Getting to Know your Bible

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
This is Getting to Know Your Bible, a program dedicated
to the proclaiming of the good News of Jesus Christ.
Here's Billy Lambert.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, I'm Billy Lambert. I am the regular speaker on
Getting to Know Your Bible, and I want to welcome
you today. This may be the very first time that
you have seen this telecast. I want you to know
that the thing that we emphasize on getting to Know
your Bible is a word of God. The Bible is

(00:46):
the greatest book that has ever been written. Many years ago,
there were those that wrote books that thought they would
replace the Bible. That's what Thomas Paine thought when he
wrote The Age of Reason. But the Bible continues to
live after century. Jesus said, heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my Word shall not pass away. So on getting

(01:07):
to Know your Bible, we're teaching from the timeless Word
of God. The Bible is God's book, the greatest book
that has ever been written. And today we're going to
be opening up the pages of the Word of God
and delivering a message to you from God's book. Today
we're going to be seeing a one of our classics

(01:29):
that is a production of one of our telecasts from
time in the past, and we want you to stay tuned.
We're going to be offering a free Bible Correspondence course
today and we will see information on the screen as
to how you can receive that course. And so we
want to pause at.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
This time to help you in your study of the Bible.
We want to send you this Bible Correspondence course. This
course is non denominational, it's based on the Bible, it's
conducted by mail, and it's free to receive this course.
Right to getting to Know your Bible. Po Box three
one four, Summerdale, Alabama three six five eight zero or

(02:09):
call toll free one eight seven seven seven one one
five two one four.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
The poet said more things a lot by prayer than
the world dreams of I think that's exactly right. Prayer
is such a powerful thing, and I believe in the
power of prayer. Today we want to talk about it.
We want to talk about the prayer life of Jesus.

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Jesus taught that men should pray, that men ought to
pray in Luke eighteen and one. That's exactly what Jesus said,
that men ought to pray and not to lose heart.
Sometimes we lose heart living life, don't we? But Jesus said,
rather than giving up, rather than feigning by the way,

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rather than just saying whatever, then why don't we pray
about it? Jesus taught that men ought to pray. But
what we mean when we talk about prayer Prayer is
not a stump speech that we make to God. Prayer
is not where we command that God do our bidding.

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God is not us telling God what God is going
to do. But rather, prayer is where we have the
outpouring of our heart to God, where we acknowledge God's greatness,
God's goodness, and we pour out the innermost parts of
our heart before the throne of a holy God. Prayer

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is when we offer thanksgiving to God for all that
God has done for us. And I've often wondered why
would God want to give us anything else if we're
not thankful for what God has already done. And prayer
is where we offer up supplication and petitions on behalf
of ourselves as well up on behalf of other people.

(04:07):
Prayer is so important, Prayer is so vital and is
beneficial in our lives. There are a lot of reasons
I suggest that prayer is beneficial. And one of the
reasons is that it is through prayer that we obtain
the things we need. Now, I did not say that

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we obtain everything that we want, but what we need.
And we have a God who listens and pays attention
to our prayers. One Peter three twelve says that the
eyes of the Lord over the righteous, his ears are
open under their prayers. So God listens to the prayers
of righteous people. Firse John five fourteen says, this is

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the confidence that we have in Him that if we
ask anything according to his will, he hears us. Think
about that, if we ask anything according to his will,
there is the condition of an acceptable prayer. It must
be asked according to his will. I do not believe
that we should pray for something that is contrary or

(05:11):
in the violation of the will of God. It must
be unharmony with the will according to his will. And
then verse fifteen says we know that if he hears
us that then we have the petitions that we desired
of him. So it is beneficial for us to pray.
And one of the reasons that we get what we need.
James four and two says, you have not because you

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do not ask, because you ask not. Another reason to
pray is this is the way that we get ourselves
out of problems and trouble. Sometimes be careful for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let
your request be made under God. And the peace of
God that passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and

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your minds in Christ Jesus. And so we pray because
it is good for us emotionally, it's good for us spiritually.
And this is the way that we get ourselves over
the hops and bumps of life. We ask for God's help.
Two men were talking. One man has so many problems,
and he poured out his heart. The other man said,

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if you tried prayer, He said, no, things, haven't God
that bad. Yet, we ought to pray about everything, the
big things, the little things, the things that trouble us.
We need to be down on our knees praying to God.
And it pays to pray because this is the way
that we get defense from Satan. We defend ourselves against
him when we're praying to God. Satan fears when saints

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are praying. He fears when he sees the weakest saint
praying to a mighty God. Paul in Ephesian six talked
about the Christian's armor and among that armor, yeah, I
think he sort of tops it off in verse eighteen
with prayer. Of course, this is not a part of
the armor, but it's how we go forward. We go

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follow with our armor on praying, praying always, with all prayers,
supplication of all spirit, for all the saints. We pray
for everything. We ask God to help us and to
strengthen us, to defend us and uphold us when we
go against Satan. So it's beneficial to pray. And Jesus said,

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men ought to pray, Men ought always to pray. All
ought to ever faint, not to ever lose heart. Now
Jesus said that, then Jesus practiced what he taught. Well.
When did Jesus pray? Well? One of the times Jesus
prayed was at the beginning of his ministry. And Luke

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the third chapter in verse twenty one that says that
when the people were baptized, and then of course they
were baptized by John the Baptist, they were baptized, and
then when Jesus had been baptized, it says, and praying
that's when the help of heavens were open and the
Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove.
You see, Jesus is at the very beginning of his ministry.

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And Jesus started his ministry in prayer. I would be
afraid to preach if I had not prayed. We need
to do more as the preachers, we need to do
more work in prayer. Be on our knees more, and
perhaps if we are on our knees more, we could
break the hearts of men better. There was a man

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watching someone out and they were a crushing rock and
breaking up stones. And this preacher stopped and he looked
at that. And this man that was breaking the stones
was down on his knees and he had a huge
high hammer and he would bring that hammer down on
the rock and then they would chips fly. And the

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preacher responded, I wish I could break the hearts of
men as e le as you break that rock. And
the man replied, perhaps you could, sir, if you worked
on your knees. And so Jesus prayed at the beginning
of his ministry, and as a preacher, I need to
be a praying man. Paul was a praying man. It

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was Paul who said, pray without ceasing. But Jesus prayed
when he was in in a great crisis. And Jesus
had several of those in his life, but I think
one of the greatest was for the time that Jesus
was in the garden of Gassemine. Jesus knew what was
ahead of him, he knew the cross was looming ahead.

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And Jesus prayed to his father in heaven. And Jesus said, Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pisce nevertheless, not
as I will, but as you will. In other words,
not my will, but your will be done. Three times

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Jesus prayed that prayer in the garden. He prayed so
fervently that the perspiration was like drops of blood on
his brow. And Hebrews chapter five and seventy Bible says
in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers
and supplications with loud cries and tears, and in all

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probability the writer has reference to the garden scene where
Jesus prayed so vehemently, so so intensely, and Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, was praying, if it be possible
let this compass. And there was an angel that came

(10:50):
and strengthened him on that occasion. But Jesus came to
do his father's will. In John four point thirty four,
he said, I came down from heaven not to do
my own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And now in the garden of this great crisis in
his life, Jesus says, not my will, God, not my will, Father,

(11:14):
but your will be done. Jesus prayed. When he observed
the last Passover feast with his disciples, Jesus was instituting
what the New Testament refers to as a Supper of
the Lord or the Lord's Supper, and the New Testament
church observed the Lord's Supper on the first day of

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every week, Act twenty verse seven. And as Jesus institute
at that supper, Jesus took the bread and he break
it and he blessed it. He said, this is my
body which is broken for you. Can you imagine telling

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your disciples, this is my body. This represents my body
that's going to be nailed to the cross. This represents
my body that's broken for you. And then he took
the cup and when he given thanks, Jesus said, this
is the cup of the New Testament, in my blood

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which is shed for the remission of sins. And all
of you drink of it when we observe the Lord's
Supper on the Lord's Day, and when we partake of
the unlivn bread, we partake of the fruit of the mine.

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We do it to remember the death of Jesus on
that cross, and we do that in the posture of prayer.
We give thanks for that body that is represented by
the bread. We give thanks for that blood that is

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represented by the fruit of the viale, and we do
it in remembrance of him. Luke twenty two, verse nineteen. Yes,
Jesus prayed when he instituted the Lord's Supper. There were times,
according to Luke six twelve, that Jesus would go out
in the mountains and he would spend all night in prayer,

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all night in prayer. Have you ever spent all night
in a prayerful mood, meditative mood, praying to God off
and on all night long? Then, according to Luke chapter
five and verse sixteen, Jesus prayed frequently that that verse

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says that he himself often withdrew into the willness wilderness,
and he prayed. And there are times but we need
to withdraw ourselves from others and we need to pray.
So you see, there were various times that Jesus prayed.
This is just a sampling of the times that he prayed.

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But for whom did Jesus pray? And Jesus prayed for
unity of believers. In John the seventeenth chapter where Jesus
is praying to his father, and if you'll notice the chapter,
he opens the chapter by addressing the Father in heaven.

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He said in verse twenty and twenty one, neither pray
I for these alone, but for them also, which shall
believe on me through their word, that they all may
be one. Is our Father arready be an I and THEE,
that they may be one in us, that the world
may believe that Thou has sent me. Jesus did not

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pray for religious division. He did not thank God that
we have freedom of choice of which church we need
to join. Jesus did not thank God that there was
so much confusion and division. But rather Jesus prayed that

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his disciples be united, be one, and the way that
we are united, the way that we're one is reunited
upon His divine will without the addition of human opinion
and human thought in human doctrines admixed. I want to

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suggest to you that one of the greatest causes of
infidelity in our world is a religious confusion, the religious
division that exists in our world. People see all the
various religions of the world. They see all of the
confusion of the world, and they're made to wonder what's right,

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which one is right. Jesus said, I want my disciples,
He prayed to the Father. He said, I want them
to be one. I pray that they will be united,
that the world might believe. And it's no wonder that
we read of those early Christians that they were of
one heart and of one soul. And Jesus also prayed

(16:29):
for his enemies. He prayed for his enemies. You read
think about him on the cross. He's praying on the cross.
What a place to pray. Sometimes people ask where can
you pray? You can pray anywhere, And Jesus prayed on
the cross. Jonah prayed in the wales belly, in the

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depths of the sea. Jonah Chapter two and one begins
like this, and then Jonah prayed, he prayed, and when
when he was in the depths of the sea, and
Jesus prayed on the cross, and he said, Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do. Jesus prayed for

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his enemies. But I might point out that jesus prayer
for those people who killed him did not set aside
the need for gospel obedience, because it was several days
later that the apostle Peter is preaching the first Gospel

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Sermon under the World Wide Commission. And on that particular day,
he's speaking to the very people who had cried out
for the Jesus' blood. And they said, crucify him, crucify him,
and they did. And now Peter preached to them, and

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he said that you, by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
And when they learned that they are crucified the one
who has called the Son of God, they said, man
and brother, what shall we do? And Peter said, you
need to repent. You need to be baptized, every one

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of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the
remission of your sins. In about three thousand of them
were baptized that day. And when they were baptized upon
their faith and repentance and their baptism into Christ. Well,
then Jesus prayer, Father, forgive them, for they know not

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what they do was answer. But his prayer did not
set aside the need for their obeying the gospel. So
Jesus prayed for his enemies. You know, Jesus taught that
we ought to pray for our enemies. In Matthew chapter five,
verses forty four and forty five, pray for them, do
good to them, you know. Paul and Romans twelfth said,

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if your enemies hungry, feed him, if he's thirsty, give
him drink poor, and so do and you'll heap coals
of fire on his head. You'll bring him to a
sense of shame if you'll just do good to it.
And then he concludes that chapter by saying, be not
overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. You just
do good. And Jesus Christ prayed for Peter. He prayed

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for Peter. He prayed for Peter in a time of
need in his life. In Luke chapter twenty two and
verse thirty one, he said, Simon, Simon, say, Satan have
desired to have you, that he may sift you as we,
but I have prayed for you. He said, I prayed

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for you, Peter, that your faith fell not and when
you are converted, strengthen the brethren who would have thought
Peter needed converting. At that point you say, well, you know,
brother Lambert Pee, Peter was already converted. Jesus knew what
was in his heart. Jesus knew what was ahead, and
he said, I want you to know, Peter, I've been

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praying for you. I've been praying for you. I've had
people to say, brother Lamba, I've been praying for you,
and I encourage that. I don't discourage that. I want
you to know. I've had people that watch getting to
know your Bible tell me when they would see me
and they say, brother Lambada, I've been praying for you.
And I personally appreciate that Jesus prayed for Peter, that

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Peter would be strong. We all need the prayers of
other people. Jesus taught us how to pray. There was
an occasion the disciples said, Lord teach us to pray.
Luke eleven and verse one, and Phillip's translation actually says,
Lord teach us how to pray, and I think that's
what they were asking, Lord, teach us how to pray.

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And in Matthew chapter six, Jesus teaches us how to pray.
Jesus used this expression three times in Matthew chapter six,
when you pray. When you pray three times, you'll notice
that expression. The first time is in verse five, when
you pray. Well, he said, when you pray, don't be

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like the hypocrites. Don't be like the hypocrites that stand
in the synagogue, stand on the street corner. And the
reason they do that they're praying to be seen of men.
Don't be like the hypocrites. And then secondly, Jesus said,
in verse six, when you pray, go in your room.

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The King James says, go into your closet. New King
James says, go into your room means the same thing.
I understand that in the Jewish families that they would
have a designated room of prayer, a place of prayer.
And perhaps that's what Jesus had reference to when he said,
you just go get in your room. You go get

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in your closet and pray and close the door, and
you just do it privately. Someone says, well, is it
wrong for people to see us pray. No, it's not
wrong for people to see us pray. If you were
to be in a public assembly and you were to
call it on to lead the public prayer, not assembly,
no doubt people would see you pray. But you're not

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praying to be seen by people. You're not praying to
be seen and to be praised by people. So Jesus said,
when you pray, you need to go into your room
and close the door, and don't pray so people will
see you are like the hypocrites that stand on the
street corner and stand up in the synagogue to be
seen of men. And then the third time Jesus used

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that expression, Jesus said in verse seven, when you pray,
do not use empty phrases, do not use vain repetitions.
Someone says, when, brother Lambert, do you think to what
Jesus is saying there is that we should never ask

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God for the same thing more than once. No, for
Jesus asked for the same thing three times in the
garden of Gaseimone. Three times he prayed, Father, if it's
possible that this cup is suffering, pass the apostle Paul.
In Second Corinthians twelve three times asked for the removal

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of the foreign in the flesh, and God answered his
prayer by saying, my grace is sufficient. So that's not
what Jesus is talking about. But Jesus is talking about
phrases that are useless and meaningless, phrases that have no
purpose in a prayer, vain repetitions, endless phrases. God knows

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what we need before we ever ask him. That's what
he says down in verse number eight. In verse eight,
he says, don't be like then, your father knows the
things you have need of before ask him. God already
knows what we need, and we don't need to use vain,
useless words trying to get God to do our bidding.

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So three times Jesus says, when you pray, don't be
like the hypocrites they stand and pray to be seen
of people. When you pray, just get in private and pray.
And when you pray, don't use useless words. Sometimes I'm
not sure, but what we ought to use words in

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our prayers that are so plain, so simple, so down
to earth, that the most illiterate and the youngest of
children can understand what's being said. I don't believe when
we pray that it's a time for us to quote

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script sure, because you see, God already knows what scripture says.
You see he wrote it. I don't believe it's a
time for us to preach sermons when we're praying, And
it is not a time for us to demonstrate our

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proficient use of adverbs and additives in the English language.
It's a time to just pour out our heart to
God in prayer. So Jesus said, three times when you pray.
And then Jesus said, in this manner pray, He said,

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this is the way you ought to pray. He said,
our Father, which are in heaven. That's to whom we pray,
Our Father in heaven. We are to address our prayers
to God, God the Father. We're not addressing our prayers
to the Mother of Jesus. We're not addressing our prayers

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to some departed so called saint. We're not addressing our
prayers to each other. We're in the presence of God.
We're in the throne room of God. We're down before
the throne of Grace Hebrews four sixteen, to ask for
help in time of need, our Father. And then he

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says which art in heaven. And then he says, hollowed
be your name. That just simply means that holy is
your name, Revered is your name? Respected is your name?
Or how we ought to reveal the name of God.
I don't believe we ought to address God in a
like frivolous way using coloquial terminology like dad, daddy, He's

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our father. And then he says, your kingdom come, Your
will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts,
says we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Thine is the Kingdom, the power,

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and the glory, wherever and ever. Amen, Jesus was the
praying Christ. Have you given your life to him? Believe
on him, repent of your sin's confession, faith in him,
be baptized into Christ, and live the faithful, dedicated Christian life.

(27:44):
One day heaven will be your home. I want to
thank you for watching until we meet again. May the
Lord bless you and keep you to help.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
You in your study of the Bible. We want to
send you this Bible correspondence course. This course is non denominational.
It's based on the Bible. It's conducted by mail and
it's free. To receive this course, write to Getting to
Know Your Bible, PO Box three one four, Summerdale, Alabama
three six five eight zero, or call toll free one

(28:12):
eight seven seven seven one one five two one four