WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.700 Morning church, how are we doing? It is so good 00:00:05.700 --> 00:00:07.919 to see you here. Thank you for the special shout 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:11.419 outs. As always, we just want to slow down and 00:00:11.419 --> 00:00:14.740 welcome Park Collective. I love you there. You 00:00:14.740 --> 00:00:17.320 know me. If you haven't met me, I am the location 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:20.980 pastor at Park Collective. But if we could, Park 00:00:20.980 --> 00:00:23.399 Collective, if you would join us, could we just 00:00:23.399 --> 00:00:27.859 just bow our heads and pray real quick? Father 00:00:27.859 --> 00:00:30.910 God, we come before you, Lord. just in all your 00:00:30.910 --> 00:00:34.270 goodness. We thank you for the breath in our 00:00:34.270 --> 00:00:37.270 lungs. We thank you that you have granted us 00:00:37.270 --> 00:00:40.929 another day, Lord. Lord, I pray that your presence 00:00:40.929 --> 00:00:44.630 will be felt in this room and for everyone that 00:00:44.630 --> 00:00:48.090 hears this message, Lord. Father, apart from 00:00:48.090 --> 00:00:51.009 you, we can do nothing. There can be no life 00:00:51.009 --> 00:00:53.829 change. There can be no transformation, Lord. 00:00:53.829 --> 00:00:58.100 There can be no fruit that is eternal. unless 00:00:58.100 --> 00:01:01.759 you are involved in it, unless you are the source 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:04.540 Lord. And so I just pray that in your mighty 00:01:04.540 --> 00:01:08.900 name, Jesus. And the church said, amen. Well, 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:12.170 we are one day closer. to Christmas. So Merry 00:01:12.170 --> 00:01:16.390 Christmas. And we have at my home two littles, 00:01:16.530 --> 00:01:18.370 as many of you might know, but we have a four 00:01:18.370 --> 00:01:20.829 and a two year old. And man, that like really 00:01:20.829 --> 00:01:24.329 adds, that's just the dynamic. Like once you 00:01:24.329 --> 00:01:27.590 get littles, like it starts getting really excited. 00:01:27.849 --> 00:01:30.670 I'm here to tell you having a four and two year 00:01:30.670 --> 00:01:34.409 old is wild. And I know many of you have experienced 00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:37.150 that, but I'll be 46 this month. And like, what 00:01:37.150 --> 00:01:41.469 was I thinking? I mean, Genuinely, sometimes 00:01:41.469 --> 00:01:44.790 I ask that. But I love my kids, and they could 00:01:44.790 --> 00:01:47.909 not be any more different. I mean, they really 00:01:47.909 --> 00:01:50.790 couldn't. I have a boy named Jed Adia. We call 00:01:50.790 --> 00:01:54.730 Jed. He's four. He's, like, very kind, and he's 00:01:54.730 --> 00:01:56.989 eager to please. And I have a picture of him. 00:01:57.010 --> 00:02:01.790 We'll show. And this is us taking him to his 00:02:01.790 --> 00:02:04.209 first football practice. And yes, in the South, 00:02:04.310 --> 00:02:07.879 we start him young. And on the way to his first 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:10.280 football practice, he's in the car with me and 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:14.159 his mom and he goes, do you think the football 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:16.860 team's gonna be ready for how fast I'm gonna 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:25.599 be? He goes, because I'm pretty fast. And for 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:28.460 some reason, when he talks about his speed, he 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:31.960 talks like that. He gets really intense and his 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:34.680 mannerisms change. But I also have a little girl 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:37.520 named Israel Rose, and we call her Izzy. And 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:41.520 she is strong -willed. She is aggressive. She 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:48.039 is tough. I got a picture of her. And if a picture 00:02:48.039 --> 00:02:51.080 could encapsulate a character or a personality, 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:56.719 this is it. She's also very independent. Everything 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:59.939 is, I do it, I do it, I do it. My oldest is, 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:04.050 feed me, clothe me. He won't do anything for 00:03:04.050 --> 00:03:07.189 himself. I'm trying to teach him that he needs 00:03:07.189 --> 00:03:08.889 to do it on his own. I'm trying to teach her 00:03:08.889 --> 00:03:11.370 to accept help. But one of the things that we 00:03:11.370 --> 00:03:15.550 love as parents, me and my wife, is when our 00:03:15.550 --> 00:03:18.550 kids' choices and desires align with our choices 00:03:18.550 --> 00:03:21.169 and desires for them. Now for a four and two 00:03:21.169 --> 00:03:23.689 -year -old, that's having respect for adults. 00:03:24.289 --> 00:03:26.990 That's having good manners. That's choosing to 00:03:26.990 --> 00:03:29.990 share. that's choosing to love. And when they 00:03:29.990 --> 00:03:33.789 do those things, man, we get excited as parents. 00:03:34.210 --> 00:03:36.370 Like, we want to foster those things. We want 00:03:36.370 --> 00:03:38.750 to help them to get to where that would take 00:03:38.750 --> 00:03:41.469 them in life. And I would say that's infinitely 00:03:41.469 --> 00:03:44.629 more true for our Father in heaven when we come 00:03:44.629 --> 00:03:48.490 to Him in prayer. I believe if I were to ask 00:03:48.490 --> 00:03:50.789 the church, like, do you believe in the power 00:03:50.789 --> 00:03:53.409 of prayer? You would see hands up all over the 00:03:53.409 --> 00:03:56.919 room. But I also think if I asked do you wish 00:03:56.919 --> 00:03:59.060 your prayer life to look different or you prayed 00:03:59.060 --> 00:04:03.800 more You would also see hands up all over the 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:08.860 room and so why don't we pray I? Think the first 00:04:08.860 --> 00:04:12.099 reason is because we misunderstand who God is 00:04:12.099 --> 00:04:17.209 That our God desires to give what is good In 00:04:17.209 --> 00:04:20.310 fact, He can only give what is good. Anything 00:04:20.310 --> 00:04:23.189 truly good that we've ever received comes from 00:04:23.189 --> 00:04:26.250 the Father. He can do no wrong. He cannot do 00:04:26.250 --> 00:04:29.529 bad. He cannot sin. And so we need to understand 00:04:29.529 --> 00:04:31.509 this about our Father, because we go through 00:04:31.509 --> 00:04:34.350 a life that can be hard, right? We've all experienced 00:04:34.350 --> 00:04:38.509 suffering, trials, and loss. But our God is good. 00:04:38.790 --> 00:04:41.209 And we just sang that song. I'm not going to 00:04:41.209 --> 00:04:43.709 sing it, because it would be horrendous. But 00:04:43.709 --> 00:04:47.879 He is good. He is good. And we need to understand 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:50.160 this about our God as we go through this world. 00:04:50.620 --> 00:05:11.879 In Matthew 7, verses 9 through 11, it says, Our 00:05:11.879 --> 00:05:15.170 Father gives good gifts to those who ask. God 00:05:15.170 --> 00:05:18.610 works all things for good for those that love 00:05:18.610 --> 00:05:23.689 him. The God we serve is the one true God who 00:05:23.689 --> 00:05:27.129 created the universe, who breathed the stars 00:05:27.129 --> 00:05:31.009 into existence and knows them by name. He's the 00:05:31.009 --> 00:05:33.730 God who parted the Red Sea. He's the God who 00:05:33.730 --> 00:05:36.910 flooded the world. He's the God who raised Lazarus 00:05:36.910 --> 00:05:42.149 from the dead. He is this mighty, holy, righteous, 00:05:42.370 --> 00:05:46.819 just God. And that same being came down in the 00:05:46.819 --> 00:05:50.779 person of Jesus and walked patiently with Thomas 00:05:50.779 --> 00:05:54.779 as he doubted the resurrection and the deity 00:05:54.779 --> 00:05:58.060 of Christ. He loved Peter through denying him 00:05:58.060 --> 00:06:02.220 three times. He forgave Paul for the murder and 00:06:02.220 --> 00:06:05.459 persecution of his church and used him to advance 00:06:05.459 --> 00:06:11.600 his kingdom. Our God is a good God. Now, I think 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:14.860 we would all agree, like, it's hard to talk to 00:06:14.860 --> 00:06:16.720 someone who doesn't understand what we're going 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:19.379 through. Like, if you have marriage problems 00:06:19.379 --> 00:06:21.160 and you talk to someone who's never been married, 00:06:21.220 --> 00:06:23.600 you're like, they don't get it. If you talk to 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:25.519 someone about problems with your kids and they've 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:28.660 never had kids, we don't think they understand. 00:06:29.620 --> 00:06:31.459 What we need to understand about our God is he 00:06:31.459 --> 00:06:34.860 understands what we're going through. In Hebrews 00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:39.610 4, 15 through 16, It says, for we do not have 00:06:39.610 --> 00:06:42.089 a high priest who is unable to sympathize with 00:06:42.089 --> 00:06:45.069 our weaknesses, but we have one who has been 00:06:45.069 --> 00:06:48.389 tempted in every way just as we are, yet was 00:06:48.389 --> 00:06:51.610 without sin. Let us then approach the throne 00:06:51.610 --> 00:06:55.189 of grace with confidence so that we may receive 00:06:55.189 --> 00:06:59.069 mercy and find grace to help us in our time of 00:06:59.069 --> 00:07:02.209 need. We serve a God who knows exactly what we're 00:07:02.209 --> 00:07:06.120 going through. That the God we serve sent down 00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:09.620 his son to be the final high priest and the final 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:13.439 sacrifice That knows what it's like to be tempted 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:17.939 But was without sin Our God knows us better than 00:07:17.939 --> 00:07:21.259 our best friend Better than our spouse God knows 00:07:21.259 --> 00:07:25.480 us better than we know ourselves This is the 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:28.220 God that we serve church, and I think another 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:31.540 reason why we don't pray is that we misunderstand 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:35.480 prayer I mean, and I get it. It feels like sometimes 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:39.480 our words bounce off the ceiling. Some prayers 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:44.240 are answered immediately. Some prayers take decades. 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:47.420 Some prayers aren't answered in the way we think 00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:51.339 they should be answered. We still experience 00:07:51.339 --> 00:07:54.610 loss and suffering. But once we start to understand 00:07:54.610 --> 00:07:58.250 who God is, that he is good, he can only do good, 00:07:58.350 --> 00:08:01.490 he can do no wrong, he cannot sin, then we can 00:08:01.490 --> 00:08:04.069 start to understand what prayer is. And the first 00:08:04.069 --> 00:08:06.490 thing I want us to get is that prayer is a privilege. 00:08:09.209 --> 00:08:11.569 Prayer might be the greatest privilege that we 00:08:11.569 --> 00:08:14.709 have as believers. That we have a privilege to 00:08:14.709 --> 00:08:18.829 go to the creator. with our needs. That we can 00:08:18.829 --> 00:08:21.689 go to the Creator and He knows our thoughts. 00:08:21.750 --> 00:08:24.230 He knows the words on our tongue before they 00:08:24.230 --> 00:08:27.949 are formed. That this personal God we can go 00:08:27.949 --> 00:08:30.209 is a privilege and that we can take our needs 00:08:30.209 --> 00:08:33.149 to Him is even a greater privilege. And I think 00:08:33.149 --> 00:08:35.210 the greatest privilege is when we get to pray 00:08:35.210 --> 00:08:38.649 for others. I think when you think of the two 00:08:38.649 --> 00:08:40.649 greatest commandments to love the Lord your God 00:08:40.649 --> 00:08:43.409 with all your heart, mind, soul, and body, and 00:08:43.409 --> 00:08:45.190 the other is like it to love your neighbor as 00:08:45.190 --> 00:08:49.740 yourself. Well, if I love my neighbor like myself, 00:08:49.740 --> 00:08:53.159 I want people praying for me. I need to pray 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:55.960 for them And when we pray for others, you might 00:08:55.960 --> 00:08:58.240 have heard this term It's intercessory prayer 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:01.460 to act the act of praying on behalf of others 00:09:01.460 --> 00:09:04.399 or from the word intercede to intervene between 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:07.980 parties to reconcile differences But the most 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:10.440 simplest way you could say it is I'm praying 00:09:10.440 --> 00:09:14.720 to God on your behalf. I Really like that. I'm 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:17.929 praying to God on your behalf Take a look with 00:09:17.929 --> 00:09:20.789 me at Exodus 32. We're going to be in verses 00:09:20.789 --> 00:09:24.269 9 and 12. And what's going on here is Moses is 00:09:24.269 --> 00:09:26.809 on Mount Sinai. He's on the top of Mount Sinai 00:09:26.809 --> 00:09:29.669 with God. God has given him the Ten Commandments, 00:09:29.710 --> 00:09:31.929 and the Israelites are at the bottom of the mountain. 00:09:32.549 --> 00:09:36.009 But God sees their actions at the bottom of the 00:09:36.009 --> 00:09:37.870 mountain, and that they've really given themselves 00:09:37.870 --> 00:09:40.730 over to corruption. They've made this golden 00:09:40.730 --> 00:09:43.970 calf. They're worshiping it. I mean, they're 00:09:43.970 --> 00:09:47.289 wilding out. And this is what the Lord says to 00:09:47.289 --> 00:09:51.509 Moses in verse 9, I have seen these people the 00:09:51.509 --> 00:09:54.649 Lord said to Moses and they are a stiff necked 00:09:54.649 --> 00:09:57.690 people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may 00:09:57.690 --> 00:10:00.549 burn against them and that I may destroy them. 00:10:00.649 --> 00:10:03.889 Then I will make you into a great nation. But 00:10:03.889 --> 00:10:07.330 Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. Lord, 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:09.669 he said, why should your anger burn against your 00:10:09.669 --> 00:10:11.850 people whom you brought out of Egypt with great 00:10:11.850 --> 00:10:15.399 power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:18.659 say it was with evil intent that he brought them 00:10:18.659 --> 00:10:22.320 out to kill them in the mountains and to wipe 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:24.879 them off the face of the earth? Turn from your 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:28.039 fierce anger, relent, and do not bring disaster 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:31.379 on your people. Moses goes on to bring up Abraham, 00:10:31.419 --> 00:10:34.379 Isaac, and Jacob and the promises made to them. 00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:38.200 And in verse 14 it says, then the Lord relented 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:41.500 and did not bring on his people the disaster 00:10:41.500 --> 00:10:45.409 he had threatened. This is the privileged church 00:10:45.409 --> 00:10:50.029 that we can intercede on someone else's behalf, 00:10:50.110 --> 00:10:52.570 that God chooses to partner with us to carry 00:10:52.570 --> 00:10:56.309 out His will. Now, was Moses happy with Israelites? 00:10:57.230 --> 00:11:01.370 No, he was not. He goes down the mountain. He 00:11:01.370 --> 00:11:04.970 smashes the two tablets, stone tablets, not iPads. 00:11:06.029 --> 00:11:09.970 He grinds up the golden calf into a fine powder, 00:11:10.470 --> 00:11:12.990 mixes it with water, makes him drink it all. 00:11:14.039 --> 00:11:17.840 Judgment was passed that day, but not destruction. 00:11:18.299 --> 00:11:21.580 Now, did that stop Moses from praying for the 00:11:21.580 --> 00:11:24.320 Israelites? I mean, I think we need to slow down 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:27.500 here, church. He wasn't happy with their decisions. 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:30.159 He wasn't happy with their beliefs. He wasn't 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:34.139 happy with their actions. But Moses interceded 00:11:34.139 --> 00:11:39.000 on their behalf before God. I think we should 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:42.399 stop talking about people and start praying for 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:45.759 them. I think we should stop talking about people 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:49.379 at church and start praying for them. I think 00:11:49.379 --> 00:11:51.720 we should stop talking about people at work and 00:11:51.720 --> 00:11:53.779 start praying for them. I think we should stop 00:11:53.779 --> 00:11:56.620 talking about people in our neighborhood and 00:11:56.620 --> 00:11:59.440 start praying for them. I think we should stop 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:01.419 talking about people on the other side of the 00:12:01.419 --> 00:12:06.059 aisle and start praying for them. What if instead 00:12:06.059 --> 00:12:08.980 of raining down judgment on them, we started 00:12:08.980 --> 00:12:13.919 lifting them up in prayer church? In Psalms 106 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:17.860 -23, in reference to the story we just read, 00:12:17.980 --> 00:12:31.399 it goes, I love that phrase, stood in the breach. 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:34.820 Moses stood in the weak spot of the wall. He 00:12:34.820 --> 00:12:38.000 stood in the gap. He stood in the blind spot 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:42.179 of other people's lives. The church, are we willing 00:12:42.179 --> 00:12:45.720 to stand in the breach between God and someone 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:50.039 behind and talk to God on their behalf? Are we 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:52.879 a church? Are we believers that are willing to 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:59.200 do that? Because we should be. How do you like 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:03.299 that for a teaching moment? You should. Next 00:13:03.299 --> 00:13:06.350 one is, prayer is powerful. This can change the 00:13:06.350 --> 00:13:08.429 trajectory of an individual's life. It can change 00:13:08.429 --> 00:13:11.129 the trajectory of a whole family. It can change 00:13:11.129 --> 00:13:14.149 generations to come. And prayer is only powerful 00:13:14.149 --> 00:13:18.009 because we serve a powerful God. It is by God's 00:13:18.009 --> 00:13:20.730 power through the obedience of prayer that He 00:13:20.730 --> 00:13:24.350 so often carries out His will. And I have, I 00:13:24.350 --> 00:13:28.429 want to share with you what God is up to in this 00:13:28.429 --> 00:13:32.809 church and within His family from people here. 00:13:32.830 --> 00:13:36.980 So my first one. My routine health exam came 00:13:36.980 --> 00:13:40.360 back with a precancerous area. I was flooded 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:43.600 with fear and anxiety. Many friends were praying 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:47.120 with me that the diagnosis was wrong. I had a 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:49.600 follow -up exam with a special dye to pinpoint 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:53.200 the area, and the test came back completely clean. 00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:58.919 Prayer is powerful, church. Prayer is powerful. 00:14:02.939 --> 00:14:05.740 Another person wrote, our marriage was in a place 00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:09.259 of bad habits and numbness, escape from the truth 00:14:09.259 --> 00:14:12.539 and each other. It was actively growing apart. 00:14:13.100 --> 00:14:16.320 We needed a miracle for us and for our kids. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:21.600 God saw us and responded slowly, gently and graciously. 00:14:22.259 --> 00:14:24.700 Each time we hit the bottom, which was often, 00:14:25.299 --> 00:14:27.960 we landed in a net of the faithful prayers of 00:14:27.960 --> 00:14:30.700 the body of Christ. Because of their prayers, 00:14:30.740 --> 00:14:33.519 we were covered, protected, and interceded for 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:37.279 daily. Our deep wounds were sanctified, made 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:41.220 holy by God's active presence. He led us forward 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:44.899 into newness. He breathed life, healing, and 00:14:44.899 --> 00:14:47.940 revelation into our marriage. No matter where 00:14:47.940 --> 00:14:51.519 you might be in the pit, there is hope, light, 00:14:51.659 --> 00:14:55.059 and a good God who takes pleasure in creating 00:14:55.059 --> 00:14:58.240 beauty from ashes. Church, prayer is powerful. 00:15:01.620 --> 00:15:04.980 It is by God's power through obedient prayer 00:15:04.980 --> 00:15:08.120 that there can be physical healing church, that 00:15:08.120 --> 00:15:11.740 marriages can be healed and made whole again. 00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:16.940 I have one more. I grew up in a household where 00:15:16.940 --> 00:15:19.940 my dad was a member of the Hells Angels, which 00:15:19.940 --> 00:15:23.100 meant I was raised in and around the biker gang. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:26.659 My dad told me I was put on this earth for evil, 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:29.299 and that was the only thing I was good for was 00:15:29.299 --> 00:15:32.490 to carry that evil out. I struggled with drugs 00:15:32.490 --> 00:15:36.029 and alcohol my whole life. I finally went to 00:15:36.029 --> 00:15:38.629 a Christian rehab, and the only reason I went 00:15:38.629 --> 00:15:42.830 was to prove that God wasn't real. I attended 00:15:42.830 --> 00:15:45.289 a recovery Bible study through the Heights Church 00:15:45.289 --> 00:15:48.590 and had men praying for me. And three months 00:15:48.590 --> 00:15:52.909 later, I gave my life to Jesus. Yeah, that's 00:15:52.909 --> 00:15:59.440 worth celebrating. God has been so gracious to 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:04.419 me and my family since I've come to have Jesus 00:16:04.419 --> 00:16:08.440 as my Lord and Savior. I've had two younger sisters, 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:11.879 a niece and an uncle all accept Jesus Christ 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:20.779 as their Lord and Savior. By God's power through 00:16:20.779 --> 00:16:25.779 prayer, families can be changed. This changes 00:16:25.779 --> 00:16:28.940 the trajectory of this whole family's life for 00:16:28.940 --> 00:16:32.000 what I believe will be generations to come. And 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.460 this last one is very, very special to me. Pastor 00:16:35.460 --> 00:16:37.799 Bob and I several years ago got to be a part 00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:40.720 of these Bible studies. And at the end of the 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:43.240 Bible study, you get prayer requests. And so 00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:46.200 we go around and we get to this young man. His 00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:48.220 name's Lance. I have permission to share this. 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:51.740 And we go, Lance, how can we pray for you? And 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:56.490 he... with very colorful language would express 00:16:56.490 --> 00:17:00.490 his disapproval of us praying for him. And we 00:17:00.490 --> 00:17:03.669 would very sincerely and lovingly just smile 00:17:03.669 --> 00:17:05.150 and say, we're going to pray for you anyway. 00:17:05.589 --> 00:17:08.970 And he would get so mad. And me and Bob just 00:17:08.970 --> 00:17:11.970 thought it was the funniest thing ever. And three 00:17:11.970 --> 00:17:14.809 months later, he gave his life to Jesus. You 00:17:14.809 --> 00:17:17.269 want to understand who our God is? The God we 00:17:17.269 --> 00:17:22.059 love loves the lost. Lance didn't want prayer. 00:17:22.259 --> 00:17:25.220 He wanted to prove God didn't exist. He didn't 00:17:25.220 --> 00:17:28.480 want to have anything to do with them. He fought 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:32.980 it with every fiber of his body, and God revealed 00:17:32.980 --> 00:17:37.079 himself to him. And now I get to see Lance share 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:40.160 the gospel with not only the whole recovery community 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:43.660 up here, but having huge impacts in the Valley. 00:17:44.119 --> 00:17:47.539 I mean, God is putting him within churches and 00:17:47.539 --> 00:17:51.099 rehab facilities to share the good news of Jesus 00:17:51.099 --> 00:17:53.980 Christ, and this can only be done by the grace 00:17:53.980 --> 00:18:01.039 of God. Prayer is powerful church. Third one, 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:06.400 prayer is practical. Prayer is practical church. 00:18:06.859 --> 00:18:09.720 First of all, prayer honors God as our source, 00:18:10.039 --> 00:18:14.299 and it honors God as our resource. Prayer is 00:18:14.299 --> 00:18:17.299 practical because it acknowledges where God is, 00:18:17.559 --> 00:18:20.640 and it acknowledges where we are. And we're not 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:24.519 on the management team. We're not making the 00:18:24.519 --> 00:18:28.359 decisions, church. But prayer's not only practical 00:18:28.359 --> 00:18:31.519 because we know of our position and His, there's 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:34.880 also practical ways to pray. I can't tell you 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:37.740 how many times I've gotten text messages randomly 00:18:37.740 --> 00:18:40.519 or rhythms from other people, but in the morning, 00:18:40.700 --> 00:18:44.269 hey, I'm praying for you and your family. Several 00:18:44.269 --> 00:18:47.190 years ago, I started asking God in my quiet time 00:18:47.190 --> 00:18:50.730 to put names on my heart. And I would start to 00:18:50.730 --> 00:18:53.890 lift those families up in prayer. I would lift 00:18:53.890 --> 00:18:56.210 their businesses up in prayer. I pray blessings 00:18:56.210 --> 00:18:58.809 over their children, over their home, over their 00:18:58.809 --> 00:19:01.329 areas of responsibility. And then right before 00:19:01.329 --> 00:19:03.890 I would leave that day to go to work, I would 00:19:03.890 --> 00:19:05.309 send them a text and let them know I'm praying 00:19:05.309 --> 00:19:09.009 for them. I see people in this room that I get 00:19:09.009 --> 00:19:13.640 texts from that say, I'm praying for you. That's 00:19:13.640 --> 00:19:16.440 what I believe the unity of the body of Christ 00:19:16.440 --> 00:19:19.940 is. How many of us have been in a conversation 00:19:19.940 --> 00:19:21.839 with someone and go, hey, hey, I'm going to pray 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:24.660 for you, and doo -doo -doo, going about our day, 00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:27.700 and we never pray for them? I mean, guilty as 00:19:27.700 --> 00:19:31.400 charged. What if, practically, when we thought 00:19:31.400 --> 00:19:35.259 a prayer, we stopped and prayed? Doesn't matter 00:19:35.259 --> 00:19:38.079 if we're at the grocery store. It doesn't matter 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:40.480 if we're at the bank. It doesn't matter if we're 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:42.880 out in the lobby. If we say we're going to pray 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:45.599 for someone, we can practically just stop and 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:51.160 start praying. What do our prayer lives look 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:53.579 like, church? I mean, if we go back to the two 00:19:53.579 --> 00:19:55.240 greatest commandments, love the Lord your God 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:57.579 with all your heart, mind, body, and soul, and 00:19:57.579 --> 00:19:59.740 to love your neighbor as you love yourself. What 00:19:59.740 --> 00:20:04.119 do our prayer lives look like? We might need 00:20:04.119 --> 00:20:07.180 to do a prayer inventory. How often do I pray 00:20:07.180 --> 00:20:11.710 for me? And how often do I pray for others? How 00:20:11.710 --> 00:20:14.750 often do I pray for what I want? How often do 00:20:14.750 --> 00:20:18.630 I pray for what God wants? How often do I pray 00:20:18.630 --> 00:20:22.930 for those I love? How often do I pray for those 00:20:22.930 --> 00:20:29.490 I don't get along with so well? In our prayers, 00:20:29.589 --> 00:20:33.150 are we praying to be blessed or are we praying 00:20:33.150 --> 00:20:38.049 to be a blessing church? If we let all our prayers 00:20:38.049 --> 00:20:41.789 out on the floor, What would it look like? Prayer 00:20:41.789 --> 00:20:45.890 for others and prayer, prayers for ourself. I 00:20:45.890 --> 00:20:48.849 remember I got to do this mission strip to Honduras 00:20:48.849 --> 00:20:52.950 and church, I was a baby Christian. I had been 00:20:52.950 --> 00:20:55.650 saved for about three months and we were gonna 00:20:55.650 --> 00:20:59.549 go to this orphanage and you go visit these very 00:20:59.549 --> 00:21:02.650 famous landfills where people live on the landfills 00:21:02.650 --> 00:21:04.630 and they live around them. And we were gonna 00:21:04.630 --> 00:21:07.609 go give them food and share the gospel. You know, 00:21:07.609 --> 00:21:09.990 this is a big step for me. So we're there, we're 00:21:09.990 --> 00:21:14.069 doing it. And the guy who ran the orphanage comes 00:21:14.069 --> 00:21:16.490 to me and he goes, hey, I disciple these seven 00:21:16.490 --> 00:21:19.009 men in this Honduras prison. He was like, would 00:21:19.009 --> 00:21:21.430 you like to go with me? And I'm telling you, 00:21:21.430 --> 00:21:23.990 church, I didn't skip a beat. I said, absolutely 00:21:23.990 --> 00:21:28.589 not. This is exactly what I said to him. And 00:21:28.589 --> 00:21:31.509 he laughed like y 'all just did. And he goes, 00:21:31.670 --> 00:21:35.329 OK. And so went on about the day, and I just 00:21:35.329 --> 00:21:37.700 kept feeling that. whatever words you want to 00:21:37.700 --> 00:21:41.180 use, prompting, drawing, push. And I was like, 00:21:41.180 --> 00:21:44.319 I think I'm supposed to go. And so right before 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:47.559 bed, I go to him and I go, hey, I think I'm supposed 00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:49.720 to go with you. And he was like, perfect. We 00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:53.759 leave at 7 AM. It's a two hour drive. So we're 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:56.559 in the car for about 10 minutes. And I, you know, 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.039 I've never been to Honduras prison or anything 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:01.160 like that. And I'm like, I'm excited. I'm like, 00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:03.200 what are we going to do there? And he was like, 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:04.799 oh, I'm going to have you share your testimony. 00:22:05.319 --> 00:22:13.960 I go, what are we doing? I didn't say another 00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:18.359 word for two hours. The only thing I did was 00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:21.700 pray. And church, if you think about it, it was 00:22:21.700 --> 00:22:24.920 the only practical thing I could do. I was in 00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:28.000 a foreign country with a foreign language. I 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:31.359 had never publicly spoke anywhere. I had no training. 00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:36.200 I was so out of my depths. The only practical 00:22:36.200 --> 00:22:40.240 thing I could do was pray. And I'm not here to 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:44.519 sugarcoat it. It did not start out well. So when 00:22:44.519 --> 00:22:46.539 we get to this prison, it's really more like 00:22:46.539 --> 00:22:49.240 an abandoned castle with armed guards everywhere. 00:22:49.559 --> 00:22:51.119 It's not like the prisons you're thinking of. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:54.960 And the church service had about 300 to 400 men 00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:58.039 in it. And so I get on stage and I have this 00:22:58.039 --> 00:23:01.680 interpreter next to me and... And we start going, 00:23:01.859 --> 00:23:04.140 and we're fumbling around, and he cannot understand 00:23:04.140 --> 00:23:09.380 my twang. So this poor guy is standing next to 00:23:09.380 --> 00:23:12.299 me, and I say a sentence, and then he looks at 00:23:12.299 --> 00:23:14.660 me, and he looks back at the Americans, and he's 00:23:14.660 --> 00:23:18.779 like, is this English? And we can't get anywhere. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:22.640 So then an American comes up who speaks Spanish, 00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:26.859 and he takes over, and we get through it. And 00:23:26.859 --> 00:23:30.690 honestly, I don't remember one word I said. At 00:23:30.690 --> 00:23:33.869 the end of it, there were dozens of guys bawling, 00:23:34.210 --> 00:23:36.750 crying, and I don't take any credit for that 00:23:36.750 --> 00:23:39.430 church. In fact, I'm pretty sure the interpreter 00:23:39.430 --> 00:23:44.930 gave a message on being saved by grace. I'm pretty 00:23:44.930 --> 00:23:52.450 sure. But I think my question is, church, why 00:23:52.450 --> 00:23:57.009 don't we pray like that every time? I mean, it's 00:23:57.009 --> 00:23:59.630 always that big of a discrepancy in what we're 00:23:59.630 --> 00:24:02.730 able to do and what God's able to do. Why aren't 00:24:02.730 --> 00:24:08.150 all of our prayers fervent and wholehearted and 00:24:08.150 --> 00:24:11.869 energetic and just full of need and desperation 00:24:11.869 --> 00:24:15.289 for God to step in? Like, why aren't all of our 00:24:15.289 --> 00:24:19.789 prayers when we pray for other people that intense? 00:24:20.130 --> 00:24:23.869 Because it's always like that. It's just sometimes 00:24:23.869 --> 00:24:26.750 we realize that a little more. Church prayer 00:24:26.750 --> 00:24:29.369 is practical. And the book of James is probably 00:24:29.369 --> 00:24:32.210 the most practical book in the whole Bible. The 00:24:32.210 --> 00:24:35.309 whole book is concerned with the practical aspects 00:24:35.309 --> 00:24:38.589 of the Christian walk. And James isn't saying 00:24:38.589 --> 00:24:41.390 that if you produce these things, it leads to 00:24:41.390 --> 00:24:43.750 salvation. What he is saying, though, is if you 00:24:43.750 --> 00:24:46.309 experience Jesus Christ and you receive the Holy 00:24:46.309 --> 00:24:50.029 Spirit, this generous life we talk about will 00:24:50.029 --> 00:24:54.970 be produced in a variety of ways. It talks about 00:24:54.970 --> 00:24:58.089 don't show favoritism. It talks about listening 00:24:58.089 --> 00:25:01.369 more than you talk. It talks about caring for 00:25:01.369 --> 00:25:04.349 the widows and orphans. It talks about clothing 00:25:04.349 --> 00:25:08.289 and feeding the needy. It talks about what our 00:25:08.289 --> 00:25:10.789 heart posture should be like in times of trials 00:25:10.789 --> 00:25:14.390 and suffering. And in this most practical of 00:25:14.390 --> 00:25:17.490 books, it ends with the instruction of praying. 00:25:19.309 --> 00:25:23.730 In James 5, 16, it says, Therefore, confess your 00:25:23.730 --> 00:25:27.190 sins to each other and pray for each other so 00:25:27.190 --> 00:25:30.349 that you may be healed. The prayers of a righteous 00:25:30.349 --> 00:25:35.710 person is powerful and effective, church. And 00:25:35.710 --> 00:25:40.069 so as we talk about praying for others, as we 00:25:40.069 --> 00:25:43.509 talk about praying for the lost, we were given 00:25:43.509 --> 00:25:47.009 these pieces of paper last week. to put names 00:25:47.009 --> 00:25:49.930 on. And as you go through the Bible and look 00:25:49.930 --> 00:25:52.349 at prayers, and there's a lot of examples of 00:25:52.349 --> 00:25:55.529 prayers, most of the prayers in detail, if not 00:25:55.529 --> 00:25:58.509 all of them, are to the church. It's to the body 00:25:58.509 --> 00:26:01.630 of believers. But what you can do is go look 00:26:01.630 --> 00:26:04.109 through scripture and see where God's heart lies. 00:26:05.109 --> 00:26:08.910 And the God we love loves the lost church. It 00:26:08.910 --> 00:26:11.630 says that the Son of Man came to save the lost. 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:15.940 It says that he doesn't want any to perish, but 00:26:15.940 --> 00:26:20.259 all to be saved and turned to repentance. It 00:26:20.259 --> 00:26:25.380 says that I urge you, brothers and sisters, to 00:26:25.380 --> 00:26:28.140 bring your requests with intercessory prayer 00:26:28.140 --> 00:26:35.000 and thanksgiving and pray for everyone. The God 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.849 we love loves the lost church. So then we can 00:26:39.849 --> 00:26:41.990 start to look through scripture and say, okay, 00:26:42.089 --> 00:26:45.470 what prevents someone from accepting this good 00:26:45.470 --> 00:26:49.329 news of Jesus Christ? Like what stops someone 00:26:49.329 --> 00:26:51.690 from being able to see it? And so there are some 00:26:51.690 --> 00:26:55.470 practical ways that we can pray for the lost. 00:26:57.109 --> 00:27:01.190 The first one is you can ask the Father to draw 00:27:01.190 --> 00:27:06.839 them to Jesus. No one can come to me unless the 00:27:06.839 --> 00:27:10.819 Father who sent me draws them in. John 6, 4, 00:27:10.839 --> 00:27:13.980 4. There's no amount of teaching, preaching, 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:17.420 reasoning that will bring someone to Christ. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.400 They have to have a personal experience with 00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:27.400 God himself. We can ask the Father to remove 00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:33.009 the spirit that blinds their minds. The God of 00:27:33.009 --> 00:27:36.670 this age, who's the devil, has blinded the minds 00:27:36.670 --> 00:27:39.869 of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light 00:27:39.869 --> 00:27:42.869 of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, 00:27:43.369 --> 00:27:46.369 who is the image of God. We can pray that their 00:27:46.369 --> 00:27:49.069 eyes are opened, that their hands are opened, 00:27:49.269 --> 00:27:52.670 that they receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation 00:27:52.670 --> 00:27:56.349 so that they might be able to accept the truth 00:27:56.349 --> 00:28:02.259 that is Jesus Christ. We can pray. for a personal 00:28:02.259 --> 00:28:06.740 relationship with God. The Spirit you received 00:28:06.740 --> 00:28:09.460 does not make you slaves so that you live in 00:28:09.460 --> 00:28:12.859 fear again. Rather, the Spirit you received brought 00:28:12.859 --> 00:28:16.460 about your adoption to sonship, and by Him we 00:28:16.460 --> 00:28:20.180 cry out, Abba, Father. We can pray that they 00:28:20.180 --> 00:28:23.779 are adopted into God's household, that there 00:28:23.779 --> 00:28:26.319 is an experience that they realize that this 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:30.390 God is not far off but near. and that he desires 00:28:30.390 --> 00:28:32.910 a relationship and that there would be such an 00:28:32.910 --> 00:28:36.710 intimate experience that they would cry out Abba 00:28:36.710 --> 00:28:39.769 in the same way a loving son or daughter would 00:28:39.769 --> 00:28:45.410 say daddy or papa to their father. We can pray 00:28:45.410 --> 00:28:48.970 for believers to cross their path. This is twofold, 00:28:49.190 --> 00:28:54.009 church. You can pray Matthew 9 .38, ask the Lord 00:28:54.009 --> 00:28:56.390 of the harvest therefore to send out workers 00:28:56.390 --> 00:29:00.230 into his harvest field. But God has put you in 00:29:00.230 --> 00:29:03.589 the path of people. Pastor Todd talked about 00:29:03.589 --> 00:29:06.349 last week, we've been all given this community. 00:29:06.670 --> 00:29:10.130 We all have a sphere of influence and a territory 00:29:10.130 --> 00:29:14.049 that God has placed us in, that we can share 00:29:14.049 --> 00:29:17.349 the good news of Jesus Christ. Church, think 00:29:17.349 --> 00:29:21.049 about this just for a moment. You might be the 00:29:21.049 --> 00:29:25.670 first person ever to specifically bring a name 00:29:25.670 --> 00:29:31.180 to the throne room of God. that you might be 00:29:31.180 --> 00:29:35.619 the first person for someone that doesn't know 00:29:35.619 --> 00:29:39.680 Jesus to specifically pray by name for that person 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:44.960 and lift it up to the throne room of God. Prayer 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:49.180 is a privileged church. God doesn't need us. 00:29:49.619 --> 00:29:54.079 He chooses to partner with us. Prayer is powerful 00:29:54.079 --> 00:30:00.009 church. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Prayer 00:30:00.009 --> 00:30:04.430 is practical. It honors God as our source and 00:30:04.430 --> 00:30:08.549 it honors God as our resource. And so we're practically 00:30:08.549 --> 00:30:12.670 gonna practice prayer right now. Because what 00:30:12.670 --> 00:30:14.750 are we gonna do when we think about prayer? We're 00:30:14.750 --> 00:30:17.710 gonna stop and we're gonna pray. So this can 00:30:17.710 --> 00:30:20.910 go two ways, church. Either you've come up with 00:30:20.910 --> 00:30:23.920 your name already. and then you can pray these 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:26.019 promptings over them or just pray for them in 00:30:26.019 --> 00:30:28.299 general. Or maybe the other is you haven't come 00:30:28.299 --> 00:30:31.059 up with a name yet and that's okay. But I want 00:30:31.059 --> 00:30:34.640 you to pray that the Holy Spirit would put a 00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:37.579 name on your heart. And we're gonna let these 00:30:37.579 --> 00:30:40.559 next few moments be yours and then we're gonna 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:43.380 continue in worship church. And so this next 00:30:43.380 --> 00:30:43.940 time is yours.