Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest
questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search
and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead
pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth
for the life we're searching for. Let's take our Bibles this morning and turn to the book
of John, chapter 16 today as we talk about the Holy Spirit and prayer. If you've been
with us the last few weeks, you know that we've been looking at John 14, 15, and 16,
and specifically we're asking questions about what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit and
now today what Jesus says about prayer in this context of the Holy Spirit as a whole.
You know, we talked about the fact that Jesus told his disciples, it's expedient, it's
important that I go away, because if I don't go away, then I can't send the helper to
be with you. But if I go away, I'll send the helper, literally another helper like
myself and he'll be with you forever. And you know who he is because he's with you
now and he will be with you forever. As in John chapter 14, John 15 is all about abiding
in the vine and being closely connected to the Lord. And then John 16, another reminder
about the Holy Spirit and prayer. So we know it's of essence to understand the power of
the Holy Spirit in our life. But I have never in my life heard a series taught on just what
Jesus said about the Holy Spirit. And yet that's got to be foundational to everything
else that we learn about the Holy Spirit. So take your Bibles, John chapter 16 beginning
in verse 23, let's stand together as I read several verses here, this focus on prayer
in John chapter 16. John 16 verse 23. Listen to what Jesus says about prayer. In that day,
Jesus says, now he's referring to the day when he goes away and leaves the Holy Spirit
with us. In that day, you will not question me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you,
if you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you. I want to pause long
enough to just think about the magnitude of that statement. If you ask the Father for
anything in my name, he will give it to you. Surely you want to understand what all that
means. Verse 24, until now you have asked for nothing in my name, ask and you will receive
so that your joy may be made full. These things I've spoken to you in figurative language.
An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will
tell you plainly of the Father. In that day, you will ask in my name and I do not say to
you that I will request of the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you because
you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. Father, in Jesus
name we come wanting to understand prayer, wanting to understand what Jesus has said
to us today. And Father, my prayer is that we will walk away from here today motivated
to pray, understanding more about why we pray and understanding your call that when we're
in prayer, you draw us closer together. Father, I pray that you'll bless this text in our
lives in Jesus name, amen. Please be seated if you would. Man, I've been loving this series,
just absolutely love what we're learning about the Holy Spirit, love what we're learning
about prayer. In the middle of all of these statements about prayer, you're going to find
one line that comes up over and over and over. It's almost unbelievable in its promise. I
mean, it's almost beyond what we can imagine. And sometimes our imagination does run away
with us when it comes to this prayer, this line that Jesus shared with us. But I want
to bring it up. I want to clarify what he said. I want to clarify the power of this
statement. Here's what he said. He said, ask and you will receive. Ask and you will receive.
In essence, Jesus says this in John 14, 15, and 16, but Matthew records Jesus saying
this in Matthew chapter 7 as well. Knock and it'll be opened to you. Seek and you'll find.
Ask and it shall be given to you. These words about asking the Father for something are
pretty powerful. And I think we all know this. We know we need God to be at work in our life
and we desperately want to see him answer our prayer. So here's this statement Jesus
makes that we need to understand ask and you will receive. Now when I get down to these
last few verses of John chapter 16, having walked through 14, 15, and 16, I'm drawing
this conclusion that I want you to see and that is that Jesus makes it clear that the
two things most necessary for our success as followers in Christ are the presence of
the Holy Spirit and prayer. You cannot do the Christian life without the presence of
the Holy Spirit. Jesus never said we could, by the way. He never said that you're supposed
to live the Christian life in your own power. You can't do it. He never said you could.
But he will do it. He always said he would. That's an old line by a guy named Major Ian
Thomas. So the Holy Spirit is indispensable to you living the life Christ has called you
to and I want you to see with Jesus' words today so is prayer. These are the two things
that are indispensable. Now I think that's a big statement because sometimes we forget
about the Holy Spirit. We forget about his presence. We forget about his power. We forget
about what he's doing in our lives. Sometimes we're not even aware that we're indwelt by
the Holy Spirit. That's a problem when we get to struggling in the Christian life. And
sometimes it seems we forget about prayer. We don't find ourselves motivated to prayer
or we're confused by prayer or for some reason we're frustrated when we don't get an answer
to a prayer. And so the two things most necessary, the Holy Spirit and prayer, we back off from
from time to time. No wonder sometimes we fail. But Jesus said these two things are
available for you. One has been given to you, the Holy Spirit. The other is something you
are to do and that's prayer. All right? So if you can keep that in your mind today as
we walk through this, the Holy Spirit's been given to you. Every believer has the presence
of the Holy Spirit in their life and prayer is something that they're given the opportunity
to do. You need to step forth. You need to pray to activate all that God said for you
to do. And I know some of us will say what I say and that is I don't understand fully
how prayer works. Anybody ever said that? I don't fully understand how prayer works.
If you don't have your hand up, then I want to talk to you after the service because if
you understand fully how prayer works, you'll be about the only person in the room that
does. I don't understand fully how prayer works. I can't easily explain why a sovereign
God who knows everything from eternity past to eternity future, every need I'll ever have,
I can't always explain how he requires me to ask before he answers the prayer of something
I need. I can't explain exactly how that works. Vance Habner years ago said I can't explain
electricity but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit in the dark until I do figure it out.
He's got a great point. We're called to pray even though we don't comprehend and even though
we're not fully aware of how it works and why God does it just that way. And my encouragement
to you today is even if you don't fully understand it, even if you misunderstand some aspect
of prayer, don't put it on the shelf. Quite the opposite of that. Exercise the prayer
that God has caused you to pray and watch God work in your life in a way that he would
not work otherwise. So Jesus gives us some principles I'm going to give you today out
of the verses that we read. There are four of them in all. First of all, Jesus is telling
us that we pray with attitude. Pray with attitude. Now I want you to read what it says there
in verse 23. We're going to walk through this phrase by phrase. Truly, truly I say to you,
if you ask the Father, if you ask the Father. Now when I say pray with attitude, I don't
mean what people often mean when they say do it with attitude. Sometimes when we say
they have an attitude, we're describing someone that's got a chip on their shoulder or in
some way they're kind of snarky, they have an attitude about them. I'm not talking about
that. I'm talking about having the proper attitude in prayer. I'm talking about having
the correct posture in prayer. Not so much about whether we're on our knees or on our
face, but have the right heart mentality, the perspective of prayer. You say, well where
does it say that? Well the word for ask is a very definite word that describes prayer.
It describes someone of lesser rank asking someone of greater rank for something that
they need. In other words, Jesus positions prayer as not you talking to someone else
as you would talk to an equal, but talking to someone that has greater rank than you.
In other words, Jesus, if I could just cut to the case, says just keep in mind you're
praying to the most high God. But I'm telling you that you can do that. You can pray to
the most high God. And if I were to word this in such a way to describe and summarize it,
we're given the privilege of asking the most high God to meet our need. The most high God.
You ever made a phone call about something that you needed service for and someone that
took the phone call wasn't giving you answers, you wanted to ask for their manager, and maybe
even their manager came on the phone and they didn't do a good job of it either, and you
want to go to the top of the company. Let me talk to the president of the company. Listen,
you're talking to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords when you pray. You can't get
any higher authority than that. So Jesus is telling us that we need to keep in mind that
he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords when we pray and to pray with the attitude
that reflects that. Did you know that your concept of who God is flavors how you pray?
If you see him as an equal, then you pray as though you're talking to someone that's
an equal. If you see him as a benevolent grandfather, so to speak, then you'll appeal to him like
he would a benevolent grandfather. If you think he's a divine Amazon representative,
you're going to be placing your orders like he would with Amazon. But we're not told to
do any of those things. Instead, we're to realize that we are a person of lesser rank
asking someone who is of greater rank for what all we need. So that means when it comes
to prayer, I can't ask flippantly or arrogantly with a prideful heart. That means when I pray,
I can't demand things of God with an angry heart. That means that when I pray, I can't
presume upon him or manipulate him with a selfish heart. And I would say we've probably
all been guilty of some of those things. But instead of all that, prayer moments are holy
moments. You and I have the privilege of talking to the most high God and it's a holy moment
when we exercise that activity of prayer. Do you remember the man Moses after he'd wandered
in the backside of the desert for 40 years and he encounters this burning bush that God
had set on fire? It wasn't being consumed, but it was there to get Moses' attention.
Do you remember what God said to Moses when he approached to see it closer? He said, Moses,
take your shoes off because the ground you're standing on is what? It's holy ground. Prayer
moments are holy moments. And as Moses began to listen, God began to identify himself.
Moses, I just want you to understand who it is that's talking to you from this burning
bush. And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob. That's in Exodus chapter three, verse six. In other words, Moses, you
need to have no question about who you're talking to right now. And Moses had the appropriate
response, if you read on, Moses falls on his face because he's struck by awe of the fact
that he's in the presence of God. Now I want you to remind you today, as casually as we
sometimes pray, just remember, pray with the right attitude. Pray with the attitude that
reminds you of who God is and reminds you of who you are. And I love this Moses and
the burning bush story because this two-way conversation actually unfolds. God is speaking
to Moses, but once Moses has gained some of his composure, he has some questions for God.
Who am I to go back to Egypt? What should I say? What will I do if they do this? What
will I do if they do that? And the interesting thing is, the God of all creation gives him
an answer to every question he has. He recognizes who he's talking to, the most high God, and
he's able to say, here's what I need, here's the question I have, and God speaks to him
and answers the question. You know the story of the Exodus, God uses Moses to go back and
set his people free. So I want you to pray with attitude, Jesus says. I want you to understand
the proper relationship between yourself and the one you're praying to. And that really
means the big question is not why should I pray, but why would I not pray if I'm given
that amazing opportunity to talk to the God of the universe? Why would I not do that?
When I was a young pastor just at a seminary, I was pastoring a church in Oklahoma, kind
of a small church, and our deacons, we didn't have many rooms in the building, we had a
worship center and a few rooms, but we met as deacons in the worship center when nobody
else was in there, and they sat in the choir off, and I would sit on the stage, or stand
on the stage and kind of lead them, and I remember one night we were having a prayer
meeting, God was doing some great things, and I remember being in a prayer meeting,
and I'll never forget it as long as I live, I was praying out loud at that moment, and
I just began to articulate, God you are a great God, a great King beyond all of the
earth, and you stand in power and in majesty, and as I was saying those words, all of a
sudden it hit me that that really is who He is, and they ceased becoming just words that
I had read off the page, and my awareness of the power and the presence of God was very
real, and I did what Moses did, not intentionally, but I just got down on my knees and got down
on my face and just went silent for a few moments, and I know those deacons were going,
what have we done, we've called this guy here, and he's fallen on his face in prayer.
Now that doesn't happen all the time in prayer, but you'll never forget it when it does.
When God impresses upon you how big He is, how great He is, how powerful He is, how able
He is, all of a sudden you realize this is not conversation with a wall or a ceiling
or with another person, this is conversation with the Most High God. Pray with attitude,
Jesus says. Then He tells us to pray with alignment. I like that word alignment because
it tells us a great deal about what it means to pray in the name of Jesus. Notice what
it says in verse 23 as He goes on, truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the Father,
you see the next three words, in my name. When you hear people pray today, they pray
in the name of Jesus. And you hear me pray, I'll pray in the name of Jesus. I just need
you to know today, and Jesus wants us to know, these words help us define that this is not
a holy password. It's not a holy password. It's not just a name we throw out there in
order to gain entrance to the throne room of God. There's all the work that Jesus did
behind that, there's the blood He shed on the cross, there is His death, His burial
resurrection, all that is involved in that, and much, much more, which I'll explain in
just a second, but first, it's not a password. When you say the name of Jesus, don't say
it the same way you say any other name in prayer. You remember what it meant in the
old days, you knock on a door, somebody open the door or the peephole or the window to
the door and say, what's the password? Have you ever seen a movie like that? And then
they have to have some magic word that opens the door, some agreed upon descriptor word
that says, okay, you can gain entry here. You have passwords in everything you do online.
You have everything in your email, you have a password. On your apps, you have a password.
You have passwords for your passwords. I have a note on my iPhone that has all the passwords
that I have in every app I use, in every banking app, in every church app even, I've got passwords
for that app. If I lose my special, special notes on iPhone with all the list of passwords,
then I'll never get in anywhere. Passwords are important. But Jesus is not a password.
That's not what Jesus is talking about. Even though he says it simply, those disciples
understood it differently than we understand it today. Let me just say, I've heard people
say and pray some crazy things in the name of Jesus. It just shows me they don't have
any idea what Jesus meant here because it's not a password. And that's why they would
pray crazy things because they think it is a password. Okay? So I want you to know, we
can't do anything else in Jesus' name as a password. I can't lie in Jesus' name. I can't
steal in Jesus' name. I can't cuss in Jesus' name. Oh wait, some people do that, don't
they? I can't pray in Jesus' name as a password. Now it's important that Jesus says this six
times throughout these texts, which we'll look at in just a few moments. But what Jesus
is saying is this. He is reminding us that the Father will answer prayer that's in alignment,
prayer that's consistent with Jesus' ways and words, prayer that is offered as a representative
of Christ on earth, which is what we're called to do, a prayer that is in alignment with
the Father. You say, well, all of a sudden that gets real complicated. But actually,
it doesn't get real complicated. It just helps us understand that the name of Jesus is not
a password for anything. I want you to go back to John chapter 14 and look with me at
several verses just reminding you of what Jesus had said. John chapter 14, go back in
your Bibles to verse 13. Jesus said, whatever you ask in my name, that will I do so that
the Father may be glorified in the Son. Look at verse 14. If you ask anything in my name,
I will do it. If you go to chapter 15, you see it again. Verse 16, you did not choose
me but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your
fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to
you. And then look in chapter 16, which is the passage we just read. Verse 23, in that
day you will not question me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the
Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you. Then verse 24, until now you've
asked for nothing in my name, ask and you will receive. And then verse 26, in that day
you will ask in my name. So Jesus really wants us to understand this. And there is power
in the name of Jesus but this is not a password. He wants us to pray in alignment with all
that he's taught us, all that he's saved us from. Let me verbalize what I believe this
text is telling us. It's saying I want my life and the things I'm asking to honor him.
I want my life and the things that I'm asking to honor Christ, to honor God. It means that
I am aligning myself as best I know how with Jesus Christ himself so that when I ask the
Father in his name it's in full alignment with him. Jesus, every prayer Jesus prayed
was answered by the Father perfectly. Jesus always did those things that pleased his Father.
That is for us to understand how that works and what this means. I want my life and the
things I'm asking to honor you. Now if you know what that is, pray that. And if you don't
know what that is, ask him to show you. And ask perhaps this way, Lord, your will be done.
Don't you remember when the disciples asked Jesus, teach us how to pray. Jesus taught
them the prayer that we now call the Lord's Prayer, more appropriately probably named
the Disciples Prayer because this is how they would pray. And at the end of that prayer
there's a line that says, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
God, I may not know everything that you want done. I may not have every answer already
in my mind. I don't even know how to pray. But I know this, I want to pray your kingdom
come, your will be done. That's what it means to pray in the name of Jesus. I want my life
to honor you and I want my prayer to honor you. And when we do that, we move into alignment
with God and our prayers become far more powerful. We're asking him for what we know he wants.
In 2004, this church suffered a catastrophic financial disaster that happened in this church
and they were seven plus million dollars in debt with no plan for repayment. And the interim
pastor at the time, a guy named Bill Anderson said, I know what we're going to do. We're
going to pray and ask God to meet his need. And he said, I'm not going to tell you how
to give. I'm not going to tell you what to do. But I am going to tell you what I think
you ought to pray. And he said, I want you to pray these three questions. Number one,
Lord, is this a view? Number two, Lord, what's my part? And number three, Lord, bless your
people as we obey those first two. How many of you were here during that time? Some of
you, many of you were here. It's now called the miracle. I came about halfway into the
miracle. I was called as pastor in 2006 and in 2007 I stood on this stage and we burned
the note, paid everything off. God provided above and beyond and the miracle is still
a find that people still get to. Now 20 years later, yeah, somebody praise the Lord. Millions
of dollars have come through that fund, all going to ministry in varieties of ways. But
the amazing thing about those three prayers were simply this, that the encouragement was
to pray in alignment with Jesus. Don't just pray what you want. Pray, Lord, is this a
view? Lord, what's my part? You tell me what it is. I talked to Bill Anderson weeks ago
as I was going to share this with another group of people and I said, why did you pick
those three prayers? Where did you find them in the scripture? Why did you pick them? He
said, well, I was convinced that if I told people how to give and what to give, it would
never work. And besides, I don't have enough wisdom to do that. But I was convinced that
they would pray to the Father, he would tell them what to do. And they did and he did and
the rest of that is the story called the miracle. And I say, amen. Praying, Lord, I want to
be in alignment and I want to also have my prayers be in alignment are incredibly important
thing to pray. So I want to encourage you in that way. You say, well, now that we're
talking about prayer in the Holy Spirit, what does the Holy Spirit's role in prayer? What
does he have to do with all this? In John 14, 15 and 16, everything we've said about
the Holy Spirit is about him bringing us into alignment with Jesus day in and day out. That
the life he is causing us to live, he's shaping us to live, brings us to a place where that
prayer is in alignment with him. And sometimes it takes a huge work of the Holy Spirit to
get us to the place of surrender where we say, not my will, but your will be done. Most
of you in the room know my story. I tell it from time to time. I lost my hearing as a
young boy when I was just short of six years of age and incredibly high fever, very sick,
and lost 95% of my hearing. I'd already learned to speak so I could speak, but from that moment
forward, my world went silent and it took a while for my parents to figure all that
out and what happened to me. And they thought I was a disobedient child. I was not disobedient
at all. I just couldn't hear them. You've heard that before. As a teenager, I was angry
at God. God, I prayed that you would restore my hearing. God, I don't understand why I
have a hearing impairment. Lord, nobody else I know has this problem. My world was very
small obviously. Lord, why won't you change this? I had people praying for me that I trusted
far more than I trusted myself to pray wisely. I'd been surrounded by prayer with elders
and leaders in churches hands on, anointing with oil. Lord, heal this young man. Give
him his hearing back. And God never did restore my hearing during those years. At some point
at the early 20s stage in college, I began to pray differently. I began to pray instead
of Lord, heal me of my hearing loss, I began to say Lord, use my hearing loss in any way
you want and then restore it whenever you're done. And what happened was this. God changed
my prayer request because He changed my heart. He changed my prayer request because He brought
me to the place of saying, all right, if you're not going to do that, then obviously I'm not
praying in the right direction. Whatever you're going to do, do that. And now I look back
on my life and realize God has used that in a powerful way. One day I'll hear perfectly
in heaven or sometime before, but until then I'm content to not hear 95% of the things
that I don't need to hear anyway. As a pastor, I don't hear 95% of the criticism directed
my way and that's fine. You know, Paul has a similar experience where he said about the
thorn in the flesh. He said concerning this, I intruded the Lord three times that He would
remove it and He never did. Instead in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9, Paul said, he has said
to me, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly
therefore I will boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ might dwell in
me. And then he goes on and says, when I am weak, He is strong. Now Paul began by praying
for that thorn in the flesh to go away. He ended by saying, I'm going to boast about
what God is doing through that thorn in the flesh. The Holy Spirit changed his heart and
allowed him to pray in alignment with what God's will was for his life. So pray this
way. When you pray in the name of Jesus, pray that you want your life and the things that
you're asking for to honor Him. That's how sometimes prayer changes us. And then Jesus
says pray with authority. Pray with authority. He says in verse 24, until now you have asked
for nothing in my name, ask and you will receive. Now Jesus repeats this command several times
and does it with a very strong form of the verb. It's what we would call present imperative
mood. And all you need to know about that is, it's an imperative direct strong command.
Jesus says, this is how it's going to work. You're going to ask the Father and He's going
to respond to your prayers. Now before that moment, the disciples had just appealed to
Jesus standing right next to them and Jesus prayed on their behalf. And they were pretty
trusting of Jesus' prayers and what Jesus said. And now Jesus is saying, that's not
the way it's going to be. When I leave, I'm commanding you to do the asking. So you ask
and you have all the authority that I've given you to ask the Father for this to take place.
When you pray, when you ask the Father for whatever it is you ask, you have the authority
of Christ behind you and you can literally say, Father, I'm coming to you because your
son Jesus told me to bring this before you. You have authority when you pray. Not to command
God, not to command the Father at all, but you have the authority and the license and
the right given to you by Jesus the Son to come to the Father day in and day out. You
say, why do you emphasize that so much? Because sometimes we feel pretty unworthy to pray.
Sometimes we feel pretty ill informed to pray. We don't know what we ought to say. We don't
feel like we've had a good week, so how can we pray and ask the Father anything? But Jesus
says, no, you have authority based on the fact that I've told you to take it to the
Father yourself. Because I'm going to be with the Father. And now the Holy Spirit is inside
you. Ron Dunn is one of my favorite preachers of all time, a great author as well. He writes
a great book called Don't Just Stand There, Pray Something. Wrote it many decades ago,
still an awesome book. He tells the story of taking his three children to the county
fair. If you know what a county fair is, you know that sometimes they make you buy a big
round, a real roll of tickets and you get in the ride with the ticket. So Ron had his
three children with him and he had the roll of tickets and they were at the Ferris wheel
and the kids wanted to ride it. So one walked by him and he gave the first one a ticket,
another walked by, he gave the second a ticket, the third one walked by, he gave that third
child a ticket. And then another young boy walked by, he had never seen him before with
his hand out. And he looked at the boy and said, I have no idea who you are. And he said,
I'm friends with your son. And at that point the son turned around and said, Dad, he's
with me, can he get into? And Ron said, what do you think I did? He said, I pulled another
ticket off and gave it to him because he was coming in under the authority of my son. And
he gives that little story as an illustration of the fact that we have authority to ask
the father for what's going on in our lives. We have the authority to say, I need something
from you and your son has given me the authority to ask you. That's a big deal. You can ask
in the name of Jesus. When you pray to the father, you do it in the authority given to
you by the son, Jesus Christ. Now why does Jesus make this such a big deal? Because there
are some things God will do if we ask that he will not do if we don't ask. And this is
what's hard to understand. And the sovereignty of God, why is it if he knows all these things,
if he takes care of all of our needs, that he won't do some things if we don't ask, but
he will do them if we ask. Say, pastor, what's the answer to that? And I'll say, I don't
know. But I do know that's the way he's decided to act on the basis of our prayers. Jesus
said it, the Bible says it over and over. So pray. You have the authority to pray, to
go before God. You should have the motivation to do it as well. Think about it like this.
There's the universal thing that God has called us to do about everything. Many of those things
we can't do anything else about, but he's commanded us. He's given us the authority
to pray. Pray as the first thing you do because it should be the first thing you do and pray
because it's the best thing you do. And it is the best thing you do every time. Instead
of worrying about things, instead of the panic that we're often stricken with, instead of
being overcome with anxiety and fear and everything else that happens, why don't we direct our
prayers to God first and see it as the best way to start to wrestle with the problem?
I love what it says by Paul in Philippians chapter four. He said exactly what I've been
talking about here. He said, be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And then what it says
in the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus. I've been anxious about things before that I couldn't do anything about at all.
I could do absolutely nothing but pray. And when I'm in that spot, prayer will be enough
because if God has not given me the equipping to do anything else about it, then I can't
do anything, but I can pray in the authority and in the name of Jesus Christ and I should
pray in that way. Pray. I may not have the authority over the will of others, but I have
been given the authority to pray. I may not have authority to change circumstances, but
I have been given the authority to pray. I may not have the authority to stop the wars
that are going on in interesting places in the world, but I do have the authority to
pray, so I need to pray. Sometimes God will remind me of those promises and those encouragements
to pray. Back in 2006 or 2007, something like that, our oldest daughter who was approaching
30 years of age was dating a guy and she lived in Chicago at the time and we didn't know
him, but we had a bad feeling about it. We just didn't like what we'd heard. Now that
may be true of every parent, every circumstance, but we felt pretty strongly about it. And
she called us one day and said, you know, I'm going on a trip with this guy. We're going
to Cabo western part of Mexico down south of Baja California and we felt even worse
about that. And so in appealing to her, we said, hey, we've got our reasons and tried
to kind of help her understand what our reasons were and she insisted, no, we're going to
go. And so we looked at each other and said, I guess we can pray. And sometimes when we
say those kinds of things, it's almost like a resignation. Well, all else has failed,
so I guess we pray, right? But that should have been the first thing and the best thing
that we did. So we prayed. About a week before the trip, she called us and she said, hey,
we're not going down on that trip. And we were celebrating on the other end of that
phone, but we waited long enough to find out what she said about it. Well, why is that,
John? And she said, well, strange thing, a hurricane came up and is blowing in towards
the resort we were going to. And so now we're not going because of the hurricane. And I
said, oh, okay. She said, dad, do you know what the name of the hurricane is? And I said,
no. She said, hurricane John. I'm not sure if you're telling you that that hurricane
was named after me at all, but you'd have a hard time convincing me that that was just
a coincidence. Sometimes the first thing and the best thing is pray. And you miss it when
you don't pray. You know, I may not have authority over winds and waves, but I have authority
to pray to the one who does have authority over winds and waves. And so do you. What
an incredible opportunity Jesus is giving us. And there's something else that happens
when we come to him in those moments where we're falling apart, we don't know what to
do and we begin to pray. Something else happens and what happens is he becomes very real to
you. All of a sudden he's not as distant, he's not as far off. All of a sudden you have
given him your heart and your life and your words and your prayer and he becomes real
to you. We have a new granddaughter and my son and daughter-in-law called us not too
long ago and said Sloan has a fever and we're kind of concerned about her. Went to the emergency
room and all the tests they were doing, they wanted to do a spinal tap. And that's one
of the most horrifying things a parent hears about. And so they were going to do the spinal
tap, long story short it all worked out just fine. She didn't have what they were looking
for so she was well within a day or two. But that important moment where my son had to
step into that gap and say there's nothing I can do for her but pray. And my wife and
I looked at each other, we've been there many times before. We've had the same kind of things
done for our children. There's nothing we can do but pray. And in those moments we were
drawn closer together and closer to God. You ever wonder that maybe God allows you to go
through things like that where there's nothing you can do but pray to draw you closer to
him and that's a good thing if you'll have it, if you'll have it. So Jesus says pray
with authority. You have that authority to go to him and come to him and this is the
way it works so pray. Then finally, and I almost missed this and I don't want you to
miss it, pray with assurance. Pray with assurance. Now look very carefully at that last line
there. In that day you will ask in my name and then the strange wording that Jesus gives
us, I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf. Leading after
that moment Jesus has been requesting the Father on their behalf but now he says I'm
not going to tell you that. I'm not going to tell you I'm going to ask the Father on
your behalf. Now read the next line. For the Father himself loves you. These years you've
been walking with me, you've just trusted that the Father loves you because I've been
telling you that. I've been showing you that. I'm going to show you that in an ultimate
way when I go to the cross. But I'm not going to tell you that I'm going to ask the Father
on your behalf anymore and the reason is because you're going to become acutely aware that
the Father himself loves you just as he loves me. If that doesn't motivate you to prayer
I don't know if there is anything that will. Jesus is saying in essence the Father himself
loves you, it's not just me, it's the Father. He loves you to ask, ask, go to him. And the
reason I'm so surprised to read this is because I missed it in all the other places where
Jesus said it. And maybe we all need to be reminded, maybe we all need to refresh our
course on what Jesus said because when we pray we often ask God do you even know, do
you even care, are you even hearing what I say? And Jesus has laid the groundwork for
this statement right here. Let me just read a few verses. Matthew chapter 6 verse 32,
for the Gentiles eagerly seek after these things. But your heavenly Father knows that
you need all these things but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness alignment and
all these things shall be added to you. He knows. Jesus said in Matthew 7, if you then
being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly
Father give what is good to those that ask him? He knows, he's willing. Romans 8, 32,
the apostle Paul said this, he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for
us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things, man? It's all through
the Bible. And then the end here, until now you've asked for nothing in my name, ask and
you will receive so that your joy may be made full. And that's the promise you have from
God the Father. Maybe we'll find more joy than we have right now when we learn to pray
the way Jesus said to pray. That maybe is kind of an angle. You will have more joy when
you pray the way Jesus said to pray. You know, many of us in this room know what it's like
to be lonely. My great-great-grandmother was a woman that prayed for her family in a very
devoted way. And we don't know how many times she read through the Bible but it's likely
to be 50 times or more in the last 10 years of her life. In the last few years she was
reading through about five times a year. A godly woman, a prayerful woman, all alone
by the time she died. She died when I was about 10 years of age. I met her one time.
But her reputation preceded her and remains as a woman of prayer. And the word about her
was that even though there was no one else around her in her latter years, she was by
herself a lot but that she was never lonely. Alone but never lonely. And the reason she
was alone is because of her age and where she lived. But the reason she was never lonely
is because she knew what it meant to have a life of prayer with a father who loved him
herself, loved her himself. There are those of us in this room today that are sometimes
lonely. Sometimes we're all by ourselves and we really feel we're lonely but I have to
tell you today, you're never alone, never fully alone. You have a father that knows
you, who loves you, and he loves you just like Jesus loved his disciples and loved you
enough to dial him across. Pray, ask, walk with him in that command. Just a few moments
I want to offer you two or three invitations. Number one, I'm going to close us in prayer
and we'll have our decision stations open. It may be today that you realize, you know,
I don't really have that kind of a relationship with God and I'm not really sure about what
it means to put my faith and trust in Jesus. We want to talk to you about that. We'd love
to have a Q&A, a question and answer time with you. And our decision stations are open
at either side at the back of the worship center. As you leave today, stop by and talk
with one of those individuals who can't wait to share with you the good news of what it
means to have a relationship with Christ. I'm also going to invite you, if you're a
guest, to come to guest reception center. It's right outside the center exit door and
across the hallway, a glassed in room. I'll be in there to answer some questions, talk
to you a little bit about Cross City Church. And in that room, if you're a first time guest
or a guest that comes to guest reception, I have some free food truck coupons. I mean,
the only thing better than food trucks is a coupon for the food truck, right? So you
get all the food you want to eat. And our encouragement to you is to come and hang out,
meet some of our people and just get to know Cross City Church a little bit. And thirdly,
I want to ask you to invite someone to come with you next week. One of the most important
things we can do is invite people to the gathering where God's people meet so they can hear the
good news of the gospel and have an opportunity to see their lives change as well. Would you
stand with me as we have a word of prayer?
Father, I am so grateful today for these in this room and the opportunity we've had to
worship you, to dedicate families, to look at prayer. Father, as we leave today, I ask
you, Lord, that you would keep reminders in our minds and heart about prayer, that we
would be encouraged to pray and to trust you with what you'll do through those commands
to pray. For those that don't know if they have a relationship with you or not, Lord,
help them be drawn to getting the answer to that question today. It's so important for
us to have eternal life and we find it only in you, Jesus. So today, direct us as we leave.
Help us walk with you in these days ahead in Jesus' name. Amen. You're dismissed and
God bless.