And amen. Please take out your copy of God's Word. Turn to the Gospel according to Mark chapter 11.
As you're getting there, let me just by way of reminder, as I saw so many new precious little faces down front,
we're very happy to have children in the service with us, but it's a work in progress, isn't it?
And it's a challenge. It takes some sacrifice on everyone's part.
For those of you without children, the great work ahead of us is to learn to be okay with kids
because kids are not wired like we are, and they haven't quite yet learned what it looks like to sit perfectly quietly in a setting like this.
So embrace kids, love kids, and love them for some of their oddities and their challenges as well.
So for parents, it takes some sensitivity to that also.
Recognize as parents, we get this really amazing skill as parents to tune out, to totally check out what's happening with our kids.
It's pretty amazing how your child can be hitting you on the leg and saying your name over and over again.
You just check them out, right, all together.
It's harder for single people without children to do that thing.
So remember that and be sensitive in that.
It's a work in progress to have kids with us in here.
Sam and I work really diligently with Cade and Judah.
We practice at home.
We have book time.
We make them sit and be quiet.
It takes a lot.
And even still, my wife mostly has the burden placed on her.
I think she's chuckling because there's some challenges going on even right now.
But we do have some space across the hall for that.
So if it's time to step out, that's a place that you can bring a little more stern discipline.
You can, as I used to do with Cade and Judah, stick your two fingers in their collarbone.
Be quiet.
You can do that over there a little more easily than over here.
I would encourage you to that because it does take work.
I wish they would magically sit still and quiet, but it does take a work.
It's amazing.
I've discovered by the grace of God what I can preach through, but I'm not too sure about people's threshold for listening.
So let's be sensitive to that.
Mark chapter 11.
I'm going to begin reading to you in verse 20, and we'll read through 25.
As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.
And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered.
And Jesus answered them, have faith in God.
Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart,
but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.
Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.
And whenever you stand praying, forgive.
If you have anything against anyone so that your father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
This is God's word to us written for his glory and our good.
We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
Let's pray together.
Father God, we do thank you today for your word to us.
And I thank you, Father, for the church, this unique institution in the world that you have called out of darkness,
a people who were once not a people and you have made us a people.
And you have given us the task of gathering together and opening your word and having it applied to our lives.
This application is a supernatural thing.
The great miracle in preaching is not that I even managed to get up here and say things for the length of time,
although that is a miracle in itself.
The real miracle is the way in which you apply your word to our hearts.
So I would ask this day, Father, because of your graciousness,
because we know that you love your people and we know that you're zealous for your glory,
that you will make us more like Christ to that great end.
And we pray this in his name.
Amen.
So we looked last week at a rather remarkable event in the ministry of Jesus when he has gone into Jerusalem
and he cleanses the temple.
He goes in and he turns over the tables and he runs out the money changers.
But prior to that, he cursed a fig tree.
We saw on his journey into town, this is by my very best intellect, Tuesday of the Passion Week.
He's entered Jerusalem for the first time on Monday.
We now see him, verse 11, he's returned to Bethany.
Now he's coming back into town on Tuesday and he's hungry and he sees a fig tree from far off and it's in leaf.
And so it's probable in the life of the fig tree that it should have had unripened fruit on it.
But it doesn't.
And he uses this as an opportunity not to exert his power over creation in some kind of spiteful manner against the fig tree.
But he uses it as an opportunity to show the disciples the coming judgment for the fruitlessness of Israel.
And that's driven home for us as the story of him cleansing the temple is sandwiched in between,
is bookended with the resulting words of the disciples concerning that very fig tree,
which we see in verse 20 and verse 21.
So this is Wednesday of the Passion Week.
Jesus will be crucified on Friday.
We will spend the next four to five months in this period of time in Jesus' ministry in the Gospel according to Mark.
Much will happen.
He's packing it in.
He's giving the very last teaching.
They have yet to realize this is the event that's going to happen at the end of the week,
but he's fully aware of it.
He knows what's about to come.
And he's trying to impart to them all of the final truths they must understand.
The lesson before us today is primarily a lesson about prayer.
We certainly see his response in verse 22,
have faith in God,
and we could readily make it primarily about faith,
but it is about prayer which is fueled by faith.
Now, the disciples, their lives before encountering Jesus,
being called by Him and following Him for the three-ish years that they followed Him,
would not have been devoid of prayer.
This was not a new thing.
This wasn't that they were not praying,
and now they knew that they were supposed to be praying.
The New Testament people of God prayed to God.
The Israelites prayed to God.
There's an Old Testament record of so many precious and beautiful prayers,
which we'll look at some of them today as an example for the way we should pray.
But perhaps their prayer lives had faltered as of late.
Perhaps they had ceased praying the way they ought to be praying
because they were spending all of their time with Jesus.
They had all of their needs met by Him.
They were close and underneath the leadership of the Christ.
They had lived with the provision and the power and the presence of God.
But Jesus is going to soon leave them.
This is going to change dramatically in their lives,
and Jesus wants to say to them here how very, very important prayer is going to be.
They seem to get this message because after He does leave them,
what do we find the apostles doing with other disciples of Christ?
We find them praying.
We find them asking for the very thing that Jesus promised He would send,
the Helper.
And they do receive that.
They receive God's presence in the form of the Holy Spirit.
Yet, they still need God's continuing power and provision.
They have now His presence in the form of the Spirit,
but they also need His continuing power and provision.
We find ourselves, beloved, in the same place.
If you are in Christ, you have the Spirit of Christ.
You have His presence.
But we need His provision and we need His power
if we want to properly honor Him with our lives.
And this is going to require prayer.
Do you want to see God move and work in your life?
Do you want to see Him move and work in the world around you?
And if you do, and I hope that you do,
then you will want to pray powerful prayers.
Now hear me before we get into the particulars
of what a powerful prayer life looks like,
that God does not need us.
He is God, the sovereign, who rules over everything.
He is Himself self-existent.
He doesn't need us,
and nor did He create us in such a way that He needs us.
God could accomplish what God wants to accomplish
with or without us.
But, God loves us.
And because He loves us,
He wants to, He desires to include us
in His purposes and His plans.
He invites us along as the means to His great end.
And one of the ways that that happens
is through prayer.
So prayer enacts the power of God.
Prayer is used by God to accomplish His will.
But He doesn't need us for that.
Prayer is primarily for us.
That we might experience Him
and participate in His goodness to this world.
So let me give you the outline for this morning
in brief,
and then we'll go back and fill in the details.
And four points this morning.
Prayer is,
powerful prayer is,
historical.
It is theological.
It is spiritual.
And it is practical.
But firstly,
powerful prayer is historical.
And by that,
I don't mean that people have prayed powerful prayers in the past,
although they have.
Many wonderful examples of prayer in the past,
both in our Old and New Testament,
as well as beyond,
many valuable recorded prayers.
This is not what I mean by powerful prayer being historical.
We're not taking our lesson here from history.
But rather,
look at the way that Peter remembers what Jesus had done.
Verse 20,
and then into 21.
He had cursed the fig tree.
We find that out in verse 21.
21,
because Jesus says in verse 14,
and he said to it,
may no one ever eat fruit from you again.
Jesus said,
said something.
And then the very next day,
they observed that it came to pass.
Not just that the tree wasn't bearing fruit still,
but that the tree was dead.
And here saying withered away to its roots means that it was completely dead.
There was no life left.
The thing that Jesus had said,
no fruit will ever come from you again,
had certainly come to pass.
There's this little word in verse 21,
and Peter remembered.
He remembered what Jesus had said would be accomplished,
and here it was accomplished before him.
So this first component of powerful prayer is to recognize
that God has put His power on display in the past.
God has done great things.
God has accomplished so much.
And powerful prayer is grounded.
It is rooted,
no pun intended,
in this reality,
that God has been good,
and we have record of this.
Israel is instructed in the Old Testament
time and time and time again
to remember.
In fact,
all of their festivals,
all the things they celebrated
were aimed at them remembering
the things that God had done
on their behalf.
The way that He had preserved them
by sending them to Egypt to begin with.
That He had saved the nation in that way.
That He had delivered them
from the oppressive hand of the Egyptians,
which happened some years later.
That they had passed through the Red Sea
on dry land and He had destroyed Pharaoh's army
behind Him.
That He preserved them in the wilderness
by bringing manna from heaven,
water from a rock.
That He shaded them by day
in the form of a cloud,
and He warmed them by night
in the form of a pillar of fire.
That they crossed into the promised land
and they became conquerors in that place.
That they conquered mighty people
again and again and again.
It said to them,
remember.
This last week's community group text
was Isaiah 46,
verses 8-11,
which says,
remember this and stand firm.
Recall it to mind,
you transgressors.
Remember the former things of old.
For I am God,
and there is no other.
I am God,
and there is none like Me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times
things not yet done,
saying,
My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish
all My purpose.
So God has said to them in Isaiah,
even as He's about to bring judgment,
remember the things that I have done.
I am God.
Turn with me to Psalm 77.
Psalm 77.
In a day of trouble for the psalmist,
here being Asaph,
excuse me,
He asked some questions in verse 8.
Has steadfast love forever ceased?
Are His promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has He in anger shut up His compassion?
Then I said,
I will appeal to this.
So He's not experiencing this present help of the Lord,
but He says,
I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand,
the mighty right hand of the Most High.
I will remember the deeds of the Lord.
Yes,
I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will ponder all Your work
and meditate on Your mighty deeds.
Your way,
O God,
is holy.
What God is great?
Like our God.
You are the God who works wonders.
You have made known Your might among the peoples.
You with Your arm redeemed Your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph.
When the waters saw You,
O God,
when the waters saw You,
they were afraid.
Indeed,
the deep trembled.
The clouds poured out water.
The skies gave forth thunder.
Your arrows flashed on every side.
The crash of Your thunder was in the whirlwind.
Your lightnings lighted up the world.
The earth trembled and shook.
Your way was through the sea.
Your path to the great waters.
Yet Your footprints were unseen.
You led Your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
And so He casts all of His hope
back on the sure thing
that God had already done.
He had already manifested His goodness
to the people of Israel
in this way.
And this is a great encouragement
to the heart of Asaph
in this time.
In so many ways,
God has placed Himself on display
in the Scriptures.
In so many magnificent ways.
He's done so in your life as well.
Remember.
Remember the things that He's done for you.
Remember Christ's presence
power and provision
in your salvation.
Remember it in your daily needs
having always been met.
We sit here together
because of God's graciousness to us.
We've always had
all that we've needed
whether you think so or not.
you have had your needs met.
You have seen, likely,
God work in countless particular ways.
Little things accomplished
on your behalf.
Things that you prayed for.
Things that troubled you
that were little
and momentary
and light.
And God came through
on your behalf.
This is true for me as well.
We so readily forget them though.
We encourage you to journal
what's happening in your life
through prayer
that you might remember
some of these things.
I was able yesterday
to participate in a wedding
for Daniel Gentry
who's a member of our church
and he married a young lady
by the name of Mackenzie.
They'll be here in a couple of weeks
and let me just at this time
encourage you to
wrap your arms around her.
She's leaving behind
a very precious church family
and will need our love and support
in this transition.
Two springs ago,
the spring of 2013,
Daniel and I traveled together
to Nicaragua
to look at some potential future work
for us to do there together.
And during that time,
we became very aware
as we were praying through
God's future plans for Daniel
if it was going to be in this place
that he was going to need a wife.
It's a very matriarchal society
and a wife was going to be
a massive, massive help to him
down there.
And so we prayed together
while we were down there
that he would provide
a wife for Daniel.
And I learned yesterday,
I didn't know the backstory,
but I learned yesterday
that Mackenzie and her father
kind of had their eyes
turned towards Daniel
when he came back
and got together a bunch of people
to share this trip
that he had taken to Nicaragua.
So when they began to take
some note of him
and begin to pay attention.
So it was a blessing for me
to get to be part of this wedding
and it'll be a blessing
to have Mackenzie here
because she'll be a reminder
of God's goodness,
the way in which he works
through the prayers of his people.
I prayed for a godly wife.
She's here.
Sam's a reminder to me
of God's goodness to me
and the way in which he uses
my prayers.
We prayed for children
and they're here.
Also God's goodness to us
in our prayers.
I shared with you last week
at the beginning of the service
in case you didn't hear it
and maybe just need
to be reminded of it
that a couple of weeks ago
this property,
a pullout on the street
was struck by lightning
and it surged in the building
and it knocked out the wireless.
The modem got fried.
The wireless routers got fried.
The copier itself got fried.
And there was a real good chance
that the copier
was going to be exorbitantly
expensive to fix.
The guy was saying
somewhere between
like $600 and $5,000
to fix it.
So we called our insurance company.
We have insurance.
$1,000 deductible.
And I shared with you
that I had some real anxiety
about that
and had to confess
last Monday
just like,
Lord, I haven't trusted you for this.
I haven't come to you
in prayer for this.
I have depended on simple numbers,
right,
which are fleeting
and really not that important
in the large scheme of things.
And in that process
to trust God again
that He knows these things,
He sent the lightning.
He knew it was going to happen.
He knew this very thing.
And then I share with you
about this very bizarre check
that came after this.
It came on Tuesday.
Pray on Monday.
Check shows up on Tuesday.
From a very obscure source,
I have been able to confirm
that from an individual
that used to attend church here,
graduated,
he's gone,
was kind of involved.
And his father
sent us a check
in the exact amount we needed
to pay the deductible
to get all of these things
all sorted out.
And so now,
every time I get on
the wireless internet
here at the building,
it's a reminder
of God's goodness
to us.
Our church
prayed
and we've been praying
for families.
Families,
you're an encouragement to me.
Look around and see
the way in which
God uses prayers
to bring about His will.
Remember.
Remember these things.
This becomes a foundation
for us
to plead with God on.
After Israel is delivered
from the Philistines,
one of the times
they're delivered
from the Philistines
in 1 Samuel 7.12.
Samuel takes a stone
and he sets it up
between Mizpah and Shin
and he called its name
Ebenezer,
which means
stone of remembrance.
For he said,
till now,
the Lord
has
helped us.
You guys familiar
with that line
in the song
Come Thou Fount
that we sing so often.
Here I raise
my Ebenezer.
Here by thy
great help
I've come.
If you've wondered
what that's all about,
Ebenezer is not
an old man
who doesn't like Christmas.
It's a stone
of remembrance.
A thing that we can
go back to
and recall
the goodness of God
to us.
That He has
helped us
thus far.
And therefore
we have confidence
that He will continue
to do so.
So powerful prayer
in this way
is historical.
Powerful prayer
secondly
is
theological.
Jesus answered
them.
It seems like
this was often
the case that
Peter was the
spokesman
of the apostles.
So he says
something and
Jesus answers
them.
Have faith
in God.
So the second
component of prayer
being theological
is not the issue
at hand.
Not the primary
issue at hand.
The very character
of God
is.
Who
is
God?
Powerful prayer
being historical
is about what God
has done
but who
is He?
Do you have
faith
or do you
trust
God?
Do you trust
Him?
Do you believe
that He knows
best?
Do you trust
His plans?
His purposes?
His ways?
And His will?
Do you know
His plans?
His purposes?
His ways?
His will?
If you want to
pray powerful
prayers
you're going
to have to.
You're going
to have to.
When the
disciples ask
Jesus how
they should
pray
what does
He tell
them?
Matthew 6
9 and 10
Pray then
like this
Our Father
in heaven
hallowed
be your
name
your
kingdom
come
whose
will?
Your
will be
done
on earth
as it
is in
heaven.
If we want
to implore
God
as Jesus
instructions
to pray
like this
He doesn't
say pray
this
recite this
and some
magic blessing
will come
to you
He says
pray like
this
use this
as a
pattern
pray things
in the
will
of God
how are
we to
know
what this
is
unless
we know
God
we must
know about
Him
we must
know about
His plans
His purposes
His ways
therefore we
can know
His will
powerful
prayer
recognizes
God's
sovereign
goodness
His very
character
in fact it
relies
upon it
1 John 5
14
the apostle
John says
and this
is the
confidence
that we
have
toward
Him
that if
we ask
for anything
according
to
His
will
He
hears
us
and if
we know
that He
hears
us
and whenever
we ask
we know
that we
have
the
request
that we
have
asked
of
Him
powerful
prayer
banks
on God's
character
makes
withdrawals
from the
very
person
that He
is
a little
while ago
it's already
been two
summers
now
we studied
the great
Old Testament
book of
Nehemiah
and Nehemiah
serving as
the cupbearer
to King
Artaxerxes
the Persian
king
Persia
came
and overthrew
Babylon
remember
Israel
was
overthrown
by
and dispersed
by
Babylonian
invasion
and now
the power
has shifted
and Nehemiah
hears that
as the people
have been
allowed to
go back
they have
yet to
rebuild
the wall
and this
greatly
troubles
him
and he
prays
a prayer
because he
believes
he needs
to go be
part of
the process
to bring
restoration
to Jerusalem
but he's
serving
this king
right
and this
king
has said
some years
previous
he's issued
an edict
to say
that the wall
will not be
rebuilt
that he will
not allow
them to
fortify
the city
so this
is what
confronts
him
to go
to the
king
and ask
for permission
to go
back
we later
find out
he actually
asked for
a line
of credit
to actually
be able
to do
this very
thing
and the
way he
begins
his prayer
to God
makes
this very
point
Nehemiah
chapter 1
verse 5
and I
said
O Lord
God of
heaven
the great
and awesome
God
who keeps
covenant
and steadfast
love with
those who
love him
and keep
his
commandments
he knew
who God
was
the God
of heaven
the great
and awesome
one
and he knew
the way
in which
he dealt
with his
people
that he
could not
lie
that he
could not
go against
his very
own
character
and that he
must
keep
his steadfast
love
because
it's
who
he
is
so we
know him
by his
scripture
do you
know his
promises
do you
know the
things he's
promised to
do
for us
I will
tell you
this
if you
find your
prayer life
to be
lacking in
fervor
there is a
direct
correlation
to your
devotion to
God's
word
this is the
way in
which God
communicates
to us
beloved
so many
people want
to walk
around
what is
the will
of God
for my
life
what is
the will
of God
for my
life
stop
and open
his word
he has
written a
book to
you
the Lord
God
almighty
in heaven
came down
and wrote
you a
book
read this
this is the
way he
communicates
to you
it is
precious
every
little
dot
every
iota
is precious
to us
and I will
promise you
that as he
speaks to
you through
it you
will
automatically
respond
to him
in prayer
the conduit
by which
we communicate
with our
Lord
there's always
a correlation
between the
true
God's
love
God
absolutely
loves
hear this
God
loves
for us
to make
our cases
to him
by his
own
word
get this
this is
fascinating
turn back
to Mark
chapter 7
I just want
you to see
the story
of the
Syrophoenician
woman
I won't
read it to
you for
the sake
of time
but she
comes to
him asking
for something
she's outside
of those
who are
of Israel
and Jesus
says let
the children
be fed
first
for it is
not right
to take
the children's
bread and
throw it
to the
dogs
but she
answered
him
yes
Lord
yet even
the dogs
under the
table
eat the
children's
crumbs
she
argues
with
Jesus
by
God's
very
own
character
and in
regard to
this
let me
read you
a quote
from a
wonderful
biography
written by
A.T.
Pearson
about the
life of
George
Mueller
he wrote
we are
to argue
our case
with
God
not
indeed
to convince
him
but to
convince
ourselves
in proving
to him
that by
his own
word
and oath
and character
he has
bound himself
to interpose
we demonstrate
to our own
faith that he
has given us
the right
to ask
and claim
and that he
will answer
our plea
because he
cannot
deny
himself
God
loves
for us
to come
to him
in that
way
to plead
with him
by his
very
own
words
and God
is not a
liar
he cannot
deny
himself
let's look
at another
example
together
Exodus
chapter
32
this is
after
I hope
it's obvious
to you
the
Exodus
out of
Egypt
they have
come to
the foot
of Mount
Sinai
the people
of God
and
Moses
has gone
up onto
the mountain
to meet
with God
to receive
the Ten
Commandments
and in the
meantime
under Aaron's
leadership
the people
construct a
golden calf
and begin
to worship
it
Moses is unaware
of this
he's meeting
with God
he's receiving
the Ten
Commandments
but God
is fully
aware of it
and he
says to
Moses
we've got to
take a break
from this
giving of the
law
because I've
got to go
down
and destroy
the people
because they're
now worshipping
a false
God
a false
idol
and look
at what
Moses
says
but Moses
verse 11
I'm sorry
chapter 32
verse 11
but Moses
implored
the Lord
his God
and said
oh Lord
why does
your wrath
burn hot
against your
people
whom you
have brought
out of the
land of
Egypt
with great
power
and with
a mighty
hand
why should
the Egyptians
say
with evil
intent
did he
bring them
out
to kill
them
in the
mountains
and to
consume
them
from the
face
of the
earth
turn
from your
burning
anger
and relent
from this
disaster
against
your
people
now here
we go
remember
Abraham
Isaac
and Israel
your servants
to whom
you swore
by your
own self
and said
to them
I will
multiply
your
offspring
as the
stars
of heaven
and all
this land
that I
promised
I will
give to
your
offspring
and they
shall
inherit
it
forever
and the
Lord
relented
from the
disaster
that he
had
spoken
of
bringing
on his
people
so he
banks
on the
very
promises
that God
had made
now hear
me
God didn't
forget
about the
promises
that he
had made
he didn't
need to
be reminded
but what
happened
here
is
Moses
implores him
and says
you've promised
to do a
good thing
and God
says to
him
yes
did God
change his
mind
absolutely
not
but he
used the
prayer
of his
servant
he
used
the
prayer
of
Moses
he
got
Moses
his
heart
to
catch
up
to
where
he
was
loving
a
people
loving
a
people
regardless
of what
they
did
and
Moses
was
going
to
need
this
lesson
in
the
coming
40
years
in
the
wilderness
so
powerful
prayer
is
historical
it
is
theological
draws
from
banks
on
God's
very
character
thirdly
powerful
prayer
is
spiritual
verse
23
back
in
Mark
11
it's
truly
I
say
to
you
whoever
says
to
this
mountain
be
taken
up
and
thrown
into
the
sea
and
does
not
doubt
in
his
heart
but
believes
that
what
he
says
will
come
to
pass
it
will
be
done
for
him
this
third
component
is
spiritual
that
is
you
can't
pray
powerful
prayers
just
knowing
in
your
head
the
things
that
God
has
done
or
knowing
some
things
about
him
but
you
have
to
believe
in
your
heart
it's
taking
that
knowledge
and
it's
turning
it
into
reality
in
your
very
being
I
love
that
he
extends
this
very
general
offer
for
this
rather
miraculous
thing
he
says
whoever
says
and
doesn't
doubt
but
believes
these
are
the
conditions
that
he
places
!
Now
there's
been
a lot
written
about
what
he
is
referring
to
specifically
about
this
mountain
massive
amount
pages
wasted
in my
opinion
about
what he
means
particularly
where is
he standing
exactly
is there
a mountain
that's
going to
be moved
into the
sea
what's
going
on
here
I
believe
this
is
hyperbole
he's
just
simply
saying
this
massive
amazing
thing
will
be
accomplished
let me
strongly
encourage
all of
you
to not
sit
in front
of a
mountain
and try
to find
the measure
of your
faith
by seeing
if you
can get
it to
up
and move
I must
admit
very early
in my
Christian
life
I'm
thinking
around
seven
or eight
I used
to just
see if
I could
get
things
in my
room
to move
I think
that would
be
pretty
amazing
I will
start
with
this
pencil
and see
if this
is
possible
this is
not
the point
that he's
trying to
make
he's
using
hyperbole
we used to
use that
kind of
language
today
you talk
about
somebody
who's
unstoppable
you have
a person
you know
that really
gets things
accomplished
and they'll
say he
can move
mountains
right
this is
the thing
that he
is
communicating
to us
the point
is
ultimately
about
faith
he says
if you
doubt
in your
heart
who is it
that you're
doubting
what are you
doubting
you're doubting
God
that God
can accomplish
what God
intends to
accomplish
by
your prayers
now
beloved
we can get
this really
wrong
and many
many
people
have
our
belief
or faith
our
belief
does not
have
power
God
has power
he chooses
to use
in a very
particular
way
our faith
to accomplish
things
by his
power
but it's
wrongly
taught
often
that
you
have
you've
been
given
therefore
you
have
power
we do
not
we
ask
for
right
God
to use
his
power
through
us
and this
is the
way
in which
we
have
power
but it's
ultimately
his
James 1
6-8
says this
powerful
but let
him
ask
in faith
with
no
doubting
for
the
one
who
doubts
is like
a wave
of the
sea
that
is
driven
and
tossed
by the
wind
for
that
person
must
not
suppose
that
he
will
receive
anything
from
the
Lord
he
is
a
double
minded
man
unstable
in
all
his
ways
doesn't
trust
in
the
God
who
is
worth
trusting
!
in
powerful
prayer
is
theological
and it is spiritual because we have a God
to place our trust and faith in.
Now let's remember together
an example of faith that enacts the power of God
so that we can be encouraged at this point
because you want to ask the question,
well, how much faith is required?
Because if your experience is anything like mine,
and I am confident that it is,
our faith falters so much
in so many ways.
We're living between two times.
We've been given faith in God,
but it's not perfected yet.
We carry around the baggage of flesh
and we struggle with faith.
So turn back just a page or two
in your Bible to Mark 9.
We observe together the story
of a father with a demon-possessed boy.
Jesus has come down off the mountain,
Peter, James, and John,
and he has left the other apostles alone for some time
and they are trying to cast out,
they've gotten into this conflict
because they've tried to cast out this demon
and they're not able to do so.
And the overarching point of this story
is that they had no faith at this point.
The apostles had zero faith at all.
Previously, they have gone out
and they've cast out demons.
So what's lacking in this case,
they're not able to because they don't have faith.
And then we see Jesus' interaction
with this father,
this poor child who's been thrown into fires,
is likely having epileptic seizures
because he's been battered on the ground
by this demon.
It's a horrid situation.
And beginning in verse 21,
Jesus asks him,
how long has this been happening to him?
And he says, from childhood.
And it has often cast him into fire
and into water to destroy him.
But if you can do anything,
have compassion on us and help us.
And Jesus said to him,
if you can,
if you can do anything,
he says, if you can,
all things are possible
for one who believes.
And look at the father's response.
Immediately, the father of the child
cried out and said,
I believe.
Help.
My unbelief.
And Jesus casts out the demon.
So you see a great expression here
of the father's imperfect faith.
I believe, but help my unbelief.
There's a part of me that thinks
and knows that you can do this thing,
but I'm just not sure.
Help.
Increase my faith
by casting this demon
out of my child.
So he didn't have a perfect faith,
but he had a sufficient faith.
Beloved, this is one of the beautiful things
about prayers.
That we offer up prayers of faith
and we see God respond to those things
and it increases our faith.
It works in this wonderful,
beautiful cycle.
That we pray things in the will of God.
He accomplishes those things.
And in that we see the way in which
he enacts his power in our life
and it moves us to further prayer.
I hope this is true in your life.
If it's not, you need to begin.
You need to start praying
that you might see this be the case for you.
As powerful prayer is historical and theological,
it's spiritual,
it also has a practical component.
Powerful prayer is practical.
This fourth component is one of great practicality.
Verse 24, he says,
Therefore, I tell you,
whatever you ask in prayer,
if you want to pray powerful prayers,
you must pray.
And I know that might seem a little bit obtuse to you,
but we live in a prayerless generation.
I will admit, I struggle with prayer.
It is a challenge to place my face before the Lord.
My knee-jerk reaction is very rarely
to go to my knees in prayer.
I kind of got a business mind.
I tend to run to my own solutions,
which never sort anything out.
I learn this lesson after time and time again.
Prayer is a struggle,
but we must pray if we want to pray powerful prayers.
Jesus says, James 4, verse 2,
you do not have because you do not ask.
Jesus says later here in verse 24,
believe that you have received it.
What is he talking about?
The things that you've asked for,
that you've actually offered up to him,
and it will be yours.
I would imagine that the apostles' minds were drawn,
I hope yours are,
to the Sermon on the Mount,
Matthew 7.
Jesus said,
Ask, and it will be given to you.
Seek, and you will find.
Knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives.
And the one who seeks, finds.
And the one who knocks, it will be opened.
Or which one of you,
if his son asks him for bread,
will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish,
will give him a serpent?
If you then, who are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father who is in heaven
give good things to those who ask him?
He's a good, loving, kind Father.
And he will give to us if we will ask.
Now, well, you could run wild with that one,
can't you?
And many denominations have.
This is dream teaching to some people.
But he puts some parameters on this.
He clearly puts some parameters on this.
In fact, if we continue reading in James 4, verse 3,
he says,
Jesus gives you a wonderful example in the garden
as he's quickly approaching the time of his crucifixion.
Mark 14, verse 36,
one account of this.
And he says,
Abba, Father,
all things are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me.
It was his desire in that moment
that he not have to go and be crucified.
If there was another way
that God could bring about redemption,
that it would happen that way.
And then he finishes by saying,
yet not what I will,
but what you will.
So God will give to us anything
that we ask within his will.
Psalm 37, verse 4 makes this point well.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
This is not a show up to a service
and have some fun.
Find some joy in singing music.
Delight.
And then God's going to give you
whatever you want to gratify you
and your flesh throughout the week.
It's find all of your joy.
Love God and therefore love the things of God.
And he will give you those things.
This is the seeking first his kingdom
and everything else.
All of that stuff that's necessary for our living
will be added to us.
John chapter 14.
Jesus makes the point for us once again.
Verse 12, he says,
Truly, truly, I say to you,
whoever believes in me
will also do the works that I do
and greater works than these will he do
because I am going to the Father.
We are going to do great, mighty things
for the kingdom of God
because Jesus is now at the right hand of the Father
and we have the Spirit of God.
That's what he's saying.
Verse 13,
Whatever you ask in my name,
this I will do,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If you ask me anything in my name,
I will do it.
Now Jesus' name is consistent
with his person and purpose.
His name is who he is.
So this is the point that we would pray
in the will of God.
Again, how do we know that?
We know it by the Scriptures.
Now we don't know it in every case,
in every little circumstance.
It's difficult when we have somebody
going through, let's say, a health issue.
We have a pretty young congregation,
which means I don't do a lot of hospital visits,
but on occasion I have.
And our prayer is always a desire.
We want to see this person be healthy.
We want them to stay with us.
We want them to be able to continue
to serve alongside us.
We'll miss them dearly
if they didn't stay on with us.
I don't think it's right and proper
to express our desire in that,
but it's always, always proper to say,
but Lord, we don't know what's best.
We're not God.
It seems best to us, option A.
But if you choose option B,
we are going to be happy and content with that.
Help us.
Help us to be happy and content
and to be joyful in your sovereign will,
in the gray things of our lives.
He puts parameters on what it means
to ask and it will be granted to us.
And He does that here for us in verse 25.
And whenever you stand praying,
standing was a common position
for praying in that day
as well as kneeling and laying on your face.
When you stand praying, forgive.
If you have anything against anyone
so that your Father also who is in heaven
may forgive you your trespasses.
Now, some of your translations before you
may include verse 26
with brackets around it.
Some of yours may not.
If you're with me on the ESV,
they just omit it all together.
If you look on,
we go from verse 25 to verse 27.
What a horrific typo.
It's not.
They intentionally did this.
Verse 25 is a parallel to Matthew 6.14,
Sermon on the Mount.
Verse 26, a parallel to Matthew 6.15,
which would say something to the effect of,
again, I don't have it in my text before me,
but this is Matthew 6.15,
but if you do not forgive others their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Now, it's omitted here or placed in brackets
in some of your copies
because it's not in the early manuscripts.
This is one of those little places
that later manuscripts have it,
earlier manuscripts don't have it,
and so our Bible translators are very careful
about what they do in these particular circumstances,
that I'm thankful for such faithful men
who are so careful in this matter.
However, whether it includes it or not
doesn't really change the meaning of the text itself.
And this is what we need to hear clearly.
This is not speaking of salvation.
He's not talking about
you have to first go and forgive others
so that you will be forgiven.
He's talking about a parameter,
a condition of powerful prayers,
a very practical one at that.
And that is that if we are harboring up sin in our hearts,
we're going to God with unconfessed sin,
the Scriptures teach us
that God doesn't hear our prayers.
Not that He doesn't hear it
like He's incapable of hearing it,
but they are squelched, so to speak, by this.
It's not speaking of salvation.
So look with me in John chapter 13
just quickly to show you
a very brief example of this
as we're really getting close to 12 o'clock.
Wow.
This lesson is going to be driven
in the coming days
for the disciples.
Verse 6 of chapter 13,
He came to Simon Peter who said to him,
Lord, do you wash my feet?
He's taking turns.
He's going around
showing him this great example of service.
And Jesus answered him,
What I am doing you do not understand now,
but afterward you will understand.
Peter said to him,
You shall never wash my feet.
I'm too lowly.
You can't serve me in that way.
Jesus answered him,
If I do not wash you,
you have no share with me.
Is Jesus not talking about
washing his feet?
No.
He's not.
If I do not wash you,
you have no share with me.
What he's saying to him is,
If I don't come as a servant
and die on your behalf,
you're not mine.
Simon Peter says to him,
Lord, not my feet only,
but also my hands and my head.
Okay, if this is the condition,
then let's get me clean.
And Jesus says to him,
The one who has bathed
does not need to wash
except for his feet,
but is completely clean.
And he says,
And you are clean.
And then he talks about Judas,
but not every one of you.
So he's expressing to him,
right,
in this figurative way
as people would get cleaned up
to come over for a meal.
But when they got there,
their feet would get dirty again.
We probably understand this
in our day more than some
because a lot of you wear sandals
everywhere you go.
Although we have pavement,
which might nullify that.
However,
your feet get stinky
between the shower
and getting over
to somebody's house.
And so the lowliest form of service
was to wash their feet.
So Jesus used this parallel example
to say to Peter,
you've already been made clean.
But yet there's a continuing process
of purification in our life
and that is that we still
live lives of repentance, right?
We have judicially been dismissed,
right,
because we're found in Christ.
The forgiveness of sin
has been given to us,
has been administered to us,
but yet we still need to be
in this regular habit of confession.
And what they're communicating here,
what Jesus is saying,
because if you don't,
you can't play powerful prayers.
They're not going to be heard.
Psalm 66.18 says,
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
1 Peter 3.7,
Peter instructs men
to live properly with their wives
so that their prayers
may not be hindered.
So we must confess before the Lord
if we want to pray powerful prayers.
It's a very practical way.
So powerful prayer is historical,
it is theological,
it is spiritual,
it is practical.
And beloved,
we have Jesus' presence
because we have the Spirit of Christ.
If you have Him,
it's because you're His.
Right?
If you're found in Christ,
you have the Spirit of God.
And don't wait for some crazy,
unexplainable thing to happen to you.
This is a reality for you.
Right?
You're hating sin,
you're loving holiness,
you have the Spirit of God.
So we have the presence of Christ,
but we are still in continual need
of the power and provision of Christ.
So ask.
Ask for the power and provision of Christ
in all things,
at all times.
Paul goes so far
as to say in 1 Thessalonians,
pray without ceasing.
We always need this.
And as such,
we need to be a people
who are always praying.
There are many ways to do this.
Closet prayer is important for you.
Get alone with the Lord.
Make it a daily habit.
Disconnect from everything.
Your phone doesn't need to go with you
into this place.
Right?
Unplug from life
and be with the Lord.
Rest in Him.
Offer up everything that troubles you
to Him.
It's going to include you
digging into your Scriptures
that you might know how to pray.
This isn't a complicated thing.
Don't arrive at some new plateau
of knowledge of the Lord
before you start praying.
Just open the Word of God
and read it
and respond in prayer.
You should get together
with the people of God
and pray in a corporate setting.
We do a number of things
to do that around here.
It doesn't have to be some
formal Christ Family Church event.
Grab a couple of friends.
Get together.
Pray together.
Let's be a people
who pray as we should.
Let's pray now together.