[0:00] If you would, take your Bibles and turn with me to Luke chapter 5. We'll start there. We'll get to 11 in a second. Luke chapter 5 and verse 16. I am talking to you about the prayer life of Jesus.
[0:14] I think that, you know, we need to know how to pray. We ought to know the importance of prayer. We ought to know that it is more than merely a religious exercise.
[0:26] And if Jesus took time to pray, I definitely ought to pray. If God talked to God, I ought to pray. So if you would, in Luke chapter 5 verse 16, which is where we are as we go through the Bible, it says again from last week, and he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed.
[0:46] Jesus took time to get alone by himself in a lonely place, in a place where he wasn't around a lot of people, and he spent time in prayer.
[0:57] Father, teach us to pray. Motivate us to pray. Help us to make communion with you an all-the-time, all-the-time thing. While we're walking and talking and eating and sleeping and every other time that we can, to think about you, to stay in communion with you, and to speak with you.
[1:16] And I'll give you praise for all in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, I know several things I might say to you this morning. It might be a little bit of repetition. But we'll get to the new stuff in just a second.
[1:27] I want you to go back with me to Luke chapter 11 and verse 1. We looked at it last week. I want you to go back. You know why they wanted to know how to pray? Because they watched him pray. You know why they wanted to know how to pray?
[1:38] They watched him pray. In Luke chapter 11 and verse 1, the Bible said, And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, when he stopped praying, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.
[1:57] Now, there are two things there that I would like just to real quickly mention to you. Number one, he evidently had a real prayer life. Then they could see that. And they watched him. And they knew he wasn't over there doing some vain repetition and saying the same thing over and over.
[2:11] They knew it was something different. They knew it. They said, We watch you pray. And we know you're talking to God. And we want to learn how to do that. And he said, Would you teach us to pray? That's the first thing.
[2:22] I'm going to show you just a little bit more about that in just a second. You know, the second thing that comes to my mind when I think of all of us is our young people learn how to pray, but they don't see us praying. Our children may not see us praying.
[2:39] I would like to think that my children and my grandchildren would say, Granddaddy, teach us to pray. Granddaddy, we watch you. It sometimes bothers me, and it has at the church, and I'll just be honest with you.
[2:52] You can't fire me anymore. So here it comes. We have prayer meetings that are strained to get you to pray. And it would be a good thing if the men of our church prayed so the young men saw you pray and said, Well, I want to learn how to pray like brother so-and-so.
[3:07] I want to pray like sister so-and-so. I want to get involved in talking to God. You see that they know how to get a hold of God. I think if churches are going to have a long life, older people got a model for young people, what they ought to do.
[3:18] If you agree with that, say, Amen. Jesus modeled it. That's what discipleship is. And that's what we call life-on-life discipleship. Now I want you to go, if you would, Luke 11, too. That's enough of that little sideline.
[3:30] Luke chapter 11, too. Now I want you to know that it was a model prayer. And I think I can show you one more time. It's a model prayer. Do you know that the model prayer that you pray and call the Lord's Prayer is found in Matthew chapter 6?
[3:42] It's a complete prayer. I mean, it starts with addressing God. It ends up with saying, bye-bye, God. It's like, hello, let me talk to you, and I'm finished with a prayer. But in Luke, and you need to understand something.
[3:56] Don't listen to Bible scholars, which say stuff like, you know, well, they copied other parts of the Bible or any of that. The book of Luke was written by the Holy Spirit of God.
[4:06] So, in other words, Luke is the writer, but the Holy Spirit of God is telling him what to write. And so when Luke said, you know, one day some of the guys saw Jesus praying, and they said, hey, Jesus, you know, John the Baptist taught his boys how to pray.
[4:21] Would you mind teaching us how to pray? And Jesus said, I will. And if you'll look at Luke chapter 11 and verse 2, he said, when you pray, say. And then he ended it with, deliver us from evil.
[4:32] And the next thing you know, he's off on more lessons about other things. You see what happens there? He didn't even give it the exact same. Well, you know why? Because it wasn't like, this is the rote prayer we're supposed to learn.
[4:44] This is the rote prayer. This is the memory prayer. This is our, what was it you said when you was a kid? You know, your mama probably taught you to pray some dumb little prayer like, now I lay me down to sleep.
[4:55] I pray the Lord my soul to keep it. If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Don't teach them that. Don't teach them how to talk to God. Say amen. Let them see you really pray and really get that across.
[5:07] So I just wanted you to see that before we move on. I showed you a last week, Hebrews chapter 4. And I'd like to just take you real quickly back to verse 16. There are always hurting people in God's family.
[5:18] And there are always people that need something from God. And sometimes we don't realize what prayer really is. But prayer is you going to God and asking him for stuff.
[5:29] And you have the right and the privilege to go to God and boldly ask him to do things. He has the right not to do them. But you have the right to ask.
[5:40] And so look if you would at Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16. We saw it last week. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace.
[5:52] You can boldly go in and talk to God. You can't boldly go see the president. You can't boldly even go see the mayor. Some of you might can, but most of us couldn't.
[6:04] I don't even know the guy. I don't even know his name. But I mean, I pray for him. I got his name written in my prayer list. But I don't know the guy. I can't just boldly walk in there. But I can boldly walk into the presence of God Almighty because I have a priest that has opened the door for me.
[6:19] I have a priest that goes with me. And his name is Jesus. And I can go in with Jesus right into the Father's house, right into the Father's throne room. And it's a throne of grace. You need to underline that in your Bible.
[6:30] It's a throne of grace. It's a place where God gives you what you don't deserve. It's also, he said, go ask for mercy. That's where God doesn't give you what you do deserve. And he said, and find grace to help in time of need.
[6:43] You're hurting, and you need to hear from God, and you can. Now go back with me, if you would, to Luke chapter 3 and verse 21. This is where we ended last week.
[6:54] Jesus' ministry is full of prayer. Would you think that God in human flesh needs to pray? I mean, Jesus is fully God.
[7:08] He is fully man on earth, but he's fully God. We know that in John chapter 1 and verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[7:18] That means that Jesus, who is the Word, was with God and was God. And he was already back in the beginning. In other words, Jesus didn't start his life at Bethlehem.
[7:29] He didn't start his life. He never had a beginning, and he doesn't have an end. He's the eternal God. If you can understand that, say amen. And then it says in John chapter 1 and verse 14 that he took on human flesh.
[7:41] And we beheld him in the glory of the Son of God. He's God in human flesh. But he takes time to pray. So I just want to go through some verses. You mark them in your Bible as you go through with them.
[7:52] Look, if you would, in Luke chapter 3 and verse 21. He starts his ministry, his public ministry, he starts it in prayer. Luke chapter 3 and verse 21.
[8:02] When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized. Everybody's getting baptized. Jesus got involved in being baptized.
[8:13] And circle and praying. And praying. And praying. The heaven was opened. And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him.
[8:25] And a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son. In thee I am well pleased. There's like three or four things you got to get here.
[8:36] And it doesn't all fit necessarily an outline to keep you going through. But watch this. The Trinity is there. Now we believe that God is one person.
[8:47] And God is three persons. And you say, I don't get it. I don't either. But he's one. And he's three. And right here we see the entire Godhead.
[8:58] And it's not one God who presents himself as ice one time and water is another time. It's not an egg divided up into all the other dumb things that people have taught us to sell our lives.
[9:08] Somehow God is one. And at the same time God is there all in three persons. We baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Because he's the all three.
[9:20] But look at this verse. It says in verse 21, Jesus is being baptized. In verse 22, the Holy Ghost is ascending in a bodily shape like a dove. And a voice from heaven says, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.
[9:34] So there's a Trinity. But I need to show you that this is when he was being baptized. You know what? He put a stamp of approval like you can't believe on getting baptized.
[9:46] Here's John the Baptist. John at the river baptizing. And people are watching John baptizing. And then all of a sudden God comes in human flesh. And maybe God, I mean maybe that's a John thing.
[9:58] But when Jesus shows up and Jesus gets baptized. Jesus like saying, this ain't a John thing. This is a God thing. Amen. If you haven't been baptized since you believed, you should get baptized.
[10:11] You ought not be embarrassed about it. Some adults are really funny about it. They want to get baptized. An adult Jesus is 30. Can I get an amen? He's fairly grown. He's only going to live to like 33. So he's fairly grown.
[10:22] Get baptized. Baptized. The Lord liked it. The Lord saw Jesus get baptized. And the Lord said, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. Now like you look at Luke chapter 3, Luke 3, 21 again.
[10:36] One more time. He's praying. You know, when he got baptized, it wasn't a John and a Jesus thing.
[10:47] It was a God and a Jesus thing. So baptism is a whole lot more than, well, the church wants me to get baptized.
[11:02] That's not what's going on in this story. The church didn't want Jesus to get baptized. And when Jesus gets baptized, God looks at him and says, hey, that's my boy and I like it.
[11:15] Jesus walked into that water and the father looked down and said, amen. That's good. So if you don't get baptized, I don't quite understand that. But in that moment, you know what Jesus did?
[11:26] He said, I need to talk to the father. This ain't about John's baptizing me. He knows who John is. John's just a regular man. Jesus has to save. It's not about the preacher.
[11:37] It's about the father. Father, I'm getting baptized. Father, I'm getting baptized to fulfill what you'd like. And the father said, I know, son, and I am well pleased.
[11:51] We can go home right there. That's pretty good. Go with me, if you would, to Luke chapter 6 and verse 12. So he began his ministry in prayer. But he also prays before he makes big decisions.
[12:05] He prays before he makes big decisions. And the funny thing is how much he prays when he makes big decisions. He doesn't pray like this. God, I'm fixing to buy this car for long to go through.
[12:17] We'll know in about 30 seconds after they run my credit. God, I'd like to buy this house. If that be your will, and if they'll give me the credit, I'll buy it. God, I'm going to move to another town.
[12:28] I don't have a church. I don't have anywhere to go to church. I'll lay out a church, but I need a new house and a new job. And I ain't going to pray about it much. But in Luke chapter 6 and verse 12, it said, It came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray.
[12:44] And he prayed all night. He continued all night in prayer to God. God spent all night talking to God about what he was going to do.
[12:57] And I'm going to make some decisions. Maybe I shouldn't be so flippant. And the next morning, verse 13, he called his disciples to him.
[13:10] He prayed before he made big decisions. I'm trying to be a smart aleck. I really am not. But if God needs to pray to God before he makes big decisions, what in the world about a peon like me?
[13:28] Luke chapter 9 and verse 28, he will pray on the Mount of Transfiguration. In Luke chapter 9 and verse 28, it says, It came to pass about eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray.
[13:44] He went up into a mountain to pray. Underline it. He went up to a mountain. This time he took some guys with him, Peter, John, and James. And he prayed.
[13:56] And then two men showed up, Moses and Elias, which were Moses' lives, verse 30, who appeared in glory and spake of his decease.
[14:07] They got together and talked about, You're fixing to be dead, crucified, and what you're going to accomplish. And Drew's a mountain of time. Tell you everything I'd like to tell you right here. He didn't die.
[14:18] He wasn't shocked about his dying. Amen. He came to die. Jews didn't grab him and kill him. The Romans didn't crucify him. He laid down his life.
[14:29] No man took it from him. John chapter 10. But what I really like in verse 31, what I really like, I wish you'd done that, should accomplish.
[14:40] Look at that. He's going to get something done when he dies in Jerusalem. Look at that. It said, And spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
[14:51] When he went to Jerusalem, he accomplished something. My salvation. He accomplished your salvation. He got the job done. In fact, when he finished on the cross, he even said, It's done.
[15:05] I took care of it. I accomplished it. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the fact that he went up in a mountain and he prayed. Go with me if you were to Luke chapter 22 and verse 31.
[15:18] Jesus prayed for his disciples. Jesus prayed for his disciples. This is one of those funny stories to me in the Bible. In Luke 22, 31, it says, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat.
[15:36] But I have prayed for you that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. I just think that's the funniest thing in the world. I mean, here you are with a guy who could protect you.
[15:48] If anybody could just say, Get out here, devil. You ain't messing with him. It could have been Jesus. Amen? But when Simon, when Peter's about to face a big test, God says, I prayed for you.
[16:02] Look at it if you would. Look at it if you would. He said, I prayed for you. The Lord said, Simon, Simon, Satan wants to get a hold of you and tear you apart.
[16:15] But I prayed for you. I wonder if you ought to pray. Your children, he is desiring to sift them like wheat.
[16:29] Hmm? Your family, your marriage, your friends, your brothers and sisters in Christ and the devil's out for them. And Jesus said, I'll take the time to pray for you.
[16:41] What I really like about it is when Jesus prayed, he knew that it meant it got answered. Look in the verse. I have prayed for you. And what I prayed is that your faith wouldn't fail.
[16:52] And then he goes, this is so funny. Holy Spirit wrote this book, you know. He said, and so when it's all done and you've really grown up and really matured and when you got the victory and you've been converted, you go out and strengthen the other brethren.
[17:05] I pray God will get you through this and when he gets you through it, don't forget to do it. I know God hears and answers prayer. Apostle Paul said, when you pray, pray, give thanks. You don't ask, you don't go to God and say, God, I'd like to ask you to do this and I hope you do it and probably won't so I'll see you later.
[17:21] That's not what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to say, God, I'm here to ask and I'm thanking you because you're a prayer hearing, prayer answering God. He prayed for his disciples and I just want to give you some things real quickly out of John 17 that we read.
[17:36] In John 17 and verse 9, he prays for them before he goes to the cross. I thought that was interesting. He's on his way to die and he takes the time to talk to his father about the 12.
[17:48] I pray for them, John 17, 9. I pray for them. I'm not praying for lost people. I'm praying for them. I'm praying for my 11 guys here. You gave them to me and they belong to you.
[17:59] Verse 15, he prays the devil won't get them. He said, I pray that I should take them. I don't want you to take them out of the world. I just want you to keep them from the devil, the evil.
[18:10] I want you to keep them from the guy who would destroy them. God protect them. God watch over them. Jesus is praying. In chapter 17 and verse 19, he prayed that God would make them holy through the truth that's in the word.
[18:25] 17, 19, that they might be sanctified through thy truth. Thy word is truth, by the way. For their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
[18:41] By the way, if you want to get holy, get in the book. If you want to get holy, you'll live like you ought to. Get in the book, get the book in you.
[18:52] We ought to be Bible reading. I'm just going to go ahead and I hear preachers, they make fun of people like what I'm about to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. You ought to read the Bible from cover to cover.
[19:02] The fact is, once a year, it won't hurt you. It's amazing you believe a book you never read. It's amazing you say, I believe the Bible is the word of God.
[19:15] No, you don't. You ain't read it. If you believe it is the word of God, you'd read it. Say amen. You'd have a daily time when you got along with God. You'd say, God, I need you to work in me, so I'm going to read your book so you can get into me so you can do a work in me.
[19:28] I was in a foreign country with somebody you don't know. And I'm riding in a tricycle kind of thing. It's got a motorcycle in front and seats for two or three in there.
[19:40] And this one had seats for, there were three of us in the tricycle. We were riding down the road. And I'm talking to a young missionary and I said, how many times you read your Bible through? He said, I find it boring.
[19:52] He said, I like to read the fathers. I like to read the church fathers. I like to know what the great guy, you know, there's some great books about the Bible. That's what I like to read. And I said, you know, you don't know God.
[20:03] You can't know God that way. But I like to eat food you've already chewed. You need the Bible. You don't really need what the preacher said.
[20:14] You need what the Bible said. Get in the Bible. It'll sanctify you. He prayed for the ones that they would see saved. Look at John 17, 20.
[20:25] Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. God's already prayed for the people that I've seen saved and you've seen saved because we're the people that the disciples saw saved.
[20:38] The disciples saw some saved that saw some saved that saw some saved that got around to getting me saved that got around to getting some people I've seen saved. And he prayed, I want them to be with me in 17, 24.
[20:51] How did Jesus pray? He prayed in private. Luke chapter 5 and verse 16 where we started. He withdrew himself and prayed. He withdrew himself.
[21:01] Jesus has all through his ministry these frequent times that he goes alone into a mountain or alone into a place or alone into the wilderness and Jesus has prayer times.
[21:15] Do I? Do you? Do we have time when we say no TV, no Facebook, no social media, no friends, nothing else, just me and God all alone?
[21:28] I need to talk to God. And I'll put, I'm just honest with you, I'm flabbergasted that God needed to talk to God. It blows my mind.
[21:40] And if God needs to talk to God, I need to talk to God. You want to hear a wild one? I don't have time to get into all this but in Romans chapter 8, the Holy Spirit of God is in me and if I'm trying to talk to God and I don't even know how to talk to God, God said, don't worry about it.
[21:54] The Holy Spirit is in you. I'll get the message. He understands it. He'll get it across. What a thing of prayer. I ought to be a prayer. He withdrew himself to pray.
[22:05] He prayed in private but he prayed a long time. Luke chapter 6 and verse 12, all night in prayer. Mark chapter 1 and verse 35, Mark chapter 1 and verse 35, he gets up a great while before day.
[22:23] Mark 1 35, the Bible says that in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there he prayed. That's just a lot of interesting things to me.
[22:36] He had a lot to get done so he spent a long time in prayer. He did it in a solitary place in chapter 1 and verse 35. In the morning, a long time before it was day, a long time before the sun came up, I don't know what time that was but it was a long time before the sun came up, he went out and found a place to pray.
[22:59] Jesus prayed confidently. In John chapter 11 and verse 41, when I pray, I need to know I'm talking to a God who actually is there. It's so hard.
[23:11] We were talking about angels in my Sunday school class. You know, we get so used to the mundane everyday life and we don't really realize that there really is a God out there. There really is a person who listens in heaven and hears prayer and answers prayer and intervenes in our life.
[23:27] You know, we kind of forget that. It's like, it's like we're praying to the wall. We're praying out making noise but we don't think, man, God's listening but when Jesus prayed, he was like, oh, he's listening.
[23:38] I can prove it to you. Prove to you that's what he thought. Look at John 11, 41. It took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
[23:53] Now, I just love it. That's past tense. Like, God, I'm fixing to pray. I already know you already listened to me. I know you listen to me. I pray, you listen. Do you see that in that verse?
[24:04] If you see it, say amen. Thou hast heard me. Verse 42. In case you didn't figure it out what it meant, it says, I knew that thou hearest me.
[24:16] Could you say that word with me? I knew you hear me. I knew you hear me. When? Always. The fact is, the only reason I'm even saying any of this is because them people standing around here, they don't understand prayer yet.
[24:30] Look at verse 40. It's funny, isn't it? Like God wrote this or something. Verse 42, he said, but because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that you've sent me.
[24:42] He walks up, that's Lazarus, you know, he says, roll the rock away. Roll the rock away. Father, I know you hear me. I know it, and you know it.
[24:54] They don't know it. So I'm praying it because I know you always listen to me. Y'all catching on to this? We're fixing to do something here. They're going to, yep, they're going to figure it out and they're going to know I came from you.
[25:06] God hears prayer. God answers prayer. Jesus believed that to be true. You have no right to doubt what Jesus knew to be true if you're a born again believer.
[25:24] When did Jesus pray? He prayed before big events like his baptism. He prayed when he made big decisions like choosing his apostles.
[25:35] He prayed when he was very busy. In Luke chapter 5 and verse 15, the Bible says, but so much the more went there a frame abroad of him.
[25:46] Great multitudes came together to hear and he withdrew himself. In Matthew chapter 14 and verse 23, he prayed after God used him greatly.
[26:00] Matthew 14, 23, and when he had sent the multitudes away, he just got through seeing almighty God take a little bit of fish and a little bit of bread and feed 15, 20,000 people, 5,000 men, not counting the women and kids, feed all these people.
[26:16] That's a miracle. No one can deny that Jesus doesn't walk away cocky. He doesn't walk away, whoo, see what I just pulled off. He said, I need to go talk to the Father.
[26:27] Oh, what a God. Look at it, would you? Matthew chapter 14 and verse 23, and when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up in a mountain apart to pray. And when evening was come, he was there alone.
[26:41] He prayed when he served food. He prayed when he served food. In Matthew 14, 19, before he breaks the five loaves and the two fishes, he blessed and break.
[26:53] He prayed when there was great testings and problems in his life. Matthew 26 and 36, then comes Jesus with them to a place called Gethsemane and said unto the disciples, sit here while I go and pray yonder.
[27:09] Y'all sit here, I need to go over and talk to the Father. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and he began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Jesus hurt. Jesus got discouraged, heavy.
[27:24] He was hurting. He was sorrowful. As I said, as he was so sorrowful, verse 38, he was unto death. You know, there's a ton of pressure on him.
[27:37] Sometimes you think it's wrong for you to get down when bad stuff's happening and you think that things are happening and they're not as comfortable and pleasant as they ought to be and you're like, I'm supposed to be cheerful.
[27:49] Well, not Jesus. The Holy Spirit told us Jesus wasn't cheerful. He said he was sorrowful and very heavy. And he said to the three guys with him, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death.
[28:07] And he went a little further and fell on his face and he prayed and said, oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
[28:18] Nevertheless, not as I will, but as I wilt. And Jesus is God. He knows full well what's across. And he knows he's in a human body and that human body will feel all that pain and all that shame and he knows all that's going to happen because of who he is.
[28:32] He knows everything. He's God. But he's then limited himself in a human body. He's like, as a human, I'm about to be spit on and mocked and stripped naked and beaten till my body is completely destroyed.
[28:48] And then they're going to hang me on a cross. They're going to walk by and laugh. Oh, God, this is hard. Help me if you would. I'll do whatever you want me to.
[29:04] And that's how we pray. Don't have time to go into it much. But God said to God, if it be possible, let this cup pass, but it's not what I want.
[29:19] See, when I pray, I need to go to the Father and I need to say, I don't run the show here. You do. And I know you know what's best. And if the agonies of a horrible cross are what's best, I'll do it.
[29:36] Whatever you want. So when you pray, you can ask God, but you've got to be willing to take whatever God says. And if God says, no, you need to go to the cross, you just say, yes, sir, I'll go to the cross.
[29:51] Even though I'm sorrowful, exceedingly sorrowful, unto death, I'll go to the cross. And that's what Jesus did. Let me finish up with this.
[30:04] Did you know what Jesus never prayed? Do you know what Jesus never prayed? First thing, he did pray for forgiveness for others.
[30:16] In Luke chapter 23 and verse 34, when they're beating him and nailing him to the cross and doing all that to him, he said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they do. But you know what he never did?
[30:27] Jesus never asked for forgiveness of sins. You know why? Because he never sinned. The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 21, for even here unto where we called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who did no sin.
[30:54] Who did no sin. He died paying our sin debt. Verse 24, who his own self, bear our sins in his own body.
[31:07] When Jesus was dying on a cross, he wasn't dying for anything he did wrong. He wasn't dying because Jews caught him. He wasn't dying because Romans caught him. He wasn't dying because Jews betrayed him.
[31:19] He's dying because I sinned and he's paying my sin debt. He's dying because you sinned and he's paying your sin debt. That's why Jesus, he bore our sins. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 15, that he was tempted in all points like as we are, but he never sinned, yet without sin.
[31:37] He is the perfect, sinless son of God. But he never had to say, I'm sorry. But you do. And I do.
[31:52] Somewhere along the way, we have to humble ourselves and say, I am not perfect. I am not righteous. I cannot go to heaven on my own. And everybody in this room who is saved, born again, a true Christian, truly a son of God, came to a place one day in their life when they said, I failed God.
[32:14] I sinned. And my sin separated me from God. And I deserve to go to hell. But I come to Jesus and I ask him to save me. So none of us in this room are any better than anybody else.
[32:28] Because everybody in this room that's born again, saved, sins are forgiven, are there because Jesus, who knew no sin, saved a sinner like me. We're not saved because of what we did.
[32:39] We're saved because of what he did. So he prays for you. He wants you to be saved. He paid your sin debt. And he wants you to accept his free offer of salvation.
[32:53] In Romans 6, 23, he said, for the wages of sin is death. For the payment for your sin, for what you've done wrong, you're going to die. And that death is an eternal death. After the death, the judgment, and you'll be cast in the lake of fire.
[33:05] So for everything, but I don't want that. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he made Jesus to be sin for us.
[33:21] Who knew no sin, Jesus knew no sin, that he might make us the righteousness of God in him. So if you're here and you're listening to a message on prayer, you need to pray.
[33:34] But your first prayer is, God forgive me, I'm a sinner. Your first prayer is, I am unworthy to talk to you and to come to you. I need Jesus, and he'll save you.
[33:47] But then for the rest of us that are born again already, sometimes we kind of push prayer off to the side. Let's be honest. very likely we don't do much Bible reading.
[34:01] We're like, hey, I go to church every Sunday. Well, you don't even go three times a week. You don't go all the time to church and don't read your Bible every day and you don't pray every day.
[34:13] You know what you're saying is that the almighty creator, God of the universe, is not that important. He ought to be important enough that tonight you'll talk to him and tomorrow you'll talk to him and he'll be on your thoughts.
[34:29] I mean, he's everything. So if you're a born again believer, maybe you ought to say to the Lord, you know, I haven't been faithful in my Bible reading and prayer, but I want to make a commitment to do that.
[34:42] Why don't you commit to just five minutes a day? I'll just read my Bible at least five minutes a day in an orderly, disciplined fashion. Why don't you say, I'll just, every day I'll take at least five minutes to pray.
[34:53] I'll just, five minutes, I'll just talk to you, God. When I travel, I kind of feel obligated to talk to my wife.
[35:10] I want to talk to her, but I kind of feel obligated. We're married. I'll not be anything hidden. I'll be clear and open and talk to her. I want to talk to her.
[35:20] I like her. I want to talk to her. Much more than that, he saved me. I owe him everything. He died for me.
[35:32] I want to talk to him. I kind of feel obligated and I want to talk to him. How's your prayer life? How's your prayer life?