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Hey everybody, this is Pastor 
John Ewart from Inglewood 

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Baptist Church in Rocky 
Mountain, North Carolina. 

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Thank you so much for tuning in 
to our podcast. 

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You're going to hear from God 
today as we share from his word 

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about important issues facing 
your life that can guide you 

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according to the Bible. 
All right, well, thanks for 

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joining us. 
Listen, we're here to talk about

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how do we abide in prayer with 
dependence and anticipation. 

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I always, I, you know, when you 
talk about prayer, I don't know 

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why I feel this way. 
I feel like that some people 

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just like, oh, I don't know why 
I feel that way. 

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Maybe that's not true at all. 
You all obviously aren't that 

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way because you're here and you 
want to learn. 

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But sometimes in the Christian 
life, I feel like prayer is 

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something that I don't know why 
it gets diminished or it's not 

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done well and it's not something
that people seek to grow in as 

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much. 
That may seem odd to you, Maybe 

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that's just stuff I've heard, 
but it's one of the most 

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important aspects of the 
Christian life. 

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And so we're going to actually 
talk about why. 

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Why do we pray? 
I mean, why? 

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Why do we even mess with this 
stuff? 

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Why do we do this? 
And then down the road, we're 

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going to talk about more of what
it is and how we do that and how

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the best ways to pray will be. 
Hopefully by the time we're done

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with this series, you'll have a 
prayer strategy that'll actually

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a personal prayer strategy 
that'll help you, that will be 

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practical for you. 
But over the years, Teresa and 

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I've been blessed by churches 
that I pastored that were known 

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for their prayer lives. 
But that's not always common 

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when, when I, when I would work 
with churches and you ask them, 

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describe yourself that you know,
well, we're a praying church. 

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And then I would say, well, 
describe your prayer life to me.

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And they talk about the three 
women who pray every other 

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Wednesday. 
And so, you know, they, so they,

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they think they are, but they're
not always are. 

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And, and so how do we actually 
become a praying people? 

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But we, we had the privilege of 
working with some churches that 

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really did pray, not necessarily
because of us, but we're doing 

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that before we got there and and
then some that we helped along 

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the way, I hope. 
But we, we really did to seek to

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create spiritual impact in our 
communities through this. 

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You should have a handout that 
you can download or you have 

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here. 
I felt like I tried to get too 

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much on the handout this time. 
I actually apologize to Michelle

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earlier for this, that I 
probably really did put too much

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on there. 
So hang in, hang in there with 

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me. 
But one of the ways that we saw 

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this happen is the way we prayed
for one another and for the 

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lost. 
And one of the mechanisms for 

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that was through the reach 
ministry that, that we 

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developed. 
And, and, and there were times, 

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and I've shared this with some 
of you and other contexts, but 

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there were times where we would 
receive between 5 and 600 prayer

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requests a week from people on 
our city that, that wasn't that 

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necessarily people from the 
church, that would be people 

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from the city, because we were 
reaching out through our connect

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our small groups with prayer 
requests to people out in the 

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community. 
And so we would have between 

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5:00 and 600 prayer requests to 
the point that we had this 

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reputation of you're that church
that prays for people, aren't 

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you? 
And people would actually call 

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us in the church office during 
the week to ask us to pray for 

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things, people that we didn't 
know, people out in the, in the 

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towns, because we had that kind 
of reputation, which is 1, I was

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thankful for. 
And, and, and so I pray we want 

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to grow in this. 
I pray we want to live for his 

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glory and, and impact the world.
And so understanding and valuing

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the pathways by which we can not
only pray, but actually achieve 

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stronger discipleship is really 
important. 

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And so one of the ways to do 
that, we talk about spiritual 

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disciplines. 
And, and for us, we're using a 

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model here right now with 7 
essentials based on Acts chapter

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2 and Acts chapter 13. 
And so we have kind of seven 

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ideas or essentials or 
dimensions of discipleship that 

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we talk about here. 
But these daily habits such as 

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prayer, these things can 
transform us. 

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They really will. 
But they, they won't do that 

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unless they're daily habits. 
And so these are things that 

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really do need to become normal 
patterns in our life to where 

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we're drawing closer to God and 
are being used to fulfill his 

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purpose for us. 
So the word discipline, I just 

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looked up some definitions 
online, frankly, and you have 

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them there from a variety of 
sources. 

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But discipline means training 
that corrects, it molds, it 

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perfects, it means to train 
oneself to do something in a 

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controlled and habitual way. 
It's an activity, exercise or 

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regimen that develops or 
improves a skill. 

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And I liked all three of these. 
I stole those from three 

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different places. 
And, and I like the fact that 

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that this is a discipline 
prayer. 

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It does correct us. 
It does mold us. 

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It does perfect us. 
It's going to help train us to 

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do something. 
And these spiritual disciplines 

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are things that ought to be 
habitual. 

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They ought to be habits in our 
life. 

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These are exercises, These are 
regular regiments as a part of 

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our life that are going to help 
us improve some kind of skill in

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life. 
And so, you know, one of the 

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questions that I often ask is do
we, you know, do you regularly, 

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do you habitually practice 
earthly skills or talents to 

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perform better at work or, or in
a game or on the course or out 

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on the boat or at the concert or
in the art studio? 

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And I've shared this, I've been 
talking to the staff about this.

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Think about these Olympic 
athletes and, and how much they 

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prepared for whatever seconds it
was they had to perform. 

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And it's interesting because are
we putting in the work to make 

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our life better here on earth, 
which is not a bad thing. 

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But how does that compare to the
regular habits, the habitual 

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regimen of of our lives 
spiritually that are useful for 

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eternal life? 
And so to think about that for a

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minute and how that works. 
First Timothy 4, verses 7 and 8.

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We've seen this verse before in 
different studies. 

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It says have nothing to do with 
irreverent, silly myths. 

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Rather train yourself and know 
that these are imperatives. 

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You have to do this. 
You have to train yourself. 

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The Holy Spirit's not going to 
come train you in this context. 

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Now the Holy Spirit saves us, 
the Holy Spirit's helping us, 

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the Holy Spirit's empowering us 
to do this. 

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But I have to take 
responsibility here and train 

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myself for godliness. 
What for a while bodily training

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is of some value. 
Godliness is a value in every 

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way, and it holds promise for 
the present life and also for 

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the life to come. 
So instead of these silly, 

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irreverent nonsense, we talked 
about this passage when we were 

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talking about the Bible, we're 
going to train ourselves. 

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The new American standard says 
discipline yourself. 

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The King James uses the word 
exercise because the Greek word 

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here is gymnasia, which ought to
sound familiar. 

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And so it's a very literal 
translation sometimes to say 

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just to exercise, to train, to 
work out your spiritual muscles.

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And that's internally important,
eternally important, because 

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it's going to lead us not only 
to the best place eternally, but

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it's also going to help us to 
live the best way now. 

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And but it, but it is a regular 
habit. 

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It's an exercise. 
Just like you would train a 

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muscle, you have spiritual 
muscles that you need to train. 

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And prayer is one of these key 
parts of this. 

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And often when people are honest
with me about their spiritual 

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walk, sometimes their Bible 
studies stronger than their 

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prayer life. 
And, and they, they, they don't 

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know, they, the prayer life 
seems boring. 

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I mean, they, they don't, you 
know, they, it takes a while to 

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admit these things, but the 
prayer life is boring. 

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It's not getting above the 
ceiling. 

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It's, it's not going, They don't
feel like they're getting a 

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result. 
They don't understand it. 

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So tonight I want us to 
understand what this really why 

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we should really do this in the 
1st place. 

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Because sometimes I think we 
have the wrong goal. 

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And so sometimes our prayer life
doesn't seem like it's working 

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right. 
But that's because we're not 

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seeking the right thing in our 
prayer life. 

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So we'll talk about that in a 
minute. 

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But Philippians 2 Paul writes, 
Therefore, my beloved, as you 

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have always obeyed, so now not 
only as in my presence, but much

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more my absence. 
Work out your own salvation. 

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See again, there are these 
imperatives with fear and 

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trembling. 
But then there's also this 

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counterbalance, which is key for
it is God who works in you. 

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Don't read verse 12 without 
verse 13. 

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So there's this interesting 
relationship between there's 

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certain things I'm responsible 
to do in my sanctification that 

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God wants me to do. 
He's going to help me. 

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I can't do it by my own 
strength, But God's also 

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miraculously, supernaturally 
still at work in me, and he's 

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going to enable me and pull 
things off through me that I 

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probably couldn't do by myself. 
And so it because he's working 

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to me both to will and to work 
for his good pleasure. 

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But notice whose pleasure that 
is, not my good pleasure. 

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And sometimes that's part of the
problem in prayer. 

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We're going to get to that part.
You know, it's why are you 

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praying what you're praying? 
What's what's your motivation? 

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What's your goal? 
And if you're only going prayer 

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is to get, you're missing it. 
You got to give in prayer just 

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as much as you want to get in 
prayer. 

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And that's, that's a real key. 
And that's what often is not 

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taking place in people's lives 
because people are rushing it. 

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I'm too busy to pray. 
I don't have time to pray. 

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I don't have time to read my 
Bible. 

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These are disciplines. 
And so if you have time to go to

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the gym, if you have time to, to
to study for the test, if you 

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have time to, you know, prepare 
whatever you got to prepare for 

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work, these are the same kind of
things you have to take time 

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for. 
You have to make the time to do 

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these things. 
So train, discipline, exercise, 

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workout. 
Think of these words, these 

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commands in the original 
language. 

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So there's a covenant 
responsibility, a commitment, 

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responsibility toward ongoing 
intentional discipleship that we

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have. 
And so we're going to draw all 

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this to prayer here in just a 
second. 

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So we got to put our personal 
faith effort in and we got to 

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make the time. 
We got to set aside the priority

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and be and be very sure about 
this. 

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Now, one of the things that's 
really important is in this 

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passage, for example, and don't 
ever get confused by this, 

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Paul's writing to Christians. 
So he's not telling you how to 

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be saved. 
You're not working out your 

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salvation. 
That's not at all what this is 

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talking about in terms of being 
saved. 

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These people are already saved. 
Now he's talking about, so how 

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do you live as a Christian? 
How do you live in your 

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sanctification, in your 
discipleship? 

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Because you got to understand 
salvation is an event. 

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We're saved from our from the 
penalty of our sin, but 

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salvation is also a continuous 
thing. 

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He, he's continually saving us 
toward the end of time and 

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sanctifying us along the way. 
So we're not working to be 

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saved. 
We're working because we are. 

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And just so we want to apply 
this kind of action to personal 

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growth. 
So these regular work habits 

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like prayer, they have to be 
practiced. 

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They have to be exercised. 
You got to work out. 

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You're going to get sore. 
There are times you're not going

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to want to do it. 
Satan's going to make sure you 

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don't want to do it, but you 
also have to lead us. 

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This will lead us to a deeper, 
much more intimate discipleship.

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And then it's going to spill 
out, hopefully in works of love 

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toward the world as we show the 
gospel with others. 

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But simply practicing, and this 
is a real key point, and people 

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miss this because we have a 
tendency as human beings to 

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believe in works righteousness. 
If that's the natural default 

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setting for human beings, 
somehow I've got to earn this. 

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And so somehow we think in our 
minds that somehow I've got to 

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work my way up to approval by 
God and then I got to keep 

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working my way up in approval to
God. 

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And we don't understand grace. 
Grace is very difficult for 

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humans to understand. 
And every other world religion 

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then is, that's why every other 
world religion is different, 

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because the only, the only true 
faith is the one that says we 

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don't have to do it that way, 
that God came to us, that God 

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sacrificed for us. 
But this also applies to our 

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discipleship. 
So we need to recognize that 

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simply practicing spiritual 
disciplines is not the ultimate 

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goal. 
Your goal is not to have a good 

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prayer life. 
Your goal is to have deep 

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intimacy with God. 
And there's a big difference 

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between the two. 
You can pray 3 hours a day and 

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not walk with God. 
You can walk through all the 

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rituals and all the disciplines 
and not have a close 

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relationship with God. 
And so we've got to recognize 

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that these spiritual disciplines
of prayer is a means to an end. 

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And that's what is not the goal.
It's a means to an end. 

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So practicing, you got to think 
of it in real life, out here in 

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the real world, practicing is 
not the end goal. 

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You don't practice sports, you 
don't practice music. 

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So you can brag about what a 
great all the great practice 

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sessions you had. 
You do those things and you work

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hard in a rigorous, rigorously 
scheduled practice schedule so 

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you can play and perform at your
very best in the real game, in 

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the concert. 
And our spiritual lives are no 

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different. 
These church disciplines help us

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to actually participate in the 
real game, which is our walk 

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with Christ. 
So in our church membership and 

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our personal and intentional 
discipleship issues, we 

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ultimately seek to commune with 
God. 

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And that's an important word. 
I'm going to use two important 

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words about why pray commune. 
Communion is one of them. 

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And, and to understand what that
word really means. 

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I don't mean the Lord's Supper. 
I I mean a relationship. 

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It's communion with God and to 
become more like Jesus and how 

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we act and how we think and how 
we feel. 

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You're not just going to 
automatically become that way. 

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You're not just going to 
automatically become more like 

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Jesus. 
There are things you need to do 

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in your life in order to help 
you to become more like Jesus. 

268
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And those aren't the end games. 
The end game is to be more like 

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Jesus. 
But, but I need Bible study. 

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I need prayer, I need the 
church, I need connect groups. 

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I need all these pieces that you
hear me harping on you about all

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00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:07,760
the time. 
But all these pieces together, 

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00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,520
because I believe and I've 
experienced and I've seen too 

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00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:13,200
many times, I believe the Bible 
teaches that these things 

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00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:15,640
together, if we do them the 
right way and we do them well, 

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00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:20,400
it's going to help me become 
more like Jesus and to be closer

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00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:23,560
to him. 
So perfectly practicing 

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00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:25,840
spiritual disciplines isn't even
the goal. 

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00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:32,240
Now, it's a good thing, I hope, 
but intimacy, intimacy with an 

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00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,920
obedience to God, that these 
things that bring him great 

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00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:41,880
glory, those are the goals. 
So why pray? 

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00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,880
Why do that? 
So our goal, again is not a 

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00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:50,960
great prayer life. 
Our goal is intimate communion 

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00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:54,120
and authentic communication with
God. 

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00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:57,760
Now there's your sentence. 
And if that doesn't satisfy you,

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00:14:57,920 --> 00:14:59,680
you need to think about the 
sentence harder. 

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00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,320
Our goal is this intimate 
communion and authentic 

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00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:09,240
communication with God. 
If you had that and you really 

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00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:11,200
had that, you wouldn't want to 
get rid of it. 

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00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,640
I mean, you got to think about 
what that sentence means. 

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00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:17,920
So let's talk about it for a 
little bit. 

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So personal holiness, Christ 
likeness, these are goals. 

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So prayer is an invited, but 
it's also a commanded communion 

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and communication with God. 
It's pretty amazing. 

295
00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:35,920
They didn't used to have it the 
way we have it. 

296
00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:40,560
I'm, I'm in the Old Testament in
one book every day and I'm in 

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00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,000
the New Testament in another one
every day in my personal time. 

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00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,120
And I'm reading about numbers 
and talking about how the 

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00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:48,880
Levites were the only ones who 
could touch the Tabernacle. 

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00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:51,400
They were the only ones who 
could move the Tabernacle In the

301
00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:53,200
Old Testament. 
You couldn't just storm into the

302
00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:56,000
holy of holies. 
You can just storm into the holy

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00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,000
of holies and grab a hold of 
the, of the the ark of the 

304
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,280
covenant and talk to God. 
You'd be destroyed. 

305
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:04,560
You had to go through somebody 
else. 

306
00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:08,800
Well, Jesus became to somebody 
else and now you have the Holy 

307
00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:11,480
of holies living inside of you 
and it's called the Holy Spirit.

308
00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:17,320
So to think about the incredible
privilege we have to, to not 

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00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:21,720
only to not only pray because 
we're supposed to, but to pray 

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00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,840
because we're allowed to. 
And, and that's part of the 

311
00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:27,560
issue. 
So part of our issue, part of 

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00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:31,440
our issue with our prayer lives 
is really our, our, our, an 

313
00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,840
issue with our God life to 
probably understand who he is 

314
00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,520
and what we really have the 
opportunity to do. 

315
00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,440
So. 
So it's God, God, God uses all 

316
00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,480
kinds of external things in our 
lives to move us and to guide 

317
00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,840
us, to change us. 
He'll use people, he'll use life

318
00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:49,880
circumstances. 
Sometimes he'll use crisis. 

319
00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:54,760
But think about it, what the one
area within our own obedient 

320
00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:58,760
control and our own 
responsibility are these 

321
00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:01,120
spiritual disciplines. 
And one of those is prayer. 

322
00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:06,200
I control my prayer life. 
I control whether or not I'm 

323
00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:10,200
going to talk to God or not. 
I'm going to control whether or 

324
00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:12,040
not I'm going to listen to God 
or not. 

325
00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:15,880
It's pretty amazing. 
And so it's interesting. 

326
00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:19,079
We have to choose to live out 
the command verbs in Scripture 

327
00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:22,680
pointing to our obedient 
responsibility in this training 

328
00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:25,640
process, this disciple in 
process, this exercising 

329
00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:29,120
process, working out our 
spiritual growth, so to speak. 

330
00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:31,160
So I can't just blame somebody 
else. 

331
00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:32,360
Now. 
People do it. 

332
00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:34,800
I've heard it. 
I don't know how many times I've

333
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:38,160
heard it. 
I'm not being fed, you know. 

334
00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:40,800
So you will blame the pastor, 
we'll blame the church, we'll 

335
00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:42,920
blame the connect group leader 
or whoever going. 

336
00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:45,840
I'm not being fed. 
I'm not growing spiritually. 

337
00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,880
And sometimes they're horrible 
and sometimes there's some truth

338
00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:50,200
to it. 
They're not doing a good job of 

339
00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,760
helping you grow. 
But a lot of times I it's also 

340
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:58,400
because you're not growing 
spiritually, you're not honestly

341
00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:03,360
and faithfully taking the proper
personal responsibility for your

342
00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:07,880
own personal spiritual life to 
pursue these disciplines, 

343
00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:12,120
including prayer. 
Jude I always like quoting Jude.

344
00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:13,720
I don't get to quote Jude too 
often. 

345
00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,000
Jude one. 
But you, beloved, building 

346
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,720
yourselves up. 
See these verbs, building 

347
00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:24,440
yourselves up in your most holy 
faith and praying in the Holy 

348
00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,680
Spirit. 
Keep yourselves in the love of 

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00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:30,840
God, waiting for the mercy of 
our Lord Jesus Christ that leads

350
00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,880
to eternal life. 
Now again, we can't do this on 

351
00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:35,920
our own. 
Other verses are going to tell 

352
00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:38,200
us that we need the power of the
Holy Spirit to do this. 

353
00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:40,320
We need this help to. 
So there's this incredible 

354
00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:42,800
partnership we saw back in 
Philippians that's going on, 

355
00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:45,240
right? 
But God commands us to build, to

356
00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:49,600
keep, to wait to reach this 
highest level of spiritual 

357
00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:52,000
maturity. 
And, and so if you want to be 

358
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,560
full of the Holy Spirit, if you 
want to walk in love, if you 

359
00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,520
want to walk in the mercy of 
God, we have to discipline 

360
00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:00,200
ourselves to this level of 
commitment, this level of 

361
00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,840
communion, this level of 
communication to yearn for this 

362
00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:08,000
spiritual maturity. 
You got to exercise. 

363
00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:10,840
So prayer is this incredible 
doorway to that intimate 

364
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:15,000
communion. 
But again, back to Philippians 

365
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:19,000
2, just remember that second 
part where he says first he says

366
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:23,240
to work out your own salvation 
in verse 12, but then in verse 

367
00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,880
13, for it is God who works in 
you. 

368
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,480
You see the partnership. 
It's amazing that God allows us 

369
00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:32,360
to be in partnership with Him 
like this. 

370
00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:35,520
So we obediently do our part. 
God is always going to 

371
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,200
faithfully do His part. 
The more I do my part, the more 

372
00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:42,200
He's going to do His part, and 
He guides us in His will step by

373
00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:44,760
step. 
Engage in in practice these 

374
00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,000
personal, corporate, spiritual 
disciplines, especially prayer, 

375
00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,840
so that we can be become 
continuous conduits through 

376
00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:55,720
which His grace flows. 
Charles Spurgeon once said this.

377
00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:58,760
You see it. 
I must take care above all that 

378
00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:02,400
I cultivate communion with 
Christ, for though that can 

379
00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:06,880
never be the basis of my peace, 
it will be a channel of it. 

380
00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:11,080
In other words, in other words, 
this is this is something that 

381
00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:15,120
needs to flow through me. 
The old Greek word methatase for

382
00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:17,760
disciple, One of the, one of the
meanings of that word is the 

383
00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:20,240
mental effort needed to think 
something through. 

384
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,160
So this is a person who's 
constantly thinking, constantly 

385
00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,400
learning, constantly working 
through how to solve things. 

386
00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,880
This is a person who's 
constantly trying to to better 

387
00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:32,040
themselves. 
And so this is a person who 

388
00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:34,920
never stops learning, never 
stops seeking to grow. 

389
00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:40,280
But now listen, I know people, I
know people who've been 

390
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:45,000
Christians for years and I and 
they just seem a mild, wide and 

391
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:49,120
an inch deep spiritually. 
Now they're in church every 

392
00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:53,200
week. 
They're they're in their Sunday 

393
00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:56,240
school class every week. 
They're going through the 

394
00:20:56,240 --> 00:21:01,720
motions, but there seems to be 
no depth of, of relationship, no

395
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:04,600
depth of intimacy, no depth of 
communion. 

396
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,320
I don't sense this real truth 
about communication, which I'm 

397
00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:09,680
going to talk about a whole lot 
more in a minute. 

398
00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:13,360
But but they seem spiritually 
undisciplined, driven here and 

399
00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:18,000
there by every experience and 
emotion and feeling and 

400
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,200
everything they read and 
everything they hear rather than

401
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:22,600
Scripture. 
And they're just not producing 

402
00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:26,280
fruit in their life. 
They have no spiritual power. 

403
00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:31,240
They, they just seem to be 
shifted by every changing wind 

404
00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:34,000
that comes along. 
And as Paul said back in First 

405
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,760
Timothy 4, they, they focus on 
irrelevant or irreverent. 

406
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:41,280
Silly Miss, I've said this to 
you before. 

407
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:43,760
My mother was a musician, I 
won't go into this long, but 

408
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,080
went to Juilliard School of 
Music, New York, which was a big

409
00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:49,160
deal for a little girl from 
Tahlequah, OK. 

410
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,080
Probably the only little girl 
from Tahlequah, OK who'd ever 

411
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,520
gone to Juilliard at that point 
in time because in those days 

412
00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:58,720
there weren't a whole lot of 
little girls in Tahlequah, OK. 

413
00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:02,680
And she studied and majored in 
woodwinds. 

414
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,360
I've said this to you before. 
She could play 12 instruments. 

415
00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:09,240
She was a master teacher and 
instrumentalist in the area of 

416
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:12,000
woodwinds. 
Played with Benny Goodman in big

417
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:15,360
band in big band era. 
For those of you who are old 

418
00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:17,600
enough to have any idea what a 
big band is and who Benny 

419
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:24,000
Goodman is and and play 
clarinet, he she played clarinet

420
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,920
along with Benny Goodman. 
And so to think about that, do 

421
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:32,400
do do you think my mom just 
randomly picked up a clarinet 

422
00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,840
every now and then and whenever 
she felt like it or it was 

423
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,360
convenient to her to master that
instrument? 

424
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,760
Of course not. 
I mean, it was hours and hours 

425
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:48,600
and hours and days and weeks and
years of practice to get to the 

426
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:54,200
level that she was. 
And so to live in this ever 

427
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:58,240
deepening, abundant, fruit 
producing disciple making life 

428
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:03,600
that God wants us to live, to be
able to commune with him this 

429
00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:05,640
way and communicate with him 
this way. 

430
00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:09,520
Prayer is a major, major 
pathway. 

431
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:13,440
We'll talk later in this series 
about it's also a weapon, but 

432
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:18,200
we'll talk about that later. 
So First Corinthians 2 just 

433
00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:21,560
reminds us of this. 
I mean, this is deeply intimate.

434
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,680
Listen to this closely. 
Yet among the mature we do 

435
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:29,200
impart wisdom, although it is 
not a wisdom of this age or of 

436
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,680
the rulers of this age who are 
doomed to pass away, but we 

437
00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:37,360
impart a secret and hidden 
wisdom of God, which God decreed

438
00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:41,080
before the ages for our glory. 
None of the rulers of this age 

439
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:43,480
understand this, for if they 
had, they would not have 

440
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:47,360
crucified the Lord of glory. 
But as it is written, what no 

441
00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:51,320
eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor
the heart of man imagined, and 

442
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,040
what God has prepared for those 
who love him, these things God 

443
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:56,800
has revealed to us through the 
Spirit. 

444
00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:01,160
For the Spirit searches 
everything, even the depths of 

445
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:03,440
God. 
For who knows a person's 

446
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:06,400
thoughts except the spirit of 
that person which is in him? 

447
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,400
So also no one comprehends the 
thoughts of God except the 

448
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,200
Spirit of God. 
Now we have received not the 

449
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,640
spirit of the world, but the 
Spirit who is from God, that we 

450
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,880
might understand the things 
freely given to us by God. 

451
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,240
And we impart this in words not 
taught by human wisdom, but 

452
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:25,040
taught by the Spirit, 
interpreting spiritual truths to

453
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,960
those who are spiritual. 
The natural person does not 

454
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:30,840
accept the things of the Spirit 
of God for their folly to him, 

455
00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:33,200
and he's not able to understand 
them because they are 

456
00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,560
spiritually discerned. 
But the spiritual person judges 

457
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:39,600
all things for him, but he 
himself is to be judged by no 

458
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:41,880
one. 
For who has understood the mind 

459
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,400
of the Lord, so as to instruct 
him. 

460
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:51,440
But we now this last sentence is
huge, but we have the mind of 

461
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,760
Christ. 
I mean, what a powerful sentence

462
00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,160
really. 
Because of the Holy Spirit, 

463
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:03,680
because He indwells us, we have 
the opportunity to plug into 

464
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:09,240
this, to plug into the thoughts 
of God, to plug into the depths 

465
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:14,760
of God, to understand what God 
wants and to have the mind of 

466
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:16,200
Christ. 
I mean, this is incredibly 

467
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:18,360
intimate. 
So to understand the thoughts 

468
00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:21,680
and ways of God that he intends 
for us to understand, you can 

469
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,880
understand that that he intends 
for us and our family and and 

470
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:29,280
our church to understand, we 
have to be in constant communion

471
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,080
with His Spirit to have the mind
of Christ. 

472
00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:38,080
And that connection to His 
Spirit is prayer primarily, and 

473
00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:40,480
the Word. 
We're going to talk about that 

474
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:45,240
relationship later too. 
So to be that intimate, to be 

475
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:51,040
that controlled by him, thinking
and discerning like him, wise 

476
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:53,680
like him, living like him. 
Now, we're never going to be 

477
00:25:53,680 --> 00:26:00,640
exactly like him. 
But this requires habitual, 

478
00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:05,320
intentional time and prayer. 
We got to go to Him even in our 

479
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:09,000
anger, even in our frustration, 
even in our sinfulness, even in 

480
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:10,760
our hurt. 
And we just got to be honest 

481
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:13,560
with God. 
And we can do that in prayer. 

482
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:16,640
He can. 
And He wants to handle your 

483
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,440
pain. 
He's right there ready for it. 

484
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,240
That that's part of what Hebrews
416 is all about. 

485
00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:25,720
Let let us then with confidence 
draw near to the throne of 

486
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:29,680
grace, that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help in time 

487
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:34,760
of need, not just in time of 
joy, but in time of hurt. 

488
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,080
In fact, the word confidence, 
there to go with confidence 

489
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:40,640
means to come with this complete
honesty. 

490
00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,360
It's the word means openness, to
come with a complete openness 

491
00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:47,160
before God, laying it all bare 
before Him. 

492
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,840
God wants us to come to Him just
as we are, just wherever we're 

493
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:52,840
starting with all of our junk we
carry. 

494
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:57,800
Because He already knows all 
about your junk anyway, and He 

495
00:26:57,800 --> 00:26:59,320
wants you to talk to Him about 
it. 

496
00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:03,640
He wants you to bring it to Him,
and prayer is a vehicle for 

497
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:07,840
this. 
So we need people who know how 

498
00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:09,480
to pray. 
We need prayer warriors as 

499
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:11,520
described by Pastor Charles last
time. 

500
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,960
And I've known some, but they 
tend to stand out in my life 

501
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,960
because they're so few. 
So we should all become like 

502
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,480
this. 
First Corinthians 3 says this. 

503
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,080
But I, brothers, could not 
address you as spiritual people,

504
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,120
but as people of the flesh, as 
infants in Christ. 

505
00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:30,640
I fed you with milk, not solid 
food, for you are not ready for 

506
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:33,840
it. 
And even now you're not yet 

507
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:38,560
ready. 
How long will it take us to be 

508
00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,080
ready? 
Many aren't ready. 

509
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,360
Many are still spiritual and 
spiritual infants and and the 

510
00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:46,160
frustrating part of it is many 
don't even know it. 

511
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,600
They don't even know it. 
They have so few mature, 

512
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:54,400
discipled role models around 
them and examples around them 

513
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:56,880
upon which to look and to learn.
They don't even know what 

514
00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:01,640
they're supposed to look like, 
so they stare at and compare 

515
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,920
themselves with each other. 
Well, I'm better than he is. 

516
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:08,440
I'm doing better than they are, 
so I must be OK instead of 

517
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:12,240
focusing on Christ. 
And many Christians settle for 

518
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:14,600
well, I'm as good as he is, so I
must be fine. 

519
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:17,680
I'm better than they are, so I 
must be in pretty good shape. 

520
00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,520
And that's not your marker. 
That's not your measuring stick.

521
00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:25,160
So they're they're not 
disciplined in their time. 

522
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,000
They're not disciplined in their
focus upon him and who he 

523
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,840
desires for them to be. 
So in the meantime, the Bible 

524
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:32,800
expects, we've seen it. 
We've seen it tonight. 

525
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,440
The Bible expects, the Bible 
commands that we build our 

526
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,440
relationship in him and our 
knowledge with him. 

527
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:42,800
We built, we have to build with 
those proper materials like 

528
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:44,920
prayer or we're going to waste 
this life. 

529
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,520
And so, and we're not going to 
be used to our greatest 

530
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:52,000
potential in this life. 
It's going to pass you by. 

531
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,720
Prayer is 1 incredible strong 
building block. 

532
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,240
In fact, it's also been 
described as the mortar that 

533
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,000
holds all the other building 
blocks together. 

534
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:05,040
And so it's hugely important. 
So we have to seek the mind of 

535
00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,120
Christ then that that's what 
that's our attitude in prayer. 

536
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:10,720
My, my attitude in prayer is, is
not, boy, did I make it through 

537
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,760
the list? 
Did I get everything I wanted 

538
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:18,400
from God? 
You know, Teresa brought in some

539
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,720
food for me tonight because I 
didn't have time to go anywhere.

540
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,240
And so she brought in some food 
and I was supposed to have fried

541
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:25,680
okra. 
And I opened the container and I

542
00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:29,320
had French fries. 
Oh, yeah. 

543
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:31,320
No, no, no, no. 
I'm going back. 

544
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,400
I'm. 
I'm taking a receipt with me. 

545
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,600
And I'm because that fried, 
fried okra and fried and old 

546
00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:39,080
French fries, they're not the 
same thing. 

547
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:43,240
I didn't get what I wanted from 
you. 

548
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:46,240
God, this isn't working. 
Prayer doesn't work. 

549
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,200
I'm going to reorder. 
See if you give me what I want 

550
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:52,440
next time. 
We've got to be careful here. 

551
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:54,600
That's not what they seek. 
The mind of Christ. 

552
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:56,040
Think about that as your prayer 
aspect. 

553
00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:00,360
I'm seeking the mind of Christ. 
I want to think as He thinks. 

554
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,920
I want to see as he sees. 
I want to define as he defines. 

555
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,560
I want to decide as he decides. 
Now we're never going to be 

556
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:11,600
Jesus, but that's our marker. 
Philippians 25 says it. 

557
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,520
That's not my guess. 
I'm not just some preacher 

558
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,200
making this up. 
He says have this mind among 

559
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,080
yourselves which is yours in 
Christ Jesus. 

560
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,400
Or another translation would 
say, let this mind be in you, 

561
00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:27,560
which was also in Christ Jesus. 
We are commanded to seek the 

562
00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:31,040
mind of Christ. 
Prayer. 

563
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:35,200
Now, the word of God is also 
incredibly important here, but 

564
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:39,320
prayer is one of the means to 
this incredible state of wisdom,

565
00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,840
of maturity, of action, a state 
of being. 

566
00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:47,280
But in this is the key. 
But this is a key point, and 

567
00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:49,440
this is part of part of the 
problem in some people's prayer 

568
00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:50,960
lives. 
I need to pay attention to this.

569
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:55,560
You got to learn the concept of 
wait, why am I talking? 

570
00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:59,600
It's what that stands for. 
It's a good thing to learn in 

571
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:01,320
conversation too. 
Why am I talking? 

572
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:03,320
I've I've shared with you 
before, I should have brought it

573
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:04,640
tonight. 
I got a big sign. 

574
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,120
It sits on the floor in my 
office because it's just for me.

575
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:09,440
And it says never miss a good 
chance to shut up. 

576
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,280
I'm telling you, sitting right 
there behind my desk. 

577
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:16,120
Why am I talking? 
And so I don't think we 

578
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:20,560
understand this part of prayer. 
We think all prayer is a time is

579
00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:24,120
us talking and it's not. 
You're missing it. 

580
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:26,080
I'm going to make a big point 
about this in a minute. 

581
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:30,360
We got to listen. 
We need to spend time meditating

582
00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:35,440
on His will, listening to Him 
instead of just barraging God, 

583
00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:38,600
instead of just ambushing God 
with our litany of requests. 

584
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,960
So simply going through these 
ritualistic motions of prayer 

585
00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:46,240
lists is not necessarily going 
to get you to your desired 

586
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:47,880
destination. 
I'm not saying don't use prayer 

587
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:51,480
lists because there's a moment 
for request, there's a moment 

588
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:53,760
for supplication, there's a 
moment for intercession. 

589
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:55,680
But that's not the only moment 
in prayer. 

590
00:31:55,760 --> 00:32:00,800
And if that's all you're doing 
in prayer, no wonder you're not 

591
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:02,720
praying, right? 
How's that? 

592
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:08,640
You're not praying so good, 
you're incomplete. 

593
00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:11,880
You're just seeking what you 
want in your mind. 

594
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:14,960
You're not seeking the mind of 
Christ. 

595
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:17,760
You're not seeking what He 
wants. 

596
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:19,040
You're just seeking what you 
want. 

597
00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:23,520
That's not really prayer. 
We need to remember why we are 

598
00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:26,000
praying. 
Why are we doing this? 

599
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:28,840
Powerful praying is communion 
with God. 

600
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:31,960
Powerful praying is the 
prerequisite to knowing God's 

601
00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:33,960
purpose. 
Notice this has nothing to do 

602
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,520
with me asking me wanting to 
know what I want to know. 

603
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:38,800
This is about me wanting to know
what God wants me to know. 

604
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:42,800
Prayer is this pathway to 
knowing God's purpose. 

605
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,000
Prayer is this, this thing that 
will produce passion for knowing

606
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,360
God's purpose. 
So it creates the building 

607
00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:51,760
blocks for this deep intimacy 
with Christ, and then that leads

608
00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:53,440
you to the life He wants you to 
live for him. 

609
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:57,720
It's a path to a stronger 
corporate body as well. 

610
00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:02,320
So for the entire church, if we 
begin to pray this way, God, God

611
00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,440
will guard our hearts and minds 
spiritually together. 

612
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:11,680
Now, the opposite of that, lack 
of this kind of prayer will 

613
00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:16,840
result in very little fruit, no 
power, a lack of connectivity to

614
00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:20,600
the Holy Spirit, perhaps even a 
sense of Christianity as being a

615
00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:23,720
failure or boring or 
restrictive. 

616
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:28,520
So we need to submit to this 
pathway of this true intimacy 

617
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,000
with and knowledge of Christ in 
prayer. 

618
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,320
And in fact, one day the Bible 
tells us that we will be more 

619
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:37,480
like him. 
But in the meantime, I'm 

620
00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:41,000
commanded. 
It's not a suggestion, it's a 

621
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,920
command. 
Just like you shouldn't steal, 

622
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:47,640
just like you shouldn't murder, 
you are commanded to pray in a 

623
00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:51,440
certain way, and we should do 
this. 

624
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,480
We are commanded to discipline 
ourselves, to build and to work 

625
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:58,000
towards spiritual maturity, to 
strive to be more like him right

626
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,160
now. 
So I need to develop these 

627
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:04,040
habits of prayer in these 
discipline patterns. 

628
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:06,800
I need the Holy Spirit. 
I need the fellowship of other 

629
00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:08,320
Christians in the church to help
me. 

630
00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,880
We need to help one another. 
I might again, I might need a 

631
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:16,080
crisis to help me. 
I've seen people driven to their

632
00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:20,400
knees in the middle of crisis 
and watch God work. 

633
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:24,600
So pray God will help. 
Pray God will strengthen you. 

634
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:26,639
And again, Satan's going to do 
all he can. 

635
00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:29,480
He he does not want you to pray.
Let me tell you, he's scared of 

636
00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,360
this. 
The Bible will tell you this is 

637
00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:32,920
a weapon. 
We'll talk about that later. 

638
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:36,719
Go to Ephesians 6. 
This is a weapon sometime and 

639
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:40,360
Satan scared of prayer. 
The last thing Satan wants you 

640
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:41,800
to do is actually to talk to 
God. 

641
00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:45,840
See, you can talk to church, you
can talk to the preacher, you 

642
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:48,760
can sit and listen, but you 
start talking to God. 

643
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:54,600
You're in the danger zone. 
So be careful, but pray every 

644
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:56,920
day, not just for yourself, your
own need to grow and your 

645
00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,240
desires, but you pray for others
in the church. 

646
00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:02,120
You pray for unsaved. 
I strongly suggest you get in a 

647
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:03,840
connect group where you can pray
together. 

648
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,120
Get your kids in our family 
ministries where they'll learn 

649
00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,240
to pray together, but you also 
got to spend that personal time 

650
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,480
honestly seeking. 
But, but let me not only talk 

651
00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:15,560
about communion, but let me talk
about this authentic 

652
00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:17,880
communication for a minute. 
Because one of the things I 

653
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:21,120
actually teach classes on 
communicate, commutative theory 

654
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:22,800
and cross cultural 
communication. 

655
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,160
And one of the things I've 
understood about communication 

656
00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:29,000
is, is most human beings don't 
do it and most human beings 

657
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:32,680
don't know what it is. 
They have real misunderstandings

658
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:37,320
of what communication really is.
In fact, one of the, the old 

659
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,600
adages came out of Broadway. 
So I hate to quote Broadway too 

660
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:42,800
much, but and, and that is the 
greatest myth about 

661
00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:44,600
communications, that it actually
took place. 

662
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:48,520
And we think we're 
communicating, especially in 

663
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:52,440
this culture when we're not. 
I'll, I'll explain that. 

664
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:54,920
Remember that the root of the 
word communication is the word 

665
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,080
common. 
So the more I have in common 

666
00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:00,240
with somebody, the more likely I
should be able to communicate 

667
00:36:00,240 --> 00:36:02,640
with that person. 
Well, but don't just think about

668
00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:04,880
that with another human being. 
Think about that, about God. 

669
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,320
What do I have in common with 
God that helps me to communicate

670
00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:12,400
best with God? 
What are the things in my life 

671
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:16,560
that are godly that will help me
best communicate with him? 

672
00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:18,720
So that I'll say a lot about our
prayer life. 

673
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:23,040
We carry biases, we carry 
prejudice into communication 

674
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:27,600
even with God. 
And, and, and we, we sometimes 

675
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:31,160
follow my words because if 
you've been here, you know these

676
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:34,800
words. 
We, we, we tend to not, not 

677
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:37,160
exegete in prayer, which is what
we ought to do. 

678
00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:39,880
We ought to be exegetical in our
prayer life. 

679
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:42,720
We're, we're getting out of our 
prayer life what God wants us to

680
00:36:42,720 --> 00:36:46,360
get out of our prayer life. 
But we tend to isajete or 

681
00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:50,560
narsajete into our prayer life. 
We're reading into our prayer 

682
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:52,360
life. 
We're making the prayer life 

683
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:55,440
just about us. 
And your prayer life is not just

684
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:58,720
about you. 
Your prayer life is about God 

685
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:04,080
and you got to acknowledge that 
this is a moment of worship. 

686
00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:07,280
In fact, this is the difference,
and I've shared this with some 

687
00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:08,560
of you before. 
This is the difference between 

688
00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:12,680
magic and faith. 
The very idea of magic is, is 

689
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:16,400
that I control the forces for my
own benefit or to curse someone 

690
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:18,640
else. 
I can control the forces of 

691
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:20,160
nature. 
I can control the forces of 

692
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:23,640
whatever occultic thing it is 
and I can control those things 

693
00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:27,760
through spells and incantations 
and and rituals so that I can 

694
00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:29,680
either get you or I can bless 
me. 

695
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,280
And that's what some people 
treat prayer like. 

696
00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:39,080
If I say the right words, 
abracadabra poof, I'm going to 

697
00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:43,560
get whatever I want. 
I can name it and I can what, 

698
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:48,240
claim it and it's mine according
to the promises of God. 

699
00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:52,200
And when you ice a Jeep and take
verses way out of context, you 

700
00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:57,520
can make the Bible support you. 
So even answered or unanswered 

701
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,280
prayers can be confusing. 
They can be misinterpreted. 

702
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:02,600
And this is really, really 
important. 

703
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:06,440
That's why answered prayers must
be in accordance with God's 

704
00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:10,280
Word. 
Prayer and the Bible must be 

705
00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:13,200
congruent. 
You can't sit there and tell me 

706
00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:15,800
that God told you to do 
something that not in this book.

707
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:19,440
I can't believe you. 
I'm sorry. 

708
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,600
You're not Joseph Smith. 
You don't get to create your own

709
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:24,640
religion. 
You don't get to have your own 

710
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:27,480
secret visions with special 
glasses and old Egyptian 

711
00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:29,840
hieroglyphics that you then 
translate into King James 

712
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:32,480
English. 
You don't get to do that. 

713
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:34,360
If you have no idea what I just 
said, you're OK. 

714
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:40,360
And so the authority of 
scripture and the authenticity 

715
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:44,080
of prayer must be congruent. 
That's a good sentence. 

716
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:45,480
I don't know who wrote it, but 
it's a good one. 

717
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:51,640
That might actually be me, I 
don't know, probably meditate on

718
00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:56,320
the word and pray the promises 
of Scripture. 

719
00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:58,200
Charles talked about that last 
time too. 

720
00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:03,760
And so because here, here's the 
deal, in prayer, you must 

721
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:08,120
actually communicate with God. 
Now that might seem dud to you, 

722
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:12,120
but it's not because that's not 
just telling him requests. 

723
00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:16,960
That's not communication. 
Communication is not simply 

724
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,840
telling somebody something 
hoping they hear you. 

725
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:22,800
That is not communication. 
It's not. 

726
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:24,200
That's lecture. 
Listen. 

727
00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:26,800
That's not communication. 
Well, I told them they ought to 

728
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:27,720
know. 
No, they don't know. 

729
00:39:27,720 --> 00:39:29,080
They shouldn't. 
No, they shouldn't. 

730
00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:30,600
That's ridiculous. 
That's one of the most 

731
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:31,920
ridiculous things about the 
pulpit. 

732
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:35,000
I stand up here and I monologue 
to you for who knows how many 

733
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:37,640
minutes, and you all endure it, 
and I have no idea whether you 

734
00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:42,040
understood a word I said or not.
See, true communication is a 

735
00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:45,400
closed loop. 
The goal of true communication 

736
00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:49,280
is not whether you heard me. 
The true goal of communication 

737
00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:53,240
is did you understand me and do 
I understand you? 

738
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,880
There's a loop of feedback 
that's going on here. 

739
00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:02,280
And so I need to not only speak 
to God, I need to listen to God.

740
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,440
We need to actually communicate 
in a closed loop. 

741
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:10,120
So I'm seeking to know what the 
listener understood, and I'm 

742
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:13,600
seeking to understand what the 
listener wants. 

743
00:40:14,240 --> 00:40:16,120
So I need to listen. 
I got to close it. 

744
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:21,640
So prayer has to be this 
communal worship communication 

745
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:25,600
experience. 
That's what it is. 

746
00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:30,480
Philippians 4, you know these 
verses, but don't be anxious 

747
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:36,600
about anything. 
But in everything, by prayer and

748
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:40,880
supplication, with Thanksgiving,
let your request be made known 

749
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:45,120
to God, and He will give you. 
He will give you, or He will 

750
00:40:45,240 --> 00:40:48,680
grant upon you the peace of God,
which surpasses all 

751
00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:52,840
understanding, and it will guard
your heart, it'll guard your 

752
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:55,680
mind In Christ Jesus. 
There's a loop here. 

753
00:40:56,880 --> 00:40:59,800
There's a loop. 
God wants us to come to Him, 

754
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,320
begging, plead with Him, dump on
Him. 

755
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:07,120
He wants us to bring all that 
stuff, but then He also wants us

756
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:10,560
to receive from Him. 
And if all we're doing is 

757
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:14,520
dumping the stuff and then kind 
of running away, you're treating

758
00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:16,840
God like a dumpster. 
You're not treating God like a 

759
00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:21,920
God who can help you and who 
wants to minister to you. 

760
00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:28,040
Jesus described this in more 
detail in Matthew 7. 

761
00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:35,120
Ask and it will be given to you.
Seek and you will find, Knock 

762
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:39,240
and it will be open to you, for 
everyone who asks receives, and 

763
00:41:39,240 --> 00:41:42,200
the one who seeks finds, and to 
the one who knocks it will be 

764
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:43,960
opened. 
Or which one of you? 

765
00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:47,520
If his son asks for bread, we'll
give him a stone, or if he asks 

766
00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:49,520
for a fish, we'll give him a 
serpent. 

767
00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:53,120
If you then, who are evil, know 
how to give good gifts to your 

768
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:55,240
children, how much more will 
your Father, who is in heaven 

769
00:41:55,240 --> 00:41:56,920
give good gifts to those who ask
him? 

770
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:00,520
So it's crucial for us to have 
this understanding of the will 

771
00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:03,240
of God before we're asking for 
anything. 

772
00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:06,680
We need to make sure that that 
we're asking things that are 

773
00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:10,240
according to the way his nature 
and his will are going to work. 

774
00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:13,840
But the way these verbs are 
these, these, these seek, these 

775
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:20,600
knocks, these asks, but these 
are these are read Luke 18 

776
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:23,400
sometime. 
It's a continuous thing. 

777
00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:27,360
I'm never going to stop seeking.
I'm never going to stop 

778
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:30,240
knocking. 
I'm never going to stop asking 

779
00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:35,440
you. 
I'm praying continuously, 

780
00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:39,800
fervently. 
I don't want to hear from you, 

781
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:44,560
God, I'm not going to stop. 
I want to hear from you. 

782
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,280
And in first John five, he 
writes, And this is the 

783
00:42:48,280 --> 00:42:50,680
confidence that we have toward 
him that if we ask anything 

784
00:42:50,680 --> 00:42:53,320
according to his will. 
But man, that's a big phrase. 

785
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:57,480
According to his will, not my 
will, not my wants, not my 

786
00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,480
vision board, not whatever I've 
dreamed of, not ever whatever 

787
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:04,000
I've manifested in my own 
fantasy of reality, it, it is 

788
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:07,560
what God wants. 
He'll hear us. 

789
00:43:08,480 --> 00:43:12,680
And if we know that He hears us 
in whatever we ask, we know that

790
00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:14,560
we have the request that we have
asked to Him. 

791
00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:17,000
You cannot take verse 15 without
verse 14. 

792
00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:22,240
And how do I know? 
It's right here, It's right 

793
00:43:22,240 --> 00:43:25,480
here. 
Here's his will, here's his 

794
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:29,600
word. 
So this and my prayer life have 

795
00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:31,960
to be partners. 
They have to go together. 

796
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:34,920
What I learn in church, what I 
learn from other believers, the 

797
00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:37,680
truths of Scripture have to be 
the same thing. 

798
00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:41,120
Luke 11 says this. 
Now Jesus was praying in a 

799
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:43,200
certain place and when he 
finished, one of his disciples 

800
00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:46,280
said to him, Lord, teach us to 
pray as John taught his 

801
00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:48,680
disciples. 
And I tell you, ask and it will 

802
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:52,600
be given to you, and you will 
find knock and you will find 

803
00:43:52,720 --> 00:43:54,280
knock and it will be open to 
you. 

804
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:56,480
So verse one, they're asking for
that. 

805
00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:01,000
You see the Lord's Prayer, verse
9, he reminds them, keep doing 

806
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:02,960
this. 
You got to keep doing this. 

807
00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:05,480
You got to keep doing this. 
We're going to study the Lord's 

808
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:07,960
Prayer in a session later in 
detail. 

809
00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:13,080
Jeremiah 29. 
Some of you know this verse or 

810
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:16,000
two. 
Then you will call upon me and 

811
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:18,400
come and pray to me, and I will 
hear you. 

812
00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:22,480
You will seek me and find me 
when you seek me with all of 

813
00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:26,040
your heart. 
How persistent will we be? 

814
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:31,080
James very practical book talks 
about Elijah. 

815
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:34,680
He was a man with a nature like 
ours, and he prayed fervently. 

816
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:36,960
And I noticed Elijah didn't have
a nature that wasn't like ours. 

817
00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:38,320
He didn't have a supernatural 
nature. 

818
00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:40,280
He wasn't different than us. 
He had a nature like ours. 

819
00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:44,400
And and he prayed fervently that
it might not rain. 

820
00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:46,920
And for three years and six 
months it did not rain on the 

821
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:49,160
earth. 
Then he prayed again, and heaven

822
00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:51,120
gave rain and the earth bore its
fruit. 

823
00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:57,560
God works in powerful ways with 
the people who truly seek him 

824
00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:00,000
and want to hear from him and 
want to know his will. 

825
00:45:00,240 --> 00:45:05,240
So prayers, communication also 
includes not only how we 

826
00:45:05,240 --> 00:45:08,120
communicate with God, but how we
do this together. 

827
00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:13,360
Don't forget this Matthew 18. 
Again, I say to you, if two or 

828
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:17,600
three, two or three of you agree
on earth about anything, if 2 of

829
00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:20,280
you, this one just says 2, if 2 
of you agree on it on earth 

830
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:23,000
about anything they ask, it will
be done for them by my Father in

831
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:24,800
heaven. 
For where two or three are 

832
00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:27,920
gathered in my name, there am I 
among them. 

833
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:32,680
I was jumping a verse. 
So there's an agreement when 2 

834
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:36,440
believers who are seeking God's 
will, when a group of believers 

835
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:40,480
seek God's will together and 
they go to him seeking what he 

836
00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:43,120
wants. 
God blesses that unity of 

837
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:46,880
intention. 
But sometimes things get in the 

838
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:49,000
way. 
Walls, barriers. 

839
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:53,200
I've listed a few, There's a lot
of them that this would not be 

840
00:45:53,200 --> 00:46:00,960
exhaustive pride. 
Sometimes I don't need God or 

841
00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:06,480
even to be honest with you, a 
sense that prayer doesn't work. 

842
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:11,080
That's pride. 
I don't think God can. 

843
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:12,680
I can. 
God can't. 

844
00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:14,800
I can. 
I don't need God. 

845
00:46:15,080 --> 00:46:16,400
I don't need. 
I can do this. 

846
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:19,720
It's pride. 
It's love of self. 

847
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:21,640
Or maybe it's the opposite. 
It's a false sense of 

848
00:46:21,640 --> 00:46:22,880
unworthiness. 
I'm too sinful. 

849
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:24,400
God's not going to live. 
Why would God listen to me? 

850
00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:28,040
God's not going to listen to me.
We have. 

851
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:32,160
We have no idea how much God 
loves us, how he yearns to hear 

852
00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:34,560
from us, how he wants us at his 
feet. 

853
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:41,560
Faithlessness, busyness, 
unconfessed sin, disobedience, 

854
00:46:41,560 --> 00:46:45,480
ignorance, laziness, wrong 
motives, idols in our life, all 

855
00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:48,800
these things can be barriers 
that they make. 

856
00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:51,600
They're like earbuds that you 
put in your ears and you can't 

857
00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:56,520
hear anything that's being said.
Psalm 66 says this. 

858
00:46:56,520 --> 00:46:59,040
If I had cherished iniquity in 
my heart, the Lord would not 

859
00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:04,080
have listened pretty straight. 
If you have unconfessed sin in 

860
00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:08,360
your life, there's a first 
prayer you have to pray the 

861
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:12,680
prayer of confession, the prayer
of repentance, the prayer, the 

862
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:16,920
prayer of forgiveness, the the 
prayer of clean cleanliness. 

863
00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:21,440
You need to go before the Lord 
and let him set you right before

864
00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:25,960
he can even listen to you. close
the communication loop. 

865
00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:31,880
So give, don't just seek to get 
so you get back to God in prayer

866
00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:33,360
through things like praise and 
Thanksgiving. 

867
00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:36,040
We've talked about some of these
things in other settings, but we

868
00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:41,760
we give back to God in prayer, 
we praise him, we thank him for 

869
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:43,400
who he is. 
This Sunday morning we're going 

870
00:47:43,400 --> 00:47:46,280
to praise God together in 
Nehemiah. 

871
00:47:46,680 --> 00:47:53,600
We're actually going together 
and it's a weird spot right 

872
00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:54,440
there. 
I don't know what that is. 

873
00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:57,960
I'm telling you that metal plate
in my head. 

874
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:09,560
But Psalm 96, let me turn to 
Psalm 96 says, Oh, sing to the 

875
00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:14,160
Lord a new song, sing to the 
Lord all the earth, sing to the 

876
00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:17,160
Lord, bless his name, tell tell 
of his salvation from 

877
00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:20,280
day-to-day. 
That means all the time declare 

878
00:48:20,280 --> 00:48:23,160
his glory among the nations, His
marvellous works among all the 

879
00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:25,240
peoples. 
For great is the Lord, and 

880
00:48:25,240 --> 00:48:28,440
greatly to be praised. 
He is to be feared above all 

881
00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:32,000
gods, for all of the gods of the
peoples are worthless idols. 

882
00:48:32,200 --> 00:48:36,320
But the Lord made the heavens. 
Splendor and majesty are before 

883
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:38,360
him. 
Strength and beauty are in His 

884
00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:41,440
sanctuary. 
Ascribe to the Lord, O families 

885
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:44,720
of the peoples, ascribe to the 
Lord glory and strength. 

886
00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:48,440
Ascribe to the Lord the glory. 
Do His name bring an offering 

887
00:48:48,440 --> 00:48:51,960
and come into His courts. 
Worship the Lord in the splendor

888
00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:54,400
of holiness. 
Tremble before him all the 

889
00:48:54,440 --> 00:48:56,880
earth. 
Say among the nations the Lord 

890
00:48:56,880 --> 00:48:59,280
reigns. 
Yes, the world is established. 

891
00:48:59,280 --> 00:49:01,520
It shall never be moved. 
He shall. 

892
00:49:01,520 --> 00:49:03,600
He will judge the peoples with 
equity. 

893
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:07,200
Let the heavens be glad, and let
the earth rejoice. 

894
00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:09,800
Let the sea roar and all that 
fills it. 

895
00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:12,560
Let the field exalt and 
everything in it. 

896
00:49:12,720 --> 00:49:16,600
Then shall all the trees of the 
forest sing for joy before the 

897
00:49:16,600 --> 00:49:19,840
Lord, before he comes. 
For he comes to judge the earth.

898
00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:23,160
He will judge the world in 
righteousness, and the peoples 

899
00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:27,000
in his faithfulness. 
He deserves praise and 

900
00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:31,640
Thanksgiving. 
So I'm 100 and verse 4 is a 

901
00:49:31,640 --> 00:49:33,160
verse, you know. 
And enter his gates with 

902
00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:36,120
Thanksgiving, and his courts 
with what praise? 

903
00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:38,960
Give thanks to Him. 
Bless his name. 

904
00:49:39,880 --> 00:49:42,680
Or as Paul writes to the 
Thessalonians in First 

905
00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:46,920
Thessalonians 5, rejoice always 
pray without ceasing. 

906
00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:49,000
I want you to see how there's a 
connection between those two 

907
00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:53,280
things. 
Praise, rejoice, always be 

908
00:49:53,280 --> 00:49:57,080
joyful, pray without ceasing. 
Give thanks in all 

909
00:49:57,080 --> 00:50:01,440
circumstances, for this is the 
will of God in Christ Jesus for 

910
00:50:01,440 --> 00:50:05,680
you, no matter what, no matter 
when, no matter how hard, no 

911
00:50:05,680 --> 00:50:11,240
matter how good, sunny or rainy 
I am to go to God this way. 

912
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:16,520
So if our Christian experience 
does not lead to some sense of a

913
00:50:16,520 --> 00:50:21,200
deep spiritual joy and 
thankfulness, we would do well 

914
00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:26,320
to stop and to ask ourselves a 
whether it was ever genuine, 

915
00:50:26,840 --> 00:50:30,520
whether my Christian experience 
is even genuine or not, or at 

916
00:50:30,520 --> 00:50:36,360
what point I got off track. 
Where did where did this 

917
00:50:36,360 --> 00:50:40,600
building process stop? 
Why am I not building toward my 

918
00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:43,040
discipleship? 
I mean, if we aren't thankful, 

919
00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:46,040
are are we recognizing God's 
gospel and blessing? 

920
00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:49,120
If we're not grateful, do we 
truly understand who God even 

921
00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:51,760
is? 
God wants us to recognize Him 

922
00:50:51,960 --> 00:50:55,280
not only in our lives and and 
not simply treat Him like some 

923
00:50:55,280 --> 00:51:00,760
eternal Amazon ordering service,
which is what I'm afraid some of

924
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:06,560
our prayer lives are like. 
God please bless God, please 

925
00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:08,080
bless God. 
Please bless. 

926
00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:11,960
Gimme Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
send. 

927
00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:20,840
I have Prime no delivery fee. 
Is that what our prayer life is 

928
00:51:20,840 --> 00:51:23,360
like? 
So being thankful like this kind

929
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:25,960
of reveals our focus. 
So we'll spend less time and 

930
00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:28,880
fear less time focusing on 
ourselves when we think like 

931
00:51:28,880 --> 00:51:30,840
this. 
So Ephesians 520 says giving 

932
00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:33,640
thanks always and for everything
to God the Father in the name of

933
00:51:33,640 --> 00:51:36,000
our Lord Jesus Christ. 
But that's not all we do in 

934
00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:38,840
prayer. 
We're just getting started in 

935
00:51:38,840 --> 00:51:42,240
prayer. 
God, God, God wants us to come 

936
00:51:42,240 --> 00:51:44,360
to him with our needs and our 
request. 

937
00:51:44,360 --> 00:51:50,000
So there's this aspect of prayer
where we are asking for things 

938
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:52,320
we want to get from God in 
prayer. 

939
00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:55,560
That's OK. 
It's just not the only OK. 

940
00:51:56,640 --> 00:51:59,000
God wants us to do this. 
And this is likely to where you 

941
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:03,480
spend most of your time. 
How do I get stuff from God? 

942
00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:06,720
You wouldn't say it that way. 
You're more spiritual than I am.

943
00:52:09,600 --> 00:52:12,160
But there are some things that 
you might not think about that 

944
00:52:12,160 --> 00:52:19,400
you need to get from God, like 
forgiveness, things you need to 

945
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:23,440
give Him, like confession, 
things you need help with, like 

946
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:28,440
repentance. 
Psalm 32 reminds us, blessed is 

947
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:30,960
the one whose transgression is 
forgiven, whose sin is covered. 

948
00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:34,360
Blessed is the man against whom 
the Lord counts no iniquity and 

949
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:37,920
whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones

950
00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:40,960
wasted away through my groaning 
all day long, for day and night 

951
00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:44,360
your hand was heavy on me, my 
strength was dried up as by the 

952
00:52:44,360 --> 00:52:49,680
heat of the of the summer. 
But I acknowledge my sin, I 

953
00:52:49,680 --> 00:52:56,760
prayed, I confessed my sin to 
you and did not cover my 

954
00:52:56,760 --> 00:52:59,200
iniquity. 
I said I will confess my 

955
00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:04,000
transgressions to the Lord, and 
amazingly, miraculously, 

956
00:53:04,120 --> 00:53:08,480
graciously, you forgave the 
iniquity of my sin. 

957
00:53:08,480 --> 00:53:14,160
It's pretty amazing. 
We know first, John 18 and 9, if

958
00:53:14,160 --> 00:53:16,960
we say we have no sin, we 
deceive ourselves and the truth 

959
00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:19,480
is not in us. 
If we confess our sins, He's 

960
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:23,120
faithful and just to forgive us 
our sins and to cleanse us from 

961
00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:25,240
all unrighteousness. 
This is written to believers. 

962
00:53:25,680 --> 00:53:28,720
It's not written to lost people.
This is written to believers. 

963
00:53:30,120 --> 00:53:34,160
And so I, I can be forgiven and 
that and that that might need to

964
00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:37,400
be the very first thing I utter.
That might be the very first 

965
00:53:37,400 --> 00:53:39,360
part of my prayer every single 
day. 

966
00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:44,240
Confession, repentance, please 
forgive me. 

967
00:53:45,560 --> 00:53:48,640
Read Psalm 51 sometime and 
you'll see David doing that. 

968
00:53:49,560 --> 00:53:51,720
So ask the Holy Spirit to reveal
sin to you. 

969
00:53:51,720 --> 00:53:55,960
That's part of prayer. 
Lord, show me when Martin Luther

970
00:53:55,960 --> 00:53:59,000
was reading through Romans and 
he was working through an actual

971
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:02,160
conversion experience, which led
to the Reformation, etcetera, he

972
00:54:02,160 --> 00:54:03,880
would go to his father 
confessor. 

973
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:06,480
He was a he was a priest. 
And so he would go to another 

974
00:54:06,480 --> 00:54:09,080
priest in the, in the, in the 
Catholic system and he would 

975
00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:12,280
ask, he would go to confession 
and and he would start reading 

976
00:54:12,280 --> 00:54:14,360
this litany of every single 
thing he'd done and every sort 

977
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:16,440
of word he'd ever said. 
And the priest got so tired of 

978
00:54:16,440 --> 00:54:18,280
him and says, Luther, these 
aren't even sins you keep 

979
00:54:18,280 --> 00:54:21,240
bringing to me. 
He was overstating them, he 

980
00:54:21,240 --> 00:54:22,680
thought, but to Luther, they 
weren't. 

981
00:54:23,560 --> 00:54:26,280
They were failures falling 
short. 

982
00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:31,000
So ask the Holy Spirit to reveal
every single sin to you. 

983
00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:33,760
And then confession needs to be 
made the moment you're conscious

984
00:54:33,760 --> 00:54:37,120
of them. 
And so we confess them each 

985
00:54:37,120 --> 00:54:40,600
individually. 
You need to recognize this, that

986
00:54:40,600 --> 00:54:45,560
that's what the Bible teaches in
first John 19 when it says He is

987
00:54:45,560 --> 00:54:48,200
faithful and just to forgive us 
our sins. 

988
00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:52,920
The word for sins there means 
specific sins, not just in some 

989
00:54:52,920 --> 00:54:55,600
general state of being, not just
our general all. 

990
00:54:55,600 --> 00:54:56,920
I'm a Sinner, Lord, please 
forgive me. 

991
00:54:56,920 --> 00:54:59,920
No, no, no, this is the specific
sin. 

992
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:04,360
What did you do? 
What did you say or what did you

993
00:55:04,360 --> 00:55:08,120
think that was contrary to God's
word and will you need to 

994
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:12,840
confess that to the Lord, seek 
deliverance from the source of 

995
00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:15,760
the sin that's causing that to 
happen, and then agree with God 

996
00:55:15,760 --> 00:55:18,000
that you've sinned that. 
That's what the word confession 

997
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:20,200
means. 
And and we're willing to repent 

998
00:55:20,200 --> 00:55:22,480
and to follow his will again. 
And that true repentance, that 

999
00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:25,120
new commitments going to require
that true replacement that I've 

1000
00:55:25,120 --> 00:55:27,200
talked about. 
So we put off and we put on. 

1001
00:55:27,680 --> 00:55:29,800
I was sharing earlier with some 
folks about praying through 

1002
00:55:29,800 --> 00:55:34,040
Colossians 3. 
Once again, it's a good passage.

1003
00:55:35,080 --> 00:55:38,560
So, so don't just remove or stop
some sinful behavior. 

1004
00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:41,840
You got to fill that time. 
You got to fill that void with 

1005
00:55:41,840 --> 00:55:44,760
biblical, godly things because 
if you don't, you're going to 

1006
00:55:45,160 --> 00:55:46,640
fall back in your old ways 
again. 

1007
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:48,200
So we know that you need to be 
forgiven. 

1008
00:55:48,200 --> 00:55:50,480
We we also need to replace 
things. 

1009
00:55:50,480 --> 00:55:52,480
What are the things that need to
be replaced in your life? 

1010
00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:56,040
Those are things to pray about. 
But we're also here to learn 

1011
00:55:56,040 --> 00:55:57,800
about how to forgive others. 
And this is often very 

1012
00:55:57,800 --> 00:56:02,840
difficult, but the key will 
always be to thank God for his 

1013
00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:06,800
forgiveness. 
And we use that as the basis for

1014
00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:09,600
the way we'll forgive. 
And that's always a key. 

1015
00:56:10,480 --> 00:56:12,160
But we're still giving back to 
God. 

1016
00:56:12,160 --> 00:56:14,400
We're still giving to him in 
this complete communication. 

1017
00:56:14,400 --> 00:56:15,960
We're trying to close the loop 
with Him. 

1018
00:56:16,200 --> 00:56:18,760
We're not just seeking things 
from Him. 

1019
00:56:18,960 --> 00:56:22,920
We're also trying to give things
back to Him as we seek from him.

1020
00:56:23,080 --> 00:56:25,760
But God also wants us to frankly
come to him with our prayer 

1021
00:56:25,760 --> 00:56:28,320
requests. 
There are moments of 

1022
00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:30,120
supplication. 
There are moments of 

1023
00:56:30,120 --> 00:56:33,720
intercession, much like the list
you see every Wednesday night 

1024
00:56:33,720 --> 00:56:36,640
here. 
A lot of these are our health 

1025
00:56:36,640 --> 00:56:38,720
requests. 
A lot of these, some of these 

1026
00:56:38,720 --> 00:56:41,240
are spiritual health requests. 
Most of these are physical 

1027
00:56:41,240 --> 00:56:43,640
health requests. 
There's even some on there about

1028
00:56:43,640 --> 00:56:46,120
life crisis request if you read 
closely. 

1029
00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:49,520
And so we want to pray for these
things. 

1030
00:56:49,520 --> 00:56:51,880
It's a good thing to do. 
It's OK to do it's right. 

1031
00:56:51,880 --> 00:56:55,520
It's biblical for us to do this.
It's just not the only thing you

1032
00:56:55,520 --> 00:56:59,400
need to do in your prayer life. 
Don't just pray through the 

1033
00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:05,160
prayer list. 
So First Timothy 21 says, first 

1034
00:57:05,160 --> 00:57:08,360
of all, then I urge that 
supplications, prayers, 

1035
00:57:08,600 --> 00:57:11,680
intercession, and thanksgivings 
be made for all people. 

1036
00:57:13,280 --> 00:57:15,640
There are many other passages we
could go to that would talk 

1037
00:57:15,640 --> 00:57:18,920
about praying for one another. 
But, but rather than trying to 

1038
00:57:18,920 --> 00:57:24,400
move God to my point of view, I 
need to let God move me to his. 

1039
00:57:25,360 --> 00:57:27,240
What do you think about this 
situation? 

1040
00:57:27,240 --> 00:57:30,160
God? 
God burdened me with what 

1041
00:57:30,160 --> 00:57:33,800
somebody else might need. 
I'm not going to hesitate to 

1042
00:57:33,800 --> 00:57:35,560
lift them up. 
Lord, help me to lift them up. 

1043
00:57:35,560 --> 00:57:39,200
Be be help me to be burdened to 
lift up other people, not just 

1044
00:57:39,200 --> 00:57:41,600
stuff I want, but what I see 
other people going through. 

1045
00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:45,680
How can I lift them up? 
Revelation 16 said And made us a

1046
00:57:45,680 --> 00:57:49,240
Kingdom priest to his God and 
Father, to him be glory and 

1047
00:57:49,240 --> 00:57:51,080
dominion forever and ever. 
Amen. 

1048
00:57:51,080 --> 00:57:53,680
And you need to latch on and 
understand this idea of us as 

1049
00:57:53,680 --> 00:57:55,720
priests. 
It's important. 

1050
00:57:56,840 --> 00:58:01,040
The priest in the Bible had two 
roles. 

1051
00:58:01,040 --> 00:58:05,200
They were both intercessor and 
mediator between God and man, 

1052
00:58:06,640 --> 00:58:09,920
and we need to recognize that. 
We are now a royal. 

1053
00:58:09,920 --> 00:58:12,880
I could read out of Peter. 
We're a royal priesthood today. 

1054
00:58:13,960 --> 00:58:19,080
We are all priests spiritually. 
So we too are intercessor and 

1055
00:58:19,200 --> 00:58:22,560
intercessors and mediators. 
I intercede on behalf of the 

1056
00:58:22,560 --> 00:58:26,000
people to God, and then I'm 
going to mediate between God and

1057
00:58:26,000 --> 00:58:27,840
the people. 
I'm going to share the gospel. 

1058
00:58:27,920 --> 00:58:29,280
I'm going to tell them about 
God. 

1059
00:58:29,400 --> 00:58:30,760
I'm going to teach them about 
God. 

1060
00:58:30,760 --> 00:58:35,440
I'm going to help him to know 
God, help him to be forgiven by 

1061
00:58:35,440 --> 00:58:39,520
God. 
And this is a, this is modeled 

1062
00:58:39,520 --> 00:58:41,680
for us in the New Testament by 
Jesus. 

1063
00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:47,720
Jesus is our high priest. 
Hebrews 8 says, Now the point in

1064
00:58:47,720 --> 00:58:50,680
what we are saying is this. 
We have such a high priest, one 

1065
00:58:50,680 --> 00:58:53,120
who is seated at the right hand 
of the throne of the majesty in 

1066
00:58:53,120 --> 00:58:56,320
heaven. 
Then you layer on Romans 834, 

1067
00:58:56,520 --> 00:58:59,880
who is to condemn Christ? 
Jesus is the one who died more 

1068
00:58:59,880 --> 00:59:03,360
than that, who was raised, who 
is at the right hand of God, who

1069
00:59:03,360 --> 00:59:08,000
indeed is interceding for us. 
So we have an intercessor. 

1070
00:59:08,280 --> 00:59:10,400
See, I, I'm not just praying by 
myself. 

1071
00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:14,120
Don't miss this. 
When I'm truly praying, I'm not 

1072
00:59:14,120 --> 00:59:17,200
praying by myself. 
Jesus is interceding on my 

1073
00:59:17,200 --> 00:59:19,320
behalf. 
He's helping me. 

1074
00:59:19,760 --> 00:59:23,080
He's interceding to the Father. 
I, I, the Father couldn't hear 

1075
00:59:23,080 --> 00:59:26,040
me without Jesus. 
He can't hear me without that 

1076
00:59:26,040 --> 00:59:28,280
blood covering. 
He can't hear me without that 

1077
00:59:28,280 --> 00:59:30,280
sacrifice. 
He can't hear me without that 

1078
00:59:30,280 --> 00:59:32,240
forgiveness. 
But because of the filter of 

1079
00:59:32,280 --> 00:59:34,080
Jesus Christ, he can hear me 
now. 

1080
00:59:35,520 --> 00:59:37,680
Now listen. 
It gets better, because the Holy

1081
00:59:37,680 --> 00:59:42,560
Spirit's also doing it, not just
God the Son, but God the Spirit.

1082
00:59:42,600 --> 00:59:46,160
Listen to Romans 826. 
Likewise the Spirit helps us in 

1083
00:59:46,160 --> 00:59:49,400
our weakness, for we do not know
what to pray for as we ought. 

1084
00:59:49,520 --> 00:59:52,720
But the Spirit Himself 
intercedes for us with groanings

1085
00:59:52,720 --> 00:59:55,920
too deep for words. 
And he who searches hearts knows

1086
00:59:55,920 --> 01:00:00,560
what is the mind of the Spirit, 
because the Spirit intercedes 

1087
01:00:00,560 --> 01:00:03,440
for the Saints according to the 
will of God. 

1088
01:00:03,840 --> 01:00:07,720
So you see the entire Trinity at
play in your prayer life and in 

1089
01:00:07,720 --> 01:00:09,720
your salvation, in your 
discipleship. 

1090
01:00:09,920 --> 01:00:14,240
The Holy Spirit, the triune God,
is on our side, and he's more 

1091
01:00:14,240 --> 01:00:16,160
powerful than that stupid O 
devil. 

1092
01:00:18,040 --> 01:00:22,480
And so he commands us. 
He invites us to come and spend 

1093
01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:26,320
time with him. 
And God the Spirit and God the 

1094
01:00:26,320 --> 01:00:30,400
Son are helping God the Father 
to hear us and for us to receive

1095
01:00:30,400 --> 01:00:35,360
what God the Father has for us. 
It's amazing what a miracle this

1096
01:00:35,360 --> 01:00:40,600
thing is, what a privilege this 
thing is that I get to do that 

1097
01:00:41,120 --> 01:00:44,120
me. 
In the Old Testament, I couldn't

1098
01:00:44,120 --> 01:00:45,720
even go near without being 
struck dead. 

1099
01:00:46,880 --> 01:00:49,600
But now what happened to that 
veil? 

1100
01:00:52,000 --> 01:00:59,160
I can go straight in, and every 
aspect of God is helping me. 

1101
01:01:00,280 --> 01:01:02,520
That's what prayer is. 
That's why we pray. 

1102
01:01:02,720 --> 01:01:06,280
We're communing with that. 
We're intermingling with that, 

1103
01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:10,160
We're communicating with that. 
This isn't just, well, I hope he

1104
01:01:10,160 --> 01:01:11,760
answers the prayers on these 
prayer lists. 

1105
01:01:11,760 --> 01:01:13,160
Now, there's a part of it. 
It's a good part of it. 

1106
01:01:13,360 --> 01:01:16,160
James says we got to pray for 
one another and we should 

1107
01:01:16,560 --> 01:01:18,200
wouldn't give you the list if it
was wrong. 

1108
01:01:20,640 --> 01:01:24,920
But I hope it's just a peace. 
It's a personal worship, 

1109
01:01:25,080 --> 01:01:30,200
communion, intimate 
communication moment that you 

1110
01:01:30,200 --> 01:01:34,640
ought to celebrate. 
And so he wants to hear and He 

1111
01:01:34,640 --> 01:01:36,640
wants us to hear him. 
Don't miss that. 

1112
01:01:37,920 --> 01:01:42,640
We must hear him. 
But it must be in agreement with

1113
01:01:42,640 --> 01:01:45,360
this word. 
You can't have some weird 

1114
01:01:45,360 --> 01:01:47,360
special revelation that you 
blame God for. 

1115
01:01:48,360 --> 01:01:50,640
It's got to match what God's 
already said. 

1116
01:01:51,520 --> 01:01:53,280
It's got to match His word in 
His will. 

1117
01:01:53,920 --> 01:01:56,880
See. 
So over the next sessions, what 

1118
01:01:56,880 --> 01:02:02,160
we're going to do is we're going
to learn how we do this. 

1119
01:02:02,920 --> 01:02:04,560
How do we pray? 
What do we pray? 

1120
01:02:04,720 --> 01:02:07,760
What's a model for prayer? 
We're going to talk about the 

1121
01:02:07,760 --> 01:02:10,800
weaponry, the conflict of prayer
that it brings. 

1122
01:02:10,800 --> 01:02:12,440
We're going to talk about all 
those things. 

1123
01:02:12,440 --> 01:02:14,280
I hope you'll be here. 
Grab people, drag them here. 

1124
01:02:14,280 --> 01:02:16,520
I want to tell you an old story.
Many of you have heard this 

1125
01:02:16,520 --> 01:02:18,160
before. 
You can finish the line before I

1126
01:02:18,160 --> 01:02:20,040
get to it, but don't because it 
makes me feel bad. 

1127
01:02:20,320 --> 01:02:26,600
So. 
So a pastor went to a was asked 

1128
01:02:26,600 --> 01:02:29,920
by an older farmer to breakfast 
one morning and they were 

1129
01:02:29,920 --> 01:02:32,800
sitting around the table with 
the old farmer and his family at

1130
01:02:32,800 --> 01:02:37,040
breakfast and and the the the 
farmer was going to pray over 

1131
01:02:37,040 --> 01:02:39,880
the food. 
And this is his prayer. 

1132
01:02:39,880 --> 01:02:43,920
Just listen to this Lord, you, 
some of you know this very well.

1133
01:02:44,840 --> 01:02:49,600
Lord, I hate buttermilk farmer 
begins and the visiting pastor 

1134
01:02:49,600 --> 01:02:52,640
kind of opened one eye glanced 
over there at the farmer kind of

1135
01:02:52,760 --> 01:02:56,360
like, where's this going? 
The farmer like got even louder.

1136
01:02:56,360 --> 01:03:00,480
Lord, I hate Lord, now the 
Pastor Troy getting kind of 

1137
01:03:00,480 --> 01:03:03,240
concerned. 
Then the farmer went even 

1138
01:03:03,240 --> 01:03:05,320
louder. 
And Lord, you know, I don't much

1139
01:03:05,320 --> 01:03:10,240
care for a raw white flour. 
But then he added. 

1140
01:03:10,240 --> 01:03:16,480
But Lord, when you mix them all 
together and you bake them, I do

1141
01:03:16,480 --> 01:03:22,960
love warm fresh biscuits. 
So Lord, when things come up, we

1142
01:03:22,960 --> 01:03:29,520
don't like when life gets hard, 
when we don't understand what 

1143
01:03:29,520 --> 01:03:31,560
you're doing or what you're 
saying to us. 

1144
01:03:32,040 --> 01:03:35,120
Help us to just relax and wait 
until you're done mixing. 

1145
01:03:35,840 --> 01:03:39,640
It'll probably be even better 
than biscuits. 

1146
01:03:40,680 --> 01:03:43,800
Amen. 
So stay strong my friends, 

1147
01:03:43,800 --> 01:03:48,840
because our Lord is mixing. 
I promise you, this life on this

1148
01:03:48,840 --> 01:03:52,440
planet is a never ending ride in
the mixing bowl. 

1149
01:03:53,720 --> 01:03:56,960
But He's mixing to put together 
the right ingredients to create 

1150
01:03:56,960 --> 01:04:01,960
something even better than we 
could ever imagine, than we 

1151
01:04:01,960 --> 01:04:04,240
could ever create. 
There's something we could ever 

1152
01:04:04,240 --> 01:04:07,760
do on our own. 
My friends, my vision for 

1153
01:04:07,760 --> 01:04:11,760
Englewood's really simple. 
I want God to do something here 

1154
01:04:11,760 --> 01:04:15,000
that can only be explained 
because God did something here. 

1155
01:04:15,920 --> 01:04:20,520
That's it. 
And we have to walk with him and

1156
01:04:20,520 --> 01:04:23,960
commune with him and communicate
with him and be very careful 

1157
01:04:24,360 --> 01:04:28,520
that we're doing what he wants 
the way he wants us to do it. 

1158
01:04:29,480 --> 01:04:32,040
And so we need to pray and ask 
him about those things. 

1159
01:04:32,040 --> 01:04:37,240
Let's pray together. 
Father, I'm so thankful that we 

1160
01:04:37,240 --> 01:04:45,440
can, we can unashamedly, even 
maybe audacity, audacity in an 

1161
01:04:45,440 --> 01:04:49,480
audacity fashion come to you in 
prayer, Lord, just to so it's an

1162
01:04:49,480 --> 01:04:53,160
incredible miracle. 
I don't, I don't deserve to talk

1163
01:04:53,160 --> 01:04:55,400
to you. 
I don't deserve to be in your 

1164
01:04:55,400 --> 01:04:59,360
presence. 
There's no reason you should 

1165
01:04:59,360 --> 01:05:03,960
waste your time listening to me.
But Father, in your words, you 

1166
01:05:03,960 --> 01:05:08,680
tell me you will if I come to 
you the right way, if I come to 

1167
01:05:08,680 --> 01:05:11,280
you with the right spirit and 
the right will. 

1168
01:05:12,360 --> 01:05:16,680
So Father, please forgive me. 
Forgive us for the ways we fail 

1169
01:05:16,680 --> 01:05:19,120
you. 
Sometimes it's not even the 

1170
01:05:19,120 --> 01:05:21,200
things we do, it's the things we
don't do. 

1171
01:05:22,400 --> 01:05:26,280
Forgive us, Father, when we're 
too busy to talk to you and 

1172
01:05:26,280 --> 01:05:28,160
we're way too busy to listen to 
you. 

1173
01:05:29,480 --> 01:05:32,880
We just want you to hear us 
talk, Father. 

1174
01:05:32,880 --> 01:05:34,720
Sometimes that's how we treat 
one another, isn't it? 

1175
01:05:35,160 --> 01:05:36,720
We're not listening to the other
person. 

1176
01:05:36,720 --> 01:05:38,600
We're just thinking about what 
we're going to say next. 

1177
01:05:39,960 --> 01:05:44,080
And Father, I pray that's not 
how we come to you, the Father. 

1178
01:05:44,080 --> 01:05:47,720
We would pause, we would 
reflect, we would read Your 

1179
01:05:47,720 --> 01:05:51,920
word, we would pray your word. 
We would sing to you out of the 

1180
01:05:51,920 --> 01:05:55,240
Psalms perhaps, and we would 
listen to what you want to say 

1181
01:05:55,240 --> 01:05:59,640
to us. 
Father, no still moments. 

1182
01:05:59,640 --> 01:06:04,200
That small voice that you often 
use in our hearts to speak to 

1183
01:06:04,200 --> 01:06:08,800
us, to show us according to Your
word, how you want us to be, how

1184
01:06:08,800 --> 01:06:11,520
you want us to respond 
sometimes, Father, how you want 

1185
01:06:11,520 --> 01:06:14,480
us to wait. 
And Lord, that's hard. 

1186
01:06:16,320 --> 01:06:19,560
So Father, forgive us. 
But Father, we thank you for 

1187
01:06:19,560 --> 01:06:21,320
that. 
We thank you and we praise you 

1188
01:06:21,320 --> 01:06:27,400
because you are an incredibly 
gracious God who tolerates so 

1189
01:06:27,400 --> 01:06:33,720
much, so, so much from us and 
you still want to bless, you 

1190
01:06:33,720 --> 01:06:37,720
still want to use, you still 
want to create, you still want 

1191
01:06:37,720 --> 01:06:41,160
to save, you still want to 
disciple, you still want to 

1192
01:06:41,160 --> 01:06:43,440
grow. 
Father, what an amazing thing 

1193
01:06:44,040 --> 01:06:46,560
because that's who you are. 
Amazing. 

1194
01:06:47,960 --> 01:06:51,240
So thank you, Father, that we 
could just talk about how to 

1195
01:06:51,240 --> 01:06:58,440
talk about and to talk to you. 
I pray, Father, that we will put

1196
01:06:58,560 --> 01:07:05,240
these habits into exercise. 
Habitual patterns of behavior 

1197
01:07:05,480 --> 01:07:08,760
will exercise our prayer muscles
in new ways. 

1198
01:07:08,760 --> 01:07:12,720
And Father, we might get sore. 
Lord, we might get tired. 

1199
01:07:14,440 --> 01:07:16,120
But Father, let us see the 
result. 

1200
01:07:17,680 --> 01:07:20,520
And Father, we know, Lord, that 
you tell us in your word that if

1201
01:07:20,520 --> 01:07:24,240
we pray this way, if we will 
seek you, if we will fall on 

1202
01:07:24,240 --> 01:07:26,920
your face, that Father, you will
do mighty things in our land. 

1203
01:07:28,360 --> 01:07:33,480
So, Lord, we pray for that. 
We pray that your, your presence

1204
01:07:33,480 --> 01:07:39,480
will be so evident, that your 
power will be so felt, that 

1205
01:07:39,480 --> 01:07:43,760
your, your, your growth and your
production of your Kingdom, 

1206
01:07:43,760 --> 01:07:46,920
Father, will be so visible 
around us that, Lord, no one 

1207
01:07:46,920 --> 01:07:50,600
will be able to deny you. 
Father, thank you for that. 

1208
01:07:51,640 --> 01:07:55,600
I look forward to the day when 
we stand in a place with you and

1209
01:07:55,600 --> 01:07:59,320
we'll talk in a different way. 
We'll communicate and listen 

1210
01:07:59,320 --> 01:08:03,000
from you in a different way. 
But for now, Lord, this is what 

1211
01:08:03,000 --> 01:08:05,240
you've given us. 
So let us be faithful. 

1212
01:08:06,240 --> 01:08:10,000
Let us pray in Christ's name, 
Amen. 

1213
01:08:11,120 --> 01:08:12,320
God bless you all. 
Thank you. 

1214
01:08:14,680 --> 01:08:16,359
Thank you so much for listening 
today. 

1215
01:08:16,359 --> 01:08:17,680
And I also hope that you'll go 
to 

1216
01:08:17,680 --> 01:08:21,479
ourwebsite@englewoodbaptist.com 
as well as our app and find many

1217
01:08:21,479 --> 01:08:23,840
other resources that will bless 
you and your families. 

1218
01:08:24,000 --> 01:08:25,040
Thank you once again.