WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:14.019 I'm curious, how many of you, I'm going to go ahead and ask the question and we'll see 00:00:14.019 --> 00:00:18.839 ! what happens. I may find out afterwards that I shouldn't have asked it, but I'll start that way. 00:00:19.660 --> 00:00:26.160 How many of you pray for me on Sunday? You pray for your pastor on Sunday and you say things like, 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:33.340 oh, help him, Lord. I mean that. Thank you. 00:00:38.659 --> 00:00:45.000 Here's what it should look like to biblically informed and obedient people. 00:00:46.939 --> 00:00:51.560 Should I ask that question again next Sunday, how many of you pray for me, guess what I should see? 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:58.200 Truthfully. Remember the little phrases I said, biblically informed? What does that mean? In 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:02.300 other words, you know what the Bible says. And then what's the little second part I stuck on the end? 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:09.140 I know, that was a long time ago. I said biblically informed and, 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:15.099 does anybody remember the last little part? Help me now. Steve, what did I say? 00:01:15.099 --> 00:01:22.059 Obedient. Obedient. Obedient. Okay. So, biblically informed means you got the memo from God 00:01:22.059 --> 00:01:27.739 and obedient means, yes, you're doing it. So, next Sunday, should I say, how many of you are praying 00:01:27.739 --> 00:01:33.699 for me? I am, I am, I am. Everybody get their hand up, right? Okay. Except people maybe don't know Christ. 00:01:33.780 --> 00:01:43.939 I understand that. But I would plead with you that you pray for me, being the person who's been 00:01:43.939 --> 00:01:50.420 appointed in the providence of God to open the book and teach you what God has to say, right? 00:01:51.159 --> 00:01:59.599 Is that what I'm here to do? I wonder whether or not you also pray for the musicians, the 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:08.479 instrumentalists, for John in particular, for those who commit to serve us in encouraging us in corporate 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:13.060 worship. By the way, do you know who the most important musicians are in this fellowship? 00:02:13.939 --> 00:02:27.719 They're you. They're you. John, Jeff, Joy, Stephanie. I'll forget someone, so I'll stop while I'm ahead. 00:02:27.879 --> 00:02:35.740 But, you know, all of them are just helpers to the main instrument of corporate worship. That's you. 00:02:35.740 --> 00:02:45.159 And so, I would ask that you pray in advance. You pray and say, Lord, please help John. Help him this 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:52.160 morning that you would give him a heart that is moved by the Spirit and encouraged by the glory of 00:02:52.160 --> 00:03:02.160 Christ. And, boy, help, you know, name him. Name him. And by the way, Lord, help me. Because sometimes I 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:06.520 walk in on Sunday and my heart is just kind of like, I stayed up and watched too much basketball 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:12.139 and I'm really not into this worship thing. Forgive me, but let's kind of saddle up and do it right. 00:03:13.180 --> 00:03:19.079 Do you follow that? I love what it says in Zechariah, not by might nor by power, but by my, 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:21.719 what's the next word? Spirit, saith the Lord. 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:32.280 I appreciate the fact you pray for me. And by the way, there's nothing wrong with praying for me in 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:36.379 the middle of a sermon. If you feel I need a little bit of help, go ahead and fire one off. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:42.379 He can hear you. It won't throw me off at all, just so long as you don't do it real loud. In fact, 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:46.819 I've said this before. If you want to go ahead and launch out and say, help him, Lord. I'm with that. 00:03:46.819 --> 00:03:54.780 I am not offended. Get right after it. Tim Knoyer is very aware of his absolute dependence 00:03:54.780 --> 00:04:04.139 on consistent, persistent prayer. You better be doing it. Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14. 00:04:06.019 --> 00:04:16.180 For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth is named. 00:04:16.819 --> 00:04:26.779 Father, for us to stop in prayer is not just a habit, but it's an incredible privilege, 00:04:27.599 --> 00:04:35.120 something we're thankful for, something that we ask that today you would give us a greater affection 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:41.180 and interest in, that one of the things that would happen as a result of our attention to the Word of 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:49.160 God is that our prayer lives would increase and grow. Not that we go around in the lobby next week kind 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:55.620 of talking about, well, I up my prayer by 17 minutes, Lord, but that our heart would find pleasure in 00:04:55.620 --> 00:05:03.240 communion so that what Paul writes would be true. Pray without ceasing. 00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:14.759 And Lord, I ask your Spirit's help in my preaching of your Word. And I ask your Spirit's help 00:05:14.759 --> 00:05:21.980 in the reception of your Word in the hearts of your dear people here who know Christ. 00:05:21.980 --> 00:05:30.620 And I ask conviction in the heart of those that are here today that do not know Christ and have no 00:05:30.620 --> 00:05:34.560 certainty of where they will spend eternity should they die today. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:42.740 And we're going to give you the glory for what you do among us. And we pray this in Jesus' name. 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:48.480 Well, if you were to go back to the first sermon that I preached on the book of Ephesians, 00:05:48.540 --> 00:05:54.240 and I don't remember exactly when that was, but it was a while ago, you may remember that I commented 00:05:54.240 --> 00:06:03.319 on the fact that the book of Ephesians is a book that is full of foundational theological truths. 00:06:03.319 --> 00:06:08.399 In fact, we don't think about it that way. We think about Ephesians as predominantly being a 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:13.240 book that is written about the supremacy and the significance of the local church, and that is 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:21.139 entirely true. But one of the things that makes Ephesians so prized in Christian circles is that it 00:06:21.139 --> 00:06:28.000 does a great job of putting together doctrine in a very practical fashion. There are actually 27 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:34.959 different doctrines that are mentioned in the book of Ephesians. And as you work your way through the 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:41.480 book of Ephesians, you're going to find yourself covering that grand swath of a wide variety of 00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:47.779 principles and truths in the Bible that you don't find packed in that kind of fashion anywhere else. 00:06:48.779 --> 00:06:53.060 At the same time, one of the interesting things that we mark about Ephesians is that while it is 00:06:53.060 --> 00:07:00.240 a deeply theological book, it is also one that is profoundly practical. And one of the areas of a 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:06.660 great interest or need in our lives is the area of prayer. And Ephesians is a book that teaches on the 00:07:06.660 --> 00:07:13.019 subject of prayer. We tend to think about lessons on prayer as being something kind of put together 00:07:13.019 --> 00:07:19.040 in a systematic fashion. There's a point here and a point there, and we get kind of the practical 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:25.120 details on how to do it. In other words, be sure you're pointing in this direction or you have your 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:32.180 hands raised in a certain way and you're doing it the right way, right? And the truth of the matter is 00:07:32.180 --> 00:07:36.780 is that the vast majority of information we find in the Bible about prayer, are you following me, 00:07:37.280 --> 00:07:46.879 is given to us in the form of an example. Even in Matthew chapter 6, repeated over in Luke chapter 11, 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:52.620 where Jesus was asked a question by his disciples, hey Lord, why don't you teach us to pray like John 00:07:52.620 --> 00:08:01.060 taught his disciples? What does Jesus say? Well, okay, I'll help you. Here, pray like this. I do not 00:08:01.060 --> 00:08:09.019 understand that prayer in Matthew 6 or over in Luke 11 to be a prayer that we are to recite ad nauseum or 00:08:09.019 --> 00:08:16.759 repetitiously without thoughtfulness. It is given to us as an outline, as a model, as an overarching picture 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:24.680 of what we should think about in the flow of prayer. And as we look at this passage this morning, 00:08:24.819 --> 00:08:31.899 beginning here in verse 14, we're looking at one of the number of instructions in the book of Ephesians 00:08:31.899 --> 00:08:38.559 on the matter of prayer. We find that we learn, first of all, the place of prayer in the believer's life. 00:08:39.460 --> 00:08:46.159 Here is Paul working his way through the book, and as we come to this verse 14, we recognize 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:53.199 that he stops, it would seem, on an interesting moment in the flow of his lesson, and he says, 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:59.839 all right, and for this reason, I bow my knees to the Father. And when you hear that kind of statement, 00:08:59.959 --> 00:09:05.139 it's very obvious that he's saying, and I'm going to pray. None of us would miss that. 00:09:05.899 --> 00:09:12.959 And so I want you to recognize that here Paul is, as a good teacher, he is moving his way through the 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:18.259 lesson, and yet, for some curious reason, he stops in the flow of that lesson. He says, all right, 00:09:18.500 --> 00:09:24.400 and let me pray about this. Stop and think with me just for a moment of how it would affect you if 00:09:24.400 --> 00:09:30.800 probably about 10 minutes from now, I just stopped in the flow of the sermon and said, hey, let's pray. 00:09:31.920 --> 00:09:36.740 Now, I hope you wouldn't be completely unsettled by that, but you'd think, and why are you doing that? 00:09:36.740 --> 00:09:43.080 And Paul does that because of the value and the significance of prayer, and we're going to learn 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:48.120 some very important things as we kind of follow the logic that Paul has here in this passage. 00:09:48.560 --> 00:09:54.120 As he advances his theme on the significance of the church, and as he brings the beauty of this 00:09:54.120 --> 00:10:00.159 truth forward to the believer, in the midst of all that, he stops, he stops, and he prays. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:07.039 And the apostles' actions teach us several things about prayer. For one, prayer is a foundational 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:12.579 expression of our faith and our relationship with the triune God. And I want you to recognize that. 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:18.740 Prayer is a foundational expression of our faith and our relationship with the triune God. 00:10:19.299 --> 00:10:25.779 Let's recognize, for one, that prayer brings salvation. How is it that you got saved? 00:10:25.779 --> 00:10:33.659 I want to tell you, no one, no one, no one gets saved without personal prayer. It wasn't like you're 00:10:33.659 --> 00:10:37.959 kind of sitting in the bedroom one night and just kind of decide, well, you know what? I think I'll 00:10:37.959 --> 00:10:46.139 try Jesus. And kind of an arbitrary decision that you make, it tells us in Scripture, whosoever, what? 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:53.579 Calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And there is a sense in which, apart from prayer, 00:10:53.580 --> 00:10:59.060 there is no salvation. If you look over in your Bible, in Romans chapter 10, verse 9, it says, 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:04.480 if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart. Well, how do you confess 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:10.660 with your mouth? What does the mouth do besides eating? Well, let's try breathing. I wasn't thinking 00:11:10.660 --> 00:11:17.200 about that one, but it also kind of talks. And what it's saying here is that in the flow of salvation, 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:24.100 there comes a time in a person's life where they say, Jesus, I confess, I realize I'm a sinner. I admit 00:11:24.100 --> 00:11:31.020 my hopelessness, and I ask you to save me from the horrible, miserable, wretched life that I have, 00:11:31.160 --> 00:11:37.640 and I realize apart from you, I have no hope. I want you to understand that prayer brings salvation. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:43.440 Prayer also follows conversion, much like breath follows birth. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:53.700 I still remember the birth of our first child. I was in college at the time, and Judith and I had 00:11:53.700 --> 00:11:57.800 been married for all of three months, and she comes to me and says, honey, guess what? And I thought, 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:03.640 yeah, like what? And she says, well, you're going to be a daddy. I said, what? Yeah, I kind of woke up 00:12:03.640 --> 00:12:11.100 to the fact. And this was in the Stone Age. This was way, way back before they had birthing rooms and 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:15.940 all that kind of stuff, and the family could be around with a video camera. I mean, I had to get 00:12:15.940 --> 00:12:21.180 special permission from the administrator of the hospital to show up in the delivery room. 00:12:22.820 --> 00:12:31.060 Had to go to classes, Lamaze. That was a real joke. But I'm sorry. Someone's going to talk to me 00:12:31.060 --> 00:12:37.080 afterwards, I'm sure. But it was just kind of funny, all these husbands and wives sitting around and 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:41.560 practicing breathing exercises. Now, I was just a little too full of myself, but you know how that went 00:12:41.560 --> 00:12:48.759 over with me? It's like, give me a break. I'm going to stand there and coach, and she's going to push 00:12:48.759 --> 00:13:02.120 them out. And here's what happened. We're adults, right? It's all right. But I remember a very tense 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:08.700 moment, Heather, that was our first child, had come out through the birth canal, and I was impressed. 00:13:08.840 --> 00:13:14.299 I mean, this was amazing. It was just beyond. And I had seen births before. My dad doesn't know this, 00:13:14.360 --> 00:13:18.460 but I peeked through the crack in the operating room. I saw what was happening. It was like, 00:13:18.500 --> 00:13:21.740 yeah! That was about six years old when I saw the first one. 00:13:21.740 --> 00:13:32.360 But when it was my baby, I remember when that baby came out, and there was still a long cord dangling 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:36.240 on it, you know, and there was a nurse buzzing around ready to cut that thing, clamps and all 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:41.580 that kind of stuff. But you know what I was waiting for? I was waiting for the first breath. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:49.639 And when the first breath was taken, guess what followed after that? Heather announced to the world 00:13:49.639 --> 00:13:56.840 that she was present, and there were some concerns on her agenda. Okay. My point is this, is that 00:13:56.840 --> 00:14:06.879 prayer follows conversion like breath follows birth. Believers pray. And when they get started with 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:13.340 the blessing of their relationship with Christ, one of the things that happens is that they pray. 00:14:14.620 --> 00:14:19.080 If you look over in Acts chapter 9, verse 11, and you don't need to look at it now, 00:14:19.080 --> 00:14:24.920 but maybe save it for your personal devotions and your study with the Word, you'll find there that 00:14:24.920 --> 00:14:31.120 Saul, who was a persecutor of the church, was converted by the grace of God. By the way, 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:37.840 he was not seeking after God, in case you wonder. He was going on a journey to beat Christians senseless 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:44.500 and persecute them, and the Spirit of God got a hold of him and converted him. He now is in a city, 00:14:44.500 --> 00:14:53.759 and a man is sent to him to touch his eyes and to bring sight to him. And in that text, what we find 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:59.379 is that this man is told, listen, I want you to know about Saul, now Paul, he is praying. 00:14:59.379 --> 00:15:06.759 The thing that new believers do is pray. I want you to now look at another passage in relationship 00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:11.200 to this, and I want you to turn over there to Romans chapter 8, verse 15. We'll look at this 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:17.659 passage just for a moment. And in Romans chapter 8, it is talking about particularly the ministry of 00:15:17.659 --> 00:15:24.659 the Spirit of God in the life of the believer. So when the Spirit is working in us, in verse 15, 00:15:24.659 --> 00:15:31.419 one of the things that we have, we understand that the Spirit does, is he leads us in prayer. Verse 15, 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:39.199 for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the 00:15:39.199 --> 00:15:48.939 spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry. What's the next two words? Abba, Father. The Spirit who 00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:56.340 indwells the believer is actively engaged in encouraging the prayer life of the child of God. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:03.420 I want you to recognize that prayer is essentially communion with our Father, and it is an ongoing 00:16:03.420 --> 00:16:11.180 blessing and a means of grace. Over in James chapter 4, verse 2, it says this, you have not because you 00:16:11.180 --> 00:16:18.400 ask not. I think there are some things that you and I sometimes find ourselves missing and deficient on, 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:23.019 and one of the reasons that we're still kind of floundering around not having those things is 00:16:23.019 --> 00:16:31.159 because we haven't asked. Father, I need your help. And some of you are sitting there kind of grumbling 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:38.000 and unhappy with the current state of your spiritual journey, and you recognize your soul is a little 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:45.799 void or it's kind of dry, and yet, you know what? You have not because you ask not. I want you to 00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:51.259 understand another thing that goes with communion with our Father is that not only is our prayer a 00:16:51.259 --> 00:16:57.799 means of receiving things, but also it is protective. It's protective. Over in Mark chapter 14, 00:16:58.219 --> 00:17:04.299 verse 38, it says, pray that you may not enter into temptation. And a curiosity that I would ask you in 00:17:04.299 --> 00:17:10.680 your life to kind of evaluate is this, how often do you consciously, deliberately pray, Lord, keep me from 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:19.160 falling into sin? Is sin a bad thing? Sin's a very bad thing. Does sin cause heartache to the believer? 00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:26.480 Yes. And my question to you, if sin's all that bad, and you recognize that it's an ongoing 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:30.660 difficulty in your life, when was the last time that you consciously, deliberately said, 00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:34.400 Lord, I need your help that I don't fall into sin? 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:43.120 If you cannot identify a regular and recurring pattern of praying about sin, it may be, A, 00:17:43.220 --> 00:17:48.640 that you are not genuinely a convert, a person who knows Christ as your Savior, or it may be, B, 00:17:48.700 --> 00:17:52.940 that you've kind of become brain dead about the significance of the battle, and you have been 00:17:52.940 --> 00:18:03.920 deeply affected. Third, prayer is a means whereby we understand spiritual things and are strengthened. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:09.440 Turn back just a little bit while you're in Romans, but go back to the book of Ephesians. I want you 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:16.300 to look at Ephesians chapter 1, verse 17 through 19. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 17 through 19. 00:18:17.420 --> 00:18:23.280 Here is Paul. We get started into the prayer. It begins there in verse 16. I do not cease to give 00:18:23.280 --> 00:18:29.340 thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, 00:18:29.339 --> 00:18:35.939 may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your heart 00:18:35.939 --> 00:18:41.299 enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his 00:18:41.299 --> 00:18:46.179 glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us, 00:18:46.279 --> 00:18:54.179 who believe according to the working of his great might. Here's Paul praying for people that he loved 00:18:54.180 --> 00:18:59.560 and asking that God would give to them understanding and insight. So if you're kind of sitting there 00:18:59.560 --> 00:19:06.620 saying, you know what, I'm not getting much out of this, talking about the Bible, one of the things 00:19:06.620 --> 00:19:12.900 might be that you're not a believer. You're not a believer because I'll tell you what, apart from the 00:19:12.900 --> 00:19:17.820 work of the Spirit of God and bringing to us salvation, the book doesn't make that much sense. 00:19:17.819 --> 00:19:27.139 But it also may be that you are a believer and yet you do not bathe your understanding and your study 00:19:27.139 --> 00:19:32.559 of the Word of God with consistent prayer. And here is Paul saying, listen, I am asking that the Spirit 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:37.339 of God would give insight and understanding to these people that I love. Let's talk a little bit more 00:19:37.339 --> 00:19:43.919 about some other aspect of prayer. Prayer is also the language of dependence and a powerful remedy to 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:51.960 pride. Show me a person that doesn't pray much and I will show you a person that is either completely 00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:58.640 unaware of his deficiencies or so arrogant that he really thinks he doesn't need much help from God. 00:19:59.360 --> 00:20:04.440 Let me say that again slowly so you follow me. Show me a person who doesn't pray much 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:11.860 and I'll show you a person who really may be completely ignorant of his deficiencies and his real need. 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:19.920 Or you're dealing with a person who's so arrogant and full of themselves that they really don't 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:29.860 think they need something at all. When we recognize we have a need, we ask for help. Isn't that right? 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:37.820 Once it's beyond us, we ask for help. Let me add one other point to this issue regarding prayer. I want 00:20:37.820 --> 00:20:42.860 you to understand that prayer is one of the harder disciplines in our faith. Greed? 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:50.200 Prayer is hard. Prayer is hard. And I'll talk more about that later but I want you to recognize 00:20:50.200 --> 00:20:55.380 that when we think about the fact that prayer is right at the very core of our faith, recognize that 00:20:55.380 --> 00:21:01.519 their challenge is related to it. Well going back to the passage in Ephesians chapter 3, let's mark 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:06.980 something else that we see here. And if you just kind of mark the passage, you see there it says, 00:21:06.980 --> 00:21:12.500 for this reason I bow my knees before the Father. And some of you are looking at that and noticing that 00:21:12.500 --> 00:21:19.180 Paul prayed on his knees. And you may be thinking, well, okay, what that's telling us is that any 00:21:19.180 --> 00:21:26.420 prayer that God's going to hear needs to be down on your knees. And if we would get on our knees more 00:21:26.420 --> 00:21:32.120 consistently, we'd be more effective in our prayer life. Actually, if you read through the Scriptures, 00:21:32.119 --> 00:21:37.099 you will find that the most common posture of praying in the Scriptures seems to be standing. 00:21:38.819 --> 00:21:44.459 We still see that posture today. If you were to look at pictures of Jews praying before the 00:21:44.459 --> 00:21:49.159 wailing wall, what are they doing? How many of you can tell me? They're sitting there and they have a 00:21:49.159 --> 00:21:53.219 little hat on and they're bobbing back and forth in front of the wailing wall and they're praying. 00:21:53.399 --> 00:22:00.559 They're praying. And so I got to tell you that when you think about this issue of the way in which 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:06.379 prayer is being expressed in this case, I would suggest that it probably matches a point of 00:22:06.379 --> 00:22:11.259 intensity. Because if you were to look through the Scriptures, you will find in particular that when 00:22:11.259 --> 00:22:16.399 individuals were on their knees, they were on their knees because of a desperate moment or a deep, 00:22:16.399 --> 00:22:19.200 deep concern. And I've been on my knees many times. 00:22:21.980 --> 00:22:26.740 I want to remind you that over in the book of Ezra, when Ezra found out the sin that had 00:22:26.740 --> 00:22:32.420 crept into the nation of Israel, and these were people who had come back from the Babylonian 00:22:32.420 --> 00:22:38.460 captivity. And after having come back and enjoying the blessing of God, they'd fallen right back 00:22:38.460 --> 00:22:44.200 into sin. And when Ezra finds out about that, he tore his clothes and he fell on his knees and he 00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:51.579 poured his heart out to God. That was passion. Jesus, when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, 00:22:51.579 --> 00:22:58.359 do you know how he was praying? He was praying on his knees. And so I would have to say that 00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:04.299 there's nothing clear in Scripture that indicates, well, here's the one way you pray. You point your 00:23:04.299 --> 00:23:09.659 mat towards Jerusalem and then you do it in this fashion. And it's a good aerobic exercise. 00:23:10.019 --> 00:23:14.839 And you kind of get points for two things, for doing the prayer and a little bit of cardio too. 00:23:15.099 --> 00:23:19.879 You know, so I want you to understand that there are times to be on our knees. That's okay. 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:26.220 But being on your knees does not make your prayer more inclined to be heard by God. 00:23:27.340 --> 00:23:34.320 I do want you to understand that our prayer life should be marked by a glad reverence for God and 00:23:34.320 --> 00:23:40.520 a careful avoidance of one of two extremes. And I think that when we look at the subject of prayer 00:23:40.520 --> 00:23:46.580 in Scriptures, we recognize that the issue of posture is not the biggie. The issue of the heart is the 00:23:46.579 --> 00:23:51.699 critical issue. It's the thing that God is paying attention to. Remember what God said to Isaiah the 00:23:51.699 --> 00:23:58.359 prophet and Jesus recited it? These people draw near to me with their mouth, but their heart is...where? 00:23:59.159 --> 00:24:06.720 Their heart's not in it. Have you ever sung the words to a song and then immediately afterwards in the 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:13.019 lobby acted like the song didn't mean a thing to you? I've had people, I've watched them. 00:24:13.019 --> 00:24:19.279 I've watched them singing and I thought, man, that person's heart is really connected with that 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:24.460 theological truth. And then later on as I'm standing out in the lobby, they light into me about 00:24:24.460 --> 00:24:30.339 something and I'm thinking, oh, song no difference, right? And it doesn't touch them. I want you to 00:24:30.339 --> 00:24:34.480 understand that the thing God pays attention to is what our heart is like, what our heart is like. 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:41.380 And so recognize that when we pray, we are not to get caught up in rigid legalism over words or posture. 00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:47.380 At the same time, we are not to be caught up in carelessness and in reverence for his glory. 00:24:48.980 --> 00:24:53.660 The next thing I want you to recognize here in this passage is I bow my knees before the Father. 00:24:54.700 --> 00:24:59.920 Prayer is speaking with our Father. While it's true that God is the Father of all mankind, 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:07.100 in the sense that all life draw their existence from God. On the other hand, 00:25:08.300 --> 00:25:14.600 it tells us clearly in Scripture that salvation delivers us from Satan's kingdom and being his 00:25:14.600 --> 00:25:21.620 slave and his subject to being the children of God. And I can't get over what it says in 1 John 3, 00:25:21.620 --> 00:25:23.160 verse 2, where Paul says this, 00:25:23.160 --> 00:25:37.660 And I've got to tell you, if you are here today as a child of God, your heart should never, 00:25:37.840 --> 00:25:43.100 never get used to that fact. It should overwhelm you every time. 00:25:43.099 --> 00:25:55.579 The blessing of being able to call him our God and our Father is one that really communicates the 00:25:55.579 --> 00:26:02.579 intimacy of our communion and affection. And we cannot miss the sweet privilege that we have 00:26:02.579 --> 00:26:08.859 because of the Lord Jesus Christ of coming into his presence and addressing him who is the creator 00:26:08.859 --> 00:26:13.179 and the God of this universe in a very personal way. 00:26:15.459 --> 00:26:20.439 We can rightly address God as Abba, Father. 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:24.859 Jesus used this term when he was in the garden. 00:26:25.859 --> 00:26:29.139 When he was on his face, pleading with the Father regarding the cup. 00:26:29.299 --> 00:26:33.259 And if you were to look over in Mark chapter 14, verse 36, you'll see him say, 00:26:33.379 --> 00:26:34.079 Abba, Father. 00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:39.980 We read that it is the Spirit of God that prompts the believer over there in that passage that I recited 00:26:39.980 --> 00:26:45.039 in Romans chapter 8, verse 15. And again, it appears over in Galatians chapter 4, verse 6, 00:26:45.439 --> 00:26:47.740 whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 00:26:49.299 --> 00:26:52.059 How many of you know what a transliterated word is? 00:26:53.159 --> 00:27:00.720 Translation takes a word from one language and then moves it over in a reasonably accurate pattern 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:10.779 over into another language so that the word hit in English could be translated by its companion word 00:27:10.779 --> 00:27:14.380 in Spanish or Hindi or whatever the language is. Do you follow what I'm saying? 00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:20.819 A transliterated word is a word that you move directly from one language over into another 00:27:20.819 --> 00:27:26.660 with more or less phonetic similarity. A perfect illustration would be the word baptism. 00:27:26.660 --> 00:27:33.140 Baptism, okay? Baptism is not a translated word. It is a transliterated word. 00:27:34.360 --> 00:27:41.560 It is a word in which the Greek word baptizo was transliterated over into the English, 00:27:41.820 --> 00:27:43.660 and it came out to be baptism. 00:27:45.040 --> 00:27:50.440 Now, one of the problems with transliteration is that the meaning then gets a little fuzzy. 00:27:50.440 --> 00:27:58.680 I'm not certain, and I did some research and didn't find out all the details of why this word is translated 00:27:58.680 --> 00:28:06.440 or transliterated. But the word Abba, Father, is a very interesting word that communicates more than 00:28:06.440 --> 00:28:15.840 He is our Father. It's a word that communicates, are you ready for this? Daddy. Daddy. 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:24.799 I have to tell you that I pulled it this morning. This morning as I was praying, I was struck in studies. 00:28:24.859 --> 00:28:31.339 One of the things that happens when you study, you're convicted. You know, Tim, why don't you go ahead 00:28:31.339 --> 00:28:40.959 and pray, Daddy in heaven? And I got to tell you, it was hard for me to do. Can I say, Daddy in heaven, 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:45.340 without compromising my reverence and holiness for God? And I think I can do that. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:49.920 But I got to tell you, this morning when I did it in my prayer life, it was a little edgy for me. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:56.100 Okay? And I have gone back and forth. I was actually thinking when it came to the pastoral prayer 00:28:56.100 --> 00:28:59.819 that I would go ahead and start it out. Hey, Daddy, we want to thank you this morning. And I thought 00:28:59.819 --> 00:29:04.600 probably some of you would just probably roll over and die on the spot. So I thought, and I thought, 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:08.960 I'll do it first and then teach the lesson later and they'll all be all right with it. And I thought, 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:14.279 no, don't want to be catching hymn books early on. And so I thought, we'll just kind of teach the 00:29:14.279 --> 00:29:29.200 lesson and play forward on it. I don't want to make light of this. That word communicates affection. 00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:39.900 It communicates intimacy. It communicates a right and a privilege that is beyond our imagination. And 00:29:39.900 --> 00:29:52.420 it tells us that the Spirit is the one that helps us say it. Abba, Father. I don't know for sure. 00:29:52.420 --> 00:29:59.500 But I would venture to guess that one of the reasons why you have Abba here as a transliterated word 00:29:59.500 --> 00:30:07.779 is very similar to the reason you have baptism instead of immerse. Immerse is the literal rendition 00:30:07.779 --> 00:30:16.120 of the Greek word baptizo. But the word immerse would be very problematic for many, many churches in 00:30:16.120 --> 00:30:21.400 which, guess how they baptize? With a little bit of sprinkling. So when people said, what is baptism? 00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:27.720 Baptism, they said, well, that's what we do. What is that? It's sprinkle. Transliterated to avoid the 00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:32.400 consequences. And I think probably the word daddy was just a little edgy. And so the translator said, 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:38.320 well, why don't we play that trump card called transliteration? But I want to encourage you this 00:30:38.320 --> 00:30:45.820 morning when you think about the privilege you have, recognize that God has given you through His Spirit 00:30:45.819 --> 00:30:53.779 the right of calling Him Daddy. Now, I want you to understand that honorable prayer must begin with 00:30:53.779 --> 00:31:03.159 the right thought of Him. And so I would never this morning encourage you to be careless and kind of 00:31:03.159 --> 00:31:07.319 disrespectful. And I think one of the things that kind of goes with what I see happening sometimes 00:31:07.319 --> 00:31:12.000 in contemporary evangelical circles is they're so familiar with God that they really have no reverence 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:16.900 and fear for Him. It's kind of like the Bubba upstairs that's taking care of things. And, you know, 00:31:17.079 --> 00:31:23.299 he and I are good buds. And, you know, I don't get that picture. In the Scriptures, every time anybody had 00:31:23.299 --> 00:31:29.000 any kind of indication of who God was, do you know how they responded? Face down in the dirt, kind of 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:37.940 shaking and losing it. And so we must, with reverence, call Him as He has prompted us to. 00:31:37.940 --> 00:31:42.580 Let me close with some practical pointers on nurturing our prayer life. 00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:48.100 You look here at that passage in Ephesians chapter 3, and you find that Paul speaks about the fact, 00:31:48.519 --> 00:31:54.840 for this reason I bow my knees before the Father. And I want you to understand that as we look at that, 00:31:54.920 --> 00:31:59.440 we probably should recognize that prayer is something we need to grow in. And I would say this, 00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:05.580 that understand that while prayer is essential, it's harder to do than we might think. I mean, 00:32:05.579 --> 00:32:11.460 I made the statement earlier that the Spirit of God works in us to pray from the very moment of our 00:32:11.460 --> 00:32:17.859 conversion. Nevertheless, it becomes something that is a challenge to us. And I think one of the reasons 00:32:17.859 --> 00:32:24.099 for that is that there are a couple things that work against that inclination to pray in the life of 00:32:24.099 --> 00:32:32.079 the believer. Number one, it is our flesh. And by that I mean our flesh is very easy encumbered and kind 00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:38.379 of burdened with all kinds of little details. Do you follow that? Prayer seems to be a profoundly 00:32:38.379 --> 00:32:43.019 impractical discipline in the fact that you've got to get to work at 7 o'clock. 00:32:44.699 --> 00:32:50.099 Can you pray while your eyes are closed and you're sleeping and you're brain dead? And the answer is no. 00:32:50.099 --> 00:32:50.139 No. 00:32:52.539 --> 00:32:56.879 No. Prayer is a conscious, deliberate communication with the Father. 00:32:56.880 --> 00:33:04.120 Father. So it means you have to be awake. And some of you stay up late for whatever reasons you do. 00:33:04.740 --> 00:33:10.000 And that means that you get up as late as possible. And when you do get up, what you do is you throw on 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:15.860 some clothes and maybe you do brush your teeth. I hope you do. But then you buzz out the door and you 00:33:15.860 --> 00:33:23.920 are driving to work. Right? Where does prayer fit into all that time? It gets pushed over to the side. 00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:31.039 And I want you to understand that just the challenges of life have a tendency to kind of 00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:34.519 push against the matter of prayer. But there's something else that pushes against prayer and 00:33:34.519 --> 00:33:41.000 that's our pride. Our pride. Hey, if we're pretty full of ourself and we're pretty convinced that 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:45.200 we can pull it off, then we don't need to ask. The reason we pray is because we can't do things. 00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:51.340 And beloved, I would encourage you to recognize that if you're going to grow in your prayer life, 00:33:51.339 --> 00:33:54.819 then I would encourage you to recognize that it's something you're going to have to work at. 00:33:56.199 --> 00:33:59.359 Furthermore, in relationship to that, and I talked about two things that we contribute, 00:33:59.500 --> 00:34:04.240 but there's also something else that I'm convinced of. Satan does all that he can to discourage pride 00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:12.840 or a prayer. Satan works to discourage prayer. So if we're going to grow in our prayer life, 00:34:12.900 --> 00:34:18.279 let me suggest that what we must do is learn to be persistent in learning how to pray. Turn over in 00:34:18.280 --> 00:34:24.040 your Bible, if you will, just for a moment to the passage that I cited early in Matthew 6. 00:34:27.860 --> 00:34:29.060 Matthew 6. 00:34:33.500 --> 00:34:39.360 Matthew 6 is a very interesting part, beginning actually there in verse 5. Jesus says this. 00:34:39.420 --> 00:34:41.400 It's a lesson on prayer. He says, 00:34:41.400 --> 00:34:45.040 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:48.960 in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by others. 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:54.320 How many of you have prayed in public and been just a little embarrassed or nervous 00:34:54.320 --> 00:35:02.480 as you were praying? Come on. Everybody. Do you know why we're embarrassed or nervous? Just because 00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:07.559 we're concerned about who's passing judgment on us or whether our prayer passes muster. 00:35:08.840 --> 00:35:13.820 We're thinking about God. That isn't a problem. When we're thinking about what other people are 00:35:13.820 --> 00:35:18.000 thinking, we're pretty apoplectic about it. Oh, I'm not sure how that prayer came off. Did I use 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:24.360 enough King James words? You know, we get caught up in it. Here's Jesus saying, hey, don't be like 00:35:24.360 --> 00:35:29.240 those hypocrites. They're all in for being heard. He says, when you pray, do it in secret. 00:35:32.039 --> 00:35:35.400 And then he goes on and he says, listen, here's how to pray. 00:35:35.400 --> 00:35:45.900 Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done 00:35:45.900 --> 00:35:53.639 on earth as it is in heaven. Very interesting. The first part of this prayer is all about who? 00:35:54.500 --> 00:36:03.780 God. It is an interest in God's place and God's agenda and God's glory. 00:36:03.780 --> 00:36:09.100 And that is the foundation to God honoring prayer. 00:36:10.820 --> 00:36:19.420 A lot of times our prayers are more or less like the kind of little orders we give at the fast food 00:36:19.420 --> 00:36:24.880 drive-up window. Do you follow what I'm saying? I mean, our only connection with the person in the 00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:30.420 booth is through this speakerphone and the person says, hi, welcome to McDonald's. May I help you? 00:36:30.420 --> 00:36:34.579 And we say, yeah, I'd like a coffee with double cream and double Splenda. And I'd like a sausage 00:36:34.579 --> 00:36:37.980 McMuffin to go with that. Well, that'll be blah, blah, blah. And we drive to the window, 00:36:38.200 --> 00:36:43.559 we grab it, we're gone. And by the way, we never think about communicating with them until we're 00:36:43.559 --> 00:36:48.000 there. We're staring at the menu board and say, what did I need? You know, okay, I understand that. 00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:52.940 And then you ask the other four people in the car, what do you need? I don't know. Let me look at the 00:36:52.940 --> 00:36:59.700 menu. It hasn't changed. You know, we go to God and we kind of like the order taker. 00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:08.099 No, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. You are worthy of all of our adoration and 00:37:08.099 --> 00:37:14.720 praise. And I get to call you Father. I get to call you Daddy. 00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:23.699 I want you to understand that if we're going to learn how to pray, we must be persistent in it. 00:37:24.719 --> 00:37:29.239 And I would suggest that one of the things that should characterize your life today as a believer, 00:37:29.519 --> 00:37:33.980 if you're here and you know Christ, one of the things that I would encourage you to begin praying 00:37:33.980 --> 00:37:39.639 about consistently is this, Lord, teach me how to pray. Teach me how to pray. Teach me how to pray. 00:37:39.639 --> 00:37:46.500 Go ahead. Is it fair to pray about basic things like that? What's the answer? If Jesus's disciples, 00:37:46.699 --> 00:37:53.219 who were not rookies, came to him and said, would you help us with this little thing called prayer? 00:37:53.460 --> 00:38:01.420 Yeah, go ahead, ask. And by the way, keep asking. Ask again and again and again. I am 64 and I got to 00:38:01.420 --> 00:38:07.159 tell you, I have been asking for a long time. I can tell you another thing, my prayer life's different 00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:16.500 than it used to be. But it's not where it needs to be yet. Furthermore, I would encourage you to set 00:38:16.500 --> 00:38:23.399 aside time to pray that is uninterrupted. That's what Jesus did. And I'm not here to tell you what 00:38:23.399 --> 00:38:29.859 your schedule should be, but I got to tell you, prayer is not something that you do while you're 00:38:29.859 --> 00:38:37.059 multitasking. Now, one of the nice things about electronic devices is you can hit the mute button 00:38:37.059 --> 00:38:40.719 and still play Angry Birds when you're talking with a friend on the phone. 00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:45.920 Oh, none of you have ever done that. I can see it in your faces. 00:38:47.579 --> 00:38:53.960 Okay? Or you're watching TV, but what you have is that little text scrolling across, 00:38:54.219 --> 00:38:58.239 and you're watching while you're having this animated conversation with your dear friend 00:38:58.239 --> 00:39:02.739 in North Carolina they haven't seen for 17 years, and you're just acting like your buds, 00:39:02.739 --> 00:39:09.279 and you're watching the game. And here's the deal with God. He doesn't want to be treated that way. 00:39:11.379 --> 00:39:18.479 Husband, have you ever had your wife say, turn that phone off? Okay? Or have you ever had your 00:39:18.479 --> 00:39:23.500 wife say, I want you to look at me when you're talking? Have you ever heard that one? 00:39:23.500 --> 00:39:30.940 You got to have time alone with God where you talk with Him directly, face to face, person to person. 00:39:33.280 --> 00:39:38.679 Furthermore, I would encourage you to spend time studying the rich variety of examples of prayer in the 00:39:38.679 --> 00:39:48.199 Scriptures. How do we learn how to pray? Well, we go to First Opinions, chapter 4. That's the chapter I 00:39:48.199 --> 00:39:53.539 know that deals with prayer. And there is an outline of how all of us ought to pray all the time. Okay? 00:39:53.599 --> 00:39:56.960 Now, some of you are actually going to take me to heart and go there. It is not such a book. 00:39:58.739 --> 00:40:05.879 Listen to me. Interestingly enough, the lessons on prayer are given to us in the Scriptures through 00:40:05.879 --> 00:40:17.019 examples. We see people praying all over the place. Try a Nehemiah prayer the next time you're ready to have 00:40:17.019 --> 00:40:24.960 a wreck. About a month ago, I was sitting at a stoplight getting ready to turn left. It was that 00:40:24.960 --> 00:40:31.699 one snowy day back there early in March, and I'm just sitting there, and I'm watching a person turn, 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:38.619 and they're sliding in the snow right towards my car. I was on the phone to my wife. I was saying, 00:40:38.719 --> 00:40:45.539 honey, I'm on the corner of West Henderson or something else, and I'll be home, and I'm going to have 00:40:45.539 --> 00:40:53.219 a wreck. And here's what came out. Lord, you know. I mean, was there a lot of theology in that? 00:40:53.880 --> 00:41:04.360 There really was. Do you follow that? Examples are the way that God teaches us to pray. Oh, 00:41:04.440 --> 00:41:08.779 what does that mean? It means that you've got to get into the book if you're going to find where the 00:41:08.780 --> 00:41:18.220 examples are. Does that make sense? Don't grab one of those. I'm thinking of it. They have put books in 00:41:18.220 --> 00:41:25.140 hotels all over the world. What was it? You guys are great. Gideons. I was having a millisecond there. 00:41:25.160 --> 00:41:30.560 I was just testing your memory, not mine. Okay. Gideon Bible. How many of you know that in the front 00:41:30.560 --> 00:41:34.960 or in the back, I can't remember which it is, there are sections about if you're having blah, 00:41:34.960 --> 00:41:41.340 blah, blah, blah, go to such and such a page, right? It doesn't work that way. Beloved, if you want to 00:41:41.340 --> 00:41:45.179 grow in prayer, you've got to get into the book. Here's another little thing I'll tell you in a close. 00:41:46.260 --> 00:41:52.059 The characteristic of biblical prayer is that it's always scriptural. Always scriptural. Probably the 00:41:52.059 --> 00:41:58.500 best illustration of that is that as Jesus was on the cross, there are seven things he said, 00:41:58.500 --> 00:42:04.780 and every one of those seven things can be found explicitly in the scriptures. 00:42:06.300 --> 00:42:11.539 By the way, when Jesus was dealing with temptation, when Satan was messing with him, 00:42:11.760 --> 00:42:19.880 how did Jesus respond? I love what he said. It is written. It is written. It is written. That just 00:42:19.880 --> 00:42:25.139 gives me cold chills when I stop and think about it. Jesus who was what? He was the word. 00:42:25.139 --> 00:42:33.819 And yet, Jesus, for my sake and for the example and absolute confidence in the supremacy of the 00:42:33.819 --> 00:42:38.839 already written word, he says, it is written. It is written. It is written. So if we're going to 00:42:38.839 --> 00:42:44.000 grow in prayer, one of the things that should begin to happen in our life is that we begin spending time 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:49.799 in the book to grow. Let me close. 00:42:49.800 --> 00:42:57.840 For you who are here today and know Christ, let me tell you something. Prayer is one of the 00:42:57.840 --> 00:43:08.940 sweetest privileges, but not something that you will gain blessing in without recurring and 00:43:08.940 --> 00:43:16.060 persistent lifelong pursuit. That's the way it is. 00:43:16.059 --> 00:43:24.820 And so if you're here this morning as a brand new believer, you came to know Christ this week, 00:43:25.820 --> 00:43:30.759 I want to tell you that the beginning of your prayer life, which is blessed by salvation, 00:43:31.059 --> 00:43:35.519 is going to be nurtured over the years to come by you continuing to say, 00:43:36.059 --> 00:43:38.619 Father, I want you to help me learn how to pray. 00:43:38.619 --> 00:43:46.339 And by a commitment to allow the word to God to inform you and encourage you. 00:43:47.940 --> 00:43:52.539 If you're here this morning and you do not know Christ, I want you to understand that the scriptures 00:43:52.539 --> 00:44:00.539 are explicit about this. The one prayer that God hears from a life of an unbeliever is a prayer of 00:44:00.539 --> 00:44:11.019 repentance and confession. And practically, prayer which presupposes or assumes that we have a personal 00:44:11.019 --> 00:44:18.480 relationship. That makes sense, doesn't it? Prayer assumes personal relationship. If you're here this 00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:23.519 morning and you do not have confidence that you know Christ as your personal Savior, if you're sitting 00:44:23.519 --> 00:44:29.599 here today and you are not certain of where you would spend eternity, I want to tell you that that lack 00:44:29.599 --> 00:44:35.739 of uncertainty is not because of a lack of Bible truth. Because it tells us in the scriptures, 00:44:36.159 --> 00:44:39.299 these things are written that you might know that you have everlasting life. 00:44:41.380 --> 00:44:47.440 And the Spirit of God may be using that emptiness and that uncertainty and that lack of communion to 00:44:47.440 --> 00:44:53.360 convict you right where you sit. Hey, listen, I may have said the prayer, I may have even showed up in 00:44:53.360 --> 00:44:57.679 Sunday school, but the truth of the matter is, is I don't have a personal relationship with Christ, 00:44:57.679 --> 00:45:02.480 and the remedy for that is to call upon the name of the Lord. And here's what it says in the Bible, 00:45:02.599 --> 00:45:14.079 whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, the purpose of preaching 00:45:14.079 --> 00:45:25.239 is to put you on the spot of saying yes or no to God. Lord, I want to grow in my prayer life. 00:45:25.239 --> 00:45:33.199 Oh, here's a little addendum. Do you know what an addendum is? It's important. And you go ahead and 00:45:33.199 --> 00:45:39.859 do whatever you think's necessary, just tune it up. When you're a coward in your prayer life, 00:45:39.919 --> 00:45:42.559 you're going to get coward's wages. How many of you understand what I just said? 00:45:44.519 --> 00:45:49.199 I'd like about a half teaspoon of God right now. No, go ahead. Bring it on. I want to grow. 00:45:49.199 --> 00:45:57.919 And if you're here today and do not know Christ, I want you to know I've been praying for you today. 00:45:59.599 --> 00:46:04.699 And believers, as you join me in prayer, let's pray that God works to bring people to the cross. 00:46:06.199 --> 00:46:10.059 Let's close in prayer. Father, 00:46:10.059 --> 00:46:15.799 our hearts are overwhelmed that we can call you that. 00:46:19.039 --> 00:46:21.599 We recognize that there was a day when we were enemies. 00:46:23.119 --> 00:46:24.039 We were rebels. 00:46:25.539 --> 00:46:27.139 We were miserable slaves. 00:46:28.460 --> 00:46:31.039 And you and your mercy found us in that predicament. 00:46:31.299 --> 00:46:33.659 And you drew us to the side in the cross. 00:46:33.739 --> 00:46:35.619 And you helped us to see our need. 00:46:35.619 --> 00:46:41.259 And you're the one that led us to cry out and confess our sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:46:41.500 --> 00:46:42.759 You humbled us 00:46:42.759 --> 00:46:45.440 and helped us to be humble. 00:46:47.599 --> 00:46:51.139 And this morning, we who are believers ask that you would help us grow in our prayer. 00:46:53.319 --> 00:46:57.079 And we join together in praying that those who are here that do not know Christ 00:46:57.079 --> 00:46:59.099 would be drawn to the cross today. 00:46:59.460 --> 00:47:02.699 That this would be the day of salvation. 00:47:02.699 --> 00:47:06.000 And we pray it in Jesus' name. 00:47:06.539 --> 00:47:06.819 Amen. 00:47:08.539 --> 00:47:11.779 Let's stand together as John leads us in our closing song. 00:47:12.059 --> 00:47:16.239 And if there's someone here today that has a matter that they need to care for publicly, 00:47:16.379 --> 00:47:20.279 God may be speaking to you about being obedient to Him in the matter of baptism. 00:47:20.439 --> 00:47:22.679 I want you to understand that baptism doesn't save, 00:47:23.099 --> 00:47:27.059 but baptism is something that is a public identifying with Christ. 00:47:27.939 --> 00:47:30.519 It may be that God is leading you to be part of our fellowship. 00:47:30.519 --> 00:47:36.219 It might be that you have some spiritual needs that you want someone to pray with you about. 00:47:36.320 --> 00:47:38.300 Or you might be sitting here and you're saying, 00:47:38.400 --> 00:47:39.219 Man, I need Jesus. 00:47:39.380 --> 00:47:40.539 I don't know Him. 00:47:40.780 --> 00:47:43.480 And I confess my sins and I ask Christ to save me. 00:47:43.719 --> 00:47:46.679 And you come forward and have somebody share the gospel and pray with you 00:47:46.679 --> 00:47:48.739 and welcome you into the family of God. 00:47:48.820 --> 00:47:50.840 Let's do that as we're singing this in closing. 00:47:50.840 --> 00:48:07.579 What a friend we have in Jesus 00:48:07.579 --> 00:48:13.840 All our sins and grace to bear 00:48:13.840 --> 00:48:21.340 What a privilege to carry 00:48:21.340 --> 00:48:27.640 Everything to God in prayer 00:48:27.640 --> 00:48:35.840 Oh, what peace we often forfeit 00:48:35.840 --> 00:48:41.579 Oh, what needless pain we bear 00:48:41.579 --> 00:48:49.579 All because we do God forfeit 00:48:49.579 --> 00:48:55.579 Everything to God in prayer 00:48:55.579 --> 00:49:07.579 Have we trials and temptations 00:49:07.579 --> 00:49:13.579 Is there trouble any year? 00:49:13.579 --> 00:49:20.920 We should never be discouraged 00:49:20.920 --> 00:49:26.920 Take it to the Lord again 00:49:26.920 --> 00:49:34.920 Can we find a friend so faithful 00:49:34.920 --> 00:49:41.920 Who will all our sorrows share? 00:49:41.920 --> 00:49:49.920 Jesus knows our every weakness 00:49:49.920 --> 00:49:55.920 Take it to the Lord again 00:49:55.920 --> 00:50:00.579 Well, I see that Mary knows where the Kleenex are. 00:50:01.579 --> 00:50:03.000 Those are up there for me. 00:50:05.760 --> 00:50:08.400 Mary Malumba has come forward this morning 00:50:08.400 --> 00:50:12.099 asking to be baptized in obedience to Christ. 00:50:12.300 --> 00:50:14.260 She's come to Christ and wants to be baptized. 00:50:15.460 --> 00:50:17.579 And also Cassandra Bach has come forward. 00:50:17.639 --> 00:50:20.659 And I'm going to ask each of them just on the spur of the moment, 00:50:20.659 --> 00:50:22.859 Not at length. 00:50:23.319 --> 00:50:24.659 See, Mary says... 00:50:24.659 --> 00:50:28.819 But just explain why you want to be baptized 00:50:28.819 --> 00:50:30.299 In just a couple sentences. 00:50:30.460 --> 00:50:31.099 Can you do that? 00:50:35.659 --> 00:50:39.500 I just want to be with God in every way possible. 00:50:39.500 --> 00:50:46.659 From where God found me 00:50:46.659 --> 00:50:48.519 And brought me to him 00:50:48.519 --> 00:50:52.539 And all the miracles he's performing in my life 00:50:52.539 --> 00:50:56.500 I can only ask him to be baptized 00:50:56.500 --> 00:51:00.159 Because I want to wear him as a badge of honor 00:51:00.159 --> 00:51:04.699 In thankfulness for what he's doing in my life. 00:51:04.699 --> 00:51:09.019 Jack, you're our member 00:51:09.019 --> 00:51:11.239 And Cassandra's asked for membership as well. 00:51:11.539 --> 00:51:15.099 So let's just close with a word of prayer and thanksgiving. 00:51:15.099 --> 00:51:16.099 And...