Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton,
the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship,
Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're
here. Hey everybody, welcome back to the sanctuary.
It's great to have you with us as always. So
I'm going to tell you what, I'm just going back
and I'm going back through my notes and everything
and re -recording the message from Sunday because
Well, frankly, the way the audio is coming through
on the recording, as I've been going back and
listening. I just don't feel it's quite up to
par. So until it is, I'm just going to keep re
-recording. If things do sound good or whatever,
then I'll go ahead and just load it up from our
live stream. But otherwise, you're going to hear
a little bit more of this. And quite honest,
as I've said in the past, I like this. I like
sitting down, having a little bit of peace and
quiet around me, grabbing my cup of coffee and
talking to you. Now, at Cross Christian Fellowship
Route 66, we are a prayerful... That is a mouthful,
isn't it? Prayerful church. Say that 10 times
real fast. Now, prayer is our direct line of
communication with God. And really, it's our
focus today as we're going to look at some important
principles of prayer. Now, this is important
because far too many people out there are...
Very much like that song by Jelly Roll, right?
And they only try to go to God when they need
or want something. However, that's not the way
it's supposed to work. You know, you think about
the relationships we have. We all know that one
person who comes around and the only time they
do it is when they need something. And the first
thing that comes to mind is, oh man, not this
guy again. What does he want now, right? We all
know that person. As soon as we hear their voice,
sometimes that's really all that we need. We
get irritated. We get frustrated. We get annoyed.
I'm the first to say, there's that one person
who's coming down the hall, and as soon as I
hear their voice, I'm just sitting there like,
oh, what do they want now? We all have those
moments. In the Marine Corps, it's one of those
moments where we would say, you want to throat
punch somebody? Let's be honest. I mean, that's
just the way it is. And usually when it happens,
it's because we don't have the relationship with
them that we should have. Maybe we do have a
relationship, but it's not a good one. So with
that said, let's turn to our first verse of the
day. Our first piece of scripture comes from
John 9, verse 31. So in John chapter 9, Verse
31, the word says, Now we know that God does
not hear sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper
of God and does his will, he hears them. You
know, people want to live worldly, sinful lives,
right? They just want very selfish lives. But
then something happens and they expect God to
just drop what he's doing and listen to them
on a dime and just give them. Whatever it is
that they're asking for. Unfortunately, it does
not work that way. If you do not truly repent
of your sins and establish a relationship with
Jesus, guess what? He's not going to listen to
you. You want to get right with him? It's easy.
It's real simple to do. Repent of your sin. That
means change. Repentance is actual change. Not
just, oh, I'm sorry. Sorry doesn't cut it. You
have to actually change and break free of that
sin. Turn your life around, whatever it is that
you're doing. And you have to profess Him as
your Lord and Savior. And turn to Him for everything
in your life and prayer. Is that any different
from how we react? There's that person that comes
around and it's only when they need something.
It's like, no, go away. Get away from me. Get
out of this room. Go apologize to the trees for
wasting their oxygen. That's the attitude we
all have. Granted, ours is much more bitter than
that of Jesus. Jesus is just like, no, when you're
ready to repent, come back. So we're a little
bit more petty, if we're honest about it. But
Jesus is not petty. He just wants us to make
that honest of goodness change. Come to him and
repent of our sin. Now, I'd like you to open
your Bibles and turn with me. And this is going
to be the meat and potatoes of what we're going
through today in Romans 8. So in Romans 8, specifically,
we're looking at verses 26 through 29. So Romans
8, 26 through 29. In Romans 8, verses 26 -29,
the word says, Likewise, the Spirit also helps
in our weaknesses, for we do not know what we
should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit himself
makes intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered. Now, he who searches the hearts
knows what the mind of the Spirit is. Because
he makes intercession for the saints according
to the will of God. And we know that all things
work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are the called according to his
purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined
to be. Alright, so we're going to go through
some principles here. Look at these verses. Just
a couple of verses, but there's a lot in there
as you're going to see, and I love that. Principle
1. Really, these first two principles are going
to come from the first verse. Verse 26. So in
Romans 8 .26, the first principle we're going
to pray from is the Holy Spirit helps us to know
how to pray and what to pray for. So if you're
taking notes, the Holy Spirit helps us to know
what to pray for and how to pray. Starting with
verse 26 there, like I said, that's where we're
at. Our real prayer is reflection. of the Holy
Spirit within us. You know, those honest to goodness
prayers, not the just, you know, idle words like,
oh, you know, thank you for this food or any
of that or, you know, that kind of stuff. It's
those legit prayers that we have with things
that are really weighing us down. You know, and
they reflect, again, they reflect our relationship
with Jesus and they reflect the Holy Spirit who
fills us. In order to do that, In order to do
that, we have to deny the things of the world.
It doesn't matter how tempting they may be. We
have to deny them. The Holy Spirit is the one
in the back of your ear. He's like that little
voice that's always nagging at you. You shouldn't
do that. You shouldn't do this. You know that's
wrong. You know that's going to hurt their feelings.
You know that's going to upset this person. You
know that isn't the way you're supposed to be
doing it. Kind of like a conscience, I guess,
would be the best way to put it, right? He's
not our conscience. He's separate. But, I mean,
it's the same thing. He's that voice, like Jiminy
Cricket, right? With Pinocchio, I'm a real boy.
No, you're not. Pinocchio, go chill out, sit
down, or I'll turn you into kindling, right?
No. That's how the Holy Spirit is for us, though.
He kind of is. He's that voice of reason. However,
we don't go to him like we should. We don't listen
to him like we should. We don't talk to him like
we should. And because of that, we're not able
to get that spiritual nourishment that we need
in our lives. And as a result, what happens?
We start going to our own selfish, sinful desires
and we just start devouring. That sinful, guilty
pleasure, right? Whatever it is, whether it's
alcohol, gambling, whatever, you know, and that's
just how we are, you know, because all of a sudden,
you know, we find, hey, there's this hole here.
It's meant to be filled by the Holy Spirit, but
we're pushing him out and we're feeling unfulfilled.
It needs to be filled. So what do we do? We fill
it with sin. You know, we just keep pushing the
Holy Spirit out, which is not the right thing.
That's not what brings us into that connection
with him. So, you know, the other way of looking
at this, if we turn to Galatians chapter 5, verses
19 through 21, again, that's Galatians 5, 19
through 21, the word tells us, Now the works
of the flesh are evident, which are adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry,
sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts
of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
Envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the
like. Of which I tell you beforehand, just as
I also told you in time past, that those who
practice such things will not inherit the kingdom
of God. We cannot live in sin. We cannot live
in the ways of the world and expect God just
to drop everything and give us things. But that's
what we do, right? We act like a bunch of spoiled
brats. Come on, give me. Why won't you give it
to me? Why do you hate me? Right? It's not hate.
It's love. But it's just like that brat throwing
a temper tantrum on the floor at the grocery
store. You got those good parents who aren't
going to give in to it. And God's not going to
give in to us when we're doing the same thing.
However, if we, again, repent of our sin, and
have a meaningful relationship with him, not
just a once in a while, you know, hey, how you
doing? Like actual relationship, things change.
Just like our relationship, you know, when we
have that with other people, that person only
comes around when they want something, things
change with them too, right? You know, you can
start having a great friendship and they don't
just come around when they need something or
want something. They actually just start coming
around for other things, you know, because friendship
and love and all that kind of stuff. But like
I said, things change when we repent of our sin
and we come to God, we come to Christ, we have
that relationship with Him. And it's beautiful
because when we do that, God has promised to
produce a great work in you. And I mean absolutely
amazing things. He will do things with you you
never ever thought he would be doing. He will
take you places you never ever thought you would
go. Absolutely incredible, beautiful, wonderful,
just fantastic things, right? Absolutely fantabulous.
And the beauty of it is he's not going to condemn
you because of your weaknesses. He's not going
to condemn you because of the things you've done
in the past. If you repent and you condemn, guess
what? You're washed by the blood of Christ. You're
forgiven. Instead of condemning you, what he's
going to do is he's going to reach out his hand
and he's going to lift you up. Your life will
suddenly have so much more meaning and you will
find happiness in places you never thought you
would. That's because when we're in a relationship
with Christ, and we're filled with the Holy Spirit,
we start falling more in alignment with what
God wants. We fall into alignment with the will
of God. Therefore, our prayers are more in alignment
with what He wants for us. It's just like Jesus
when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane before
He was about to be taken away to be tortured
and crucified and everything with the sham of
a trial. If He could have His prayer, what did
He pray for? God, or Father, if it's in your
will, take this cup from me. Because even he
realized, hey, the human part of me is praying
right now, and this might not be in the will
of God. Right? As a son praying to the Father.
So the better the relationship we have with Jesus,
the more in alignment we get or become, and the
more you start to see answers coming from your
prayers. Again, it's all because we're praying
for the things that are in His will and less
of our will. Which brings me to the next point.
And again, we're still in Romans 8, verse 26
here. Principle number two. So principle number
two is the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. That's
right. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us. He
acts on our behalf. is constantly at work for
us in our best interest, both here in our earthly
realm and in the spiritual realm. And this is
really important to know. This is good stuff.
Because as believers, things happen in life and
we still need assurances. And it's because of
the things that we're going to suffer. We're
going to suffer. Jesus even warned us. Just because
we come to him doesn't mean life is going to
be all... A bed of roses and candy and all the
good stuff. No. He warned us. Life's going to
be tough. We're going to face trials. We're going
to face tribulations. We're going to have pain.
We're going to have losses. And so much more.
Life is hard. It's tough. And our endurance,
it's going to be just downright stretched out,
beaten, worn. tested, and exhausted at times.
Utterly just exhausted. Those times when you
just can't pick up your feet and keep going.
You need help. And Jesus is there to help you.
Which is why in John 14, verse 26, Jesus said,
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, he will teach you. All
things. And bring to your remembrance all things
that I said to you. So again, Jesus is helping
us. The Holy Spirit is helping us. So when the
Holy Spirit is working on our behalf, this is
something that should bring us all a lot of comfort.
It should bring us a great comfort. Kind of like
a weighted blanket and you're just like, oh.
We should find that comfort in the reminder that
we're not... alone we don't have to do everything
by ourselves we're not being left to our own
devices because if we we face facts when we're
left to our own devices and we try to do things
on our own we just make a huge mess i do it you
do it everybody does it um so you know instead
we turn to the holy spirit we trust in him and
we follow him and things turn out so much better
this that's why Paul encourages us here as believers
to go to the Holy Spirit, to go to Christ. Sometimes
the other part that's here is we just don't have
the words. We are left utterly speechless. And
that's the part that the Holy Spirit's talking
about here too. There are those times when it's
easy to talk and you just go da -da -da -da -da
-da -da -da. And then there's other times where
words just utterly elude you, which is going
to bring us to our next principle as we move
from verse 26 into verse 27. All right. So principle
three is coming to us from Romans 8, verse 27.
And that principle is God hears our hearts more
than our words. So God hears our hearts more
than our words. You know, like I said, sometimes
we just don't know what to say. Try, try, try
as we might. It just doesn't happen. Sometimes
our thoughts and our words are kind of like my
desk here at home and just an utter mess, right?
A total disaster, right? Like you look at it,
like, you know, my wife looks at it and she's
just like, really? How do you find anything in
there? And I'm like, oh, it's a system. It's
a system. Really? Really? It's like, yes. It
might take me a few minutes, but yes. The beauty
of this is God continues to work for us even
when we don't know how to verbalize things. And
that's because the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's
right there close to our heart. He hears and
knows what's on our heart. I want to share with
you a little bit about a Christian musician from
back in the 90s. You may have heard of him. You
may not have. Unfortunately, he was involved
in a tragic accident and lost his life back in
the late 90s. But you may recall the name of
Rich Mullins. He had some big hits back then.
So during one of his concerts, Rich made some
interesting comments about how we get caught
up in our words when it comes to God. And here's
what he said. We often try to impress God with
all the right words. You don't have to impress
God because he's already knocked out by you.
He already loves you more than you can imagine.
He continued on saying, Good taste is the enemy
of great art. Good taste has all to do with being
cultured and being refined. If art has to do
with anything, it has to do with being human.
One of the reasons I love the Bible is because
the humans in the Bible are not very refined.
And he went on to talk about how when he was
a teenager and dealing with depression and that
kind of stuff, people would try to encourage
him by saying things like, oh, God loves you.
And much like teenagers, myself included at the
time, he'd respond as a typical teenager saying,
you know what, that just proves he doesn't have
any taste. And so, you know, with that, Mullins
went in and he said, and I don't think he does.
Thank God for that. Because God takes the junk
in our lives and he makes the greatest art in
the world out of it. If he was cultured, if he
was as civilized as most Christian people wish
he was, he would be utterly useless to Christianity.
Amen, right? Amen. So because of he that's in
you, God knows exactly what's in your heart,
what it's crying out for, what it desires, what
it needs, what it's starving for. And he can
and he does take that pain and that suffering
and he uses it for good. As the word says, the
Lord took what you meant for evil and he used
it for good. And he does. He uses it to bring
about change. He uses it to mold you and your
character. And what he does is he helps us to
bring this more into alignment with the Holy
Spirit and help us to become more Christ -like
because we're all called to be more Christ -like.
So when we're in that alignment with the Holy
Spirit and when we're praying for those things
in God's will, the Holy Spirit's right there
praying with you. He's right there praying with
you. So you're not alone. Just as Jesus prayed
for us on the cross, the Spirit's with you and
He's praying for you now. So you can say what
you need to say. Have faith. In other words,
trust, because that's what faith is. It's trust
that God can and will take the words that you
have and the words that you don't have and turn
them into something absolutely Wonderful. And
again, it's because the Holy Spirit's right there.
He's praying with you. God already knows what
you need. So if you don't have the words, don't
worry about it. Say what you can. Trust that
God will understand what you're saying and he'll
take care of things. All right, which is going
to bring us to our final principle of the day
here. And we're going to find it in verses 28
and 29. So again, Romans 8 verses 28 and 29 for
our fourth and last principle. And that is prayer
is always answered, but not always answered in
the way that we want. So prayer is always answered,
but not always in the way that we want. God always
answers prayers. Maybe not as fast as we like.
Maybe not in the way that we'd like. Matter of
fact, sometimes what we perceive as an unanswered
prayer is the answer. We're over here and we're
expecting this response over here. And that's
what we're focused on. And we're so focused on
it, we miss the actual answer, which is all the
way over here on the other side. Right? It happens.
I believe it's... Garth Brooks, who sang the
song, said one of God's greatest gifts is unanswered
prayers, right? God is always at work. He's constantly
there. And it was Bill Hybels who actually taught
that God typically is going to answer a prayer
in one of four ways. God's answers come in one
of four ways typically. This is not a comprehensive
list. It's just the most common. Typically, it's
no, slow, Grow or go. So again, that's know,
slow, grow, or go. And we're going to go through
these one by one. So know, meaning that your
request, what you're praying for, is not in alignment
with his will. Remember what I said earlier in
the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was praying and
he asked if it was in the Father's will that
he wouldn't have to go through what was about
to happen to him? So our prayers have to be in
accordance with his will, or kind of like this,
it will fall flat. I lost my place there, but
I'm going to come back to it. It's okay. So slow.
Our next one is slow. Your request isn't God's
will at this time. We have to remember he works
in his perfect time and not our imperfect or
impatient time. So it's not that necessarily
that your request isn't in God's will at all.
It's just not in his will for this time just
yet. You know, oftentimes our timing is imperfect.
It is impatient. Most of the time it's just impatient,
right? It's like, oh, it's my answer and I want
it now. No, slow your roll. So we have to have
trust. When God sends that answer, it's going
to be at the right time. The next one is grow.
Grow, and this is more of what I was thinking
for a moment ago when I kind of lost my track
of thought. Grow, meaning your motives are all
wrong. You're being selfish, in other words,
right? You're not thinking properly. You're wanting
something that goes against God. God's will or
God's characters, more specifically. If we turn
to James 4, verse 3, again, that's James 4, verse
3, the word says, You ask and do not receive
because you ask amiss. that you may spend it
on your pleasures. So we're very selfish, right?
Or we ask for things that are not in God's character.
A prime example, there's that Mel Gibson movie
back in the early 2000s. We were soldiers, right?
And there's a scene where he's trying to comfort
one of his troops and they pray together. And
it starts off, you know, the typical things and
everything. And it's, you know, a good prayer.
And it gets all the way to the end. He shifts
gears and says, oh, but for all those heathens,
just forget their prayers and help us blow as
many of them away as possible. Just blow them
all away is what he's praying for, is to kill
them all. And last I checked, that's not in God's
will. That goes against his will. That goes against
his character because God doesn't want all of
us just to die. He wants all of us to have the
opportunity to come back to Christ and be reunited
with him. So, you know, sometimes it's just a
matter of growing. We need to grow in our relationship.
We need to grow in our understanding of what
God's will really is. Which brings us to the
fourth and final answer that is typically given,
which is go. Go is really easy. Go means your
request is right, your timing is right, your
spiritual condition is right. So the answer,
in other words, is yes. Go for it. Green light.
Punch it. Right? But here's the thing. Don't
get hung up on getting the answer. Because the
answer isn't always going to be what you want
or what you expect it to be. God knew you were
going to make mistakes well before you were born.
But he still chose you. He still... loves you.
He still wants what is best for you, so much
so that he sent his only begotten son to die
on the cross for you, to rise again and to ascend
heaven and is coming back for all who believe
in him. So even when you don't know the best
way to say what's weighing you down, you really
don't know how to put things to words, don't
worry about it. Go to him nonetheless. Go to
him with the words that you do have. Say what
you can say and trust in him. And that's all
that he really needs to be able to bless you.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for
this time and fellowship and worship of you.
We thank you for these simple principles of prayer,
as well as these most basic of answers and how
you typically will answer us. We ask that you
continue to work through us and through the Holy
Spirit and help us to become more like you and
less like the world and continue to teach us
how to... understand your will and what your
will is for our lives and how to apply all this
to our lives so that we could be better ambassadors
for you in this dark world and to carry your
light, your will, and your glory out for others
to see. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Remember, you are loved and you are blessed.
Now go and be the church. Until next time, take
care and God bless.