House of Prayer - Part 4 - Pastor Raymond Woodward

in this series we have been studying the tabernacle which is an incredibly important segment of the scripture there are only two chapters about creation in the bible and yet there are 42 chapters about the tabernacle plan and the reason is that the tabernacle demonstrates god's pattern his original pattern for relationship with his people and the tabernacle plan actually foreshadows basically everything else that comes later in the word of god and that's why god said this has been our theme scripture for the last four weeks including tonight let them make me a sanctuary that i may dwell among them according to all that i show thee and notice this word after the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof even so shall ye make it so this is a pattern it's a blueprint and god intended it to be such now the tabernacle itself was a movable tent that god commanded moses to build god gave moses precise instructions about materials and dimensions and the structure of this tent while he was on mount sinai and that was just 11 months after the exodus from egypt everything in that original tabernacle was designed so it could be disassembled and then reassembled in a very short time because god wanted israel to be constantly on the move toward their promised land after the wandering in the wilderness and the conquest of the land of canaan and they now are in their promised land the tabernacle was first set up at shiloh later at gibeon and that tent remains central to israel's worship for nearly 500 years now king saul their first king he did not make worship at the tabernacle a priority during his 40-year reign over israel the ark of the covenant had been captured by the philistines for seven months during the time of eli the priest the high priest but the philistines returned the ark to israel can you imagine they stole that golden box with the angels on the top so very valuable but they returned it because the ark brought nothing but trouble to the philistines in other words god is perfectly capable of defending himself thank you very much it was only taken when it was brought back to israel it was only taken as far as kiriath jerem where it remained in that place during the entire reign of king saul he didn't even ask about the ark he just left it sitting there so saul's kingship was a crippled kingship and it ended in disaster but the moment david became king he decided we got to go get that ark first chronicles 13 3 he said let us bring again the ark of our god to us for we inquired not at it in the days of salt what a tragedy that for 40 years during saul's reign they didn't inquire after the ark of the covenant and they didn't fellowship with god according to his pattern now it was the desire of king david to build a beautiful permanent home for the ark of the covenant in jerusalem rather than it being in a tent david had a beautiful palace he wanted to build god a beautiful temple but god didn't give him permission because david had been a man of war and he had shed blood but the lord promised him because of david's heart he promised him your son and your successor king solomon will be permitted to build the temple and so david in contrast to saul he spends most of his 40-year reign collecting all the building materials for a temple that won't even be built in his lifetime he collects gold and silver and brass and iron and precious stones no wonder the temple ended up being such a beautiful building king solomon hired many skilled craftsmen to build the temple he had a workforce of 70 000 porters 80 000 stone cutters 3600 overseers and 30 000 laborers and with all of that manpower and all of the building materials pre uh purchased and pre-assembled it still took seven years to build that beautiful temple when that temple was dedicated somebody say old testament this is the old testament when that temple was dedicated king solomon prayed for his nation from on top of a brass scaffolding and they offered 22 000 oxen and 120 000 sheep in sacrifices in a week-long feast of tabernacles to celebrate the dedication of their temple and the bible tells us somebody say old testament the glory of god in the old testament under the old covenant before the holy ghost the glory of god filled that temple to such an extent that the priests had to stop ministering as the people just basked in the presence of the lord fire came down from heaven the glory of the lord filled the house the priests couldn't even go inside because the glory of the lord had filled it and when all of israel saw that and they saw the glory they literally bowed their faces to the ground and worshiped and they praised the lord and no doubt they wept and they shouted and they clapped and they leaped for joy and they said god is good his mercy endureth forever now folks if that could happen in an old testament temple surely we shouldn't be the least bit shy to let the glory of the lord fill the house in the new testament we shouldn't be the least bit backward about making some noise every once in a while about standing with tears rolling down our face because the glory of god in our covenant the glory of god in our testament the glory of god in our generation is not in a building it's in us you are the temple of the holy ghost and every once in a while you just got to let the glory of god fill the temple [Music] sadly after the reign of solomon the country entered into a time of civil war and it fractured into two kingdoms israel in the north judah in the south and both of those kingdoms began this slow torturous descent into a backslidden state and as a result that beautiful building lasted less than 500 years it was destroyed by king nebuchadnezzar in 586 bc and all of its treasures were carried off to babylon while the jews remained in captivity for 70 years finally king cyrus gave them permission to return to jerusalem and another temple was constructed under ezra's leadership it took about 20 years but a nation returning from seven decades in captivity had no great wealth to invest so it was much less grand than before and those who attended the dedication of that temple they actually wept when its foundation was laid many of the priests and the levites and the chief of the fathers who were ancient men that had seen the first house when the foundation of this poor house was laid before them they wept with a loud voice many shouted aloud for joy they thought we got our temple but the elders who had seen the glory they wept you know if i have any concerns about the generation that i live in it's that we don't learn to live with a carbon copy of pentecost that we don't learn to live with a a lighter version of pentecost that we don't learn to live without powerful worship services and responding to preaching and praying at length and just being everything we need to be for god they wept when that foundation was laid would you lift up your hands right now i feel so so so um empowered to teach you tonight not because i've got any great words to say but because i know jesus hand is on this little bible study tonight so i'd like you to lift up your hands right now because everything's going to happen here we're going to be instructed we're going to be convicted we're going to be empowered god is going to do some wonderful things for his people tonight and so i'd just like you to interact with the holy ghost because i don't want a carbon copy of the carbon copy of the carbon copy of somebody else's pentecost i want to know jesus for my self i want the foundation i lay to be as strong as the foundation that was laid by our elders who gave us this gospel and who preached us this truth i worship you jesus i worship you jesus during the reign of herod the great massive retaining walls were built around the top of mount moriah and they created this giant square flat platform and a new temple complex an expanded temple complex it basically was completely rebuilt dramatically expanded with beautiful auxiliary areas and and gates and large courtyards but this is important to note as always the temple was still required to have the same essential floor plan no matter how big or small or beautiful you made it it needed to have the same essential floor plan as the tabernacle as far as the areas where they worshipped because god's pattern had not changed and does not change now that was the temple of the new testament world it was magnificent when you hear them talk about the western wall or the wailing wall all that is is one of these little side walls of the retaining wall that herod built around the top of mount moriah it's not part of the temple itself it's part of the temple complex it's just a piece of retaining wall the temple was so magnificent you cannot imagine there's actually a saying among the jews that anyone that did not see the temple uh in the days of herod has never seen a beautiful building they actually say that so this temple complex is the temple of the new testament world in your bible jesus was brought here to be circumcised in luke 2. it was here that mary and joseph found 12 year old jesus speaking with the elders in luke 2. it was here that jesus attended feast days and taught the crowds and confronted the pharisees and cleansed the temple the gospel of john lets us know that the construction of this building lasted 46 years it began roughly 16 years before jesus was born because in his earthly ministry jesus had this conversation he said you destroy this temple and in three days i'll raise it up and they got indignant they said it took 46 years to build this temple and you think you're going to build it in three days but he wasn't talking about that building he was talking about being god robed in a tabernacle of flesh but this is the temple where the apostles preached and prayed and witnessed and saw miracles and met persecution the apostles were carted out of here to be beaten in acts 5. stephen was taken from this place to be murdered in acts 6. paul was arrested in this place in acts 21 and you know what none of that opposition stopped the church and daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach jesus christ every once in a while you get the the christian whiners today and basically it's like the world's against us the politics is against us the cultures against us the education systems against us that all happened times ten in the days of the apostles and they still survived and they still thrive and they still had revival and they still built a church and they still reach their world and if they can do it we have the same holy ghost and we can do it in our generation [Applause] this magnificent temple was demolished in a.d 70 when the roman general titus destroyed the city of jerusalem this is amazing a massive fire ensued and it melted the gold that covered the temple so that the gold literally ran down into the crevices of the stones and the roman general titus ordered his soldiers you pry apart every stone and you scrape out or pry out all that gold that has melted and then they cast the stones over the edge of that retaining wall into the street below i've been there i've walked by some of the cracks in the the sidewalk of the day and i've seen the piles of stones that they've left in that place for all of these years since ad70 jesus had prophesied that 40 years early he said see you these great buildings there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down jesus spoke that 40 years before it happened and it happened exactly like he said and the romans did it they pried apart each stone to get that gold and they fulfilled jesus words can i tell you that if jesus says he's coming back he's coming back you can take that to any bank anywhere because his word never fails now here's the point the jews have now existed for 2 000 years without a temple but don't think that because the jewish people don't have a physical temple in jerusalem that god has somehow left his church without a temple because the bible says know ye not that ye are the temple of god and the spirit of god that used to dwell in the holy of holies on the ark of the covenant between those golden angels the shekinah presence of god that spirit dwells in you now jesus declared that god's house should be called a house of prayer if we are the tabernacle or the temple of god and he has said that my house shall be called a house of prayer what do you think that means for us that means that we need to be people of prayer we need to be mindful of prayer we need to be consistent in prayer we need to pray without ceasing we need to first of all pray jesus said my house is the house of prayer but when you give it over to other things it becomes a den of thieves so i would say to paraphrase jesus tonight what are you letting steal away your prayer life because that's taking something so critical important and eternal from you and if you're not careful the pressures of life and your time commitments and your pleasure and your activities and there's nothing wrong with any of it alone and there's nothing wrong with it any of it with any of it in measure but if you're letting it steal away your primary purpose if you're going to be disciplined to go for a walk every day my goodness you should be disciplined to go to prayer every day if you're going to be disciplined to go to work every day you should be disciplined to go to prayer every day if you're going to be disciplined to come to church and so many of you are and we're so thankful and we're so proud of you but if you're going to be coming to this building every time the doors are open my goodness how much more powerful it would be in this house of god if these houses of god had a relationship in prayer with god every day my house is the house of prayer now we talked about this every week in this series the tabernacle is a four-fold prophetic picture it's a picture of the salvation plan as you walk through the articles of furniture three in a row the brazen altar the brazen labor and at the far end the ark of the covenant they show us the plan of salvation it's a picture of jesus and we went through all this furniture from the gospel of john where it appears in such a magnificent fashion and this tabernacle pictures jesus in fact every little detail of this tabernacle pictures jesus and that would take a 40-week series not a four-week series this tabernacle as we talked about last week is also a picture of you you are body soul and spirit the same way the tabernacle is outer cord holy place and holy of holies it's amazing and and it never stops the pictures the typology the meaning it's so magnificent the camp of israel was arranged in the pattern of a cross once they got the tabernacle set up in the center and they put the tribes around in their arrangement as god had prescribed there was a cross that was on that camp of israel it was amazing if you look at the tabernacle furniture itself as i just mentioned the the tabernacle furniture is arranged in the form of a cross and and so this is everywhere in the old testament showing us something in the new testament every day according to jesus words we are to take up our cross and deny ourselves and follow him there should be the shadow or the imprint of a cross on your life what is the cross the cross is when you deny your flesh the cross is when you submit to god's will the cross is when you crucify sin and flesh and your carnal nature and every day you have a relationship with god and so i'm so honored and privileged to teach you tonight because before we end this little lesson series of lessons on the tabernacle plan we have the opportunity to look at what praying through the tabernacle actually looks like because your tabernacle your temple is to be called a house of prayer every day that you live and so tonight we're going to take a walk together and one final time in this little series i want to show you this video so you can get in your mind exactly where we'll be walking as we take a little prayer journey tonight let's take a look [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and that is the tabernacle plan in a little video just like the lord's prayer in matthew 6 is a pattern praying through the tabernacle plan is what we would call a prayer pattern listen to me it is not a legalistic ritual to follow it is a beautiful relationship to develop that's what it is not a legalistic ritual it's a beautiful relationship some days when your feelings are not quite so intense has anybody noticed that sometimes when you're not at church and the music team's not singing and the pastors aren't pushing us to pray in worship has anybody noticed that you're not quite as intense in your feelings at those times anybody in this room yeah some of you are just super spiritual all the time i've noticed that i don't feel the same intensity when i'm walking through walmart now i can pray walking through walmart when i see people in walmart that i haven't seen in church for a while i do pray david called those imprecatory psalms i think but anyway that's a whole different subject some days when your feelings are not quite so intense you might find it helpful to stick quite closely to this pattern other days you'll pray more freestyle you'll just kind of get into it you'll feel it you'll follow the leading of the spirit it's great either way all ways are good because the main point is that you are praying so praying through the tabernacle is simply a prayer journey it's got nine places to visit kind of in sequence three entrances and six pieces of furniture and if you're a visual learner which many of us are it may help to imagine yourself standing before each of these things as you pray and you can move on whenever you want as quickly as you want or you can linger as long as you wish in each place please hear me prayer is not about a quantity of time that's where we get hung up because somebody they start out to say i'm going to pray 10 minutes a day or half an hour a day or whatever it is they set and then they mess up for a couple of days and then they just give up and that's crazy because prayer is not quantity of time prayer is about the quality of a relationship here's the goal in prayer there aren't 25 goals there's this goal the goal is to get yourself into god's presence every day the bible tells us in exodus chapter 33 and verse 9 it came to pass as moses entered into the tabernacle the cloudy pillar descended and it stood at the door of the tabernacle and the lord talked with moses god literally took that pillar of cloud that rested over the top of the holy of holies over the top of the ark of the covenant he literally took that pillar and he moved it all the way here to the door of the tabernacle and what he was telling people is moses and i are talking right now so don't you bother us we're talking we're having a conversation moses was in prayer with god that's what god wants to do with you and so here we go the first thing you come to in the tabernacle is the entrance gate and there's only one entry into the tabernacle and you know his name there's only one way to get into the presence of god and that's by using the name of jesus that's the key to that door and at this door there were four pillars and you can have them mean anything you want but it is quite noticeable that there are four gospels four accounts of the life of jesus and since he said i am the way and the truth and the life and nobody comes to the father except by me i think it would be okay to say that when we come to prayer the first thing we need to do is acknowledge and worship and lift up the name of jesus that's just a good rule any time you come to prayer and the bible does tell us enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his name so since this is going to be what they call interactive tonight i'd like you to lift up your hands and right now enter into his gates with some thanksgiving thank god for something that you're thankful for surely there's something out of the last 24 hours or the last seven days that you can say oh god i thank you that you delivered me i thank you that you bless me i thank you that you provided for me i worship you and god i'm gonna take it one step beyond thanksgiving and i'm just gonna worship you maybe this hasn't been my best week maybe this hasn't been my greatest day but in the middle of whatever i'm going to lift up my hands and i'm going to raise my voice and i am going to worship god because my god is worthy of praise so i'm just going to bust in to his presence rudely or impolitely i'm going to acknowledge him when i go into his house of prayer i'm going to worship him when i go into his house of prayer oh i wish you'd do that for another minute because his presence settles do you notice this it may be more intense on monday and less intense on tuesday but his presence is with you when you acknowledge the name of jesus i worship you jesus i thank you for your presence that we feel right now as we lift up your name we thank you god you've been so good to this church you've seen us through some rough times and some hard days and some tough seasons but god we're still here because of your mercy and your grace and your truth as endured to all generations and we worship you for it jesus we give you honor and praise we give you honor and praise oh i thank you god i thank you god doesn't that feel good that's how you always enter prayer you know just rush in and say god i need that's irritating is what that is if the only time somebody talks to you is when they need something anybody no i better not ask for a show of hands on that one the only time they ever communicate with you is that when they want something there's no relationship it's just give me give me give me i don't want that kind of relationship with god i want jesus to know that i love him on days when i don't feel like he's given me anything but the reality is every day that i live including today i have breath to breathe in my body and as long as there is breath to breathe in my body i'm gonna talk to jesus and say i love you jesus i'm gonna talk to jesus and say i worship you jesus because on the bad day when i need to come to his house i don't want to be a stranger the next article the furniture that we come to in the tabernacle plan is that huge brazen altar it was the largest piece of furniture in the tabernacle it was so big that you could put all the other furniture inside of this and have a little bit of room left over it was massive this is the first place you came this is the place where you brought your sacrifice and the priest he shed the blood of your sacrifice and he tied it to the horns of the altar and they burned that sacrifice it's a place of death it's not pretty it's not clean there was a fire on this altar that god started originally but then it was the job of the priesthood to keep the fire forever burning on it was never ever to go out always burning and always a place of death the very first thing you need to do as you walk through this tabernacle prayer journey after you've entered god's presence and worshiped him you need to spend a little bit of time repenting do you know christians need to repent not just sinners do you know good saints of god need to repent because repentance is not just about scandalous sin that everybody whispers about and gospel oh no repentance is about little attitudes that get in us repentance is about the coldness of this world that can get inside of us and we come to church and we go through the motions and we go through our daily life and we go through the routine of our week and we forget about god so the very first thing you need to do after you've entered his presence with praise is you need to say god i need to talk to you because i'm not perfect you're perfect i'm not righteous you're righteous i'm not holy you're holy so jesus here's what i know here's where i know i've messed up and you need to name that to jesus and that's why you do need a place to pray and that's why you do need some time alone with god because we don't want to hear all your mess and you don't want us to hear all your mess but do you know there are times you need to say jesus i wasn't right in my words i wasn't right in my thoughts i wasn't right in my attitude i wasn't right in my actions i wasn't right in my activities i wasn't right on the internet so jesus i need your blood to cover me i need to take my old flesh kicking and screaming and put it on the altar and let that flesh die so that that spirit that is in me can live and rule jesus burn out anything in me that is not like you sometimes i'm arrogant sometimes i'm way too quick to judge sometimes jesus the lusts of the flesh come and attack my mind sometimes jesus i'm too quick to believe evil about somebody else and while i'm pretending to be good and i know i'm not so jesus here's what i need i need you god to burn it out of me i take my flesh today and i say with all i die daily kill raymond woodward and let jesus be seen in my glances in my looks in my touches in my words in my interaction in my conversation you need to make your way to that altar because everybody wants the ark of the covenant everybody wants the shekinah glory of god to shine through their life but look your if you want a big ark of the covenant if you want major power with god if you want god's presence to rule in your life if you want to be used in spiritual gifts or some kind of prophetic ministry or just be a good witness and a great christian you know what if you want a big ark then your altar's got to be massive because your altar always must be greater than your ark would you lift up your hands right now in the presence of god and would you just say to jesus god i repent nobody's asking you to call out specifics right now because we're in a public service but you do need to do that on your own but you can pray like this jesus i repent of everything that's not like you jesus i repent of every cruel word i've spoken jesus i repent of my anger issues jesus i repent of the lust of the flesh jesus i repent of that stuff because i don't want to be like the world i don't want to be like everybody else i want to be like you so take me to your altar god i lay my flesh down i lay my desires down i lay my passions down and god fill me with yours i want to kill mine so you can live not i that live by christ who lives in me oh jesus repentance gets hard for apostolic people we've been filled with the holy ghost so long that this little mentality kind of settles in that we're okay we are not okay if we don't have a daily time when we repent before the lord that's what keeps you fresh that's what keeps you cutting edge in the holy ghost when you repent and you know i don't have all the answers and i'm not perfect and i'm not nearly as much like jesus as i pretend to be to everybody else one more time would you lift up your voice the bible says repent and be converted turn around you can turn around you can make a choice right now that's the beauty of repentance god i haven't lived it very good this week i haven't done very good today but i turn around right now why do i repent that my sins can be blotted out when times of refreshing come from the presence of the lord it's not negative to repent it's not bad to repent it's not awful to repent it's beautiful to repent there's a refreshing wants to come to somebody i'm going to push you a little bit here and i know we're interactive and that's a little weird but i want you to lift up your hands as an act of defiance against that old flesh that gets way too lazy that might be something you need to repent off that your flesh gets lazy in your spiritual disciplines but jesus i repent i don't want to be lazy about the most important thing in my life i repent of that jesus here burn out every that's a good prayer burn out everything in me that's not like you burn out desires and burn out actions and words and thoughts that are not like you go back i worship you god it's a good thing to spend time in repenting because it clears you out your heart your mind your passions your thoughts and gets you ready to go further because the next article of furniture that we come to in our little walk through the tabernacle plan is that beautiful labor of water do you know what the laver was actually made of it was made of brass and the bible specifically tells us about this article of furniture that the women of israel brought their brass mirrors they didn't have what we have today but they could have something that was reflective and it was brass and so they brought their brass mirrors and they melted them down and so this article was reflective in two ways it was made out of mirrors and it was filled with water so the labor is the place where you see your reflection it is the place of cleansing and in the tabernacle plan there were no dimensions given specific for the ark specific for most of the articles of furniture but no dimensions given for the labor you could make it as big as you wanted god left that up to israel and you know that the washing of water in scripture is twofold it's baptism in the plan of salvation but once you're saved what is the washing of water oh i'm glad to tell you it's this beautiful word of god the bible tells us that he wants to sanctify and cleanse the church with the washing of water by the word so this is the moment in your prayer time if you're praying a short time this would be a moment to pray the word of god you don't have to have a brilliant memory or mind to do this just some scriptures that have been meaningful to you over that week or from preaching from sermons from church something in a song but you pray scriptures you pray the word of god over your life because the word it's like a mirror it reveals ourselves to us the word will reveal you need to correct that the word will reveal that that you need to have strength in this area and the word directs us it gives us guidance that's why you need a relationship with the word of god and the word not only directs it corrects it will tell you what you're not doing right and so you need to pray the word you need to become familiar with the vocabulary of the scripture what you hear in church when the preachers are leading and praying and preaching you need to if especially if you're new to pentecost you need to let that settle in your spirit because can i just tell you this i know you're smart but god's words have more power than your words god's words have more authority than your words so you need to become familiar with the word and learn how to pray that word now if you're in your devotional time this is a perfect place think with me you've just entered god's presence with worship and thanksgiving you've repented and cleaned out your heart now is a great time if you're doing your personal devotions to open up the word and not just pray the word but if you've got a little bit longer time this is a good spot right here to just read the word you don't have to read chapter after chapter after chapter and i do bible reading plans and that's wonderful but but we're not just trying to get through a section of scripture we're trying to have a relationship with god i would rather you read one verse and it means something to you one verse and you carry it through the rest of the day in your spirit and you pray over it i'd rather you do that than read 10 chapters and not remember a thing that you read it's about a relationship with god and so this is a good place there were no dimensions given for the labor so this is a good place to just take your time if you can and and you can move a little quicker if you need to everyone say the labor everyone say the word prayer is not just about talk talk talk prayer is about letting god talk to you and saturate your spirit and this is a good place to do it in the reflection of his word and then we come to the holy place and at the holy place there's this big gate pillars and curtains and you can't get into the holy place without going through this beautiful gate of the temple this curtain there are five pillars here you have to go through the altar and you have to go through the laver before you can go here and please remember that when only priests could go into this building called the tabernacle only priests could get in here so everybody else could come here everybody else could come through the gate everybody else could come around the labor and watch what was happening but the priests they went to those articles of furniture so that they could prepare to go inside the temple or the tabernacle itself when they went in there they were going in there to represent others they were going in there and that's part of prayer is representing others in the presence of god now elder g.a mangan he took these five pillars and he said that's five pictures of jesus in the words of isaiah his name shall be called wonderful counselor the mighty god the everlasting father and the prince of peace and i think the bishop was on to something there because this is a wonderful time in your prayer time you've repented you've interacted with his word you've maybe prayed his word and then you just start talking to god about all that he is and all that he is to you he's wonderful you can thank him for all the blessings that he's given in your life he's a wonderful savior he's so kind and compassionate and loving and quick to forgive what a wonderful thing to thank you for that he's forgiven you over and over again but he's more than wonderful he's a counselor have you ever needed some good advice have you ever needed some good counsel and have you ever gone to the wrong place to get it usually the wrong place has a human face but let me tell you there's a counselor that can give you wisdom in the spirit that no friend no family member not even a pastor can give you you're not going to get that because you run into jesus at church on sunday you're going to get that because you're in his presence every day and you say god i need your counsel on this situation i don't know whether to buy or not to buy i don't know whether to go or not to go i don't know whether to do or not to do i need your counsel well good news he's a wonderful counselor he's a counselor that can give you his leading in the spirit he's the mighty god anybody ever had a situation when you needed more power than what you had access to when you needed more power than what you thought your family had access to well he's a mighty god if he could beat hell and the devil flat-footed at calvary he can handle anything that has come against you and every once in a while you need to pause at that gate and say you're a mighty god and i need your mighty power to intersect my life and help me here he's not just a mighty god he's the everlasting father there's something about we celebrated every year at father's day and we honor our dads the ten commandments even tell us to honor our father and our mother there is something about the authority there is something about the love there's something about the example of a father and god is a father to the fatherless and this is a great place to pray for people that are struggling people that are wayward prodigals and backsliders and people that are missing in action in the church and say god we need you to be a father to them we need you to embrace them with your loving arms and we need you to pull them back to yourself god be a father to them jesus be a father to me i need your compassion i need your direction i need your support right now and he is the prince of peace he is the prince of peace as you know my dad had emergency surgery early in the morning yesterday he said to me last night when i was visiting him what progress he made yesterday and i thank you for your prayers he said to me when i went in when they were taking me in even when they were putting me getting me ready to go on the operating table he said i never had a fear he said i always wondered what it would be like if i the doctor came in and talked to us she said you could go your heart could stop this could happen that could happen she gave him all the scenarios she was so kind and and professional and compassionate and he said raymond i never had a qualm i never had a fear i said dad you would not believe how many people have told me that that serve jesus when they get right to that moment when it could go either way they said i just fell to peace do you know that this god that you pray to every day is the prince of peace you do not need to walk through your life worried and fretting and anxious and paranoid and panic stricken and i know right now as we teach this series we're in the middle of a worldwide viral pandemic and it's got some people scared half to death not a child of god i know that people can die i know that people can get very sick no it might not turn out the way we hope but listen to me we have the prince of peace who is by our side but you've got to connect with him every day because you don't just need his peace when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death you need his peace every day my house shall be called in a house of prayer well if it's a house of prayer guess what it's a house of peace it's a house of power it's a house of a father it's the house of a counselor it's a wonderful house and you just need to stop and say god you declared this is what you were so i'm gonna take your declaration and i'm gonna declare it in my situation oh my goodness we lift up your hands and your voice and just declare his peace over your mind just declare his counsel over your decision just declare his fatherhood over your mistake just declare that he's mighty just declare that he's wonderful this is the gate that takes us into prayer it's beautiful and powerful jesus is all we need in every situation and as we enter into the tabernacle we've now passed from the courtyard and we've gone through the gate as we enter remember the priests went in here and the high priest went in here representing others this might be the most important statement of the night for somebody prayer is not just about you prayer is about others prayer is about god's church prayer is about this world we're trying to reach prayer is about lost people prayer is about hurting people prayer is about our culture and our society that's so wayward and upside down prayer is not just about you and so we enter and we look and we see this beautiful brilliant light and it is the golden candlestick it was a seven branched oil lamp you poured in the oil in one branch and it ran through to all the branches and came up to level and every day it was the priest's job to replenish that oil and to trim the wicks and make sure that the flame stayed bright and pure and just like the brazen labor there were no dimensions given for the candlestick they made it as big and as elaborate as they wanted the picture is obviously that every day you need fresh oil and you need fresh fire in your life in other words you need to be spirit empowered and you need to be spirit directed and since there were no dimensions this is another good place to linger and one thing you're praying for is it's not just light for your decisions and your life and your pathway you are to be a light you are to be his light so this is where you pray about being a witness this is where you pray about people that that are are lost and people you're trying to reach people you want to see saved the bible says in ephesians you were sometimes darkness but now are ye light in the in the lord so walk as children of light you've got to make sure you're walking in the spirit with the oil and the fire every day away with this dead ritualistic christianity that's replicated in every denomination in church all over our nation and all over the world apostolic people are not supposed to be dead and dry we're supposed to have the oil of the holy ghost and the fire of god's altar burning in our lives every day so you just need to say jesus today i want to walk in the spirit today i want to live in the spirit today i want to move in the spirit you are not going to have a ministry in the spirit if you don't have a prayer life in the spirit so you need to stop and let the fire be kindled and let the oil flow every day but you can do it especially when you're with a bunch of other branches because the oil flows in one and it pops up in another and it flows in over here and it comes up over there so right now one more time would you just interact with the presence of god would you lift up your branches and would you let the oil flow as you worship him because god is in this place jesus is here right now and he's waiting to hear from us thank you jesus i worship you god i love you jesus thank you god thank you god another article of furniture that we walk by in our little prayer plan praying through the tabernacle is this little table it's called the table of showbread when you look in the hebrew language table of showbread the the phrase in the hebrew is literally the bread of the presence there were 12 loaves stacked in two piles to represent the 12 tribes of israel and the bread was to be fresh on this table and the priests would replace it i read today actually that sometimes they would have up to eight priests to take the bread out because they didn't want to risk a moment when there wasn't fresh bread in the house of the lord when we come to this article of furniture in our prayer time we're imagining we're walking through the tabernacle it's not a legalistic ritual it's a pattern to help us focus on what we're supposed to be doing in prayer and when we come here we pray for those that handle the bread of life this is the place to pray for our courageous missionaries we've got missionaries here tonight they serve on the front lines of the kingdom all around the world you pray for missionaries you pray for home missionaries my goodness i hope you're praying for your pastors that preach the word of god to you every week because you don't need some watered down weak convoluted kind of message that doesn't matter and doesn't mean anything you need a fresh word from the throne of god and if it's going to come to you in a service like this through a pastor like this then you need to be praying oh i pray for my pastor that he's going to have fresh bread god give him a fresh word so he can give us a fresh word you pray not only for those that handle the bread you pray for those that are hungry for bread you pray god would you stir up a hunger in my family and my co-workers and my friends for the bread of the word of god so in in in bishop g a mangan's prayer pattern pastor said he actually spent as much time praying for the table those that hold up the word those that serve the word as he did for the bread and that's a beautiful analogy there there are two words for the word of god in the scripture one is logos and that's the whole counsel of the word of god but there's another greek word in the new testament for the word of god and it's rima and rima is a specific word from god now this can be abused some people they're always saying they get a word from god that doesn't match the logos it doesn't match the counsel of the word of god but arima is when god speaks to you out of his word and gives you a word and it doesn't contradict the word of god it doesn't go beyond the word of god but it's a specific word from god for you and this is a good place to pray for that matthew chapter 4 you remember that jesus said man doesn't live by natural bread alone you've got to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of god i'm so grateful in our church we don't have one pastor in fact if you read the book of acts that's not even really the the biblical model ministry is done by a team whether it's the deacons in acts chapter six or whether it's the apostles conferring together or whether it's them going out to preach in teams and reach in teams ministry is a team sport if you will and i'm so grateful for all of the pastors and the teachers and the preachers that serve this church would you lift up your hands right now would you pray for every man and woman of god that you can think of to name just call their name right now and say jesus can anoint them with oil and give them a fresh word anoint them with fresh oil and give them fresh bread because if they've got fresh bread your church will have fresh bread there are some churches struggling in our area there are some churches struggling in our province in our nation and some apostolic churches struggling you know what they need they need a fresh word from god and so you pray for the men of god and the women of god that you know that serve and lead the church and shepherd the church and you say god don't let them go a week with just nothing don't let them go a week with just routine but god give them a fresh word give them fresh bread from your altar so they can serve your church god i pray for those that hold the word and i pray for those they'll be preaching to that they'll hunger after the bread of life jesus i pray over the bread i pray over the bread jesus and now we approach a little tall box a little tall altar right in front of the veil and it's called the altar of incense incense was made by crushing and beating and pounding and grinding and incense was burned on coals on this altar and it created a strong aroma that filled that holy place and this is where it represents intercession intercession is part of prayer but not all prayer is intercession there are called and gifted intercessors but every child of god is called to intercede because intercession is standing in the gap in the presence of god for others and so this is where you stand before god think you've walked through repentance you've walked through the word you've asked god to fill you with the oil of the holy ghost and light you on fire and you pray for those that are communicating the word to you and those that we're trying to reach with the bread of life and now it's time for you to take it one step further because if you will be faithful to do that what's going to happen about this time is the holy ghost is going to quicken your mind and you're going to think of somebody and it doesn't have to be on the schedule and it doesn't you just need to free flow in the holy ghost and offer up intercession before god and god will bring names of people to you and god will bring situations to you and you just need to pray you are standing before god like the priest stood before god and burned incense before the lord do you understand that three times in the book of revelation your prayer is compared to incense that is around the throne of god to this day so we are surviving and thriving on some prayers that were prayed by elders that are long gone but they prayed and that incense is still swirling around the throne of god imagine the privilege that you get to go every day into the throne room of god you get to lift up intercession before him and it matters to somebody and it matters to heaven this is where you plead the blood over people plead the blood over your life flee the blood over your family bleed the blood over your church this is where you offer up a sacrifice it's beaten it's crushed it's grinded it's pounded you offer up a sacrifice of praise this is where you say well jesus this has been a little bit of a rough prayer meeting i didn't have a lot of emotional feedback today but right now i'm still going to stand here and i'm going to offer the sacrifice of praise and i'm going to intercede before your throne paul said in the book of ephesians he said praying always somebody say always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit watching there unto with all perseverance it takes perseverance to get through prayer time it takes perseverance to have a daily relationship with god but there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and i know this is a bible study lesson i know we're almost done but i sure don't want to fumble the ball right here because the next place you come to is the holy of holies that beautiful veil embroidered with angels that stood between the holy place and the holy of holies only the high priest can go beyond here and if i can say it this way only some people are persistent enough to get to this place in prayer a lot of people are satisfied with just a little now i lay me down to sleep and thank you for this food and god bless this day a lot of people are satisfied with that only the high priest can enter here and once again we encounter four pillars representing the four gospels the ministry and the life of jesus the words of jesus but more important when he died and he cried it is finished it was this veil that was torn and so this veil represents that you come to a place in prayer and this may not happen for you the first time this may not happen for you the first week don't get discouraged at least give your prayer life as much diligence as you give your treadmill hopefully more at least give your prayer life as much diligence as you do your employment hopefully more and so if this doesn't happen for you the first time that's okay you keep coming back because there's a place in prayer where the veil of flesh is torn and it's like you walk into the spiritual realm and that veil means that access is granted and this is where you begin to know the mind and the leading and the prompting of the holy ghost i don't know if you've ever had it but the holy ghost can prompt you and avert disaster the holy ghost can prompt you and give you a word of wisdom the holy ghost can prompt you and give you direction that happens in the spirit realm the bible says in hebrews having therefore brethren boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us watch through the veil that is to say his flesh his flesh was torn and it gives us access into the heavenlies your flesh needs to be torn as it were so you can have access into the realm of the spirit this is where you may pray in other tongues and kind of get lost for a few minutes that's good don't listen to anybody that kind of says well that's nothing you need to pray in english or you need to pray in your native tongue don't listen to them you pray both you pray with the understanding and you pray in the spirit that's what paul said this is a great place to just get lost and start praying in other tongues to just get lost and start praying in the spirit and with that in mind before we go to our last little piece of furniture i wish i could get you to give god everything you got left in this service and just pray in the spirit this is where we go through from our carnal understanding into the mind of the spirit that's why we do pause to pray in the spirit in our services but not just here not just in a church service but in your prayer time take time take time to just interact with the holy ghost christ in you the hope of glory take time to pray in that other tongue that he gave you when you were filled with the holy ghost you're about ready to walk into the holy of holies so you lift him up and you pray in the spirit back up and do that one more time that's powerful what's released when you do that that's powerful what's released in the spirit when you do that and yes yes [Music] and now we go to where we've been aiming for all the time we go into the holy of holies before the ark of the covenant we go through that veil and this is our goal in prayer the goal in prayer is not to give god your to-do list the goal in prayer is not to fulfill a religious duty so you can feel a little more spiritual today than you did yesterday or even worse a little more spiritual than other people that's not the goal of prayer the goal of prayer is not to earn points with god so he won't judge you that's not the goal of prayer is a relationship with jesus and so your goal in prayer can i just be honest with you you may not get here every time this is your goal but the more you do this the more often you'll get here and i know this is an allegory i i got it it's an old testament building but folks this is the only building god ever gave instructions for to build god didn't give us the blueprints for this sanctuary this is the only structure god ever said i want this built according to my pattern and you see it everywhere in scripture so the pattern is this that the ultimate goal is to get where the shekinah presence of god dwells the goal in prayer is not to impress anybody else the goal in prayer is to get your little self into the presence of god in this ark under these angels and this lid called the mercy seat were three articles of furniture three items rather there were the ten commandments the law of god there was the golden pot of manna that they had saved and god miraculously kept that man afresh inside the ark of the covenant and there was aaron's rod that butted a sign from god that god affirmed his authority and so when you go in here remember that the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat when you get here you remember you're covered by the blood you have jurisdiction in the spirit realm and you can pray and god's hearing you you remember that just like that broken law was covered by blood on this lid your sins are covered by the blood your transgressions are covered by the blood you remember that just like that golden pot of manna was in here that god will supply all your needs in christ jesus you just remember that and you remember that you can pick up that rod of authority when you get to this place in prayer this is the time to not take any foolishness from the devil we're a little bit mealy-mouthed and meek in prayer when we should be bold as a lion and say devil i will not allow you to do that because in the name of jesus i rebuke you you can do that but you're not going to do that just from like 0 to 60 in two seconds you're not going to do that that doesn't come because you say it with your words so that sounds pretty and it sounds really cool i rebuke you but if you've got a relationship with jesus if you're in his presence and your sins are covered and you've walked through prayer and you've repented and you've put your flesh on the altar and you've examined yourself in his word and you've walked through all these other beautiful stages of prayer and now you come into his presence can i just tell you the sky's the limit at that moment i command you to do this devil in the name of jesus you get out of my life you get out of my face you can god said in his word concerning the works of my hands command ye me there is a place in prayer where you have authority in prayer hebrews says let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace it's talking about this that we may obtain mercy and find great help in time of need that's your goal your goal isn't to fill 15 minutes your goal isn't to go through a pattern and say i checked it off your goal is every day whether it's five minutes or whether it's an hour your goal is to get into the presence of god it's easier to do when we're all together isn't it it's easier to kind of walk through when we're all together but it doesn't help you on tuesday morning or thursday afternoon or friday evening when you're not with your church this is a daily discipline for us it's a pattern of prayer i'm finished i will say this at the end and then i want you to join me in prayer one more time prayer is not about a quantity of time it is about the quality of a relationship with god the goal in prayer is different than everything else you will do today or tomorrow the goal is to get yourself in the literal moving manifest presence of jesus every day would you lift up your hands your voice your heart your words your spirit maybe even stand to your feet right now in this beautiful beautiful bible study i have felt the presence of god so powerfully as i've been teaching you tonight i pray it's helpful to you but i know it will be helpful if you put it into practice lift up everything you got to the lord and just speak in other tongues if you can just speak in other tongues if that's flowing out of you right now and just let god's spirit lead you there is a place in prayer where peace comes there's a place in prayer where authority comes there's a place in prayer where the devil has to flee there's a place in prayer where you can take authority over the issues that are hurting you and harming you and confusing you please don't stop for a moment i know i know but we got two minutes we got two minutes and this is beautiful let god seal this in your spirit jesus one of the first things i'm gonna talk to you at that brazen altar is forgive me for not being faithful and consistent in prayer but i'm gonna kill that old lazy life and i am gonna be a man or a woman of prayer i'm gonna kill that old lazy flesh and i'm gonna get myself into your presence every day it might be five minutes it might be 25 minutes but every day god i'm gonna walk into your presence i'm gonna walk into your presence [Applause] god let your word be sealed and seared in our spirits let this change us let this change us in jesus name i pray in jesus name i pray

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 6,295

Rating: 4.8809524 out of 5

Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, preaching, sermons, sermon, raymond, woodward, jack, leaman, matthew, bible, study, biblical teaching

Id: kZIxUeB3tDc

Length: 70min 57sec (4257 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 29 2020