Morning church, how are we doing? It is so good
to see you here. Thank you for the special shout
outs. As always, we just want to slow down and
welcome Park Collective. I love you there. You
know me. If you haven't met me, I am the location
pastor at Park Collective. But if we could, Park
Collective, if you would join us, could we just
just bow our heads and pray real quick? Father
God, we come before you, Lord. just in all your
goodness. We thank you for the breath in our
lungs. We thank you that you have granted us
another day, Lord. Lord, I pray that your presence
will be felt in this room and for everyone that
hears this message, Lord. Father, apart from
you, we can do nothing. There can be no life
change. There can be no transformation, Lord.
There can be no fruit that is eternal. unless
you are involved in it, unless you are the source
Lord. And so I just pray that in your mighty
name, Jesus. And the church said, amen. Well,
we are one day closer. to Christmas. So Merry
Christmas. And we have at my home two littles,
as many of you might know, but we have a four
and a two year old. And man, that like really
adds, that's just the dynamic. Like once you
get littles, like it starts getting really excited.
I'm here to tell you having a four and two year
old is wild. And I know many of you have experienced
that, but I'll be 46 this month. And like, what
was I thinking? I mean, Genuinely, sometimes
I ask that. But I love my kids, and they could
not be any more different. I mean, they really
couldn't. I have a boy named Jed Adia. We call
Jed. He's four. He's, like, very kind, and he's
eager to please. And I have a picture of him.
We'll show. And this is us taking him to his
first football practice. And yes, in the South,
we start him young. And on the way to his first
football practice, he's in the car with me and
his mom and he goes, do you think the football
team's gonna be ready for how fast I'm gonna
be? He goes, because I'm pretty fast. And for
some reason, when he talks about his speed, he
talks like that. He gets really intense and his
mannerisms change. But I also have a little girl
named Israel Rose, and we call her Izzy. And
she is strong -willed. She is aggressive. She
is tough. I got a picture of her. And if a picture
could encapsulate a character or a personality,
this is it. She's also very independent. Everything
is, I do it, I do it, I do it. My oldest is,
feed me, clothe me. He won't do anything for
himself. I'm trying to teach him that he needs
to do it on his own. I'm trying to teach her
to accept help. But one of the things that we
love as parents, me and my wife, is when our
kids' choices and desires align with our choices
and desires for them. Now for a four and two
-year -old, that's having respect for adults.
That's having good manners. That's choosing to
share. that's choosing to love. And when they
do those things, man, we get excited as parents.
Like, we want to foster those things. We want
to help them to get to where that would take
them in life. And I would say that's infinitely
more true for our Father in heaven when we come
to Him in prayer. I believe if I were to ask
the church, like, do you believe in the power
of prayer? You would see hands up all over the
room. But I also think if I asked do you wish
your prayer life to look different or you prayed
more You would also see hands up all over the
room and so why don't we pray I? Think the first
reason is because we misunderstand who God is
That our God desires to give what is good In
fact, He can only give what is good. Anything
truly good that we've ever received comes from
the Father. He can do no wrong. He cannot do
bad. He cannot sin. And so we need to understand
this about our Father, because we go through
a life that can be hard, right? We've all experienced
suffering, trials, and loss. But our God is good.
And we just sang that song. I'm not going to
sing it, because it would be horrendous. But
He is good. He is good. And we need to understand
this about our God as we go through this world.
In Matthew 7, verses 9 through 11, it says, Our
Father gives good gifts to those who ask. God
works all things for good for those that love
him. The God we serve is the one true God who
created the universe, who breathed the stars
into existence and knows them by name. He's the
God who parted the Red Sea. He's the God who
flooded the world. He's the God who raised Lazarus
from the dead. He is this mighty, holy, righteous,
just God. And that same being came down in the
person of Jesus and walked patiently with Thomas
as he doubted the resurrection and the deity
of Christ. He loved Peter through denying him
three times. He forgave Paul for the murder and
persecution of his church and used him to advance
his kingdom. Our God is a good God. Now, I think
we would all agree, like, it's hard to talk to
someone who doesn't understand what we're going
through. Like, if you have marriage problems
and you talk to someone who's never been married,
you're like, they don't get it. If you talk to
someone about problems with your kids and they've
never had kids, we don't think they understand.
What we need to understand about our God is he
understands what we're going through. In Hebrews
4, 15 through 16, It says, for we do not have
a high priest who is unable to sympathize with
our weaknesses, but we have one who has been
tempted in every way just as we are, yet was
without sin. Let us then approach the throne
of grace with confidence so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of
need. We serve a God who knows exactly what we're
going through. That the God we serve sent down
his son to be the final high priest and the final
sacrifice That knows what it's like to be tempted
But was without sin Our God knows us better than
our best friend Better than our spouse God knows
us better than we know ourselves This is the
God that we serve church, and I think another
reason why we don't pray is that we misunderstand
prayer I mean, and I get it. It feels like sometimes
our words bounce off the ceiling. Some prayers
are answered immediately. Some prayers take decades.
Some prayers aren't answered in the way we think
they should be answered. We still experience
loss and suffering. But once we start to understand
who God is, that he is good, he can only do good,
he can do no wrong, he cannot sin, then we can
start to understand what prayer is. And the first
thing I want us to get is that prayer is a privilege.
Prayer might be the greatest privilege that we
have as believers. That we have a privilege to
go to the creator. with our needs. That we can
go to the Creator and He knows our thoughts.
He knows the words on our tongue before they
are formed. That this personal God we can go
is a privilege and that we can take our needs
to Him is even a greater privilege. And I think
the greatest privilege is when we get to pray
for others. I think when you think of the two
greatest commandments to love the Lord your God
with all your heart, mind, soul, and body, and
the other is like it to love your neighbor as
yourself. Well, if I love my neighbor like myself,
I want people praying for me. I need to pray
for them And when we pray for others, you might
have heard this term It's intercessory prayer
to act the act of praying on behalf of others
or from the word intercede to intervene between
parties to reconcile differences But the most
simplest way you could say it is I'm praying
to God on your behalf. I Really like that. I'm
praying to God on your behalf Take a look with
me at Exodus 32. We're going to be in verses
9 and 12. And what's going on here is Moses is
on Mount Sinai. He's on the top of Mount Sinai
with God. God has given him the Ten Commandments,
and the Israelites are at the bottom of the mountain.
But God sees their actions at the bottom of the
mountain, and that they've really given themselves
over to corruption. They've made this golden
calf. They're worshiping it. I mean, they're
wilding out. And this is what the Lord says to
Moses in verse 9, I have seen these people the
Lord said to Moses and they are a stiff necked
people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may
burn against them and that I may destroy them.
Then I will make you into a great nation. But
Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. Lord,
he said, why should your anger burn against your
people whom you brought out of Egypt with great
power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians
say it was with evil intent that he brought them
out to kill them in the mountains and to wipe
them off the face of the earth? Turn from your
fierce anger, relent, and do not bring disaster
on your people. Moses goes on to bring up Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob and the promises made to them.
And in verse 14 it says, then the Lord relented
and did not bring on his people the disaster
he had threatened. This is the privileged church
that we can intercede on someone else's behalf,
that God chooses to partner with us to carry
out His will. Now, was Moses happy with Israelites?
No, he was not. He goes down the mountain. He
smashes the two tablets, stone tablets, not iPads.
He grinds up the golden calf into a fine powder,
mixes it with water, makes him drink it all.
Judgment was passed that day, but not destruction.
Now, did that stop Moses from praying for the
Israelites? I mean, I think we need to slow down
here, church. He wasn't happy with their decisions.
He wasn't happy with their beliefs. He wasn't
happy with their actions. But Moses interceded
on their behalf before God. I think we should
stop talking about people and start praying for
them. I think we should stop talking about people
at church and start praying for them. I think
we should stop talking about people at work and
start praying for them. I think we should stop
talking about people in our neighborhood and
start praying for them. I think we should stop
talking about people on the other side of the
aisle and start praying for them. What if instead
of raining down judgment on them, we started
lifting them up in prayer church? In Psalms 106
-23, in reference to the story we just read,
it goes, I love that phrase, stood in the breach.
Moses stood in the weak spot of the wall. He
stood in the gap. He stood in the blind spot
of other people's lives. The church, are we willing
to stand in the breach between God and someone
behind and talk to God on their behalf? Are we
a church? Are we believers that are willing to
do that? Because we should be. How do you like
that for a teaching moment? You should. Next
one is, prayer is powerful. This can change the
trajectory of an individual's life. It can change
the trajectory of a whole family. It can change
generations to come. And prayer is only powerful
because we serve a powerful God. It is by God's
power through the obedience of prayer that He
so often carries out His will. And I have, I
want to share with you what God is up to in this
church and within His family from people here.
So my first one. My routine health exam came
back with a precancerous area. I was flooded
with fear and anxiety. Many friends were praying
with me that the diagnosis was wrong. I had a
follow -up exam with a special dye to pinpoint
the area, and the test came back completely clean.
Prayer is powerful, church. Prayer is powerful.
Another person wrote, our marriage was in a place
of bad habits and numbness, escape from the truth
and each other. It was actively growing apart.
We needed a miracle for us and for our kids.
God saw us and responded slowly, gently and graciously.
Each time we hit the bottom, which was often,
we landed in a net of the faithful prayers of
the body of Christ. Because of their prayers,
we were covered, protected, and interceded for
daily. Our deep wounds were sanctified, made
holy by God's active presence. He led us forward
into newness. He breathed life, healing, and
revelation into our marriage. No matter where
you might be in the pit, there is hope, light,
and a good God who takes pleasure in creating
beauty from ashes. Church, prayer is powerful.
It is by God's power through obedient prayer
that there can be physical healing church, that
marriages can be healed and made whole again.
I have one more. I grew up in a household where
my dad was a member of the Hells Angels, which
meant I was raised in and around the biker gang.
My dad told me I was put on this earth for evil,
and that was the only thing I was good for was
to carry that evil out. I struggled with drugs
and alcohol my whole life. I finally went to
a Christian rehab, and the only reason I went
was to prove that God wasn't real. I attended
a recovery Bible study through the Heights Church
and had men praying for me. And three months
later, I gave my life to Jesus. Yeah, that's
worth celebrating. God has been so gracious to
me and my family since I've come to have Jesus
as my Lord and Savior. I've had two younger sisters,
a niece and an uncle all accept Jesus Christ
as their Lord and Savior. By God's power through
prayer, families can be changed. This changes
the trajectory of this whole family's life for
what I believe will be generations to come. And
this last one is very, very special to me. Pastor
Bob and I several years ago got to be a part
of these Bible studies. And at the end of the
Bible study, you get prayer requests. And so
we go around and we get to this young man. His
name's Lance. I have permission to share this.
And we go, Lance, how can we pray for you? And
he... with very colorful language would express
his disapproval of us praying for him. And we
would very sincerely and lovingly just smile
and say, we're going to pray for you anyway.
And he would get so mad. And me and Bob just
thought it was the funniest thing ever. And three
months later, he gave his life to Jesus. You
want to understand who our God is? The God we
love loves the lost. Lance didn't want prayer.
He wanted to prove God didn't exist. He didn't
want to have anything to do with them. He fought
it with every fiber of his body, and God revealed
himself to him. And now I get to see Lance share
the gospel with not only the whole recovery community
up here, but having huge impacts in the Valley.
I mean, God is putting him within churches and
rehab facilities to share the good news of Jesus
Christ, and this can only be done by the grace
of God. Prayer is powerful church. Third one,
prayer is practical. Prayer is practical church.
First of all, prayer honors God as our source,
and it honors God as our resource. Prayer is
practical because it acknowledges where God is,
and it acknowledges where we are. And we're not
on the management team. We're not making the
decisions, church. But prayer's not only practical
because we know of our position and His, there's
also practical ways to pray. I can't tell you
how many times I've gotten text messages randomly
or rhythms from other people, but in the morning,
hey, I'm praying for you and your family. Several
years ago, I started asking God in my quiet time
to put names on my heart. And I would start to
lift those families up in prayer. I would lift
their businesses up in prayer. I pray blessings
over their children, over their home, over their
areas of responsibility. And then right before
I would leave that day to go to work, I would
send them a text and let them know I'm praying
for them. I see people in this room that I get
texts from that say, I'm praying for you. That's
what I believe the unity of the body of Christ
is. How many of us have been in a conversation
with someone and go, hey, hey, I'm going to pray
for you, and doo -doo -doo, going about our day,
and we never pray for them? I mean, guilty as
charged. What if, practically, when we thought
a prayer, we stopped and prayed? Doesn't matter
if we're at the grocery store. It doesn't matter
if we're at the bank. It doesn't matter if we're
out in the lobby. If we say we're going to pray
for someone, we can practically just stop and
start praying. What do our prayer lives look
like, church? I mean, if we go back to the two
greatest commandments, love the Lord your God
with all your heart, mind, body, and soul, and
to love your neighbor as you love yourself. What
do our prayer lives look like? We might need
to do a prayer inventory. How often do I pray
for me? And how often do I pray for others? How
often do I pray for what I want? How often do
I pray for what God wants? How often do I pray
for those I love? How often do I pray for those
I don't get along with so well? In our prayers,
are we praying to be blessed or are we praying
to be a blessing church? If we let all our prayers
out on the floor, What would it look like? Prayer
for others and prayer, prayers for ourself. I
remember I got to do this mission strip to Honduras
and church, I was a baby Christian. I had been
saved for about three months and we were gonna
go to this orphanage and you go visit these very
famous landfills where people live on the landfills
and they live around them. And we were gonna
go give them food and share the gospel. You know,
this is a big step for me. So we're there, we're
doing it. And the guy who ran the orphanage comes
to me and he goes, hey, I disciple these seven
men in this Honduras prison. He was like, would
you like to go with me? And I'm telling you,
church, I didn't skip a beat. I said, absolutely
not. This is exactly what I said to him. And
he laughed like y 'all just did. And he goes,
OK. And so went on about the day, and I just
kept feeling that. whatever words you want to
use, prompting, drawing, push. And I was like,
I think I'm supposed to go. And so right before
bed, I go to him and I go, hey, I think I'm supposed
to go with you. And he was like, perfect. We
leave at 7 AM. It's a two hour drive. So we're
in the car for about 10 minutes. And I, you know,
I've never been to Honduras prison or anything
like that. And I'm like, I'm excited. I'm like,
what are we going to do there? And he was like,
oh, I'm going to have you share your testimony.
I go, what are we doing? I didn't say another
word for two hours. The only thing I did was
pray. And church, if you think about it, it was
the only practical thing I could do. I was in
a foreign country with a foreign language. I
had never publicly spoke anywhere. I had no training.
I was so out of my depths. The only practical
thing I could do was pray. And I'm not here to
sugarcoat it. It did not start out well. So when
we get to this prison, it's really more like
an abandoned castle with armed guards everywhere.
It's not like the prisons you're thinking of.
And the church service had about 300 to 400 men
in it. And so I get on stage and I have this
interpreter next to me and... And we start going,
and we're fumbling around, and he cannot understand
my twang. So this poor guy is standing next to
me, and I say a sentence, and then he looks at
me, and he looks back at the Americans, and he's
like, is this English? And we can't get anywhere.
So then an American comes up who speaks Spanish,
and he takes over, and we get through it. And
honestly, I don't remember one word I said. At
the end of it, there were dozens of guys bawling,
crying, and I don't take any credit for that
church. In fact, I'm pretty sure the interpreter
gave a message on being saved by grace. I'm pretty
sure. But I think my question is, church, why
don't we pray like that every time? I mean, it's
always that big of a discrepancy in what we're
able to do and what God's able to do. Why aren't
all of our prayers fervent and wholehearted and
energetic and just full of need and desperation
for God to step in? Like, why aren't all of our
prayers when we pray for other people that intense?
Because it's always like that. It's just sometimes
we realize that a little more. Church prayer
is practical. And the book of James is probably
the most practical book in the whole Bible. The
whole book is concerned with the practical aspects
of the Christian walk. And James isn't saying
that if you produce these things, it leads to
salvation. What he is saying, though, is if you
experience Jesus Christ and you receive the Holy
Spirit, this generous life we talk about will
be produced in a variety of ways. It talks about
don't show favoritism. It talks about listening
more than you talk. It talks about caring for
the widows and orphans. It talks about clothing
and feeding the needy. It talks about what our
heart posture should be like in times of trials
and suffering. And in this most practical of
books, it ends with the instruction of praying.
In James 5, 16, it says, Therefore, confess your
sins to each other and pray for each other so
that you may be healed. The prayers of a righteous
person is powerful and effective, church. And
so as we talk about praying for others, as we
talk about praying for the lost, we were given
these pieces of paper last week. to put names
on. And as you go through the Bible and look
at prayers, and there's a lot of examples of
prayers, most of the prayers in detail, if not
all of them, are to the church. It's to the body
of believers. But what you can do is go look
through scripture and see where God's heart lies.
And the God we love loves the lost church. It
says that the Son of Man came to save the lost.
It says that he doesn't want any to perish, but
all to be saved and turned to repentance. It
says that I urge you, brothers and sisters, to
bring your requests with intercessory prayer
and thanksgiving and pray for everyone. The God
we love loves the lost church. So then we can
start to look through scripture and say, okay,
what prevents someone from accepting this good
news of Jesus Christ? Like what stops someone
from being able to see it? And so there are some
practical ways that we can pray for the lost.
The first one is you can ask the Father to draw
them to Jesus. No one can come to me unless the
Father who sent me draws them in. John 6, 4,
4. There's no amount of teaching, preaching,
reasoning that will bring someone to Christ.
They have to have a personal experience with
God himself. We can ask the Father to remove
the spirit that blinds their minds. The God of
this age, who's the devil, has blinded the minds
of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light
of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God. We can pray that their
eyes are opened, that their hands are opened,
that they receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation
so that they might be able to accept the truth
that is Jesus Christ. We can pray. for a personal
relationship with God. The Spirit you received
does not make you slaves so that you live in
fear again. Rather, the Spirit you received brought
about your adoption to sonship, and by Him we
cry out, Abba, Father. We can pray that they
are adopted into God's household, that there
is an experience that they realize that this
God is not far off but near. and that he desires
a relationship and that there would be such an
intimate experience that they would cry out Abba
in the same way a loving son or daughter would
say daddy or papa to their father. We can pray
for believers to cross their path. This is twofold,
church. You can pray Matthew 9 .38, ask the Lord
of the harvest therefore to send out workers
into his harvest field. But God has put you in
the path of people. Pastor Todd talked about
last week, we've been all given this community.
We all have a sphere of influence and a territory
that God has placed us in, that we can share
the good news of Jesus Christ. Church, think
about this just for a moment. You might be the
first person ever to specifically bring a name
to the throne room of God. that you might be
the first person for someone that doesn't know
Jesus to specifically pray by name for that person
and lift it up to the throne room of God. Prayer
is a privileged church. God doesn't need us.
He chooses to partner with us. Prayer is powerful
church. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Prayer
is practical. It honors God as our source and
it honors God as our resource. And so we're practically
gonna practice prayer right now. Because what
are we gonna do when we think about prayer? We're
gonna stop and we're gonna pray. So this can
go two ways, church. Either you've come up with
your name already. and then you can pray these
promptings over them or just pray for them in
general. Or maybe the other is you haven't come
up with a name yet and that's okay. But I want
you to pray that the Holy Spirit would put a
name on your heart. And we're gonna let these
next few moments be yours and then we're gonna
continue in worship church. And so this next
time is yours.