1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader of 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,600 Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA. 3 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,039 I hope the following message challenges, encourages and 4 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,120 ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us. 5 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,760 Let's get into the word what we're going to look at this 6 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,680 morning. We are as, as we said on the 7 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:22,400 announcements, we're going to have our annual fast, the 21 day 8 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:24,760 fast. We've been doing this probably 9 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:28,160 2324 years now. A lot of fast. 10 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:31,520 Fasting is good for you. I'm trying to think the first 11 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:34,720 time we ever did a 21 day fast, I don't know that I'd ever done 12 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,400 one because I really wondered, could you do that? 13 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,040 Will you die and you won't? You really won't. 14 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:42,720 You might feel like you're going to, but you're not going to. 15 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,440 It matter of fact, fasting is very good for you. 16 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,400 It's healthy. I just read the other day that 17 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:52,720 if you will do a four day water fast, your chances of cancer 18 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:55,160 drops by 85%. That's amazing. 19 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,520 So fasting, that's why when you get sick often, you'll lose your 20 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:03,240 appetite, your body shuts down and it's healing itself through 21 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:05,400 that. And so we're going to move into 22 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:09,720 some healing in in January. So I want to encourage you to do 23 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:12,880 so, but I want to look at some things in light of that. 24 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,400 I want to look at, I want to ask you a question. 25 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,560 Don't you hate when preachers ask a question because you know 26 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,840 they're trying to trick you? Let me ask you a question. 27 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:26,840 I want you to raise your hand. How many of you believe that 28 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:32,960 your obedience to God has? As if there's a correlation 29 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:35,960 between your obedience to God and answered prayer? 30 00:01:35,960 --> 00:01:39,840 Raise your hand. How many of you think there's no 31 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:43,320 correlation between that? Raise your hand how many of you 32 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:45,680 aren't going to answer regardless of what I say? 33 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:47,680 Amen. I appreciate your honesty. 34 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,800 I would be in the same boat. I'd be kind of like, and you 35 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,440 know, when, when I asked that question initially, I think that 36 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,200 we, we immediately think, well, of course, and then very quickly 37 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:03,600 we begin to back away from that, that stance because we begin to 38 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:05,280 ask the question, well, what about grace? 39 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,039 Are we earning the answer to prayer and all of that? 40 00:02:08,039 --> 00:02:12,320 And these are very, very important questions because what 41 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:16,680 the enemy wants to do is he wants to undermine the power of 42 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,320 prayer. God has given us this amazing 43 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:24,080 Canon. Matter of fact, in worship, I 44 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,440 saw this quick picture on my mind of God cleaning out the 45 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,640 Canon, the Canon of prayer and fasting. 46 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,120 I believe that prayer is powerful, but when you add 47 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,240 fasting to it, it's even more powerful. 48 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,480 But why? We just, you know, say those 49 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,560 things, but is there a theological reason why I believe 50 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,160 that there is a direct correlation between our walk 51 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,960 with God, our obedience, our aligning our life, our surrender 52 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:54,000 to Him, and our power in the prayer closet. 53 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:58,240 Prevailing prayer, your surrender actually fuels the 54 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,960 prevailing nature of prayer. But why? 55 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,120 Because we need really do need to ask that because we can get 56 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:08,040 into some legalism, we can get into some false conclusions that 57 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:12,160 actually create frustration in our life as if we've got to earn 58 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:14,080 answered prayer. And that is not what I'm saying. 59 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:17,040 In fact, I'm adamantly saying that is not the case. 60 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:21,280 You don't earn the answer to your prayer, but God does want 61 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:23,200 you to be the first expression of it. 62 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:30,760 God wants to you to be the first fruits of the answer to your 63 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:34,960 prayer where you become a living expression of what you're 64 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:38,600 actually praying for. And so there's a process to 65 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:40,520 prayer. But if we don't understand it, 66 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,440 we, we, we pray a few times and then when there's not an answer, 67 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,160 we just conclude, I guess God said no. 68 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,480 Or even more serious, I guess God doesn't care. 69 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,200 We get offended or distracted and we just give up. 70 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:56,160 And we've pulled out of the process that God is going to use 71 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,720 to, to have heaven invade earth. OK. 72 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,400 And so we want to look at this whole concept and I'm going to 73 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,400 make a case for it. It's scripturally from the Old 74 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:08,920 Testament and the New Testament this morning. 75 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:11,880 So let's pray. I feel the need. 76 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:15,480 So, Lord, we just thank you for your word. 77 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,200 And Lord, I'm asking God that you would grace me, Lord, to 78 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,240 communicate what you've spoken to me. 79 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:24,400 Lord, that your word would come with great power. 80 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,240 Lord, I ask that you would enlighten people's minds. 81 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:29,280 Lord, that your teaching would fall like rain. 82 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:34,000 Father, we ask for a spirit of wisdom and revelation to reside 83 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,560 here, Lord, and that you would Lord, flashes of revelation that 84 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:41,040 you would begin to connect dots and Lord that you would make us 85 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:45,320 more effective in prayer because of what we come away with in 86 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:49,840 Jesus name, Amen. Number of years ago, Well, I 87 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:52,720 think it was the first year we ever did the 21 day fast. 88 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,120 We were praying over at the old building across town. 89 00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:00,040 And as we're praying, I, I quickly went into a vision, just 90 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,840 a real quick vision of this Kool-aid picture my mom had. 91 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:07,480 It was an orange, burnt orange kool-aid picture. 92 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,520 It was in the days my dad had just redone our kitchen with 93 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,240 avocado green appliances. You guys remember that man? 94 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,200 We were a happening family. I'm telling you this, he, he 95 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,240 laid this psychedelic carpet. I mean, it kind of made you 96 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:25,160 dizzy looking at the carpet. We had our backsplash was like 97 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,880 pretend brick. I mean, we, it was a wild 98 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:31,880 looking house. My dad was in construction and 99 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:35,520 so he finished it the day we moved so we could, my dad could 100 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,080 pastor in Iowa. You know, it's like the the, the 101 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,800 mechanic who always drives the junk car, our car, our house was 102 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,080 always being worked on and finally was finished the day we 103 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:46,880 moved. But anyway, I digress. 104 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,720 Wait. My, we had a burnt orange 105 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,200 Kool-aid picture and I saw that in a vision as I was praying. 106 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,320 We were praying for God to pour out His spirit on Heartland, to 107 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:57,960 use Heartland to touch the region. 108 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:01,960 And all of a sudden I saw this picture and some of you remember 109 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,320 this was a Tupperware picture and it was 1 molded hole. 110 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:07,120 It was there, it was the picture. 111 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:10,400 There was a handle molded into it and a little spout down the 112 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:14,080 top, one piece of plastic and then it was a 2 piecer. 113 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,320 It had a white lid that would slide in because we were a 114 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,280 classy family. You slide that in there and you 115 00:06:20,280 --> 00:06:23,480 could turn it and there were two holes on one side. 116 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:25,640 There were three lines cut into it. 117 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:28,960 And then if you really wanted it to flow, you'd turn that thing 118 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,720 around and there was a square and you would line up the 119 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:36,160 openness, the hole in the lid with the spout on the pitcher, 120 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,000 and then it could pour out. And that's what I saw. 121 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:43,280 I saw that that burnt orange kool-aid pitcher, and I saw this 122 00:06:43,280 --> 00:06:46,640 hand reach down and begin to adjust the lid. 123 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:51,840 And the hole on the lid was just barely lined up with the spout 124 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:54,240 on the pitcher. And I knew intuitively when I 125 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:55,920 saw it, this is what the Lord said to me. 126 00:06:55,920 --> 00:07:01,240 He said you are the lid on the outpouring in this region. 127 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:06,880 Now, I'm not arrogant enough to think I'm the only lid, but the 128 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,080 fact is God's looking for one person to become aligned with 129 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,600 him. And what he was doing is he was 130 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:17,360 showing me that fasting is not about changing him. 131 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,240 Fasting is not a hunger strike where we put God's arm behind 132 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:22,720 his back and come on, you know we're going to starve. 133 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:24,040 It's not going to look good for you, God. 134 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:25,920 We're your people. They're think you're nuts 135 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,360 because we're nuts. And then you got so OK, he says, 136 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:30,600 I'll pour out my spirit. That's not what fasting is. 137 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,720 Fasting doesn't change God, it changes us. 138 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,640 And so that was the hand of the Lord that was grabbing me as the 139 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,520 lid, and He was adjusting me. So the openness in me, see, 140 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:43,720 there was openness in me. That's why I was fasting. 141 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,360 That's why I was crying out. The problem is the openness in 142 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:49,640 me wasn't quite aligned with the openness in Him. 143 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:52,520 I had all these contingencies on my openness. 144 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:56,760 God, I want you to move as long as it doesn't interfere with my 145 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:00,680 convenient life. Lord, I want you to move as long 146 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:03,160 as I don't have to get up too early or stay up too late, as 147 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:07,560 long as I can eat what I want. And so God was putting his 148 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:11,240 finger on my heart and he was showing me that that he was 149 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,200 adjusting me. And what fasting is about, it's 150 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:18,440 taking the openness in you, the hunger in you and aligning it 151 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,520 with the openness in him. And I knew in the picture that 152 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,400 God was the pitcher. And the amazing thing is the 153 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:29,000 very structure of this, this Kool-aid pitcher is there was a, 154 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:34,320 the spout molded into it. God's very nature is to pour out 155 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:38,600 upon us the fullness of him. He longs to pour out on the 156 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:40,880 earth. The problem is not on God's 157 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:42,799 side. What he's looking for is 158 00:08:42,799 --> 00:08:47,200 somebody to align with him so that he can pour through us. 159 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,920 And so fasting is about changing us. 160 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,680 And so the season of prayer and fasting and there are times 161 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:58,720 where God will call us into a fresh season. 162 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:04,240 You ever been gripped by prayer for a season, men, when that 163 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:06,560 when you begin to feel that give way to it. 164 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:12,720 Those are glorious times of fellowship with God, and it's 165 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:16,440 times where you begin to realize and learn things about God on 166 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:18,720 that journey. And the glorious thing about 167 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:22,160 walking with God is even though you get the answered prayer, the 168 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:26,400 greatest reward of prayer is not the answer, but the revelation 169 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:28,720 you got in the journey on the way to the answer. 170 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:32,400 It's how God pulls us deeper and He reveals Himself to us. 171 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:36,280 It's a glorious thing. But what we need to understand 172 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:40,480 is that the first stage of intercession, the purpose of 173 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:44,200 fasting, is so that He can begin to transform us. 174 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,920 We become the first fruits of our own request so that then He 175 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:52,720 can manifest through us. Before He changes the external 176 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:56,680 circumstances about which we are praying for, He begins to change 177 00:09:56,680 --> 00:10:01,640 us as the prayer. And if we resist the change 178 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,920 there, the change will never show up out there. 179 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,920 And so we are the first fruits of our own request. 180 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:13,720 And what God is looking for is to change us. 181 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,920 And as we cry out to Him, God begins to do a work within us. 182 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:23,080 As our hunger grows, there's a greater willingness to yield. 183 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:25,280 And we start throwing things overboard. 184 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:27,240 Lord, I want this. And he puts his finger. 185 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:29,360 We'll throw that overboard and throw that over where we're 186 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,840 surrendering more and more until He gets us in the place where 187 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:37,200 we're aligned with Him. And I would propose to you that 188 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:41,440 every fresh season of intercession, every time we are 189 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,880 called into a fast, God is going to deal with something 190 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:47,440 internally so He can move externally. 191 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:52,240 He first has to do it in you so we can do it through you. 192 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:56,600 And if we resist the work in us, we shut down the work through 193 00:10:56,600 --> 00:11:00,000 us. Because the sobering reality is 194 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:04,560 you can cancel with your behavior what you pray with your 195 00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:08,160 mouth. You can cry out to God, a 196 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:14,960 sincere God inspired prayer. But if you don't begin to align 197 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:20,040 your life with that request, if you are actually contradicting 198 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:24,720 with your behavior what you're praying with your mouth, then 199 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:26,320 you'll actually shut down your prayer. 200 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:27,800 And I'm going to show you this from the Word. 201 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:33,320 This is a theme throughout Scripture, and it's something we 202 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:38,320 don't often understand. See, that's that's from heaven, 203 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:40,600 man. There's an alarm that's trying 204 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,680 to get our attention here. I've got a word from the Lord 205 00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:47,520 for you this morning. Seriously, God's inviting us in. 206 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:51,960 How many of you long to see greater power come through your 207 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:55,040 life in prayer? How many of you long to see the 208 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,880 prevailing power of God, God's strong right arm, begin to reach 209 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:01,720 through your life and begin to see things change? 210 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:06,040 Some of you are longing to see changes in your family and 211 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,920 circumstances surrounding you. There's there's things some of 212 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,560 us are carrying a tremendous burden for this nation and God 213 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:17,760 is longing to exercise his strong right arm, but he's got 214 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:20,840 to find a people that will align themselves with him. 215 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:27,400 So the first stage of any season in prayer is always God changing 216 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:29,840 us so he can change the situation. 217 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:35,320 He begins to do a work in US and as we yield to him, he begins to 218 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:37,680 gain an upper hand in that situation. 219 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:40,560 So let's pause that whole thought there. 220 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:42,560 Think you know where I'm going with that? 221 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:46,360 So pause that. And this begs the question here 222 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,040 about this thing of earning the answers to our prayers. 223 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:53,240 We talk about obedience and surrender. 224 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:55,160 Does that mean the more I'm obedient? 225 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:57,680 God says, man, he's really been good, He's been behaving, I'm 226 00:12:57,680 --> 00:12:59,480 going to reward him with an answered prayer. 227 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:02,560 No, that's not what's going on. We don't earn the answer to our 228 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:05,520 prayer. In fact, God desires to release 229 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,160 it more than we desire to see it. 230 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:12,040 And the only reason we're even praying is God put it within our 231 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:16,600 heart in the first place. God longs to release it, but he 232 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:19,360 needs an agent through which he releases it. 233 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:22,880 Because God has delegated the earth to man according to Psalm 234 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:26,800 8, and he will not violate the system he himself set up. 235 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:31,880 If he's going to release it on the earth, he's got to find a 236 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,520 yielded soul through which he can release it. 237 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:40,720 So this whole thing about righteousness and, and about 238 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:44,600 earning our, our, the answer to our prayer, it, it brings up 239 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:48,200 this whole idea, this, this question about what is the 240 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:52,720 nature of righteousness theologically, there's a thing 241 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:57,120 called imputed righteousness. It's the righteousness of 242 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,040 Christ. He already lived a perfect life. 243 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,640 We're going to celebrate that in a few moments through communion. 244 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:09,200 Jesus, it says, was made perfect by the things he suffered. 245 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,080 I don't have time to get down here, but I want to kind of mess 246 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:14,440 with you a little bit this morning. 247 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:20,360 Jesus was not born perfect. He became perfect by the things 248 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,160 he suffered. Now what does that mean? 249 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,560 It doesn't mean he was born sinful, it just he wasn't the 250 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:28,960 completion of God's, God's dream. 251 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:31,920 God, the first Adam derailed God's name. 252 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:35,080 So the last Adam came up and picked up where he left off and 253 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:38,560 he came as a man and he had to fulfill all of righteousness. 254 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:42,160 And the way he would do that is he learned obedience, Scripture 255 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:44,560 says through the things he suffered. 256 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:49,960 It says that he suffered when he was tempted. 257 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:52,640 Those are two verses out of out of Hebrews. 258 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:54,760 He learned obedience by the things he suffered. 259 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:56,680 How could Jesus need to learn obedience? 260 00:14:57,040 --> 00:15:00,440 Because he was being, he was taking what God had put within 261 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:04,080 him in the form of God's, that being created in God's image, 262 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:08,760 that potential and through right response to God through the 263 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:13,160 maturing process, he responded correctly and he was made 264 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:14,720 perfect by the things he suffered. 265 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:21,680 And so that righteousness, when Jesus said it is finished, what 266 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:23,680 was finished was God's plan for man. 267 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:26,760 And that was given to us as a gift. 268 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:31,440 We were made righteous, imputed to us as a gift. 269 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,120 The day I got saved, I was perfect. 270 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,840 I, I surrendered my life to Jesus and the paperwork in 271 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:41,880 heaven, the legal paperwork, God looked at me and looked through 272 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:44,400 his son and said he's perfect, He's righteous. 273 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:49,400 You can't improve on that one. The lady who led me to the Lord 274 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:50,880 gave me money to go out and buy a Bible. 275 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,960 I went out and bought a keg, got hammered, but I was still 276 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:56,480 righteous and the enemy could come up to God. 277 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:58,880 Hey, I thought you said this guy was perfect. 278 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:01,440 I thought he was a believer now. And the Lord checked the 279 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:02,720 paperwork. He's righteous. 280 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:07,600 It's imputed, it's a gift. The problem is, if that's the 281 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:11,760 only revelation of righteousness we have, then that gives us 282 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,720 access to heaven, but it doesn't give heaven access to earth. 283 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,160 What? So what's imputed to us as a 284 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:25,600 gift of righteousness is then worked into us as character 285 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:31,000 through the process of maturity. So we need to grow into this so 286 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,400 that what was given to us as a gift shows up on the landscape 287 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,040 of our life. This over here is the paperwork 288 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,320 in heaven. God looks at it, He's righteous. 289 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,080 But the people bumping into me in those days, not so much. 290 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:46,680 They're like, I don't know that I agree with heaven. 291 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,400 He doesn't seem righteous. So over time in walking with 292 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:54,800 God, just that's why it says in Hebrews chapter 2, it was 293 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:57,680 fitting that Jesus, for whom and through whom everything exists, 294 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:00,920 was made righteous through suffering. 295 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,079 Why did he say it was fitting for Jesus to be made righteous 296 00:17:04,079 --> 00:17:07,040 through suffering? The reason it says that it was 297 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:08,319 he was made perfect through suffering. 298 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,480 The reason it was fitting and what he's insinuating is because 299 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:13,000 that's how you're going to be made perfect. 300 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:17,079 I know it's supposed to be good news this morning. 301 00:17:17,079 --> 00:17:19,880 We'll get there. You're going to go through some 302 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,359 things and what God has given to you as a gift, as paperwork, 303 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:27,640 legal righteousness becomes actual by showing up in the 304 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,360 landscape of your life and you, everybody else gets to enjoy the 305 00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:33,600 fruit of that. You get to enjoy the fruit of 306 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:35,360 this one. God gets to enjoy the fruit of 307 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:38,440 it because He has access and He gets you back as His 308 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:42,480 inheritance. But when I got saved, the only 309 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,000 people that enjoyed the fruit of that were my mom and dad, and 310 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,680 they had some doubts because they've been praying for this 311 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:52,240 boy. But over time, as it gets worked 312 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:56,600 in us and we begin to mature and we grew up, we we cooperate as 313 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,720 he operates. God deals with us and we respond 314 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,360 correctly. As that happens, then what? 315 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:06,520 Then other people get to enjoy the fruit of that and all of a 316 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:10,240 sudden, not not only do I have access to heaven, heaven acts 317 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:13,320 access to earth through me and it begins to manifest through my 318 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,920 life. And one of the ways in which 319 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:20,360 that happens is prayer. Let me show you some verses. 320 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:22,920 Let me just show you one interesting verse. 321 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,040 Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse 14. 322 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:31,000 This is an interesting verse because it it's the one verse in 323 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:35,240 Scripture that gives us a picture of both facets or 324 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:39,920 expressions of righteousness. He says for by a single offering 325 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:44,960 he God has made perfect all for all time those who are being 326 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:48,480 sanctified. The NIV says he's made perfect 327 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:53,120 those who are being made holy. There it is again. 328 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,960 For by single offering he has made perfect for all, has 329 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:02,160 perfected for all times those who are being sanctified. 330 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:04,720 In other words, he's perfected for all time. 331 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,920 I'm holy. It's it's, it was given to me as 332 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:10,320 a gift. The only thing about it was this 333 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:12,440 legal agreement. God said I'm making them holy. 334 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:18,800 And then what he's been working on the last 42 years after that 335 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:24,720 is he's make, he's sanctifying me, He's bringing me up. 336 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:29,200 This is my legal condition. This is my living condition, my 337 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:31,200 legal position, my living condition. 338 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,760 He's bringing my living condition up to the standard of 339 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:38,840 my legal position. And what we need to understand 340 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:43,320 is that a lot of believers try to pray from this place and this 341 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:46,280 place alone. And when God begins to deal with 342 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:49,480 them and they'll say thanks but no thanks, and they actually 343 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:54,480 thwart their own prayers because this is necessary for our 344 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:58,360 prayers to be answered. Because one of the ways that God 345 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:02,120 makes you holy is he grips you with hunger for something. 346 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:04,400 And you begin to seek him about that. 347 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,240 And he says, OK, we're going to have a mutual exchange of 348 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,680 requests. You want to see that happen? 349 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:13,360 I want to see this happen. Now I'll show you a new word. 350 00:20:14,360 --> 00:20:16,000 This isn't. I'm not making this up. 351 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:24,640 We said God send revival. God said, OK, I'm going to start 352 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:27,560 with how you talk to your wife. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, 353 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:29,480 Lord, that's not what I was talking about. 354 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:32,360 I was talking about out there, those heathens out there, I want 355 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:34,600 to see them converted. And God said, I want to convert 356 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,760 you deeper. He begins to deal with us. 357 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:41,560 And so understand that when we go on a season of prayer, a 358 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,720 season of fasting, when there's a heightened hunger, that God 359 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,040 introduces those seasons of development. 360 00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:50,560 And often they're they're precipitated by some trial, some 361 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,000 crisis in our life. And we get to choose, are we 362 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,720 going to seek him or are we going to get bitter and go 363 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,040 elsewhere? But if we'll dig in and seek 364 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,000 him, those are times of great growth. 365 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:03,440 And God is dealing with us about the little things in our life. 366 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,320 And as we yield to that, it actually gives us prevailing 367 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,920 power and prayer. So let me show you a couple 368 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:14,120 verses. Matter of fact, I had a hard 369 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:20,560 time pulling up my notes on my computer, so I'll just read it 370 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:23,960 on my phone. Here's one Hebrews chapter 5, 371 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,120 verse 16. It says with loud cries and 372 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:31,480 petitions, Jesus made his requests known unto God and he 373 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:35,280 was heard because of his reverence submission. 374 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:41,240 The cause of his being heard was not that he was the Son of God, 375 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,160 wasn't that he'd already been to heaven and I already knew all 376 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:49,400 this thing worked. It was his reverent submission 377 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:52,760 to the Father that caused him to be heard. 378 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,520 You would say, well, Dave, I think maybe that's just because 379 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,160 that's Jesus. Maybe that doesn't apply to us. 380 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,360 Proverbs 28, nine. Let's go to the Old Testament. 381 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,600 Listen to this. If one turns away his ear from 382 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:09,000 hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. 383 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:13,720 That's a heavy one. In other words, as we ignore 384 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:17,640 what God's word clearly says, God doesn't want to hear our 385 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:20,120 prayer. You think, well, can you really 386 00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:22,720 say it that strongly? Let me quote it from Zechariah 387 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:27,360 713. As I called and they would not 388 00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:28,800 hear. This is God speaking to the 389 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:31,160 children of Israel. As I called and they would not 390 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:33,640 hear. So they called and I would not 391 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:36,520 hear, says the Lord of hosts. In other words, their 392 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:40,080 willingness to hear Him and allow Him to speak into their 393 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:44,160 life and change them was what would cause their prayers to be 394 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:46,160 heard. But if they shut down the voice 395 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,880 of God in their life, then their voice was shut down before the 396 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:52,720 throne. And this is not about earning 397 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:58,800 the answers to your prayers. It's about aligning your request 398 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:02,440 with your life. It's about becoming the living 399 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:06,720 embodiment, a living, breathing expression of what you are 400 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:09,800 praying. Years ago, Rita Springer, when I 401 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,440 worked for Teen Challenge, someone had donated A cassette 402 00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:15,840 that'll kind of date it. It was actually one of those 403 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,320 newfangled things called a cassette at the time. 404 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:22,760 It was back in the 80s and Rita Springer had this song. 405 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:25,720 Some of you may have heard it. Make us a prayer. 406 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:31,040 Let our prayer be a cry. Humble our hearts that we may 407 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:35,520 draw nigh. Cause us to stand and cry out 408 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:39,480 for this land. Make us a House of prayer. 409 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:44,480 I remember hearing that and it the theology of it was weird to 410 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,400 me. It was like I don't even know 411 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,880 what make me a prayer. Yeah, I understand saying 412 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:54,200 prayers, but make me a prayer. But what my mind was trying to 413 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,880 was struggling to grasp my spirit was already bought into 414 00:23:58,120 --> 00:24:00,480 my spirit is deep calling on the deep God. 415 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:04,640 I would I would put that on and I would walk around the Chapel 416 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,960 of Teen Challenge and just cry out to God make me a prayer. 417 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:13,440 What she was touching on is a very is as a reality God is 418 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:17,720 inviting us into. He wants your life to line up 419 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,760 with your prayers. He wants your you to become a 420 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:24,720 living expression so that literally every breath is 421 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,920 brought before the throne of God and you find yourself. 422 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,560 You are the request. You are the plea, you are the 423 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,120 prayer that you wake up in the middle of the night. 424 00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:36,680 You find yourself praying before you even have time to think 425 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:39,680 about it because there's this thing, this burden that you've 426 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,400 learned to cooperate and carry with the Lord. 427 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:44,560 And so you find yourself waking up and praying. 428 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:48,960 You find yourself at a store shopping and also you realize I 429 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:50,800 was speaking in tongues. Did anybody hear that? 430 00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:53,160 Did I sound weird? You know that I just read the 431 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:55,720 mail of some Iranian guy in tongues and didn't know it. 432 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:59,520 You know, you're you find yourself praying all the time. 433 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,240 It's that that's where pulses pray without ceasing. 434 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:08,400 We literally become an expression of prayer and when we 435 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:13,440 enter into those seasons and in fact, if you are, if you ever 436 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:16,680 preach or teach, you will relate with this. 437 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:20,080 And it's an indictment on us, including myself. 438 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,400 But when I know I've got to go preach somewhere outside of 439 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:28,320 heartland and some of them seem like a bigger deal than others, 440 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:30,440 which I'm not even sure is really correct. 441 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,600 And you know, before God, I don't know, I'm still sifting 442 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:35,160 through that. I'm just being transparent. 443 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:38,360 There are times where I feel like there's weight on this one. 444 00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:40,960 This is important. I've I've got to really make 445 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:44,800 sure I've got the got the word of the Lord and there's a more 446 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:46,880 of a tenderness in my walk with him. 447 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,800 It's not that I'm just living, you know, I'm not living in sin. 448 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:54,840 OK, But there's this thing of just I want to be more tender 449 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,560 and someone cuts me off and I'm like, I'm bless you. 450 00:25:58,200 --> 00:25:59,400 I just want my heart to be right. 451 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:01,480 Bless you. I'm not going to not going to 452 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:05,240 get angry. You know, my wife's praying that 453 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,120 I'll go into another season of fasting. 454 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:09,480 She says, Dave, it's always everyone else's fault. 455 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,920 And I do, I have, I have an issue there with driving. 456 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:17,160 So I need, it's a, it's a good platform for the Lord to deal 457 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,600 with me because what's coming out is not about the other car 458 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:22,560 or my car. It's something deeper. 459 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:28,280 It's my own impatience, my demand to be respected, to give 460 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:30,720 me my rightful spot according to the law. 461 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:33,440 How dare you treat me like I'm less than you. 462 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,160 And God wants to put his finger on those things. 463 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,840 No meddling, right? But I'm telling you, this stuff 464 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:44,280 is very, very important because it has everything to do. 465 00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:47,120 We're allowing the Lord to have access to us. 466 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:50,520 And what he's doing is he's taking that lid and he's taking 467 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:54,760 the openness in you and adjusting it so he can align it 468 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:59,160 with him. And even Jesus, the Son of God 469 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:05,200 himself, His prayers were heard because of his reverent 470 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,920 submission. He allowed his life to be 471 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:15,640 aligned with the Father. And it's one of the primary ways 472 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,560 we do war against the enemy, because one of the enemy's 473 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,560 primary strategies is when you begin to pray about something. 474 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:25,960 And Dan Mohler used to say, if you're touchy, you'll be 475 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:30,040 touched. The enemy will touch those areas 476 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:33,120 of your life. And what will your response be? 477 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:36,760 And as we're aware of that and we have our antennae up, we 478 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,520 realize, oh, this is a time of the dealings of God. 479 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,040 I'm in a season of sanctification. 480 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:46,920 God's wanting to take me deeper. And we allow the Lord to deal 481 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:48,240 with those things. The Lord help me to be. 482 00:27:48,360 --> 00:27:51,680 Lord, you know what just came up in my heart when that guy drove 483 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:55,560 by and he waved at me with that one digit in the middle of his 484 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:59,320 hand. Lord just we pray, we allow the 485 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:03,520 Lord to deal with our heart, we realize these are the things 486 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,120 that are standing in the way to God using us in answering 487 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:09,960 prayer. OK, listen to these verses. 488 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:14,320 Here's a couple more. Here's one for the men. 489 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,880 Ladies, do not elbow your husband when I read this and but 490 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,840 seriously, it's I'm talking about the same principle within 491 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,160 the context of marriage. Same principle, though it's all 492 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:26,440 through the word. Listen to this. 493 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:31,160 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding 494 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:35,840 way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they 495 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:39,840 are heirs with the you of the grace of God or the grace of 496 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:43,480 life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. 497 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:51,240 Husbands, I got to say it again. Husbands, live with your wives 498 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:54,840 in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker 499 00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:57,880 vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life. 500 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:00,440 Why? So that your prayers may not be 501 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,560 hindered. In other words, your prayers 502 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:08,760 this way can be hindered by your the way you talk this way, the 503 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:12,400 way you treat your life will either open up your prayer life 504 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,880 or shut it down. That's sobering. 505 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:17,600 Don't look at me that way. I didn't write this. 506 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,960 I'm just reading it. Don't shoot the delivery man. 507 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,480 This is in the Word. Do you see how throughout the 508 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:29,640 Word we see these things? You see, because you can 509 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:34,320 actually contradict with your life and your behavior. 510 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:40,200 Gentlemen, you can shut your prayers down by being short with 511 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,640 your wife. And So what God does is he puts 512 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,640 a woman in your life. Those wonderful women, we we 513 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:51,800 married and we at times get irritating, not because they are 514 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:53,520 irritating. I want to be clear about that 515 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:55,680 because this will be on recording. 516 00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,760 My wife was in the nurse. You couldn't see this later it 517 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,440 but my impatience. God is gaining access though 518 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:07,360 when I when I was engaged to my wife, the Lord told me he said I 519 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:11,160 was praying one day and he said Kathy will be the finger with 520 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:15,240 which I probe your heart. I thought that's not romantic at 521 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:25,960 all This that's not what I'm signing up for, but it is often 522 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:31,520 are the way that God gets at that stuff as we're praying and 523 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,800 we're crying out. Then God gets access through 524 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:40,960 these horizontal relationships and realize that your response 525 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,800 in those circumstances will either give power fuel your 526 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:48,000 prayers or there shut them down according to the word of God. 527 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:56,720 Sobering, but it's a reality. Listen to this one first. 528 00:30:56,720 --> 00:31:00,360 John 321. Beloved, if our heart does not 529 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,760 condemn us, we have confidence before God. 530 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:04,720 That's good news. Hallelujah. 531 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:07,120 If our heart does not condemn us. 532 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:11,400 And so where do we find that relief from condemnation? 533 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,000 One of the primary tools of the enemy is to try to make you feel 534 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:15,920 guilty. And a message like this can 535 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:17,640 really be used by the enemy to do that. 536 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:19,920 So what do we come back to? We always got to come back to 537 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:23,240 this imputed righteousness, if you could say it this way, this 538 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,760 righteousness where we're growing and we're applying it, 539 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:29,040 we're yielding to it. We're we're, we're having 540 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,520 character built within us. This is like the trapeze of 541 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:33,440 truth. We're swinging around, we're 542 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,440 learning new flips, you know, and every now and then, whoop, 543 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:39,400 we get mad, you know, say something we shouldn't have, do 544 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:43,280 something, react how we didn't. The good thing is we have a net 545 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:45,840 underneath us of imputed righteousness. 546 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:49,800 We we always fall back to that imputed righteousness. 547 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,160 But if that's all you have a theology for, well, I'm, I'm 548 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,360 saved. It's all by grace, brother. 549 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,080 Well, yeah, but we're not experiencing the grace of God in 550 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:00,480 your life unless you're maturing. 551 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:03,760 You may be enjoying it, but none of us are. 552 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:06,240 You're wondering why you're not getting more invitation. 553 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,720 OK, reel it in. Day it. 554 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:10,480 We. We need to allow the Lord to 555 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:14,120 deal with us and to grow up in Him. 556 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:18,760 And so our heart condemns us. We go back to this Lord. 557 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:23,440 I'll never outgrow the need for imputed righteousness, but I 558 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:28,040 should grow and I should be made manifesting His character more 559 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:30,600 and more. Others around me should be able 560 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:34,960 to say, wow, there's more of Jesus I'm experiencing through 561 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:37,600 Pastor Dave this year than I did last year. 562 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:42,400 That that patience, that kindness, the the fruit of the 563 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:43,400 Spirit. You know, the fruit of the 564 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,920 Spirit is not for you. It's for those of you that are 565 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:51,160 parked around your tree, apple trees, don't you know, reach 1 566 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:54,360 branch over and grab an apple. And they don't eat their own 567 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:56,960 fruit. They're producing fruit for 568 00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:58,840 those that are going to pick the fruit. 569 00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:02,000 And the fruit of the Spirit is not for us. 570 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:07,200 It's for those around us. And they should be feasting on 571 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:10,840 the fruit of our surrender to Jesus, where it literally 572 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:16,720 becomes part of us as character, where the things that caused 573 00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:20,080 something else to come out before, when the squeeze is put 574 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:25,320 on us, what's inside comes out and Jesus oozes out because we 575 00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:29,200 become more holy. We've grown up, we're mature. 576 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:33,960 And what I'm telling you is all of this has everything to do 577 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:37,120 with answered prayer. Because when we don't cooperate 578 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:40,760 with that, we actually shut down the process of prayer because 579 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:46,080 what God is looking for is somebody that he can work in, 580 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:51,200 that they literally become the first fruits of the answer to 581 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,440 their own prayer. They become the embodiment. 582 00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:57,680 There's nothing within them that is contradicting what they're 583 00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:00,760 saying in prayer anymore. When they're praying for the 584 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:03,840 outpouring of the Spirit, they know that what that means is 585 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:06,760 that the kindness of God, the grace of God, that the 586 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,600 tenderness of the Lord, the love of Jesus is going to be made 587 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:12,080 manifest. And that's being made manifest 588 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:14,760 through them first before it manifests out there. 589 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,880 And to the extent that there's a lid on my life of that being 590 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:23,760 manifest in me is to the extent that'll be manifest through me. 591 00:34:29,340 --> 00:34:31,860 My dad, when I was a little kid, he was a World War 2 buff. 592 00:34:31,860 --> 00:34:35,020 And it really freaked me out. About 10 years ago, I realized 593 00:34:35,260 --> 00:34:38,100 when I was born, World War 2 was only two decades earlier. 594 00:34:38,340 --> 00:34:42,980 That was like 2005. I was thinking it was like 150 595 00:34:42,980 --> 00:34:46,840 years ago, like ancient history, but it was just a few decades 596 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:49,080 old. My parents had grown up in that 597 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,360 environment. And so my dad would always watch 598 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:54,520 this show World at War. Anybody remember that? 599 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:58,800 Grainy black and white pictures. And it had this, like this real 600 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,920 irritating violin ruled at war. And we'd all. 601 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:05,200 And so I'd sit there and watch hours of that with my dad. 602 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:07,480 And I thought it was somewhat interesting. 603 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,680 But when I got older, I began to read about World War 2 history. 604 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:14,160 What a fascinating time in history. 605 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:20,560 And if you know anything about World War 2, you know that what 606 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:25,160 really turned the corner was this day called D-Day. 607 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:29,600 It was the largest invasion in human history. 608 00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:34,240 Hitler had was just marching all over Europe had had a 609 00:35:34,240 --> 00:35:36,800 stranglehold. And they knew we've got to get a 610 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:40,600 foothold. We've got to get a beachhead in 611 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:44,640 France, on along the Normandy in France. 612 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:48,240 And so the largest invasion in human history, man. 613 00:35:48,240 --> 00:35:52,320 There's largest invasion in human history. 614 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:56,240 Yeah. Man, you get punctuation in 615 00:35:56,240 --> 00:35:57,640 here. This is amazing. 616 00:35:58,280 --> 00:35:59,680 Wow. God gives you his own 617 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:04,800 illustrations. So what they did is at great 618 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:09,240 expense, 10s of thousands of men died to get a foothold on the 619 00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:11,240 beach. And all the military analysts, 620 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:14,600 German allied forces, all new the war's over. 621 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:19,000 Interestingly enough, the most bloody battles were yet to be 622 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,920 fought. The greatest resistance, the the 623 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,720 hardest fought battles, the Battle of the Bulge, so forth 624 00:36:24,720 --> 00:36:27,840 were yet to come. But they knew it's just a matter 625 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:29,440 of time. We've got our foothold. 626 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:35,480 And what what it's the principle of this, that in prayer you are 627 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:37,160 the beach head of God's invasion. 628 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:41,920 He must first secure your heart before he can invade and win the 629 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:45,280 battle out there. And if God cannot find the 630 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:48,560 people that are yielded to him and the dealings of God, and 631 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:52,040 that there's a deeper surrender. If our times of fasting and 632 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:56,200 prayer and intercession don't change us, then they won't 633 00:36:56,200 --> 00:37:01,080 change anything else. That's why Isaiah 58 and God 634 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:03,520 willing, we're going to get into Isaiah 58 next week. 635 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:09,440 It's about God's chosen fast. And it starts out with Isaiah 636 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:14,720 saying the the Lord says to Isaiah, lift your voice, declare 637 00:37:14,720 --> 00:37:17,880 to the people of Israel. And he said, they, they cry out 638 00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:20,320 to me. They're hungry to know my ways. 639 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:23,840 They're they're seeking me. They're, they're fasting, 640 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:27,560 they're praying, and then they say, well, why does the Lord not 641 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:29,840 listen to us? Why do we even fast? 642 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:33,200 God's not even listening. And then the Lord answers them 643 00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:35,920 ironically, they're saying, why doesn't the Lord answer? 644 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:38,160 And he did. He answers with the rebuke, 645 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:42,120 telling them why they're not seeing what they want to see and 646 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:46,440 what the rebuke was. This on the day you fast, you 647 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:49,800 oppress your fellow workers. You seek your own pleasure and 648 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:52,160 oppress your fellow workers. Most people, zero. 649 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:53,640 And then you seek your own pleasure. 650 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,720 The crime was that they'd seek their own pleasure, but no one 651 00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:00,040 else's. They they were immune to the 652 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,880 the, the plight of other people. They didn't care about anything 653 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:05,520 else anybody else was going through. 654 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:09,440 They thought they could just ask God for things and refuse to be 655 00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:13,360 tender towards their common man. And all throughout that passage, 656 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:17,360 what he shows us is the secret to having a fast that breaks 657 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:21,600 open the heavens, is a fast that is concerned with fellow man. 658 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:26,360 That the the drilling a hole vertically has everything to do 659 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:30,800 with serving horizontally. How do we, how do we treat our 660 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,440 fellow man? How do we treat other people? 661 00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:37,280 Are we, are we allowing the Lord to convict us in the our 662 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:41,280 attitudes and our actions? Are we tender towards people? 663 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:43,520 Because that will have everything to do with how your 664 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:50,880 prayers are answered. And so God is looking to change 665 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:55,000 us before he can change the situation again over here, gift 666 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:56,880 of righteousness. It's the foundation. 667 00:38:56,880 --> 00:39:00,480 We'll never outgrow this. This gives us access to heaven. 668 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:02,760 I'm made righteous. I'm made perfect. 669 00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:06,280 I'm going to heaven. But the man who was made perfect 670 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:08,880 is being made holy through the process. 671 00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:11,160 And this is where prayer takes place. 672 00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:14,080 That is, I allow him to work in me. 673 00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:18,280 What I'm doing is I'm allowing him to have his way because I am 674 00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,400 the beachhead of God's invasion. I am the place. 675 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:25,040 I'm saying, God, if you want, I want to see you land in human 676 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:26,960 history. I want to see you begin to 677 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,280 change circumstances. And I have committed myself to 678 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:32,480 being that patch of ground where it begins. 679 00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:35,200 You change me. You begin to deal with me. 680 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:38,080 Lord, I humble myself. I'll make things right, and I'm 681 00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:39,720 going to walk tenderly before you. 682 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,360 And as we do that, we begin to see God gained the upper hand. 683 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:46,640 Many of you have heard me talk about the book Reese Howell 684 00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:49,200 Intercessor. I believe it's a case study for 685 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:54,520 this hour in human history. And Reese Howell would often 686 00:39:54,520 --> 00:40:02,280 reference John 15 and how abiding in him allowed him to 687 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,680 ask what he will would win and it would be done. 688 00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:10,560 There was an obedience element. So he learned any time he would 689 00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:13,600 begin to pray this, this is where I learned this principle. 690 00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:15,680 I didn't learn. I never heard anybody taught on 691 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:18,440 teach on this. I didn't see this in the word 692 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,560 until I read Reese Howell, Reese Howell's life. 693 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:23,440 And I thought that is so intriguing. 694 00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:26,120 And I began to see it all over the word and I thought, man, 695 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,520 this, this is the key to Reese Hall's life. 696 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:32,000 He would come before the Lord and he would begin to cry out 697 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:33,920 for something. And then the Lord would begin to 698 00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:36,640 deal with him. And he said, as I would wrestle 699 00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:39,240 through that, I would get to a place of surrender. 700 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:42,760 And he said once I was surrendered and yielded to him 701 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:46,120 completely, he said, then I could gain an upper hand of 702 00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:52,240 authority in prayer. Winston Churchill at during the 703 00:40:52,240 --> 00:40:55,520 World War Two, he said when Reese Hall and his prayer 704 00:40:55,520 --> 00:41:01,080 meeting pray we win battles. They literally shifted World War 705 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:06,680 2 through prayer, but it required that they yield their 706 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:10,800 life to the Lord. Some of you are frustrated and 707 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:13,320 you you've actually come to the conclusion I'm not called to 708 00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,000 prayer that that's for other people. 709 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:18,280 I'm not a prayer. I'm a I'm a person who I'm a 710 00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:20,680 giver or I'm a server, but I'm not a prayer. 711 00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:23,720 And that is a lie from the pit of hell and the enemy is trying 712 00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:26,960 to keep you from the greatest weapon that God has given us 713 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:31,240 this side of heaven. And it's because you've not seen 714 00:41:31,240 --> 00:41:33,840 movement in prayer because of this very principle. 715 00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:36,480 And God is inviting us. If you will open your heart and 716 00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:38,320 say, God, Lord, just deal with me. 717 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:42,240 Lord, I'm willing to step into a season where you can begin to 718 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:45,600 put your hand on my heart, begin to put your finger on things in 719 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:47,680 my life and Lord, I'm I'm committing. 720 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:53,800 I'll respond to you and teach me how to get to your ear because 721 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:58,520 Jesus prayers were heard precisely because of his 722 00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:00,560 reverence, submission to the Father. 723 00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:07,320 It'll open things up for heaven and some of us have bought into 724 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:10,880 a lie about righteousness. We just camp out here. 725 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:15,800 The character is lacking. We've immunized ourself against 726 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:19,640 conviction by saying, well, I'm made righteous in Christ and the 727 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:21,320 Lord is saying to you, it's not good enough. 728 00:42:21,320 --> 00:42:23,200 He wants you to grow up into him. 729 00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:27,240 You aren't called to be a baby Christian. 730 00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:31,920 You're called to be a son and daughter of God that represents 731 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:36,040 him to the earth in this hour. Amen. 732 00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:39,040 Thanks for listening to our podcast. 733 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:41,560 If you'd like to help more people hear this message, you 734 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:44,160 can get the word out by subscribing and sharing it on 735 00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:46,480 social media. If you'd like to support the 736 00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:49,320 ministries of Heartland Church, you can do so at Heartland 737 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:51,560 Church online.com/give.