Podcasts religion Wilderness Wanderings Sunday Sermon - The Last Word on Prayer

Sunday Sermon - The Last Word on Prayer

Published: Oct. 10, 2021, 4:32 p.m.

An extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!\xa0 The text is Revelation 8-9 from the New International Version of the Bible.\xa0 Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it\xa0here on YouTube.\xa0 Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC:\xa0immanuelministries.ca

DIVE IN QUESTIONS

1. If you\u2019ve got time: feed your apocalyptic imagination by reading the following passages!
---Exodus 7:1-7 - Plagues and Pharaoh\u2019s hard heart. Read Exodus 4:21-12:42 for more.
---Exodus 19:9-25 - Lightning, Thunder, and Trumpets mark God\u2019s presence.
----Joshua 6:1-21 - 7 Priests with 7 Trumpets: deliverance into the Promised Land.
---Psalm 141:1-2 - Prayers as Incense.
---Joel 1-2\xa0 - Locust Army.
---Matthew 6:9-13 - Thy Kingdom Come.
---Matthew 27:45-54 - Jesus\u2019 Death (see also his resurrection in Matthew 28:1-10!)
---1 Thess. 4:13-18 - The Last Trumpet.
Can you think of other passages or Biblical images that feed John\u2019s imagination (or yours!) as he writes Revelation 8-9 or as you hear it read?

2. Now over to you: what\u2019s weighing you down these days?\xa0 Things you\u2019re worried about?\xa0 Things that are hard?\xa0 Things you see around you in your family, among friends, or out in society or the world?

3. What hardships did John and his congregations in modern-day Turkey face?

4. What sorts of things do we (and probably John\u2019s congregations too) do in worship?\xa0 What does the book of Revelation teach you about what happens in those faithful, but seemingly mundane acts of worship (like prayer!)?

5. In worship, and so also through the hard stuff of our lives, we participate in the great stories of God\u2019s salvation and redemption in Jesus.\xa0 God hears our prayers.\xa0 So while we might still have to face hard stuff here and now: the end is sure.\xa0 God is with us. Even to the end of the age.\xa0 Amen.\xa0 Come, Lord Jesus, come.