Sermon Outlines

By Frederick F. Schwindt, Evangelist

PRAYING IN THE NAME OF JESUS
Part 2

1. These divinely inspired words are thought provoking in every way:
   1. They inspire us to pray more
   2. They show the rich reward of prayer
   3. They indicate clearly that God's answer to prayer is conditional as all God's promises are
   4. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, is the one condition attached to prayers being answered by our heavenly Father

1. Its all-embracing privileges:
   1. Note our blessed Lord's promise, "Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you"; "And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" - John 14:13; "And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you" - Luke 11:9
   2. Can we visualize any greater privilege? Have we availed ourselves of this divine offer to us?
   3. Or do the sad words of James apply to us when he says, "Ye have not because ye ask not" James 4:2; or is it because we ask and receive not, because we ask amiss - James 4:3
2. But, note please:
   1. To pray in the name of Jesus means that we have His approval of our petition
   2. That means that we pray in harmony with His holy will - writes John, "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" - I John 3:22
   3. To do anything in the name of Jesus, simply means that we do it in His place - Col. 3:17; that means that when we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ we have the Lord's full approval
3. This, in turn, places our prayer in the name of Jesus into a new light altogether:
   1. We must first weigh our petition in the light of our relationship to the Lord Jesus, before we bring it to the Father in the name of Jesus
   2. Is it in harmony with His holy will? The word "whatsoever" as used in our opening text, is bounded by the holy will of God, by what is best for us, by what will be to the glory of God the Father

1. We are not alone in making and offering our petitions to the Father in the name of Jesus:
   1. We have a mighty helper - in the person of the Holy Ghost
   2. Says Paul, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" - Rom. 8:26
   3. He is our teacher, our guide, our helper, even when we pray - John 16:12-13; Luke 12:12
   4. The apostle Jude says, "But ye, beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" - Jude 20
2. What a glorious privilege is ours in our new and undeserved relationship to the Godhead:
   1. Sin had made us aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world
   2. But now in Christ Jesus we who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ - Eph. 2:11-16
   3. God has given to us the Spirit of kinship and we are able, through Jesus Christ to come to the Father, crying Abba Father - Rom. 8:14-17
   4. In view of these wonderful promises, how can we be indifferent to the privileges of prayer? How can we forfeit the blessings of God related to that blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ
   5. How blessed and inspiring are the words of the apostle Paul when he says, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. . . " - Eph. 3:14-16