1 00:00:00,900 --> 00:00:04,200 Glad to see a lot of faces that I've been able to see over the 2 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:09,100 past few nights, and I'm also thankful to see new faces and if 3 00:00:09,100 --> 00:00:11,300 I haven't got the chance to meet you yet, I look forward to 4 00:00:11,300 --> 00:00:13,500 shaking your hand or giving you a hug after church. 5 00:00:13,500 --> 00:00:17,400 Today, I'm excited to have an opportunity to spend the day 6 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:19,400 together. So thank you for coming. 7 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,300 And if you are from the community and you're a guest 8 00:00:22,300 --> 00:00:26,000 here, I'm kind of a guest too. So I don't know who you are yet, 9 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,000 so we can meet each other afterwards and it's know each. 10 00:00:30,100 --> 00:00:33,600 Other, my name is Jonathan and I worship with the Valley Parkway 11 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:35,700 Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas. 12 00:00:36,300 --> 00:00:38,400 So I've been out here for the past few days. 13 00:00:38,900 --> 00:00:41,500 Hosting some gospel meetings at this place. 14 00:00:41,900 --> 00:00:45,100 If you haven't had the chance to join us yet, I think this 15 00:00:45,100 --> 00:00:47,700 congregation has these recordings available for you to 16 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,400 go back and listen to them and I did encourage you to do so I 17 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,000 hope that they will be encouraging and helpful for 18 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:56,200 everyone. This morning, I'd like to talk 19 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,400 about prayer, and I'm going to go ahead and say, there's 20 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:04,000 probably not anything new, that you've never heard and there 21 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,700 won't be any, aha moments. Like, oh, I didn't know that 22 00:01:06,700 --> 00:01:11,100 about prayer. I hope to just give what we 23 00:01:11,100 --> 00:01:14,800 sometimes call and our home congregation a maintenance 24 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:16,900 sermon, right? Sometimes you just got to 25 00:01:16,900 --> 00:01:20,500 maintenance the vehicle so to speak, or you got to maintenance 26 00:01:20,500 --> 00:01:23,300 the congregation as well. And so, I want to talk to you 27 00:01:23,308 --> 00:01:29,200 about prayer, some I think are probably probably very zealous 28 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:34,800 in your prayers and your just a prayer Warrior talking to God 29 00:01:35,300 --> 00:01:37,600 constantly. It's almost like there's just a 30 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,200 flow of communication. Some of you may struggle with 31 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,400 prayer and you feel, it's hard to get started. 32 00:01:45,500 --> 00:01:47,900 It's difficult to maintain Focus. 33 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,700 So there's a broad spectrum of us and how we may feel about 34 00:01:52,700 --> 00:01:55,400 prayer, and I want to encourage. Everyone. 35 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:59,400 I don't want anyone to leave here today thinking, man, I 36 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:01,600 just, I fail when it comes to prayer. 37 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:04,100 No, no, no. I want to encourage you that you 38 00:02:04,100 --> 00:02:08,900 can be successful in your prayer life, you know, Prayer in the 39 00:02:08,908 --> 00:02:11,200 Bible. There's just so many examples of 40 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:15,200 it, but I'm going to share to. As We Begin sometimes prayer was 41 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,500 a national thing. And I think about in second 42 00:02:18,500 --> 00:02:24,000 Kings chapter 19, that there was a time when the Assyrian army 43 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:29,400 surrounded Jerusalem, and the whole area had been taken over 44 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:33,100 by this Mighty host and Jerusalem's kind of the only 45 00:02:33,100 --> 00:02:39,500 place left and the captain of the army, brings this scroll to 46 00:02:39,500 --> 00:02:44,200 the kingdom of Judah Hezekiah. And in that scroll, it basically 47 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,900 says you're no better than anyone else. 48 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:51,400 I need to surrender. And so Hezekiah takes this 49 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,600 scroll and he takes it to the temple and he lays it out before 50 00:02:55,600 --> 00:03:00,100 God. And he prays, It's amazing. 51 00:03:00,100 --> 00:03:02,300 What happens through the power of prayer. 52 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:07,200 God intervenes miraculously and this great host is defeated and 53 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,300 God's. People gets to enjoy some peace 54 00:03:10,300 --> 00:03:14,100 for a time because of prayer. But you know, these National 55 00:03:14,100 --> 00:03:17,500 prayers are not the only types that are recorded in first 56 00:03:17,500 --> 00:03:22,000 Samuel chapter 1. There's a woman and she's been 57 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,400 struggling with infertility for a long time. 58 00:03:25,900 --> 00:03:29,300 And the Bible says, in chapter 1 verse 10, that she was greatly 59 00:03:29,300 --> 00:03:33,200 distressed but she prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 60 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:38,900 And so here she was and in this very intimate, lonely part of 61 00:03:38,900 --> 00:03:43,700 her life and she's depressed. She can't eat. 62 00:03:45,700 --> 00:03:50,400 She barely sleep. And yet, what is still flowing 63 00:03:50,500 --> 00:03:53,300 is prayer. So I want to challenge you, 64 00:03:53,300 --> 00:03:57,300 whether it be these big National moments in your life or it is 65 00:03:57,300 --> 00:04:03,000 these very humble, very lonely. Very personal times, you can 66 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,600 have a powerful sense of prayer as well. 67 00:04:07,100 --> 00:04:11,000 Now, you have a handout many of you do, it's a trifold. 68 00:04:11,300 --> 00:04:13,900 So we're going to be on the opening page for a little bit 69 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:19,600 and before we maybe get into that, First part about the 70 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:22,300 purpose of prayer, I'm going to ask you this question. 71 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,500 I don't think it's on your handout, but what is prayer? 72 00:04:28,500 --> 00:04:32,800 When we lived in Cambodia for a time, it was questions like 73 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:36,000 this, that we needed to ask because we were dealing with a 74 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:40,800 Buddhist Community around us and we would invite people to church 75 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:43,600 when people would convert become Christians. 76 00:04:43,900 --> 00:04:46,600 There's a whole lot of assumptions that we would make. 77 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:50,600 And then we've got a Of course, and how most Buddhists did not 78 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,900 have a similar upbringing. The Christians do obviously. 79 00:04:54,700 --> 00:04:56,700 And so we had to ask questions like this. 80 00:04:56,900 --> 00:04:59,500 What is prayer? And so, I want to ask it to you 81 00:05:00,500 --> 00:05:02,900 because maybe you did grow up in a Christian home or in a 82 00:05:02,907 --> 00:05:06,000 Christian environment. And so, we're just we assume we 83 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,900 know what prayer is what is prayer. 84 00:05:09,500 --> 00:05:14,500 Well, Strong's, exhaustive Concordance gives these synonyms 85 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,900 supplication, worship begging, and Request. 86 00:05:19,500 --> 00:05:21,700 Now that opens up another can of worms when it comes to 87 00:05:21,700 --> 00:05:25,200 supplicate into worship and to beg and request. 88 00:05:25,500 --> 00:05:30,500 But I like, what brother Mike? Chris will he wrote the 89 00:05:30,500 --> 00:05:33,900 commentary of the Gospel of Matthew for the contending for 90 00:05:33,900 --> 00:05:36,900 the faith Series? This is how he defines prayer 91 00:05:36,900 --> 00:05:40,800 and this is in your handout, by the way, it's at the top he says 92 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,100 prayer. Is that Divine communication? 93 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,500 Which emanates from the heart of the believer, And ascends to the 94 00:05:48,500 --> 00:05:52,000 portals of God's Throne, it is more than a duty. 95 00:05:52,300 --> 00:05:55,500 It is a Most Blessed privilege through this Avenue. 96 00:05:55,500 --> 00:05:58,900 God has provided Humanity access to deity. 97 00:05:59,900 --> 00:06:03,100 There's a reason he wrote that commentary because he's got gift 98 00:06:03,100 --> 00:06:06,600 of writing and that's a powerful language. 99 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:11,400 I would like to share with you my definition of prayer and it's 100 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:14,800 a bit more simple. It's how we speak to God. 101 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:17,100 There's a reason that I'm in charge of pure and simple bike. 102 00:06:17,300 --> 00:06:21,400 Dot-com, not, you know, other things because I tried to 103 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:25,300 distill it down. But yeah, prayer is how we speak 104 00:06:25,300 --> 00:06:27,400 with God. Now, how do we interact? 105 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:30,200 And how do we communicate with a supernatural? 106 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:36,600 Divine, omnipresent being with whom there won't be two way 107 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,000 dialogue. The in the same way that there 108 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,900 would be between someone that you can see. 109 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:47,100 Well, I hope that we can address that question and others. 110 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,600 As we go through this outline, let's talk about the purpose and 111 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,400 the power of the privilege, the principal's, the persistence, 112 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,600 and the practices of prayer. And then finally will meditate 113 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,900 on how God does answer prayer because he doesn't always answer 114 00:07:00,900 --> 00:07:03,700 them the same. And that's an important point 115 00:07:03,700 --> 00:07:06,900 that I want you to be thinking about some of these will focus a 116 00:07:06,900 --> 00:07:09,800 lot on and others. We will kind of blow through 117 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,300 them real quick and that's the reason you have a handout. 118 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:17,100 So you can take this with you and study it later on your own. 119 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:22,800 Also, if you are evangelistically inclined and 120 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,700 you enjoy sharing the good news with others or talking about 121 00:07:26,700 --> 00:07:30,200 Jesus with others, this handout is a great thing to have on your 122 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,200 lunch break. It's a great thing to have 123 00:07:33,300 --> 00:07:37,400 whenever you are at school or at work, or with your neighbors and 124 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:41,200 say, hey, we went through this and this part of it, I'm trying 125 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:43,400 to chew on it a little bit. I'm curious if you'd like to 126 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:46,000 study with me. It's a great resource to reach 127 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,300 out to your friends, okay? Okay, let's talk about the 128 00:07:49,300 --> 00:07:52,100 purpose of prayer. I like to start with this one, 129 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:56,000 because right at the beginning, I just want to know what's this 130 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,700 about what am I supposed to be accomplishing here? 131 00:07:58,700 --> 00:08:00,600 And it's on the front page of your handout. 132 00:08:00,700 --> 00:08:05,500 And we have This Acronym acts and it's adoration confession, 133 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:09,500 Thanksgiving and supplication. And the way that I'm going to 134 00:08:09,508 --> 00:08:15,500 Define these is as follows. Adoration is this deep love and 135 00:08:15,500 --> 00:08:19,900 respect for who God is. Is so sometimes in our prayers, 136 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:24,700 it can be about simply praising God for who he is. 137 00:08:26,500 --> 00:08:30,600 Other times, however, we want to offer statements, where we're 138 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:34,600 admitting guilt despair or weariness. 139 00:08:34,799 --> 00:08:39,400 Yes, confession is about confessing sin but confession 140 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,100 kind of like we learned about last night. 141 00:08:41,100 --> 00:08:44,100 It's also about confessing weariness. 142 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:48,400 I am low and I need your help to lift me up. 143 00:08:48,700 --> 00:08:53,300 We can pray Thanksgiving, which is gratitude for what God has 144 00:08:53,300 --> 00:08:55,600 done. So we may Adorn him. 145 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:58,600 Thank you. For who you are and thank you 146 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:03,500 for what you have done. Finally, I think the most common 147 00:09:03,500 --> 00:09:06,900 type of prayer and supplication which is where we are, 148 00:09:06,900 --> 00:09:10,100 requesting something. Whether that be a spiritual 149 00:09:10,300 --> 00:09:15,900 physical or emotional need, we often supplicate, God Lord, help 150 00:09:15,900 --> 00:09:21,100 me with this in my life. Now, I have an example of each 151 00:09:21,100 --> 00:09:25,300 of these from The Book of Psalms, and I invite you to look 152 00:09:25,300 --> 00:09:27,700 on the screen. In and read it with me. 153 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:32,000 And the reason that I'd like to read through these I guess from 154 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:36,000 a personal reason is sometimes whenever I'm working on my 155 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:40,800 sermons, I use my family as my guinea pigs, right? 156 00:09:40,900 --> 00:09:45,100 And so, at Family Worship, one night I said, okay, kids tonight 157 00:09:45,100 --> 00:09:48,800 we're only going to say prayers of Thanksgiving to God and 158 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:52,700 immediately there thinking. Okay, Thanksgiving turkey. 159 00:09:53,500 --> 00:09:57,600 Cranberry sauce right now but it's sometimes challenging to 160 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:01,800 just be thankful when you're used to doing a whole lot of 161 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,300 supplicating. And I remember some of the 162 00:10:04,300 --> 00:10:09,000 prayers that night were thank you for our food. 163 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:15,800 Thank you for. Our home and we found that it 164 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,400 was challenging to only be thankful. 165 00:10:18,900 --> 00:10:23,100 We really wanted to gravitate towards help us help us with 166 00:10:23,100 --> 00:10:26,300 this help. Grandma feel better and help 167 00:10:26,300 --> 00:10:28,900 brother so-and-so, not supposed to be supposed to be thankful. 168 00:10:29,100 --> 00:10:32,100 So it was a challenge for us. It may be a challenge for you. 169 00:10:32,100 --> 00:10:35,100 You may be comfortable in one type of prayer, so I want to 170 00:10:35,100 --> 00:10:39,100 give you a song that encourages you to pray differently. 171 00:10:39,300 --> 00:10:42,400 Here's a prayer of adoration, I will meditate on the Glorious 172 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:44,700 splendor. Under of your majesty and on 173 00:10:44,700 --> 00:10:47,900 your wondrous Works, men shall speak of the might of your 174 00:10:47,900 --> 00:10:50,900 awesome acts and I will declare your greatness. 175 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,700 They shall utter the memory of your great goodness and shall 176 00:10:53,700 --> 00:10:57,100 sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of 177 00:10:57,100 --> 00:11:00,200 compassion, slow to anger and great in Mercy, the Lord is good 178 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:04,000 to all and his Tender Mercies are over all his works. 179 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:07,600 You know? These are recorded words of 180 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:12,500 praise, that's all it is. David at one time, spoke this to 181 00:11:12,500 --> 00:11:16,200 God. and then decided to write it down and there's no 182 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:19,500 difference between his words written in your words spoken, 183 00:11:19,700 --> 00:11:25,200 you can adore God to but there's also Psalms of confession Psalm, 184 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:29,300 38 says, I am troubled about down greatly. 185 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,200 I go morning, all the day long for my loins are full of 186 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:34,900 inflammation. There's no soundness in my 187 00:11:34,900 --> 00:11:37,700 flesh. I am feeble and severely broken. 188 00:11:37,700 --> 00:11:40,600 I grown, because of the turmoil of my heart. 189 00:11:40,700 --> 00:11:45,100 This is strong language where someone is pouring out their 190 00:11:45,100 --> 00:11:49,500 heart, to God, they need help. And you can pray that too. 191 00:11:49,900 --> 00:11:52,000 There are prayers of Thanksgiving like this. 192 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:54,600 Oh, give thanks to the Lord. For he is good. 193 00:11:54,700 --> 00:11:59,100 Good for his Mercy, endures forever o give thanks to the god 194 00:11:59,100 --> 00:12:03,700 of gods for his Mercy endures forever and that Psalm 136. 195 00:12:03,700 --> 00:12:05,800 If you read it it repeats that give. 196 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:07,800 Thanks to God. Give thanks to God. 197 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:11,100 All these reasons of why we're thankful for God. 198 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:16,300 Finally, a Psalm of Supplication be merciful to Me, O Lord, for I 199 00:12:16,300 --> 00:12:19,500 cry to you all day long. Rejoice, the soul of your 200 00:12:19,500 --> 00:12:23,000 servant for To You O? Lord, I lift up my soul for You. 201 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:25,600 O Lord are good and ready to forgive You have been abundant 202 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,600 in Mercy to all those who call upon, you give ear O Lord to my 203 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:33,100 prayer and attend to the voice of my supplications and the day 204 00:12:33,100 --> 00:12:35,700 of my trouble. I will call on you and you will 205 00:12:35,700 --> 00:12:38,400 answer me. Now, what I'd like to show you 206 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:43,300 at this time is Jesus, what we call the model prayer, and maybe 207 00:12:43,300 --> 00:12:46,200 you're familiar with. It's a very popular prayer for 208 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:50,200 Matthew chapter 6 and Jesus said, in this manner, therefore 209 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:53,700 pray Our Father in heaven, Hallowed Be Your Name, Your 210 00:12:53,700 --> 00:12:56,000 Kingdom Come. Your will be done on Earth as it 211 00:12:56,008 --> 00:12:58,400 is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily 212 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:01,400 bread and forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors 213 00:13:01,700 --> 00:13:04,100 and do not lead us into temptation, but Deliver Us from 214 00:13:04,100 --> 00:13:06,200 the evil. One for yours is the kingdom and 215 00:13:06,208 --> 00:13:08,300 the power and the glory forever. Amen. 216 00:13:08,700 --> 00:13:13,100 Now it's a model prayer because it highlights some of the 217 00:13:13,100 --> 00:13:17,300 different purposes of prayer. You don't have to pray this word 218 00:13:17,300 --> 00:13:22,200 for word you can if you want to. And it's a nice practice but 219 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:24,500 we're not commanded to pray. This works. 220 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:27,200 Word for word. He's just modeling for us but 221 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:33,800 did you know he's actually adoring God and he's giving 222 00:13:34,100 --> 00:13:36,600 supplication. He's asking for God's will to be 223 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,200 done more supplication, give us this day, our daily bread 224 00:13:40,300 --> 00:13:44,300 confession, forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors 225 00:13:44,300 --> 00:13:47,300 more supplication, do not lead us into temptation. 226 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:49,700 What you see? We see here that that commonly 227 00:13:49,700 --> 00:13:54,300 in our prayers, we have multiple purposes We're interested in the 228 00:13:54,300 --> 00:13:58,700 composting multiple things. So I hope that this is helpful 229 00:13:58,700 --> 00:14:00,300 for you. As you think about what is 230 00:14:00,300 --> 00:14:04,000 prayer and what is its purpose. But you know not only does 231 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:08,100 prayer have purpose but it has power power. 232 00:14:08,300 --> 00:14:13,000 Now you look in Ephesians chapter 6 and that section on 233 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,300 the armor of God, maybe some of you are familiar with the armor 234 00:14:16,300 --> 00:14:21,900 of God, this beautiful visual of this helmet and breast play in 235 00:14:21,900 --> 00:14:24,800 The Sword. And Shield and a belt and 236 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:29,600 sandals and this soldiers just equipped to fight the devil. 237 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:34,300 And so we are spiritually were to equip to fight the devil. 238 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:38,700 You want to know the book ends of the armor of God, it says in 239 00:14:38,700 --> 00:14:42,300 verse 10, finally, be strong in the Lord. 240 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,600 And in the power of His might Then it talks about all the 241 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:48,800 armor. And then the final book in is 242 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,900 Verse 18, with prayer and petition. 243 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:57,400 Pray at all times in the spirit and with this in mind, be on 244 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:00,100 alert with all perseverance and Petition of the Saints. 245 00:15:00,500 --> 00:15:05,300 So part of equipping, ourselves of power, is that a prayer? 246 00:15:05,500 --> 00:15:09,800 Hebrews chapter 4 says let us therefore come boldly to the 247 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:13,100 throne of grace. That we may obtain mercy and 248 00:15:13,100 --> 00:15:16,900 find Grace and help in our time of need James 5. 249 00:15:16,900 --> 00:15:20,200 Verse 16 says the effective prayers of a righteous man can 250 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:23,200 accomplish much, there's power in it. 251 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:25,500 Now, I'm just going to blow through these bullet points. 252 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,700 I'm going to ask you to follow up and read the scriptures. 253 00:15:28,700 --> 00:15:34,800 Later, prayer gives us forgiveness gives us peace. 254 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:40,300 It gives us strength and opportunity, boldness and 255 00:15:40,300 --> 00:15:43,800 wisdom. Healing and Tranquility these 256 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:46,000 things are accessed through prayer. 257 00:15:47,500 --> 00:15:52,600 And so what happens if you're not praying, You don't have 258 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,700 access to forgiveness and peace and strength, Etc. 259 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:02,100 This is a kind of an on-off valve or a switch and there's 260 00:16:02,100 --> 00:16:05,000 something that we can do to have these things. 261 00:16:05,300 --> 00:16:08,600 And when we neglect to do it, we miss out on the power of it. 262 00:16:09,700 --> 00:16:14,600 However I want to focus maybe a bit more time on the privilege 263 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,200 of prayer. Now, the privilege of prayer, 264 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:19,800 I'm going to go ahead and spoil it. 265 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:23,900 That not everyone has So you can open up the handout. 266 00:16:23,900 --> 00:16:25,300 You have to turn it over as well. 267 00:16:26,700 --> 00:16:29,400 I want you to look at that section on privilege. 268 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,800 It's important to remember what privilege is sometimes. 269 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:38,700 That word gets used a lot today, especially in political circles 270 00:16:38,700 --> 00:16:41,600 and it gets used in ways that make it negative. 271 00:16:42,900 --> 00:16:45,900 The way I presenting it is as the word is intended, to be a 272 00:16:45,900 --> 00:16:49,300 privilege. And that means a right that a 273 00:16:49,300 --> 00:16:53,000 certain group has that others don't have. 274 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:56,900 And there is a privilege, a, right? 275 00:16:56,900 --> 00:17:01,500 That some people have to access God that other people don't. 276 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:05,099 And so, I want you to think about this that not everybody 277 00:17:05,099 --> 00:17:09,700 around the world can simply access the father and that might 278 00:17:09,700 --> 00:17:14,099 fly in the face of the doctrine that a lot of people preach. 279 00:17:14,099 --> 00:17:17,700 That if you'll just, you know, call the Lord into your heart, 280 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,400 then you can be saved. And I would suggest that the 281 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,599 Lord hears certain types of prayers and there are other 282 00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:25,900 types of prayers that he does not here. 283 00:17:25,900 --> 00:17:30,400 So who does not have this special privilege of prayer? 284 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:36,500 First those who do not listen to God, Proverbs 28. 285 00:17:36,500 --> 00:17:40,900 Second Timothy chapter 4 are a couple of examples of people who 286 00:17:40,900 --> 00:17:44,100 may try to pray but their prayers are not heard. 287 00:17:44,100 --> 00:17:47,100 In fact, they're an Abomination, Proverbs 28. 288 00:17:47,100 --> 00:17:51,900 Verse 9 says, he who turns his ears from listening to the law, 289 00:17:52,100 --> 00:17:57,100 even his prayer is an Abomination, Abominations a 290 00:17:57,100 --> 00:18:01,600 strong word, it means that it's odious, it's awful. 291 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:04,700 That it's, you know, the equivalent of nails on a 292 00:18:04,708 --> 00:18:07,600 chalkboard. This is what prayers are when 293 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,300 people pray to God, but don't obey. 294 00:18:10,300 --> 00:18:15,900 God, Another type that does not have the privilege of prayer are 295 00:18:15,900 --> 00:18:21,400 those who are in sin, and whose sins have separated them from 296 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,400 God. Now, it's easy, brothers and 297 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:26,900 sisters for us to think who, that's not me, because I'm here 298 00:18:26,900 --> 00:18:30,200 this morning, and it's those people out there all them. 299 00:18:31,100 --> 00:18:36,100 I'm gonna challenge you on that. That if you are not listening to 300 00:18:36,100 --> 00:18:40,000 God and if you're not obeying God, that means your sins are 301 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:44,500 separating from God. Now, I can go on a tangent about 302 00:18:44,500 --> 00:18:46,000 this. I'll do my best not to, but 303 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:50,100 sometimes people give the Church of Christ, a bad rap saying. 304 00:18:50,100 --> 00:18:52,500 Oh, you Church of Christ folks? You think you're the only ones 305 00:18:52,500 --> 00:18:54,600 going to heaven? Maybe you've heard that before. 306 00:18:54,600 --> 00:19:03,200 I've heard that I like what your brother says when Oscar and its 307 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,200 tongue and cheek, so don't be offended too much, blame, Glenn, 308 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,200 not me. He says I don't think all the 309 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:10,500 people in the church are going to heaven. 310 00:19:11,700 --> 00:19:14,900 Now, that sounds rough. Doesn't it? 311 00:19:15,100 --> 00:19:16,800 Maybe I'm the only one chuckling in it. 312 00:19:18,300 --> 00:19:23,000 But the point is who's going to heaven the ones who obey God, 313 00:19:24,100 --> 00:19:27,900 not the ones who fill the pews, but in their harder disobeying 314 00:19:27,900 --> 00:19:32,200 God may it never be that. We think if we're filling up 315 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:36,000 Hugh that we've checked off everything, there is to do not 316 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:40,400 true because the Bible says, in Isaiah chapter, 59, verses 1 and 317 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:46,400 2 and this is to God's people. This isn't to some foreign 318 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:48,000 Nation, this was to God's people. 319 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:52,400 He says, behold the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot 320 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,800 save. Nor is here. 321 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:59,600 So dull that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have made a 322 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:03,700 separation between you and God and your sins have hidden his 323 00:20:03,700 --> 00:20:07,000 face from you. So that he does not here. 324 00:20:08,900 --> 00:20:11,600 There's one more that I'm going to put up here. 325 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,400 Actually, two more. Those who fail to treat. 326 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:18,900 Others justly. Do not have the privilege of 327 00:20:18,900 --> 00:20:22,000 prayer. And so the way that we treat 328 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,200 one, another affects our prayer life. 329 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:27,800 Did, you know versus like 1st Peter 3:7? 330 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:31,200 Say that husbands are to dwell with their wives in an 331 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,800 understanding way, lest their prayers, be hindered. 332 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:39,700 And so there's times whenever and I love how it says, for 333 00:20:39,700 --> 00:20:42,200 husbands to dwell with their wives in an understanding way 334 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:45,000 and not the reverse because there are many times where men 335 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:47,200 will just say well, who can understand a woman like this, 336 00:20:47,500 --> 00:20:51,500 not me, we're called to dwell with our wives and understanding 337 00:20:51,500 --> 00:20:56,600 way and as the spiritual head of a house Brothers, if we can't 338 00:20:56,600 --> 00:21:00,200 dwell with one that we see in an understanding way, how are we 339 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:02,300 supposed to dwell with one that we cannot see? 340 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,300 As first John four talks about briefly, So the challenge is 341 00:21:07,300 --> 00:21:11,000 that we have to treat one another justly or our prayers 342 00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:15,000 will be hindered. Finally, those who do not pray 343 00:21:15,300 --> 00:21:18,700 with faith, or those who prey rather without faith as Hebrews 344 00:21:18,700 --> 00:21:23,900 11 verse 6 and James chapter 1, verse 6 and 7 State James, 1:6 345 00:21:23,900 --> 00:21:27,200 says, but he must ask in faith without any doubting for. 346 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,100 The one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and 347 00:21:30,100 --> 00:21:32,900 tossed by the wind for that man. Ought not to expect. 348 00:21:32,900 --> 00:21:35,100 He will receive anything from the Lord. 349 00:21:36,500 --> 00:21:39,600 Now, you might feel bad about that verse. 350 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:43,700 And if you weren't here on Thursday or Friday, can't 351 00:21:43,700 --> 00:21:47,100 remember, go listen to that video because we talked a whole 352 00:21:47,100 --> 00:21:50,900 lot about doubting. It's okay to have questions and 353 00:21:50,900 --> 00:21:56,600 it's okay to inquire about the different aspects of our faith. 354 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:01,500 But for the person who is expecting that God won't answer 355 00:22:01,500 --> 00:22:03,000 their prayer. What's the even the point of 356 00:22:03,008 --> 00:22:04,900 this, I'm going to say this, but I know he's not going to hear 357 00:22:04,900 --> 00:22:07,100 me. Without faith. 358 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,200 You do not have the special privilege of prayer. 359 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:14,500 Well, who then does enjoy this special privilege, who Among Us? 360 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:19,300 Who among this world can pray and God will hear that prayer 361 00:22:19,500 --> 00:22:25,300 and bless them with an answer. First anyone who desires to seek 362 00:22:25,300 --> 00:22:31,400 God can pray to God. Right, Bible says in James 4:8 363 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:35,500 draw near to God and He will draw near to you. 364 00:22:35,700 --> 00:22:41,100 So, while prayer is exclusive, It is as simple as when a 365 00:22:41,100 --> 00:22:43,800 person. Sincerely, is trying to reach 366 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,500 out to God. And so, I don't want you to lose 367 00:22:46,500 --> 00:22:50,000 heart. If any of you on that previous 368 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,300 slide thought that one looks like me. 369 00:22:52,900 --> 00:22:54,600 So that means God's not hearing my prayers. 370 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:59,000 Well, the moment that you have decided to change and that there 371 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:03,300 is sincere repentance and you want to draw near to God. 372 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,400 Here's a promise, God will draw near to you. 373 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,200 And this promise is open to Sinners. 374 00:23:10,700 --> 00:23:15,700 Yes, there are sinners that God hears and listens to we have it 375 00:23:15,700 --> 00:23:19,200 recorded in the Bible. For example, in Acts chapter 10, 376 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:24,000 there's a man named Cornelius, he have not been baptized and 377 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,700 yet an angel comes to him and says, God has heard your 378 00:23:26,700 --> 00:23:29,100 prayers. How's that possible? 379 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:35,200 Because he was seeking God. He was not interested in living 380 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:40,700 a sinful way and seeking God, he was doing his best to find out 381 00:23:40,700 --> 00:23:43,900 more about God and His Matthew chapter 7 verse 7 and 8 says 382 00:23:44,700 --> 00:23:50,900 seek, And you will find. Knock and the door will be open 383 00:23:50,900 --> 00:23:53,500 to you. So Sinners who are seeking God 384 00:23:53,500 --> 00:23:56,300 may pray and enjoy this privilege of prayer and then the 385 00:23:56,300 --> 00:24:01,700 Christian who is faithful has Jesus as their high priest and 386 00:24:01,700 --> 00:24:04,700 so the Sinner and the Christian alike can enjoy. 387 00:24:04,700 --> 00:24:08,600 The special privilege if we are moving towards God. 388 00:24:10,300 --> 00:24:13,200 Let's keep going. The principles of prayer here 389 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:17,900 are, what I'm going to call some principles but certainly not all 390 00:24:17,900 --> 00:24:21,400 the principles of prayer but I want you to think about these. 391 00:24:22,100 --> 00:24:25,800 Whenever you pray number one, you must pray in faith. 392 00:24:26,500 --> 00:24:29,700 You must pray in faith. Not with an expectation. 393 00:24:29,900 --> 00:24:33,300 That God isn't going to hear. God isn't going to answer, but 394 00:24:33,300 --> 00:24:38,100 we must pray in faith. Number two, we must pray with 395 00:24:38,100 --> 00:24:41,400 humility. That God's going to answer it in 396 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,600 his way and that we're not demanding him to answer it. 397 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:49,500 Our way, number three, we must pray in harmony with God's will. 398 00:24:49,900 --> 00:24:53,600 That scripture is so important to prayer. 399 00:24:54,900 --> 00:24:57,700 Unlike the ones previously, I'd like to read it to you first 400 00:24:57,700 --> 00:25:01,900 John chapter 5 verse 13. It says these things I have 401 00:25:01,900 --> 00:25:04,900 written to you, who believe in the name of the son of God. 402 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,600 So that you may know that you have eternal life and this is 403 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,400 the confidence, which we have before him. 404 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:17,100 That listen, if we ask anything according to his will he hears 405 00:25:17,100 --> 00:25:20,400 us? What's important about prayer is 406 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:23,000 that we ask according to the will of God. 407 00:25:23,900 --> 00:25:26,800 Now again, I'll use an example from when we were living in 408 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:30,000 Southeast Asia. People were very discouraged 409 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,900 about prayer who had never prayed before and then we 410 00:25:32,900 --> 00:25:35,500 explain to them what prayer was they immediately? 411 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,000 Started praying for things like Lord, help me get this bicycle. 412 00:25:40,500 --> 00:25:44,900 Lord help me get a house which I think we I think it's 413 00:25:44,900 --> 00:25:46,500 appropriate to pray for those things. 414 00:25:46,500 --> 00:25:49,100 But what's the expectation behind is what I'm asking. 415 00:25:49,900 --> 00:25:52,300 What's a similar prayer that we might pray and this side of the 416 00:25:52,300 --> 00:25:55,000 pond? Well, I can't say this example 417 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,800 anymore, somebody wanted that I could be praying Lord help me 418 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:02,000 win at Powerball, right? At two billion dollar Powerball 419 00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:05,700 is that according to the will of God, is that according to my 420 00:26:05,700 --> 00:26:09,100 selfish desires you see what I'm talking about. 421 00:26:09,100 --> 00:26:13,600 So here's a principle of prayer as I interact with God. 422 00:26:14,700 --> 00:26:17,100 Am I praying? According to his will for things 423 00:26:17,100 --> 00:26:20,400 that will help accomplish his will, or am I praying according 424 00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:25,400 to my wants and desires to accomplish my I will we must 425 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:30,000 pray with an attitude of gratitude as Psalm 100 and 426 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,300 Colossians 3 steak. And I read a source that I 427 00:26:33,300 --> 00:26:39,000 really liked this point that in gratitude is an indication of 428 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,500 apostasy from Romans 1 and second Timothy chapter 3. 429 00:26:42,900 --> 00:26:47,000 So be careful if you do not have a heart of gratitude where that 430 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,800 could potentially lead you. Finally, here's a principle. 431 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:57,100 We must pray in Jesus name. And this is a point that I have 432 00:26:57,100 --> 00:27:00,100 for both, those of you who lead public worship. 433 00:27:00,100 --> 00:27:03,400 And then those of you who pray privately at home. 434 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,600 But you may notice that here we pray. 435 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:11,000 And then we advocate for people at home to pray in Jesus name. 436 00:27:11,700 --> 00:27:13,400 Amen. That's how we end a prayer in 437 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:14,600 Jesus name. Amen. 438 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,000 And I advocate that too. I don't think we should ever 439 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:22,100 stop in Jesus name, or in your son's name. 440 00:27:22,100 --> 00:27:25,600 Amen, the ending of a prayer. R, but this principle is more 441 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:31,100 than just how we end prayer. it's talking about the manner in 442 00:27:31,100 --> 00:27:35,300 which were approaching the father, That there is but one 443 00:27:35,300 --> 00:27:38,900 mediator between God and that is Jesus Christ. 444 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,600 And so it's only through Jesus, through his name that we have 445 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:44,800 access to the father in the first place. 446 00:27:46,100 --> 00:27:49,700 And if you've ever studied the Old Testament, you know how 447 00:27:49,700 --> 00:27:55,200 difficult it was to access God, we're talking about taking big 448 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:59,300 old stones in the patriarchal age and lumping them together in 449 00:27:59,300 --> 00:28:03,700 a big old pile and then calling dad or Granddad or great 450 00:28:03,700 --> 00:28:05,500 Granddad. Whoever was the patriarch and 451 00:28:05,500 --> 00:28:09,500 getting him to make a sacrifice. So we could interact with God. 452 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,500 If you lived in the levitical age, then you're going to look 453 00:28:14,500 --> 00:28:17,900 out your flock and make sure that you've got this perfect 454 00:28:17,900 --> 00:28:19,400 lamb. And if you don't got one, you 455 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,100 got to go find one somewhere else. 456 00:28:21,100 --> 00:28:23,900 You got to get over to Jerusalem so you can make a sacrifice. 457 00:28:24,100 --> 00:28:26,900 And you know what? You, and I get to do because of 458 00:28:26,900 --> 00:28:31,700 Jesus. We get to talk directly to God 459 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:37,300 at anytime and say, father, please forgive me. 460 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:40,900 Because I realize what I did was wrong. 461 00:28:42,100 --> 00:28:45,800 And I want to be right. And it's through Jesus that I 462 00:28:45,808 --> 00:28:50,600 can talk with you now. So, yes, at the end of a prayer. 463 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:55,700 I advocate that you in your prayer in Jesus name. but I'm 464 00:28:55,700 --> 00:28:59,300 also advocating that as you pray, just remember the mindset 465 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:02,700 we get to do this because of Jesus. 466 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:06,900 What a privilege it is because of Jesus. 467 00:29:07,500 --> 00:29:11,000 Now, let's talk about the Persistence of prayer. 468 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:15,800 And there are several Parables that we could look at like, the 469 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:19,400 parable of the persistent friend, the parable of the 470 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:23,800 persistent Widow. And in both of these cases, the 471 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:28,600 moral of the parable is be consistent. 472 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:32,400 Right? Be persistent and keep on 473 00:29:32,700 --> 00:29:35,700 praying. And it may take days, it may 474 00:29:35,700 --> 00:29:40,500 take weeks, it may take months, it may take years, but ask God 475 00:29:40,500 --> 00:29:43,500 because if in these Parables you know, the parable of the 476 00:29:43,500 --> 00:29:47,100 persistent Widow, was this judge she just finally wore him down 477 00:29:47,100 --> 00:29:50,500 and he gave her the Justice she needed because she kept asking 478 00:29:50,500 --> 00:29:54,500 for it. And if this Godless judge Would 479 00:29:54,500 --> 00:29:57,200 finally be worn down. How much would a God? 480 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:01,800 Who loves you? Listen, if you were persistent 481 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:07,000 in prayer, Paul in second Corinthians 12, verse 8, it says 482 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:12,500 he endured a thorn in the flesh. Three times, he prayed that it 483 00:30:12,500 --> 00:30:15,100 would be removed. He was persistent. 484 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:20,900 Now, this Thorn wasn't removed, but through the Persistence of 485 00:30:20,900 --> 00:30:23,600 his prayer. Paul learned what he needed to 486 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:26,300 know. No, he learned that God would 487 00:30:26,300 --> 00:30:30,800 provide in his own special way. Okay, now you can flip over to 488 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:35,800 the back page of the handout, we're on the practice of prayer 489 00:30:36,900 --> 00:30:38,800 and there's a lot of information. 490 00:30:39,100 --> 00:30:42,400 And so I have made the executive decision, they're only going to 491 00:30:42,408 --> 00:30:46,700 talk about one of these. Now I will briefly show you the 492 00:30:46,700 --> 00:30:48,800 other ones, we've got the model prayer. 493 00:30:49,300 --> 00:30:54,500 The question, what can we be praying for and then what Shins 494 00:30:54,500 --> 00:30:57,000 or postures, should we assume in prayer? 495 00:30:57,500 --> 00:31:01,600 They're all equally important and I'm not going to Advocate 496 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:03,000 that. The one I'm speaking about is 497 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,700 more important than the other two, but just for the sake of 498 00:31:05,700 --> 00:31:09,100 time, I'm going to put these two up here and I'm going to ask you 499 00:31:09,100 --> 00:31:12,500 to study them on your own in Matthew chapter 6, which we've 500 00:31:12,500 --> 00:31:15,900 already read the model prayer. We could go through Point by 501 00:31:15,900 --> 00:31:21,600 point and talk about how this prayer can help us better. 502 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,100 Understand the practice of praying we I could also talk for 503 00:31:25,100 --> 00:31:29,100 a time about the different people, the different groups 504 00:31:29,100 --> 00:31:32,500 that we could be praying for and that's also the practice prayer, 505 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,800 but I want to focus on this final question, what position or 506 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,000 what posture should we assume in prayer? 507 00:31:39,300 --> 00:31:42,000 And the reason I think this is healthy for members of the 508 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:48,000 church is it's sometimes easy for us to do things for the sake 509 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,200 of tradition, and it's not wrong to do it for the sake of 510 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:55,400 tradition. But sometimes When someone 511 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,700 questions that tradition, we raised a red flag that maybe 512 00:31:59,700 --> 00:32:03,100 they're trying to just change things for the sake of change. 513 00:32:03,100 --> 00:32:07,000 And then we have a squabble over traditions and friends. 514 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:11,400 I'm here to tell you that, the way that we pray in the assembly 515 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:19,200 like this, Is it tradition? And it's an acceptable good 516 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:23,200 tradition. There are other ways that one 517 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:27,400 could posture themself for prayer, we have scriptures where 518 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,800 people are standing. People have their hands spread 519 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:32,600 out there. Lift it up heavenward. 520 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:35,700 People are bowing their head, they're lifting their eyes. 521 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,800 People are kneeling, people are bowing down, people are heads 522 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:42,900 bowed their faces between their knees. 523 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:47,300 They're striking their chests and these are biblical ways that 524 00:32:47,300 --> 00:32:49,400 we could pray. Now, the reason that I'm 525 00:32:49,900 --> 00:32:54,000 spending just a moment on this is that if we are a group who 526 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:57,700 wants to reach out to the community around us and invite 527 00:32:57,700 --> 00:33:01,300 them to join us for worship. There will be those who come in, 528 00:33:01,300 --> 00:33:03,500 who may have a different posture of prayer. 529 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:08,700 And my challenge is for us who like this tradition, and I'll go 530 00:33:08,700 --> 00:33:11,100 ahead and tell you, I like this tradition. 531 00:33:11,500 --> 00:33:14,500 I'm not here to blow it up. I don't want to change anything. 532 00:33:14,700 --> 00:33:19,600 I think it's appropriate. Corinthians 14 says that God is 533 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:22,100 the author of Peace, not of confusion, and all things are to 534 00:33:22,100 --> 00:33:25,400 be done for edification. And so, I like the idea of 535 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:29,000 taking a posture of humility when I'm sitting Sometimes I 536 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,100 close my eyes other times. It's hard to focus, so I'll keep 537 00:33:32,100 --> 00:33:35,600 my eyes open, but I want that posture and usually, the whole 538 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:36,900 group kind of takes that posture. 539 00:33:36,900 --> 00:33:39,600 Sometimes people get on their knees and pray, but what would 540 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:40,900 happen? Let me just ask. 541 00:33:40,900 --> 00:33:43,200 What would happen if we had to guess that came in a months? 542 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:48,500 Just and the brother comes up to the front and says Let us pray 543 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:51,300 and that person stood up and lifted their hands like this. 544 00:33:51,900 --> 00:33:54,300 What would you do? Would you tackle him? 545 00:33:55,400 --> 00:34:00,400 No, don't do that. And I would challenge us that we 546 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:04,700 don't want to do things that are in decent and out of order, but 547 00:34:04,700 --> 00:34:08,500 I want to have a mindset where we are open to the other people, 548 00:34:08,500 --> 00:34:12,500 may assume a different posture than we do as we pray, you know, 549 00:34:12,500 --> 00:34:17,699 there was a tax collector and he stood Good. 550 00:34:17,900 --> 00:34:21,300 And there was a Pharisee, and he stood, right? 551 00:34:21,300 --> 00:34:23,800 Both of them were standing, right? 552 00:34:24,500 --> 00:34:27,800 The, the fact that they were standing isn't, what was sinful? 553 00:34:28,500 --> 00:34:33,199 That was sinful about this Pharisee, was that he was in his 554 00:34:33,199 --> 00:34:37,500 heart proud about who he was, and how he done, nothing wrong. 555 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:42,199 If it's wrong for us, to have this posture of standing and 556 00:34:42,199 --> 00:34:46,300 looking to heaven, then Jesus would be wrong in John 17. 557 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:52,400 When he looked to heaven and prayed, again, I only bring this 558 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:56,500 up because I want to challenge us to be flexible with people 559 00:34:56,500 --> 00:35:00,800 who may look different than us as we try to accomplish the same 560 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,000 thing. Finally, let's talk on the 561 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:04,800 phone. The the middle part of that 562 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:08,600 handout on the backside, how does God answer prayer? 563 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,300 There's four answers that question. 564 00:35:15,300 --> 00:35:18,000 Number one, God May answer with a yes. 565 00:35:19,300 --> 00:35:21,100 And thank God, he answers prayer. 566 00:35:22,300 --> 00:35:26,100 I'm so thankful that we get to experience God answering. 567 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:29,300 Yes. We pray for someone to get 568 00:35:29,300 --> 00:35:36,200 healed and they get well. We should thank God that he said 569 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:42,300 yes I prayed this or I gave this study at home and I had someone 570 00:35:42,300 --> 00:35:46,900 come up afterwards and tell me a fabulous story and it really 571 00:35:47,900 --> 00:35:50,000 kind of humbled. Me made me think sometimes I'm a 572 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:54,300 prayer agnostic. So I want to challenge anyone 573 00:35:54,300 --> 00:35:55,800 else out there who may be a prayer. 574 00:35:55,800 --> 00:36:02,300 Agnostic, let me explain. He explained that his grandson 575 00:36:02,300 --> 00:36:05,200 had played football and wanted Friday night. 576 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:09,800 Have been tackled in the knee and that knee looked awful. 577 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:14,000 It looks like it was a career-ending injury so they 578 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:18,800 took him to the emergency room and the doctor said we're going 579 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:21,000 to have to do surgery or something but we've got to wait 580 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,300 for the swelling to go down so put ice on it, come back on 581 00:36:24,300 --> 00:36:27,600 Monday and we'll make plans to do surgery. 582 00:36:28,500 --> 00:36:33,500 I took that boy home, put ice on it and they prayed and they 583 00:36:33,500 --> 00:36:37,000 prayed, and they prayed and they went back on Monday and the 584 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,500 doctor did another X-ray and said, I don't know what to say. 585 00:36:41,700 --> 00:36:46,100 but, There's no surgery needed. In fact, he's good to go. 586 00:36:46,100 --> 00:36:47,900 He could probably play football this Friday. 587 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:54,800 Now, a prayer agnostic, like me at times might make an excuse. 588 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:58,200 Well, it was just a swelling, you know, the X-ray kind of 589 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:02,400 missed out and really it was like this the whole time and 590 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:06,600 we'll make some sort of a rational reason for why they had 591 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:09,400 misdiagnosed it. But what this grandfather told 592 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,700 me was you know what, we should do, whenever we pray. 593 00:37:12,700 --> 00:37:17,000 And instead of rationalizing it away we should just say, thank 594 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:17,500 you. God. 595 00:37:19,100 --> 00:37:22,500 Thank you. And they could be thank you that 596 00:37:22,500 --> 00:37:27,100 he misdiagnosed it. But it could also be thank you 597 00:37:27,107 --> 00:37:31,200 for answering our prayers. Thank you for answering our 598 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:33,600 prayers. You know, God might say yes. 599 00:37:35,300 --> 00:37:41,700 But it could be a yes but not right now. and that might feel 600 00:37:41,700 --> 00:37:49,700 like a no because you asked And you're told not yet now in kid 601 00:37:49,700 --> 00:37:53,200 language, especially I know some of you kids out there ours as 602 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:56,400 well. Anytime that Dad says not yet, 603 00:37:56,600 --> 00:38:00,800 great might as well be no, right. 604 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:04,900 For those of us who are kids at heart when we pray to the father 605 00:38:04,900 --> 00:38:08,600 and we feel like it's a not yet, I locked a lot of times we go. 606 00:38:09,100 --> 00:38:13,500 Great might as well be, you know, There's examples 607 00:38:13,500 --> 00:38:19,300 Ecclesiastes 3, Luke chapter, 18 others where there is a yes but 608 00:38:19,300 --> 00:38:22,600 you need to hold on. It's not in our time. 609 00:38:23,100 --> 00:38:25,900 It's God's time. Number 3. 610 00:38:25,900 --> 00:38:28,000 God May answer. Yes. 611 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:33,000 But not, as you think. This is one of those warnings. 612 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:36,500 Be careful what you pray for because you just might get it. 613 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:40,400 Just not the way you thought and so you pray. 614 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:45,300 Lord help me to be patient. What do you get? 615 00:38:46,900 --> 00:38:50,000 One of the most frustrating persons comes into your life. 616 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:56,400 And you just can't stand them. What is the Lord answering my 617 00:38:56,400 --> 00:39:00,100 prayer for patience for you to learn to love this person? 618 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:06,500 You might be asking for things like children. 619 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:13,200 Help us to get pregnant, help us to have a baby and it may be not 620 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:16,500 as you think. Sometimes children don't come 621 00:39:16,500 --> 00:39:18,700 naturally. They come through adoption 622 00:39:18,700 --> 00:39:21,600 through fostering. Did you get a baby? 623 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:25,400 Yes, you did. This is a baby of choice. 624 00:39:25,700 --> 00:39:31,000 It's a yes, but not as you think, and sometimes God 625 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:32,100 answers. No. 626 00:39:34,500 --> 00:39:39,500 And none of us like, no, I still 37 years old and I didn't like 627 00:39:39,500 --> 00:39:41,300 it when I was a kid that like growing up. 628 00:39:41,300 --> 00:39:42,900 I don't like it now. I don't like it. 629 00:39:42,908 --> 00:39:46,600 No. And none of us wants to know. 630 00:39:47,700 --> 00:39:52,300 but as these scriptures in 2nd Corinthians 12 and James for 631 00:39:52,300 --> 00:39:57,700 teach us there's times when God's know Looks a whole lot 632 00:39:57,700 --> 00:39:59,700 like a yes, but not, as you think? 633 00:40:00,700 --> 00:40:03,500 And we desperately pray for someone to get well, and they 634 00:40:03,500 --> 00:40:08,200 don't. When they die and we missed them 635 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:11,300 terribly. We think why did you say no? 636 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,600 But God knew best what that person need. 637 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:17,200 And maybe they needed to be with him. 638 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:24,500 There's times when we've had dear loved ones who have prayed, 639 00:40:24,900 --> 00:40:26,900 and prayed and prayed. Again, I may be thinking about 640 00:40:26,900 --> 00:40:32,700 children too much, but we've had dear friends for 20 years of 641 00:40:32,700 --> 00:40:36,700 wanted kids. And it looked like God said, no, 642 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:38,900 he did. We were there in the courtroom 643 00:40:38,900 --> 00:40:43,000 with them listening as a judge would give the child to another 644 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:44,900 family over them and we wept with them. 645 00:40:46,500 --> 00:40:51,700 And those nose hurt. But it was through those knows 646 00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:54,600 that God's will was ultimately accomplished. 647 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:57,800 You know, Paul prayed three times to the Lord. 648 00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:01,200 Please take this Thorn In the Flesh away from you. 649 00:41:01,300 --> 00:41:05,600 I don't want it and God said, no. 650 00:41:07,500 --> 00:41:10,900 And after that, third prayer, Paul realized. 651 00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:17,800 When I'm weak, then I'm strong. And so I'll I'll rejoice in my 652 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:20,500 sufferings. I'll Rejoice earnestly and when 653 00:41:20,500 --> 00:41:23,800 things go bad because then I know that the power isn't meant 654 00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:25,800 to be and me. Anyway, it's meant to be God. 655 00:41:26,900 --> 00:41:30,600 He needed to know. Sometimes you need to know to 656 00:41:31,300 --> 00:41:35,700 whenever you pray. Here's an important point about 657 00:41:35,700 --> 00:41:40,800 how God answers prayer, God answers every prayer every time 658 00:41:41,100 --> 00:41:46,500 as he sees best, not as you not as me. 659 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:51,500 But as he sees best And so remember prayer is not about 660 00:41:51,500 --> 00:41:55,400 granting. Our wishes prayer offers us. 661 00:41:55,400 --> 00:42:00,200 The sacred opportunity to commune with and petition to and 662 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:04,300 discern the will of God. So I challenge you to be like 663 00:42:04,300 --> 00:42:11,000 Paul as we just talked about be like Paul and learn that When 664 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:15,700 God says no or When God Says, Yes, but wait or yes, but later 665 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:18,700 learned to be like Paul so that when you're weak. 666 00:42:19,300 --> 00:42:22,700 Then in fact you're strong, that's our Bible study this 667 00:42:22,700 --> 00:42:24,900 morning. I hope it was helpful and I do 668 00:42:24,900 --> 00:42:27,300 encourage you know those there's a lot of information in that 669 00:42:27,300 --> 00:42:30,500 handout I encourage you to take it with you and whether it be 670 00:42:30,500 --> 00:42:33,600 today or some other time in the week when you study the Bible 671 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:37,100 open that thing up and read those scriptures. 672 00:42:37,300 --> 00:42:40,800 And I hope that your prayer life is blessed because of our 673 00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:44,900 maintenance time this morning if you're not a Christian and 674 00:42:44,900 --> 00:42:48,100 especially when it came to talking about the privilege of 675 00:42:48,100 --> 00:42:51,500 Prayer, Sin does separate us from God. 676 00:42:53,300 --> 00:42:57,100 And I want you to know that even though sin separates you from 677 00:42:57,100 --> 00:42:59,200 God. Jesus Christ is greater than our 678 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:03,500 sins and he can cover and wash away any sin that you've ever 679 00:43:03,500 --> 00:43:05,500 done. And so we invite those who have 680 00:43:05,500 --> 00:43:09,800 not yet obeyed, the gospel to come believing repenting. 681 00:43:10,100 --> 00:43:13,400 Confessing that Jesus is the son of God and be baptized for the 682 00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:15,900 remission of sins, Brothers of sisters. 683 00:43:15,900 --> 00:43:18,800 If anyone needs to prayers of the church, whether it is to 684 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:20,700 confess sin or to confess weariness. 685 00:43:20,700 --> 00:43:23,000 This is a time for you as well. Please come as we stand. 686 00:43:23,100 --> 00:43:26,300 And sing a song. We thank you for listening to 687 00:43:26,300 --> 00:43:31,200 our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. 688 00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:34,700 Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional 689 00:43:34,700 --> 00:43:38,000 information, or you would like to receive a free Bible 690 00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:43,400 correspondence, course by mail. Please email us at info at her 691 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:45,900 Church of Christ Bakersfield.com. 692 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:51,700 Our service times are on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and 693 00:43:51,700 --> 00:43:56,200 Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. Please make plans to join us. 694 00:43:56,700 --> 00:43:58,900 We would love for you to be our honored guest.