- The other day if you'll
pull out your message notes, I was listening to a song and I asked somebody who did that song? I knew it was a song from
the past that I really liked. I said who sang that song? They said that was the 5th Dimension. (congregation laughing) Anybody remember that band,
pop band 5th Dimension? I wrote down some of the songs they sang: Up Up And Away remember that? Wedding Bell Blues, Last Night I Didn't Get To Sleep At All, Grazing In The Grass, it's a gas, (congregation laughing) Stone Soul Picnic, One Less Bell To Answer
anybody remember that one? Aquarius Let The Sun Shine. ♫ Let the sunshine (congregation laughing) Then your favorite of all Working On A Groovy Thing. I think that we a picture of them. Anyway I go, "Yeah I remember
that band the 5th Dimension." Then I thought what in the
world is the fifth dimension? I thought I'd go look it up. I'll spare you a little
bit of the details. It's about mathematics. If you have a line, if you have a dot here and you dot here and you draw a line
between it and that line that's called the first dimension. It's just a line. If you add another line on it, now you got two dimensions
because you got two lines. If you add a third line,
now you got three dimensions. You've got height, depth, or
width, and breadth, and depth. Then fourth dimension
there's a lot of controversy over what is the fourth dimension. A lot of people think the
fourth dimension is time. That it's length of time, okay. The fifth dimension was first
talked about back in the 20s, 1920s where a couple of very
bright German scientists came up with a theory. I actually wrote it down: An attempt to unify the four
fundamentals forces in nature, strong nuclear forces,
weak nuclear forces, gravity, and an electromagnetism. It's a mathematical theory. The fifth dimension it's
not directly observable, which means it has no
relationship to your life. Now I do know that sometimes you feel like you're being pulled in
many different directions. I got an email the other day
from a young woman who said, "Pastor Rick, tell me I feel like I'm "being pulled in every
different kind of direction." Well, if you're being pulled in a lot of different kind of directions, then you need a
multidimensional way to pray. One dimensional praying is boring. Two dimensional praying is boring. One dimensional praying is unbiblical. One dimensional praying is ineffective. This weekend I want us as we are in part four of 40 days of prayer, I want us to look at the idea of praying in the fifth dimension, praying in five different dimensions. First before we get into how to pray in five different dimensions, I need to give you a
couple of really important review truths things
that you already know, but you need to remind yourself of them. Why don't you write these down. These are the fundamental
basis of all prayer. Number one, is that God
is a multidimensional God. He's not one dimensional. He's not two dimensional. He's not three dimensional. You can put on glasses and
watch a 3D movie of God. God is a multidimensional God. I say that because the
most important thing I can teach you about prayer, and that's what we're
looking at now for weeks, the most important thing I
could teach you about prayer your fulfillment in prayer and
your fruitfulness in prayer will be dependent not on how
much you know about prayer but how much you know about God. The more you understand God the better your prayers are gonna be, the more effective they'll be, the more fulfilled they'll be, the more satisfying your
prayer life will be. It's not about learning all
about prayer that's important. But more important than
that is understanding God. It starts with the fact that
God is a multidimensional God. Now, what do you mean by that? Well, it means that he's
not just one dimension. You can see this in many different things. Why don't you write these down. First we see this in God's creation. Obviously you look around and the God who created
a multidimensional world and universe is a
multidimensional creator. There are dimensions that we know about, but there's some dimensions
we don't even know about. The bible talks about the spirit realm. We don't know about that. We don't see it so we don't engage in it. But the bible says this about creation, which we do see Romans
chapter one verse 20: Since the creation of the
world God's invisible qualities his eternal power and his divine nature have been clearly seen
in what has been made so that men are without excuse. People say, "Well, what
about all the people "who've never read the bible?" Well, true they haven't read the bible, but you can learn a lot about God just by looking at nature. You don't have to have a
bible for a lot of things. For instance we know
that God likes variety. That's obvious look at nature. We know that God is organized. That's obviously. We know that God is creative. We know that God likes diversity. We know that God is powerful. When you look at thunder and
lightening, and earthquakes storms of asteroids and all
the different things in society and in the world we know in the universe that God is creative and God is great and God is powerful. We learn a lot about God just in nature, so the bible says we're without excuse. To me it takes more faith
to not believe in God than to believe in God. If I'm walking down a hillside and I see a little stone out of place, I might think that's an accident. But if I'm walking down a hillside and all of a sudden I
see there on that field a Rolex just laying there, are you gonna believe that's an accident? That is evidence of design. Evidence of design and a
design must have a designer. People say the world or the universe was created with a big bang. That doesn't bother me. Wherever you got a big bang
you gotta have a big banger. (congregation laughing) Somebody had to pull the trigger. (congregation laughing) Not in a million years would you say that watch just put itself together. You can have trillions and trillions and gazillions of years and a watch is not gonna form itself and all of a sudden
start ticking on its own. I don't have enough faith
to be an atheist, sorry. My answer is just as
speculative as yours is, but it's a whole lot more reasonable than to just say it all just happened. It just happened. Have you ever seen the birth of a baby and how that baby comes together
from a simple single cell and a zygote and then becomes you? There's so many things that say that God is a God of complexity. He's a God of complexity without even getting into the bible. Job chapter 11 verse nine, seven to nine Job and God are having a conversation, and Job's kind of complaining about what went on in his life. God says, "But wait a
minute I'm the creator. "I'm in charge here." He says, "Job let me
ask you some questions. "Can you fathom the limits and bounds "of the greatness and power of God? "The sky is no limit for God." You say the skies the limit. Well, it's not a limit for God. "But it lies beyond your reach. "God knows the world of the dead, "but you don't know it." In other words there's a whole realm there's a dimension you
don't even know about, but God knows about it. God's greatness is broader than the Earth, and it's wider than the sea. We know that God is a multidimensional God because creation shows the
complexity that God created, and so we know that God had
to be more complex than that. Now there's another way we see
God's multidimensional nature and that is in Jesus' incarnation. In other words when God came to Earth and became a human being. Incarnation means God became flesh. The word became flesh. The bible says in John
chapter one verse 14: The word became a human
being and lived among us. We saw his glory. He was full of grace and truth. The fact that God can be God and God can come to Earth and be a human means he's multidimensional. He didn't have a problem. If God had wanted to communicate to ants, he would've become an ant. If he wanted to communicate to cows, he would've become a cow. But God wanted to
communicate to human beings so he became one of us
that multidimensional. The proof is in the fact of Jesus Christ. The bible says about Jesus
Hebrews 13 verse eight: Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. You know anybody like that? Are you gonna be the same forever? You aren't the same you were last week. (congregation laughing) You lost a few hairs and
added a few wrinkles. You're not the same. Now what is this saying? Jesus is neither bound
by space nor time, why? He's God. He's multidimensional. The bible tells us in
Revelation chapter one: Grace and peace to you from him, he's talking about Jesus, from him who is, and who
was, and who is to come. That about includes everything. That certainly isn't describing you. It's not like you were,
you are, and you will be. Jesus is multidimensional. God the Father is multidimensional. Then we actually see
it in the Holy Spirit. Number three, we see
God is multidimensional in how the Holy Spirit moves. We see it in the whole Trinity, God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. John chapter three verse eight says this. Jesus is talking he says, "The wind blows wherever it pleases, "and you hear its sound "but you don't know where
the wind comes from. "You don't know where it's going. "That's the way it is with "everybody born of the Holy Spirit." You know what he's
saying there he's saying you can't put the Holy Spirit in a box. You can't control him.
He's like the wind. You don't know where it comes from. You don't know where it's going. You can hear the sound. He says the Holy Spirit
moves in dimensions we don't move in. You can't see the Holy Spirit, so clearly that's a dimension that we're not aquatinted with. He's saying the Holy
Spirit is multidimensional. Job chapter nine verse 10 and 11 he's talking about the Spirit. He does wonders that cannot be understood. For he does so many miracles
they cannot be counted. That's what the Holy Spirit does. When he passes me I can't see him. When he goes by me,
I don't recognize him. I don't recognize him. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all multidimensional. Now that's not a big revelation to you. You understand that. But here's the important point. Number two, because God
is multidimensional, I'm never alone. I am never, never ever alone because he's in every
dimension at the same time. He's in the past, he's in the present, he's in the future. He's here, he's there. He's in Heaven, he's on Earth. He's in the spirit world,
he's in your and my world. God is in every dimension all the time. He's in you, he's above
you, he's around you because multidimensional. It's not a bunch of gods.
It's just one God in the person of Father, Son, Holy Spirit. But because God is
multidimensional I'm never alone. Here's what David says Psalm 139: Where could I go to escape from you? He's talking to himself. David writes this down where could I go to escape from you God? Where could I ever get
away from your presence? If I went up to Heaven, you'd be there. If I lay down in the world
of the dead, you'd be there. If I flew way beyond the East or lived the farthest place to the West, you'd be there too to lead me. You'd be there too to help me. I could ask the darkness to hide me, but even darkness isn't dark to you. The night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you. Let me give a little tip. Never try to play hide and seek with God. (congregation laughing) 'Cause every place you try
to hide he's already there. We're talking about the
omnipresence of God. He's everywhere. He's in all things. He is beginning and the end, yesterday, today, tomorrow. God is everywhere so that means there's no place you've been, there's no place you are, there's no place you're gonna be that God's not gonna be there. That should encourage you. Because you can't go to
a place in your future where God is not. You're never going to be alone. Now, what does all this
have to do with prayer? Well, it has a lot to do with prayer because what it means is
since God is everywhere and he's in the past, the
present, and the future and he's in every dimension of the world even the dimensions we
don't even know about there might be 10 dimensions who knows because he's everywhere
and in every dimension you can talk to him about
every dimension of your life and he already understands it. I mean I know there's some kids who think that God doesn't understand Google or the internet, or Candy Crush. But God knew all about... You know that one. Somebody laughed at that. Let's get practical. Because God is a multidimensional God, you certainly don't wanna
do one dimensional praying. I'm gonna take you to a
different level today. I'm gonna talk to you about
five dimensions of your life that you can pray about. What I wanna do is explain
them pretty quickly and then we're gonna actually
practice them in communion. Number one, first dimension when I pray first, I look backwards to the cross. I look backwards to the cross. I'm talking about in a practical
way when I start my prayers one of the things I start to do is not with my problems today or
my fears about tomorrow but I start with what I'm grateful for that happened in the past. It's good to start your
prayers with the cross because it starts with
an attitude of gratitude. It's a good place to start because it fills you with thanksgivings. When I think about Jesus Christ
dying for me on the cross, it instantly reminds me of three things. I wrote them down there for
you how deeply God loves me, how costly evil and sin is, and how completely I'm forgiven. That's a good way to start your prayers. How much God loves you and even though your sins were a mess, you're completely forgiven. So I look backwards to the cross. First Peter one says this verse 18 and 19: God paid a ransom to save you. God paid a ransom to save
you from the empty life. God paid a ransom to save
you from the empty life, and he paid for you with the
precious life blood of Christ the sinless, spotless, Lamb of God. If you wanna know how
much something is worth, whatever anybody's willing to pay for it. You might have some valuable
possession in your home and you think it's worth this much. Let me tell you how much it's worth. Not what your dad told
you, not what you think, it's worth whatever anybody
is willing to pay for it. If nobody's willing to pay
for it how much you want it's not worth that no matter
how much you think it is. How much are you worth? Look at the cross. God sent his own Son. He came to Earth to die for you. The Son of God became a Son of Man so the sons of men could be sons of God. He did what we could not do for ourselves. You couldn't pay for all
the things you've done wrong neither could I, so he said, "I love them and I'll do it." That shows how much you're worth. He gave his own self, his
own son to die for you. When I pray first thing I like to do is I like to think about
how much Jesus loves me and how much I'm forgiven. I look back to the cross
that's a good way to start. By the way one of the things
that helps me on this is music. The cross seems so long ago. Get some songs about the cross. Get some songs about Jesus dying. In your time alone with the Lord every day you need not only to have a prayer list you need a playlist. Maybe you've never thought about that. You need not only a prayer
list in your quiet time. You need a playlist. You can get songs. I like that song about the cross. It makes me think about what
Jesus sacrificed for me. That's a good thing. Now I want you to think about this. Right now all of your
sins that you've committed they're all in the past,
but so is the cross. It's already been taken care of. Because Jesus is the
same yesterday, today, and forever and he's multidimensional, all of the sins you haven't committed yet have already been paid for. That's a big deal. That means I go into
the future knowing that even though I don't wanna
sin I know I'm going to but I don't want to but I will they've already been
paid for on the cross. That he took care of it all. He solved my problem before
I even knew I had a problem. Using this notebook I don't know if you brought it with you today. If you didn't I want you to write this. Write page 94 to 96 right
under that point 94 to 96 because in page 94 to 96 we're gonna cover a little bit more of
what I just talked about. This week if you're on track with us, we're gonna be going
into the Lord's Prayer. Number one, I first look backwards. I look backwards to the
cross that's one dimension. Dimension number two I look upward into the
face of a loving Father. I look upward into my
Father's loving face. That's the second thing
I like to do when I pray. I start by thinking about the cross, and then I turn from the past backwards to looking upward into my
Heavenly Father's face. Now, the first thing you wanna focus on is that God wants you to see him not as your dictator, not as your boss not as your supervisor, not as your coach. When Jesus said, "This
is how you should pray" he said, "You should call God Father." Father. We don't realize how radical that is because in the Old Testament however nobody called God Father. Maybe one or two times. For thousands of years
God is called majestic, King of kings and Lord of lords, Creator and a lot of
other really big terms. Only a couple of people
for thousands of years called God Father. Jesus one of the things he came to do is to explain what God's really like. He says God wants you to call him Father. Do you call God Father in prayer? God tells you to. How many times do you say now, Lord now, God and whatever other terms you use? I want you this next week
every prayer you pray start with Father, why? It's the term God wants to be called. You say, "Well, my father
wasn't a very good father." Your God isn't your father, and your father is your God. God is a perfect Father caring, close, considerate, consistent, capable, perfect. Every other human father's imperfect. But God is the perfect loving Father and he says I want you to call me Father. When Jesus said, "Start every
prayer with this our Father" he's serious about it. This week instead of
praying now Lord, now God. I want you to say now Father. The way you see God will control your life more than any other thing in your life. The way you see God will determine as I said whether your
prayers are fruitful and fulfilling or not. It's how you see God. When Jesus says pray
our Father, he means it. If you only make one
change in your prayer life and you simply start calling God, not God not Lord, not Creator or any other term, call him Father it'll radically change your prayer life. Because what you call
somebody sets the tone. If somebody comes in and
calls me Reverend Warren, I know this is gonna be a formal meeting. They haven't the slightest idea. If somebody walks and go, "Hey, Rick" now I know we're on the same level. We can talk. You see what you call God
sets your tone for the prayer. A lot of you when you
pray you act like you're applying for a loan at a bank (congregation laughing) and the loan officer is God. Or you're giving a
deposition to an attorney and you're scared to death
you're gonna say the wrong thing. Or you're taking a lie detector test with the FBI. How you see God will determine
how much you enjoy prayer. It's your Father and he loves you. The bible says you're
to call him your Father. That one change will make a
major difference in your prayer. Stop calling God, God. Stop calling Lord, Lord. It's okay God is God and Lord of lords. But start until you build it in your mind now God is my Father. In fact, he's not just your Father repeatedly Jesus uses the term daddy much more intimate. In Romans chapter eight
verse 15 to 17 it says this. Talking about prayer it says: You should not act like
cowering fearful slaves. Like man if I go to
God I'm gonna get beat. You should not act like
cowering fearful slaves. Since God's Spirit has adopted you as children into God's family. That's what happens when you're saved you get adopted into God's family. You're now a child of God. You're in the family of God. You're adopted. It says instead of being
cowering and fearful by his Spirit we simply
cry out Abba, Father, and God's Spirit affirms that
we really are his children. Since we are now God's children, we're also heirs with Christ. It means we're in the family, it means you're gonna inherit everything, and we will share both in
his suffering and his glory. Now friends this verse is so packed with life changing truth. If ever I asked you to memorize a verse, you ought to memorize
that one right there. It's long but when you
understand all the truths in it, it'll change your life it'll change your prayer, it'll change everything about you. First he says I'm no
longer the slave of fear. We sing that song. You shouldn't act like fearful slaves. As I said whatever you think God is like determines how you pray. If you think God is an
uninteresting Creator or an unpleasable deity,
or an untouchable stranger your prayers aren't gonna be worth what you waste your
time on, your breath on. It's always easy to tell
what people think about God. It's real simple. Listen to their prayers. Listen to how they talk to God. Do they talk to God like he's their Father their Abba, their daddy? Do they have a family relationship or is it a much more formal thing? Or do you feel like the
guy who's talking to God right now in prayer is
really more of a stranger and he's reading a speech to the teacher at the front of the class. For many people God's a schoolmaster and it's the teacher and it's like, "Please, sir, may I go to the bathroom?" God is your Father. Now, this passage gives
us three very important points about prayer you need to learn, memorize and never forget. Three ways God wants your prayers to be. If you wanna pray prayers
that God likes to listen to and if you wanna pray prayers
that you get answers to and you pray prayers
that you enjoy praying, it needs to have three things. Number one, God wants my
prayers to be personal. Write that down personal. He says when we come to God
we don't just call him Father we call him Abba. Abba is the most basic root word in the Aramaic language,
which Jesus spoke. If you go to any middle
eastern city right now and you see a little kid
walking down the street you'll hear him say, "Abba, Abba, Abba." It's the word for daddy. It doesn't mean father. It doesn't mean dad. It means dada. In fact, it sounds like it Abba. It's the easiest thing for
a baby to pronounce like abba, dada, papa. When my grandkids were born they said what do you want them to call you? I said papa, why? Because they learn to say papa before they can say father or mother. (congregation laughing) Papa, mama, dada. Abba. It doesn't even mean dad. It means daddy. It's not the term of
even like a five-year old or a seven year old. This is a term of a baby. Papa, dada, Abba. Jesus says that's how you address God. Would that change the way you pray? That's the most intimate. God wants intimacy with you. He created you for intimacy. It's a baby term. He says when you come and pray, your prayers are not to be flowery and beautiful and erudite and cool. Your prayers are to be simple, childlike, unpretentious, just what you see is what you get honest, unpretentious, unassuming. Is a toddler worried about
making a good impression? Abba, papa, dada. God says when you come to me, that's how you come to me. If you don't come to me like that, you don't know me. You don't know God. Oh thou most grace and holy potentate. God's gonna, uh? I told you to call me dada, Abba. That's the kind of intimacy. I dare you to start
using the word Abba, papa to refer to your Father in Heaven. Unpretentious, unassuming,
honest, childlike when you settle this issue, it'll change the way you pray. 'Cause who you think you're
talking to sets the tone. Every misunderstanding of prayer is a misunderstanding of God. My homework for you this week and I'm serious about this I want you to start
every prayer with daddy or papa, or Father every prayer. Why, that's how God says
he wants to be addressed. You need to change the
way you talk to God. Jesus did not come to Earth for you to not use the
term he told us to use. When you pray say our Father, daddy. You say, "Well, I don't feel
comfortable doing that." Well, that's your problem. That's why you suck at prayer. (congregation laughing) If you can't say dada, or
papa, abba, or daddy to God, you suck at prayer. You need to grow up and start saying dada. (congregation laughing) God says number one
more than anything else more than what you say I
want it to be personal. I'm your Father so stop talking
to me like I'm your boss or your recruiter. (congregation laughing) I'm your daddy. When you come and talk to your daddy, you're not worried about being cool. You just come and talk to your daddy. Number two, he says it ought
to be not only personal it needs to be passionate. He says when we pray we
cry out Abba, Father. Notice we simply cry out. Circle that we simply cry out. I've noticed that children cry a lot. They cry out a lot. In fact they're not even
embarrassed to cry in a mall or in line at a store. They couldn't careless. If they're unhappy, they cry out. They let everybody know. They are totally unpretentious. Are you that way in prayer? Are you more worried
about what other people think about your prayer than
actually talking to God? Your prayers are not gonna matter much as long as you're worried about what other people think of your prayer. He says when you come
it needs to be personal but it also needs to be passionate. Cry out, put a little ump into it. God I have got to have this. God, I need you. Daddy help me. I am being tempted like nothing else. Daddy, I need your help. I'm going under, and I've got bills to pay. I can't make the decision on what to do. Do I hold on or do I let go? How do you know to do that? Do I accept job A or job B? Do I marry this or that or
don't marry or whatever. Daddy, I need your help. I need your help. Have you ever gotten emotional with God. God loves it when you
share your emotion, why? Because God is an emotional God. The only reason you have emotions is because God created you in his image. God shares emotions. The bible says God gets angry, God gets frustrated, God gets jealous, God loves, God gets impatient. Why do you do that? Because you're made in his image. There ought to be some things
in life that make you mad. There ought to be some things
in life that frustrate you, and you cry out to God. You put some feelings in your prayer. You're not meeting with your tax preparer. Well, did I do Line 482? Personal, passion, the third thing is it needs to be a partnership. Now some of you this is gonna
be a big surprise for you. Did you know that when you pray, the Holy Spirit actually prays with you? Yeah, every time you pray God is actually talking to
himself with you about you. Look at this verse up here on the screen. Romans 8:26: The Holy Spirit
helps us with our weakness. We often don't even know
how to pray as we should. Everybody agree with that one? Somebody's going I
don't know what to pray. I don't know what to say. We often don't know what to say. We don't know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us even begs God on our behalf with deep groanings and feelings. He's passionate the Holy
Spirit's passionate about you. God, I'd like to have this. The Holy Spirit's going
God they need this. Even begs God on your
behalf with groanings and feelings that words
cannot, cannot express. Now what in the world does that mean? Let's first cover a couple of things. Your Heavenly Father understands that you often don't know how to pray. Your loving Heavenly Father understands that you often don't know what to say. Your loving Heavenly Father understands that you often don't
even know how to say it. You can't put it into words. Any parent understands that. When my kids were little
and they would come to me and they try to say something and they couldn't even put
it into words themselves but I knew what their meant. As their loving father I knew even though they couldn't even say. They didn't know what
they were talking about. I knew what they were talking about. They didn't know what they were feeling. I knew what they're feeling. I knew the answer before
they even made the request. That's called being a dad. God is not upset when you go, "God, I don't know even
know what to say God, "but I'm just checking in." God says good on you. Great, that's my girl. That's my boy. I don't know even know what to say. I'm just checking in, Father. Well, that's good. Great, thanks for checking in. Let's just hang out for a while. You don't even have to say anything. Let's just hang out. You don't always have to be
moving your mouth to pray. I just wanna sit here and be in your presence for a little bit. Then the bible says
that God joins with you and talks to himself when you talk to him. You go is that a little
weird God prays to God? Come on you never talk to yourself. You do it all the time. Let me ask you this how many times is somebody talking to you and while they're talking to you you're talking to yourself about them? (congregation laughing) How often does that happen? All the time. Why, you're made in the image of God. While you're talking to God, God can talk to himself about you. When you talk to God it's called prayer. When God talks to himself it's
called self talk not prayer. But the Holy Spirit the bible says talks to God in relationship. Father, Son, Holy Spirit is
three persons in one God. It's just God. I'm a father, I'm a son. I'm a person. I'm just one guy. But God talks to himself about you. You need to know that, so that every time you pray you're not just praying on your own. God goes they're talking
now my daughter's talking. My son's talking that's great. What a joy it is when your
kids take their first words. You carry on conversations with people to yourself while others
are talking to you and your Heavenly Father does the same. Sometimes I'm out on
the patio after service and I'm talking to you and you're talking to me and
I'm smiling and I'm listening. I'm talking to God about you
while you're talking to me. I'm saying, Lord, I don't know
what they need but you do. I don't know the hurt
that's hidden but you do. God would you bless them. I'm talking to God about you
while you're talking to me. This is very easy obviously for God to do. If you're keeping your
notebook write page 68 to 70 at the bottom of that point because in that study we're gonna cover a little bit more of some
implications of this. Okay, number three we're talking about multidimensional, five dimensional praying. I pray looking back to the cross. I pray looking up into
my loving Father's face. Number three, I look inward
this is third dimension. I look inward when I pray to
Jesus living inside of me. Did you know that Jesus is in you? When you become a Christian when you step across the line, he puts his Spirit in you. Jesus is in you. For that matter this may shock you the Trinity is in you 'cause you don't get God piecemeal. When you got Jesus, you
got the Holy Spirit. When you got the Holy
Spirit, you got the Father. The Trinity is inside you. You say, "Well, that's a
dimension I don't even understand. "I don't even feel", got it. But it's reality whether
you feel it or not. The Trinity is in you. You might write this down all three in me. The Father is in you, the Spirit is in you the Son is in you if you
have invited them in. Now if you haven't invited them in, they're not in you. But that's what salvation's all about. I look inward to Jesus
living inside of me. 'Cause Jesus isn't just in Heaven. I said he's multidimensional. He's everywhere including in you. Now since Jesus is in me and the Father and the
Spirit and I know that I'm unconditionally accepted by my Father it gives me the freedom
and it gives me the courage to honestly face up to my faults. The third part of prayer... I've turned from the cross to the Father to now what's inside me. Christ, you're in me but
there's some stuff in me that's in there with you I don't like. There's some bad attitudes. There's some secret sins. There's some compulsions. There's some fears. There's hurtful memories. There's some resentful thoughts. There's some unforgiveness. God, there's some stuff in me I don't know even know
how to clear it all out. It's in there with you. I'm gonna ask you to help
me do some house cleaning. This is the third part of prayer. Second Corinthians 13 verse five: Examine yourself, self examination, do a heart check up. Examine yourself to see if
your faith is real and growing. Test yourself. Remember that Jesus is living in you of course unless you failed your test and you never asked him in. Now let me ask a question. Would anybody here besides me like to be better than they really are? Of course you do. I love you so much for this. That's why you here you wanna be better. You wanna be better than you are. Well, I can't get any better until I face what needs to
be challenged and changed. Before I can get better I
gotta admit what's bitter what's bad. The truth will set you free, but first it makes you miserable. (congregation laughing) Because the truth you like the least is the truth ability you. The truth I like the least
is the truth about me. I don't wanna be honest to
myself much less anybody else. But I can't change, I can't
grow until I'm honest. There is no change without trust and there is no trust without truth. First I have to be honest. Well, it starts with I look into the face of my loving Father. I know he's gonna accept me no matter. He already knows all the gunk and the junk that's in my life. Knowing that he already accepts
me unconditionally means he's already inside of me so he knows what's everything inside of me. I can now be honest to God. This is the third dimension. I look inward to Jesus living in me, and then I ask Jesus
living in me to help me do a little house cleaning
of the junk in my life. Proverbs 28:13 says this
up here on the screen. If you try to hide your sins, you'll never succeed. I wonder why... If that's why I'm not succeeding. What am I trying to cover up? If you try to hide your sins, you will never succeed. But if you humbly confess and reject them, you will receive mercy. I love what the Living Bible says. You get another chance. Ask any politician they always tell you the cover ups worse than the sin. If you hide if you don't be open if you don't do the self-examination you don't face it, nothing gonna happen. But if you confess and you reject it you receive mercy you get another chance. Now here's the big secret God already knows what
you need to work on. He's not gonna go I never
saw that one coming. He knows all the stuff you need to work on and still loves you anyway. But when you start being honest to God, it takes you to a new level of intimacy. Now let me pause here
and just talk about this. If you'll learn to be intimate with God, it's gonna give you the courage to have intimacy in any other relationship. You can be married for 50
years and never have intimacy. Intimacy is not sex. Sex is the mingling of bodies. Intimacy is the mingling of souls. It only happens when like
in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve it says
they were naked and unashamed. There was no cover up. There was no mask. There was no faking it. You know for certain you
have things in your life that are secret from your spouse. How in the world can you have intimacy when I'm not open, when I'm not honest? Well, how do I get there? Well, first I gotta be honest to God. Before that I gotta be honest to myself and go I need work on this area. When you start being honest to God, it takes you to a whole
new level of intimacy. Everybody craves intimacy
whether they know it or not everybody craves it. They want it. But the only way you get intimacy is by being willing to open up. What you do is you invite God into what you think about you. He already knows it's not a surprise. You see there are levels of intimacy. Sharing our frustrations is one level. You can share that in a small group. Share your fears that a
deeper level of intimacy. Share what you don't like about
you that's an even deeper. Only as you go through
the tunnel of conflict do you come out to deeper intimacy. You spell intimacy I just
thought this up this week. Somebody should tweet this. Here's how you spell intimacy. Into me see. That's how you get intimacy. When you invite somebody into your life and you say, okay, warts and all good and bad into me see. When you let somebody into
your heart that deeply, now into me see becomes intimacy. Most people will never
learn what I just told you. Where do you start in this third dimension of I pray and I ask God for helping me as I look within. Where do you start? Where you might start with
the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22 and 23 that's
a good verse to write down. Galatians 5:22 and 23 are called the nine fruit of the Spirit. It says the fruit of the
Spirit are these things: Love, joy, peace patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self control. I'd like all those things in my life. I'd like to be more loving, more joyful more peaceful, more patient. I'd like to be more self-controlled. There's not a thing on
that list I don't want. What is that it's the
perfect picture of Jesus. You say Jesus you're in me. Show me what needs to change and start producing some
fruit in my life today. Help me be a little bit more loving today, a little more joyful today, a little more at peace, a little more patient. Every day that can be a godly check list because it's just a picture of Jesus. Jesus produced some fruit in me today. Number four, I did a
backward look at the cross. I did an upward look at the Father's face. I do an inward look at Christ in me. Then number four, the fourth dimension I look around and I ask
the Holy Spirit to use me. This is the fourth dimension of prayer. Man, I like to do this I just say. You've heard me say this many times. The most dangerous prayer you can pray is just two words use me. I dare you to pray that
prayer and mean it. Because if you get usable, God will wear you out. The world is waiting. You just take the fourth look you look around and you
look at the world around you and you say Holy Spirit show me where you wanna use me today. Instead of criticizing the world or complaining about the world or judging the world that doesn't work or whining about the world or for Heaven's sake blogging about what's wrong with the world (congregation laughing) why don't you just say Holy
Spirit show me what's wrong and show me how I can make a difference. Use me I dare you to pray that prayer. That's the fourth dimension prayer. Romans six verse 13: Give yourself completely to God every part of you since
you've been given a new life. You want to be used. Ain't nothing like it. You wanna be used as a
tool in the hands of God used for his good purposes. That's a purpose driven life right there. God says I wanna use you for my purposes. Friends if you've never
felt what it feels like to be used by God I pity you. It's better than sex. It's better than food. It's better than anything
when you know I am doing exactly God made me to do, I'm in my niche, my niche. I'm doing what God made me to do. This is why I was born. I was made for this. That's the fourth kind of prayer. God, use me the way you wanna use me. Use me anyway you wanna use me. I don't know who I'm
supposed to say this to, but somebody here listening the world is waiting
for your contribution. I don't know what it is. But we live in a world that
desperately needs your help. The world is waiting for your... I'm making my contribution are you? You were made for more. You were made for more. You need to pray the
fourth dimension prayer. God, use me. I don't even know where. Look around when you find a need and you have an interest
or you've got an ability, guess what those things fit. Backwards to the cross, upwards to the Father, inward for examination and to communicate with Christ in me, and then around me at the world and go Lord, where can you use me today? Stop trying to do something great. Stop trying to do something
great with your life. Just do normal things with
a great amount of love and God will bless that. By the way I didn't think that one up. That's from Mother Teresa. Stop trying to find some
significant place to serve. Make what you're doing significant because you're pouring your heart into it and God will notice. That's the fourth dimension. The world's waiting for your contribution. The world needs your help. By the best launch pad
is your church family 'cause we'll give you the support here. You need to go retake class 301 again. Go take it again with a new set of eyes, and say God use me. Finally there's the fifth
dimension and it is this. I look forward. I look forward to my future in faith. I look forward to my future in faith. Now in my prayer I've looked at the past. I've looked up, I've looked within. I've looked around, and
now I'm looking forward. Now is the time to talk to
God about my schedule today, this week, this month, this year, the next 10 years, my
20-year plan, my life goal. Talk to God Abba, daddy, papa. This is stuff God wants you to talk about. Any parent loves to hear their child talk about their dreams. Any good parent. God wants to hear your plans your thoughts, your ideas, your dreams. You talk to your Father
about the day ahead of you, and you say some stuff like, Father Abba, would you help me prioritize? I got 19 things to do today. I'm not gonna get them all done. Help me to prioritize. Show me what matters most. Father, help me to make
the right decisions in the right way. Father, help me to have the energy. Help me to know who I should contact who's got the wisdom that
can help me pull this off. Lord, I'm going into a
meeting what should I say? Father, help me to have a
tough skin and a tender heart. Help me to be tender without surrender. You can read a lot of self-help
books that talk about... One of the common
suggestions for people in personal development is you should build a mastermind council, a
personal mastermind council that coach your life. Well, that's not a bad idea. I'm not against that. Can I recommend some members? How about the Trinity? Put the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit on your mastermind council, you'll make a whole lot fewer mistakes. You say, "Come on, Rick,
how do they coach?" They have an incredible full proof manual, and it's all been written out. You just have to read it. The more you use this book the more confident
you're gonna be in life. Besides ultimately as God's child your Father has already rigged the system. Did you know this? You're not gonna get
everything you want in life I'm not telling you that at all. But I am telling you this. What God wired you for and made you for and wants you to accomplish what he wants you to be in your life it's already been wired. Look at this next verse. Philippians 1:6: I am confident of this that God who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. You can go to the bank
with that one folks. I am confident of this that God who began a good work in you to start it a little tiny bit he will continue to complete it. It's not dependent upon you. He will continue to complete it. He will be faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ, why? Because God does not sponsor flops. Now this five dimensional
praying it's just another way. I'm just giving you another way to freshen up your prayer life. But you know that the five
things I just shared with you are all brought to us in
remembrance in communion. We're going to close by
taking communion right now. Inside your program I
want you to pull this out there is a communion guide. I wrote this out for you not because I'm gonna try to teach all
that I could teach on that. But I want you to take it home with you. I'm gonna give you the fill ins. I'm gonna give you the fill ins right now. Because you can take
communion in your small group. When you do here's a good guide for it. Everything I just taught you is also on that list right there. Jesus gave us a tool to
remember these five dimensions. It's called the Lord's Supper. It's called communion. It's called the Eucharist. We're gonna take it together now. Take out that guide that
I've prepared for you. The first question I wanna
ask is what is the purpose? You know about communion if
you've grown up in a church or you've ever been to a church you know, people take the symbols of wine and bread or juice and bread as the symbols of the body and blood of Christ. When Jesus transformed the Passover into the Lord's Supper, he announced the reason
the purpose for it. Twice he said, "Do this to remember me." This is a reminder. Communion is a reminder too. What we're gonna do now
in the last five minutes is take a visible symbol of
everything I just taught you. I wanna show it to you. It's a reminder of a memory tool. What specifically are we to remember? Well, in First Corinthians
11 Paul explains that communion teaches us
five very important truths. Guess which ones they are? I just taught them to you. First, he says communion
reminds us to check our hearts. That's the third dimension of prayer. Notice there that verse
First Corinthians 11. Paul is talking to the people in Corinth the church of Corinth
and he's talking about the Lord's Supper and he says this. Pay attention. If anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, that person's guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. That's a big deal. This is why notice you
should examine yourself before eating the bread
and drinking from the cup. Third dimension we just talked about that. You should examine yourself. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without recognizing in other words committing
to the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking
God's judgment on yourself. Whoa. This is not something light. That's why many of you are weak or sick and some of you even died. There are consequences. But if we examine, if we
examine and judge ourselves into me see, if we examine
and judge ourselves we're not gonna be
judged by God, good news. Now this says we are not
to take the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner. None of us are worthy
of the Lord's Supper. It's all by God's grace. He's saying it's only for those who've accepted the gift
of Christ's salvation. If you haven't accepted
Christ in your life, please do not take the Lord's Supper 'cause it's worse off for you not better. Has no meaning. Has no power. In fact, it's wrong for
you to take the symbols of Jesus' dying for you and then rejecting Jesus dying for you. I'm not sure if I've ever really accepted? Then we will confirm that
in just a second all right. He says, "Examine ourselves
and judge ourselves "then we won't be judged by God." Let me give you a tip
memorize Psalm 139:23 and 24 so that in the Lord's Supper or on a daily basis you
can pray this prayer. Look up here on the
screen here's what it is. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. I quote that every time I come to the third dimension in prayer. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me, try me and know my
thoughts anxious thoughts. See if there's anything
offensive in my life. Show it to me and lead me
in the way everlasting. If you'll pray that prayer, memorize that that's like a soap bar verse. Every Christian should memorize that verse so you can use it in prayer. Search me, God, know my heart. Into me see. Intimacy. First communion reminds
us to check our hearts. We're gonna do that in just a second. But then communion reminds us of the five transforming
truths we just talked about. Fill this in I'm not gonna teach on this. But I will read the verses. Number one, five great truths
that we learn from communion no one loves me more. No one loves us more than our Father, our Heavenly Father. We just talked about that in detail. Nobody loves us more than
our Father in Heaven. The cross proves it. Paul says, "For I received from the Lord "what I passed on to you." The Lord Jesus on the night
he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks
he broke it then he said, "This is my body which is for you. "Do this in remembrance of me." In other words it's a memory tool. In the same way after the
supper he took the cup saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. "Do this whenever you drink
it in remembrance of me." I've written a couple of questions I want you to consider later on this week. When, in other words the
time or the day or situation when am I most likely to forget how much my Heavenly Father loves me? You need to know is it Friday nights? Is it Monday morning? Is it in a certain tempting situation? When am I most likely to forget how much my Heavenly Father loves me? How about this question what sin or sins do I habitually fall into when
I forget God's love for me? You realize that's the
source of everything that happens wrong in your life. We always get into trouble
when we doubt God's love. He says God loves you. Now there's a second great
truth, and it's this. We belong to each other in God's family. Communion says not only does God love me more than I will ever
understand that's the cross, but we belong to each
other in God's family. That's why we take communion. Now in Corinth there were three
big problems in that church and it was ruining the Lord's Supper. When Paul is writing this
to these people he says, you got three problems guys. Number one, you got members in your church with unresolved conflict and you're not right with each other. How can you have a happy church how can you have a harmonious family how can you have unity and harmony when you have people in the
church arguing with each other. They're disagreeing, they're taking sides. They're even fighting with
each other that's a problem. He said the second
problem you got is you're acting like the Lord's Supper
is just for individuals. Everybody please look up here. The Lord's Supper is not for individuals. Not once in scripture does it ever say take the Lord's Supper on your own. Not once. Why do you think they call it communion? It's communal. It's community. It is only to be taken with other people. Never in scripture are
you ever, ever commanded to take to the Lord's Supper on your own. How can you have communion by yourself? It is the symbol that we're
part of the body of Christ. You can take it in a small group. The bible says where
two or three people are that's community. But nowhere in scripture does it say take the Lord's Supper
on your own not once. There may be people that do
it but it's not in the bible. In this church we teach
what the bible says. They're acting like the Lord's Supper was for individuals and it's not. Shocking to you not a single time in the bible does it ever say
take communion on your own. You're part of a body. Communion actually says
you're part of a body. That's why we take it with each other. The third problem in this
church was that they were oblivious to the needs of other
people in their own family. There was some really rich people and some really poor people and they weren't taking
care of each other. They were some people who
were coming and eating and other people were hungry. Here's what he says. First Corinthians 11: I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church. When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you're eating because as you eat it each one of you goes ahead without
waiting on anybody else. Then he says here one member goes hungry while another gets drunk. Obviously they didn't have Celebrate Recovery in that church. By the way notice something here it says when you meet as a church. Circle the word meet. It says when you come together. You can't have church without meeting. You can't have church
without coming together. You say I'm a part of the church. Where do you meet? I don't meet anywhere? Where do you come together?
I don't come. Then you're not a part of a church. Church means you have to come together. You have to meet. You meet as a church
when you come together. Says not the Lord's Supper. Here's some questions to ask yourself what issues or issue have
I made more important than being in harmony and unity with my brothers and
sisters in God's family? When you come to church, it should be harmony and unity not politics, which divides not a lot of other stuff which divides. What issue has become more important to me than my fellow Christians? Only God can tell you that. Would God be pleased where
you're loyalty has been? First Corinthians 11:33:
Dear, brothers and sisters when you gather at the Lord's
Supper wait for each other. Now there's a larger principle here. He says the church should be the one place where we put each other's
needs ahead of our own. Can I give an example
where I've put the needs of my brothers and sisters in my
church family ahead of my own? Can I give any example? Do I know of anybody
in our church in need? Well, I don't know any. Well, talk to me. The third great truth the
Lord's Supper teaches us God loves me completely. We belong to each other in God's family. The third thing is that
the Spirit of Jesus lives inside of me. The Spirit of Jesus lives inside of me that's what communion says. John 6:56, 57 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I live in them. Now it's a symbol in remembrance of me. The Living Father sent me and
I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will
live because of me. Question: What happens
when I forget this fact when I forget that Christ lives in me? Number four, fourth big truth the are the five dimensions this life is not the end of the story. Did you know that communion teaches that? This life is not the end of the story. John six Jesus said, "Unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man "and drink his blood you cannot "have eternal life within you. "But those who do eat my
flesh and drink my blood have "eternal life and I will raise
them up at the last day." This is not the end of the story. There's more to life
than just here and now. Am I using my time, am I using my money as if that's all that
matters is this life? Am I investing anything in the next life where I'm going to spend eternity? What would it change if I
kept reminding myself to ask how long is this gonna last? Friends, I'm giving you
some really tough questions, and I hope you're not
gonna throw them away. I hope you're not gonna lay them aside. I hope you'll ask yourself
these in your prayer time. The fifth thing we get from
the Lord's Supper is this. Jesus is coming back one day to judge and reward. Jesus is going to come back one day to judge and reward. Paul tell us in verse 26: Every time you eat this
bread and you drink this cup you are announcing the
Lord's death, that's past until he comes again that's in the future. There's a past look, there's a present look, and there's a forward look in communion. What's that called multidimensional. I'm gonna ask the ushers to come forward right now and serve. We're gonna wait till
everybody's been served after you just read that. We're gonna take the
Lord's Supper together reminding ourselves of these truths that Christ died for us and it shows how much God loves us. That we belong to each
other in God's family. That the Spirit of Jesus
lives inside of you. That this life is not
the end of the story. That one day Jesus is coming back. When he does he will
judge and he will reward. - Thanks for checking out this
week's message on You Tube. We would love to get you connected with our online community. There's three easy ways
to get you involved. First, learn about belonging
to our church family by take class 101 online. Second, you can join an online small group or a local home group in your area. Third, check out our Facebook group to engage with our online
community throughout the week. To take these next steps
visit saddleback.com/online or shoot me an email at
online@saddleback.com. I hope to hear from you soon. (lively music)
