So today my, my corny title QQ corny title is the get to and I
don't think we, I don't think we as Christians dwell enough on
the get to of Christianity, right?
So we're going to talk about prayer today.
And Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus and any other any other
of the little gods out there, they require prayer, right?
They require sacrifice. They require Muslims pray five
times a day On each occasion, worshippers stand facing the
holy kebab and Mecca in Mecca and perform the steps of the
Salah as taught by the Prophet Muhammad.
Sounds like something you want to do, right?
Sounds like a sounds more like a have to than to get to.
So why, why is Christians do we get a really dwell on the fact
that we just get to pray and how is it and how, how important is
it to God that we just get to right?
So we'll, we'll be, we're going to be all over the word today.
Our anchor verse is going to be in Exodus 40 if you guys want to
turn there, but we'll start with some prayers.
So Lord, I just thank you for everybody here.
I thank you for this time. Lord, I thank you for all that
you've done for us. I thank you that you've given us
a road map and guidance and Lord that your word does just tell us
what to do. And Lord, that you would speak
to me and that you would speak through me.
Lord that you would be be here in our midst.
I'm speaking to hearts, Lord, guiding and directing.
I pray all this in Jesus name. So Jesus just on the Muslim side
of the thing and the and the repeating the same thing over
and over again. Matthew 67, Jesus says and when
you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do,
for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
So we talked about this the end of last year, Genesis 3/8
through 10, it says, and they heard the sound of the Lord God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the Lord among the trees of the garden.
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, where are you?
So he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid
because I was naked and I hid myself.
So the whole point of, of the word of God of the Bible from
from Genesis to Revelation is for God to get back to this
point with his with his children.
This this leads you to believe verse 8 God walking in the
garden in the cool of the day that this was something God did
with Adam on a regular basis, right?
We don't know how long, how long before how many days that he had
walked with Adam before they fell if it was years or days.
But this was something that that God did and it's something God
wants to do with us. And as as we talked about last
year is the differences between US and angels is angels were
created to serve God, period. We were created to love God.
And in order for us to love God, we have to have a choice to not
love God. And it is he isn't willing to
force us into that. And so since the fall, God knew
the only way to restore fellowship with man was through
death. And when God reintroduced
himself to Israel, he, and this is an Exodus.
If as we go, we'll, I guess I should explain that part of
where we, how we got here and why we're on a topical study
instead of in a book. So we're going to be going
through the book of Exodus. And I still have some more study
to do before I can, I got to get it all outlined and everything
before I can actually start off on the book.
So but Exodus is an amazing place that God begins and
everybody when you read the Bible, Genesis pretty much tells
you where it's at. Right in the beginning God
created. But Genesis isn't where the
Bible started. And that sounds funny.
It is. It is absolutely history and it
happened 1st and it truly happened.
But Moses wrote Genesis down in Exodus and there was a 400 year
gap for the Israelites that the Israelites were a family that
moved to Egypt and then they were isolated.
And 400 years later the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob showed
up and explained to them all. And that's what's fun about the
book Exodus is, is God just tells them, this is how to
worship me. This is who I am, right?
I mean, he goes all the way through it like you are they
they are confused. I mean, and and they rightfully
were confused because they were in a country full of other gods.
And so all of that is just kind of a introduction, But you got
to ask yourself, what does this have to do with prayer?
Exodus 43 starting in verse 3, it says he took Moses, he took
the testimony and put it into the ark, inserted the poles
through the rings of the ark and put the mercy seat on the top of
the ark. And he brought the ark into the
Tabernacle, hung up the veil of covering and partitioned off the
ark of testimony as the Lord had commanded Moses.
So that's that's whenever you hear about the Holy of Holies,
that's it. There's the Ark of the Covenants
inside with the testimonies in it, which is the 10
commandments, and then there is a veil.
There's a mercy seat on the Ark, and then there's a veil that
separates that from the next place, which is the Tabernacle
of Meeting. And the Tabernacle of meeting
looks like this. On verse 22, he put the table in
the Tabernacle of meeting on the north side of the Tabernacle
outside the veil, and he set the bread in order upon it before
the Lord. As the Lord had commanded Moses.
He put the lampstand in the Tabernacle of meeting across
from the table on the South side of the Tabernacle.
He lit the lamps before the Lord.
As the Lord commanded Moses. He put the gold altar in the
Tabernacle of meeting in front of the veil, and he burned sweet
incense on it. As the Lord had commanded.
He hung the screen on the door of the Tabernacle, and he put
the altar of burnt offerings before the door of the
Tabernacle, and the tent of meeting and offering upon the
burnt offerings, and the grain so offered upon it, the burnt
offerings and the grain offerings.
As the Lord had commanded Moses. He set the labor between the
Tabernacle of meeting and the altar, and put water there for
washing, and Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and
feet with water from it. So what I, I'm going to keep
asking and see if you guys see before we get to it, what does
this have to do with prayer? And God had a plan from the very
beginning to get to this relationship that he wanted in
the garden. And in order to overcome the sin
or the the fall of man, he, he knew there had to be death.
There had to be a covering and the whole point of the
Tabernacle is and, and I will go specifically through it in a few
minutes, but this is a picture of Christ and what He does for
us in Revelation 13, seven and eight.
It goes through and talks about who the enemy can and can't
touch. And it was granted to him to
make war with the Saints and to overcome them.
And the authority was given to him over every tribe, every
tongue, and every nation. And all who dwell on the earth
will worship him whose name have been written in the book of
life. Sorry, I missed somewhere, I
lost a word whose name have been have not been written.
There it is, whose name have not been written in the book of
life, of the Lamb slain from the foundations of the earth.
So in Revelation, what it's saying is, is that Satan and his
minions have control and power to manipulate and run ragged
everybody except those whose names have been written in the
book of life of the Lamb that was slain from the foundations
of the world. So in the Tabernacle, lambs were
brought to the altar and the only way, the only way that your
sin was covered is by that altar and, and the death that happened
on it. And, and what it's saying is, is
that Jesus has been that since the foundations of the earth,
right? So it's as we talked about
before, is that this is not something God went well, now
they sin. Now I got to come up with a way
for them to have relationship with me.
He had this plan from the beginning because he knew we
would fail. And and the question is, do we
believe that to the level that that it takes And what it takes
is just Lord, I can't and you have to that's that's repenting
and believing in him. Romans 10/9 verses 10, 10/9
through 13 it says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord
Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the
dead, you will be saved. But with the heart one believes
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. For the scriptures say, whoever
believe on him, believes on him will not be put to shame.
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
For the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him.
For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And it it is really truly that easy.
Do you trust in who he says He is?
It's in all through, all through Exodus and, and Numbers and
Leviticus and Deuteronomy is really shown over and over again
how big, how mighty and how holy the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob is the I am. And he just continually shows
them how big a God they serve, how big a God they serve.
And, and in that, that holiness that they need to sacrifice in
order for their sins to be covered, right?
I mean, when Jesus came and walked with Israel and shared
their need to repent, and then they didn't turn when they
didn't turn. And in Matthew 23 through 37, he
said old Jews, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the
prophets and stones, those who are sent to her.
How often I wanted to gather your your children together as a
hen gathers her chicks under her wing, that you were not willing.
God has been after his children from the very beginning and he
mourns for them and he mourns for all of them.
Guys, it's I mean, he mourns for all the lost and dying of this
world at the, at the level that he was willing to die for him,
right. And we've, we've talked about
that. We've talked about John 1930.
It says so when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said
it is finished and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
And this is where this is hopefully I get this all tied
together and you can see how much the Tabernacle matters
because what was finished on the cross, there was a curtain.
There was a curtain in that. We talked about the veil in the
temple at that point and it was ripped in half when he said
that, right? His mercy seat was inside.
We, we saw that. So now, so now, so in Jerusalem,
there's a there's a veil that's been torn in half.
And why does that matter to me today?
You know that that 2000 years ago in a city I've never been
in, a curtain was tore from top to bottom.
It's separated that separated the holy from the holy of holies
from the Tabernacle of meeting. How, why does that matter to me
today? Hebrews 85 says, and this is
talking about Moses who served the copy and shadow of heavenly
things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to
make the Tabernacle. For he said, see that you make
all things according to the patterns shown you on the
mountain. So the Tabernacle is made on
earth, but it is a picture of something that is in heaven.
It is a picture of God's throne room.
Hebrews 924 through 28 talks about Christ here, and it says,
for Christ has not entered the holy place made with hands which
are copies of the of the true, but into heaven itself.
Now to appear in the presence of God for us, not that He should
often should offer often, as the High Priest enters the Most Holy
Place every year with the blood of another, He then would have
to had to suffer often since the foundations of the world.
But now once at the end of the age, He has appeared to put away
sin by sacrifice of Himself, as it is appointed for men to die
once. But after this the judgement, so
Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many to those who
eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time apart from
sin for salvation. So there is that is a mouthful,
and there is a month worth of study in that, in that set of
verses. But the point of those verses
are what what Jesus did on the cross and when he said it is
finished. And in Matthew 27 it says, then
behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to
bottom and the earthquake and the rocks split.
This was this was a heavenly event, not just an isolated
Jerusalem event. There was now a the ability for
man in Christ to go into the throne room and talk to God.
So when I say we get to talk to God, we get to pray, I don't, I
don't guess on whether or not the Lord hears me.
Doesn't matter if it feels like my prayers are bouncing off the
ceiling, I get to pray. I he, he cared about my prayers
enough. He cared about, he cared about
our relationship with him enough to send his son to die and to
rise again on the third day to prove that he was who he said he
was. But the Tabernacle, the ark, the
veil, all of it is a picture of what actually truly happened in
the heavenly places. So Moses didn't know this,
right? Moses did what God told him to
do. God had rules and it required
death to pay for sin and blood to wash us clean.
So if we look at the Tabernacle and all of the little intricate
pieces and I'm, I, I love the Tabernacle and we're going to
spend when we get there, we're going to spend a bunch of the
time looking at these and enjoying them.
But when we break it down, Jesus on the cross answers the altar,
right? When you get to that, when you
get to the tent, when you get to the the outside of the tent and
you open the doors, there is an altar between you and going
forward. And he is that altar, right?
And and he satisfies what is required on the cross.
And then his blood is in the basin that washes us clean.
And then when you get into the the tent of meeting, you have
the lamp stand that it was a room that was layered in gold.
And so a menorah lampstand would have just made it bright in
there. And so the lampstand is a
picture of the Holy Spirit. And then the table of showbread
is bread is the word of God. And the altar of instance is our
worship. And and then we get to go in to
the holy of holies because the veil is no longer there and we
get to talk to God. So when I say that that we pray
and it's a get to, it's not a have to guys.
Buddhists have to do what they do.
Hindus have to do what they do. Christians don't have to do
anything we get to. And I say that I was thinking
about my usually when I'm thinking about things like this,
I think about my wife because she's awesome.
You guys met her. So I get to wake up every day.
I get to wake up every day next to Faye Birdie Adams.
And she's awesome, right? And I get to talk to her about
whatever I want to talk to her about.
And she has to listen to VUI. There was a whole thing where
she agreed to. And I get to spend time with
her. I get to take her in public.
I get to tell other people about her.
That's the God we serve, right? We serve a God that has that
desire for a relationship with you.
And so when we talk about work, like, hey, I have to do this or
I have to do that, guys, I can guarantee you God is not sitting
up in heaven going well, man, I wish they'd work harder.
It's just not his nature. You don't have any.
Any skill, any, any material, you don't, you don't have
anything that God didn't give you, right.
So when we agree to, to spend time with him, when we agree to
give it back to him, all of that stuff is just recognizing that
it's his to begin with. So there's never a works
mentality. I heard a pastor and he was, he
was, it was actually a good illustration.
So I stole it. So he's got a brand new truck
and said, so there's this guy sitting down in the front row.
He goes, so if I gave this guy my truck, I'm not going to give
you my truck. But if I gave this guy my truck
to use and he's going to use it for a few weeks and he's using
my truck and in my brand new truck and and then in a in a
week and 1/2 he comes over, he says, Hey, Pastor Jovi, I got
something for you. And and he hands me the keys to
my truck. I'm like, what are you doing?
It's my truck, but you're giving me my that that's not giving me
anything. That's how God thinks about
giving. Just so you guys know, right,
It's it's not it's God's already given it all to us.
It's his to use as we need it. Yes, he needs it used.
That is his relationship with us, right?
What he wants, he want your stuff.
He doesn't want he doesn't want your your obedience.
You know, I mean, all of that is byproducts to he wants you.
He wants he wants you to understand that Carl, that
picture of the Jesus and the guy sitting at the benches.
He wants you to understand that he just wants to talk with you.
He wants to sit with you and, and it was worth his son on a
cross to do it, right. I mean, it wasn't like it cost
him nothing for that conversation.
And so then for us to think that it's something I have to do is
heartbreaking to him. No, Do you understand what I did
for that? And so then, then I'm going to
get into with this. Now we know why we get to pray.
Now I'm going to give you some nuts and bolts, bolts.
If your prayer life is feeling less than but I don't want you
guys to take this and go so now that now I got work to do
because it doesn't work. But in Nehemiah, Nehemiah goes
through a process of just spending time with the Lord and
this is Nehemiah one verse 4. So it was when I heard these
words that I sat down and wept and mourned for many days.
I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
So get quiet and get along, right?
The Lord of all the things he is, he will not yell over the
noise, right? I, I am, I am as guilty as
anybody. So it's why you probably get to
hear about social media or just phones in general.
They are, they're, they're no different than money, right?
Their love of money is root of all evil.
Well, the love of phones, the love of technology will suck you
in. And it it's it's just you're
instead of being quiet and alone, you have, you have a
background of noise in the background of your phone.
Charlie Kirk shared a or somebody shared a video of
Charlie Kirk. I guess I'll say that.
And he was talking about why it's important to have your
Bible and not not use your phone.
And I've never actually mean he's better at saying things is
probably why. But I've never actually been
able to put my finger on why, you know, because your phone is
way easier, right? I mean, I can whip my phone out
and I can get to a verse. I'm, I'm quite quick at it,
right? I, I know my way around my Bible
app really well. The difference is when I have my
Bible, when I have my Bible, my Bible has a weight to it.
And the only thing, but shockingly, the only thing I do
in my Bible is, is read it and take notes, right?
This is what I'm doing when I'm in my Bible.
Anybody, the only thing you do is on your phone is read your
Bible, right, The weight of your phone.
So it's, it's kind of having, it's like when you go to pray
and having a place that you pray.
Well, when you're reading the word of God, having a place that
you do that and that is in your, your Bible, right.
When you're, when you're on your phone, there are even if there
are not distractions like you've, well, I put it on
airplane mode, but just having it in your hand, your, your mind
knows all the other things you do on your phone, right?
And so it's God is not willing to yell over the noise.
He, he wants. I mean, and if you think about
it, you're not willing to yell over the noise, right?
If if somebody is talking to you or you are talking to somebody
and they get their phone like you're in the middle of a
conversation and they go, uh huh, uh huh.
Are they? Do you feel like you're being
listened to? OK, so the Holy Spirit isn't
playing that game right. He just isn't.
And and this isn't a this is not a condemnation on any of our any
of us, probably more on myself. It is something that that I
like. I have to put my phone off in
another place, right so that I'm not messing with it because it's
they play games on it and I waste time and so be in your
word, but get by and along with the Lord, open your Bible and
say, Lord, what do you have to say to me today?
You know, you get that. I mean, he wants to talk to us.
I mean to the point, like I said to everything it cost him.
He wants you to have that. He wants that relationship.
Verse 5 and Nehemiah says they said, I pray, Lord God of
heaven, oh great and awesome God, you who keep your covenant
and mercy with those who love you and observe your
commandments. So it never hurts to remember
who you're talking to. I mean, God already knows who he
is, right? So you're not telling him
anything when you're praying like that.
Nehemiah wasn't telling him anything.
It was just remembering who you're talking to that you truly
do get to talk to the Lord of the Universe.
I was talking to Mark after his message last week and talking
about the fact that I'd already had this plan and he's really
lined up with it. But if, if I told you guys that
I just got a phone call from the president and he would like me
to give him a call every morning and he was going to give me a
download of what was going on in the world and things that I
could help with and that kind of stuff, do you think I'd make
that phone call in the morning, right?
I mean, would you guys encourage me to make that phone call in
the morning? So we the, the president of the
United States is a big deal on earth.
God is a big deal everywhere, right?
And we, we have a God that wants to talk to us and remembering
who he is and how much power he has and what he can do when
we're praying is an awesome place to get to.
Verse 6, it says, please let your ear be attentive and your
eyes open that you may hear the prayers of your servant, which I
pray before you now day and night for your children of
Israel, your servants, and confess the sins of the children
of Israel, Israel, which we have sinned against you both my
father's house and I have sinned.
So remember that yes, Jesus died for my sin and he, he, he did it
once forever on the altar. But when I come to the Lord, I
need to, I need to be clean, right?
I need to say, Lord, what is there between me and you?
And I'll guarantee if there's anything between me and the
Lord, it's my, my issue, right? It's I've, I've said no
somewhere in my heart, Lord, I don't want to talk about that.
I don't, I don't, you know, I Peter, Peter on the roof when he
said not so Lord, you know, and if you, if you dissect that
sentence, it makes no sense. You know, Lord means I'm going
to do anything you tell me to do.
And then you're going to start off with no Lord.
So but when we're praying to to have that open heart, Lord is
there because, because guys, we are sinners.
We are sinners to our core. Our hearts are dreadfully
wicked. And so if you're meeting with
the Lord on a regular basis and you and he isn't pointing out
sin, you're not praying hard enough because there's something
that you got something going on, right?
It might be selfishness, might be pride, It could be all kinds
of different little things, but you got something right.
And then verse 7, we have attacked, we have acted very
corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments and
statutes nor ordinances which you commanded your servants.
Moses. Just always remember that our
dirt isn't hidden right? I, I, I say that that's
Colossians 323 do everything as unto the Lord and not to men.
And I can stand in this room and I can tell you, you know, I live
that verse. You know, who knows whether I'm
living that verse? God, because it doesn't matter
if you guys think that I'm, I'm holy and above reproach.
God knows where my heart's at. He knows if I'm falling short,
if I'm ignoring him, right? And so having that open heart
with him, that's like, Lord, change me from the inside out,
cleanse me of my iniquity. And then verse 8 says, remember,
I pray the word that you commanded your servant Moses
saying if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the
nations. But if you return to me and keep
my commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out
to the farthest parts of heaven, yet I will gather them from
there and bring them into a place which I have chosen as a
dwelling for my name. So it's important for us to be
in His word because there are promises in there.
There are promises in there that you can, you can pray out loud.
That doesn't mean God doesn't already know the promise, right?
You're not holding his feet to the fire suddenly and saying,
Lord, you said you have to do it.
He knows what he promises, but it's good for you to know.
You know, it is, it is a, it is a solid place for us to stand
proclaiming his truth and praying through the word, right?
I, I do this, I do this quite a bit when I don't have when, when
my prayers feel like they're bouncing off the ceilings,
ceiling. And then I just get along with
him and, and go through the word and, and just reword it and, and
pray through it and say, Lord, I'm not hearing you.
And it's because somewhere in here, there's a disconnect and
it's in me because that's the thing guys, is that he's in this
room right now. If you gave your life to Jesus,
he's in you right now. And if there's a disconnect and
you're not hearing him, it's it's about you getting quiet and
alone. It's not him.
He's with you. He's there.
He wants to talk to you, but he's a still small voice.
Like last week with with Mark's study and Daniel.
I always say that, that that set of study or that section of
Scripture, if you guys didn't hear, he's going through Daniel
when Daniel started to pray and 21 days later Gabriel got to him
and said, so I started coming when you started praying and it
took him 21 days because he was opposed.
And guys, your prayers matter not because God couldn't just
snap his fingers and Gabriel's with Daniel.
God can do it however he wants to, right?
But somehow, some way, for some reason, he decided the way to do
it, the way to do this spiritual warfare, the the battle that we
can't see is through our prayers and angels obedience, right?
And Daniel's prayers matter. I mean, for whatever reason,
however that works, but that means your prayers matter like
that, right? Is, is that there is that battle
going on and we get to be involved.
We get to have those conversations and they matter.
And then verse 10 Now these are your servants and your people
whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong
hand. Oh Lord, I pray, please let your
ear be attentive to the prayers of your servants and the prayers
of your servants who desire to fear your name, and let your
servants prosper this day. I pray and grant him mercy in
the sight of this man, for I was the King's cupbearer.
So a couple things about prayer that to the Jesus's era.
So the 1st century Rome, if you gave your life to the Lord and
you are a slave to Jesus in Rome in the 1st century, it was it
was required by law for a slave owner to feed his slaves.
You ever you ever ask him for things and and wonder whether
he's going to give them to you. It was required by law to house
or to shelter his their slaves. And by law it was it was that
they were ordered by law to direct or give the slaves of
purpose. So my question with that is, if
a slave owner of the Roman Empire was required by law to do
those three things, don't you think just by default God is
going to do those three things, right?
He's going to, he's going to take care of your how you eat.
He's going to take care of how you stay warm and he's going to
give you a purpose. Now, what are we 9 times out of
10 when we're praying, what are we praying about those things,
right? And that doesn't mean that he
doesn't want to hear from us and that he doesn't enjoy any of
those conversations. But if every time I talk to to
Faye or every time Faye talked to me, all she did was ask how
are we going to eat tonight? How are we going to eat tonight?
How are we going to eat tonight when there's food in the fridge
and there's money in the bank account or where are we going to
sleep tonight? Where are we going to sleep
tonight? Where are we going to sleep
tonight when there's a nice warm trailer and, and a made bed,
right? What are we going to do today?
What are we going to do today when we have lots to do?
Trust me. My point there is, is that
that's we, we get hung up on those three things and God has
so much more for us. He has so much relationship that
he wants to have with us that he wants to talk to you about your,
your hopes and your dreams. He wants to have that that
relationship that is, is a caring father, a caring friend.
And it's it's something we get to do.
We don't have to go to work to do it.
As a Christian, we did not get saved into rules.
And so many religions out there are and all other religions are
rule based. You have to do this, you have to
do this, you have to do this and and Jesus says, no, you have to
love me and we were saved. We were literally saved into
time with our Lord. That's what we were saved into
is, is to be able to spend time with him.
Galatians 518 through 23 says, but if you sorry it isn't, it's
18 and 22, I'm sorry. But if you are led by the
Spirit, you are not under the law in verse 22, but the fruit
of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law. When you gave your life to the
Lord, that's what He gave you. He gave you love, He gave you
joy, He gave you peace and on and on.
And it's a get to you get to have joy, you get to have peace,
you get to have love. So as we, as we close today,
dwell on that, spend some time knowing how awesome our God is
that he really is truly that big and he really, truly does love
you that much that all he wants to do is spend time with you.
He doesn't want you following a bunch of rules to spend time
with him. He just wants to spend time with
you. So Lord, I just thank you for
everybody here. I thank you for this time.
I thank you that you're here with us now.
And Lord, that you just want to hear from us whether you would
guide and direct us through our week that you would put
appointments in front of us, Lord, that we would have
opportunities to share you with other people.
I pray this all in Jesus name, Amen.