begin to look different as we surrender our lives to Christ. From Luke 22:39-46, Jon Tyson walks us through what it looks like to grow in prayer as children of God.

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Intercession is the action of intervening on behalf of another before God in prayer. How do we stand in the gap for a world ravaged by sickness, injustice, oppression and death? Hebrews 11:22-28 describes our perfect intercessor, Jesus Christ. We need him to show us how to pray and how to stand in the messy middle of our world. As we pray for people around us, is it possible that our perfect intercessor is acting on behalf of our prayers all while doing a work of transformation in our own heart?

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Throughout the Bible, God uses weak people for great works. In 1 Corinthians 1 we see that God uses the weak and foolish things of the world to bring to nothing the wise and powerful. In this message Austin Baten explores how the seemingly upside-down ways of God should lead us deeper into prayer and dependence on Him as we seek to engage in our world.

For sermon slides, visit realityboston.com/teachings.