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Knock, and It Will Be Opened to You (Luke 5:12-16)
10 Plays2 days ago
Sunday Message recorded 10 November 2024
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Honoring Veterans through Prayer
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, good morning.
00:00:11
Speaker
Tomorrow is a very special day for our country because we have the opportunity to remember and honor those who are active in our service to protect our country and those who have served, who are still living and who are among us. I want to say if you are a veteran, thank you so much for your service and thank you for your sacrifices. um Thank you very much.
00:00:43
Speaker
It's hard to know how can we personalize that. Well, like I said, I would like for us to pray for these who have served, and then let's pray for those who are serving now. You may be
A Prayer for Veterans
00:00:53
Speaker
seated. Thank you man so much. Let's pray together. Lord, I thank you so much for the freedoms that we enjoy here in the United States.
00:01:02
Speaker
We know that many paid for these freedoms, and so we're grateful. Thank you for the time away from their families. ah Many of them were deployed in far regions of our world. And so I thank you. I thank you for those who served faithfully and honorably. I thank you also for those who are serving now.
00:01:21
Speaker
And I pray for them that you would continue to be a shield about them. You would protect them. I pray for a measure of your grace and peace for their families while they're away on various deployments. But I just thank you again, Lord, for the service of these men and women who have served us by being willing to stand between those who are evil and those who want to cause harm and to protect us. so we We do not take our freedoms for granted, so give them your blessing this day, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
The Power of Prayer
00:01:55
Speaker
Thank you again. Well, I'd like to begin the message by talking about knock, and it will be open to you. This message is about prayer.
00:02:05
Speaker
If you're looking for an interesting Bible study, then I would like to just give you an idea. Have you ever considered a word study on the word door? On the word door. There's a lot of references to doors throughout the New Testament especially, but I wanted to leave you with one here before we get through the introduction and get into our text today, and that's Revelation 3, 7-8.
00:02:31
Speaker
The Lord Jesus was talking to the church in Philadelphia and he said that he has the key of David and he can open and no one will shut. He can shut and no one will open. That's power. That's incredible power. Whenever he can do that, no wonder Jesus said that he was entrusted with authority in heaven and on earth.
00:02:55
Speaker
You know, if you
Biblical Lessons on Patience and Prayer
00:02:56
Speaker
were to just do a quick review in Luke, at where we've been so far this morning, we're gonna be in Luke chapter five, verses 12 through 16. Luke chapter five, verses 12 through 16. But if you were to go back and rewind the tape a little bit and go back to the beginning in chapter one, you would see that there was a woman named Elizabeth who was struggling in her life because there was a ah closed door in the womb.
00:03:24
Speaker
She wanted to have a baby really bad. And so what they did was they took it to the Lord in prayer. And in Luke 113, whenever the angel met with her, he said, your prayer has been heard. You will bear a son. And so I thought that was so incredible that God was able to open that door. But then if you remember in chapter two, verses 37 to 38, there was another woman named Anna.
00:03:51
Speaker
Anna was standing at a closed door of waiting. Have you ever waited for something in your life? Well, Anna knew what it was like to wait. She was waiting for the Messiah, but she was waiting and praying while she was waiting. That way it's not wasted time.
00:04:07
Speaker
But in Luke 2, 37 to 38, it says, with fasting and prayer night and day and coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. So if you're standing at a door that's a door of waiting, knock on the door of prayer and say, God, please open the door. There's also
The Parable of Persistent Prayer
00:04:31
Speaker
Jesus, you know when he was baptized, do you think that Jesus had to wait?
00:04:36
Speaker
you know He didn't have to wait, but he chose to wait. But he waited for 30 years until it was time for him to begin his work. Have you been waiting to get started in a certain ministry, a certain work that God has given to you? Well, Jesus knew what that was like. And so at his baptism, that was when he officially was going to begin his work of ministry. But it says in Luke 3, 21, that when Jesus also had been baptized, and was praying the heavens were opened up. So he was praying and the door opened. If you will learn to take all of those closed doors to God in prayer, you'll see God open doors. In all three cases, Luke was inspired to tell us that prayer opened the closed door.
00:05:27
Speaker
There's another passage in Luke 11 five through eight where Jesus gives a parable of persistence. And in the parable of the persistent neighbor, he talks about this person who suddenly has a visitor at midnight. Have you ever had anybody? knock on your door at midnight? I mean, what would you do? And he opens the door and it's, of course people he knew. And so he welcomed them in and they said, can we spend the night? He said, yes. So he goes to check the cupboard and there's nothing there. So he says, you know what? Why don't you make yourselves comfortable here? I'm going to go next door and I'm going to ask my neighbor if I can borrow some bread from them.
00:06:08
Speaker
Midnight! And so the the neighbor says, look, the door's locked, the door's shut. I'm already in bed with the kids. Go away. It's not the right time. And he says, I don't have anything to feed my guests. Would you just give us three loaves of bread?
00:06:24
Speaker
So they kept on asking, they kept on praying and asking, and then finally it was given. Jesus draws some application to life. He contrasts that with the Father, and here's what he says, and I tell you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be open. Do you see the contrast?
Jesus Heals a Leper: Faith and Prayer
00:06:54
Speaker
So is God the Father like the neighbor who was reluctant to get up because it was midnight? No, he's not. What he's trying to say is, I want you to pray. I want you to ask me for what's going on in your life. Jesus makes it clear about the effectiveness effectiveness of praying when he says, knock and it will be open to you. To the one who knocks, it will be open.
00:07:22
Speaker
So I think today what we're gonna look at is someone who knocked, someone who brought their problems to the Lord in prayer, and we will see what a difference it made. Would you stand in honor of God's word? And let me read, it's just very brief, but it's in Luke five, verses 12 through 16. While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy.
00:07:46
Speaker
And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will.
00:08:01
Speaker
Be clean, and immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded for a proof to them.
00:08:17
Speaker
But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray." Why don't we pray? Let's pray one more time. Lord, speak to us through this passage.
00:08:36
Speaker
Lord, I don't know all of the different challenges and struggles that each person out there is facing in their lives, but I certainly know that prayer can make a difference. Help me to strike the right balance with biblical truth. I don't want to promise something that you're not offering, but I also want to make sure, make clear that there are certain things that certainly draw your attention.
00:08:58
Speaker
and you and they attract you whenever you hear them and see them in prayer. So help us learn from this man who struggled with leprosy. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Thank
Submitting Problems to God
00:09:09
Speaker
you, you may be seated.
00:09:13
Speaker
You know, this is a simple message. It's going to highlight five truths pertaining to prayerful knocking that can lead to promised opening. Naturally, I do want to balance this with something that's written in 1 John 5, 14 and 15 that says, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. So I'm not talking about trying to force God to do anything.
00:09:36
Speaker
I'm just saying once we are convinced we are sure what God is telling us to do. So let's look at this passage together. Let's begin with verse 12, where it begins. The first thing that I noticed in this passage, a principle about praying, is a problem is permitted to enter into your life. Maybe you would say, I don't understand that. I don't understand why if I'm a believer, if I'm following Christ, if I'm a man or a woman of prayer, why would problems even enter into my life?
00:10:05
Speaker
Well, I certainly can understand you struggling with that. But remember, we live in a broken world, right? I mean, God made the world perfect whenever he placed Adam and Eve on this world. It was perfect. There were no closed doors. there were There was no brokenness. But something broke this world. Something changed things. Something began to close doors. If you read through Genesis, you'll see that even Adam and Eve were forced out of the Garden of Eden. They could not come in to the Garden of Eden.
00:10:35
Speaker
And so what is this all about? You see, sin broke things that God made. Sin has caused some doors in this life to close. You know, Luke 5, 12 says that this man comes to Jesus with a problem. So what problem did this man have? Well, the author of Luke, remember, the author of the Gospel of Luke is a medical doctor. He's a physician. So he notices things. And so first he identifies the problem. And his identification of the problem is this. He says it's leprosy. It's a leprosy.
00:11:14
Speaker
You know, um leprosy is caused by the bacterium, microbacterium leperae. It was discovered in 1873 by a Norwegian researcher, C.H.A. Hansen. That's why sometimes you'll hear people refer to leprosy as Hansen's disease, because this man finally discovered what it was all about.
Responding to Problems with Prayer
00:11:36
Speaker
like Another Christian doctor that's published books and done a lot of research on leprosy is Dr. Paul Brand.
00:11:43
Speaker
He said, you know, it's not what we thought at the beginning. We assumed it was a rotting infection. But he said, there's something else that's happening in the body when someone has leprosy. It's turning off their warning system. It's shutting down all the nerves, the extremities.
00:12:00
Speaker
so that you are numb, your legs, numb on your hands, your arms, elbows, and so forth. So if you are near a fire, you don't feel it. If something happens and you step on a nail, you don't feel it in your foot. He calls it the painless hell because you're unaware of injury where God said you should have pain, you don't have pain. And so it makes it far worse.
00:12:27
Speaker
leprosy can sometimes be a result of judgment. We see that with Miriam, with Gehazi, with Uzziah. If you were to look at those three individuals, you would find that they were stricken with leprosy because they had disobeyed God.
00:12:43
Speaker
But there's also not only the out-of-innocation of the problem, there's the magnification of the problem. Did he just have like a little bit of leprosy, maybe on his forearm, maybe a little bit of leprosy down on his ankle or his leg? No, it says while he was in our cities, there came a man and looked, the physician says, this guy was full of leprosy. He's all over his body. Can you imagine how difficult that would have been? Wow.
00:13:13
Speaker
Well, I want us to go to the second thing. What did he do with his problem? What should you do with your problem? Well, that's the second principle I noticed. Your problem is submitted to the Lord in prayer. That's the best thing you can do with your problem. There was a man in the Old Testament named David, perhaps you've heard of him. King David had lots of problems.
00:13:34
Speaker
Just because he was a man of God didn't mean that he had no problems. No, he had problems. But what David learned in his life is what do you do with the problems? So in Psalm 55, 22, he said, here's what I recommend you do with your problems. Cast, throw, throw your problems, cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you. That's what he said he had learned through his life. And so I want you to see what the leper does with his problems. It says he was full of life. We see we saw that, but then it says, and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him. He fell on his face and he begged him.
00:14:16
Speaker
I think there's something powerful about taking your your problems to God in prayer, submitting them to God in prayer, something powerful about that just by itself. But if you take that prayer request to God a certain way,
Faith in God's Power
00:14:32
Speaker
like this leper did, then I think God looks, God notices. There's something about the way he prayed. Notice that he prayed with humility. It says he fell on his face. He fell on his face. He didn't pray with pride.
00:14:47
Speaker
heed He fell on his face and prayed with humility. He also prayed with intensity, didn't it didn't he? It says he begged him. He begged him. If you were to go over to later in Luke to chapter 22, verses 39 to 46, you would see that Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane. And so Jesus himself, being the son of God, yes, but also being the son of man, yes.
00:15:15
Speaker
altogether, 100% God, 100% man, Jesus still prayed. And so he prays to the Father in Luke 22 verses 39 to 22. But what do I find interesting and striking with the comparing of Jesus' prayer and the leper's prayer is that they both prayed the same way. You see, Jesus prayed with humility. It says that he fell on his face before the Father.
00:15:43
Speaker
Jesus also prayed not only with by kneeling down, but he also prayed with intensity. It says in Luke 22 44 that he prayed more earnestly, more earnestly. As a matter of fact, he prayed with such passion. Do you remember what it said happened out of the pores of his skin?
00:16:03
Speaker
Great drops of blood began to seep out. And so I used to think, well, is that just something in the Bible? Was that just a ah miracle that happened in Jesus' life? And then I was at a conference and I heard someone saying that they had actually learned that there's a medical condition called hematidrosis, where sweat actually comes through the pores of the skin.
00:16:27
Speaker
And it only happens when in you whenever you're under duress, whenever there's something tremendously painful. And the the man shared at the conference that there was a young kid who was in a swimming pool, and his parents were watching him, but for one one little minute, they took their their their attention away, and then they said, where is he? And then they saw him. He was on the bottom of the pool, and it was too late. He had passed away, but the doctors found it interesting that the kid was under such duress that great drops of blood were coming out of his skin because he was so stressed that he didn't know what to do. Wow.
00:17:08
Speaker
You'll ever see serious. Perhaps what's going on in your life is serious. It's a serious problem. You know, the World Health Organization estimates that there are 208,000 lepers worldwide. The CDC estimates it's higher, 250,000.
00:17:26
Speaker
worldwide, living in 2,000 leprosy colonies. In the United States, maybe we think, well, I'm glad we don't have that here. Well, actually, it is here. In the United States, there are about 100 diagnosed with leprosy each year, according to the World Health Organization. But once again, the CDC says, no, it's much higher. It's 225 cases of leprosy every single year.
00:17:51
Speaker
Some Bible scholars have said, is there something deeper? Is there something metaphorical that can we can learn from this passage? And so certainly, some have seen that in there. Some say, you know isn't it interesting that if you were to compare leprosy and sin, habitual sin, where we don't get rid of it, it just stays, then leprosy is deeper than the skin. Have you ever talked about how sin is deeper than skin? It doesn't matter our skin color. It doesn't matter our race. We have a sin problem on this planet, not a skin and problem on this planet.
00:18:30
Speaker
And so I thought to myself, wow, Lord, there is something there. So I dug a little bit deeper and I thought, you know, also leprosy spreads. Why else would the Lord tell people don't be around those who have leprosy? It's sort of like He said, leaven can spread. Sin can spread. And so I thought, wow, there's another reason why we should take our problems to the Lord in prayer.
00:18:55
Speaker
especially if it's somehow related to sin, but also sin defiles and sin isolates. Why did the Lord tell them I want them to stay away from those who are healthy? Because there was a problem.
00:19:09
Speaker
It could, it could spread. And so they had to live in isolation. But I want to go to the third thing in our text because I ah do think this one is very, very important. How will you transmit your prayer to God when you say it to tim him, when you actually verbalize it, or maybe you'd say, I don't even know what to say.
00:19:28
Speaker
But what do you believe? What is in your heart whenever you're going to him in prayer? Well, I believe that our prayer should be transmitted with a possibility for God. Yeah, I can't solve this problem, but he can. I don't know if he's gonna solve this problem, but I know he can solve this problem. Is that the way you transmit? Is that the way you verbalize? Is that the way you bring your heart to God in prayer? Or have you already given up? You say, I don't think i don't think that's that's going to happen. There's a Bible scholar named Chuck Swindoll who says that grammatically, the way that this leper phrased his prayer is what they call a third class conditional clause. In other words, when he says his prayer to God, we're going to read it in a second, but when he says his prayer to God, he is not presuming
00:20:25
Speaker
Upon god's willingness, but you know what he is He's convinced of god's ability. He is absolutely convinced. I know that he can help me Let's listen to what he says at the end of verse 12. He says lord. That's a great way to start a prayer lord If you will see he doesn't know for sure. He said lord if you will you can make me clean." He doesn't know for sure what God's will is, but he's so convinced. I know. I know that you have the power and the ability to do it. So I thought to myself, wow, you know, why do we pray anyway? Why do we pray anyway? Well, I think that we pray because we bump up against our inability
00:21:15
Speaker
If you have inability in your life, don't resist that. You're to say, this may be a platform that God's going to give me. And so don't resist the inability because it could be a platform that God is entrusting to you to demonstrate His glory, to demonstrate His power, to demonstrate His love.
00:21:37
Speaker
You see,
Problems as Platforms for God's Work
00:21:38
Speaker
prayer was a high priority for Jesus. And so we're going to look at that in a little bit a little bit later. But I just wanted you to know that when he prays, he doesn't know which way it's going to go. As a matter of fact, his prayer was so brief, it was just nine words long, right? It was only nine words. When he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. I'm a Tennessee boy. We count on fingers and toes. And I've done that several times. I'm pretty sure there's nine words there.
00:22:08
Speaker
But you know, I wonder if that should comfort you, because maybe you say, I don't know a bunch of fancy things to say to God in prayer to change things. He's not looking for fancy. He's looking for genuine, authentic, where you're praying for your heart. And you say, Lord, this is what's going on in my heart. I think that when you transmit to God,
00:22:30
Speaker
I believe that you can do it. I don't know that you will do it, but I believe that you can do it. I believe that it's very attractive to the Lord, God the Almighty. You see, he's attracted by two things, surrender. That's one thing. And he's also attracted by faith. That's the second thing.
00:22:47
Speaker
When the leper says to God, Lord, if you will, that's surrender. I don't know. I don't know what your will is. All I know is I'm surrendered to your ah will, whatever it is. But then he says, also, you can make me clean. So he's not only offering God his prayer with surrender, he's offering his prayer with faith.
00:23:12
Speaker
and confidence. He knows that God can, and so that's how he goes to the Lord. I don't know if you've ever hung out in the book of Job, but maybe if you think that your problems are really bad, really sort of unbearable, then you should go to the book of Job sometime, because Job lost all of his livestock. Job lost all of his children. Job lost his health. And so if you have any of those things, then you're not quite where Job was.
00:23:41
Speaker
But one of the things that Job says in chapter 42, verse two, shows us this incredible balance, an incredible balance. Listen to what it says in Job 42, too. This is Job, when all the dust settles. Here's what he says. I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. And I thought, wow,
00:24:09
Speaker
So I know that you can do all things. There's God's power. But then he starts talking about God's purpose, God's will, God's plan. And so what a perfect balance that he has. And then I thought about others in scripture that were told that God can do the impossible. For example, a member of Gabriel talked to Mary and said in Luke 137, nothing for nothing will be impossible with God.
00:24:37
Speaker
think, wow, thank you, Lord, for recording that in Scripture for us. But Jesus said to his disciples a little later, with man, this is impossible. But with God, hey, all things are possible. You see the difference? You see the balance? You see what I'm saying?
00:24:54
Speaker
So your prayer should be verbalized, transmitted, offered up to God with saying, you know what, I don't know. I don't know what you'll choose to do and answer to my prayer, but i I believe with all my heart that you have authority, you have power, and you can do this. So let's move to a fourth thing.
00:25:14
Speaker
The possibility for him get this is a platform outfitted for you. The possibility for him is a platform outfitted for you.
00:25:27
Speaker
What would happen if you and I began to view all of our problems as a platform? And we said, you know what? Maybe God's allowed this in my life for a reason. And there's something that God is going to display who he is through this platform that's in my life. And so just think about this man who's struggling with leprosy.
00:25:50
Speaker
and how it says here in this passage, let's read it, verses 13 and 14. Jesus stretched out, his hand touched him saying, I will be clean. And he immediately, the leprosy left him and he charged him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded for a proof to them.
00:26:15
Speaker
But now even more the report about him went abroad and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities." I got to thinking about, wow, isn't that interesting that the miracle that God performed in his life began to be viewed by other people who were in that whole area and beyond. It said, great crowds.
00:26:40
Speaker
you know, gathered to hear him when they heard about how he could do something like that. What if you approached that in your life? What if you were saying, Lord, please help me in my life so that my life could be sort of like a trumpet of yours, that you would put to your mouth and say, listen world, listen to the United States, listen family, this is what God can do.
00:27:04
Speaker
Man, I believe it'd be an incredible thing. But when I looked at this passage carefully, I thought, well, you know what? He might want to display his welcome because it says he stretched out his hand and he touched him. You do remember you weren't supposed to be near the lepers, right? You weren't supposed to touch lepers for sure, correct? Wow.
00:27:28
Speaker
You know, ah there were frequent times in scripture whenever Jesus would heal with a touch, like in Luke 4.40, various kinds of illnesses were healed as he would place his hand upon them. Luke 7.14, there's a widow, she's grieving, her her only son has passed away, she had already lost her husband, and she is the end of her world. And she's walking with the casket on the way to the the cemetery, and says Jesus touched the casket.
00:27:57
Speaker
And man, everything changed from that moment on. There was a woman with a disabling spirit in Luke 13, 13. There was a man that Peter, whenever they came to arrest Jesus, Peter took things in his own hands and he cut the ear off of a guy. I used to think, you know, he was aiming for the throat and he missed. And one of my, one of my outfitter friends in in Alberta told me, he said, no, you don't watch enough martial arts stuff, do you? I said, I guess not. I said, he didn't miss him. He said, no, he said, it was a warning. He said, I'll just sever his ear, take another step, buddy, and your head's off, you know? And I'm like, okay, I don't know about that. But all I know is he could display his welcome.
00:28:42
Speaker
by reaching out his hand. He could also display his will. Remember what he says to the leper? He said, you know what, I will. He could display his cleansing, his washing. He says, be clean. He could display his word. It says, as Moses commanded. He could display his witness because he says, I want you to go and report this to the priest for a proof to them. And so I thought, wow, that's incredible.
00:29:08
Speaker
But he could also display his work. And so that's why this guy, he goes out and he was told, don't tell anybody, but he just went out and told people. He couldn't stop. And I thought, wow, maybe I'd be the same way if it was me, right? But, you know, I thought to myself, wow, you know, it's amazing that this guy just went out and just overflowed. Do we do that with how good God's been in our lives? Man.
00:29:36
Speaker
But what about if it's all a platform that God has entrusted to you?
Making Prayer a Daily Priority
00:29:41
Speaker
I wanna encourage you to read a book. I brought it with me today. It's an old book by Thomas D. Ellith called Praying for Others. And that's the very first time that I'd ever read, I was a college student at Union University and I remember reading that book and he said that whenever God gives a problem, it's a platform. And the platform is meant for him to work.
00:30:05
Speaker
Well, let's go to the fifth and final thing, and that that is platforms for his glory are benefited by a certain priority for us. That's kind of a long way of saying one thing. Okay, you you wanted to pray about the leprosy. You wanted to pray about the leprosy, and now you've been healed from the leprosy. So now do you ever pray again? Do you pray every day? What is it that God has done in your life?
00:30:33
Speaker
Sometimes we pray so intently for something that we want so badly, so deeply. And yet we're not praying for so many other things that are going on all around us, but not Jesus. No, he's a great example because he made prayer this priority in his life. And so all of those inabilities that we talked about, they are simply leading you to the one who has the ability.
00:30:59
Speaker
Notice the promise of prayer time for Jesus. It says, but he would withdraw. it's It's this present tense. So what it means is he would often withdraw. He would often withdraw.
00:31:14
Speaker
The Greek word there for withdraw or to take leave of them to slip away is hupo koreo. Hupo means under. Koreo means to have a place. So today I think we'd say he just stayed under the radar. He didn't want to make a big deal about praying. He just said, you know what?
00:31:34
Speaker
I'm just going to slip away and they won't even know that I'm gone. But it was because prayer was a priority in his life. Is is prayer just receiving the leftovers and the scraps of your life? I mean, I think about all that God has done for me, think about all that God has done for you. And so it makes me wonder,
00:31:56
Speaker
is Isn't he worth more than giving him the leftover? If I got time today, Lord, I'll say a prayer. I think that God ought to have priority. He ought to be the the most important thing.
00:32:09
Speaker
I've told this to you many times, but I'm told that when one of the guys was president, that he called Billy Graham, and he said, hey, I need to speak to Mr. Graham. He said, he cannot be disturbed. He said, he cannot be disturbed. Would you tell Mr. Graham politely that this is the president of the United States? And he said, I don't have to go and ask him. He said, why is that? He said, because he told me even if the president of the United States calls,
00:32:37
Speaker
I'm not to be disturbed. So he said, okay, well, when he finishes with that important video, would you please tell him to give me a call back? Is that how important prayer is for you? Why don't we just kind of go from one crisis to another? We ought to say, Lord, I want to pray every day, but notice the privacy of his prayer time. We noticed that in Luke 4, 42 already, but it says he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. Yeah.
00:33:07
Speaker
I always thought it was interesting how sometimes we might pray, let's say on Sundays when we gather, is that the only day you pray? Acts 542 says, and every day, Acts 542, and every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. Isn't that something? Every day. I
Call to Faith and Prayer Life
00:33:32
Speaker
think we ought to be praying every day, not just on certain days.
00:33:37
Speaker
You know, Jesus healed others of leprosy, such as the 10 lepers that he cleansed in Luke 17, 11 through 19. Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving? This is oftentimes one of the key Thanksgiving texts. I don't think this is where we'll be this year. I think the Lord's laid it on my heart already in my personal quiet time. But in Luke 17 verses 11 through 19, if you look at that really carefully, you'll think, where have I seen that same sequence?
00:34:07
Speaker
10 men have the problem of leprosy. That problem was permitted to enter their lives. So what they did, they brought the problem of leprosy to the Lord in prayer. And they said, Lord, I offer it up to you. Hear Jesus, we can heal ourselves of leprosy. But when they went to him, they were convinced that it was possible. It was a possibility for him. It wasn't a possibility for them.
00:34:34
Speaker
But then they were entrusted with a miraculous platform, right? Because he healed them of leprosy and said, go and tell the priest what has happened. So they went to go tell the priest. But one old boy says, you know what? I don't mind telling the priest.
00:34:52
Speaker
But I'm going back and I'm going to tell him how grateful I am for everything he's done for me. And so that one leper goes back and says, God, thank you. Thank you. Does gratitude dominate your attitude? It should as a believer in Christ.
00:35:13
Speaker
You know, it's just unfortunate that only one out of the 10 made prayers of Thanksgiving a priority in his life. But what about you? What about me? Are we going to the Lord and saying thank you? Will you give thanks to God this Thanksgiving? Or will you kind of be like many others and say, well, I'm thankful for, but you won't say, I thank the Lord for.
00:35:39
Speaker
So where are you in the practice of knocking? Knocking on the door of prayer. Are you discouraged and frustrated over a problem? Are you trying to open the door in the flesh, or are you going to the Father saying, Lord, we need you to open this door? Are you convinced of the Lord's ability? Are you viewing His prayer, whatever it is, His answer, whatever it is, whether it's a yes or whether it's a no, as a platform entrusted to you? Are you giving up on prayer, or are you growing in prayer? I encourage you to grow, keep growing.
00:36:18
Speaker
in prayer? Why don't we go to the Lord in prayer? Would you stand with me? I want to give people an opportunity to say the most important prayer of all. Someone here today might not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. So I'm going to be waiting down front here. And if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you've never asked him to forgive you of your sins, that's a great place to start. It's a great place to say, Lord, I've had so many problems in my life, but you know what he can do? He can cleanse those problems.
00:36:48
Speaker
He can wash them away if you'll simply go to Him. So I'll be waiting down front and we can pray about that together. But let's go to the Father in prayer. Lord, thank You so much for speaking to us about the priority of prayer, speaking to us about how to pray, when to pray, and to whom we pray, all of those things.
00:37:07
Speaker
And I'm just so glad that whatever everyone in this room is facing, you're capable of helping with that. Whether you say yes or whether you say no, that's not the main thing. The main thing is you're gonna work through our lives, through that. And so Lord, help us keep our eyes on you, keep our focus on you. We pray these things in Jesus' name and ask especially for those who don't know Christ today. In Jesus' name, amen.
00:37:39
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.