Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Just in Sunday school, we were talking about when Jesus comes, what kind of worship is there going to be?
[00:00:09] And it was wonderful hearing all the song and the voices. But when Jesus finally shows up and he's here, the voices and the attention and the worship is going to be perfect, isn't it?
[00:00:23] So just as the song says, a little foretaste right of glory divine that we get to participate in worship and just encourage you to keep coming back Sunday after Sunday after Sunday to take part in this worship that we are practicing for, for when Jesus comes back. Right.
[00:00:41] Anyway, a little sidetracked there. I got to get going because they're going to charge me like $60 an hour or a minute every time I go past 1105 for the children in there because they don't like being there too long.
[00:00:55] So.
[00:00:57] And how do you spend 35 minutes on prayer? Just, it's a lot. So we will. We will get started. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this time, this ordained time by you to come together and to talk about a way in which we can communicate with you and commune with you whenever we want, individually and corporately. Father. So what a blessing it is. And I pray, Lord, that through this time we can remind yourselves on why we pray and how we pray and what we pray for.
[00:01:29] Lord, as a song reminded us that you would receive all the glory.
[00:01:35] And Father, we thank you. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:40] So by God's grace and love, he began a supernatural work in us. Correct?
[00:01:46] Salvation is supernatural. Nothing that we can do on our own.
[00:01:50] As Paul reminds us, the same God who started that work is faithfully continuing it.
[00:01:56] Because of this great love, we are compelled to respond not in our own strength, but through the very means he has given us to grow in our relationship with our Father.
[00:02:08] And today we're looking at one of the primary means God uses to deepen that relationship is our prayer.
[00:02:16] Asking, knocking, seeking continually. And we'll look at all this today as you go through the series. The hardest things for a church to do. And I don't know if you guys agree with this or not. I mean, as far as forgiving others, that's not easy. That's a supernatural thing. Correct. We don't have a heart to forgive, usually to live by doctrine and the truth and the facts of His Word, to have a worldview and looking through everything through the word of God, to be on mission all the time, as we are born missionaries now in the family of God.
[00:02:51] And now prayer. And if you look at all these, they're very intertwined, aren't they? It's like you really can't do one without the other.
[00:03:00] And to focus on all these at one time is, again, signs of a healthy church. That we together, corporately, we are practicing these things together. We are encouraging, we're spurring each other on for these things.
[00:03:12] And the only thing that's going to happen because of that is God being glorified. And that's why we are here.
[00:03:20] So to remind us of the value of these through His Word, to identify why they are hard to practice regularly. And we'll look at that today as well.
[00:03:30] At the same time, to call us to joyfully live out these disciplines, both as a church gathered in, even in our own homes.
[00:03:40] So we're looking at prayer. And I just have to. I don't know about you, but I didn't want to guilt you. So that's the first point, just to get this out there. I'm not. We're not here to guilt you. And you're like, I got to pray more, but I'm not praying without ceasing. Because that's a tough verse, right? Pray without ceasing. How do I do that? I'm not even close to that.
[00:03:58] Sometimes I just pray once a week. I mean, whatever it may be, it's like. And then when you feel guilty, it's like you just don't. You just kind of like curl up and say, I can't do this.
[00:04:07] And we all know that guilt is a terrible motivator, isn't it?
[00:04:13] There's nothing good about guilt for any behavior except, you know, when we are sorry and we repentance and we want to confess that.
[00:04:22] And it's hard to sustain these practices, all four of these, if we're living under guilt all the time because the shame comes upon us. And it's like we feel like we're just not worthy or good enough to do what God has called us to do. And it's just a vicious cycle that doesn't get any better.
[00:04:42] And guilt wasn't designed to achieve this.
[00:04:46] And it's why feeling bad over not praying enough will never turn us into men and women who pray without ceasing. And that's what God wants, for us to have that mindful attitude of him.
[00:04:59] So hopefully through this, instead of a guilt trip today, is that we'll realize the blessing of a relationship we have with Jesus Christ.
[00:05:10] And it's not like. Not what we're missing, but it's there for you. It's who you are. Anyway, you've been blessed with this, to have this relationship with Jesus Christ and the rewards of God working out his plan in Providence through you. I mean, just imagine that and we'll get to this point later, that God wants to work through you.
[00:05:33] And if we ask in the right manner, he is going to work through you. And there's a blessing in being used by God.
[00:05:42] But why do we feel guilty?
[00:05:45] Or better yet, why are we moved? Or we have desire, this longing to pray, and we feel like we want to. It's just like it's hard. It's a battle. There's a battle every day. And again it comes back to prayer, that it's a supernatural spiritual battle that we don't see, but yet it's real and it keeps us from communing with God our Father in heaven, as he wants us to.
[00:06:15] But I think if we look at the foundation of who we are, and this is the first point of the second point, so I hope you don't feel guilty today. If you feel guilty, let me know afterwards and I'll apologize for guilting you.
[00:06:27] Because I'm just. I'm speaking to myself here as well.
[00:06:31] This is a good reality.
[00:06:33] Ezekiel, chapter 36. And if you heard me speak before, I probably use this passage way too much. But it's such a great passage, and it reminds us. It reminds us who we are and who is in control.
[00:06:47] So Ezekiel 36, verses 24 through 28, we'll read this. It's not the. It's not the text of the day, but it's just, again, why do we want to. And how do we keep moving in that direction?
[00:07:01] Ezekiel tells us, I will. This is speaking, or God speaking to Ezekiel. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. We're in his kingdom, right? We belong to God.
[00:07:14] I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols.
[00:07:21] I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart.
[00:07:27] Not a heart that desires to please yourself, but a heart, a spirit that what desires and is bent towards God.
[00:07:35] That's why we have these desires to pray. That's why we call it guilt. We call it conviction. We call it, you know, the spirit moving.
[00:07:42] That's because that's what God has given us.
[00:07:45] This is like a new creation. This is, you know, Second Corinthians 5:17, kind of broken down, or what Paul is referring to. We are new in this manner. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. I will put within you my spirit. He says, I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
[00:08:04] And I will put my spirit within you.
[00:08:07] And I like this because this is, like, hard to get past and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
[00:08:19] God is. He's given us the tools to live each and every day.
[00:08:25] He didn't save us and say, good luck, hope you can make it.
[00:08:31] He saved us. He purchased us by the blood of Christ and has given us his spirit to. To live in a way that brings glory to Him.
[00:08:40] And you shall dwell in the land that I have given your fathers. And you shall be my people, and I will be your God Church. We've got to remember, this is who we are.
[00:08:52] We are God's people. He chose you. He saved you through the blood of Christ. And he's given you everything you need to worship him and to glorify him. The days that you are here on this earth, he has left nothing undone.
[00:09:08] And we got to know that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
[00:09:15] When our lives are centered on the heartbeat of God.
[00:09:18] That's when the verse that Tom read, that's when he gives us what we desire.
[00:09:25] When we delight in him, we desire God. We delight in Him.
[00:09:32] When we delight in him, we are satisfied with Jesus. Our desire becomes what Jesus desires. And when we ask, he gives us our request, knowing it will bring glory to him.
[00:09:45] How does this happen?
[00:09:47] How did our delight and desire be for God? Because he has given us that.
[00:09:54] That is who you are now. As a child of God, he's cleansed you.
[00:10:01] He sprinkled clean water on you. You're washed new.
[00:10:05] The internal transformation from a. You know, we still have the mind that is flesh, but our heart and our spirit is of God. And we know there's that tension every day between the Spirit of God and our flesh and our mind.
[00:10:18] That's why Paul tells us again, it goes back to the Word. We need the Word to renew our mind each and every day because the world does a great job of trying to clutter things up. But we have this internal transformation that now we are bent towards wanting to obey God.
[00:10:35] That's something we cannot come up with by ourselves.
[00:10:39] You don't just all of a sudden wake up and say, I'm gonna follow God. No, that is God giving you that desire with a new heart, a desire to commune with him, desire to Pray to him, desire to ask and give you the strength and the power and the courage to do what he wants you to do.
[00:10:54] And that's the empowerment to obey.
[00:10:57] There's no way that an unregenerate person wants to obey God. Their desire is to obey their own flesh and to do whatever comes to their mind.
[00:11:10] And it renews this relationship.
[00:11:13] Actually, it begins a brand new relationship that was broken by sin, that we are now we belong to Him. We have this relationship with Him.
[00:11:23] It's a restored relationship where God says, you will be my people and I will be your God.
[00:11:29] It's a promise of being brought back to their own land and living under God's guidance and protection forever.
[00:11:37] We're in that land, that spiritual land today, right? As children of God, we belong to his kingdom.
[00:11:44] We are kingdom dwellers.
[00:11:47] Our citizenship is with God in His kingdom.
[00:11:51] One day it will be physical, but we're waiting.
[00:11:56] And as we wait, as we sung today, we wait, bringing glory to God.
[00:12:02] And that brings us to the next passage that Tom read this morning is that when we have this heartbeat of God and we know what God wants, it makes it easy to know what to pray for.
[00:12:19] The verse says there are three. Psalm 37, Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
[00:12:27] Delight in yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
[00:12:34] That word delight means soft, like it's malleable.
[00:12:40] And think of a piece of gold that has been flattened and flattened and flattened and it becomes like foil or like paper, and you lay it over something and it becomes the shape of that.
[00:12:51] That's what delight means. So when we are shaped after God and we are searching and seeking his heart, we delight in him, we find peace in him, and we find love in Him. We find our confidence in him. And everything that we have, then we know what to pray for.
[00:13:11] And if you're praying for what he loves, is he going to withhold that?
[00:13:17] No, he's going to give you the desires because they are his desires.
[00:13:25] We took the grandkids shopping the other day.
[00:13:29] No, you got four of them looking for a baby gift for a girl, Right?
[00:13:38] So the three girls were all excited. And the analogy is they knew what we were looking for.
[00:13:45] Something for a baby, a newborn, something warm. They had all this. They knew we talked about it. They listened to us. They knew exactly what we were looking for.
[00:13:55] And we could have bought like a whole bunch of stuff because they were picking out all the right things and asking, can we buy this, can we buy this? And we say, well, just. We only need so many.
[00:14:05] Then there's. Danny has a fire truck that makes noise.
[00:14:12] The baby doesn't need a fire truck that makes noise.
[00:14:15] But he didn't understand. He didn't know what we were looking for. We didn't know what we were desiring to buy.
[00:14:22] He was only thinking about him.
[00:14:26] It was a cool fire truck. And I think Valerie almost gave in because she. She does that.
[00:14:31] But he was pushing the buttons, making noise and everything. And. But, you know, it was.
[00:14:37] But the point is the girls knew and how things are intertwined. Do we know the heart of God? Do we know what God wants?
[00:14:49] Do we know what God desires for us?
[00:14:53] And the only place you can find that out is going back to the second message is in the doctrine and the word of God.
[00:15:01] And they go together so well. And you can't have one without the other.
[00:15:06] You don't know what to pray for unless you know where it's at and what it is.
[00:15:10] The girls didn't know what to buy unless we told them. And they listened and they did a pretty good job.
[00:15:18] I'll finish the rest of the story later on because it's just like it fits so well in the evilness of retailers.
[00:15:30] The next point.
[00:15:35] Is, why? Why pray?
[00:15:40] This answer is, hopefully the question a lot of people have about prayer. Why pray? Because we are vessels of honor for good use. You are a vessel that has been cleaned out by the Holy Spirit for good use, every one of you.
[00:15:55] None of us here, if you are a believer and a child of God, are you collecting dust intentionally. I mean, maybe you want to, but God wants to take you off and use you in his kingdom.
[00:16:08] Every one of us is useful.
[00:16:12] Every one of us has been given gifts and talents to be used in his kingdom for his glory.
[00:16:17] And if you're a child of God, he has washed you clean for this use.
[00:16:23] Some verses about this idea that us being vessels, 2nd Timothy 2, 2022, says, now, in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.
[00:16:39] By the Spirit of God, we are honorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as wholly useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
[00:16:53] And so to do that, flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from the pure heart. Again, it goes with knowing what to to call and that we are clean because Ezekiel told us that we have been sprinkled clean.
[00:17:13] As children of God, you are ready for use.
[00:17:20] Our responsibility is to pray that God would use us with enough faith that he will use us according to his will.
[00:17:30] And that's kind of like the point that's coming up in the idea is that we can look at other verses and say that we are. 1 Corinthians 3, 9 says, we are God's fellow workers.
[00:17:40] You are God's field, you are God's building.
[00:17:43] Ephesians 2:10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
[00:17:55] And the good works are from Him.
[00:17:58] Remember, he is a sovereign God and His Providence, he knows exactly what needs to be done.
[00:18:05] And by prayer we can ask to be used for those good works.
[00:18:11] But the question is sometimes asked, you know, why pray? If God is like all everything, right?
[00:18:19] He's all those omnis, right? He's omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. He is everything.
[00:18:26] We are vessels by which he or which his all everything works with.
[00:18:32] We gotta understand that. And it's powerful and it's humbling that an all powerful God, an omnipotent God, he wants to work through you.
[00:18:45] We just have to pray and ask for that and have faith that when he works through you that you're okay with what he wants you to do.
[00:18:55] And sometimes that hinders us from praying. Because if we pray God your will be done in my life. Use me. You're like, oh, what's that going to look like?
[00:19:07] And know that he will use you and work through you, not for your glory or boasting, but for his glory. And we just sung that song over those words over and over again to the glory of God.
[00:19:22] So yes, God is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient. So why pray?
[00:19:28] Some think there's a conflict between prayer and His Providence.
[00:19:32] But rather in prayer we kind of like invoke or want that presence, both and His Providence at the same time to work together. And his power, prayer and providence then are far from being opposite.
[00:19:48] In fact, they are actually reciprocal because he wants his providence to be channeled through us.
[00:19:58] And he's been doing that since the beginning of time.
[00:20:03] And you think, I'm just a broken sinner, so is everyone else in the history of man.
[00:20:11] And I think God has done a pretty good job of working through broken people for his kingdom.
[00:20:17] He wants to do the same thing with you and I.
[00:20:24] Providence inspires prayer. And prayer invokes providence here, divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
[00:20:32] Again, mysteriously they come together and we can never really explain it.
[00:20:39] One day we will get it.
[00:20:41] But to think that the provident, sovereign, almighty, all powerful God wants to use you in his kingdom.
[00:20:53] And what's the factor that makes that happen is our asking.
[00:21:00] Because Providence inspires prayer and prayer invokes his providence.
[00:21:09] This truth may be why we don't pray. Like I mentioned, maybe we lack faith to want the providence of God to work through us. Because we say, I can't do that, God.
[00:21:20] And when we say that, what are we doing? We're kind of minimizing the providence of God, aren't we?
[00:21:26] That he can work through you.
[00:21:33] These types of prayers are you releasing power and control to the one who actually has all the power and control?
[00:21:41] And we're sometimes just a bunch of control freaks, aren't we?
[00:21:46] We want to know what's going to happen. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
[00:21:51] Gotta have the schedule two weeks ahead of time.
[00:21:54] I got to plan my life according to what I think needs to be done.
[00:21:58] But we don't want to lose that control.
[00:22:02] By failing to pray, can we forfeit personal blessings which God would otherwise bestow upon us?
[00:22:10] It does appear that in his sovereignty, God has ordained believing prayer as a necessary means for our receiving his promises.
[00:22:20] James says you don't have because you don't ask.
[00:22:26] So why pray?
[00:22:27] Because the sovereign God, who is indeed omniscient, omnipotent and good, has established prayer as the means. It is the means by which we receive what he has promised and help fulfill what we have been ordained to do. It is the motor, the means. It is the tool.
[00:22:44] It's a powerful tool. Think about we are praying and asking a provident, sovereign, all powerful God to work.
[00:22:53] That's power, you guys.
[00:22:56] And for a lot of us, myself included, it's untapped.
[00:23:02] Whether because we just don't believe or we are just too busy, we can only wonder what blessings we are missing today, both in our personal lives and in our churches because of our failure to earnestly pray for God's will to be done in our lives.
[00:23:23] So maybe it's time for us again reminding ourselves as we see the word devote in Acts 2, that the new church, they were devoted to prayer and to the teaching and to the gathering and the breaking of bread, that we don't dismiss all of those as a church today, devoting ourselves to pray.
[00:23:53] Why pray again?
[00:23:55] This is tough. This is what. When I first started thinking about this message is what we have been called to do. And the point is we have been called to walk in a very specific manner. Correct?
[00:24:11] And what came to mind was the Sermon on the Mount.
[00:24:15] Jesus taught the disciples how they are to live in his kingdom.
[00:24:21] Some people call the Sermon on the Mount the Christian's manifesto. And that word manifesto sounds, ooh, that's kind of scary.
[00:24:32] But it's radical. Usually a manifesto is linked to people who are just radical and who are countercultural.
[00:24:40] Aren't we countercultural in this world?
[00:24:45] Don't we have a worldview that is different from this world's worldview, that sometimes we feel like we are swimming in the wrong direction?
[00:24:56] I like the. If you watch the chosen, the introductory, whatever it is, it shows the fish just circling, right? And there's one fish doing what?
[00:25:05] Go in the opposite direction.
[00:25:07] That's countercultural.
[00:25:10] And Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is telling us how we are to live counterculturally in this world.
[00:25:19] And when you live counterculturally, don't you stick out?
[00:25:23] Aren't you called a radical? Aren't you called crazy?
[00:25:27] All the words that we. That we're being called because that we're not kind of going with the flow.
[00:25:34] Yes, we have been called to walk in a manner that is contradictory to our flesh, contradictory to this present worldview.
[00:25:42] And yes, in a way that is countercultural.
[00:25:46] We won't walk through each of the verses in Matthew 5. 7.
[00:25:50] That would take a bit longer. That would cost me a lot of money with the people in the back.
[00:25:55] But I was watching one of my teachers teach, and I set up the piano there, and I open up the Bible and it's like, you know, the major headings in the Bibles, right? And it was like the teaching, the teaching. The teaching. The teaching of Jesus.
[00:26:09] The teaching of Jesus of how we are to live in each and every day.
[00:26:14] Briefly, Matthew 5:7. In a minute.
[00:26:19] First, Jesus tells the disciples the joys and the blessedness of being a follower of Jesus, right? The Beatitudes. Blessed or happy are you who are poor in spirit. For you will what inherit the kingdom of God. That is a blessing. That is who you are, right? Then he talks about the teaching about being salt and light, being different in this world, about the law and how we can never attain this law.
[00:26:41] Jesus did it alone, but we are just to love him and to love others, as he's called us to do.
[00:26:47] Teaching about not being angry.
[00:26:49] Teaching about adultery, both physical and mental, which he like, just tore people's minds apart when he said that right?
[00:26:57] Teaching about divorce and about vows, about revenge, about loving your enemies and forgiving your enemies.
[00:27:05] Teaching about giving to the needy.
[00:27:07] He taught how to pray in Matthew 6, 9, 13.
[00:27:12] Teaching about our money and position, possessions and not judging others.
[00:27:17] Nobody has issues with that, right?
[00:27:23] I mean, how long. I mean, how long does it take to watch news and you start judging others?
[00:27:28] It's like instantaneous, right?
[00:27:30] Okay.
[00:27:32] And then Matthew 7:12, the golden rule.
[00:27:35] And this is really tough.
[00:27:37] I mean, Jesus said it again, or Paul said it. Same kind of words that we put the interest of others above ourselves.
[00:27:44] Do unto others whatever you would like them to do to you.
[00:27:48] This is the essence of all that is taught in the Law and the prophets.
[00:27:55] Just love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:28:02] Here's a freebie. I forgot to put in the notes.
[00:28:05] Next point, you write in there if you find effective prayers. How to pray. How do you pray?
[00:28:12] We'll look at another version of the Sermon on the Mount in Luke. And Luke gets a little more detailed about what else Jesus said about praying. Same, almost the same exact prayer, what Jesus said in Matthew. But in verse 5 of Luke 11, Luke or Jesus, we know that Jesus went on a little bit further about how to pray.
[00:28:34] Then teaching them more about prayer. He used the story.
[00:28:37] Suppose you went to a friend's house at midnight wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, a friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat. Suppose he calls out from this bedroom, don't bother me.
[00:28:51] The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are in bed. I can't help you. But I tell you this, though, he won't do it for a friendship's sake. If you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.
[00:29:07] And so I tell you, keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be open to you.
[00:29:18] For everyone who asks, receives everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be open. And I want to plug this in, because Jesus, he puts this in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount and how we are to live. And you gotta know, the disciples are saying, jesus, my mind goes everywhere. How can I control all this?
[00:29:39] How can I not be angry? How can I not judge? This is impossible.
[00:29:45] But Jesus says what?
[00:29:47] Ask.
[00:29:49] So in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us, if we ask and keep asking and keep knocking, he will give Us, the means to live in a manner which is worthy of our call, correct?
[00:30:00] Which is Matthew 5, 5, 7.
[00:30:05] The other part of the story was again, retailers, they make that snaky line to get to the register, right?
[00:30:14] And what's it lined with?
[00:30:17] Candy and stuff.
[00:30:20] And so we were okay shopping, we got the presents, we were all loaded up and we're walking through. And of course, Danny wants everything as we walk through.
[00:30:30] And he didn't ask. And the fire truck was one thing, but he wouldn't stop asking. And you've experienced that, you've seen that, right?
[00:30:40] The children ask and ask and ask and ask and ask. And the parents are like, just all right here. They just give in now, you know, they don't line those things with broccoli and you know, healthy choices, right?
[00:30:56] Because the kids don't want that.
[00:30:58] They want what they want.
[00:31:02] You know, again, we're like children. If we knew exactly what God wanted for us.
[00:31:10] If we delight in him and we know the heartbeat of God, is he going to provide what we ask?
[00:31:21] Yes.
[00:31:26] And the more we ask, he is a faithful God, he is a generous God, but we got to know what to ask for.
[00:31:40] It kind of fits the verse, you know, 1st Thessalonians 5:17, that we are to pray without ceasing. What does that mean?
[00:31:50] He's not referring to non stop talking, Paul's nod, but rather an attitude of God consciousness and God surrender.
[00:32:03] That we carry this attitude basically that we are denying ourselves, picking up our cross and we're following Jesus, that we're living out a life of prayer. In this thoughtfulness of God, every waking moment is to be lived in the awareness that God is with us and that he is actively involved and engaged in our thoughts and actions. That is praying without ceasing.
[00:32:27] Hopefully that makes it easier. Maybe not, but that's what he desires us to be consciously aware of Him.
[00:32:39] Wives love it when husbands just consciously says, I miss you today because why you're thinking about them.
[00:32:49] Vice versa.
[00:32:53] God wants us to be aware of his presence.
[00:32:58] What to pray for Another freebie.
[00:33:02] This came. I was looking studying for our Sunday school lesson this morning. And sometimes they what do we pray for? And we had this song today and this is what we pray for. 2nd Thessalonians 1:10 through 12 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because of our testimony to you was believed to this end. We always pray for you. This is what that our God may make you worthy of his calling and. And may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power.
[00:33:39] So that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:33:52] If we can just be committed to pray for each other for that this week.
[00:34:00] That we as a church would walk in a manner worthy.
[00:34:07] That our lives would be a testimony of the greatness of God.
[00:34:13] That's powerful.
[00:34:16] That we would desire to be used by God according to. As Jesus prayed, let your will be done, not my will.
[00:34:24] That's what we can pray for for one another. If you ever think about anything. What can I pray for you? That I could be a testimony to God?
[00:34:32] That my life would glorify God?
[00:34:35] Because that's what God wants.
[00:34:38] If that's what God wants and we're praying for that for each other. Is God going to answer that?
[00:34:43] Will he give us opportunities to glorify him in the good and the bad?
[00:34:48] I mean we all want good, right? We can all glorify God in the good, but he wants us to glorify him in the bad as well.
[00:34:54] And that means prayer. That's supernatural, right? We don't. That's not natural or bent to rejoice in bad times.
[00:35:02] The Paul says rejoice always.
[00:35:06] And again he wasn't very specific. He says rejoice always.
[00:35:12] Real quick benefits of prayer.
[00:35:20] It centers us on our identity in Christ. Seven things breaking down. The Lord's prayer here.
[00:35:26] What does it do? Our Father in heaven tells us I am a child of God, hallowed be your name. I am a worshiper unto God.
[00:35:37] Your kingdom come. I'm subjected to God. It's his kingdom. He is king. Jesus is king.
[00:35:44] Your will be done on earth as is in heaven. God, I am your servant.
[00:35:49] Give us this day our daily bread. I am a beggar before God. I need God.
[00:35:56] I got to realize I have to be totally and utterly dependent upon God to provide.
[00:36:03] Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. I am a sinner against God.
[00:36:12] Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. I am still a great sinner because we're not perfect yet.
[00:36:22] John Newton was a captain of a slave ship who later became a pastor. He wrote the words Amazing Grace. In later life he said although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly.
[00:36:34] I am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior and we need him every hour.
[00:36:44] Let's pray.
[00:36:49] Heavenly Father, we come now. We are thankful that you are here.
[00:36:55] And that your love is amazing and your grace is amazing.
[00:36:59] Your faithfulness is amazing as you are an amazing God and you are worthy of our worship. You are worthy of our life. You are worthy for us to walk in a way that would just bring glory to your wonderful name.
[00:37:15] Lord, we thank you for this truth.
[00:37:18] We thank you for your spirit that you've given us, Lord, to live out this truth.
[00:37:23] Thank you for your spirit that is active and working. Father, in the hearts of all of us.
[00:37:29] We ask these things in Jesus name, amen.
