356. How Corporate Prayer Shapes A Worshiping Church (Biblical Worship)

We explore how corporate prayer forms a church, moving from adoration to confession to assurance to thanksgiving to bold supplication. Scripture shapes our liturgy.

• why adoration starts the gathering
• how confession works corporately
• assurance of pardon in Christ
• thanksgiving as a lived habit
• supplication that builds boldness
• Scripture shaping every prayer
• benediction as sending

Thank you for joining me on this episode of Moments of Worship
I look forward to seeing you right back here on Tuesday, February the 24th
Well, say it with me until tomorrow and forever
May we worship Jesus Christ
Thank you for listening, friend

Transcript

Framing Corporate Prayer

Adoration In Gathering

Confession Together

Assurance And Thanksgiving

Supplication And Boldness

God’s Care And Benediction

Closing Blessing And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Happy snowy Monday if you're in Virginia. This is Moments of Worship. And I'm your host, Pastor Keith McMahon. Thank you for joining me on this Monday, February the 23rd. This podcast seeks to be an encouragement to you in the worship of Almighty God. Well, we continue in our biblical worship series. And today, as I was thinking about this podcast, thinking about corporate worship, I thought we should talk about prayer, prayer in the corporate gathering. How much do you pray in the service that you attend at your church? Do you pray often? Long prayers, short prayers at the beginning, in the middle, in the end? What do your prayers consist of? Is it all petition? Is it all adoration? Supplication? Confession? Thanks? Well, today we're going to look at some prayers that we should pray. And we follow the Acts motto. We very much follow that at Bethel, adoration, confession, thanks, and supplication. As we come to meet with God, as the church gathers, and I referred to that in our service and our liturgy as gathering time, we read a scripture, and then we'll sing a song, and sometimes we will read the scripture and pray. As the church gathers, we come to gather together to worship the one true living God, who is as Isaiah said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Our God is great, and his greatness, as the scripture says, is unsearchable. And we can remember all of his benefits as we read in Psalm one hundred three we see his attributes. He is highly to be praised. Matthew six nine, pray then like this, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. And then as we see God for who he is, high and lifted up, we can quickly see that he is great, and we are sinners in need of his grace. And Psalm fifty one gives us a wonderful prayer of confession Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Well together we confess that God is holy and we are not. I don't know if you have prayers of confession in the church that you are a member of, but that is something we have been doing in the very recent past at Bethel. Having that time of adoration, we'll sing an adoration song or two hymn, and then we take time to confess. Confess points like forgive us, Lord, that we have sought satisfaction in things other than you, that we have not pursued holiness as you exhort us to pursue holiness in first Peter. We confess corporately. Now this is not personal confession, as we are together on a Sunday as the gathered church. And then after that, we praise God that we have the assurance of pardon in Jesus Christ. We will often read a scripture out of Romans that tells us about the blood of Jesus covering our sin. As we think about the assurance of pardon we have in Jesus Christ, we can easily at that time give thanks. We give thanks for forgiving all of our iniquity, as the scripture says, that he has made us a new creation in Jesus Christ, that we are no longer under condemnation, that we walk in his resurrection power, that he has given his Holy Spirit that we may see the beauty of Christ, that he cares for us, that he never leaves us or forsakes us, that he gives us common grace in our families, in our jobs, with one another every week at church, and the list could go on and on and on. Corporate worship, corporate prayer is also a time of supplication. First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. Acts twelve five. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. The body was bringing him before the Lord. And when they had prayed, the place in which they gathered together was shaken. And he goes on to say they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. A praying church is a strengthened church. There are so many verses, moments in this service that we can and should pray prayers and these particular aspects of the service in this liturgy form. We can also give thanks that Jesus is our great high priest whoever lives and intercedes for us. We can give thanks that God is upholding us by His sovereign hand in His providence. He carries out the things of our life with such great care and tenderness and goodness. And at the end of the service yesterday, we read Together as a church, this beautiful prayer. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 24 through 25. May we be people that commune with God in prayer each and every day of our lives and as we gather as a church. Thank you for joining me on this episode of Moments of Worship. I look forward to seeing you right back here on Tuesday, February the 24th. Well, say it with me until tomorrow and forever. May we worship Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening, friend.