1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:04,400 Crossing Church, I want to welcome you joining from all of 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,360 our different locations, those of you watching online and of 3 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:09,640 course, those of you who are part of the crossing inside 4 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:12,000 family. And I also want to welcome those 5 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,600 of you who are new here, whether it's your first time or your 6 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:18,520 first time in a long time, we believe that you being here 7 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,600 today is no accident. Why do we believe this? 8 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,160 Well, because Jesus actually has some words that were recorded by 9 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:29,920 John in chapter 6, verse 44. And this what Jesus said, No one 10 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:34,000 can come to me, that's Jesus, unless the Father who sent me 11 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:39,600 draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 12 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:44,440 Why am I telling you this? You are here today on purpose 13 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:47,560 and you are here today for a purpose. 14 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:49,560 For some of you, it might be your routine. 15 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:51,440 This is just what you do. Great. 16 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:54,960 For others of you, you might be here today because you are going 17 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,280 through something and you're looking for some help and maybe 18 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,720 you're looking for some hope. Others of you, you might be 19 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,040 looking for something new, something different. 20 00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:08,960 You're just checking things out. No matter what brought you in 21 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:12,520 today, I know who drew you in today. 22 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:17,560 And that is the fact that God wants every single one of you to 23 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,400 find an intimate personal relationship with him. 24 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:26,080 And my hope today is really, really simple is that every 25 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:31,280 single one of you today would leave with the desire to connect 26 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,640 more with God. In prayer. 27 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:36,520 We talk a lot about the spiritual spectrum. 28 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:38,960 We'll put that up on the wall. So here's the spiritual 29 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:40,680 spectrum. And if we were to use the 30 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:46,040 spiritual spectrum to talk about prayer, where would you put 31 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:50,200 yourself on the spectrum if you were to give yourself a number? 32 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:54,800 Let me give you some context. Let's say a -, 5 is I don't ever 33 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:56,760 pray. I don't see the need. 34 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:02,480 Let's say a - 3 is somebody. I'm I pray, but I'm hurt. 35 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:07,680 I pray, but I'm frustrated. I pray, but there's some 36 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:10,320 baggage. I pray and there's a lot of 37 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,360 frustration because I've been banging on heaven's door and it 38 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,840 doesn't seem to be doing a bit of good. 39 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:20,640 You're -3 let's say A0. If somebody's like, yeah, I, I 40 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:22,000 want to pray. I just don't know how. 41 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:23,840 Like, I'm just taking baby steps. 42 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,080 I don't know enough to get mad at God yet about prayer. 43 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:28,160 I'm just at a zero. That's great. 44 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:32,480 Love to have you. Let's say a + 1 is you pray 45 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:34,120 before meals and to get out of tickets. 46 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,760 OK, You're like, you know, I don't pray a lot, but when I see 47 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,880 when I see those sirens, I'm like, dear Jesus up in heaven, 48 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,320 give this cop diarrhea like Jesus, please. 49 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:46,920 I need AI need a special move of God right now. 50 00:02:46,920 --> 00:02:50,440 OK, A+ Those of you OK, all right, stop, stay OK, plus 51 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:52,840 threes or you're going. You know what? 52 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:54,200 My prayer life could use some improvement. 53 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,040 I'm praying more than maybe I've ever prayed before. 54 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,680 But I got to be honest with you. There's there's a gap between 55 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,040 where I'm praying and what kind of prayer I want to be. 56 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:04,880 And let's say you're a + 5. This might be a couple plus 57 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,040 fives out there. My prayer life has never been 58 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:09,920 better. For just a second. 59 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:14,560 I want you to think, where would you put yourself on that 60 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:16,800 spectrum? What number would you give? 61 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:18,320 And I'm going to ask you do something kind of crazy. 62 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,160 You don't have to say it out loud, but I would love for you 63 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,280 if you came with somebody on your way home to go. 64 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,600 Hey, I just want to, I just want to tell you, this is kind of 65 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,440 where the number I would give myself now, I'm OK with whatever 66 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,800 number you give as long as it's an honest answer. 67 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:36,040 Now that you think about what you've kind of thought about, 68 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,240 what number you would give yourself, I just want to tell 69 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:42,760 you what my goal is, is that this year would be the best year 70 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,000 of prayer for you. That your number would not stay 71 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,760 that number that you would take a step moving from left to 72 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:51,400 right. As you guys have heard me say 73 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,080 100 times. Our mission is to help people 74 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,560 find an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 75 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,560 And we have a big audacious goal that we want to make this region 76 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,000 where we do life and ministry the hardest place on planet 77 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,200 earth to get to hell from. Now, as we're trying to do that, 78 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,360 as we're trying to help people find Jesus, we're trying to make 79 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:10,080 this region the hardest place on planet earth to get the help 80 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:11,760 from. There has to be a place. 81 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:13,920 And I think that place is here. And I believe that time is now, 82 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:16,399 and I think it's with us. There has to be a place that 83 00:04:16,399 --> 00:04:18,200 gives people time to hear about God. 84 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,279 There has to be a place that gives people an opportunity to 85 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,160 hear about God for the very first time. 86 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,840 And there has to be a place that gives hope to the hopeless and 87 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,840 points people to the peace that surpasses all understanding. 88 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:30,160 And there has to be a place that tells people that they can be 89 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,160 made new in Christ. And there has to be a place 90 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:35,920 that's committed to reaching people who are far from Jesus. 91 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:37,720 But here is an uncomfortable truth. 92 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:43,240 We cannot create the place we want to create unless we 93 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:49,920 createspace to become the people that God created us to become. 94 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:53,440 Last week I talked about how we got to make space in our lives 95 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:55,400 for spending time in the Word of God. 96 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,480 How on earth can we tell people about Jesus if we don't know 97 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:00,280 him? How can we talk to them about 98 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:03,520 who they can become in Christ if we don't know who we are in 99 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:05,640 Christ? How on planet earth can we talk 100 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:08,600 to people? How can we create a space, how a 101 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:12,000 place for people to find Jesus if we don't spend time in our 102 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:13,800 word? So what we talked about is we 103 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:17,320 need a place to read the Bible. We need a time to read our Bible 104 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:19,000 and then we need to do something crazy. 105 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:23,960 We actually need to do what the Bible says because if you just 106 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,160 spend time reading the Bible, you'll be deceived. 107 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:27,520 And we don't want to be deceived. 108 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:28,800 People. These aren't my words. 109 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:29,800 These are the words of the Bible. 110 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:32,760 Look what it says in James. This is Jesus brother James 1/22 111 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:38,800 Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. 112 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:44,080 Do what it says. All right, listen, I would 113 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,600 rather you read your Bible. Start there. 114 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:53,080 But what God is after is not you just reading the Bible, but you 115 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:58,120 doing what the Bible says. You do not get fit having a 116 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:02,880 Planet Fitness membership. If that were the case, I would 117 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:08,680 be a super skinny guy. It is when you do what it says. 118 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:12,680 And the way we move from left to right on the spiritual spectrum, 119 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:18,160 the way we go from a -, 5 to a -, 4, from A1 to A2 is through 120 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:22,520 faith and obedience. And our faith and our obedience 121 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:25,880 are connected. Your faith will never outrun 122 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:28,880 your obedience. Your obedience will never outrun 123 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,960 your faith. They are connected, they move at 124 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:34,920 the same speed. And if we are going to become 125 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,960 the people that God created us to become, we have to 126 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:41,560 createspace in our lives for prayer. 127 00:06:42,280 --> 00:06:44,120 Many of you guys know about Billy Graham. 128 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,680 Billy Graham is the most successful evangelist in 129 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:51,920 history. He preached to over 215 million 130 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:56,080 people in 185 countries across the globe. 131 00:06:56,840 --> 00:07:01,240 From his humble beginnings on a farm in Charlotte, NC, to his 132 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,880 travels around the world speaking in stadiums filled to 133 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:10,440 capacity, he pursued 1 singular vision to share the love of 134 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:12,600 Jesus Christ with anybody who would listen. 135 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:15,640 And Billy Graham's message never changed. 136 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:17,920 It's a super simple message. You've heard me talk about it 137 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,200 all the time, but it came straight from God's Word. 138 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,160 Here was his message for God's love, the world that he gave His 139 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:26,400 one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not 140 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:28,600 perish out of John, chapter 3, verse 16. 141 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:32,040 And when it comes to prayer, Billy Graham had a lot of really 142 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,320 great insights about prayer. So I just wanted to give you a 143 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:36,520 chance to kind of hear from him. This is what he said. 144 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,000 People would ask him, how do you have such an evangelistic 145 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:41,240 outreach? And he'd say the most important 146 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:44,360 steps to preparing for an evangelistic outreach are 147 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:48,280 prayer, prayer and prayer. That's his strategy. 148 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:50,600 If we're going, we want to make this region the hardest place on 149 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:51,720 planet earth to get the help from. 150 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:56,160 Billy Graham would tell us best strategy is prayer, prayer and 151 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:58,040 prayer. He also said this. 152 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:02,840 Have you ever said, well, all we can do now is pray? 153 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:07,120 Well, when we come to the end of ourselves, we come to the 154 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:09,160 beginning of God. How many of us? 155 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,800 We try all kinds of human things and they're like, all right, 156 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:12,680 well, that none of those worked out. 157 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:14,520 Let me start with God. What if we just started with God 158 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:16,320 1st? Instead of making God like our 159 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:18,040 last choice, we made him our first choice. 160 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:23,040 He also said this, We are to pray in times of adversity lest 161 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:25,920 we become faithless and unbelieving. 162 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:28,840 We are to pray in times of prosperity lest we become 163 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,320 boastful and proud. We are to pray in times of 164 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,600 danger lest we become fearful and doubting. 165 00:08:36,039 --> 00:08:38,880 We are to pray in times of security lest we become 166 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,559 self-sufficient. We are to use our prayers to 167 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:45,520 create a dependency on God. He also went on to say that 168 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:50,640 heaven is full of answers to prayers which people never 169 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:55,840 bothered to pray. Now I'm going to tell you about 170 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:00,040 another famous evangelist. His name is John Wesley. 171 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:04,120 He was a traveling preacher that he would he traveled every year 172 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:10,560 4000 miles by horse in the 1700s. 173 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:14,120 It is said that during his lifetime he would have circled 174 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:18,680 the globe 10 times by horse. It is also said that he preached 175 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:25,200 over 40 1000 sermons and at his death he left almost nothing 176 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:29,920 behind other than the group of four that he started with in the 177 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:34,200 Holy Club numbered 135,000 members. 178 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:39,640 He had raised up 541 preachers and a church called the 179 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:44,080 Methodist Church. And he said this about prayer. 180 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,400 He said prayer is where the action is. 181 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:55,680 He also said God does nothing except in response to believing 182 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,360 in prayer. He said when you proceed with 183 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:03,840 much prayer, your way will be made plain or your way will be 184 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:07,560 made clear. This is the one that got me the 185 00:10:07,560 --> 00:10:11,920 most though. I have so much to do that I 186 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,600 spend hours in prayer before I am able to do it. 187 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:19,680 Too many of us, we're going. I am just way too busy to pray. 188 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:23,480 And John Wesley said I have so much to do, there is no way I'm 189 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:27,800 going to get it done unless I spend some hours in prayer with 190 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,440 God. If you and I are going to be 191 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:33,280 going to be a part of creating the place that we desperately 192 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:36,800 want to see happen in our region, then you and I must 193 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:39,760 createspace in our lives for prayer. 194 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:41,720 So today I want to do something really simple. 195 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:45,960 I want to give you some tips to improve your prayer life. 196 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:50,640 First thing I want to give you, first tip is start your day in 197 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:54,440 prayer. The very first thing you do. 198 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:55,800 I've been trying to do this for a while now. 199 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:58,880 And the weird part is I totally didn't do it today. 200 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:00,080 So I kind of like I had to do it. 201 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:01,760 I was like, are you kidding me? I already wrote this in my 202 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:03,200 sermon. And I was like, how did this 203 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:04,760 happen? But listen, we all fail. 204 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:06,640 OK, Here's what I've been trying to do. 205 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,640 When my alarm goes off, before I do anything, before I hit 206 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:13,240 snooze, before I tell Jennifer stop giving me a kiss, before 207 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:16,480 any of that stuff happens, the very first thing is I want to 208 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:17,760 spend a little bit of time in prayer. 209 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:19,480 And here's my prayer. It's not like a crazy long 210 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:21,640 prayer because I'll go right back to sleep and listen. 211 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:23,920 Sometimes that's OK. If you were to like just pray 212 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:25,880 until your alarm goes back off and you just keep that up, 213 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:27,440 that'd be a great start to a prayer life. 214 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:30,160 Here's what I pray for. God, give me wisdom and 215 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:32,920 direction for the day. I don't want to do anything you 216 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:35,280 don't want me to do. I don't want to say anything you 217 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:38,880 don't want me to say. Now do I still fail fall short 218 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:41,960 of that prayer all the time, 100%, but I'm starting my very 219 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:44,760 day in reverence, submission to God, saying I want to be your 220 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:46,520 man. I'm going to do what you want me 221 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:47,800 to do. I want to say what you want me 222 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,400 to say before I start doing anything, before I'm yelling at 223 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,120 the kids, before I'm letting the dog outside, before I'm whatever 224 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:55,680 I'm I just want to start there. Second thing I want to encourage 225 00:11:55,680 --> 00:11:59,240 you to do is I want you to have a place of prayer. 226 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,920 I want you to have a place in your life where you spend some 227 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:05,760 special time. I am in prayer for me. 228 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,240 I do this at my desk after I get done reading my Bible. 229 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:12,400 So I will pray in bed and then I'll go when I spend time in the 230 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:14,680 Word, I'll spend a little bit of time praying before I read it. 231 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:17,160 And then after I read my Bible, I'll spend a little bit of time 232 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:20,400 in prayer and I'm making a list of the things I'm praying for. 233 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:22,920 I've never done this before where like I'm keeping track of 234 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:26,280 my prayers, but I know that there are times when I get 235 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:28,000 frustrated and let's, well, let's just do this. 236 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:30,400 How many of you have ever been frustrated that God has not 237 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:32,720 answered a prayer the way you wanted him to answer it? 238 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,200 Yeah. Just so you know, I got both 239 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,320 hands up and both feet there. OK, so here's what I've been 240 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:40,920 doing. OK, I got, I got this little, 241 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,520 you know, whatever you call it. And in the, in the back of it 242 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:49,720 this year, I am writing down my prayer list. 243 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:53,000 And what I'm doing is, is I'm going to, I'm just going to keep 244 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,800 our track record of all the areas where he did come through. 245 00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:59,760 And so while I am still struggling over the some of the 246 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,040 prayers that he hasn't answered the way that I wanted him to 247 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:04,840 answer, I'm also going to have a track record of all the ways 248 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:07,720 that he has come through in ways I never thought possible. 249 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:09,080 Can I let you in on some of my prayers? 250 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,480 I've been praying for Weaver to be a Church of 300. 251 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:16,680 I've been praying since my boys were born for them to be 252 00:13:16,680 --> 00:13:19,360 baptized. I remember praying for my for 253 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,800 Jennifer, who was not my wife, and I was just praying for her 254 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,280 to be baptized. In fact, before the McComb 255 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:29,200 campus started, a lady who was a part of the Quincy campus sent 256 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:32,960 me a message and she said I'm going to be bringing two people 257 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:34,680 to church on your opening Sunday. 258 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:36,480 Would you start praying for them? 259 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:39,640 And so I was praying for a lady named Carrie and a lady named 260 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:41,920 Jennifer. Little did I know that one day 261 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:44,440 Jennifer would become a prayer request for me to have her for 262 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:46,280 her to get baptized. And little did I know that 263 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:48,120 eventually she'd be the one that I would marry. 264 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:50,320 And little did I know that she'd create the two boys that I've 265 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:52,080 been praying for, that they would get baptized. 266 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:54,960 I remember when the Macomb campus was just a prayer 267 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:59,440 request. I remember praying for 100 268 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:01,600 things. But this year, I'm going to keep 269 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:05,640 track of all of the things that I'm praying for so I can see how 270 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,040 God has been moving and how God has been faithful. 271 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:11,160 Because if you get discouraged in your prayer life, you will 272 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:15,000 give up sometimes on your prayer life and Satan gets the victory. 273 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:18,520 But if I can see where God has been faithful in ways I did not 274 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:21,480 see possible, it's going to keep me motivated to pray for the 275 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:23,800 things that I have not yet seen how He has answered. 276 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:28,440 Make a habit. Here's tip #3 Make a habit of 277 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,600 praying before you step into new things. 278 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:35,560 Here's what I mean by praying before you step into new things. 279 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:38,560 How many of you don't like all the people you work with? 280 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:42,840 If you came with your coworker, OK, we've got something to talk 281 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,080 about. What if before you went into 282 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:50,320 work you said, Hey God, I can't. I don't know everything that's 283 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:52,160 going to happen today, but I want to be a light in my 284 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,040 workplace today. How would that change how you 285 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:57,680 entered into the workplace? I'm getting ready to step into a 286 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:00,160 new thing. Before you get into a meeting, 287 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:02,400 just stopping yourself and saying, you know what? 288 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:05,040 I'm just going to pray that in this meeting I behave the way 289 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:07,280 you'd want me to behave. I add value in the areas where 290 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:09,680 you want me to add value. I keep my mouth shut in all the 291 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:13,120 places you want me to keep my mouth shut before taking a phone 292 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:14,920 call. God help this phone call for me 293 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,360 to leave being an encouragement to this particular person Before 294 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:19,640 I step into a new thing, I'm praying. 295 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:24,440 Here's a great one for dads or for for women too, if you have a 296 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:26,120 what I would call a stressful job. 297 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:28,760 That's a high octane job and it makes a lot of demands on you. 298 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,720 Sometimes we give our very best in the workplace and we give our 299 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:36,640 leftovers at home. And you would never want to say 300 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:38,880 that out loud that you are giving your kids leftovers, but 301 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:40,400 your kids already know that you do. 302 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:45,000 What would happen if before you went home, you parked in the 303 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,800 driveway and you gave yourself like a couple minutes and said, 304 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,000 God, I'm about to go in and it's 530 and the kids are going to 305 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,040 bed at 8:30. I need your strength and I need 306 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:55,240 your power to be the very best dad that somebody can be. 307 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:59,000 For the next three hours, things have been tense at home with you 308 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:00,920 and your spouse. And what if you went in and 309 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:03,120 said, listen, I want to go in there and I want to ascribe as 310 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:05,400 much value as I possibly can to my spouse. 311 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:07,480 And I'm relying on your strength and your wisdom. 312 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:10,640 God, you know I'm zapped. You know that my patience is 313 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:12,440 running thin. I'm going to need you to be my 314 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:14,840 patients before I step into the home. 315 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,480 What if you prayed before you had a difficult conversation? 316 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:22,200 God, I'm about ready to step into some waters that I'd be 317 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:23,480 honest with you. I don't want to walk in. 318 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:26,920 And I'm going to ask that you just give me the confidence that 319 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:29,040 your words will be the words that come out of my mouth. 320 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:32,720 Praying in faith and being obedient. 321 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:35,400 Praying before reacting to a situation. 322 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:37,280 How many of you? Everything's gone really great 323 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:40,040 when you've been reactive. Yeah, me neither. 324 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,200 So what if instead of before we react like your kids do 325 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:45,480 something stupid, They went to the bathroom, they took all the 326 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:49,720 stupid pills and before you like flew off the handle, you went 327 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,680 God, I'm about to I'm about to act like a parent here and 328 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,120 they're going to get their view of God by the way that I handle 329 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,280 this. And God, you're the most perfect 330 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:00,320 parent that ever lived. Could you give me some wisdom, 331 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,480 insight, quick prayer that could have massive impact? 332 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:07,960 What if you were to start praying that you'd be a Jesus 333 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,079 person? What would you, what would 334 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:14,200 happen if you started praying for God to open up doors for 335 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:16,839 Jesus to take crown or take ground in your sphere of 336 00:17:16,839 --> 00:17:20,640 influence? What if you were to pray for 337 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,000 opportunities to talk to people about Jesus? 338 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,680 I was golfing with a guy and it was we were in a tournament and 339 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:26,880 we were playing with different people. 340 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:29,160 And this guy named Eric who goes where church, great guy. 341 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:31,080 He just said let's just start praying for him. 342 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:33,520 So while we're driving to the holes, which takes a while for 343 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:37,520 us to get to where we're going because my yeah, God has not 344 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:39,480 answered the prayer that I've become a better golfer yet. 345 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:42,640 And while we are praying, we are praying for the different people 346 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:46,080 that we're going to golf with. I remember praying with for for 347 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:49,440 all the families before a basketball team that was getting 348 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,080 started with my boys. Like, I want to be the kind of 349 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:53,560 coach. I want to be the kind of person 350 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:55,480 that helps people find a relationship with you. 351 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,040 What would happen if you started praying for wisdom and boldness? 352 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,120 What if you started praying for you to do your part before you 353 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:03,520 prayed for other people to do their part? 354 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:07,960 God, would you just make my wife less cantankerous and would you 355 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,320 make her sweeter? What if you stop praying that 356 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:14,120 prayer and said, God help me to endure any situation and any 357 00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:18,320 circumstance, Help me to repay hardship with kindness and 358 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,880 sweetness. What if we were to start praying 359 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:23,600 for like for God to do a serious work in us before we were 360 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:26,400 begging him to do a work in somebody else? 361 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:33,400 Recently I was I had an old friend from from elementary 362 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:35,080 school and junior high and high school. 363 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:38,440 It was actually a person that had baptized me at a youth event 364 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:42,320 and for the last period of years, like I've just not seen 365 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:45,080 any movement in his life spiritually and had a broken 366 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:46,800 heart. And I'm thinking, man, how do I 367 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,080 engage in this conversation? So before I go into the 368 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:51,560 restaurant, I was like, God, I'm going to open my mouth about 369 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:53,200 this. I've pre decided I'm talking to 370 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:55,080 you or talking to him about you today. 371 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,400 When I get ready to do that, I'm just asking that every word that 372 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:02,800 comes out is the right word so I don't have to spend any time 373 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:04,440 going, did I do it right? Did I do it wrong? 374 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:06,560 I'm just in faith and in obedience. 375 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:12,200 I'm just asking for you to show up, and even when things aren't 376 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:17,800 going your way, I want us to keep praying because God's 377 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:21,640 timeline is not our timeline. Here's a perfect example of 378 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:24,480 this. For years it was a goal for 379 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,960 there to one day be a church in Burlington and a church in Fort 380 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:30,880 Madison. Just wanted that desperately. 381 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:33,520 I had it on a little postcard that I wrote all the names of 382 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:35,720 like towns where there are people that I knew that I wanted 383 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:37,600 to reach and I want our church to be a part of it. 384 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:39,200 And lots of people in our church were wanting those things to 385 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:40,760 happen. And people from our Kia Cook 386 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:43,080 location were going who, who lived in Burlington, Fort 387 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:44,360 Madison and go, would you please? 388 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,880 But in God's timing, he gives us a building that we don't have to 389 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,400 buy in the middle of both of those areas. 390 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,720 Well, we don't have the staff for two campus pastors. 391 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,080 We don't have the staff for two worship people, but we can 392 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:57,680 actually have a building given to us. 393 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:00,200 And then he raises up the right person and the right team. 394 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:02,320 So we just have to have one team that can minister to both 395 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:04,080 communities. If God had answered the prayer 396 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,400 10 years ago, we'd have had a dumpster fire on our hands. 397 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:09,840 But in his timing, He creates something that we wouldn't have 398 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:13,560 even thought being possible. I'd also tell you don't stop 399 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:15,480 praying just because you don't understand. 400 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:20,120 Sometimes our prayers are personal and hard and we don't 401 00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:21,720 understand why this is happening. 402 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,680 And hear me, when things are not going your way, in prayer, in 403 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:30,960 faith, and in obedience, we keep praying. 404 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:36,440 In fact, you might be exercising the most faith and the most 405 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:40,560 obedience when you are praying and it looks like nothing is 406 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:43,960 going your way. The most faithful person might 407 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,760 not be the person who has every prayer being answered the way 408 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:49,880 they want it answered. The most faithful prayer is 409 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:54,040 going God, I don't see you doing any of the things that are on my 410 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,880 heart, but your word says to pray. 411 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,320 And so I'm going to keep praying. 412 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:04,160 And when you're praying, here is that here is the the attitude I 413 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,400 want you to have that when you're praying, you're praying 414 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,760 in submission to God because at the end of the day, you only 415 00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:18,360 want what he wants. If you could have any choice, a 416 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:20,960 lot of us would go God, I'll be honest with you. 417 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,040 I want my will more than I want your will. 418 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,000 But I'll be honest with you, even though your will might be a 419 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,200 good idea, it's not nearly as good as his. 420 00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:32,840 And Jesus, he's like the best Christian who ever lived. 421 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:38,880 When he was praying in the garden, God didn't answer his 422 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:43,720 prayer the way he wanted. And Jesus ends his prayer and he 423 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,200 goes, not my will but yours be done. 424 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,400 If Jesus knows that God's will is better than his own, then we 425 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:56,360 should know that too. We want God's will to be done in 426 00:21:56,360 --> 00:21:57,880 our lives. At the end of the day, we don't 427 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:00,280 want anything that was manufactured by us. 428 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:02,120 We only want the things that are from Him. 429 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:07,760 And the idea of you and I living to the fullest without our lives 430 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:12,640 being covered in prayer is absolutely foreign to scripture. 431 00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:16,120 For you and I to live the life that Jesus called us to live, 432 00:22:16,120 --> 00:22:19,760 that God designed us to live, and not having it covered and 433 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:24,000 bathed and saturated in prayer is completely foreign to 434 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,360 scripture. So we will never become the 435 00:22:26,360 --> 00:22:29,080 people we want to become and we will never create the place that 436 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,080 we desperately want to create unless we are deeply committed 437 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:35,520 to prayer. In fact, prayer shows up 165 438 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,120 times in the New Testament in all 27 books. 439 00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:41,520 There's only four books of the, I said 3-4 books of the Bible 440 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:43,480 that don't specifically mention prayer. 441 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,440 That's Galatians, Titus, second Peter, and 2nd John. 442 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,320 But when you start reading through the New Testament, what 443 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:52,200 you're going to realize is God has a lot to say about prayers. 444 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:54,400 How many of you have people that don't like you? 445 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:56,680 Raise your hand. OK, great. 446 00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:58,880 How many of you have people that you don't like? 447 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:03,880 Matthew 544 says love your enemies and pray for those who 448 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:08,400 persecute you. How many of us are prayer list 449 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:10,720 is dominated by the people we don't like and that don't like 450 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,160 us? Jesus says pray for those 451 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,320 people. How many of you you'd like to 452 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:19,200 sin less this year? Those of you who didn't raise 453 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:20,840 your hand, you're like, listen, I'm, I'm getting a master's 454 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:23,440 degree in sin this year. Watch out, OK? 455 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:27,000 If you want to sin less, look what it says in Matthew chapter 456 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,640 or Mark chapter 14. Watch and pray so that you will 457 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:35,480 not fall into temptation. The Spirit is willing, but the 458 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:37,960 flesh is weak. If you're asked people what do 459 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:39,560 you want to do? Like in their heart, they want 460 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:42,080 to do great things for God. The problem is the flesh gets in 461 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:44,240 the way. Jesus says if you want to sin 462 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,800 less, you're going to you're every time before you sin, there 463 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:48,600 is a temptation to step into that sin. 464 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:51,120 How do we guard ourselves against the temptation which 465 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:52,800 leads us into the sin that Jesus tells us? 466 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,040 Prayer, God, I don't want to be a person who's unfaithful to my 467 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:57,000 wife. I don't want to be a person 468 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:58,720 who's caught in sin. God, would you guard me? 469 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:00,400 Would you watch over me? Would you protect me? 470 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:07,000 Jesus told his disciples in Luke chapter 18 to keep praying and 471 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:12,680 to never give up. In John 17 verses 15 it says 472 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:14,800 Jesus says this. My prayer is not that you would 473 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,640 take them out of the world, but that you would protect him, 474 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:20,360 protect them from the evil. 1 How many of us want to be 475 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:23,560 removed from every painful and sticky situation that we're in? 476 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,400 And Jesus says, I'm not praying to take you out them or to take 477 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,200 us out of the situation. I'm praying that they would 478 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,120 remain in the situation and be a difference maker. 479 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,720 Acts chapter 4, verse 29. This is what these people were 480 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:38,920 praying in the book of Acts, which if you want to read about 481 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,400 the explosive power of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts or in 482 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:42,840 the Bible, you read the book of Acts. 483 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:46,800 That's what it says in Acts 429. Now, Lord, consider their 484 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:53,360 threats and enable Your servants to speak Your Word with great 485 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,440 boldness. That was their prayer. 486 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,040 Not that the persecutions would stop, not that God would make it 487 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,440 easy, but God give us boldness. And You know what happened next. 488 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:09,360 The place was shaken, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and 489 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:11,680 they spoke the Word of God boldly. 490 00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:15,640 Romans chapter 8 verse 26 has this to say about prayer. 491 00:25:16,360 --> 00:25:19,840 In the same way, the Spirit, this is the Holy Spirit helps us 492 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:22,760 in our weakness. We don't know what we ought to 493 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:25,600 pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us. 494 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:27,840 This is a completely acceptable prayer. 495 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:29,840 God, I have no clue what to pray. 496 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:37,160 Holy Spirit, pray on my behalf. If the I were to make AI got I 497 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,400 do I got time. Imagine this is a really long 498 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:40,800 table. I've done this teaching before. 499 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,680 Imagine this is a really, really long table and this really, 500 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:47,520 really long table was my prayer life and I were to lift, trying 501 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:50,000 to lift this table. Well, if I'm, if I can only lift 502 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,320 on this side, I can't lift my prayer. 503 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,200 I can't do it on my own. The Bible uses the word, the 504 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:57,240 spirit helps. The Greek word is synthol, 505 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:01,120 syntholombonomy. It is a long side opposite of. 506 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:03,880 So the Holy Spirit when it comes to your prayer life comes 507 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,640 alongside of you on the opposite side. 508 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,160 And so if this hand is Clayton and this hand is the Holy 509 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:13,120 Spirit, now I can lift the prayer. 510 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:15,200 The Holy Spirit helps us and our weakness. 511 00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:18,080 When I have a prayer that I can't pray on my own, when I got 512 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,240 to pray, that's too hard. God, I have a hard time praying 513 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:22,240 for my enemies. Holy Spirit, would you pray on 514 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,760 my behalf? That's the only person that 515 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,360 we're actually directed or allowed to actually participate 516 00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:29,000 in our prayers. You don't when you're praying, 517 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,600 you don't go. You know, you just allow the 518 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,600 Holy Spirit to pray. First Corinthians Chapter 7 says 519 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:38,440 at times that we should abstain from sex to be devoted in 520 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:39,760 prayer. Some of you are like we're doing 521 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:41,680 a great job at the abstaining, but we haven't been doing the 522 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:43,360 praying. But it also says this don't 523 00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:45,840 abstain for too long, otherwise Satan may tempt you. 524 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:47,720 But there was a group of people that were going listen, we want 525 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:51,000 to be so, so devoted in prayer that we're going to say no to 526 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:52,920 sex for a while just so we can focus on the Lord. 527 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:56,760 Is that us? How many people have that to 528 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:58,360 marriage? My wife and my husband, my 529 00:26:58,360 --> 00:27:01,520 husband's just been just been seeking the Lord so long in 530 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:02,760 prayer. We just haven't had sex. 531 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:05,600 But the people in First Corinthians he was writing to 532 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:07,640 them. He says, listen, how serious is 533 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:09,120 prayer? It's serious enough that 534 00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:11,040 sometimes you could just say no to sex, that we could pray 535 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,880 Second Corinthians. He says that you help people 536 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,080 with your prayers. In Ephesians. 537 00:27:16,360 --> 00:27:18,800 He says that people that we were to pray that people would be 538 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,360 strengthened and that they'd experienced the power of the 539 00:27:21,360 --> 00:27:25,560 Holy Spirit in our inner being. In Philippians chapter one, 540 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:29,760 verse 9, it says we are to spend time in prayer so that our love 541 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:32,360 may abound. How many of you ever feel like 542 00:27:32,360 --> 00:27:37,280 your love tank is running low? In prayer we get our love to 543 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:41,480 abound and our knowledge and insight of the Lord increases. 544 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:46,480 How in prayer? Philippians 4 verse 6 has this 545 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:50,320 to say about prayer. Do not be anxious about anything 546 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:54,440 but in every situation. Remember earlier I was talking 547 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:56,760 about all the different things you're going to step into in 548 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:03,120 every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, 549 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:08,080 present your requests to God. This is what Paul is telling the 550 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:09,840 Philippians. There is not a single instance 551 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:12,600 that you are getting ready to step into that you should not 552 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:17,000 cover in prayer. And when you pray, you're 553 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,360 operating in faith and in obedience. 554 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:23,120 In Colossians chapter 4, we're told that prayer opens doors for 555 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:25,400 ministry. God, today as I step into my 556 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:27,400 workplace, would you open doors for ministry? 557 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:30,440 First Thessalonians chapter 3 tells us to pray earnestly. 558 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:33,040 First Thessalonians chapter 5 says that we're supposed to pray 559 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:35,320 continually. Second Thessalonians says that 560 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,760 pray that the name of Jesus would be glorified in your life. 561 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,160 That after people get done interacting with you, they would 562 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:43,000 go, man, Jesus is up to something. 563 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:48,120 I can see it in their life. 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 says 564 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:50,320 that we were supposed to pray that the message of God would 565 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:52,800 spread rapidly. What would happen if the people 566 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,160 who called the crossing home were to just pray the prayer 567 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:57,960 that the message of Jesus Christ would spread rapidly in our 568 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,240 homes and our communities and in our region? 569 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,880 First Timothy chapter 2 says we are to pray for all people. 570 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:07,200 There's not a single person who is not worthy of your prayers. 571 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:10,360 Second Timothy chapter one, verse 3 says that we are to pray 572 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,760 that God would raise up fellow laborers in the gospel. 573 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:17,400 Finally, in chapter 1, verse 6 says that effective ministry and 574 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:21,680 a deepening of understanding take place when we spend time in 575 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:24,880 prayer and that we endure the good thing or we endure the 576 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:26,520 hardships that come with the gospel. 577 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:32,080 In Hebrews chapter 5, it says that Jesus's prayers were heard 578 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:34,240 because of his reverence submission. 579 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,080 I wonder sometimes if our prayers are not heard because we 580 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:39,360 are not willing to submit to God's plan. 581 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:43,960 But James 5 verse 16 has this to say about prayer, that the 582 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:49,680 prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective, that God 583 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:54,080 moves when a person who is committed to Him and committed 584 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,880 to His cause go to their knees in prayer. 585 00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:00,560 First, Peter chapter 3 says the ears of the Lord are attentive 586 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:06,560 to a righteous person. First, John 5 verse 16 says that 587 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,600 we are to pray for brothers and sisters who are struggling in 588 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:11,640 sin. What if instead of gossiping 589 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,200 about the stupid thing that they're doing, what about 590 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,440 telling everybody else about the sin that they've committed? 591 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:18,800 What about instead of watching passively? 592 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:22,600 When we saw somebody struggling in sin, our first thought was 593 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,040 not to shame them, but to pray for them. 594 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:29,840 Third, John says pray that we would enjoy good health so we 595 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:32,880 can expand the ministry. Jude 120 tells us to pray in the 596 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:36,200 Spirit, and then Revelation chapter 8 says that when we 597 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:41,360 pray, our prayers rise like an incense, like smoke from a fire, 598 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:45,200 like a fine perfume to the noses of those in heaven. 599 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:53,000 In the 1940s, Doctor Orr took a group of his students on a field 600 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:57,200 trip to see the famous religious historical sites that dotted 601 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:00,360 England. And one of the stops was the 602 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,280 place where John Wesley had lived. 603 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:07,120 And they walked around the house and eventually they made their 604 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:11,360 way up to the bedroom where the students noticed that beside the 605 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:17,080 bed were two worn spots in the carpet where John Wesley spent 606 00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:21,040 those hours in prayer. And the students were all 607 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:26,560 impacted as they observed it. Once they were done, they left 608 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:30,200 to go get in the bus. And Doctor Orr hopped on the bus 609 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,480 and he started to take attendance and he noticed that 610 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:37,280 one of the students was missing. So he went back into the house, 611 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:44,280 and he found a student on his knees praying in the spot where 612 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:49,120 John Wesley had spent hours in prayer, and he heard the student 613 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:51,880 praying. Do it again, Lord. 614 00:31:53,760 --> 00:32:00,520 Lord, would you do it again, and would you do it again in me? 615 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:08,200 Doctor Orr touched the student on the shoulder and indicated 616 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:14,040 that was time to go. And with that, Billy Graham 617 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:19,400 stood up and join the rest of the students on the bus. 618 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:27,720 And the rest is history. Heavenly Father, would you do it 619 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:32,440 again? Would you do it again in US? 620 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:40,440 Would you do it again here? Would you, for your glory and 621 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:45,520 for your name, do a mighty thing in our midst? 622 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:53,360 Would you make Your name great? Would you help us to seek and 623 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:56,160 save the lost? Would you help us make this 624 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:59,360 region the hardest place on planet Earth to get to hell 625 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:01,960 from? And am I praying? 626 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:04,200 Amen. We're moving to a time of 627 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:11,720 decision. To those of you who don't have 628 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:14,120 an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ, 629 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:16,400 this church has been praying for you. 630 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:24,120 You've been the subject of many prayers, and right now heaven is 631 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,680 peering down from the clouds wondering if today will be the 632 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:30,720 day you're finally obedient to Him. 633 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,280 Satan has been trying to keep you from this moment. 634 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,000 He's been trying to keep you from moving in the direction of 635 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:40,400 Jesus. Don't let him win today. 636 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,720 Romans chapter 10, verse 13 says this. 637 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:49,200 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 638 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:53,360 And today you can call on him. And in just a few moments, the 639 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,240 people around the room, they're going to start singing where 640 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,160 they're at and standing and others that are going to come to 641 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,200 the steps and pray. And I want to encourage you to 642 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:03,640 cry out to him. And then would you come over 643 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:06,320 there underneath that screen next to the baptistry and talk 644 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:08,920 to somebody about how to start a relationship with you or with 645 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:10,560 him? If you're watching online, would 646 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,360 you click on that box that gives you an opportunity to go into a 647 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:16,080 private chat to be able to start talking to people about how to 648 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:18,719 begin your intimate, personal relationship with Jesus? 649 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:23,840 Don't put it off any longer. And to those of you in this room 650 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:27,040 that do you have an intimate personal relationship with Jesus 651 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:32,320 Christ, I want to be very careful that I don't script your 652 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:37,480 prayers. But would you please spend a 653 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:44,560 little bit of time on your knees begging God to do it again and 654 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:51,400 to do it again in us, To do something that only He can do in 655 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:55,320 ways that only He can do it? Would you stand with me? 656 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:08,000 God, you know every hurt and hang up when it that we have 657 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:12,640 when it comes to prayer. You know the number we said and 658 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:18,280 the number we really are. You know how often we do it and 659 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:21,040 you know how often we mean it and you know how serious we are 660 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:29,080 about it. Nothing is hidden from you but 661 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:30,880 God. Would you stir our hearts? 662 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:39,120 Stir our hearts to have a reverent submission to you where 663 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,640 we only want what you're willing to give us? 664 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:47,880 That we only want to do the things that you direct and that 665 00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:52,720 you empower? That we would develop a 666 00:35:52,720 --> 00:35:58,200 reputation of being Jesus, people who yearn to spend time 667 00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:04,680 with you and God in our flesh. We have such a hard time doing 668 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,160 it, but in our spirit we want that. 669 00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:14,400 So God, would you allow your spirit in us to win over our 670 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:17,240 weak flesh? In your name I pray. 671 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:18,040 Amen.