Some time ago, I began blogging on our Sunday sermons to help myself review; today, I’m continuing that by covering our Jan. 3 sermon, on 1 Peter 4:7, by Pastor Peter Kim. You can stream the recording of this service here.

This sermon was our first of the year and set our church’s theme for the year, which is “Watch and pray”. Our text was this:

The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

Prayer constitutes a big blind spot in the western church. We’d be horrified by a pastor who decided to preach on Sunday without studying Scripture first, but what about one who did not pray? The Bible places prayer just as high in value as the Word of God.

I won’t summarize the whole sermon, as you can watch it, but we covered three points – the motivation for prayer, the preparation for prayer, and the power of prayer. Our motivation is, in part, that the end is near – specifically, the “end” in the sense of completion or consummation, that God is completing his work. This is the last period in salvation history, and we get to participate in it. In a way, it’s a call to gear up and fight. Persecution will increase, but so will opportunity. If we’re ready for spiritual battle, this will drive us to prayer.

We’re to prepare for prayer, then, by being of sound judgment and thought – studying the Word with prayer. We need to be changed by the Word, brought to sober judgment and thinking, participating in fellowship, and living for the life to come. Right theology without prayer and right living will get us nowhere.

The conclusion of all of this is so that we can pray; real power is not in discipline, training, organization, but in God. We can be doing all kinds of things, but if we’re not praying, we miss the point and will be lacking in power. We’re told in Scripture that if we do not have, it is because we do not ask, or we ask with wrong motives. We may have all kinds of problems, but many of them may result from lack of prayer. Without prayer, solving problems is like trying to jump the grand canyon by running faster.

I’ve already been challenged to pray more, and trying to build a greater habit of prayer, and this sermon really confirmed that to me, and rebuked me for my pride. Scripture is clear as to the value of prayer, so what needs to change is my heart and mind, so that I see it as just as essential as reading the Word.