Word Impact

foreign foreign you you you foreign you praise the lord everybody welcome to our midweek gathering we're so glad that you can join us this evening we appreciate you all for your faithfulness for your consistency we thank god for you we thank god for a new mercy that we see this morning not because of us but because he is so faithful we thank god today we give him glory this evening because he brought us from a mighty long way we went to sleep last night he sustained us as the psalmist says and he woke us up this morning and we thank him for that come on right where you are give him praise right where you are give him glory right where you are give him all the honor that is due to his name come on lift him up and bless his name lift him up and worship him right where you are clap your hands all ye people and shout on the god with the voice of triumph come on open your mouth right where you are the bible says he inhabits the praises of his people you want god to sit down right where you are whether you're in a car whether you're at home no matter where you are lift up the name of jesus if you at work do it under your breath do it quietly but lift up the name of the lord because the lord our god is great and he is greatly to be praised we worship him we magnify him as the bible says in the beauty of holiness we give him the glory that is due to his name please do us a favor if you haven't done so please share with somebody and let them know that we are on this evening again if you can please share let people know that we're on tag somebody get somebody involved into uh this worship experience as we get into the worship prayer and the word of god i want to continue to add another layer to your revelation about prayer we want you to stay tuned as we believe in god for this additional level of revelation will radically change your life so again do us a favor please share get your notebook out keep your praise on focus on the lord don't focus on what the day has brought you don't focus on everything else but focus now on jesus christ because it's through him that we get to the father it's through him that god moves on our behalf focus on the lord as the song says forget about yourself concentrate on him and worship him overcome the stresses of the day the trials of the day the hardships of the day come into enter into his presence we've come into this house gathered his name to worship him that's what we came to do and right where you are you are the temple of the holy spirit i'm feeling this thing right where you are you are the church of the living god right where you are we've come into this atmosphere we come into this place forget about all yourself and forget about all your struggles focus on him because he is christ the lord come on worship him right where you are oh i feel this thing worship him right where you are hallelujah i'm not saying ignore what happened i'm just saying turn it over to jesus don't let the stresses of your day cause you to miss what god is going to do tonight worship him praise him give him the glory come on let's pray father i thank you for who you are i praise you that we can come to you through conversation through prayer coming to your presence because we know that you are available to us i thank you for access into your presence i thank you lord that there's a road paved with blood the blood of your son that gives us the ability to get in we give you praise today because when we could not come to you you came to us you snatched us out of the muck and mire and you put us on the rock you had mercy on us like never before and we thank you for that now holy spirit i pray that you would come fill this place fill the atmosphere wherever we are put your hands on us one more time again arise now spirit of the living god heal deliver and set free open up our hearts and minds to receive from you this evening during the praise and worship i pray that you would move help us to worship you in the praise help us to worship you in the song and we believe that when we do so we'll reach a place of intimacy that will radically change our lives so father we give you praise for that we give you glory now we worship you now because you're so worthy to be praised thank you for your presence thank you for your presence thank you lord for your presence thank you for being a god that touches us a god that is with us a god that surrounds us a god that never leaves us nor forsakes us thank you for your presence i feel your presence thank you for your presence lord anything else we need we need your presence more than anything in your presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forever more in your presence is healing and deliverance in your presence is power give us more of your presence give us more of your spirit more of your glory more of your person we need you tonight we need you tonight we need you tonight spirit of the living god we need you tonight move on our hearts and minds move on our hearts and minds lord heal and deliver set free in the name of jesus and we promise you that we'll give you the praise all the glory and all the honor in the name of jesus we pray amen brother chris is getting ready to come with some worship we'll be back with the word of god god bless you [Music] oh we worship your god hallelujah but it is to you i give the glory and it is to you i give the praise for you have done so much for me and i will bless your holy names [Applause] [Music] and i will bless your name hallelujah i will bless your name and i will bless your name forevermore [Music] i gave the praise for you have done so much for me and i will bless your holy name it is holy father and no one like you and i will bless your name and i will bless your name and i will bless your name forevermore hallelujah we give you glory oh god we say glory to your name glory to your name glory to your name forever you are the same we worshiping adore you bow ourselves before you in your presence giving you the glory that [Music] hallelujah glory to your name [Music] glory to your name [Music] forever [Music] glory that is to your name cause we magnify your name hallelujah glorify your name oh god hallelujah glorify your neck you're awesome magnificent you're faithful yes you are hallelujah for we magnify your name [Music] glorify your name [Music] oh god we magnify your name glorify your name come on we magnify your name glorify your name oh god unlike you nobody like you no one can pass to you you're a holy god we magnify you we glorify you we exalt you oh god in the beauty of holiness we open our mouths and we reference you we magnify your name lord hey we glorify your name lord hey we magnify your name lord we glory find your name lord we magnify your glory by your name praise the lord amen welcome everybody yeah so glad you could join us tonight yes sir well well the prayer was ever needed absolutely it's the worst lived out the devil it's needed now yes sir i've heard saints say that for generations if you ever need the lord we surely need him now and it has generational significance and we need a move of god absolutely but i think what's hindering the move what i really believe is hindering the move is a divided anointing on the ground yep we've got to get over race we've got to get over denominations we've got to get past style evangelicals think the pentecostals like us are over the top we think evangelicals are dead in the water we don't give each other enough room for a denominational a relationship with god which means what that denomination primarily consist of as it relates to people will bring their history their emotion their deliverance and the emotion attached to what they've been delivered from to their practice of their faith so you can't tell me if i've been oppressed that if i emote i'm wrong because you haven't been oppressed and don't have that energy but we won't give each other room no it's this way it's the only way like god doesn't move in other cultures yeah and we're expecting it's saying in the same way i was at a major meeting uh a couple years ago and just to stay out of trouble i would not mention whose meeting it was i was in arena it was packed and there had been a shift in this individual's meeting to where the uh the people that were attending uh the ethnicities had shift and the leader actually rebuked the difference and i remember being one of the people that had a word with him that if you want support you're going to have to become open to different expressions absolutely and i don't know why god does not wear a one-button suit he's got about a hundred buttons on the suit and we may be right about one of them yep you know so we have to give each other the space if matthew mark luke and john could have four different views of the same jesus then we ought to and it was the same jesus yeah then we ought to give each other a little space if we're doctrine it's not but we condemn each other's doctrine absolutely the disheartening thing was when colgan first started the whole church i'm not talking about just america i'm like the whole church ethan orthodox the roman catholic yeah baptist everybody yeah we could not say hey y'all on this one day all of us are going to pray yeah because people are going to find out who's going to be in charge they're going to fight them who will lead it yeah style and stuff who was right about it yeah who's right about it which way you're supposed to do it yeah and i you could only imagine if all the people of god were able to come together and covet is not denominationally sensitive so there was something we could have unified on but and then part of it is our problem because you know if you heard 20 prophets you had 20 different interpretations yeah yeah you know i saw guys thinking because they blew their breath in the service that the virus was going to end that day yeah and you had folk cheering that i think there's got to be a reunification if it's possible of the church on the ground but first we've got to get delivered from acting as though we don't approve of the way god made people because if i'm a christian and i'm racist i don't approve of the way god made the person i don't like and i'm trying to tell him what to do so yeah i just you know we the the world needs prayer the nation needs prayer and i think this next breakthrough will come from a part of the church that is unexpected meaning i think this next breakthrough is going to come through the people that have been diminished those that have a different idea of the spirit i had a guy write me today telling me that he believed in god but don't mention on my site about some carpenter who's dead and i yeah and i'm like okay have a nice day yeah you know you give people room to believe what they want to believe but i believe god positions every believer to change their view to a more correct view the revelation i get from peter's denial i never knew you i think the jesus that he thought he was walking with he realized the one he was betraying was an entirely different person he didn't know him he had to learn him even at that last day and he learned him he finally got to know him when he betrayed him and jesus said i need you to gather everybody together and bring peter too peter never really knew it yeah you're supposed to grow in your theology well you got this god if it doesn't something's wrong with you yeah you know your prayer life is supposed to grow your faith is supposed to grow your worship is supposed to grow all of that hinges here comes the segway on our relationship with god which really drives everything else especially your prayer life yeah you know the intensity of your relationship with him and the peace you have with him will really dictate the integrity of the prayers that you pray absolutely absolutely you know i'm teaching my prayer class that prayer and confession are pretty synonymous because your confession is often the content or the emotional drive for how you pray and circumstances are not supposed to change your confession of faith which means your prayers will remain consistent as long as your confession of faith remains consistent through whatever season you're going through yeah so so the words i speak and the words i pray the ones that the holy ghost honors are what god has already said absolutely so we don't have to be profound no we just need to be correct correct yeah yeah yeah i can't wait till we get to that session yeah man think about our prayer forums yeah yeah man yeah it's gonna be cool so um huh you got anything no no no please trust me i'm gonna so let's go to deuteronomy four okay seven we went here last week let's do a quick review okay deuteronomy 4 7 then we'll work our way forward um we went here last last last time but this verse is so simple but it blows my mind why when it talks about for what nation is there so great who hath god so nigh unto them as the lord our god is in all things that we call upon him for that god's people he's making distinction god's people have a god that's close to them a god that wants to be with them and a god that responds when they cry in all things in everything yes sir and i think if we kind of get that dynamic of a not distant god but a close god we'll pray differently live differently when we know we have a god that's available in the club and and this particular chapter a couple more verses down once again reminds us as our responsibility to stay positioned so the relationship works for us because god has all power he knows everything he can do anything but he has chosen to create a system through which his power is worked and he talks about positioning keep that soul take heed to thyself don't forget the things your eyes have seen unless you depart in your heart you back the relationship again because prayer is about relationship uh how could some segments teach prayer more as a transaction absolutely rather than as a relationship absolutely so when people don't get the transactions that they always desire because we're going to talk about today no good parent gives their child everything they ask for not at all they resp they react wrong because they only see it as a transaction rather than a relationship and then you build a sense of entitlement so when you say no it's a crisis which means i trust you to give me things but i don't trust you no right yes yes oh we can't wait wait till we get there it's good okay so so prayer we talked about last week prayers relationship and you brought it up yeah prayers about trust faith and positioning ourselves through obedience to receive yeah so the prayer doesn't stop at the amen the prayer continues with my behavior yeah because as you say behavior communicates to god so even our behavior if you can call it it speaks to him it speaks it's a conversation it's a language it's a language it's a prayer to god so we're not positioning ourselves after we pray it's not that god didn't answer the question is sometimes did we not position ourselves to receive to receive absolutely and so we talked last week about how prayer is a simple thing that leads to supernatural supernatural things are usually missed because we expect them to be spectacular there you go but prayer is such a simple discipline that maybe that's why many people underestimate the power of it i had a guy write me today same guy told me he thought prayer was the least effective thing you could do wow why because it's so simple so simple yep it and that simple prayer is supposed to give you rest calm and relaxation most people that have a strong prayer life have a settledness about them yeah that versus people who don't have a strong prayer life because prayer is supposed to settle you calm you because it's an act of trust and dependence on god in all things it's it's it's like if i was tumbling down the side of a mountain i'm not going to go demand that you go down to the hardware store and buy some complex apparatus throw me a rope just a simple thing yup because that will connect me with you and you will be able to rescue it all of this is covenant we underestimate the power of the relationship because the elements and the principles of it are so simple they're powerful simplistic because they don't change and they're supernatural but our pardon them appears to be less than spectacular so this simple act of prayer um let's go into some new stuff yeah is a work of the triune god and man all of god and us working together in prayer yeah so i think it was about two years ago you did the whole prayer series on we pray to the father in the person of jesus in the name of the son and in the power of the holy ghost absolutely so prayer is us working in tandem with all of who god is all right and today we're going to jump on talking to the father what god the father is like who he is absolutely and that perception of him yeah all right let's go to first corinthians chapter eight verse five first corinthians eight verse five first corinthians eight verse five and uh paul's writing here to the corinthian church who believes in polytheism they're a polyest probably theistic culture where they believe in many gods oh yeah and paul is outlining them in first corinthians eight five he says for though there be that are called gods little g whether in heaven or in earth as there be gods many and lords many but to us yes sir there is but one god yeah this is so good yeah the father of whom are all things yes sir so everything comes from the father yes sir and we are in him and one lord jesus christ by whom are all things and we by him yes sir so everything comes from the father through jesus christ yep so when we have a relationship with god we have a relationship with god through jesus with the father like we can say it like that so all things come from the father and all things are given through christ and the bridge or the connection between the two of them and us is the holy ghost go ahead no just make sure okay so so paul's outlining here you got all these different people talking about these different guys but to us we know where all things come from all things come with him oh lord and of our alone everything comes from god and he is our father let's go to galatians chapter four verse six we're gonna lay a quick foundation and hit the uh the jazzy stuff galatians chapter four okay verse six now galatians 4 6 yep and watch what he says he says and because you are sons all right and god has sent forth the spirit of the son into our hearts crying abba father so god adopts us yep he puts the sun in the spirit in us and the sun and the spirit start crying out through us yeah so prayer is a response to god he calls us child gives us his spirit in the sun and we cry out abba father through the spirit and through the son because salvation brings us into relationship with the father that redemption delivers us from a bad place and we can only be delivered through the work of the father the son and the holy ghost so it's amazing to me that we have this dual relationship with him we can't allow ourselves to feel like we're so grown that we become familiar we have to have a childlike dependency and an adult relationship in the same because adults should know what they can and cannot do and what's what's in their strength and what's not within this dream so i've got to have a dependence that's like an infant but a maturity yeah that speaks of relationship it's it's it's like when jesus says when god says this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased he's talking about two things jesus has shown this dependence on the father but the father has been with him for an eternity so he knows him well yeah so this is my child and my son at the same time lord have mercy so so we are children of god yes sir and we have a relationship with the father through the son and the spirit right yeah he adopts us in yeah so for now that we are really sons we have to position ourselves to act like his children let's go to second corinthians chapter six second corinthians 6 because prayer is also about positioning he comes looking for the discarded yes sir yes sir looks in the humanity the nursery of humanity and says i want that one yeah yeah give me the worst one i want them second corinthians 6 verse 14 okay he says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what righteousness hath unrighteous right with unrighteousness but communion hath light with darkness he's talking about relationship being influential we're not that anointed that we can hang around people that are unrighteous and expect us to stay righteous in that deep connective relationship there's an admission in here i think it's in the old testament when it says come out from among them and be separate from them you know so um and that's the picture of israel having a tendency to be persuaded away from god by cultures that don't believe in god that's that's in the old testament repeatedly and um for some reason and i see it even today christians have a curiosity concerning the secular so much so that they don't evangelize the secular side they allow their faith to be diluted and sometimes polluted by the secular side so now they appear as though things of christ have not much value and not much excitement but the things of the world are more stimulating and to be uh pursued and even in that pursuit they start getting a transactional relationship with god because i want to dwell in the camp of the ungodly yet call on you whenever i need to call them yeah so do you think that has to do you think that steadily diminishes the power of a prayer life because of a compromised existence absolutely sin estranged us from god strangers from god sin separates us yeah the more we live in sin the less we can live in real relationship with him okay because sin backs us up while holding this brings us forward causes us to hide him on the tree yes okay so when he comes it's not that he's changed we've changed we've changed because sin will change your perception of yourself because the first thing he does is lodge guilt and then identity begins to change and the guilt morphs into shame and shame is actually a fruit of identity okay yeah so he says watch the relationships verse 15 14 50 it would conquer the christ with below where part hath he that believeth with an infidel and would agree with the temple the living god with idols fear the temple of the living god as god has said i will dwell in them talk about us yeah and walk in them yeah and i will be their god and they shall be my people and like you referenced earlier wherefore come out from among them yeah and be separate saith the lord and touch not the unclean thing watch your behavior and i will receive you and i will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters saith the lord almighty there seems to be an implication of positioning by obedience that proves or disproves whether you're a son or not or a daughter or not jesus does say if you love me keep my commandments the bible does say if you're led by the spirit you'll prove you're one of my children so are you are you suggesting pastor nick that the weakness of our prayer life maybe we're directly related to because i'm talking about manifested prayers directly related to that we will not allow ourselves to be led yes and we're not positioning ourselves to receive the answers that we think we're entitled to rather than uh the fruit of our relationship with him because because this whole this whole thing is working out we're gonna hit some it's just click we're gonna hit some more scripture some more yeah about again we think the prayer starts with the amen yeah but god says i need you to do certain things after the amen to position yourself to receive so simply say if you confess a thing and don't follow it up with behavior you're not exhibiting faith no not at all so if i pray a thing it's supposed to shift my mindset and my conduct yes because i'm positioning myself to receive from him yes so then we delay thinking that amen is enough so god is basically saying after you say amen i want to see if you mean what you say yes does your actions match up your prayer life yeah and when you're talking about that what's the old school saying when the child is acting up you ain't acting like my child oh yeah the period you said you that's not like yeah that's not my childhood your son you don't belong to me actually yeah your son your daughter not mine and if it works in the in the human world it also works in the spiritual world too god is checking behavior sure is so we just can't pray um i was reading some uh psalm 51 okay so dave is talking about sacrifice and offering and burnt offering all those things you really don't want what you really want is a broken in the contrite heart and he goes down he says after i get my heart right then i can offer right sacrifices because he recognizes that my worship my prayer life my giving the success of it is directly related to my heart life and my behavior what you seem to be implying is that many of us may be addicted to appearing to be rather than doing those things that convince god we are so are we really are we really perpetuating a personality among one another watch this that we know that god knows is not true but then in our insanity we'll pray to him like he doesn't know yeah yeah wow it's the whole thing you can't see me like a little child standing in the middle living room floor you can't see you can't see me and they really believe you can't see yeah man because their eyes are closed because their eyes are closed let's go to uh luke 18. okay uh verse we're gonna look at luke 18 15. [Applause] and so now that we're children of god luke 18 verse 15 he says and they brought unto him also infants that he would touch them but a disciple saw it and they rebuked him there they go the people that walk with jesus make it hard for folk to get to them always in verse 16 but jesus called them or called them unto him and said suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for such is the kingdom of god yeah and he starts teaching the adults verily i say unto you whosoever shall not receive the kingdom as a little child shall no wise enter therein jesus is letting us know that he wants us to be childlike not childish absolutely there is a difference childish is that entitlement let's go back to abba again back to abigail yeah child like is i believe my parent can do what they say they're going to do and my my parent is going to take care of it and the children did not ask for permission from the disciples they went straight to him [Music] and they were offended by the lack of protocol but jesus takes he always takes what's going on around him he says holy you don't understand what's going on this is the attitude i need from you to be free to come to me because the children obviously have no sin barriers at this point and they don't know it but even if they have some childlike sin they're still coming reminds me of david absolutely i messed up i'm coming i'm coming and you're right kids have no protocol you're talking to somebody else they're coming they don't come and say excuse me daddy can i you have to teach you to teach them protocols sir but they have such belief that you'll respond and god is saying the child like faith we need that i can run to my father and he's going to respond to it it's to believe that your father can do anything that's faith now can we dig in this real quick go ahead man because here's the thing i think we we missed this very simple principle we have great childlike faith the day we get saved it's not jaded by life a lot of disappointment you believe in a god that told you to come to preach god use the preacher say come you can't yeah you said a prayer committed your life to a god you've never seen never heard physically you believe that he's going to save you believe will take you to heaven and all you heard was a word and you believed all that when we get saved and start living something happens to that child like faith we get jaded disappointed and we often times here it is we lose the power of saving faith because life starts to get in the way i think you've given us some insight okay we are childlike initially when we get saved but as we spend time living life with christ we become childish because we start to believe like children there shouldn't be any challenges yes nothing negative should ever happen to me now that you're my father but the reality is maybe that's why the bible tells us not to be carnal or infantile but to become mature also accuses the corinthian adults i believe of still needing milk even though they're grown so that's childish not childlike yeah okay yes there's a difference yes sir so god wants us to maintain that faith that he will answer he will supply and i don't know if you got y'all those are young kids they will ask you and ask you even when you say no persistent that's biblical like nobody's business that's biblical that's biblical and biblical biblical because they believe if you're not going to give it to me now keep knocking you're going to give it to me soon keep asking keep believing but they taught us that that was a lack of faith they taught us early early on in my faith they told us you ask once if you have to ask again you don't have faith that's not what the bible says the context is of knocking on a door with a house that has windows who i know you're in the house so i'm just going to knock one time and you may not hear it but i know you're in there i keep knocking i see glimpses of you when i look through there i keep seeking and i believe the door will be open unto me yes but that persistence the widow is persistent she just keeps going back to the judge until the judge says all right here take it persistent and that's an unrighteous judge so let's go to matthew chapter six so we can see we can finish this today matthew six and let's look at verse number five okay matthew 6 5 and we'll kind of walk this down to verse 13 real quick matthew chapter 6 verse 5 and he says when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men verily saying to you they have their reward they're so caught up in a prayer style to get a reaction from people that jesus says they have the reward which is what they get a reaction from people not a reaction from god yes sir god's only overhearing the prayer and god's not receiving it so he says um verse six but when you pray enter into thy closet and when that shut the door pray to thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly jesus teaching a kingdom principle i wish my head was clear but he is it possible that if an individual that's saved emotionally qualifies themselves to pray and they become upset because they're not called on to pray that perhaps it's not that they want god to hear them but want people to see them yes and when they are disappointed because they don't have an opportunity to be seen they become offended by something that should really give you peace yes because talking to people is easy talking to god is an entirely different thing i mean really talking to him yeah yeah so you know in our ministry in in the last 30 years we've seen people actually get upset enough to leave the church because they were looking for a term yes yes but here's the problem when the turn arises you don't rise to the opportunity yeah you fall to the level of your preparation yes so it's it becomes more about being seen than it is about being effective and being spiritual yes and to cover up the lack of preparedness we master emoting yes and turning people on at the risk of turning god off right yes yes okay and god says if you what if that's what you want that's your reward if you're if you're up there to be seen that's the answer to your prayer and you'll miss all that god has for you because you want to be seen well let's talk about a minute so i know people that every time they pray you can set your watch by oh yeah same inflection same almost like it's more of a style than a conversation yes okay yes yes so jesus says i need you to pray in secret he'll reward you openly and here in verse seven but when you pray use not vain repetitions as the heathens oh but they think that they shall be heard of their much speaking all right saying the same stuff over again babbling over and over again here it is in verse number eight and this is where we have a good discussion but not ye therefore be not be there for like unto them for your father knoweth what things you have need of before before you ask of them good parents make an assessment of the needs of the child before the child ever even knows that they need it because they are studying the child it's just like people that are assisting you and you may or may not have come to this revelation as a leader if you have people around you that are not anticipating your needs they are probably not the correct people yes to assist you in your vision yes so there must be enough discernment that i not be so caught up with being in the position yeah that it hinders my ability to assist you in one of the ways to assist you is to anticipate yes what you may need to do your job successfully yes so many people are not ready to be in leadership no no because right it's about being seen it's about getting the position position not about the actual need being made so my wardrobe changed my hair um perhaps go out and buy some some some suits and some jewelry because i'm dressing for the part but i don't have the discernment for the part right okay right okay so so he says your father knows you have needed now here's here's the thing that hit me about this verse was prayer is trusting god that he knows what we have need of versus what we think we need trusting him with everything we're concerned about yes yes sir he he good parents like he said we talked about assess the needs of the child and if it was up to my kids they would eat pizza french fries bacon and cookies every day of their life forever if it was up to them forever but when their request comes in i have to make an assessment of what they need versus their request and a good parent makes that assessment and gives the child what they need it's not that they'll never get pizza again no it's just give it to them at the appropriate times and make sure my job is to supply what they need and sometimes we get angst with god because we we we we don't we have more faith in our what we think we need rather than trusting what he discerns that we need well you know there's a style of parenting now that's not biblical because the parents allow the children to make all those important decisions themselves because they feel as though telling them what to do or suggesting them what to do or leading them in the right direction is taking away some of their authority now i don't know how much authority you're seven-year-olds were there right right right you know it's just uh but that's not god uh god gives us the opportunity to exercise our will but also he tells us what we should do how we should do it because he understands what we need what we need he makes the assessment and trusting him enough that if he supplies it the way he wants to supply i remember some years ago you said stop complaining about how god provides for he's providing and we're complaining obviously he knows in that season that's what we need in that season absolutely it's not may not be what i desire but it's what i need old friend of mine used to say will complain about being hungry with a loaf of bread tucked under our uh yes we just we're not satisfied so jesus says your father knows what you have need of before you ever ask of it he's going to take care of you and he said that he goes into um verse number nine the lord's prayer and after this manner therefore pray in luke's version they say teach us how to pray and he says pray like this now in these days yeah they would teach them the actual words to pray and also the format to pray so we literally pray this prayer yes sir but also use the components to form our personal prayers so he starts off by giving them this schematic the framework the framework yeah yeah use these exact words but also use the framework it's it's like when we were playing sports coaches didn't teach you the tricky moves they taught you the fundamentals and out of the fundamentals came your interpretation yes but never forgetting the fundamentals and the best players were the ones that had the most solid fundamentals in their experience so all god is saying is look and this is what has always blown my mind if we knew how to pray correctly jesus would not be instructing us how to pray right exactly but we claim prayer watch this as hours when prayer actually belongs to him and we're participating in it absolutely absolutely and he gives us the exact framework because if one person knows how to get a prayer through is jesus and obviously if he says pray like this then well isn't the oldest brother's job the oldest child's job is to show you how to manage and negotiate with the parents yes yes so that's what he says here our father who art in heaven prayer must have some praise in it mm-hmm some worship and some acknowledgement of god up front and it's relationship dream he said our father know who you're talking to who art in heaven hallowed be thy name here's the request part thy kingdom come thy will be done and earth as it is in heaven prayer is not about getting our will done it's about getting his will done absolutely the first request is his will your kingdom come your will be done he says uh give us his day our daily bread then you can start asking for provision those things uh forgive us of our debts here's the hard part as we forgive our debtors because god can't successfully forgive us if we're not forgiving other people is it a minor thing that this is both personal but more corporate than we probably pray it's it's it's our father thy kingdom come thy will be done give us this day all of us yes so there seems to be an element of intercession when i'm praying and oh and the us includes me yes that's how moses kept god from destroying israel he included himself as a part of israel so for god to destroy israel he would have had to destroy moses yes and moses believed what he said yeah so there's this element of intercession in here which makes perfect sense to me yes prayer is not supposed to be selfish yep we're supposed to bring somebody along with us we'll say that for another week go ahead man so he says um where am i at oh uh 13 and lead is not in temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen or so be it so jesus lays out a framework of how to pray here a system actually pray this prayer but also look at the system now let's go to luke chapter 22 real quick luke 12. see me luke 12. luke 12. yeah let's see if we can finish this real fast luke 12 and um i want to just highlight something real quick uh you because you were talking about this this is luke's version of sikhi first the kingdom okay let's look at verse uh 28 just for some time see got it he says if you if then god so clothed the grass which is today in the field and tomorrow's cast into the oven how much will he clothe you oh ye of little faith now you addressed someone the past couple sunday yeah we worry because we're struggling in our faith and then he goes in again and says and you shall in and seek not we shall eat we shall drink he would be to be doubtful minded for all these things do the nations of the world seek after and again he emphasizes again and your father knoweth that you have need of all these things but seek ye the kingdom of god and all these things shall be added unto you and and we have to be sure that everybody understands god is not saying that these are not concerns of us god is saying if you trust me you don't worry about them there's a distinction so as usual the lord is teaching priority seek the kingdom and if you trust me i'm going to take care of those things yes sir but what's amazing to us is the things that we worry about the term god uses for them is things yes so all of them are small to god but if i'm going to pray i've got to have this mindset that god's going to take care of me yes sir but if i am worrying jesus says you have little faith and he's not saying don't be concerned he's saying don't seek yes yes because people who don't know him seek after these things this is the focus of their lives which means that's where their heart is focused yes so they have their treasure in the things okay yeah you forgot who your father was let's go to matthew 7. let's go back there real quick and we'll actually be almost done matthew 7 because we're trying to get you to see that your father will provide for you matthew 7 verse 7 yeah it says ask and shall be given unto you it is seek and you shall find knock and shall be open to you a continuous participle meaning keep asking keep seeking keep on knocking they need to hear that keep asking keep seeking keep knocking which means they do you do have faith if you continue to ask absolutely because you know what god can do yes you're going to come through so i'm going to keep asking until it moves yeah and then there's the guarantee in verse 8. for everyone to ask his receiver he has seeketh find it and him that knock it shall be opened now verse 9 through 11 we're going to go through one of my favorite verses of scripture okay or what man is there of you whom if his son asks bread will give him a stone there you go if asked for a fish we'll give him a serpent something that will poison him verse 11 if you then being evil jesus doesn't miss words if you being a human being being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him that's prayer if we are flawed broken moody tired if we can take care of our kids with limited resources with limited resources how much more will your heavenly father take care of you he doesn't get tired he doesn't get moody he's never broke all things come with him is it possible that if i find myself becoming overly anxious about something that's so easy for god to provide that i'm indicating the lack of strength in the relationship i have with him yeah so my prayer language changes which means that my confession changes which means my faith has changed which means i'm telling god i don't believe you will take care of me now him taking care of me does not eliminate my part of the equation right i've got to look for the job i have to go to work i have to be a good steward of my money yeah but i wonder sometimes if we don't want god to fix what we mess up yeah so i go out and blow my rent money uh because i want to i want to have a party and then i have anxiety yeah because i don't have enough yeah i'm i've been counseling people for years and i always am amazed at how someone who needs money will say that throwing away or not making fifty dollars wasn't worth their time i've been in a position where having fifty dollars was a blessing yes sir so how how do you blow all that and they say god is not moving yeah how do you treat what he provides you know that's not worth my time yeah how do you blow that and then turn around and say he's not providing for you because you want to blow the opportunity and still want god to step in and provide it's testing god is that a test tempting the lord your god yeah don't tempt me yeah you can start playing go to james chapter 1 verse 17 and we'll be done james 1 17. what did you find back there james chapter 1 verse 17. okay just reminding you that your father will provide for you oh yeah james 1 17. he says every good and perfect gift is from above he said above this he said don't think any evil thing is i'm gonna do it to you that's not my character i give you all the good and perfect stuff the mature stuff and coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variableness yeah neither shadow of turning i ain't going to change up on you no he can't there's no darkness in me i'm going to remain your father i'm going to take care of you i'm going to do all that stuff if you would seek me know the relationship wow i know how to take care of my kids all last year the scripture the lord is my shepherd i shall not want was ringing in my spirit all last year yeah because we have that type of father that provides no matter what yeah and he says just need you to pray for me talk to me you asking me for a bread i'm not gonna give you a stone ask me for fish i'm not going to give you a snake that's going to kill you i'm going to provide for you he says here that the word of truth the word of god birth something in us and we are a kind of first fruit of all his creatures because we're the only ones that can really respond to the admonition and the teaching that's verse 18 there of his own will begat he us with the word of truth wow that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures or creation then he gives us instructions once again positioning ourselves within the word of god so we can be the manifestation of his will on earth wow so what he wants to do pastor nick is make us a perfect gift to other people so we have to start to communicate with him in such a way that our talking to him reveals we know him yes so we don't want to make the error of talking to him as if he's a stranger to us so rather than talking towards him prayer is conversational dialogue with him yes it's weird one of the reasons we know each other so well are the conversations we've had over the years and most of them have not been long conversations yeah they've been short knowledge droppers yeah i think the longest conversations happen when we travel together yeah and we're able to get out of this context and just kind of talk and and worship and just be yeah you know people that love god in church and having worship and then that fellowship afterwards over dinner and stuff like that and with this conversation conversation conversation because fellowship produces relationship yeah and maybe the prayer life of a lot of the people of god is not as strong as it could be because the fellowship portion they're not maintaining coming to church what is possible come into bible study come into prayer all those corporate family things that build uh not only unity but build faith in relationship and then wonder why when it comes time to pray god can't hear or god's not move because we have not positioned ourselves to move him yeah but prayer seems so unspectacular on the surface but it's what god has prescribed to produce the supernatural yeah in our lives wow yeah so he's making us to his perfect creation and we're going to get to a part where we're going to talk about how prayer is not just relationship prayer is also formational god shapes us and transforms us in the process of praying too we're going to do a whole lesson on that but you've got to build build towards that and god is in the transformation business and he's in that transforming formational uh business jesus came to his disciples we talked about the first thing he said to them is follow me and you will become and that's what salvation is it's a constant becoming we got saved we're being saved and we will be saved it's a constant transformation constant becoming more and more like christ and less and less like who we were before and who we are at the present yeah and if you're not saved there's a journey there's a path that god is calling you to walk with him on salvation is a journey it's a walk with god salvation is a relationship with jesus christ because no man will talk about this next week comes to the father but through him yeah and we just read it in corinthians with paul that we get it through christ through him we get to the father and if you're not saving to give the lord your life we're calling you to a journey calling you to relationship with jesus christ and um very simply simple message about prayer really hit something on you and um if you want to give your life to the lord tonight it's a perfect time to give your life to jesus a great time in the middle of all this stuff that's going on in the world you can make that commitment and we're witnesses that if you start walking with him your life will never be the same again it has his challenges has ups and downs he never promises the perfect life but he did promise us that he would be there if you need to be saved need to give the lords your life please do us a favor um put your name in the comments section someone will connect with you someone from our team is there and they can uh walk you through the process of giving your life to the lord if you need to rededicate your life one of the greatest stories that jesus gives about lost things is a father that prepares for the son to come home son comes home the prodigal son he says kill the fatted calf in my mind he was feeding that calf as soon as the sun left the whole time he was planning the celebration because i know he's coming home god planned this celebration for you tonight because he knew you would come home when you're watching this if you walked away from god you have an opportunity to come back like the prodigal son the bible says he came to himself in the greek it means he got his mind back when he left the house he lost his master's mind but when trouble came in he got his mind back he came to himself his mind came back into unity and he said i need to go back home and here's the crazy thing he went back home out of need not necessarily out of relationship because he said i'm gonna come back as one of the hired servants because at least there's food there there's shelter there and you know what the father did not care why he came home he was just happy he came home he said let's restore him let's bring him back in god wants you to come back to him he's looking for you he's waiting for you come back in the condition that you're in don't let your pride get the best of you recommit your life to jesus this evening if you want to connect to this church you need a church home whether you're distant or you are uh local we have of course when we open up everybody's local to this area yeah come on in if you're distant we have a virtual connection shirt yep either way distant or local you can be connected to bethany church the transformation church this evening we're not a perfect church but we're striving for perfection we're serving a perfect god if you want to join this church um people have been joining since the whole pandemic oh yeah getting emails oh yeah all the time about people connecting yeah and um it matters where you go to church we would love for you to connect with us we fit in with those three categories salvation rededication church home put your name in the comments section and someone from our team will connect with you or you can go to our website go to bethany.com and there's some information you can fill out there we would love to have you as part of this journey those of us are saying even i don't know about y'all the older i got the more my mom was like look bro you got to contribute something yeah you can't live in here for them when you're a child you get everything i think we run into a dilemma abraham and sarah wait a long time for isaac and then god he used to puzzle me was why if he was going to ask for someone back why not ask him for ishmael um and we find that ishmael was not quite as precious as isaac was to him because isaac had this covenant principle operating in his life so did so did uh ishmael but the difference between ishmael and isaac was that ishmael was the son of human effort but isaac was the son of promise isaac basically was birthed out of a miracle so god asked him take him up to the mountain don't take ishmael i want you to take isaac because you're going to prove your love for me if you're ready to give me something precious to you yeah and that is what opened up my understanding as it relates to faith and giving i've got to love what i'm giving god enough to give it to him and i've got to love what he promises what that act of faith will produce so many times when we are when we are about to give we we we don't give god something honorable we should give him something uh that like jesus and like isaac the father would have rather kept for themselves so what i want you to do is as you prayerfully decide what to give god cause that gift to spring from a heart of love a heart of appreciation remembering what god has delivered you from and then suddenly what you give god will be transformed from something that you have very little concern for to something extraordinarily precious to you right now something that is it gives the impression that it cannot be replaced that's what i want you to join me tonight giving him something that you'd rather keep which is the simple definition for sacrifice but don't give him your ishmael to not give him your isaac go to the icon sow that seed that you feel that troubles you when it leaves you because it was troubling abraham to do what god had asked him to do but when he gives god the thing that troubles him god turns right around and says look i know you love me now and because of that here's what i have in store for you so i want you to go to the icon with us right now so that significancy for some of you significance is fifty dollars some of you hundred dollars several of you watching with me is three five thousand you know what to do what's precious to you not something you give away casually but something like abraham had for isaac abraham had plans for isaac but he decided to place isaac in the will of god that's what i want you to do tonight and watch god release covenant blessing in your life amen it's a real quick announcement um as you're given the online registration for abundant harvest bible institute um will be starts we have it's up now the semester begins january 25th okay um it's a few it's about a couple less almost less than a week away about a week away some change we're offering one four-week class called hannah fruitfulness delay and two eight-week classes soteriology exploring what salvation is and then also strengthening yourself from the lord will teach you how to minister to yourself during challenging seasons defeat and failure that's gonna be real good yeah especially needed during this time yeah um if you're interested in in any of those classes you can take more than once i think they're staggered uh they have a staggered schedule so you can take more than one uh that option is open to you some start this month some start in march i think right yeah mine starts in march here and the rest start this month so uh they're all via zoom of course you can register um at ahbi ahbi dot go to bethany.com again a-h-b-i dot go to the nuts and number two bethany.com and you can register for the classes there they're gonna bless you and pack your life um also we announced last week we are uh celebrating bishop's birthday this month turning 69. um the official celebration is on the 24th your birthday is 25th right 25th 25th um 24th we actually celebrate this we're celebrating that sunday the 24th wow um we ask that you please if you can do a quick birthday greeting you know happy birthday bishop keep it around like 10 seconds send it to social go to bethany.com again that's social go to bethany.com send it there we're gonna run him online and we're also gonna sew into his life uh i believe the information should be on the website already to give for his birthday ask him everybody a dollar per year um some will do more you can do more do more try to do the 69 if you can't do that do the best that you can uh go to our website it's under uh bishop's birthday through giblify text to give we want to make this a great birthday uh for him and we thank god for you man just happy birthday man getting old i know young old though you know yes i thought 35 was old yeah when i was 20. you know but ain't online now age is not just enough right so we're celebrating that and please don't forget to join us um on uh saturday on point at nine o'clock yeah uh a lot to talk about oh yeah and then uh uh then of course on sunday eight o'clock service starting and we're rocking and rolling from there all right y'all bless you lord bless you have a good evening now see y'all later [Music] you

Channel: Bishop David G. Evans

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Length: 84min 26sec (5066 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 13 2021