Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. This is week number five in our
series entitled Powerful. Everybody say powerful.
You can be better now. Say powerful. Powerful
prayer. Powerful prayer. What we're talking about
here is there's a difference between prayer that
is powerful, prayer that has impact, Prayer that
sees results. And a prayer that is powerless.
Unanswered prayer. No results, right? There's
a difference. And as believers, we should seek
to understand what powerful prayer is all about.
And that's what we've been talking about. How
do we see results when we pray? And we looked
at prayer is not talking at God. Even though
a lot of Christians misunderstand and that's
kind of how we treat it. Like, you know, we're
talking at him like I'm talking at you this morning.
It's fellowship with him. It's a conversation,
two -way conversation with a holy God. Amen.
It's not just talking at him. He wants to talk
with you. He wants to spend time with you. To
all those who would turn to him to give him attention,
right? He turns to us. He comes, draws near to
us, right? If we draw near to him. And if we're
communicating with God, I know it's hot in here,
so you got to stay with me. If we're communicating
with God, what should be happening? With a real,
living, holy God? If we're talking with him?
We should expect to hear him. It's as simple.
But for some reason, we just act like prayer
is just, I spout off my grocery list of needs
and I ask you to bless my day and say, all right,
God, bless it. That's good. Amen. And we leave.
When prayer is supposed to be continual communication,
right? But yet we treat it as some kind of limited
time of dedication. That we give him. So we should
expect to hear him. We should expect to be empowered
by him. We should expect that when we are in
prayer, when we're in conversation with him,
we should expect to be challenged a little bit.
Right? Not condemned, right? But be challenged
a little bit. because in those times it helps
us to come up higher when we're challenged. He
calls us to a higher place, right? Also, when
we come to him just as we would a friend, an
earthly friend, when we're with Jesus, we should
expect to be encouraged. When we're talking with
the Father, we should expect encouragement when
we come to him. That's why we cast our cares
onto him, right? And why? Because I'm substituting
my care. I'm substituting those things for the
fulfilling of himself, of the peace of God, of
the joy of God. I cast those things away so he
fills me with his presence. And in his presence,
what? There is freedom. There is victory. There
is liberty. Amen? And when I'm communicating
with him, I should expect to get answers. I should
expect to get direction. And every time we pray
with God, we should leave changed. Every time,
not just sometimes. Because if you're talking
with a holy God who knows everything about anything,
you should leave changed from that experience.
Amen? This is not hard. This is not hard. So
if our prayers are not being answered, we've
looked at different things, what prayer is and
what prayer is not. But if our prayers are not
being answered, it's not God's fault. It's not
God's fault. As we looked at last week, and Dad
shared the verse, the effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man, what? Avails much. It accomplishes
much. So if our prayers are not being answered,
it's not God's fault. It's either our hearts.
Everybody say hearts. Say methods. Our content
of our prayers, get this, are originating in
us instead of in him. And church, therein lies
the reality. Therein lies the truth of all this
and the key to unlocking powerful prayer. is
in him. Every prayer that originates in him,
by him, through him, will be empowered by him.
Every prayer that starts with him will be finished
by him. Get a hold of that. Every prayer that
he leads you to pray, guess what? That's his
plan. That's his will to be accomplished in the
earth. So when we put our words in agreement
with it, right? That's our act of faith moving
towards it. God empowers that. And it brings
heavenly things to pass in the earth. Come on,
we've been here for four weeks. Don't just take
this the first time. We've been hashing this
out. A lot of you are looking at me like a cow
looking at a new fence. It's like, I understand,
but we're on a journey here. I would love for
you to go back and listen. I mean, today's message
does stand alone in a sense, but it's available
to everybody. You can just go on to podcasts,
YouTube, watch those past messages, because we
are building a foundation. That's why we do these
series is for you to hear, to hear, to hear,
and it builds up inside of you, right, so that
you can take a hold of it. Because how many of
you know you can watch a movie one time and then
you watch it the second time and you're like,
oh, I didn't see that. I didn't fully understand.
And then you watch it a third time. It has to
be a really good movie to watch it a third time.
But all of a sudden you're like, oh, yeah, that's
pretty good. I missed that part. Same way. with
God's word and with what happens on Sunday morning
and teaching. And we've been looking at specifically
over the past four weeks, the Lord's prayer as
our model, as our guide, our pattern for powerful
prayer, right? The disciples came to Jesus and
they said, teach us how to pray. Just like John
the Baptist taught us, teach us how to pray,
Jesus. Because they recognized something different
in him and how he was praying. When he would
go away, the Bible says often he would go away
in the early hours of the day. And he would climb
on top of mountaintops sometimes and go be alone
from his disciples and the crowd. And he would
fellowship with the Father. And each time that
happened, he would come back and something would
be different. You could say he had like a twinkle
in his eye. right? There was something on him
that wasn't there before. He was walking in direction.
He was walking in empowerment. He was walking
in spiritual things in the earth and he would
have direction. He'd be like, I know what we're
going to do today, guys. He's like, I know what
we're going to do. This is what's happening.
Where did he get that? Because he was fully man.
He's fully man. And he was showing us as an example
of how we rely on the spirit. and on God the
Father, right? As an example for us. And so I
don't have time to recap every message for the
past four weeks, so we'll quickly touch on that
at the end. But we're going to start in, because
we're at the last verse, verse 13 of the Lord's
Prayer, but I want us to read it, okay? So...
As we're reading scriptures today, everything's
out of the New Living Translation on the screen,
unless otherwise noted. But we're starting Matthew
6, 9 through 13 says, Pray like this. Our Father
in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your
kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. the food we need and forgive
us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin
against us. And don't let us yield. This is where
we're at today. And don't let us yield to temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one. Now, maybe you've
memorized this in a different translation. but
sometimes it's good to hear all the different
ones. But don't let us yield to temptation, but
rescue us from the evil one. Now, you know that
the Bible, especially the New Testament, is written
in Greek, right? It's not written in English,
despite common belief, right? It's not written
in English. It was originally written in Greek.
And so if we look at those direct Greek to English
words, the equivalents of those, it reads this.
and not lead us into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. If it has an and at the beginning,
we're literally reading a progression of events,
right? It's like, give us today the food we need,
right? Forgive us as we forgive those around,
you know, and not lead us into temptation, but
deliver us from evil. But I'm going to say something,
but don't get mad at me. This is not, listen,
this is not Jesus teaching us that we have to
ask God to not be led into temptation. It's not
what's happening here. Contrary to popular belief,
contrary to how you've prayed this prayer before,
we're not asking God, we're not, you know, he's
not teaching us that, oh, don't, God, you know,
You know, that tempts me, and so lead me, you
know, around that. Don't even let me experience
that temptation. And then if we're tempted, it's
not meaning that we need to beg for deliverance.
You know, beg for deliverance from evil when
we face those situations. Because what is temptation?
The Bible is very clear on this in James. It
gives us a really good definition. Let's read
James 1, 13 through 15. It says this, And remember,
when you are being tempted, do not say, God is
tempting me. Don't say. Do not say. This is a
command. Do not say, God is tempting me. God
is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts
anyone else. temptation, verse 14, get this,
where does temptation come from? Temptation comes
from our own desires, which entice us, drag us
away. These desires give birth to sinful actions.
And when sin is allowed to grow, everybody say
when, it is allowed. When it's allowed to grow,
it gives birth to death. Amen. So temptation
comes from our own desires. But this lets us
know, this passage, is that God's not the one
who tempts us. He does not tempt us. No matter
what someone has said, no matter what you've
ever heard, I'm going to burst your bubble, God
is not tempting you to make you better. He's
not tempting you. Because temptation, guess what?
It originates in us, in our desires. And our
desires. Hebrews 4 .15, New King James Version
says this, For we do not have a high priest who
cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. Aren't
you glad Jesus is able to know what you're going
through? For we do not have a high priest who
cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. This is
talking about Jesus, right? Specifically referring
to him when he was fully man, that's right. He
can sympathize with our weakness, but was in
all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Wow, that's encouraging, right? He was in every
point tempted as we are, yet without sin. And
who is Jesus? He's our living example of how
he wanted his followers in him to experience
day -to -day life. Since Jesus was tempted in
all, as we are, without sin, you know what this
means? And it proves this, contrary to popular
belief, that it is not a sin to be tempted. Let
me say that again for the people in the back.
It's not a sin to be tempted. Now the devil loves
to make you think otherwise. When that image,
when that thought comes to your head, Especially
for a believer, it's like that thought comes
to your mind and you're like, man, I can't believe
I thought that. Can't believe that's even in
my mind. Maybe something happened. Maybe you
gave in to that temptation and then the devil's
right there to be like, well, remember, you're
no good, rotten, dirty worm, you know. Self,
lowly self, going to eat a can of dirt, right?
He's there to tell you. He's like, you know,
you're nothing. You're no good because you're
even having this thought. Well, guess what? Jesus
was tempted in all points, in all ways as we
were, yet he did not sin. Amen. You think if
Jesus experienced those things and those, do
you think, you know, we're not supposed to somehow?
As a man on earth, do you not think that he was
tempted? The Bible says he was. But yet he was
without sin. 1 Corinthians 10, 13 says this,
the temptations in your life are no different
from what others experience. And God, is faithful.
Amen? God is faithful. He will not allow the
temptation to be more than you can stand. I've
heard this verse misquoted out of context so
much. Like, God gives his strongest battles,
you know, his toughest battles to his strongest
soldiers. That's not true. Does temptation come
from God? Why are we quiet? We just read it.
Come on now. Somebody's got to be with me. Where
does temptation come from? Point to yourself.
Our desires, our flesh, our mind, will, emotions,
desires. He will not allow the temptation, listen,
to be more than you can stand. Because when you
are tempted, he will show you a way out. Why?
So you can endure. It's not some temptations
that he shows you a way out of. It's all temptations.
There's a way of escape. And you've been given
through his word, even here, if you just take
a hold of it, through his word, this word, in
fact, gives us the authority and power to stand
over our temptation, the thing that trips you
up the most. His word gives us the power and
the authority to take hold of his promise, that
there is a way out. No matter how often the enemy
tries to convince you that you are alone, that
your circumstance is special, There is a way
out for every believer in Christ. Amen? There
is a path He will empower you to endure. It's
a promise in His Word. Whether you feel it or
not, you will feel it if you stand in faith on
His Word. You'll see a way out when you are tempted.
Why? Because He'll show you something. Not with
your eyes, but with the eyes of your spirit,
he will show you a way out. He will tell you
with the still small witness on the inside. All
of a sudden you'll know, you'll see the goodness
and faithfulness of God. You'll see the weight.
Of what he went through on the cross for us.
And believe it in such a way that you'll walk
in it. He will show you a way out so that you
can endure. Your temptation is not too big. Everybody
say it's not too big. And it's not special. What
you face and what you have faced in this life
is like, and what struggles you deal with is
not something special to you that no one's had
to deal with. There's no special instance that
God did not see, that God did not know, that
he's not already provided a way of escape from
and a path to endure, ability to endure out of.
Amen. It's not special. God has given you power
over temptation. Listen, greater than its power
over you. You need to write that one down. God
has given me power over temptation greater than
its power over me. If you've been coming to our
life groups, we've been in Romans. And I believe
this kind of sums it up. I want to skip ahead.
When means that everyone is tempted. There's
always a way out. God reveals it to you. But
in Romans 6, listen, get this. We know. Look
to your neighbor and say, I know. I know. This
is so important. Don't miss it. You got to know
this. We can't afford to be ignorant Christians
anymore. We got to know this. This has to be
settled in you today. If it wasn't settled before
you came in here, it needs to be settled in you
today. For we know that our old sinful selves.
were crucified with Christ so that sin might
lose its power in our lives. For we are no longer
slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ,
when we died with him, we were set free from
the power of sin. Hallelujah. Glory. Set free
from its grip, from its sting, from its impact.
Do you know it? Come on, it can't just be head
knowledge. Can't be head knowledge. This is what
God reveals to you at salvation. It's the ability
to know him, to know what he did on the cross,
and to know what that accomplished for you and
all those who would be in him. Amen. We're free
from the power of sin. That means when temptation
comes, you quote this verse, you say, guess what?
I am set free from the power of sin. You no longer
control me. You no longer have your grip on me.
Come on. Woo. Set free. I'm set free. Jesus never
gave in to sin. Proving that in him, we don't
got to give in to it. We don't have to give in
to sin. We don't have to. Come on now. Y 'all
be getting quiet. Jesus never gave in. I don't
have to give in to sin. Back to our verse. This
word deliver here and not lead us in temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Get this. Deliver us
from evil. That word deliver means, I'm not even
going to try to pronounce it. That's just not
right. It means to rescue, deliver, save. It's
from the word to draw to oneself. It's amazing
these words, you know, in our English language,
they don't carry the same picture, right? Kind
of dulls it down a little bit. But the Greek
here is giving us a picture of to draw to oneself
properly, to pull to oneself, to rescue, to snatch
up. How many of you were ever snatched up as
a child? You know what I'm saying? You were like
running out in the street, right? All of a sudden,
it was just like, boom. You're like, I can fly.
No, no, daddy's got me, you know? Oh, golly.
I'm not going to share that story. No, I'm not
doing that. Yeah, we're thinking it. It's okay.
To snatch up. He saw you running towards danger,
right? And God delivers you out. He snatches
you up. Rescues you to and for the deliverer.
Amen? It's not just deliverance in general. It's
deliverance for us. It's deliverance for me from
evil. Amen? So powerful prayer, get this, powerful
prayer then confidently recognizes, it knows,
remember, that God is not our tempter. Say, God
is not my tempter. But it declares, listen, it
declares that he is our deliverer. Amen? It's
not just words that Jesus didn't say, pray like
this to just give us some, you know, repetitive
thing that we should be praying, you know, or
to accomplish. No, it's recognizing that he didn't
tempt you. And you're saying, you're my deliverer.
In any type of trouble, you're my way out. You're
my escape. You're the one who pulls me out and
sets my feet upon the rock. Amen. Powerful prayer
then, listen, it proclaims our victory over temptation
and deliverance from evil in Christ. Amen. As
we wrap up this series, I want us to realize
a few things. When you look at the Lord's Prayer
as a whole, we've been talking about each individual,
you know, line or phrase, and we'll recap that
some. But think about this. The Lord's Prayer
takes place before the cross. He's praying this
before that event. Okay? He's praying this before
the event, yet, He says these phrases like, us,
give us our daily bread, right? And we, it's
in nine times, if we look. And those words, when
you look at the original Greek language, those
words are there. They're not just added for readability.
They're actually words, like in this phrase,
and not lead us into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. This word here, I looked at the
topical lexicon, it says this, it binds the speaker
and the hearer. And then when it's talking about
the Lord's prayer specifically, it's saying it
binds them into a shared identity before God.
That's good right there. You have a shared identity
with him. And he's praying now, not from just
his head about what, you know. No, he's praying
something that will be. He's praying something
that's coming. He's praying by the power of the
Holy Spirit indwelling him, saying, Look, pray
us, pray we, pray our. He's interceding before
the Father on our behalf. Should have had that
verse there. My apologies. Look it up when you
get home. Homework. Interceding on our behalf
before the Father. Seeing in his mind. An identity
of himself that includes you and all those who
would say yes to what's about to happen. Amen.
It's spirit led. It's initiated prayer about
the deliverance that is coming. Come on. He knew
what his mission was on earth. He knew what was
going to be accomplished. Yeah. He did, and now
he's praying from it, praying from this place
of his position, right, with us, his shared identity
with us to the Father. He's making statements
about himself and all those who would be united
with him. It's a key element to prayer. It doesn't
just originate in you. and the external. Powerful
prayer originates and begins in the spirit, in
the heart, in the inward witness. It's God speaking
to you. You knowing his voice and praying those
things out. That's what gives you confidence.
That's faith. It's a hope, a confident expectation.
Grounded in his word. Unshakable. So when I say
it, I know it's going to happen. That's the difference.
If you're praying because of your circumstance,
because you're scared of what's going on, does
God hear you? Yes. Is there power in fear? No.
As we've seen, prayer is not mindless, meaningless
repetition. You can teach birds to repeat words
after somebody, but it has no impact. One person
can pray the Lord's Prayer and it means something.
Another person can pray it and it has zero impact.
You might as well just be saying, watermelon,
watermelon, watermelon, watermelon, watermelon,
because it will have and accomplish the same
effect. One person can stand up and say, oh,
daddy God. That one's funny. It's like, oh, daddy
God, oh, you know, and it means nothing to them
or it could mean everything to them. Could be
something that God's revealed to them that he
is their father. And that goes beyond just our
hearing it. We're like, what? But it's like,
if you don't have a father growing up and all
of a sudden you get a hold of God being your
father, come on. It should impact your life.
It should change you. Because powerful prayer
is not mindless, meaningless repetition. It's
not super spiritual things. God is telling us
to pray like this, as a model, as a guide, as
a pattern for our prayer, right? And we're supposed
to pray things like, Our Father in heaven, may
your name be kept holy. As we saw in week one,
Powerful prayer, it doesn't begin with us. It
begins with God's name being special to you.
Because within a name carries the identity. It
carries relationship that he wants to have with
you and the activity that he does in the earth
and the activity that he does in your life. So
we pray to him. acknowledging who he is and what
he does, right? And then in week two, we talked
about, or actually that was, excuse me, that
was week two. This is week three. May your kingdom
come soon. May your will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. And we learned that powerful
prayer is declaring heavenly realities into our
temporal physical realm. Because it's as it is
in heaven, let it be in the earth. So what is
true of heaven can be true in my life. And the
gateway, the channel, is your voice to bring
a pass, his kingdom, saying, be done, come your
kingdom, come your will, because we acknowledge
that his will and his kingdom is not evident
in the earth. Right? His will's not always being
done. It requires his believers, right, to speak
the things of God, to bring them into the earth.
I can't re -preach that whole sermon. Verse 11,
give us today the food we need. We talked about
that. Powerful prayer we saw was appropriating
who we are. I like this. Appropriating who we
are and what we have in him. He is our provider,
right? Meaning that our daily spiritual and physical
needs, He's our bread, He's our sustenance. He's
not just an idea. He's not just a fulfilling
of all these. No, He's physical substance to
those who need Him. And man does not live by
bread alone, but by every word from the mouth
of God. Amen? Right? We need Him. And he promises
not only to, you know, his mercies are new every
morning and his grace. Look, he promises the
bread and he cares about the little things, amen?
The physical things of this earth. Verse 12,
and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those
who sin against us. As we saw last week, powerful
prayer declares that God is the forgiver. He's
the forgiver. And powerful prayer releases all
offense, unforgiveness, and bitterness that could
keep our prayers from being answered, right?
Because faith works in love, right? And if we
fully recognize who he is and how much he's forgiven
us, How can we grab the person who's offended
us by the throat, as we saw, right, and hold
them accountable for their little offense when
we've offended a holy God and he's forgiven us
a hundred times more? He was tempted in every
way, right? I'm sure there was some people who
offended. I'm sure he faced some trials and some
tribulations, but yeah, he turned around and
said, I forgive them for they don't know what
they're doing. If he can do that for me, if I
can get a hold of the full revelation of his
forgiveness for me, how can I turn around and
not forgive? It means that I don't know that
I've truly been forgiven. Because if I fully
knew it, I would be able to walk in it. Amen?
And today, and don't let us yield into temptation,
verse 13, but rescue us from the evil one. And
we looked at that spirit -led, powerful prayer
is spirit -led and initiated. by grace, through
faith, in God's name, declaring the provision,
the forgiveness, and the victory over temptation
and evil in Christ. That's what praying, that's
how Jesus prayed, and that's how he's encouraging
us to pray. Based upon who he is, based upon
our position, right? And speaking about what
we know, what he's revealed to us, right? So
let's pray like this. Remember, it's just like,
it's as in, so don't get mad at me, but I kind
of condense some of these things and I want to
read it to you. It's praying like this. So we
come to God and we say, come your kingdom. Be
done your will. As in heaven, let it be in the
earth. In my life, my family, my job, this church,
my business, my school. Let it be so in my health,
in my mind, in my body, in my mouth. Your grace,
oh Lord, is sufficient for me. You supply all
my spiritual and physical needs each day. You
forgive me and I freely forgive others. You are
not my tempter. You are my deliverer. In you,
with you, through you, I have victory. Over all
evil. Amen. Let's stand to our feet. You've been
sitting long enough. I want us to say this together.
Just repeat after me. Come. Be louder. Say come.
Your kingdom. Be done. Your will. As in heaven.
Let it be. In the earth. In my life. in my family,
in my job, in my church, in my business, in my
school, in my health, in my mind, in my body,
and my mouth. Your grace is sufficient for me.
You supply all my spiritual and physical needs
every day. You forgive me and I freely forgive
others. You are not my tempter. You are my deliverer.
In you, with you, through you, I have victory
over all evil. Amen. This online worship experience
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of Elation Church.