Prayer Repair: Part 1 - Pastor Raymond Woodward — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Prayer is something that sounds like it
2. 0:02should be simple.
3. 0:05After all, you love God. God loves you.
4. 0:08You talk to him. He hears you. You seek
5. 0:11him. He leads you. You worship him. He
6. 0:14blesses you. You ask him, he answers
7. 0:18you. You pray at church with everybody
8. 0:20else. And then you just go home and
9. 0:23repeat the process. How hard could it
10. 0:26be?
11. 0:28And yet, if we're honest, a lot of us
12. 0:31struggle with prayer. I won't even ask
13. 0:34for an amen because somebody's going to
14. 0:37be honest and somebody beside them is
15. 0:38going to lie and feel super spiritual.
16. 0:42We struggle to make time for it. We
17. 0:45struggle to stay focused when we do it.
18. 0:49We struggle to know what to say. We
19. 0:52wonder if we're doing it right. We
20. 0:54wonder why it seems to be easier for
21. 0:56other people. We wonder if it's even
22. 0:59working for us. And we get discouraged
23. 1:02sometimes when it seems like there's no
24. 1:04response to our prayer.
25. 1:08Sometimes prayer feels repetitive or
26. 1:11routine. Sometimes it feels a little
27. 1:13pointless and unproductive.
28. 1:16Sometimes it feels awkward or
29. 1:18ineffective.
30. 1:20Sometimes it seems like we're just
31. 1:23wasting our time. Sometimes it feels
32. 1:27like our words barely make it past the
33. 1:29ceiling. And sometimes it can feel just
34. 1:32a little bit futile and frustrating.
35. 1:36And for some of us in this room watching
36. 1:39online, our biggest struggle is that
37. 1:41prayer used to feel alive.
38. 1:45But somewhere along the way, something
39. 1:47changed. something faded. And so if
40. 1:51we're honest, we pray less than we used
41. 1:54to. Then we feel guilty because we're
42. 1:56praying less than we used to. And then
43. 1:59that guilt makes us just want to throw
44. 2:01up our hands and give up. And before
45. 2:04long, something that was meant to be a
46. 2:06source of peace and power and life and
47. 2:09joy, it becomes a place where we feel
48. 2:11like we're failing and we're falling
49. 2:14short.
50. 2:15And if I just painted your picture,
51. 2:18you're welcome.
52. 2:20But what if your prayer life isn't
53. 2:23hopeless?
54. 2:25When something in your house stops
55. 2:27working, you don't automatically throw
56. 2:30the whole thing out. At least not if
57. 2:32you're at our house.
58. 2:34We don't throw the refrigerator out when
59. 2:36the ice maker stops working. That
60. 2:38happened just a little while ago. Shout
61. 2:41out for Jeff's appliances.
62. 2:45First, you figure out what's not working
63. 2:48and you try to get it fixed. Maybe
64. 2:51something's just disconnected or clogged
65. 2:54or worn out or out of adjustment. Maybe
66. 2:56something just needs to be replaced or
67. 2:59repaired. Sometimes our prayer lives can
68. 3:02be like that. So, here's the question
69. 3:05for this little series, a short series.
70. 3:07What if your prayer just needs some
71. 3:09repair?
72. 3:10When we teach about prayer, and I've
73. 3:13done it, the other pastors have done it.
74. 3:15When we teach about prayer, we usually
75. 3:17address the church collectively,
76. 3:20and it's always easier to pray
77. 3:22collectively because when we pray
78. 3:25together, other people carry us in
79. 3:27prayer. But the problem is, we're only
80. 3:30here together for a very few hours every
81. 3:34week. And if praying at church is the
82. 3:36only praying you do, you have a hobby of
83. 3:39prayer, not a habit of prayer. But it is
84. 3:42our daily habits that become our
85. 3:45disciplines. And it's our disciplines
86. 3:48that make us disciples. So in this
87. 3:50little series, I'm not going to be
88. 3:52preaching to the church collectively.
89. 3:56I'm going to be preaching to you
90. 3:58individually
91. 4:00because prayer is something we can grow
92. 4:02in. Prayer is something we can work on.
93. 4:06Prayer is something we can do better
94. 4:08with. And prayer is something we can fix
95. 4:11when it feels like it is broken. So in
96. 4:16this little series, we're going to open
97. 4:18a biblical toolbox and we're going to
98. 4:20discover hopefully some practical ways
99. 4:23to do prayer repair. And we'll begin
100. 4:27tonight
101. 4:28at the beginning with the words of Jesus
102. 4:31leading up to what we call the Lord's
103. 4:33Prayer. But I've got to tell you, before
104. 4:35he ever utters those famous words that
105. 4:38probably most of us can quote from
106. 4:40memory, Jesus sets some basic ground
107. 4:43rules for prayer. Matthew chapter 6, um,
108. 4:48right in the middle of the sermon on the
109. 4:49mount. And when thou prayest, thou shalt
110. 4:52not be as the hypocrites are. For they
111. 4:56love to pray. Some people love to pray.
112. 4:59They love to hear themselves pray. Or
113. 5:02more specifically, they love for us to
114. 5:04hear them pray. And that's these people.
115. 5:08They love to pray standing in the
116. 5:10synagogues and in the corners of the
117. 5:12streets. Why? That they may be seen of
118. 5:15men. They have a super spiritual card in
119. 5:18their pocket. And Jesus said, "Verily, I
120. 5:21say unto you, they have their reward."
121. 5:24Or if we were saying that today, we'd
122. 5:25say, "They already have their reward."
123. 5:28All the reward they ever got for that
124. 5:30kind of prayer, they already got it by
125. 5:32the attention they received. So the
126. 5:35first rule that Jesus gives us in prayer
127. 5:37is you better just get real. You better
128. 5:40be authentic and honest because when you
129. 5:43pray, you're not praying to impress
130. 5:45anybody else. You are not praying to be
131. 5:48seen or heard by anybody else. And
132. 5:52you're certainly not praying to impress
133. 5:54God. Because can we be honest? He's not
134. 5:57all that impressed. He's God. And he
135. 6:01knows the motivation of your heart, not
136. 6:04just the words of your mouth. You can
137. 6:06pray a pretty prayer, but if your
138. 6:08heart's all messed up, that prayer
139. 6:09didn't get any higher than the top of
140. 6:11your head. So Jesus says, firstly, you
141. 6:14just need to get real. Talk to God like
142. 6:17you would talk to your best friend. Talk
143. 6:20to God about anything and about
144. 6:22everything that is on your mind, whether
145. 6:24it's big or small. Talk to God about
146. 6:28what is right and what is wrong in your
147. 6:30world. And while you're at it, you can
148. 6:32look at the news and talk to God about
149. 6:34what is right or wrong in his world. So
150. 6:38just talk. And the simple rule of thumb
151. 6:41that Jesus would give us is we need to
152. 6:43be praying more in private than we are
153. 6:45in public. So the first rule of prayer
154. 6:48is is just just get real. Just just be
155. 6:51real about it. And then he says, "But
156. 6:54thou when thou prayest, enter into thy
157. 6:58closet, and when thou hast shut thy
158. 7:00door, pray unto thy father which is in
159. 7:02secret, and thy father which seeth in
160. 7:05secret shall reward thee openly."
161. 7:08Pastors have no control over the random
162. 7:10thoughts that go through their head when
163. 7:12they're preaching. And I just envision
164. 7:14some of you trying to get into your
165. 7:16closet. Um, and it would not be easy for
166. 7:20you because your closet looks like our
167. 7:22closets.
168. 7:23The second rule Jesus gives in prayer is
169. 7:27you need to get alone. And this one for
170. 7:30us Pentecostals, this is
171. 7:31counterintuitive
172. 7:33because our favorite kind of praying is
173. 7:35collective praying. Our favorite kind of
174. 7:37praying is when we all get together and
175. 7:39we all push and we all intercede and we
176. 7:41all lay hands on everything and
177. 7:43everybody and we pray together. And
178. 7:45that's wonderful. That's book of Acts
179. 7:47chapter 2 kind of praying. It's
180. 7:49wonderful. It's biblical and we need to
181. 7:51do it. We need to do more of it. But
182. 7:53there's a problem with that kind of
183. 7:54praying because if you look at our
184. 7:56service schedule, you're not going to
185. 7:58get enough of that kind of praying to
186. 8:00get you through the other days of the
187. 8:02week. And you need more than just
188. 8:05religion, church building praying. So
189. 8:09Jesus said, "Every once in a while, you
190. 8:11need to get alone and pray without
191. 8:14everybody else and without our wonderful
192. 8:16praise teams and without pastors and and
193. 8:19the saints of God all around you. You
194. 8:20need to get alone." And u the greatest
195. 8:23enemy of prayer in your life is not the
196. 8:26devil. He's not your greatest enemy. The
197. 8:29greatest enemy of prayer is distraction.
198. 8:32And distraction is never ending in 2026.
199. 8:37It can come from all kinds of sources.
200. 8:40Distraction can come from your work. It
201. 8:43can also come from your leisure. It can
202. 8:46come from technology. Oh my goodness. It
203. 8:49can certainly come from entertainment.
204. 8:52Distraction can come from people. Can I
205. 8:55get a witness on that one? It can come
206. 8:57from your problems. It can even come
207. 9:00from your own personality. Um, I I've
208. 9:03got a a typea kind of driven
209. 9:06perfectionistbent
210. 9:08personality. It is awful for prayer
211. 9:11because I want to get everything
212. 9:12finished, cleaned up, put away, and then
213. 9:15I will pray. And that doesn't work very
214. 9:18well because what I figured out is I'm a
215. 9:21slow learner. Everything never gets
216. 9:23finished and never gets tidied up and
217. 9:26never gets put away. My best example is
218. 9:29email.
219. 9:33I have a lovehate relationship with
220. 9:35email. It's necessary, but just as soon
221. 9:38as I get the last one out of my inbox,
222. 9:41ding, ding, ding, ding.
223. 9:43And and I I you can only delete so many
224. 9:46of them because some of them are things
225. 9:48you need to do.
226. 9:50The devil doesn't even have to lift a
227. 9:52finger to distract us from praying. Why?
228. 9:55We're distracting ourselves. And so
229. 9:58Jesus said, "You need to get alone. You
230. 10:01need to go apart or go away from
231. 10:04everybody else and all the distractions
232. 10:06and you need to shut the door. After
233. 10:10you've shut the door, after you've put
234. 10:12everything aside and away, then you can
235. 10:16pray. You need to get alone. You need to
236. 10:18get away. You need to be still.
237. 10:20Sometimes you need to be quiet. You need
238. 10:23to focus on God. You need to ignore
239. 10:25everything else. And once you kind of
240. 10:27get there, then you can pray. And uh
241. 10:31years ago, we did a series on prayer.
242. 10:33And I remember this one and I went and
243. 10:34looked it up. If you want to hear God
244. 10:37speak, hide and seek. That's easy to
245. 10:41remember. You played it as you were a
246. 10:43kid, you need to do that in prayer. Hide
247. 10:46away and seek God. And there's one more
248. 10:50ground rule Jesus gives us before he
249. 10:52launches into the Lord's prayer. He
250. 10:54said, ' And when you pray, don't use
251. 10:57vain repetitions as the heathen do.
252. 11:00There are lots of religions on this
253. 11:03planet that have various statements and
254. 11:05mantras and almost incantations that
255. 11:08they say, but Jesus said, "That's not
256. 11:10how I want my children to pray. Don't
257. 11:12use vain repetitions like the heathen
258. 11:15do." They think they're going to be
259. 11:17heard for their much speaking. They
260. 11:18think it's the quantity of words that
261. 11:21gets God's attention. But Jesus said,
262. 11:24"Be not ye therefore like unto them."
263. 11:27Why? Because your father, he knows what
264. 11:30things you have need of before you ask
265. 11:33him. He's wanting to have a conversation
266. 11:36with you about what you feel and what
267. 11:38you think and what you need, your hurts
268. 11:41and your hang-ups, all of your issues
269. 11:44and problems. He wants to have a
270. 11:45conversation with you. and you're not
271. 11:47impressing him when you just go through
272. 11:49the routine of saying the same things
273. 11:52over and over again. So, the third
274. 11:55ground rule of prayer would be get
275. 11:57specific. Don't just mindlessly repeat
276. 12:00the same phrases over and over and over
277. 12:04again. And for you Pentecostal people, I
278. 12:07love us and I love what we do and I love
279. 12:09what we have, but can I just say the
280. 12:13obvious? maybe touch the elephant in the
281. 12:16room. Don't just mindlessly speak in
282. 12:19tongues all the time. Just because
283. 12:21you've got that powerful gift and just
284. 12:24because you can pray in the spirit and
285. 12:26just because there are times we need to
286. 12:28pray in the spirit. Can I say the
287. 12:30obvious? There are times you need to
288. 12:32talk to Jesus about what's on your
289. 12:35heart. And you do that in your tongue,
290. 12:38not in an unknown tongue. So don't just
291. 12:41pray in general. Get specific.
292. 12:45How would you ever know God answered
293. 12:47your prayer if you never asked him for
294. 12:50anything specific
295. 12:52now? When you pray, uh, your mind will
296. 12:56wander.
297. 12:58Can I get a big witness on that one? The
298. 13:01quickest way to remember what you forgot
299. 13:03to do is to go to prayer. It's going to
300. 13:06come back to you instantly. Uh some
301. 13:08people I've talked to, they they
302. 13:10actually keep a list uh near them. Not a
303. 13:13list of things to do. They keep a piece
304. 13:15of paper and a pen. So if something
305. 13:17comes to their mind, they can jot it
306. 13:18down and go right back to prayer because
307. 13:21they they know that they'll forget it if
308. 13:23they don't write it down. Uh your mind
309. 13:25will wander. That's human nature. But
310. 13:28get back on track and keep on praying.
311. 13:31Don't let your prayer life be governed
312. 13:33by your feelings or you will never pray.
313. 13:37And don't give up because your prayer
314. 13:39life isn't perfect. Because prayer is
315. 13:42not a ritual. It is a relationship.
316. 13:46I've had talks with Jesus in the van and
317. 13:49in the office in the house. I've had
318. 13:53talks with Jesus uh drinking coffee.
319. 13:56That's my favorite. Um
320. 14:00it just is. Um because usually I'm alone
321. 14:04when I've got my coffee and that's a
322. 14:07good time for me. Um my my sweet wife
323. 14:11Beverly, she
324. 14:14she's a stomper when she prays. Um today
325. 14:18she was out we've got a little path down
326. 14:20to the river behind our house and she
327. 14:21goes out there and she goes down and
328. 14:24back up and around and down and I'm in
329. 14:27the office and I was getting ready for
330. 14:28tonight and I can hear her through the
331. 14:31window. She's out there. I don't know
332. 14:32what the neighbors think. Uh I know they
333. 14:35know she's a prayer prayerful woman, but
334. 14:37I'm not sure what else they think, but I
335. 14:40love that about her. Sometimes she gets
336. 14:41out on the deck. I don't know what she's
337. 14:43going to do when the snow flies. Um it's
338. 14:46probably going to get loud inside, but
339. 14:49I'm glad she's a person of prayer. She
340. 14:52prays different than I do. Um I'm
341. 14:55introverted. Um she is kind of, but not
342. 14:58as painfully bad as I am.
343. 15:01I'm like some of you that I like to get
344. 15:04alone. I don't want anybody to hear me.
345. 15:06And a lot of times is that because
346. 15:07that's because I'm praying about idiots
347. 15:09and all kinds of stuff. And I don't need
348. 15:12anybody to hear me. I especially don't
349. 15:13need her to hear me cuz she'll ask me
350. 15:15about it later. And I just need to talk
351. 15:18to Jesus about it, not her. Um that's a
352. 15:20bunch of rambling. Get specific
353. 15:22wouldward. So here we go.
354. 15:25Um,
355. 15:26you've heard this before because this is
356. 15:29one of my favorites on prayer. It's from
357. 15:32my uh missionary friend Steve Willoughby
358. 15:34who's now in heaven. And you've heard
359. 15:37this before. If you haven't, you need
360. 15:38to. He said, "Prayer is not something
361. 15:42that you do. Prayer is something that
362. 15:45you are. Prayer flows automatically
363. 15:50out of living sacrifices.
364. 15:53Prayer is simply, I love this, it is
365. 15:56simply the verbal expressions of the
366. 16:00meditations of your heart. So, not
367. 16:04praying is the result of a dead
368. 16:08sacrifice. Something's wrong in there.
369. 16:10God replaced dead sacrifices, Old
370. 16:13Testament, because they had limited
371. 16:15value. They were too easy to forget. You
372. 16:19just gave your sacrifice and then you
373. 16:21walked away. Brother Willoughby said,
374. 16:23"But a living sacrifice is different. It
375. 16:27requires daily maintenance and daily
376. 16:31conversation." So, you're decaying if
377. 16:35you're not praying. There's something in
378. 16:38you that's dying. Now, I I hope so far
379. 16:43I've sounded intensely
380. 16:46intentionally practical because that's
381. 16:48what this little series is about. Um,
382. 16:51but there's a spiritual result when we
383. 16:53get practical about prayer. Um, would
384. 16:56you lift up a hand and lift up your
385. 16:58voice right now and forget about
386. 17:00everybody around you and would you just
387. 17:02go to God in worship for a moment? We
388. 17:04need to seed the clouds for what's going
389. 17:06to happen here in just a moment. So,
390. 17:08just praise him for a moment. Say
391. 17:11wonderful things to him. Uh, let your
392. 17:13heart overflow with gratitude for the
393. 17:15day you've had. Jesus, I thank you that
394. 17:17you woke me up this morning and I've got
395. 17:20health and strength in my body. And I
396. 17:22thank you, Jesus, that I got to spend
397. 17:24some time in your word with you today. I
398. 17:27thank you, God, for my church family. I
399. 17:30thank you, Jesus, that I get to do life
400. 17:32and go to heaven with these believers.
401. 17:34And we're sure not perfect, but Jesus,
402. 17:37this is a wonderful body of believers
403. 17:40that we get to go to heaven with. And
404. 17:41so, I thank you for every one of them.
405. 17:44And I thank you for your presence that I
406. 17:46feel right now in this service. And
407. 17:48Jesus, we give you all glory for
408. 17:51everything that we could ever do or ever
409. 17:53accomplish. Jesus, it's all to you. It's
410. 17:56all because of you. It's all for you.
411. 17:59And we worship you tonight. We give you
412. 18:02glory and praise tonight. We give you
413. 18:05glory and praise tonight. And then Jesus
414. 18:08lands us in the most famous words in the
415. 18:12English language. After this manner,
416. 18:15therefore, pray ye.
417. 18:17Our Father, which art in heaven,
418. 18:20hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,
419. 18:23thy will be done in earth as it is in
420. 18:26heaven. Give us this day our daily
421. 18:29bread. And forgive us our debts as we
422. 18:32forgive our debtors. And lead us not
423. 18:34into temptation, but deliver us from
424. 18:37evil. For thine is the kingdom and the
425. 18:40power and the glory forever.
426. 18:43Amen. And in the Lord's prayer, if you
427. 18:46break it down, and this isn't original
428. 18:48with me, but I like this. In the Lord's
429. 18:50prayer, Jesus, like all of the rabbis of
430. 18:53his day, he was not giving them a
431. 18:55paragraph to memorize and regurgitate
432. 18:58and recite. He was giving them an
433. 19:00outline of topics to pray over daily.
434. 19:04And somebody divided it up like this
435. 19:07that the outline first of all it starts
436. 19:09with praise. We worship our father in
437. 19:13heaven and we hallow his name. We set
438. 19:16his name apart. We are unapologetically
439. 19:20a Jesus name church. We sing in the name
440. 19:23of Jesus. We pray in the name of Jesus.
441. 19:26We preach in the name of Jesus. We even
442. 19:29baptize in the name of Jesus. So we
443. 19:31hallow his name in every way imaginable.
444. 19:35And then Jesus taught them to pray about
445. 19:37the purpose of that day. And over that
446. 19:40day, thy kingdom come today. your will
447. 19:44be done in my life today here in earth
448. 19:48as in heaven. He taught them to pray
449. 19:51over their provision. Give us this day
450. 19:54our daily bread. It's right and it's
451. 19:57good to ask God to supply your needs.
452. 20:01Because the Bible says, "And our God
453. 20:03shall supply all of our needs according
454. 20:06to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
455. 20:09So it's good to pray over the provision
456. 20:11that you need. He also taught his
457. 20:14disciples, you need to pray over the
458. 20:17pardon that you need. Forgive us our
459. 20:20debts. You need to have honest
460. 20:23conversations with Jesus because he
461. 20:25already knows. Jesus, I messed up.
462. 20:29Jesus, I shouldn't have said that and I
463. 20:31shouldn't have done that. He already
464. 20:33knows, but he wants you to talk to him
465. 20:36about it. Um, you say, "Well, what's the
466. 20:39point of that?" Don't give me that.
467. 20:42We've got parents in this room and you
468. 20:45want your child to come to you and you
469. 20:48want your child to admit and to fess up
470. 20:52and to be sorry and apologetic.
471. 20:55You want that. Why? Because you want
472. 20:57them to do it of their own accord
473. 21:00without being forced. Can I tell you
474. 21:03your heavenly father, he's not a tyrant
475. 21:05and he's not an abusive father. He's a
476. 21:08loving heavenly father and he wants you
477. 21:11to come to him with your failures and
478. 21:13your hang-ups and your mess ups and he
479. 21:15wants you to ask him for forgiveness.
480. 21:18And then Jesus taught them uh pray over
481. 21:20people uh forgive us our debts as we
482. 21:24forgive our debtors. And you can pray
483. 21:28anything for people. In fact, I think
484. 21:30you pray for people under purpose. God
485. 21:32uh touch my family and help us with this
486. 21:34situation. But but here is specific
487. 21:37because this is the hardest thing you're
488. 21:39ever going to do with people and the
489. 21:41hardest thing you're ever going to need
490. 21:42to pray over people. Uh the longer you
491. 21:45live, the more you'll have to forgive.
492. 21:48The longer you live, the more you'll
493. 21:50have to forgive. And so you've got to
494. 21:52learn to to let that go uh with with an
495. 21:56open hand as it were. And so Jesus said
496. 22:00uh pray for pardon but don't expect God
497. 22:02to pardon you if you won't pardon other
498. 22:05people. And then he said uh pray for
499. 22:08protection. Um this is another topic to
500. 22:11pray for every day. And lead us not into
501. 22:14temptation. Jesus keep my ears and my
502. 22:17eyes and my mind and my thoughts and my
503. 22:20words. Jesus put a hedge. That's our it
504. 22:23comes from the book of Job the oldest
505. 22:24book in the Bible. Um, but that's that's
506. 22:27Bible lingo in prayer. Jesus, put a
507. 22:30hedge of protection around me today.
508. 22:33Don't let the enemy get a foothold in my
509. 22:35thoughts or in my life. Jesus, protect
510. 22:38me. Don't lead me anywhere near
511. 22:40temptation. Don't let me go there.
512. 22:42Deliver me from evil. Deliver me from
513. 22:44the evil one. Deliver me from evil
514. 22:47things. And then you come full circle
515. 22:50and right back around to praise. and you
516. 22:53begin your prayer and you end your
517. 22:55prayer in the same way offering praise
518. 22:58to God. This wouldn't matter whether
519. 23:00this is a two-minute prayer or a
520. 23:0220-minut prayer or a 2-hour prayer
521. 23:04shift. It wouldn't matter. You begin
522. 23:06with praise and you end with praise. You
523. 23:09don't just rush into the presence of the
524. 23:11great monarch of the universe, the King
525. 23:13of Kings and Lord of Lords, and just
526. 23:15start say, "I need this and I need this
527. 23:17and I need this." You reserve that for
528. 23:20emergencies. But here's what you do when
529. 23:22you have a few minutes. Oh Jesus, I
530. 23:25magnify your name today. And I thank you
531. 23:28that your name is a saving name. And I
532. 23:30lift your name up above everything else
533. 23:33in my life. And I focus on you. And you
534. 23:36just begin to worship him. And when you
535. 23:38prepare to leave his presence, you don't
536. 23:40just stumble out after saying, "Deliver
537. 23:42me from the devil." You begin to say
538. 23:44something like Jesus taught us. God,
539. 23:47today yours is the kingdom and yours is
540. 23:50the power and yours is the glory
541. 23:52forever. And that's what Jesus taught us
542. 23:55we should pray about every day. Several
543. 23:59topics of prayer. It's really just an
544. 24:01outline. You don't repeat those words.
545. 24:04That would be a religious ritual. But
546. 24:07you pray in that manner. Uh after this
547. 24:11manner, therefore pray ye. And I'll give
548. 24:15you one little illustration before we
549. 24:17move on because I think this is helpful
550. 24:20uh especially if you're relatively new
551. 24:22uh to your relationship with God. If
552. 24:24you're relatively new to this whole
553. 24:26thing of prayer um people talk about
554. 24:29prayer in the world today, but a lot of
555. 24:32people don't really pray. And so it's
556. 24:34kind of a new thing when you begin to
557. 24:35serve God. And and then furthermore, um
558. 24:38if we go along for a while, we can get
559. 24:41stuck in prayer. And so I think this is
560. 24:44helpful just as a memory device. Uh
561. 24:46everybody, if you got one free hand,
562. 24:48would you just wave it at me just for a
563. 24:49second? Thank you. Uh le let's try this.
564. 24:52Uh th this is um th this is just a
565. 24:56little memory device. There's nothing
566. 24:58spiritual about this. Um everybody say
567. 25:01praise.
568. 25:02>> Everybody lift up your hand. That's how
569. 25:04we praise him. We lift up our hands.
570. 25:07Praise is a lifted posture. So just
571. 25:10think of lifting up your hands. But you
572. 25:12need to do more than lift up your hands.
573. 25:14Really, it's a symbol that you need to
574. 25:15lift up your hearts and lift up your
575. 25:17head and lift up your face and lift up
576. 25:20your voice. And praise is a lifting
577. 25:23toward God. So um there's going to be a
578. 25:26little bit of participation here. Let's
579. 25:28do that one more time. Would you lift up
580. 25:30some praise to the Lord? And when you
581. 25:33use your hands, that's wonderful. But
582. 25:35when you use your voice, that's really
583. 25:37important and biblical and and so we
584. 25:40lift up praise to the Lord. That's how
585. 25:42we approach him.
586. 25:45And it feels so liberating right now in
587. 25:48the house of the Lord because when God's
588. 25:51people begin to praise him, something
589. 25:53shifts in the atmosphere. And then um
590. 25:57purpose, everybody um take your thumb
591. 25:59and go like this. That's a familiar
592. 26:02gesture to us. In fact, some of you did
593. 26:04that on Facebook today already. Uh, so
594. 26:06you're familiar with this one. What you
595. 26:08want when you pray over your purpose for
596. 26:10today, thy kingdom come, thy will be
597. 26:13done, you're wanting God to say, "Good."
598. 26:15You're wanting God to smile on it.
599. 26:17You're wanting God's favor on it. So,
600. 26:19that's an easy way to remember it. God,
601. 26:21I need your thumbs up on the decisions
602. 26:23I'm making today. I need your thumbs up
603. 26:26on the conversations that I will have
604. 26:28today. That's purpose. And then
605. 26:30provision. You already know this. Um,
606. 26:33just go like this. Just I want that and
607. 26:35I want that and I want that and I want
608. 26:39them to be fixed and I want them to say
609. 26:41they're sorry and I want them to get out
610. 26:43of my face. And
611. 26:46that's your pointing finger. And that is
612. 26:49when we pray for provision. Give me
613. 26:52that. I need this. I can't do this
614. 26:55without you. It's provision. I need I
615. 26:58need. And then pardon. You really have
616. 27:00to be careful in the Pentecostal church
617. 27:02or anywhere else with this next one. Um,
618. 27:05everybody hold your hand vertical, would
619. 27:07you please? [snorts] And if you notice,
620. 27:10this is a feature of human genetics. It
621. 27:13is the 99 something percentile that your
622. 27:16middle finger is the longest finger on
623. 27:18your hand. If that is not true for you,
624. 27:24there's something genetic in your
625. 27:25family. It's a blessing. Just just take
626. 27:27it as extra. Actually, I was trying to
627. 27:30do that hand with chat GPT and it kept
628. 27:34making all the fingers the same length
629. 27:36and I kept telling it this is not human.
630. 27:39Make it look human. It doesn't
631. 27:41understand human. But anyway, when I've
632. 27:45gone too far, that's the longest finger.
633. 27:47When I've I've wandered and I've strayed
634. 27:50and I've gone too far, I need God's
635. 27:52pardon. And then from ancient times, the
636. 27:56the next finger of the hand, that's been
637. 27:58the the ring finger, the covenant
638. 28:00finger, the marriage token goes on that
639. 28:02finger. And so that's where we pray for
640. 28:05people. And then um don't get anybody
641. 28:08else in the pew to do this, but you can
642. 28:09do this gently. Just take that little
643. 28:11finger and bend it back.
644. 28:14Obviously, nobody's listening to me
645. 28:16because I'd hear some grunts and groans
646. 28:18and cries of pain.
647. 28:20And so we'll just use that as an
648. 28:22illustration that if you bend that
649. 28:24finger back, it causes harm. And God, I
650. 28:28need you to protect me from harm today.
651. 28:31I need you to put a guard around my
652. 28:32mouth today. And I need you to put a
653. 28:34guard around my eyes today. Um and and
654. 28:37so protect me from from from harm. And
655. 28:41then finally, you end in praise with
656. 28:42your hand lifted up one more time. So uh
657. 28:45that's just a little visual. There's
658. 28:47nothing super spiritual about that. It's
659. 28:49just a little visual representation that
660. 28:52might help you remember the topics that
661. 28:54Jesus told us to pray about every day.
662. 28:58Now, that's what we would call a prayer
663. 29:01pattern. And prayer patterns like the
664. 29:03Lord's prayer, they're very valuable to
665. 29:05us in learning how to pray. Uh there are
666. 29:09many of them in the word of God. Other
667. 29:10people put on the armor of God. That's
668. 29:13in Ephesians chapter 6. Uh some people
669. 29:16pray through the tabernacle plan uh you
670. 29:19know the altar of repentance and the
671. 29:20cleansing of the labor of water and they
672. 29:23pray through the tabernacle. Other
673. 29:24people uh we talked about this in our
674. 29:26last series. Other people pray the
675. 29:28scriptures. They get a scripture and
676. 29:30they pray it and all of those are good.
677. 29:32And some people would be critical of
678. 29:34that and say well I think having a
679. 29:36prayer pattern is just a legalistic
680. 29:39ritual. But that's not true. Legalism is
681. 29:44only when the pattern becomes more
682. 29:47important than the purpose of the
683. 29:48activity. So it's not legalism just
684. 29:51because you reference a pattern to keep
685. 29:53you on track when you pray. That's not
686. 29:55legalism. Legalism is when the pattern
687. 29:58becomes more important to you than the
688. 30:00purpose of the activity. Uh the same
689. 30:03thing by the way works with holiness. We
690. 30:06believe in a standard of righteousness.
691. 30:09We believe in uh obeying God's word,
692. 30:11even as it comes to our external lives
693. 30:14and the things that we do. But anytime
694. 30:17that becomes more important than the
695. 30:19purpose of being set apart, we've got
696. 30:21the cart before the horse. So, it's the
697. 30:24same in prayer. The pattern isn't what's
698. 30:26important. The communication with God is
699. 30:29important. But it's helpful to have a
700. 30:31pattern, especially for some of us, just
701. 30:34to keep our mind on track. So, uh, if
702. 30:37you do choose to use a prayer pattern,
703. 30:39praying through the Lord's Prayer or
704. 30:40praying the tabernacle plan or putting
705. 30:42on the armor of God or praying the
706. 30:44scripture, think of your prayer pattern
707. 30:46as a walking track. You can walk as fast
708. 30:50or as slow as you want as you use that
709. 30:52pattern. You can circle the walking
710. 30:54track as many times as you want, and you
711. 30:58can stop up and enjoy the scenery
712. 31:00whenever you want. So there's there's
713. 31:02nothing wrong with praying in an
714. 31:05organized way if that helps you. There's
715. 31:08also nothing wrong with praying
716. 31:10freestyle.
717. 31:12In fact, I would argue that if you start
718. 31:14with a little bit of a plan or a
719. 31:16pattern, you'll probably end up doing
720. 31:18more freestyle praying because you'll
721. 31:21feel an uncction. You'll feel a push at
722. 31:23a certain point and and you'll probably
723. 31:25have more spontaneous prayer because
724. 31:28sometimes when we don't have any little
725. 31:31agenda in our mind, it just starts out
726. 31:34random. Now, if you've got the gift of
727. 31:36gab, you could probably pray freestyle
728. 31:39for hours and the rest of us know that.
729. 31:43But for those of us that don't have the
730. 31:45gift of gab, uh when we go to prayer,
731. 31:48sometimes it helps to have a little bit
732. 31:50of a structure. And so, um I I want to
733. 31:54go, uh to the point tonight. Um God
734. 31:58already cares about all the things that
735. 32:00you're praying about. He cares about
736. 32:02your kids. He cares about your job. He
737. 32:04cares about your family members. He
738. 32:06cares about the struggles you're having.
739. 32:08God already cares about everything that
740. 32:10you are praying for.
741. 32:13He is waiting for us to care enough
742. 32:15about them to talk to him about them.
743. 32:19It's an irony that when something bad
744. 32:21happens, we pick up the phone and talk
745. 32:24to a human being that can only
746. 32:26sympathize instead of talking to God who
747. 32:29can actually do a miracle and change the
748. 32:31situation. So, we're not against talking
749. 32:34to a friend or talking to somebody that
750. 32:36can sympathize, but my goodness, at
751. 32:39least as much as you talk to them, you
752. 32:41need to talk to the God who can do a
753. 32:44miracle and change that situation. So
754. 32:48whether you're reading your Bible or
755. 32:50whether you're praying, we need to
756. 32:52remain sensitive to the Holy Ghost
757. 32:55because the Holy Ghost, if you will do
758. 32:57this, if you will make it a point to
759. 32:59pray, he will speak to you as you pray.
760. 33:05And that's the moment when you need to
761. 33:07drop your little prayer plan and you
762. 33:09need to stop on the walking track and
763. 33:12you just need to focus on what God is
764. 33:14saying and what he wants you to be
765. 33:16praying.
766. 33:18Now, in this situ uh in this series, I I
767. 33:22have this cool little acronym that we're
768. 33:23going to go through. I think it'll be
769. 33:25cool, and I think it'll be very helpful
770. 33:27more than cool. Uh we're going to go
771. 33:29through the word repair. And we're going
772. 33:31to talk about six things that help us to
773. 33:34revitalize and repair
774. 33:37uh and revive our prayer lives. And I
775. 33:40think they're each one very important.
776. 33:43They're in no special order. Um, but I
777. 33:45think they'll be very helpful. Uh, but
778. 33:48tonight, the further I got into this,
779. 33:51the more I got distracted and pushed
780. 33:54aside to something different. So, uh,
781. 33:56we're going to start all of that next
782. 33:58week, and we'll we'll fit it into two
783. 34:00parts instead of three. But tonight, I
784. 34:03want to tell you that prayer is like
785. 34:04every other relationship in your life.
786. 34:07There are times that you will feel
787. 34:09disconnected.
788. 34:11There are times you may feel stuck. And
789. 34:14if that happens to you, the best thing
790. 34:17to do is to try something different than
791. 34:22what you are doing right now. Try
792. 34:24something different, a different place,
793. 34:27a different way to pray, a different
794. 34:30style of praying. Maybe you've been
795. 34:31praying the scripture and you need to
796. 34:33lay that down for a while and and you
797. 34:35need to just pray the Lord's Prayer or
798. 34:36whatever. Um, but you need to try
799. 34:39something that is rooted in scripture to
800. 34:42help refocus your relationship with God.
801. 34:46This is why you see uh couples now. It's
802. 34:48kind of a thing. They renewed their
803. 34:50vows. Well, they're still married, but
804. 34:53they're just refocusing on how much they
805. 34:55love each other and how much they're
806. 34:57committed to each other. So, they
807. 34:58renewed their vows. You can renew your
808. 35:01prayer life by just backing up and
809. 35:04taking a look at it a little bit and
810. 35:06letting God re-energize what you're
811. 35:09doing. And so, as I said in this series,
812. 35:11we're going to use the acronym repair.
813. 35:14We're going to try to give you some
814. 35:15tools to try. But for this first lesson,
815. 35:17I could not get away from these
816. 35:20instructions that Paul gave about
817. 35:23prayer. In fact, I've read this all
818. 35:26kinds of times, and I thought only one
819. 35:29of these or maybe two were actually
820. 35:32about prayer. And as I got looking at
821. 35:34it, they're all about prayer. And it's
822. 35:37in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And he
823. 35:40starts with some little oneliners, and
824. 35:43my goodness, they're powerful. He says
825. 35:45in verse 16, "Rejoice
826. 35:49evermore." Everybody say rejoice
827. 35:52evermore.
828. 35:54The Greek word hierro, it refers to an
829. 35:57action that we choose. So this isn't
830. 36:00rejoicing because you won something
831. 36:03today or because you got a promotion or
832. 36:06a raise today. This isn't rejoicing
833. 36:09because life is so great. This is
834. 36:11choosing to rejoice. The Greek word
835. 36:14refers to an action that we choose. Now,
836. 36:18we have the lingo down in the apostolic
837. 36:21church that sometimes we pray under a we
838. 36:23call it a burden of prayer. It's very
839. 36:26intense. It's intercession. Maybe we're
840. 36:29standing in the gap for lost people. It
841. 36:32would only make sense that at those
842. 36:34times it's going to be intense. The
843. 36:36Bible talks about groanings that cannot
844. 36:39be uttered. And so, that's not going to
845. 36:41be the moment that that it's overflowing
846. 36:44with joy. That's biblical, TOO. BUT PAUL
847. 36:47said there's there's a piece of prayer
848. 36:50where you need to approach God with a
849. 36:53happy heart. Not always just approaching
850. 36:57God with a sour disposition, ready to
851. 37:00dump all your problems on him. God has
852. 37:04been good to us. Uh God isn't our
853. 37:07taskmaster. We're not serving him
854. 37:09because we're terrorized. We're serving
855. 37:12him because he lifted us up out of sin
856. 37:14and he gave us a hope. He gave us a
857. 37:17future. He gave US AN ETERNAL HOME THAT
858. 37:20we're headed to. And so no matter what
859. 37:22happens on this planet, we have a choice
860. 37:26to make. And we need to choose to
861. 37:29rejoice ever more. Sometimes we will
862. 37:33have a burden in prayer, but most of the
863. 37:35time we need to approach God excited
864. 37:38that we're his people and knowing that
865. 37:41we're blessed to be a Christian, a child
866. 37:44of God, and know THAT WHATEVER IS
867. 37:46HAPPENING in our life, there's something
868. 37:48to thank God for. I was thinking about
869. 37:51him today. Last year, my 90year-old
870. 37:54father-in-law walked in to the funeral
871. 37:57service of his oldest son. And when he
872. 38:00walked into the little room just before
873. 38:02we went out to the funeral service of
874. 38:04Beverly's brother, he said, "Well,
875. 38:07there's always something to thank God
876. 38:09for." That was his approach at that
877. 38:12funeral service. Can I tell you, there's
878. 38:14always something to thank God for. If
879. 38:18you can't thank God for people, thank
880. 38:20him for your pet dog. Thank him for
881. 38:22something. If you can't rejoice over THE
882. 38:25WEATHER, REJOICE OVER YOUR FAMILY.
883. 38:29THERE'S ALWAYS a reason to rejoice ever
884. 38:32more. So, I just want to say this TO
885. 38:34YOU. TO REJOICE IS A CHOICE.
886. 38:41>> I know you can look all sour on me. You
887. 38:44don't scare me cuz to rejoice
888. 38:47is a choice. There's always a reason to
889. 38:50pick yourself up and glorify God. Job in
890. 38:54the middle of his horrible trials, he
891. 38:56looked up to heaven and he said, "Even
892. 38:58though God slay me, yet will I trust
893. 39:00him." If Job could worship God in the
894. 39:03middle of that, we can worship God in
895. 39:05the middle of whatever we're going. SO
896. 39:07THAT'S THAT'S NOT JUST A LIFE PRINCIPLE.
897. 39:10That's a prayer principle. When you come
898. 39:12to prayer, choose to approach God with a
899. 39:16happy heart, not a downcast spirit. And
900. 39:20then he said, this is the one that I
901. 39:22always knew was about prayer. Pray
902. 39:24without ceasing. And the big question
903. 39:27there is, how in the world do you do
904. 39:30that? Pray without ceasing. Well, you
905. 39:33got to think about it like this. Prayer
906. 39:36to a child of God is like breathing to a
907. 39:39human being. You don't have to plan to
908. 39:42breathe. You don't have to prepare to
909. 39:46breathe. The atmosphere that's around
910. 39:48you puts pressure on your lungs. So, it
911. 39:52is easier to breathe than it IS TO HOLD
912. 39:55your breath.
913. 39:57You We won't try that one. Some of you
914. 39:59might suffocate.
915. 40:01But when you HOLD YOUR BREATH, THAT'S
916. 40:03UNNATURAL.
917. 40:04And when you breathe, THAT'S NATURAL. IF
918. 40:07YOU'RE A CHILD OF GOD and you live in
919. 40:09the right spiritual atmosphere,
920. 40:12prayer just happens naturally. If
921. 40:16prayer's not happening naturally,
922. 40:18there's something wrong with the
923. 40:20atmosphere you're living in. Because if
924. 40:23you live in the right atmosphere, it's
925. 40:26like the oxygen atmosphere. Uh breathing
926. 40:29is just going to happen because there's
927. 40:31a pressure on you. If you live in the
928. 40:34right spiritual atmosphere, prayer is
929. 40:37going to happen. So, how do you do that?
930. 40:39Well, one, you're doing it right now.
931. 40:41You gather together with the people of
932. 40:43God at the house of God. We're still a
933. 40:45church that believes this is important.
934. 40:48This isn't just a random choice we make
935. 40:50a couple or three times a year. We know
936. 40:52how important fellowship with God's
937. 40:55people is. BUT YOU CAN'T LIVE IN the
938. 40:58right atmosphere when everything that
939. 41:00comes into your ears and your eyes and
940. 41:02your attention is from the world. You
941. 41:05cannot possibly live in the right
942. 41:07atmosphere. But if you do choose to SET
943. 41:10NO EVIL THING before mine eyes, and I
944. 41:13made a covenant with my eyes, and I WILL
945. 41:15KEEP MY MIND stayed on thee, WHEN YOU
946. 41:18MAKE THAT KIND OF COVENANT, THEN THERE'S
947. 41:21a proper spiritual atmosphere, and
948. 41:24you'll feel like praying and it will be
949. 41:27natural to you. Pray without ceasing
950. 41:30doesn't mean always saying prayers. Pray
951. 41:34without ceasing means that you never
952. 41:36take the phone off the hook. You can
953. 41:38talk to Jesus in the morning and carry
954. 41:41on the conversation in the car on the
955. 41:44way to work and carry on the
956. 41:45conversation at various moments through
957. 41:48the day. That is praying without
958. 41:51ceasing. Praying without ceasing is not
959. 41:54a religious posture. It's a heart
960. 41:57attitude. You can pray anytime. You can
961. 42:00especially pray when the preacher in the
962. 42:02pulpit says, "Let's pray something." So,
963. 42:05why don't you do that right now? Pray
964. 42:07without ceasing. Just carry on. Whatever
965. 42:09you were talking to Jesus about today,
966. 42:11you can remind him, Lord Jesus, you
967. 42:14remember I asked you this morning, I'm
968. 42:16still waiting on that healing. I'm still
969. 42:18waiting on THAT MIRACLE. I'M STILL
970. 42:21WAITING ON THAT REQUEST. And you can
971. 42:22carry on the conversation.
972. 42:25And then he said this, this is a prayer
973. 42:28principle. In everything
974. 42:31give thanks for this is the will of God
975. 42:34in Christ Jesus concerning you. It is
976. 42:38the will of God that you be thankful.
977. 42:44If you are thankful, you break the mold
978. 42:47of our culture. We live in one of the
979. 42:50most unthankful, ungrateful
980. 42:54atmospheres and generations that I've
981. 42:56ever seen. Nobody's thankful for
982. 42:59anything. Everybody's got drama and
983. 43:02trauma that they're trying to push on
984. 43:04the rest of us. Everybody's got some
985. 43:07cause, some axe to grind. Everybody's
986. 43:10got something like that. How refreshing
987. 43:12it is when the people of God arrive and
988. 43:14they are giving thanks to God. You say,
989. 43:18"But I'm not thankful for the diagnosis,
990. 43:21and I'm not thankful for the hospital
991. 43:23stay, and I'm not thankful for the
992. 43:25accident, and I'm not thankful." PAUL
993. 43:27doesn't say, "Be thankful for
994. 43:29everything." He says, "Be thankful in
995. 43:33everything." In everything, give thanks.
996. 43:36This is the will of God. YOU CAN ALWAYS
997. 43:39THANK the Lord. If it's a disaster
998. 43:42today, you can still thank God. God,
999. 43:45you're sustaining me through this trial.
1000. 43:48God, you are leading me through this
1001. 43:50situation. God, you're teaching me
1002. 43:53something. I DON'T KNOW IT YET. I
1003. 43:55haven't passed the test yet, but I trust
1004. 43:57you and I know you're teaching me
1005. 43:59something. So, I'm going to choose to be
1006. 44:01thankful in everything.
1007. 44:05My goodness, why don't we lift up our
1008. 44:07hands and our voices and thank God for
1009. 44:10something? Anything that comes to mind,
1010. 44:12it would be good to thank him for with
1011. 44:15your voice.
1012. 44:18We're going to talk about that a little
1013. 44:19bit next week with your voice. Because
1014. 44:22your voice is what turns a meditation
1015. 44:25into a prayer. Your voice is what turns
1016. 44:28the thoughts of your mind into a request
1017. 44:31to God. He's waiting to hear from us.
1018. 44:33The very first mention of prayer in
1019. 44:36scripture is then began men TO CALL ON
1020. 44:39THE NAME OF THE LORD. SO ALL BETS ARE
1021. 44:42OFF IF YOU DON'T CALL. BUT WHEN YOU
1022. 44:44CALL, GOD SAID, "I will hear and I will
1023. 44:47answer." So one more time, let's lift up
1024. 44:50hands and voice and let's thank the Lord
1025. 44:53for something in your life. WHAT IF THE
1026. 44:56PERSON NEXT TO ME HEARS ME, PASTOR
1027. 44:58RAYMOND? GOOD. THEY NEED TO KNOW HOW
1028. 45:00THANKFUL you are for your family or for
1029. 45:02your health or YOUR STRENGTH. THAT'S A
1030. 45:04GOOD THING if they hear you pray.
1031. 45:07I worship you, Jesus. I thank you for
1032. 45:10your presence that is in this room. And
1033. 45:13I ask you to help us to get it right
1034. 45:15now. I thank you, Jesus.
1035. 45:21>> I thank you, Jesus.
1036. 45:24I worship you, God.
1037. 45:28This one's so important with prayer.
1038. 45:31Quench not the spirit.
1039. 45:36>> Quench not the spirit. The Greek word
1040. 45:39subenuum
1041. 45:40it means to extinguish or stop burning.
1042. 45:43It means to put out the fire. And in
1043. 45:46this context it means spiritual
1044. 45:49enthusiasm.
1045. 45:51So, what Paul just said is when you're
1046. 45:54worshiping and praying and living for
1047. 45:56God, don't put out the fire. Don't
1048. 46:00quench the spirit. Don't stop the
1049. 46:05enthusiasm.
1050. 46:06And if I could say to all my beloved
1051. 46:09church member friends, and we've all
1052. 46:12grown up together in this, and some of
1053. 46:14us, we can say with David, I have been
1054. 46:18young, and I am now not so young.
1055. 46:22I've never seen the righteous forsaken.
1056. 46:25I've never seen God's seed begging for
1057. 46:27bread.
1058. 46:29Could I just say to us, every single one
1059. 46:31of us could use, including the preacher,
1060. 46:33could use a genuine dose of new convert
1061. 46:37excitement about God and his church and
1062. 46:41his salvation and being in the presence
1063. 46:43of Jesus. I know how we do this. I've
1064. 46:46been around longer than a few of you.
1065. 46:49Let me tell you something. We get that
1066. 46:50attitude, you know, well, they'll calm
1067. 46:52down.
1068. 46:54Thank God they haven't calmed down yet.
1069. 46:56It would be like a mortuary in here. We
1070. 46:59need the enthusiasm of the spirit.
1071. 47:03Quench not the spirit. When we get into
1072. 47:07an altar service and there's a pastor in
1073. 47:10the pulpit and they're PUSHING US TO
1074. 47:12PRAY AND PUSHING US TO WORSHIP, THAT'S
1075. 47:15NOT AN inconvenience to us. That's not a
1076. 47:17delay for the buffet. I'll tell you what
1077. 47:20that is. That's somebody reaching after
1078. 47:23God. And in those moments, we need to
1079. 47:25jump on board and have the spirit flow
1080. 47:29in our midst. And that's when those new
1081. 47:31believers, they're wonderful.
1082. 47:34You may not like them jumping all around
1083. 47:36on your toes. You might not like that
1084. 47:39they kind of hold the process up. It's a
1085. 47:42good thing to worship the Lord. WE SPEND
1086. 47:45SO MUCH TIME every week, hours and hours
1087. 47:50on all kinds of media that can't help
1088. 47:52us. Reading the news is not going to
1089. 47:55bless your life in 2026. It may make you
1090. 47:58mad. It may make you take sides. It may
1091. 48:01make you get critical of the government
1092. 48:04or somebody else or some other go. It
1093. 48:07may do anything to you, but it's not
1094. 48:09going to be very profitable. But let me
1095. 48:11tell you something. When we take a few
1096. 48:13moments to get excited about what God
1097. 48:16has done for us, that's profitable time,
1098. 48:19not wasted time. Even on a Wednesday
1099. 48:22night, Bible study night, when you're
1100. 48:24thinking, I wonder when he's going to be
1101. 48:26done, IT'S STILL A GOOD THING TO GET
1102. 48:28SOME OF THAT NEW CONVERT, new believer,
1103. 48:31YOUNG CHRISTIAN, BABY BELIEVER
1104. 48:33enthusiasm in your HEART AND SAY, "I
1105. 48:36THANK YOU, GOD, FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE
1106. 48:39FOR ME. I'M NOT IN A RUSH. I'M NOT IN A
1107. 48:42HURRY. I'M NOT TRYING TO SHUT THIS DOWN.
1108. 48:45IN FACT, I'D LIKE TO DRUM UP A LITTLE
1109. 48:47BIT OF IT. I'd like to stir up a little
1110. 48:49bit OF IT. PAUL SAID TO TIMOTHY, "STIR
1111. 48:51UP THE GIFT THAT IS IN YOU. And every
1112. 48:54once in a while, you need to just go
1113. 48:56with the flow and let it be stirred up
1114. 48:59in your life."
1115. 49:01>> Oh my goodness. Quench not the spirit.
1116. 49:05>> And then he said this, "Despise not
1117. 49:08prophesyings.
1118. 49:10prove all things, hold fast that which
1119. 49:13is good. Now, that principle works in
1120. 49:15the church with the gift of prophecy and
1121. 49:17all of that. But when I got looking at
1122. 49:20this, Paul's talking to the
1123. 49:22Thessalonians and he's he's tell talking
1124. 49:24to them about keeping that connection
1125. 49:26with God. Learn to discern the prompting
1126. 49:31of the spirit as you pray, especially if
1127. 49:36it involves making decisions. Especially
1128. 49:39if it involves ministering to somebody
1129. 49:42else, the Lord will quicken you and and
1130. 49:46and he'll nudge you kind of and and
1131. 49:49here's what we all do. It's not just
1132. 49:50you. It's all of us. Well, that's just
1133. 49:52me.
1134. 49:54When have you decided
1135. 49:57on your own accord without anything to
1136. 49:59do with Jesus, when have you decided, I
1137. 50:01need to go pray for that person right
1138. 50:02now? You don't do that. That's the Holy
1139. 50:06Ghost nudging you. And when the Holy
1140. 50:09Ghost nudges you, when you're in prayer,
1141. 50:10when you're in worship, when you're in
1142. 50:12the word and the Holy Ghost nudges you
1143. 50:14to do something, you need to yield to
1144. 50:17that. Don't despise that that push or
1145. 50:19that prompting of the Holy Ghost. And
1146. 50:23yes, you need to prove all things. This
1147. 50:25prevents all the wackos and the weirdos
1148. 50:27from just running off halfcocked and and
1149. 50:29and running a muck. So So Paul says,
1150. 50:32"Put it to the test, but don't despise
1151. 50:35it. Put it to the test, but don't
1152. 50:38despise it. And this is where I say this
1153. 50:40to younger leaders all the time. The
1154. 50:43voice of God, and I I especially saints,
1155. 50:46the voice of God very often sounds like
1156. 50:49your pastor's voice. So if your pastor's
1157. 50:52good with it, chances are God's good
1158. 50:54with it. If your pastor's kind of
1159. 50:57holding back, chances are that's
1160. 51:00probably not a voice you need to pay
1161. 51:02attention to. And so it's really
1162. 51:05important to put it to the test. Prove
1163. 51:08all things, but hold fast to that which
1164. 51:11is good. Learn to recognize the
1165. 51:14prompting of the spirit. Aren't you
1166. 51:16grateful that we have pastors who in the
1167. 51:18middle of the flow of a service will
1168. 51:20stop up a sermon or stop up a song or
1169. 51:22stop up an altar call and just say we
1170. 51:25need to and we flow with it and we go
1171. 51:27with it. Are you grateful for that?
1172. 51:29That's part of despise not prophesyings.
1173. 51:33Don't despise the prompting and the word
1174. 51:36of the Holy Ghost. And almost done here.
1175. 51:39Abstain from all appearance of evil. You
1176. 51:42think this has nothing to do with
1177. 51:43prayer. I beg to differ. And the very
1178. 51:46God of peace sanctify you holy. I pray
1179. 51:49God your whole spirit and soul and body
1180. 51:51be preserved blameless under the coming
1181. 51:53of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he
1182. 51:55that calleth you, who also will do it.
1183. 51:58So God's going to do it, but he wants
1184. 52:00you to make the choice to go after it.
1185. 52:03Paul's command, abstain from all
1186. 52:06appearance of evil. I got study in that
1187. 52:08today. I've always interpreted that and
1188. 52:11you can make a case for this. You
1189. 52:13abstain from doing anything that to
1190. 52:15anybody else it looks evil. That's a
1191. 52:17good principle to live by. And there's
1192. 52:19other places in scripture you could
1193. 52:21substantiate that. Don't you do anything
1194. 52:24that looks evil to other people. It
1195. 52:26hurts your witness. Hurts the witness of
1196. 52:28the church. You can substantiate that.
1197. 52:30That's that's good.
1198. 52:32But actually, if you look into the
1199. 52:35language here, he's saying avoid the
1200. 52:38sight of evil. Abstain from all
1201. 52:42appearance of evil. We think appearance
1202. 52:44is somebody looking at us. And actually,
1203. 52:47uh, if I'm studying it right, it's it's
1204. 52:49reverse. Paul says, "Avoid the sight,
1205. 52:52the appearance of evil." How many know
1206. 52:56that's really important in today's
1207. 52:58online generation? It's okay to lift
1208. 53:01your hand on that one. It's so
1209. 53:03important. There's so much online and in
1210. 53:06this generation when everything is about
1211. 53:09visual and sight and temptation, proper
1212. 53:13boundaries, that's what he's talking
1213. 53:14about here. Let God sanctify you holy.
1214. 53:17Proper boundaries prevent temptation.
1215. 53:21They prevent distraction. They make you
1216. 53:23sensitive to God's Holy Spirit. Some of
1217. 53:28us, the biggest repair that we need in
1218. 53:31our prayer is that we need to get back
1219. 53:33to holiness one more time because we're
1220. 53:36dieting on everything from the world all
1221. 53:40week long. And then we wonder why we
1222. 53:43can't even muster up a little prayer in
1223. 53:46service or at our bedside or in the
1224. 53:49morning. It's because we've been feeding
1225. 53:51our spirit and our mind all week long on
1226. 53:55things that have the sight or the
1227. 53:58appearance of evil. But if you will lay
1228. 54:02that aside, abstain from that, some of
1229. 54:05us uh the best kind of fast we could
1230. 54:08ever do is a media fast or a social
1231. 54:11media fast. That would be the best kind
1232. 54:13of thing because we need to be sensitive
1233. 54:16to God's Holy Spirit. If you're
1234. 54:20sensitive only to the things of the
1235. 54:22world, you're going to struggle to pray.
1236. 54:24But if you're sensitive to God's Holy
1237. 54:27Spirit, you're in that holy atmosphere
1238. 54:31consistently and you'll have an easier
1239. 54:34time praying. And I have one more verse
1240. 54:37and I'm done. And Paul said, "Brethren,
1241. 54:42pray for us.
1242. 54:46Could you stop just praying for
1243. 54:49yourself?
1244. 54:51Could you stop just praying for your
1245. 54:54family? COULD YOU STOP JUST praying for
1246. 54:58your need? Brethren, pray for us.
1247. 55:04That'll do something in your prayer life
1248. 55:06that few other things can do because
1249. 55:09every one of us have a tendency to do
1250. 55:12the holy trinity of me, myself and I all
1251. 55:15the time. We pray for our hurts. We pray
1252. 55:18for our needs. We pray for our family.
1253. 55:20We pray for our sickness. We pray for
1254. 55:23our our our my mind mine. That's what we
1255. 55:27pray for all the time. Paul said,
1256. 55:30"Brethren, we're a body. We're the
1257. 55:32church. Pray for us. I know few things
1258. 55:37that will get you out of the doldrums
1259. 55:39any quicker than finding somebody else
1260. 55:42to pray for. It happens in altar
1261. 55:45services. It happens in church services.
1262. 55:47And it will happen in your personal
1263. 55:49prayer life. If you'll pray for some
1264. 55:51concern outside of your own little
1265. 55:54world. Because for every one of us, our
1266. 55:56little world is very small. But if you
1267. 56:00want to fix something, if you want to
1268. 56:01revitalize something, if you want to
1269. 56:03renew something in your prayer life,
1270. 56:06start praying for a missionary. Start
1271. 56:08praying for a nation of the world. Start
1272. 56:10praying for somebody else's family. Look
1273. 56:13around the church and see somebody else.
1274. 56:16You say, "Well, their problem isn't as
1275. 56:17big as mine." We're not measuring
1276. 56:19problems by problems. Here's what we're
1277. 56:22measuring. We're measuring problems by
1278. 56:24the hand of Almighty God. He can solve
1279. 56:27your problem and their problem at the
1280. 56:29same time. But when every one of us are
1281. 56:31focused on our own little world, it's
1282. 56:34really hard to revitalize prayer because
1283. 56:38prayer is just this self-introspection
1284. 56:42all the time. And prayer can become a
1285. 56:46complaint session to God. And prayer can
1286. 56:49become a whining session to God. prayer
1287. 56:53can become just my own concerns and my
1288. 56:57own life. But this is the body of
1289. 57:00Christ. This is our church family. And
1290. 57:03Paul was right. When one hurts, we all
1291. 57:06hurt. And when one rejoices, we all
1292. 57:08rejoice. And when when one feels sorrow,
1293. 57:10we all feel sorrow. We pray with and for
1294. 57:13each other. And that is the greatest
1295. 57:16thing that can help your prayer life.
1296. 57:18Now, next week, we're going to go into
1297. 57:20some very, very practical things that I
1298. 57:22think will really help us. But I could
1299. 57:24not get away from that passage. I think
1300. 57:27Paul just gave us a whole lot of
1301. 57:29secrets. When you go to prayer, rejoice.
1302. 57:31When you go to prayer, talk about it
1303. 57:34consistently through the day. When you
1304. 57:36go to prayer, give God thanks. When you
1305. 57:38go to prayer, don't quench what God is
1306. 57:40prompting you to do. When you go to
1307. 57:42prayer, be listening for the voice of
1308. 57:44the spirit. When you go to prayer, shut
1309. 57:47out the world and abstain from all that
1310. 57:49stuff and focus on a holy God. And when
1311. 57:52you GO TO PRAYER, THINK ABOUT somebody
1312. 57:54else while you're praying. That'll
1313. 57:56change your prayer life. Would you stand
1314. 57:58with me tonight? And I thank you for
1315. 58:00your kind attention. But I didn't