Tim Dilena - Challenge Accepted | Discovering Nagging and Hacking Prayer

[Music] morning OSCE put your hands together good morning on line to all of those watching our live webcast around Acadiana around the u.s. around the world we welcome you what a joy to be here I hate to tell everybody else that's watching outside of our state how many are happy it's gonna be 71 degrees today and not freezing boy that sounds good doesn't it well let's jump into this I get sometimes I get folks that will send me interesting articles and interesting things this one I got where there was a challenge to young children to write their prayers to God they didn't know what they would come up with I want to read to you a couple of kids and what their prayer to God was if they wrote out their prayers it was Robert who prayed this dear God please send Dennis Clarke to a different camp this year that was his prayer Sue's pray dear God I want to be just like my daddy when I get big but not with so much hair all over Elam pray dear God please put another holiday between Christmas and Easter there's nothing good in there now I thought that was great Steven dear God please don't come back before the next Cars movie and Christopher said dear God I would like to live 900 years like the guys in the Bible and my favorite is Sarah dear God please change the taste of asparagus it tastes like grass and so let me tell you why I love those prayers because they were really direct I mean there was there was nothing you knew exactly what they were asking and what they were saying and I started to learn even as I was reading those prayers and I think what I learned and was confirmed by the old 19th century preacher who all mentioned later on named Charles Spurgeon from England he said this listen to these words these are worth jotting down he says brief prayers are best and I like this part it's not about strength length it's about strength think how important that is it's not about length it's about strength so if I was to quote to you today these famous words how many remember this four score and seven years ago how many know what I'm talking about all the history people that is from where the Gettysburg Address and was written by and spoken by Abraham Lincoln here's what's crazy that those immortal words was literally a 200-word speech it took him two and a half minutes to speak it and it was so powerful and so short that they right now in Washington DC they have chiseled those words into marble because how important they were but what people don't realize is that before Abraham or right before Abraham Lincoln gave those two and a half minute at two and a half minute Gettysburg Address someone named Edward Everett spoke before him here's what's crazy Edward Everett spoke for two and a half hours forty can you a met how many would come to church if I spoke for two and a half hours oh you're such liars you wouldn't be here people are like oh yeah he'll like me now two and a half hours fourteen thousand words and just to show that if you if you can come compact the point down like the children's prayer like Abraham Lincoln it's amazing how memorable and how potent something like that can become and I think even the Bible does a little bit like this when it kind of kind of takes words and has kind of an economy of words and and brings it all the way down shortest verse in the Bible you know to John 11:35 what is it chores verse in the Bible you just left see that you get a Bible verse memorized jesus wept but it's not the only two verse word do you know this means that the only two verse two-word verse in the Bible there's another two-word verse in the Bible and right next and it's number two and number three of the shortest verses first Thessalonians 5:16 says this rejoice always rejoice always second shortest verse in the Bible because because are the letters and then the third shortest verse talk about compacting something potent is this right next to it first Thessalonians I'm gonna read it to you this is the verse we're gonna discuss today 1st Thessalonians 5:17 talked about economy of words this is what the apostle paul says pray without ceasing in fact some think that that is the shortest verse in the Bible out of the Greek New Testament I didn't feel like checking it out but that's what they say but if you think about I was really I was looking at these words so short Gettysburg shortness and and I want to read you what I wrote down in my notes I just said this passage seems to dangle between an impossible task or or this this this crazy hyperbole I'm just I'm going this is insane pray without ceasing what in the world does that mean is this our challenge pastor Tim is this the challenge that you want us to accept let let's pause because I'm gonna get to where that's gonna bring us today so let me explain to you about the challenge challenge except it comes really from the second step challenge Jesus gave to his followers when Jesus spoke to the disciples and his first meeting with them it was these words follow me those were his words later on the last sermon Jesus ever spoke on this planet was called the Upper Room discourse John 14 15 and 16 Jesus then changed it from follow me and this is important Jesus goes from follow me to abide in me and he starts to change and here's how we literally brought a by down to its simplest form the word abide means to spend time with it's time to spend time with it's giving someone time if you want to build a relationship you cannot build it without time in fact one of my friends who pastor who pastored a church in England used to say it this way the best way to spell love is T IME if you love someone time is spent with them and that's really what this is Jesus says I love you I want a relationship with you you've chose to follow me now I want you to choose to spend time with me and that's where really the second step challenges so what we have done is for the month of January after we unpacked abide so for the month of January we have said keeping in mind that word abide means time we're gonna we gave you three challenges the first one last week was time in God's Word that's the Bible and we can ask you said if you read the Bible just at the rate that you talk you could finish the Bible in the year with just 12 minutes a day 12 minutes and some of you have talked with have literally just taken their phone out every day you hit 12 12 minutes stopwatch and it just kind of goes down or alarm counts it off 12 minutes and you're done and you just read it just kind of as you talk that that fast be done in a year and we talked about the rewards of that we're also talking about time in God's presence and that's gonna be today that's prayer time and God's presence that's prayer and then the third one we're gonna speak at speak about is next week with Pastor Chris Reese is time with God's people that's community or small groups which is gonna happen today which really is an important meeting today because we always try to challenge you that we want to take you on a four-step journey we'll posted places we'll speak about in the messages a four step journey goes like this one we want people to know God we want people to find freedom we want people to discover purpose and we want people to make a difference we know God in in every service we're gonna give people an opportunity even at the end of this service online on a podcast we've had people begin to make a choice to become born again that's the follow me part then there's the find freedom part and we feel like that's done in the context of small groups and this is important because this is when we'll take on a Sunday between twenty eight hundred and three thousand people and we'll shrink the church down provide for you which will start next week you could be able to go online and connect with a small group we'll shrink the church down to groups of 10 or 15 people based on a common a common interest and people get a chance to exchange life do life together with the most important common denominator is we want to find freedom through Jesus Christ and it can be found in anything can be found in CrossFit training you can be found in we're training for a 5k too we're just single moms and we went out of the house and to be with other single moms and just to encourage one another or we're we're stay-at-home moms and we want to we want to be in crazy it could happen in any type of setting and with any kind of group and we want to encourage you in fact today after this service we're gonna do three things right up to this service from 1245 to 145 one we're gonna we're going to be going to have our growth track step 3 that's the find discovering purpose and today it literally is step three is discovering purpose growth track is for those that have been attending the church but it going like I want to be involved and I want to encourage you today start today growth track this is a great day to start it's four steps we use the number system step one step two step three step four but really every step is step one so every time you join it's just really getting through the steps you can join it anyone will be step one for you the second thing we're doing is we're gonna celebrate with our small group leaders rally for all those that want that are leading small groups but you may be here today going you know I really want to take that challenge and even lead a group you can come today we'll feed you lunch feed your children lunch and then we'll train you for about 20-25 minutes on on leading them but that's the part I think is so important in spending time with God's people and Pastor Chris is gonna talk to you about that next week but let's deal with last week was spending time in God's Word this week is spending time in God's presence in prayer so let's deal with this let's jump into this is and really unpack this okay so keep this in mind jot this down you prayer will never be a waste of your time let me just say that really really clear prayer will never be a waste of your time you'll never pray and go like that was a waste I shouldn't have done that you can not waste time in prayer Jesus promises that listen to these amazing words jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 verse 6 he says but you when you pray go to your room when you have shut your door pray to your father who is in a secret place and look what he says here your father who's who sees in secret will reward you openly now Jesus so strategically chooses a word for reward it's a payment word it's a salary word it's a word which we would get from clocking into our job and and and making note of it going like we have to pay you a salary because you clocked in Jesus goes I am so obligated to you when you come to pray I'm obligated I put myself as an this as an obligation you choose to spend time abide in my presence I'm choosing to reward what you that you've done that you'd need to be here that you want to be here that's what God's that's what God feels like an obligation is from him to you this is why this is so important that's why I love what the old old writer Thomas Keating said this is powerful the only way to fail in prayer is to not show up that is important what he was saying is the only way you fail is when you don't do it so you don't have to come going I'm not a really I don't pray good I can't do this you fail you don't get reward if you don't show up kind of go show up I'll reward that that's so huge and so important but it's a challenge for you and for me Jesus does something here to kind of go I don't want you to get into it was almost as Jesus was going I don't want you to just to get into the mode and here's a big challenge for you I'm just simply getting everybody to pray for you and just filling out a card I want you to be those that also pray for people that make sense I don't want you only to be the ones that are being prayed for I want you the ones that are being praying for people and their requests how do you get that pastor Tim Jesus I mean let me say it to you this way you and I have a challenge what Jesus says so let me tell you what he does I'm gonna put this verse back up here and I'm gonna reread it to you and I'm gonna show you something that Jesus does that he has never done any other plate there's no other verse like this in the entire Bible with this emphasis let me read it to you and I'll explain and so listen to the emphasis ye but you when you pray go into your room and when you have shut the door and pray to your father's in secret your father who sees in secret will reward you openly it is the only place in the Bible where the pronoun you is used eight times tell me who Jesus is talking to oh here's a thought you that's what it is he says this is so important I don't want that's why when people go oh we need to have a praying Church Jesus cuz now do you pray you know how you have a praying church when you pray if we hear this that's why people go we want to have this kind of church we have to then do that this person Jesus look at me folks mates this verse personal he doesn't say for the church he says you you your room you eight times no other verse does this in the entire Bible because he says this is important for us to take this challenge so here's the challenge this is what's crazy and I put a question mark pray without ceasing my response to that when I read it is like really are you out of your mind I mean think about it okay here's why this doesn't work pray without ceasing let's just take it for what it says I got a job okay that helps I gotta pay like health insurance I got to show up like the football practice for my kid or a dance recital so I mean what are you talking about how can I pray without ceasing we got to eat I can't like you know look at you and like be eating going on Jesus name and so how do I well I mean this almost seems impossible to keep so pastor Tim you're trying to challenge us time and God's presence I have pray without ceasing that this is this would be like we need to join a monastery like how do you do that how do you pray without ceasing so here's the one thing I wanna I wanna I wanna give you a statement and ask you a question so here's the statement God would never ask us to do something that we couldn't obey keep that in mind God would never say anything that we couldn't obey it's just it's just it would be it would be child abuse it's really what it would be but he would never do that so we have to find out what he's saying here and this is incredible I want you to know when I stand up here and have the awesome privilege of speaking to you every single week in pastor Chris I learn just as much as you do and I have to tell you I think when I've looked over my life over the last 35 years I think I've even I don't think I've emphasized this I don't even think I've taught this I think at times I've been trying to do it but this i've never preached on this before this verse i was always afraid of this verse I was always like I'll preach around this rejoice always pray without ceasing and then let's let's talk about other verse I would do that but this one this seems like just too crazy so I think I learned something that's helping me with this so here's how here's how it the best way to explain him what word do you associate with these two words nagging and hacking anybody this is not like a class under way I'm asking you to raise your hand but would you think of the word a nagging what would you say co-op yeah some of the last service because religion no okay a nagging cough or a hacking cough let me tell you why this is important Paul Paul takes a word he says if I got to teach you what it means to pray without ceasing Paul pulls a word from the medical field and says I'm gonna teach you how this goes and he chooses a word that a doctor would give to a patient it's the same word for AK off an incessant coughed that won't go away think about it this is just like that just like this now I'm hearing everybody coffee although so before I came out I was talking with Pastor Chris and I was in there we were talking and I was going then I came out here and Brittany and and Luke are leading in worship but I'm going you know you know what a powerful name okay it's just in during the cert and see everybody's coughing now in the service it's like we're infected in this place there's it's just like this incessant call it's there it won't go away and here's what Paul is saying this is something that you do not if he says it just comes the tickle in your throat it just comes says this is that one giant cough that would be impossible you know it's not like okay you go that's good but if you're going like you know like okay stay back we're calling the cops you can't that would be just weird one giant coffee like for three weeks and you'd be dead and so think about this for a second what Paul was saying was is that this coffee this hacking nagging cough that just won't go away sinus trip weather temperature to whatever that's from he says that's the way I want you to see prayer it's not that you're constantly praying but but there are moments where all of a sudden it just comes up throughout the entire day that you could be walking through the sanctuary going oh let me pray for that oh I can do that's what he was asking us to do this really changes the shape of prayer for us and this is so important in fact I don't think anybody expresses this best I have a list of books I send out occasionally that the title my list is a little morbid but I'll just tell you the title of my list goes like this the 10 Christian books you need to read before you die so this is this is the list so I have friends that will ask me for that list and I'll send it to him let me tell you one of the top books that I have on this list it's a short little book written almost 500 years ago but really worth reading and considered one of the great christian classics who really i think shows what this means and it's called the practice of the presence of god by a man named brother Lawrence the practice of the presence of God brother Lawrence gave his life to Christ ended a monastery and they gave him the first thing that they gave him to do was to wash the dishes and he couldn't he hate nothing more than he hated in washing dishes anybody in that group with me washing dishes was the thing he loathed the most and here's what he said he learned to pray doing the job he hated the most which was dishes he says that's the place he says he wanted to finish the dishes so he could go pray and God taught him that while you're doing the dishes you could still pray listen to what he wrote in the practice of the presence of God it's a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from the other times in your life our biggest mistake is to think the time of prayer is different from any other time of our day it's all one prayer is nothing else than a sense of God's presence we need only to realize that God's close to us and we can turn to him at every moment whether you're doing dishes on an oil rig in your classroom going from class to class in your car God is there that's what he was trying to tell us that's what I think praying without ceasing is praying so I think what I want to do today in these next few moments I want to I'm to understand pray without ceasing I want to give you what I call three postures of Prayer that I've learned in my life I just want to give you three three words that are gonna help you to do this and I want to walk you through these for the next few moments just take if I want to just spend a few moments on each one that I think is gonna help us to do exactly what brother Lawrence did to do exactly what those kids did what abraham lincoln did and what the apostle paul is saying i want to give you a nagging hacking cough if we can figure this out os see if you can figure this out those are watching online let me just tell you some it changes the culture of a church if we can get this we made literally with all the golf that's happening now we literally spiritually can start an epidemic here of Prayer how many would like an epidemic of prayer to happen in this place that's what it does so let me give you three words I want you to jot down that number one is this I call it sensitivity sensitivity what do you mean by sensitivity pastor Tim it's it's it's basically because you could be sensitive and a certain part of your body you know I know my doctor at checkups will check certain things to make sure that nothing causes you pain and there's certain sensitive parts that oh my goodness you jump there's certain words that will make you sensitive how many have ever been in an argument or discussion and they said that trigger word and all of a sudden is like and all of a sudden that thinking man and you know there's a trigger word there's a trigger thing that happens it's it's a sensitivity but I want you to be spirit sensitive I want you to be I want I want you to be sensitivity is easily moved just just a soft touch it doesn't have to be a baboon it literally can be just a simple thing one word a moment can literally change every edge it can can get you to move - something you respond to it and I want you to get that spiritually so let me explain I try to do it each morning I get it on my drive here so let me tell you what's gonna happen so this week it's gonna be so fast we're gonna fly in and fly right back out this week we have the privilege Cindy and I we have the privilege we are gonna fly in take her and fly back down this week my ninety nine year old aunt who's gonna live here in Lafayette Louisiana let me tell you something about my aunt Anne so she came over on the boat from Russia went into Ellis Island in New York Harbor when went through there and was a Russian immigrant came in at 18 years old goes to a Christian Church for the very first time raised Orthodox walks into a Christian Church and there my aunt Anne for the very first time aunt scare Mon gives her heart to Jesus Christ it was her heart was so touched at 18 years old that she was immediately called into the ministry and for five decades five decades served as a pastor and evangelist in New York City right near the Trump Towers in in in Upper East Side of Manhattan and served as a pastor associate and a senior pastor that church and gave her life to Jesus felt like God didn't want her to get married she said she was only gonna be married to Jesus never got married her entire life and at 99 years old she's been in an assisted-living only for three years which means she's been taking care of herself since he was 96 years old and doing amazing when we showed up there last time she showed me this this the oldest this list I go what is this aunt and this is this is how how sharp she is she was these are the books I've read in the last three years these three hundred books I listen some of you haven't read three books in 30 years okay this is how wise this woman is I mean she has given me her library I've got I've got treasures from her an amazing woman and then so on the way to church as well and not just a church but a lot of the things we do we pass right by the place that that she's gonna be which is which is really close to us and every time I pass by that every time I start praying for her I start praying for our trip this week I've been praying for the last two weeks because I know at 99 years old we're gonna pick her up and we have to go right through the tsa put her on the plane go through Atlanta and get right back down here but she's 99 she doesn't have a driver's license which thank God and then sure passport is expired like as you can you're not traveling so I have all this documentation with with know like passport license I've got to get her through TSA so I'm praying for a Holy Ghost blind the eyes of the TSA and give us someone with mercy that knows like she's not a threat on the plane and so I'm trying to get I'm thinking is we're gonna land get her through get back and bring her down here but when I pass through the the place that she's gonna stand I pray for her I pray that God I'd leave a legacy I pray it's a trigger switch that makes sense it's so when I see it I'm not just thinking information the trigger switch wants me to pray so Cindy and I we've had a 21 year debate she's really trying to hold me down from a hobby that I have and it's it's and I know and I know and let me just tell you this I'm gonna say this because whenever I talk about Cindy I they're spies in here I know it I know it because you text her because so good I leave here I go to the back room and I have it on my phone what did you say about me I said how do you know I've got my sources so we're gonna figure who you are that's texting to her and so we've got some drones in here so here's what happens so I've had this this hobby since 1995 I've gone through five different series that Starbucks what they do is they have a mug of each of their city wherever you go to you can get a city mug and they've gone through five different series of it so wherever I go around the world and even the US I get a Starbucks City mug that just reminds reminds me I was there there right now they have a brand new series out what I do is this when I get those mugs and I drink coffee coffee is really important how many would agree with that very important so it's like Jesus Cindy the children coffee and so it's just kind of like that and then if it's a bad day with the kids coffee moves up kids move down at the point so what I do is this and I'm not I'm not trying to to spiritualize it but I really do this and it does work and it doesn't help me is every time I pour coffee in one of those mugs I remember who I know in that city and I start to pray for them so yesterday I was drinking from a mug that says Colorado and I was praying for one of my pastor friends Gary who has some physical challenges and I'm praying God heal him God heal them God heal him you don't it was like just to text him and say hey thought about you today and prayed for you you know what that encouragement that comes to that this morning I was I was drinking coffee out of a cup from Ohio and I have a friend there named pastor Doug who pastors an amazing church and do you know what happens when you just become simply sensitive to that and just go God touch pastor Doug and give him souls today as he preaches in that amazing Church in Cincinnati let the Holy Spirit fall and give him lots of and then I texted pastor Doug praying that God would give you lots of souls today blown away just go oh my goodness thank you so much and they're like trigger switches and it's like a sensitivity that begins to help us so when we get on this when we used to get on the subway in New York to help fight terrorism this is what the signs just be pasted all over New York City subway if you see something say something it's it's saying we can't do it all by ourselves we need the help of the people can we just switch that around and realize that we're in a battle ourselves called spiritual warfare so here's a thought for you you ready for this here's a challenge when you see something pray for something when you hear something pray for something immediately right there what a challenge for so all of a sudden when you see a certain maybe an assisted living home pray for the people in there when you say something underneath when you see something go to prayer for that let let the sensitivity hit you that when you say I've driven down sometimes the the streets or the highway and saw certain signs when some of them were from our people some of them from from reminded me of our people and I started to pray for them at that moment I said I pray for people that are involved won't real estate in our church people that are involved with the law people that are involved with with building and builders let things when you see something pray something when you hear something pray something and that leads me to the second thing which is what I call it the whisper it's the two sentences it's the quick prayer now this is this is huge this is when you feel the burden when you when you have the sensitivity you go and I see something pray for it this is the whisper god I just pray for this and that's not to be long it does not to be intense that the the man who said brief prayers are best it's not about length it's about strength Charles Spurgeon was the first mega church pastor ever in the world in the mid 1800s to have a church of 5000 in London around the world was absolutely unheard of five thousand people one of the great things that Spurgeon had at his at his church was he had a young Minister school he'd raise up young pastors so what one of the things he would do to put them in the game to give him a kind of a touch on the ball he would have them come up and pray for the service after the music a little bit like Pastor Chris would come up they'd pray he says one young man I can remember which bio was in one young man came up to pray and while he was praying he was really trying to be impressive he really wasn't praying he was trying to impress Spurgeon he said he started praying for six seven eight minutes and I mean he started with you are the God of Genesis you have created you know all these planets and you are the god of excess and in my mind I'm going like he's gonna go through all 66 books of the Bible we may be here to the second service so I'm listen reading this and Spurgeon goes he just kept going on and on and on and you are the god of Jeremiah that you know as I was birthed you in my womb and I'm called you from and finally Spurgeon just couldn't take it anymore people were just going like really six seven Amy thank God for pastor Chris and short prayers thank you but what happens is Spurgeon then walked up while he is in the myth I don't even know what book of the Bible he was on and he walks up and put her hands on his shoulder you know it's all over at that point and what Spurgeon told him I wanted to put him on I put it on the screen because it was so important Spurgeon said this young man call him father and just tell him what you want that's really what prayer is call him father and just tell him what you want you don't have to go through a whole bunch of verbage you don't have to go through a whole bunch of stuff call him father and tell him what you want this is really what prayer is this is the challenge for every single one of us this is what I want to challenge you to do in fact can I give to you what I think is our osc challenge that I want to challenge you with here is the challenge that I I want to pull one phrase out and I want to give you another phrase I want us to get rid of this to no longer say here I will pray for you huh but I want you to say let's pray now because you know as well as I do I'm just gonna speak for myself when I tell people I'll pray for them it's so easy to forget that how many know that's true the stuff just happens and you just go like oh I don't even pray I've even had people come up to you a thank you for praying for me because when I told you that I'm going thank you Jesus I mean I don't even know what to say because I forgot but here's what I'm starting to learn how to do the challenge for us is is not I will pray for you but let's pray right now that's the challenge I want for every single one of us that when you hear something hey just had a difficult week hey let's just pray right now talk with someone into the first service my parents are going through divorce let's pray right now talk with somebody that's battling cancer going down to Houston let's just pray right now instead of I will pray for you let's whisper those prayers now can you imagine what will happen to our parking lot what will happen in our hallway what could happen in this sanctuary if people would just stop saying our prayer oh I will pray and they start let's just pray right now just per sentence whisper two sentences and some of you going like really pastor Tim that's really gonna help for me just to pray just a sentence or two how can that little piddly Prayer help anything you ready for this the power of prayer is not the one who prays but it's in the one that hears it and whether it's a sentence or ten sentences God is the one that does it not your prayers not my prayer it's God that answers that prayer that's how it works whisper a prayer for somebody oh my goodness all the things that we hear if someone goes hey how you doing I got a history test tomorrow I don't even know if I've got so much anger let's pray right now no don't say I will pray let's get rid of that let's pray right now my goodness we're sweet we so many times we think prayer is supposed to happen at 6 a.m. on Monday mornings with Pastor Randy or up there with the intercessors who are praying for you during every service upstairs or during the week of prayer and fasting and I'm here to tell you let's turn prayer into a nagging hacking cough that is happening every single moment in every single place that's the whisper I have such sensitive then the whisper comes and let's close with this and I call this watching so we're sensitive something hits me what didn't take a lot didn't need a meat-eor to come just a quick thing passed by a a sign passed by a store that I know somebody works there passed by a school Oh so-and-so goes there God touch them today I think what happens there that's the nagging hacking call and I'm telling you my goal that I'm the challenge for you is I want to start an epidemic in this church that people are praying brief prayers all throughout the day that's my challenge to you I'd love to see you here for prayer meeting tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. that would be amazing but my goodness I can get you praying throughout the day and 3,000 people praying throughout the day think of what could happen so first I want to be sensitive secondly I just want to whisper the prayer in a matter of the verbage it's not me who prays it has the power it's the one who hears the prayer everybody got that and in the watch part let me close it this great verse the Apostle Paul says this you have to see these words don't be weary in prayer but keep at it watch for God's Unser's I love that watch for God's answers and remember to be thankful when they come don't be weary of doing this keep praying keep at it and then I love the straight watch for God's answers look for them I'm not saying to do this this is just helps me because I have a lot that I really try to remember when I pray I have a prayer journal I keep a notebook that I go through of different categories I pray for my family and I have things I pray for for each child and I have things I pray for for Cindy in our marriage I have our staff and all their children I have written down I pray for all them I pray for all of our pastors at all for the campuses that Pastor Chris prays for I pray for them and their families I pray for all of our compassion kids that we support on a monthly basis and just different things all around the world and ministries and ministers so I don't think I've ever said this I'm pretty sure I've never said this publicly but I'm gonna tell you I'm gonna tell you about a page I have in my prayer journal that I don't tell anybody about I'm little boy embarrassed but it's gonna sound selfish but I have it in my prayer journal so I have a I have a page in my journal that's called feel so silly it's called just because you can and it's a list of things then let's be close it's a list of wonts not knees how many know the difference between that these are the things I want and I'm going God I know this may sound a little selfish but I want these things I mean like what do you put on there none of your business so here's so it's just what I want that Dwayne do I need them no do I need them to be a better dad or a better Christian or a better but no I don't need that in the end it's just what I want so I go god neither but I just call it just because she can and last year I started got sort of answering this so what I started to do is I started to date it and put oh my goodness you came through and then I started to date more and more and more do you know when I got to the end of this year I had 18 things listed 16 of the 18 things got answered every single one of them 16 of the 18 it was and I couldn't believe it because I was just going like oh my goodness you're just showing off and and the two things that he didn't answer this is even more about there's like two items that I've wanted but I don't want to pay for it and they're not even that expensive it's gone I don't want to pay for it so God just because you can thank God goes by it yourself so but I didn't move it over to 2018 and so I have a whole new 2018 list of just because she can do you know what happens when I started dating it and what it started to do and let me just say this answered prayer is fuel it really is and what is it fuel for I put it up for this it's fuel to praise and to pray when I see that God answered I'm going oh my goodness thank you God it turns my it turns all of a sudden into thankfulness that's what he says he says watch and then give thanks thanks to him cautions for to when he actually does it but it's also fuel to pray even more going like God you heard this that's crazy you did this that's why from from world war ii was in the concentration camp and her Christian testimony one of the great books that I'd probably put on the list I don't even think of have it on the ten books you need to read before you die the hiding place Corey Tim boon said these words the more I pray the more coincidences happen the more I pray the more coincidences happen because there are moments that we just don't realize you could be the answer to someone's prayer I may be the answer to a prayer whatever hey I flew a couple years ago I flew to Colorado Denver and I had a preach in Colorado Springs so I got a direct flight east coast you know almost West Coast landed there I was exhausted got up early long flight landed drove an hour and a half to Colorado Springs preached all morning long then I had to quickly get in the car drive another hour and a half back get on the plane I was exhausted and getting on the plane I got a ticket so the ticket that I got from my got boosted up because there was because first class wasn't full so I thought the miles that I have boosted me up they said there's empty seats we boost you up to seat 1a so I was going oh this is great for hours and so I was so tired and so I pull out my Bible to read and as I'm reading there there's still loading the plane up and just going it's been so busy let me just read the word and like any good Christian I fell asleep reading the Bible and so I just I fell asleep and my Bible is laying you could see the big black Bible on my chair I'm out cold and the seat next to me is empty and so the next moment I wake up it's from turbulence in the air as I wake up and I'm just going he ever feel like somebody staring at you anybody ever feel that so so I look over and there is this man next to me who stared at me the whole time it's like whoa copies and I kind of went and he goes hello I was going like I was like am I dreaming and if I just go like I must know him and so I hey great to see you brother I don't know who he is I don't even know and and he just goes and he's looking at me he goes God put me in this chair he says God brought me from the back he put me here you shall pray for me you shall pray for my children you shall pray for my wife and God shall answer God put me here so you can pray for me today I was going like hey bro I let's fry hey I didn't I didn't know what to say so I said how did you where are you who are you he just goes and I detected an accent he was from Kenya and he goes I was in row 35 he says and a man came and said my wife is sitting next to you and my seat is up in first class but I want to sit next to my wife take my seat up there he said brother when I came up to the front and I saw the Bible in your lap I knew God sent me here you shall pray for me you shall pray for my children you shall pray for my wife and God shall answer this prayer because you and the man with the Bible on his lap shall shall be the one that God will answer the prayer and I'm going I brought let's let's pray and I and I said I go what's your name and and every service it's gonna be different its name is because I can't even pronounce it it's like unger AO asif juego and I was just going like and so I I made him give me his plane ticket I literally still have his plane ticket today found it last night still have the plane ticket I go I can't even believe the story give me your plane ticket and I remember praying from and the more I pray the louder he got then he started speaking in tongues and in it was going like God touch him oh Jesus and I was going like why not we're 35,000 feet up in the air who cares about these people so we just started praying and and then all of a sudden this man I started to realize I was the answer to his prayer I was the one he he said he was going through all this time with his family his daughters and and we were landing in Minneapolis and then out of such planes and he's goes as I land there I knew you would be the one you brought encouragement back to me you were the answer to my prayer on a Delta airline flight this man was watching and God worked the whole thing and I have to tell you even here I may be the answer to some of you pray this is not Delta this is OSC but you may be sitting in that chair right now and you're stuck next to me and guess what I may be the answer to get you to where you need to go not to another city but to get you to heaven I may be the answer I may be that I may literally be some mom's / going like all God said in the church but but it's not just about getting you in church I want to get you to heaven I want to get you to the right destination and even just you being here today you watching online you may be listening to a podcast and someone texted if you say listen to this this may be the answer to somebody's prayer not to get you to be religious not to get you to be some denominational person it's literally my job is I want your seed that you're sitting in I want the destination to be happy I want you to go to heaven and I want to print well faster Tim than happen then how do I get there Jesus was very clear he was very clear and he says let me give you the flight plan the flight plan is this in order to get to heaven he says this you have to be born again that's what Jesus said that's the flight plan John 3:3 in John 3:5 geez these are Jesus's words he says no man can enter the kingdom of heaven no man no man look at me folks no man is going to be the exception to this no man can enter the kingdom of heaven unless they're born again that's what Jesus said which means let me just let me let me say it to you this way listen to these words if a person is wrong about being right with God then ultimately it really doesn't matter what he or she is right about if you're wrong on how to get to heaven who cares what you're right about I don't know how the Saints can fix everything and go to the Super Bowl mixer who cares well that's beautiful essere eeeh that's why you don't care I don't care you can be right about the correct way to cook gumbo and you can be the right about the correct way to make bread pudding who you could be right about a thousand things but if you don't get this thing right we missed the whole boat I want you to be right about this I want you to be right and the only person that is right all the time is Jesus and he says if not OS see people they go to heaven it's not Protestant people that go to heaven it's not Baptist they go to heaven it's not Catholic people that go to heaven and it's not Methodists that go to heaven it's born-again people that go to heaven and I want you on that flight and I want to get you there today and maybe the sensitivity of your heart maybe you got got hit by and going like ah you think I get it and I want to whisper a prayer for you I want to pray a prayer that allows that incredible work of Jesus to be born again how does it happen pastor Tim it's as simple as ABC whenever we say that it just says it's so simple Jesus made it simple no man makes it because everybody would say you got to stop this you got to quit doing that you got to do that's not how you become a Christian my goodness but there's that that's I congratulate you for stopping things or bad out of it but that doesn't get you listen can I just can I say something to you I'm not giving you a license if there's anything Jesus hated more did somebody go like Hannah I still smoke or I still car are still Jesus hated pride more than anything pride that thinks I don't need any help I don't have to do this all right Jesus cuz it's when we do it's not a sin issue it's a Sun issue and will you accept the Sun for who he is hey I admit I'm a sinner ABC I admit I'm a sinner something's broken it's called sin and God said sin can't go to heaven you got to fix this be believing that God sent his son to die for me on the cross to fix the sin issue when Jesus died for me and I am born again he fixes it where I am heaven ready you could be heaven ready today and see confessing him as the one that beaten to be in charge of my life not not as Sunday Jesus but in everyday I want you to bow your head with me please I want to get you on the right flight I want to get you on the right flight I want to get you on the right flight which the destination is heaven and today could be that day if you're here today and you go pastor Tim I want to be on that I want to leave here today assured that I'm going to heaven and I'm telling you I want to whisper that prayer being born again okay pastor Tim when you pray that prayer I want to be included in that I'm not gonna make your razor I'm not gonna make you come down here I'm not gonna make you stand but I am gonna ask you this if you're here today and say I want to be part of that born-again prayer I want to know today that I'm heaven ready that I'm going to heaven I want to be born again I want to start the first step of my journey today to heaven I'm gonna close with this prayer and if you're here today and say when you pray that born-again prayer pastor Tim I want to be on that flight I want to make sure I'm heaven ready today I want to be born again if that's you that any hesitation hold your hand up right now just say include me in that prayer hold it up high I'm gonna make sure I see every hand that's up and I'm gonna start to my left and make sure I say there's one two three four keep them up I want to make sure I see it this four got you back there five six seven keep them up eight I want to make sure I see it nine 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 got you over there 22 that's fit you could put your hands at 23 can you put your hands up for a second and if that's all I'm gonna ask you to do and then we're all gonna pray together if you're here today and say I should have raised it but I was a little I was a little nervous I should have been part of those 23 folks if you raised your hand don't raise it and if you should have raised it anybody else you should have raised it hold it up now I want to make sure that I miss got you over there that's 24 anybody else I want to make sure 25 26 that's fantastic 27 that's awesome can we all pray this together come on let's say this together and close say dear Lord Jesus I believe you're the Son of God I believe that on the cross you took my sin my shame and my guilt and you died for it I believe you faced hell for me so I wouldn't have to go you rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven a purpose on earth and a relationship with your father today Lord Jesus I turn from my sin to be born again God is my father Jesus is my Savior the Holy Spirit is my helper and heaven is my home in Jesus name Amen come on could we put our hands together for those 27 folks today what a blessing

Channel: Our Savior's Church Lafayette Campus

Views: 3,548

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Christian, Church, Lafayette, Louisiana, Tim, Dilena, Jacob, Aranza, Our, Savior's

Id: DYb_8rN7X8o

Length: 49min 55sec (2995 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 23 2018