The Necessities for Effective Prayer

We know we're in the Passion Week of Christ. He has entered into the city of Jerusalem on Monday. On Tuesday He came in and attacked and assaulted the temple. And by the time we come to our text in verse 22, it is Wednesday . . . Wednesday. On the next day, Thursday will be the Passover meal, on Friday the crucifixion, on Sunday the resurrection. So these are the last days of our Lord's life and ministry.

Now the subject of our verses, verses 22 to 25, and we'll actually back up to verse 20 so we get the flow, the subject here is prayer . . . prayer. And you might think that this is a kind of an odd place to do a lesson on prayer. It might seem to you that there could be other more pertinent things to talk about, given what is coming with the Lord dying, rising, ascending, and all that's bound up in that. But this lesson is absolutely critical and it's critical at this juncture.

Now nothing that our Lord says here is new. Everything He says here He has said somewhere else, probably many times not recorded. In the 24/7 three year experience of these disciples with Jesus, He repeated these things over and over again. This is very familiar. But it's also familiar to us because the things we're going to be reading are also elsewhere previously in the gospel accounts.

Why now? Why a lesson on prayer? Well it's really pretty simple if you just think about it. For three years, the disciples had lived in the presence of God Himself, God in human flesh. Anything they needed, He provided. It would seem to me that though they were raised to pray. . . .

http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/41-58