Doug Batchelor - Keys for Answered Prayer Part 1

[Music] our planet serves as a battlefield for the forces of good and evil this century alone is witnessed to devastating world wars the daily news is filled with fresh accounts of famines floods fires earthquakes and other natural disasters contagious and incurable diseases continue to elude medical science addictions and abuse of every kind breed crime and violence on the homefront an epidemic of divorce threatens the institution of marriage while tormenting the lives of innocent family members there's corruption in religion and politics along with prejudice pollution and unemployment in this age of deception and suffering our only solution to life's problems and hope for the future is still Jesus Christ at his word coming to you from the capital city of California amazing facts presents the everlasting gospel we're gathered with God's family of faith at the Sacramento Central Church together we will explore the Bible with teacher Arthur evangelist pastor Doug Batchelor in the atmosphere of heartfelt prayer to our Savior and Lord move by sons of love and praise for God in His amazing grace and inspired by the dedication and personal witness of our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ we will study the timeless everlasting truths of God's Word from messages which inspire us with the hope and freedom we have in Christ to practical down-to-earth sermons which give us the tools to live godly lives in a secular society as well as messages that give Bible answers to our spiritual questions and look at what God says about the future there is sure to be something for everyone so we invite you to join our family and experience the transforming power of God's Spirit in your life hello friends I'm pastor Doug Batchelor and I'm both delighted and honored that you're joining us today here for the everlasting gospel we here at Sacramento central believe that a love relationship with Jesus is the foundation for the Christian faith and the only way that can happen is as we know God the way we get to know anybody is through communication the Christian communicates with God as we pray to him and he speaks to us primarily through his word so we like to encourage everybody to spend time each day in personal devotions Bible study in prayer as you spend time in God's book the Bible and you know him better you'll love him better when you love him better the one to serve him better if you receive a blessing from the broadcast today and from our corporate worship and we encourage you to write down the phone number and the address at the conclusion of this program and you can order audio and video copies of this broadcast and share them with your friends and now we're going to join our service and progress I invite the congregation to stand while we have our scripture reading they'll be reading Matthew 6 verses 5 to 8 and I'll be reading from the New International Version and when you pray do not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen of men I tell you the truth they have received their reward in full but when you pray go into your room close the door and pray to your father who is unseen then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you and when you pray did I keep on babbling like the pagans but they think that they will be heard because of their many words do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you even ask Sara Bareilles once again our Father we praise your name for the PERT for the privilege of being here at your house of worship to receive the blessings that are in store for us from your spoken word helps teach men to be faithful servants that we can hear the words well done when we see Christ coming soon in the clouds of glory Christ's name we ask it amen like to wish everybody happy Sabbath again it's good to see you here do you have your Bibles with you today I hope you all brought your Bibles we're going to have a Bible study now it's only fair that I warn you as pastor there are some sermons you will hear repeated with maybe a little different approach every year every year I'm going to talk about the importance of personal devotions Bible study every year at some point during the air we'll probably talk about giving every year I'm going to talk about the importance of prayer this is the first in a two-part series where I'm going to approach prayer a little differently a year ago I talked about the power of prayer now I'm going to be talking about secrets or keys to answered prayer how can we pray effectively and receive the answers for our prayers again I'd like to take a moment and welcome those who are worshiping with us you may notice behind me here that the background in our church is changing a little bit that's because we're a church that's under construction right now so if you notice that we got white and brick and concrete on one side it'll change from week to week so you want to be sure and tune in because you never know exactly what it's going to be like from week to week as the congregation is found but one day we'll settle down and when we get it all finished the first point to having your prayers answered is you must ask how you think well that's obvious but you'd be surprised how often we fail to ask and we don't get an answer because of that jesus said ask that your joy may be full he said up to now you've asked nothing asked Jesus had ask seek knock we need to make an effort you know there are prayers that God wants to answer that he will not answer because we do not ask their prayers that it it would be very easy for the Lord to answer it's entirely in his will but he will not answer simply because we do not ask you as parents have experienced that at times with children where they've got a basic need that you're happy to fulfill but you don't think of the need until they bring it to your attention and they ask you that's why Jesus said if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children when they ask how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those that ask now Matthew words it that way Luke puts it this way how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him now before I launch into the secrets for having your prayers answered I want to give you some practical thoughts on the mechanics of prayer we don't always talk about this but I think from time to time we need to address it when you pray I think that as you approach God we must remember that He is God the Bible says he is in heaven we are upon earth let your words be few I think that we should approach him reverently the Bible has a great deal to say about kneeling when you pray formally that's not to say that you should never pray standing up indeed the Bible tells us Peter prayed walking on water Nehemiah prayed actually Peter was sinking in the water when he prayed Nehemiah prayed when he was serving the king there in Persia you can pray in a variety of circumstances but a Christian should know the importance of that precious time when you reverently bow before your maker now let me give you some examples of this in the Bible Luke chapter 22 verse 41 the Bible tells us our Lord in reverence and submission to his Heavenly Father knelt down before the Father and prayed Luke 22:41 Jesus knelt and prayed now you know what I'm gonna do I just realize we're gonna have a problem here I've got too many scriptures for you to turn to them all you know we're living in the age of fast food and they've got these restaurants designed now where they've found more and more ways to streamline their service so they can feed people as much as many people as much food as they possibly can in the shortest period of time we only have a little time every week and so I'm trying to streamline the service I've got outlined here in the front of my Bible all the scriptures I'm going to share with you and it's just occurred to me that if we turn to all of these all you'll hear for the next 45 minutes is the rustle of pages you may want to take a pencil out and write them down and you can look them up through the remainder of the Sabbath day but I want to give you an in concentrated industrial-strength portion of Bible food today amen and then you can digest that as time goes by I don't want you to get indigestion but I want you to get a lot to satisfy Jesus knelt and prayed Acts chapter 9 verse 40 but Peter put them all out and he knelt down and prayed that's when he resurrected Dorcas Acts chapter 20 verse 36 Paul knelt down and prayed with him all first Timothy 2 verse 8 no I'm sorry Daniel chapter 6 verse 10 Daniel knelt down on his knees three times a day and prayed and then again when Solomon dedicated the temple this is a good illustration at the beginning of his dedication prayer he knelt and prayed he stretched out his hands at the end of the prayer he then stood and blessed the people now there are different kinds of Prayer there's a kind of personal prayer when you go before the Lord in my private devotions every morning I go down to my office I'm usually the first one up 5:30 this morning and if you got young children and you want to have quiet time you got to get up and I go downstairs and I start by reading a passage of Scripture on my computer I do most of my study on the computer now and then I kneel down and I pray that's the in your closet experience where you pray just between you and the Lord through the day I pray driving my car I might pray cooking breakfast you pray all day long the Bible says pray without ceasing amen but there's a certain formal prayer where we corporately approach the Lord that's why at the beginning of our service every week here at Sacramento Central we meal those who worship with us probably don't see that part of our service they see the part where we pray during the scripture and we're standing then the Bible says during the benediction when the priest would dismiss the people he would stand and dismiss the people the reason we stand when we read the scripture is the Bible tells us in the book of Ezra that he opened the scriptures and the people stood up out of respect for God's Word so we being a Bible Church follow that practice but it is appropriate to kneel and pray before your maker we're in an age where a lot of churches are promoting a buddy-buddy relationship with the Almighty and we're losing a sense of the sanctity and the greatness and the majesty of God and I think it's very important for us to come before his throne reverently now there's a balance the Bible says that Jesus is our friend amen but you know what when when he rose from the dead and the Apostles met with him Thomas fell at his feet and said my Lord and my god yes he was his friend but he was also his creator and so we mustn't forget that aspect God is our friend the Bible says Jesus is our brother but he's also our creator and we should approach him reverently matter of fact in the Bible on more than one occasion great holy men were instructed to take their shoes off in the presence of God because it was holy ground and I think that I think we need to be reminded from time to time when we come into this place the Bible says the Lord is in his holy temple at all the earth keeps silent there should be a reverence and awe a respect for the presence of God amen so ask now let me touch on something else that's even more delicate turn with me in your Bibles to first Timothy 2 verse 8 first Timothy 2 verse 8 and here the Apostle Paul tells us I desire that men should always pray lifting up holy hands unto God now are we bible people do we go by the scriptures is there anything wrong with lifting your hands when you pray now somebody is gonna hear this they're gonna copy this tape and circulate that pastor Doug has gone off the deep end I've gone to the far right or something I just have to stick with the Bible friends amen biblically there is nothing wrong with lifting up your hands when you pray now there's one qualifier in this statement what kind of hands do we lift holy hands that could be why you don't see more of it but there's nothing wrong biblically with lifting your hands something else I'll say can you show me a scripture anywhere where it says we should close our eyes and fold our hands when we pray how many of you when you have family worship or you pray with your children you encourage them to fold their hands and close their eyes come on we do it in our family it's not a sin but it's not in the Bible you know where that comes from is children when they pray typically are easily distracted and so somewhere a long time ago parents started telling their children close your eyes so they wouldn't be distracted fold your hands so you won't fiddle and that way you can focus on prayer and be a little more reverent there's nothing wrong with that but nowhere in the bible does it say to close your eyes when you pray matter of fact there are many cases where you find people praying not only with their hands spread before the Lord but with their faces lift it up and just addressing God now you know one thing I think we lose sight of because of our foley in our hands and closing our eyes it's like prayer is this this private blank screen that we go to you close your eyes and then you're praying I think we do well to remember right now God is here Lord you're here right now you're in this room so I can talk to God right now and we forget that sometimes we think we open our eyes prayer is over there's nothing wrong with lifting up your face when you pray to the Lord now there's times when the children of Israel humbled themselves and they not only knelt they prostrated themselves before the Lord in repentance there might be time for you to do that you remember when David was caught because of his sin with Bathsheba and Nathan the Prophet said thou art the man he spread his self down on the ground flat wanted to get as close to the earth from which he came to humble himself for seven days in prayed and repentance so I think what I'm trying to help you see and you're getting the pictures there are many physical mechanical attitudes for prayer that could be appropriate it depends on the situation I'm hoping that nobody will throw themselves on their face right now while we worship it could be distracting one thing you want to keep in mind when you are praying corporately not only is there more power when we pray collectively but you need to be sensitive to the person praying next to you I've been in churches where people all pray out loud simultaneously you ever been in a service like that and it can be distracting it reminds me something of what it must have been like when God confounded the language is there at ancient Babel everybody was praying all at the same time and I guess some of them have greater powers of concentration than I had but I spent more time listening to this person's prayer than what I was praying and so be sensitive to the people around you some of you may have heard that a church in New York City I believe it was a Catholic Church had to file charges against some ladies who were coming because they prayed so loud it was distracting the other worshippers frankly I sided with the congregation Paul has a principle we should do all things out of love for God and love for one another right and if my manner of praying is keeping you from praying I had to reevaluate my method of prayer right we want to do all things to all men that we might reach people for Christ but biblically there are several scriptures where it talks about lifting your hands when you pray to the Lord there's nothing wrong with that now I'm not asking us to start emulating some of our Pentecostal brothers and sisters I'm just telling you this is what the Bible says amen and we've got to stand with the Bible alright so having said that we should never neglect private prayer jesus said when you pray do not praise a hypocrite standing to pray means scene of men but enter into your closet does that mean it's wrong to pray in public how do we know it's not wrong to pray in public didn't Jesus say enter into your closet the Bible tells us Jesus prayed publicly several prayers of Christ are recorded in this book how do you think the Apostles were able to record them except they heard him pray right Jesus prayed many times in public he was not saying don't pray publicly he said do not pray publicly to be seen of men Amen when you pray be thinking about what God is hearing because you're talking to him and that brings me to another point and I've done it I confess sometimes we pray for the benefit of the person that is listening rather than the God that's listening parents typically do that with their children kneeled down for family worship say dear Lord we thank you so much that you protected Johnny through the week and that you're gonna help him always tell the truth well you know that that parent is not praying to God but praying to the son right make sure they hear what they're talking to God about so you want to be sure that you're sincere and genuine in your prayers and you're not doing it for the benefit of those listening that's what Christ was addressing when he said they pray to be seen of men incidentally he said they stand and pray you remember the Bible Jesus said two men went into the temple to pray one was a Pharisee Gospel of Luke tells us this one was a publican the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself I always thought it was interesting he prayed with himself thank the Lord he was not as other man extortioners paid tithe twice a week fasted and I'm not like this publican back here but the publican would not so much as lift up his eyes but he bowed himself he smote upon his breast an attitude of humility and he said lord have mercy on me a sinner and the publican went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee who did pay tithe he did fast he did go to church but he was self-sufficient and proud and Unforgiven he was not trusting in God's grace he was trusting in his works so when you pray your greatest plea is your need in God's grace not your good deeds but getting back to point number one for answered prayer you got to ask good times for prayer don't happen they're made you've got to choose them and while I'm thinking about it I should also add don't only ask when you feel like it sometimes we feel like praying when we're on the precipice of some disaster right then it's real easy to pray we're highly motivated Christians need to learn to pray even when they don't feel like it typically when you feel like it the least is when you need it the most now I don't remember whether or not I shared this with you collectively as a church I had an experience a few years ago I'll never forget that illustrates this a friend of mine named Dave Boatwright Dave is still working for the church in Oklahoma somewhere in case you see this Sunday Dave he and I were cutting wood this is when I was in the wood cutting business and we had a Bible study that evening in Colville oh we need to cut a couple quarts of wood split it stack it on the truck and get it down to town deliver it and go to our Bible study with some non-christians very important study that night well it was muddy where we were cutting wood and the truck got stuck while we were trying to get the tree that day was a Christian now I'm a Christian while the truck got stuck I started using David's come along you know it's a hand-drawn wench to try and pull the truck out he had just bought this new come along and while I'm doing it he was revving the engine and I did something wrong with it come along I don't know how it happened but I broke it well he was a little irritated I think he was waiting for me to offer to buy him a new one but I was upset I said well I've got a electric winch back to the house I'll run back to the house and get the electric winch so I hopped on my motorcycle and ran back to the house threw it in the car got this 12-volt one and threw it in the car Michael was about three years old standing on the front porch wondering why dad ran in the yard and was leaving again on my way out of the artery looked back at Mike just in time to see his face as I ran over his brand-new tricycle just mangled the whole thing oh I felt bad but I had the truck was stuck we had to get this wood down and so the stress is mounting and so with the image of his grieving expression in my face I had to go back up with my winch we hooked up the 12-volt winch and now Dave is operating my winch and I'm driving the truck and we break the winch my winch now his come-along cost $16 my winch costs 200 it was an electric winch he wasn't offering to buy me a new one and we started getting more and more irritated with each other and as we would come up with different ideas to get this truck out get the wood to town so we can share Jesus with somebody we were getting madder and madder at each other I'd suggest something and then he tried it wouldn't work and he'd say oh that was a dumb idea you know and and then he'd suggest something and the truck was getting stuck deeper and we had to go to town so we could study the Bible finally I was made it wasn't my idea they said Doug wait a second he said you know we ought to pray I feel a little tension developing here and he said this is not jesus said this is the devil well I'll tell you what I didn't want to pray I wanted to be mad last thing in the world I felt like doing was praying and I said Dave I don't really feel like praying right now you're just saying let's pray because you're come along cause $16 a my winch was $200 it's easy for you to say let's pray it is a Doug maybe when you need at least this when you ought to do it the most or when you feel like it the least you ought to do it the most and boy this is gonna be tough so I didn't want him to think he was holier than me so I said alright we'll pray so we knelt down up there in the woods we needed help and there was mud on our knees Dave started praying and I thought boy he sure sounds sanctimonious then it came time for me to pray and as I started praying I started thinking more about the person I was talking to instead of the one who was in front of me and as I began to tell the Lord about the problems and apologize for my anger it's like the Lord just took it away and we prayed there for I don't know how long a few minutes on our knees and then we got done we just kind of open our eyes to look to each other and we breathe the sigh of relief and it was like why don't we do this more often this is great stuff it really works now our problems did not end but our attitude changed that made coping with the problems a thousand times easier we finally got the truck out as we were falling the next tree to get the second quart of wood David saw got stuck in the tree and the chain came off so I got my saw to cut his saw free and the switch the off/on switch broke off but we started when his song got stuck we said let's not get upset let's praise the Lord so he said thank you Lord that the sauce stuck in the tree so then when I got my saw to start cutting his saw out the switch broke off but Dave said don't get mad Doug it broke in the on position we can still run the saw twenty-some lord it saw broke in the on position and you know what we just started praising the Lord we just felt like the devil was defeated and he began to leave we didn't feel like praying when we were starting that day but you know prayer really changed the whole day we got the wood got the truck unstuck no serious damage to the saws had to fix the tricycle but got to the Bible study with a different attitude when you feel like praying the least it's typically the devil who's making you feel that way because he knows that prayer is going to be your answer and he doesn't want you to do it the devil can affect your feelings just know when you don't feel like praying it's because God really wants you to pray so don't pray based upon feeling some of you maybe have heard the story we're Corrie ten Boom who had been in a Nazi concentration camp years later ran into one of the guards who had cruelly mistreated she and her sister who had died in ravans Brook and it was in a church no less and they recognized each other in this church and he approached her and said sister 10 boom will you forgive me for what I did to you and your family stretched out his hand all of the memories of the the terrible treatment and all of the anger and watching their sister died of starvation just began to well up in her and she thought these are the people who are responsible for all that suffering and death and she said to herself I could not forgive and she prayed a brief prayer and she said Lord you've told me to forgive I choose to forgive and even though she didn't feel like it she reached her hand out to a man that she had hated and she said in reaching out my hand she felt a flood of power flow through her body and down her arm and it was just the love of the Lord and taken over her and by choosing to do what she didn't feel like doing but she knew it was right it became a reality so when Jesus says ask that's a command that should not be based upon feeling amen furthermore when you ask ask big we pray too little we pray too seldom and we pray to little our prayers are too small and puny I think sometimes we're afraid to ask for big things because we're afraid if we don't get it our faith will be weakened right we're afraid to ask for these big preposterous things because we think what if God doesn't answer my prayer that will weaken my faith and so we don't ask where it's quite the contrary God wants you to ask big things because when you pray big prayers what kind of answers do you get big answers then what happens to your faith it gets bigger ancient story that Alexander the Great found a beautiful young lady he wanted to marry he said to the father I'll pay you whatever dowry you request them for your daughter go to my treasure and let him know what you want the father went to the treasure for alex' to the great this great Macedonian King and asked for an enormous amount the treasurer said I'm sorry that seems ridiculous I can't approve that amount without first going to the king and he went to Alexander and he said this poor man is asking this enormous amount for his daughter's hand in marriage and now examine I thought yeah that is a lot of money give it to him I like him he honors me by his large request he believes that I am both rich and generous now is our heavenly father less rich than Alexander the Great can you think of any time in the Bible when someone prayed a big prayer and God said I'm sorry that's just too big of prayer when Solomon prayed for wisdom God said good I'm glad yes for that meet him the wisest man that ever lived when Elisha said I want a double portion of Elijah's spirit Elisha said you've asked the hard thing did God give it to him another way to put it he said you've asked a big thing you cannot think of a time in the Bible where God said you've asked for too much Jesus on the contrary has told us that he is more willing to give than we are to ask isn't that pathetic he is more willing to bestow on us great things if we would simply ask for great things God is honored when we pray for miracles because when you ask for miracles you're saying I believe that he's powerful enough to do this you probably remember the statement where the Bible tells us the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the earth searching for someone with whom he can show himself mighty God is looking for people who will believe in him that he is a big God that can do big things so pray big prayers all right item number one was to ask turn with me to Matthew chapter 8 verse 5 through 13 Matthew 8 I'll start with verse 5 following on with our theme about praying big prayers and how God's attitude is now when Jesus had entered Capernaum a Centurion came to him pleading with him saying Lord my servant is lying home paralyzed dreadfully tormented and Jesus said I will come and heal him the Centurion answered and said Lord I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof but only speak a word and my servant will be healed for I am also a man under Authority having soldiers under me and I say to this one go when he goes and to another one come and he comes and to my servant do this and he does it when Jesus heard it he marvelled and he said to those that followed assuredly I say to you I've not found such faith no not in Israel and many will come from the east and the west and sit down in the kingdom with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness and they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth then jesus said to the Centurion go your way as you have believed let it be done to you and his servant was healed the same hour he prayed a big prayer he didn't underestimate God's power and Jesus said well I'm glad that you know what I can do I can do it because you believe in me so do not be afraid to ask and don't be afraid to ask big point number two now on this next - Sabbath together I'll be covering seven or eight points point number two when you ask be careful to ask according to God's will these are keys to getting your prayers answered one thing is asked another thing is ask according to his will James chapter 4 verse 3 you ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss that you might spend it on your pleasures sometimes our prayers are not answered even though we do ask we ask for the wrong thing we ask for something that's not in harmony with God's will I remember when I was a baby Christian Justin accepted Jesus and I would hike from the cave there in those desert mountains down to the town of Palm Springs and it was a hot grueling hike and I'd get to town I had no money and I remember praying lord please help me get a couple of dollars so I can get a quart of beer sometimes I got the beer and sometimes I didn't I think when I got at the devil answered my prayer God doesn't promise to give you things that you're not supposed to have he is a loving Heavenly Father amen and sometimes we ask for things that are not for our good and God and his wisdom and love does not give them to us amen and we think he didn't answer our prayer he did answer and the answer was no so I asked according to his will the Bible tells us about Balaam the Prophet he wanted to curse the children of Israel for personal gain and so he went and opened his mouth to try and curse God's people and instead of blessing came out it was not God's will to curse what he had West no matter how he prayed so we need to be willing to submit our will to God's will which is a very important requirement for prayer something else to consider is when you do pray be very careful what you ask for sometimes God will answer a prayer that is not in harmony with his will and we will be sorry he answered it we insist upon receiving a certain thing and like spoiled children we persist and God will say okay I'm going to give you what you asked for then when we get it are we ever sorry be careful to always season your prayers by saying if it be thy will if it be thy will because you and I do not always know what is best for us now if you and I pray for forgiveness is that always God's will if you and I pray for the salvation of loved ones that are lost is that God's will things that are clearly outlined in God's Word we don't need to wonder about we only need to say Lord if it's your will I want to see so-and-so saved of course it's as well he's made that very clear but you might say Lord if it's your will I want to have a new Cadillac now that's a whole different kind of Prayer see the Bible doesn't specify those details and so we have to submit our request to God sometimes he gives us the desires of our heart but sometimes he answers our prayers and we wish he did it the children of Israel going through the wilderness came to the borders of the Promised Land they sent out their spies the spies came back two of them had a good report ten of them had a negative report and the children of Israel believe the negative report and they said would God that we died in this wilderness and God got tired of hearing that it wasn't the first time they'd said it he said okay you're gonna die in the wilderness and they did now don't you think that they were for the next 40 years sorry that they prayed that prayer be very careful what you ask for make sure that you're praying according to God's will now let me give you some examples of this in the Bible turn with me to mark chapter 10 verse 35 mark chapter 10 verse 35 sometimes we don't know what we're asking for you remember the story James and John the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus another gospel tells us they came with their Jewish mother and they said teacher we want you to do whatever we ask some of us have prayed like that right Lord I've got a request just do it whatever we ask just do it and he said to them what do you want me to do for you they said grant us that we may sit one on your right hand the other on your left hand in your glory we want to sit next to you in your glory we want to bask in your glory and be glorified a little ourselves and Jesus said to them you might underline this Jesus said to them you do not know what you're asking for they thought they knew they pictured that Jesus was going to set up an earthly Kingdom conquer the Romans on the throne of David with all the glory is Solomon then some and while the world's and the nations came to bow before the new king of Israel Jesus Christ James would be on his right and John would be on his left and that's the image they had and they wanted those positions Judas wanted to be the treasure in that Kingdom that he thought Christ was going to set up here on earth they had all these false notions and because they had misinformation they were asking for the wrong things you do not know what you ask can you drink the cup that I will drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with and again without really knowing what's involved they said oh sure yes we can and jesus said you will indeed drink the cup that i drink and with the baptism that i am baptized with you'll be baptized but to sit on my right hand and my left is not mine to give for whom it's prepared another gospel he says but it's from the father I think it's very interesting that these two people James and John who came to Jesus requesting to sit on the right hand and on the left hand the first of the Twelve Apostles to die was James the first martyr he was beheaded by Herod the last of the Apostles to die was John his brother he lived the longest they were both baptized with sufferings because of their commitment to Christ that's what Jesus was talking about he was saying you think by sitting on my right hand in my left hand that you're gonna be on easy street you don't know what you're asking for those who are closest to me share in my suffering sometimes we think that being closest to Christ means being free from trouble jesus said if they'd hated me they're gonna hate you if they persecuted me your Lord and Master they'll persecute the followers all right like to share another passage with you Luke chapter 9 got to know what we're asking for Luke chapter 9 verse 54 Luke chapter 9 verse 54 I'm looking some of these up Jesus was passing through Samaria on his way to Jerusalem the Samaritans did not appreciate that he wasn't going to stop and worship at their holy mountain but he was going to Mount Zion instead they felt slighted by this and they did not receive Jesus into their towns this anger James and John verse 53 I'll read but when they did not receive him because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem when his disciples James and John said Lord do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just like Elijah did it's in the Bible Jesus Vernon people up is biblical it is I mean you know Elijah prayed you remember the story this wicked king sent his soldiers 50 soldiers to abduct Elijah and bring him back and they came to the foot of the mountain he was up on the top and he said if I'm a man of God let fire come down and burn you up and poof they were ashes happened to two groups of 50 the last group of 50 soldiers came to Elisha and said please have mercy on us I'm just doing what the King said he said okay since you're nice I'll go with you and so here they're thinking about that and James and John said they're not giving you due respect we'd like to burn a few people up always wanted to do what he lied you did would you give us the power now we'll command fire to come down and burn them all up interesting prayer request you ever had that one before come on fess up fess up have there been times you prayed for God's wrath to fall on people come on you know it's true now listen to what Jesus says you do not know what manner of spirit you're of you're praying the wrong kind of Prayer Christ did not come into the world to destroy men amen he came to save and if you want to get even with your enemy you overcome evil with good you don't pray that God rains fire on them last thing that Stephen prayed before he slipped away into that death of sleep he said Lord lay not this sin to their charge some of the last words of Jesus were Father forgive them they don't know what they're doing those are prayers that God will answer amen but the prayer that you bring fire down from heaven you don't know what you're asking for it's a wrong spirit that's spawning that kind of prayer so we want to be very careful now I want to go with you to verse well we can read verse 56 for the Son of man did not come to destroy lives but to save them go to verse 57 now it happened I'm still in mark chapter 9 verse 57 now what happened as they journeyed on the road that someone said to him Lord I will follow you wherever you go he's requesting to follow Jesus and Jesus said you don't know what you're asking for foxes have their holes and birds of the air have their nests but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head if you're following me for temporal gain you're praying for the wrong thing then another one said he said to him follow me but he said Lord let me first go and bury my father another request of Jesus and Jesus said let the dead bury the dead but you preached the kingdom of God get your priorities straight about what God's will is he normally would assume isn't it appropriate that first you go to your father's funeral that you settle all the estate before you follow Jesus I mean he assumed that was the right thing Jesus said that's not the Father's will priorities are preaching the gospel and saving people and another one said Lord I'd follow you but first let me go and say goodbye to those at my family another request for Jesus Jesus said no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom strange responses to requests Jesus was trying to straighten their thinking and all three of these we come to the Lord with misconceptions for one thing our prayers are flawed in many cases because a lot of our praying has to do with Lord please make me comfortable in my sin we ask for God to give us health and give us strength to give us the amenities and creature comforts and we are a lot more sincere about those prayers than we are sometimes about praying lord save me from my sin amen so in essence it's like the man who's in prison and his request of the warden is for a carpet for the prison to make him more comfortable where he ought to be asking for parole and some of us in our prayers God is waiting for us to be delivered from prison and we're saying Lord can you please give me a few more sticks of furniture from my prison cell make my prison cell a little prettier help me feel better in my prison cell and we're praying the wrong kind of prayers probably the first and foremost and primary thing that we should always be praying for is personal forgiveness of sin presenting ourselves to the Lord as a living sacrifice coming to him with our whole heart and that brings me to the next item item number three when you pray we need to pray with the right attitude the right spirit what did Jesus say about when we pray and we have anger in our heart for a brother Matthew chapter 5 verse 23 and 24 therefore when you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has all against thee now why do they bring their gifts the Jews would bring their sacrifice their gift to the altar and seek forgiveness for their sins in the sins of their family Jesus is saying when you bring your gift and you are seeking forgiveness and there you remember I wonder how they remember the Holy Spirit told them and there you remember you've got to strive with your brother you've got some a conflict with a relationship is then leave your gift don't offer your gift you go be reconciled to your brother first then come and bring your gift now does the Bible specify that perhaps this is a criteria for answered prayer what does Jesus say as the only commentary on the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6 you know that 1 Matthew chapter 6 verse 14 and 15 Jesus said for if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses when we come to the Lord we need to have a spirit of forgiveness amen that's a very important criteria you can't give your shopping list to Jesus when you're praying and your heart is filled with anger for others like I said the most important thing when you come to the Lord is that you are an empty a vessel available to Jesus part of having the right attitude when you come in prayer is be humble you remember that passage of scripture that says if my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways humble themselves and pray then I will hear when they humble themselves then I will hear sometimes we come to the Lord arrogant proud matter of fact I am I'm grieved at times when you know I like to stay in touch with all kinds of things happening in the Christian realm and I think you should try and keep in touch - I am a lot more concerned about what's going to happen to the church from within than from without the people who crucified Jesus were the ones who had the Bible amen we don't need to worry so much about the pagans on the outside it's the ones who get on the inside and I've seen pastors in their churches shake their fist at God and say you said it you better do it commanding God puny mortal man shaking his little fist in the face of the Almighty we can't approach God like that need to approach him in humility he doesn't owe us anything amen except the penalty for our sins which is death the only way we can come is because of Jesus and you don't have anything to be proud of when you're being answered because of the merits of another so we ought to come with humility come humbly and present ourselves as a living sacrifice ask the Lord to clean and forgive us have the right attitude when we pray Jesus said one time the disciples tried to cast the demons out of a boy that a father had brought to them Jesus was up on the mountain with Peter James and John he came down the mountain and they had been unsuccessful in casting the demon out now they had succeeded in other occasions with other people but here with this boy they couldn't do it and the father came to Christ and he said my son is sorely vexed by the devil ever since he was a youth he cast them in the fire and sometimes in the water to destroy him and I brought him to your disciples and they could not help and Jesus delivered the boy and later when the disciples were alone Christ said this type does not come forth except by prayer and fasting they had to have the right attitude they had to humble themselves and clean themselves out before the Lord and and have an attitude of supplication to God and then God answered their prayer and so I don't think I can overemphasize that when we come to Jesus and we want him to answer our prayers we need to first say okay this is important I want my prayer answered how is my heart right when the olders get together to anoint someone who is sick with oil it's appropriate for them to first say Lord first cleanse me from sin I want to be a channel through which you can minister before I stand before you to preach I'm a mess you know I got a lot of problems and I've got to pray only way I can stand before you is when I first humble myself and say Lord forgive me for my sins I would like to be a channel through which you can communicate to this congregation today I've got to humble myself so I can come out with an attitude God can use when a preacher stands in this place and he's proud God can use this position to humble him and I've had a few experiences where I came up very self-sufficient I went down with my tail between my legs so if you want your prayers answer you need to be willing to forgive others and you need to have God's forgiveness in your own life amen be vessels that are available God is not a big Santa Claus up in the sky where we just give him our shopping list he's our Creator he's our Redeemer and he deserves our reverence we should approach him prayerfully and carefully now there's so much more I want to share with you and we're running out of time but let me summarize this part of this series by saying you cannot live the Christian life unless you love the Lord you cannot obey Jesus unless you love him he says if you love me keep my Commandments you cannot love somebody you do not communicate with one of the most important things about prayer is it helps you know the Lord and in knowing him you love him what will Christ declare to those that are lost I don't know you so now while the door of Mercy is still open I think Jesus is coming very soon we need to be a people who are praying constantly I'm concerned when I know there's 740 people on the books Wednesday night we gather right over there 7 o'clock for a prayer meeting and we might get 20 people that concerns me we should not neglect the times and opportunities we have to come together for prayer amen if there was ever a time when we needed to pray if Jesus needed to pray back then there how much more do we need to pray here and now on the borders of eternity like to close with a beautiful quote from the book steps to Christ the darkness of the evil one encloses those who neglect to pray the whispered temptations of the enemy entice them to sin and it's all because they do not make use of the privileges that God has given them in this divine appointment of prayer why should the sons and daughters of God be reluctant to pray when prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven's door houses where our treasure the boundless resources of omnipotence whoo what a statement I'm going to say that part of it again prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven's storehouse where our treasure the boundless resources of omnipotence without unceasing prayer and diligent watching we are in danger of growing careless of deviating from the right path the adversary seeks continually to obstruct the way to the mercy seat that we may not by earnest supplication and faith obtain grace and power to resist temptation isn't that what I've been telling you the devil wants to keep us from prayer because prayer is the secret weapon so friends I'd like to challenge you to try and implement in the week before us now some of the things we've talked about asking asking in God's will and presenting ourselves and in our next message next Sabbath we'll talk about some of the other keys for answered prayer well friends just before the conclusion of today's message I'd like to take a moment to remind you that if you've received a blessing from today's service you can order audio or video tapes of this program by writing amazing facts p.o box 680 Frederick Maryland 2:1 705 if you'd like to call us at amazing facts the number is area code 301 694 6200 and I'd like to remind you that not only do we have copies of this service that you're viewing today but we have hundreds of other resources to help you in your walk with Jesus and to better enable you to share the gospel with your friends and your family please remember us here at Central worship in your prayers and your tangible giving I know there are hundreds of different ministries that are knocking on your door and we just want to pray the Holy Spirit will guide you and how to respond thank you very much for being with us today and now we'll go to the conclusion of today's message now in just a moment we're going to sing the final verse I always like to offer an opportunity for some who maybe have not found Christ as their Savior to come to the front and say Jesus I want to give you my life such as it is and ask you to forgive my sins and sit on the throne of my reason if that's your desire you feel him speaking you today I invite you to come we'd like to pray with you as well and following our prayer we'd like to invite you to contact pastor George elder Jones and they'd be happy to pray and counsel with you as we sing the last verse [Music] Oh [Music] by his spirit [Music] would it be okay is as far as possible if we knelt together before our God as we close with prayer Father in heaven Lord we want to come right now and just present ourselves as we are your children you know each one of us through and through and we're coming acknowledging our need our need of forgiveness our need of your love that we might forgive others we want to be channels through which you can operate Lord we want to be instruments that are powerful in prayer forgive us for being so indifferent and not utilizing this incredible privilege we have of approaching you on regular appointments and all through the day praying without ceasing we ask Lord for a revival in our church we pray Lord for a revival that must begin individually in our lives in our personal devotions help us to pray more teach us to pray better we ask Lord that each of the requests that are represented in the hearts and minds of the people kneeling before you right now will be answered according to your will we do want your will Lord because we know that your will is best and sometimes we ask a miss Lord we're also praying that we can have the spirit of Jesus that we can pray in his love and especially we're asking Lord that you forgive all of our sins and help us to reflect Jesus we want to give you permission to do on our lives whatever you need to do that we might be thoroughly converted and ready for Christ's return so fall upon us through the Holy Ghost right now Lord and I pray that through the week we can walk and live in your presence and communion with you always we're asking and believing and praying not that we deserve it but because of Christ's name and his sacrifice amen [Music] happy Sabbath pastor chair

Channel: Isac C

Views: 45,452

Rating: 4.7808218 out of 5

Keywords: Doug, Batchelor, Keys, for, Answered, Prayer, Part, Jesus, Love, God, Holy, Spirit, Gospel, Salvation, Word, Prophecy, Study, Preaching, Truth, Pastor, Grace, Messiah, Ministry, Bible, Angels

Id: EOVb8KSpKBA

Length: 60min 0sec (3600 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 14 2013