Pastor Paul Chappell: 3 Truths About Prayer

Hebrews 10:19 having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us pray father even as we read these verses we're mindful of the fact that you paid a great price in order to invite us into the prayer room and we thank you Lord that we do not have to stand outside and maybe tell someone else to pray for us but that you invite us to come and Lord I know even tonight as a Christian as a husband as a father a grandfather as a pastor as one that will endeavor to help others next week I know Lord that without you I can do nothing and Lord it really doesn't matter in this auditorium tonight Lord our engineers and in in this auditorium are nurses and in male men and and folks from all walks of life people in sales but everyone has needs Lord and we need to learn tonight how to get ahold of you and your throne of grace so help us and teach us in these few moments I pray in Jesus name Amen you may be seated someone once said prayer is either your spare tire or your steering wheel prayer is either your spare tire or your steering wheel now in recent years that's become an even more frightening illustration for me because how many of you have noticed most of the spare tires are about this big and they're made out of plastic have you noticed that and the fact of the matter is that most of you tonight would be hard-pressed to find the wrench to turn the lug nuts on your tire and even to know how to change your tire and others of you would do what I would do and just not even try and just call triple-a because we use it so infrequently this spare tire but the steering will you go nowhere without it nowhere at all and the fact of the matter is that many Christians are going nowhere tonight because they're not using the greatest gift other than their salvation and that is their access to the Lord in prayer now when we work we work but when we pray God works now we've been working there's no doubt about it we've had work nights we've painted walls and we've we've recarpet Adnan we've planted trees we've prepared incredible amounts of printed material we've studied lessons we have folks beginning to come in as early as Friday to the airports and many many dozens of our members going to the airports to pick up folks and and and we've been working and that's a wonderful thing in fact the Bible says if a man desires the office of a bishop he desires a good work and the ministry is a wonderful work and we've we are privileged and I think we have to be careful I don't think we ever want to be so driven that we'll just kind of burnout type thing but don't ever complain about being busy for the Lord it's a joy to serve the Lord it's a wonderful privilege to serve the Lord and so we've been working but when we work we work but the question tonight is have we been praying have we come to the Lord now I think about folks that might be visiting here and and I think about as they come into this property starting this weekend what kind of an atmosphere will they enter into you say well it'll be a clean atmosphere well Disneyland is clean it'll be an organized atmosphere well Edwards Air Force Base is organized the world can clean and organize stuff but only the church come to God in prayer sometimes people say to me including our CPA not too long ago who's from another background he's saved he came to the campus he was talking with our staff and as he stood to talk to the staff just about internal controls and different topics this 50-something year-old man began to cry some of you were there he said I he said I work with hundreds of churches we work with 80 different Christian colleges but he said I think he said this to the Deacons as well he said when I come on this campus and get around the people he began to weep he said I sense the presence of the Lord I'll be honest with you I you know folks might come by and say well look at the buildings now I've kind of just grown up with the buildings it's not that big of a deal to me with your kind of get used to it you know when you've walked through them and watched them go up and get painted and re carpeted they're great but but buildings are not what makes the church but having that anointing of God that's what's so important and that comes from people who pray and people who walk with God so I want to give you three truths about prayer and then we're gonna spend some time in prayer the first thing I want you to think about with me tonight is the privilege of prayer the privilege of Prayer it is mentioned here in Hebrews chapter 10 where the Bible says having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus now think about that language to enter into the holiest now some of you have read in the Old Testament how the high priest Aaron he would go into the Holy of Holies and there in the Holy of Holies Aaron as he went into that place in the deepest heart of the tabernacle he would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat on the day of atonement in fact they would literally I twined around his legs in case he died while he was in there because no one other than the high priest was allowed in the Holy of Holies an errand would go there and sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat and interestingly the word in the New Testament propitiation is also translated mercy seat and it tells us that Jesus when he died became our mercy seat for his blood was shed as the covering for our sin and Aaron would go into the Holy of Holies but now we read this having therefore brethren that speaking of the Hebrew believers that speaking of us as Christians boldness to enter into the holiest so get your brain around that for a moment God says in the Old Testament I allowed one man there in the New Covenant the New Testament I'm inviting all of the brethren into the holiest how we know who we are we know where we come from how can we go to that place reserved only for the high priest how can we go where only aaron went how can we go where Jesus is well the Bible tells us by the blood of Jesus by the way thank God tonight for the blood that was shed for without the shedding of the blood there's no remission of sin but notice the phrase in verse 20 it says by a new and living way the New Testament which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh and having an High Priest over the house of God Jesus of course is the high priest all of us are referred to in first Peter as the believer priests so we have an high priest Jesus Christ it was Aaron in the Old Testament but today it's Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of God the Father making intercession for us and when the accuser comes against us the Lord Jesus is our advocate he's our defense attorney and how many of you are thankful for that tonight amen we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ he's the high priest he's the advocate and verse 22 says let us then draw near with a true heart now I want to say concerning the privilege of Prayer it is a privilege to come into the Holy of Holies it is a privilege that there is a God in heaven who wants us to come near to him you know you think about an important people in the world today so do it so to speak and and they want people to keep a distance from them and oftentimes it's difficult and that's understandable perhaps for security reasons and so forth but what I'm saying is this God says come on in the doors open my son Jesus he opened it with his blood when his skin was broken the the the body that we celebrated the brokenness of that body Sunday night when his veil was broken he made a way and he says draw near God says in just a moment we go to pray God says I don't want you timidly approaching me or perspiring I want you to draw near to me I want you to come close to me with a true heart in full assurance of faith now do you want you to notice what he says here and I want you to see this verse 22 he says having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water now this is language that is taken from the ceremonial understanding of the Hebrews remember this is in the book of Hebrews and they would have understood that before the priests did service in the tabernacle or the temple they always would cleanse themselves they would always cleanse their bodies and the Bible mentions in this sense of a heart sprinkled from an evil conscience or bodies washed with pure water that when we come to the Lord we should come to him with a pure heart blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God that's why often when we talk about prayer we used the little acronym ax a CTS adoration and what's the C for confession and and just bring it out to the Lord if there's something someone says well I don't have to confess anything I'm already forgiven confession is not about forgiveness it's about fellowship sure you're already forgiven sometimes I talked to some of these little hotsy-totsy theologians and they say some of the silliest little things you don't have to go to church to be a Christian we learned that on Sunday didn't we you don't have to go to your house to be married either but it's usually good to go there once in a while if you're married and you say I don't have to ask forgiveness because Jesus forgave me and how many of you are thankful that he's forgiven you amen because if we had to ask forgiveness every time some of you get up get on a streak where you might forget once or twice and that's where you ought to thank God but you know what happens sometimes when you've been living like that the Lord brings it to your mind and that's where I believe first on 1:9 does come into play if we confess our sins all the forgiveness is there but God says I want you to come to me with your heart sprinkled from an evil conscience let's look at it this way if we were invited to the White House and I often talk to young preachers about this because some of some of them are tempted in the modern styles of just kind of grunge church or whatever I often say this if I were to go visit the president and you you look at you watch these men that do if I was to go visit the president and I was gonna go to the White House I'm not gonna wear my holey jeans with grease on them from changing the oil into the White House I'm just not gonna do that right if I go visit I don't I don't care who the president is Republican Democrat doesn't matter I have been raised to respect the office and so I would go in wearing not even this cream suit I'd probably wear a dark suit I'd probably get the grease from out from under my nails I'd shine my shoes I wouldn't go in there looking in a disheveled manner now that's the outward but God says when you come to me come to me with a spirit of confession come to me with a spirit of honesty come to me with a desire for fellowship because it's a privilege to come in to the holy place now we know it's only by grace that we get in there but remember when we took the lord's table last week and we read that scripture that we should examine ourselves and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that Cup what's what's the thought there the thought is before you take the cup or the bread examine yourself and if the Lord brings anything to your heart then confess that and acknowledge that repent of that before the Lord and so it is in prayer and sometimes when you're praying the Lord will bring something to your heart and the psalmist said this he said Lord search my heart and show me if there be any wicked way in me and and this is the the privilege of Prayer is a wonderful thing but God wants us to come to him with sincerity of heart I've ever heard someone that just kind of prayed like like a liturgical prayer maybe they were just quoting The Lord's Prayer or maybe they were just quoting beads praying beads and praying you know some kind of a memorized prayer Hail Mary type thing maybe you've heard a Baptist who prays the exact identical words every time God says I don't want you to come to me mechanically I want you to come to me personally I want you to come to me with genuine sincerity of heart that's the privilege of prayer to come to the throne room and to know that we're entering into the Holy of Holies because of the blood of Jesus Christ notice secondly there's a second verse and I want you to turn to this one now second Corinthians chapter 10 we see the privilege of Prayer I want to just quickly address the problem of Prayer a problem that we sometimes can are confronted with in prayer 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 and I want you to notice in verses 3 4 & 5 and there's many challenges that we face in prayer sometimes people are weary Paul the Apostle on one Sunday night church and the by had someone fall out of a window he fell asleep right during the preaching time how many of you are thankful you're not by a window some nights when you're tired after work right and we face different challenges but I want you to see one of the challenges here one of the problems that I I think summarizes some of the battles we have in prayer 2nd Corinthians 10:3 for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds right now one of our weapons if you've studied Ephesians chapter 6 we know there's the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God and then we know there's the weapon of prayer that we can come with all prayer and supplication making our requests known to God so our weapons are not carnal our weapons are spiritual the Word of God and prayer these are mighty at notice verse 4 they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds now sometimes revival is hindered by a stronghold that stronghold is something that's in someone's life that captivates them it may be the stronghold of covetousness or pride it may be the stronghold that deals with some form of sin drugs and addiction pornography there are many kinds of strongholds and someone tries to pray someone tries to live for God but they are held captive by a stronghold and it's only through the spiritual weaponry that those strongholds are broken and that is the Word of God for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword it is it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart and it is dividing even the the joints and marrow in its power the Word of God is is like a surgeon's knife it cuts to the heart it shows us what is wrong and it helps us to get right the Word of God is a spiritual weapon and prayer is a spiritual weapon and here we see God speaking of this as as our warfare is not carnal let me illustrate it this way you're not gonna your husband to live right by manipulating him yelling at him pouting at him you might as well start praying for him you see you can try the way mama did it and you can try the way Papa did it but you're much better off doing what God's called you to do and getting into the Word of God and in the prayer you can try somehow people what are the people in the world do they get mad they throw things they pick it but God says I've got a better way for you to win the real spiritual battles you're gonna have to learn it's not by the fleshly weaponry it's by the spiritual weaponry so look at verse five here it says this casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ now some of us have spent time in a special pattern of prayer this year and in this pattern of Prayer there have been some emphasis made in our preaching in our praying on the times of watching times of waiting times to be still and sometimes in those moments what we're doing is literally calming our mind and bringing every thought into captivity and we're getting to a place where we're just literally saying anything whether it's sinful or whether it's just some idle thought anything that is an imagination that is exalting itself over what God wants me thinking about right now Lord helped me to cast that down right now through prayer through praying the scripture help me to cast those things down because I want to pray and communicate directly with you years ago when Matthew was little he he when he wanted my attention he wanted my attention and if I've had a weakness at times at home and the kids were being raised it was just being so preoccupied and sometimes you walk home and you men and some of these ladies know exactly what I'm talking about - you're walking and just kind of dazed the day and you're there but you're not all there how many of you know what I'm talking about you know and you maybe you sit down in a chair and you're just kind of zombie-like and Matthew would start saying some stuff and and maybe I was listening maybe I wasn't but oftentimes that little guy he'd be six or seven years old he walked walk up into my lap climb up into my lap and he'd grab both of my cheeks just like this and he'd turned them to himself like this and he'd say dad I'm talking to you his little nephew Chandler has a very similar temperament and he when he's talking he wants your attention you know I want to tell you something when we're talking to God how many of you believe that he deserves 100 percent of our adoration and attention and and anything else that exalts itself into your thought life whether it's a relationship whether it's a an object some some goal anything whether it's sin must be cast down and one of the problems of prayers very simply just an undisciplined thought life or some type of an imagination that is even wicked against the Lord that must be cast down if we're going to be able to sense and know the power of prayer in our life so we see the privilege of prayer how silly would it be to come into the presence of God with a thought process that is so clouded and that's why it's good to wait on the Lord it's good to pray according to the scriptures it's good to confess those things that have been randomly coming into our minds and then to focus on God and praying him and that leads me to this final thought I want to just share a few thoughts with you and you can turn to Philippians chapter 4 and I'm gonna quote a few other verses as well I've shared with you the privilege of prayer and then the problem of prayer is those imaginations and thoughts that must be cast down and then the pathway to prayer the pathway to prayer let me just share a few things about the pathway to prayer first of all I love Psalm 103 in verse 13 it says like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pities them that fear Him you know something about a parent a parent loves his or her children it really doesn't matter how they're doing or what's going on we we as parents have a heart towards our children and it's a blessing to know that God's heart towards us is a heart of receptivity in fact he says to us if you abide in me and my words abide in you you shall ask what you will and it shall be given to you there's there's hardly a request now we would not give something to our children that would be bad for them by the way how many of you know that even when God doesn't answer something he's probably still answering if you know what I mean right you don't give your child everything that they asked for but you try to give as much as you can and you give as much as you're able and you give to them according to your ability and according to the wisdom that God imparts to you you you have a desire to bless them that's the general idea you have a desire to encourage them and that's what is meant by if you abide in me and my words abide in you and you can ask what you will in other words if you're an abiding Christian and His Word is abiding in you then you are likely to request according to his will and see God provided in those areas so the pathway to prayer is an open pathway God says I pity you like a child of mine I want you to I want you to come to me I want you to to pray according to my will I want to be a blessing to you I remember when Larry was having his chemotherapy and it was a an amazingly difficult time and we would go to the hospital down there in Hollywood and and he would be in this room and and so forth and it was a time of just you know sitting there if you've ever had chemotherapy or you know somebody who has had it just just kind of sit there and you're taking this poison into your system and hoping it's killing the right things and not all the good things and and you're trying to understand it and you're reading about it and it's just it's a challenging time and brother Gibbs said something to me I'll never forget it he said you know you might want to ask Larry if there's maybe something that after this chemo he'd like to do maybe some hobby maybe something that that he would enjoy and so one of the things that we talked about a project and he said dad I really think our church needs a good live stream live stream ministry room and so and he's always been very good with technical things and so he began to study and and one time he course he always wore the mask but we stopped at a place over there in Burbank that kind of did some of these cameras and if you've ever seen the live stream room it's right behind that wall it's just a a amazing room of sound boards and screens and very very state-of-the-art Larry designed that entire thing from a chemo chair just sitting there and kind of kind of working and studying but he got that done and he still had more chemo and brother Gibbs said well maybe you might want to ask him if he liked it maybe go somewhere maybe maybe for a trip or something that he could plan and think about so one day I said to him I said is there any place you'd like to go see some time son some place you'd like to maybe visit and I thought he was gonna say something like Disneyland or you know you know some someplace like that and he said yeah you know dad I've been really reading over there in the book of Acts about Athens and he said I'd really like to see where Paul preached there on Mars Hill I really would like to see that someday and and I thought man I was thinking like Anaheim he's talking like Greece and but but how many of you know the Lord pitieth his children and be honest with you if he would have said that I'd really like to go to the moon I would have tried to find some astronaut to help us out just about anything he would have wanted maybe couldn't have done it but I would have tried because I love my son and I wanted to try to grant the request of his heart you know something the Lord told me so often during those days if you love him that much how much do you think I love him how much do you think I love you see sometimes we approach God like yeah I know I don't deserve this and I had to confess that sin in a minute ago but what I want you to understand and some of you that have come from broken homes and you had an abusive father an angry father an absent father whatever sometimes that carries over into this concept of God the Father and we feel like God doesn't want to hear from me he's longing to hear from you and he wants to answer your prayer and I'm so thankful that we have a father like that if you abide in me and my words abide in you you shall ask what you will and then I want you to see here in Philippians 4 as we close be careful for nothing let's switch that word around some of you've done this with me before switch around careful what is it full of care right give you another word for that anxiety you ever have some all the sudden you get something in the mail you're configured or blood pressure going up or one of your kids says or does something like you feel with it so God says be full of care for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God I don't know why in our human nature we let everybody else know about our requests well I mean we throw hints down like yeah nice car you got wish I had one like that you know or you'll say to your wife that sure was a good cake she made wish you could make one now that'd be about the dumbest thing you could say but some guys say it I'm just telling you they say stuff like and and sometimes we kind of hint and manipulate and we talk on the internet about you know how we think something good thought something could be but God says why don't you let me know your requests I mean all these people were yapping into they can't do anything about it anyways but God says let me know your requests let them be made known to God and look what happens in verse 7 and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds to Christ Jesus isn't that a wonderful promise the peace of God right the peace of God you've seen the bumper sticker n Oh God n Oh peace no God no peace KN o W God KN o W peace if you know God you can know peace if you don't know God you have no peace and there's great peace when we come to the Lord in prayer now some of you I've been your pastor a long time I'm trying to look around here just a little bit how many of you have been your pastor 20 years or longer let me see where you are all right so you knew me when I had hair you knew me when it wasn't a really good message unless I threw a microphone and broke my glasses and I'll tell you something about things like the spiritual leadership conference anniversary Sundays someone asked me in the bible in the bible college class do you still get nervous when you preach every time there there should always be a sense of i can't get through this without the lord but that sense is always very heightened and sometimes it has been too heightened with me because i get so anxious and it's an indication that i'm not trusting in the lord enough and there's a there's got to be a a right tension between sensing the need for God and knowing the presence of God and sensing the need of God and knowing the presence of God and that's what this is about tonight it's about coming to that place in prayer and saying Lord we want to give this to you so that the peace of God can fill our so that when we begin preaching and announcing and leading and welcoming it and and when we when we welcome the church family and the guests when we come together that we we will have a great confidence that you are going to do the work and that's all the result of prayer even so even the spirit and attitude that we possess about whatever you're facing right now brokenness in a family finances whatever it might be whether it is coming together for a great conference like this upcoming it must be bathed in prayer if we will face it with a god-like confidence and so tonight remember the privilege of Prayer to come boldly the problem is when our fleshly imaginations are warring against our mind but the pathway is a pathway of a loving father who says I I pity you I have a heart for you come here and let me know what you need and I'll give you the peace and I'll give you the direction that you need

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

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Length: 32min 14sec (1934 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 14 2018