Prayer Makes a Difference
1 John 5:14-17
January 29, 2023
1. The Practice of Christian Faith Results in
Prayer. (Vs. 14-15, 1 John 2:28, 4:17, 3:21-22; Matt 6:10; John 15:7)
1 John 2:28, “So now, little children, remain in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”
1 John 4:17, “In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.”
1 John 3:21-22, “Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.”
Matthew 6:10, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
John Stott, The Letters of John, p. 188, “Prayer is not a convenient device for imposing our will upon God, or for bending his will to ours, but the prescribed way of subordinating our will to his. It is by prayer that we seek God’s will, embrace it and align ourselves with it. Every true prayer is a variation of the theme “your will be done.””
John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.”
2. The Practice of Christian Faith Results in
Prayer. (Vs. 16-17; Lev 4:22-23; Deut 17:12; 1 Sam 2:25a; Heb 6:4-6, 10:26-27, 1 John 2:19, 1:9; James 6:16)
Leviticus 4:22-23, ““When a leader, sins and unintentionally violates any of the commands of the LORD his God by doing what is prohibited, and incurs guilt, or someone informs him about the sin he has committed, he is to bring an unblemished male goat as his offering.”
Deuteronomy 17:12, “The person who acts arrogantly, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there serving the LORD your God or to the judge, must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.”
1 Samuel 2:25a, “If one person sins against another, God can intercede for him, but if a person sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?”
Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-27, “For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt…For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.”
1 John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.”