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Power of Persistent Prayer - Blueprint Series
47 Plays7 months ago
In this sermon, Ridley Barron preached about the power of persistent prayer and its transformative impact on the individual and the church. He emphasized God's role as a provider and highlighted the significance of both personal and corporate prayer in bringing about revival. Barron delved into Acts 12, illustrating Peter's miraculous escape from prison and the fervent prayers of the church. Through powerful biblical references and personal anecdotes, he encouraged a relentless and confident approach to prayer, underlining the importance of aligning one's heart with God's will. The sermon challenges listeners to re-evaluate their prayer lives, seek deeper connections with God, and boldly confront the world's wrongs through persistent and Scripture-based prayers.
Timestamps:
00:00 Many Christians struggle with consistent prayer life.
03:16 Urging to prioritize prayer in times of need.
07:45 Prayer: Align heart with God's will for blessings.
10:26 Align hearts with God's will for rewards.
14:53 God's love compared to an unjust judge.
16:45 Have confidence in God's care and love.
21:31 Peter prayed, faced danger, slept peacefully.
25:14 God's power solves problems, align your heart.
26:56 Soldiers look for Peter, Herod orders execution.
30:16 Refocus prayers, seek God's will, trust provisions.
35:42 Prayer's impact and responsibility for church's success.
39:05 Prayer is powerful; you have the authority.
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Transcript
Introduction to Prayer and Evangelization
00:00:00
Speaker
Andrew Lloyd moore Murray, South African pastor once wrote, the man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history.
God's Greater Plans for the Church
00:00:12
Speaker
Guys, I believe God wants to do something in our church that he has yet to do. I believe he still has many things ahead for us that this congregation is just getting started and the very best is yet to come. like I really do mean that when I say that over and over again to the point where you get tired of hearing it. But I believe there is much more God wants us to do.
Historical Role of Corporate Prayer
00:00:31
Speaker
And if you look at the history of the church and the history of the world, every major awakening of Christianity in the world began through intense, persistent,
00:00:42
Speaker
corporate prayer. Now I want to want to highlight that last word corporate because all of us want to talk about our personal prayer life. That's important. It's a critical thing. it's ah It's a part of revival. When we talk about revival, revival begins in the heart of an individual. It doesn't start as a movement out here. It starts as a movement in here. But the movement in here extends out there as we come together corporately as a family of God and we continue to pray for revival. It happens because we are corporate people, a body of believers who are brought together. And we believe that God wants to do something in us.
The Transformative Power of Prayer
00:01:16
Speaker
Samuel Chadwick, a Methodist pastor wrote these words, man, they are they're challenging. It says, the one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from prayer.
00:01:26
Speaker
Our enemy fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil and he mocks our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray. Prayer turns ordinary mortals into men of power. When I read that, my first thought was, you walk into your prayer closet like Clark Kent, you come out like Superman, right? Think about that. The the access that we have to the Spirit of God that indwells us, but he keeps on, he goes, it brings fire, it brings rain, it brings life, it brings God. There is no power like that of prevailing prayer.
Evaluating Personal Prayer Life
00:02:09
Speaker
So here's a question I want you to ask yourself this morning. What is your prayer life like? What is your prayer life like? DA Carson says if you want to embarrass the average Christian, ask them about their prayer life. In fact, in his book, he was referencing a study that had taken place in recent years in a survey at an evangelical seminary where he was specifically talking to people who had committed themselves to missions. They were future missionaries and less than 6% of them had a regular day, prayer time, a day with God. 6%.
00:02:47
Speaker
If you were here last week, I asked you a question, and I'm gonna be honest and tell you, I think some of us, many of us might have been as honest with ourselves in the answer. I asked you, do you really believe in the power of God to change things? Do you really believe that your prayer, when it accesses that power of God, has the ability to affect our lives and the future of lives of other people? Do you really believe that? And every single one of you in three different services said adamantly, yes, we believe in the power of prayer. But my question is, if we really believe that, then why isn't it our first step when we run into problems instead of our last resort?
Prayer as a First Response
00:03:24
Speaker
Why is it that when we call people to pray, we have less than 1% of our congregation that comes and gathers and prays with us? Why is it that we read more self-help books than we do seeking the help of the Savior who died for us? Why is it that prayer is such a foreign thing to us? I want to call on somebody to pray right now. I don't, I just said that. Because some of you clench immediately. Because you're going, oh God help me, don't let him call on me. And you know what just happened? You prayed. You prayed. And that's all it took. Was just me to suggest that you needed to pray. You prayed that I wouldn't ask you to pray.
00:04:10
Speaker
And sadly, that's the mentality of many of us as we approach this privilege that we've been given to access the throne room of God and to be in the presence of God. Let me ask you this question. What if God had more in store for our schools, for our churches, for our communities, for our families than we have access to just because we don't ask?
00:04:36
Speaker
just because we don't take the time or just because we don't have the confidence. Some of you are skeptical about prayer. Let's be honest. We we pray prayers and things happen. We pray prayers and things don't happen. We don't pray prayers and things happen anyway. And so many of us, including me at times and seasons of my life, ask that question, okay, how does this prayer thing really work? And the question that scares us a little bit, does it really work? Does prayer really matter? So I wanna start in the book of Luke today. No, we haven't lost the book of Acts. We actually are still in Acts. We're gonna hit three stories today very quickly because I think this is important story for us to attach to what we're doing this morning in the book of Acts. So Luke chapter 11,
00:05:31
Speaker
Let me read this story for
Jesus' Teachings on Prayer
00:05:32
Speaker
you and we'll take apart a little bit. I wanna remind you that Luke and Acts are basically one book written by the same guy. They were originally ah connected to each other in that way. If you wanna kinda put a label on it, Luke is the doctrines of Jesus taught by Jesus. Acts is the practical application of those doctrines as they were carried out by his disciples. So there's this really tight integration of the two books. Jesus teaches. the Apostles Act. So, Luke chapter 11 verse 1, it says, he, Jesus, was praying in a certain place and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples. You see, by this point in their journey with Jesus, the apostles are going, okay, there must be something to this prayer theme because Jesus does it quite frequently. How many of you were in the Luke Bible study we were doing over the summer on Wednesday nights?
00:06:23
Speaker
Remember one of the characteristics of Luke is what? He talks all the time about Jesus praying, constantly pointing out Jesus prayed, Jesus prayed, Jesus went away and prayed, Jesus prayed. If it was that important to Jesus, don't you think it should be important to us? So as apostles said, teach us to pray. And so Jesus says, whenever you pray, Not if you pray, whenever you pray. So 2,000 years ago, Jesus' expectations for us as his followers was clear. Prayer should be a part of your life. Not a chance, not just when you get desperate, but it should be a regular part of the practice of your faith.
00:07:01
Speaker
Father, your name be honored as holy, your kingdom come. I would encourage you today, this week, go home and read the Lord's Prayer in a lot of different translations. Because some of us get so familiar with it, we rattle it right through and we don't even think about the works. When I played high school football every Friday night before the game, we would get on our knees, take our helmets off, we would pray the Lord's Prayer in 2.8 seconds. Boom, get to the amen, we're out on the field and not one of us thought about what we had said.
00:07:31
Speaker
So read it from a different translation. Some of you are hearing it differently today. But here's the key to prayer. This is a significant thing for us as followers. Jesus says, your kingdom come. If you go back to the Matthew recounting of that prayer, it goes on to say, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Not my desires, that's not the priority of prayer. The priority of prayer isn't, God, how can you rearrange your will to meet mine? The priority of prayer is, how do I align my heart with where you want to be? Now, here's the irony of all this. This is the amazing part of it. The more you align your heart with God, the more you get what you really were seeking to begin with. You're praying for peace, no better place to find peace than aligning your heart with the heart of the Father.
00:08:21
Speaker
You're praying for removal of your anxieties? Put prayer in line with the father. Get your heart lined up with where he wants you to be. Anxieties are removed. So he says, kingdom let your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. And do not bring us into temptation. And then Jesus in the next breath turns into this really strange story about some really annoying neighbors. Listen to this. He also said to them, suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, friend, lend me three loaves of bread because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I don't have anything to offer him. Then he will answer from inside and say, don't bother me. The door is already locked and my children and I have gone to bed. I can't get up to give you anything.
00:09:11
Speaker
I tell you, even though he won't get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend's shameless boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
Praying with Shameless Boldness
00:09:23
Speaker
Because of his what? Shameless boldness. Does that characterize your prayer life? Because I would venture for most of us, it doesn't. Most of us approach God as if we need to stand at a distance because we're afraid he might smack us when we say amen. or or we're very scared that what I pray may not be the right things to pray and somehow he's gonna be disappointed. How many of you have ever prayed, and I'm already raising my hand, Lord, if it's your will, why do we pray that? Because we need to give God an out just in case he doesn't do what we ask. you know This is the conditional clause in our prayer, Lord, if it's your will. And God goes, you already know what my will is, it's already been given to you.
00:10:10
Speaker
So pray with confidence, with boldness my will and watch it unfold. Watch it unfold. Now be very careful. The problem here isn't that we don't want to pray his will. The problem is we don't know his will because we don't know this book. And so it's easy for us to confuse our desires with his will. But once we align our hearts with His will, we're in a better place. Look at verse nine, it says, so I say to you, asking it will be given to you, seeking you will find, not and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
00:10:50
Speaker
In the original Greek, if you were to translate that out for us, these words are ongoing practices. Instead of saying, ask in and you will um receive and seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open, it would say, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking and don't give up. Do not grow weary in your praying. You see, this neighbor receives his bread because he's annoying. because he's persistent, because he's consistent. That's sometimes how prayer works. But if you're like me, you often ask this question repeatedly, if God wants to give us his spirit, if God wants to be the provider of our needs, if God wants to be the shepherd who guides us, then why doesn't he give it the first time?
Building a Relationship with God through Prayer
00:11:41
Speaker
Why do we have to pray consistently, repeatedly, over and over again for certain things? The best way I can define it for you is to say, I don't know. But here's my theory. I have four kids, used to play this little game with them. They hated it, drove them crazy. I loved it. They would come to me and they would say, dad, I need so and so. And I would go, okay, explain to me the word need. Define for me need. Well, they would take the time to do the need part and then I would go, okay, why do you feel that you need this? And by this point, many of them are going, forget it. I'll just go take care of it myself. Or it took them into a deeper conversation. And as we would get into that deeper conversation, dad with his child, a lot of things would happen. Sometimes, sometimes they would go, you know what? I really don't think I need that. Cool, mission accomplished, right? Sometimes they would go,
00:12:38
Speaker
Dad, here's why I need it, and I've really thought about this, and here's why I need that. And for as over with, I was handing them the keys to the car so they could do what they needed to. I was giving them the money to go buy what they needed. I was providing for them the need that they had now expressed to me. And sometimes, sometimes, they would find out that they had a need, but the need wouldn't be met by what they came to request. Instead, it was something else that they really needed, and we would come to that resolution together. But regardless of what happened, our relationship went deeper because now I'm having conversations with my kids, and they're searching their hearts about who they are, and maybe even asking, do I really love this man? But along the way, relationship was developed. But that wouldn't happen if they walked in and said, dad, I need $20 for a new pair of whatever, sure. Dad, I need to borrow the car. Here, let me just give you one.
00:13:35
Speaker
Hey dad, I really need new new shoes for this this sport I'm gonna be playing. Hey, absolutely, you can have it. If I never challenged them, if I never called them into a deeper conversation about it, they'd be spoiled rotten. They would never grow and neither would our relationship. And I think that's why God says, keep on coming back to me. Keep on coming back to me. Because I don't want just a one-off conversation. I want a deep relationship with every one of my children.
00:14:03
Speaker
It's clearly what Jesus is teaching here. So much so, he decides I'm gonna teach it again later in Luke 18. Why? Because it's counterintuitive, this idea that we have to keep coming back to him. So he tells a different story. It's a story that Anthony read for us just a minute ago in Luke 18. This time it's a unjust judge and a worrisome woman, okay? And this judge doesn't wanna listen, but the woman keeps on coming with persistence over and over and over and over again. It says at the very end, he relents and he says, I'm not doing this because I love God and I'm not doing this because I even respect people. I'm doing this to get that lady out of my hair. Now, don't confuse the story.
00:14:47
Speaker
Luke isn't trying to, Jesus isn't trying to compare God to an unjust judge. He's contrasting God to an unjust judge. He's saying if an unjust judge would do this because of a a woman who's just irritating his last nerve, then how much more would a God who loved you and created you give to you what you need? How much more with that kind of guy? Listen, God says to many of us many times, you don't think I wanna take care of you? Can I remind you, I died for you? And if I already done the greatest thing possible for you, then why in the world would ah I wanna do something little for you? Why would you doubt, why would you doubt that I love you this much?
00:15:41
Speaker
Again, I think it's because we don't understand God's real heart for us and instead we confuse God's kingdom with our kingdom And so if God doesn't work the way we thought he should then instantly God must not love us I'm sure there were times my kids walked away from those conversations going does this old man really love me? But eventually hopefully They came around to see that what I was doing was in guiding them to a better decision for themselves or a better scenario for their situation or better resolution for their problem. The widow came as a stranger, but she actually had the boldness of a child.
00:16:24
Speaker
the confidence of a child to come in. Hebrews chapter 10, it tells us that we can do this, we can do this with assurance. Look at verse 19, it says, therefore brothers and sisters, since we have boldness, there's that word again, to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain that is through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in what? Full assurance of faith. full assurance of faith. If you go back over to the original story, Luke chapter 11 verse 11 says this, what father among you if his son asks for a fish will give him a snake instead of a fish? Once again, if we who are earthly and fallen and broken and even selfish ourselves, if we're gonna take care of our children, how much more would a holy God do what he has to to take care of you and I?
Trusting God to Meet Needs
00:17:23
Speaker
So we have to pray with confidence. You see, my kids are the one group of people I will do anything in the world for and I will do it middle of the night, on a weekend, in the middle of a ball game, whatever it takes, right? For most of you, you don't know this, but on every single night at nine o'clock, my phone goes in into do not disturb mode. Why? Because I love y'all, but not that much. And so at 9.30, if you're texting me, I will respond to you at seven o'clock in the morning when my phone comes back on. There are five exceptions. Lisa, Morgan, Harrison, Abby, Landon. All five of them have permission to ring through, to buzz through. Why? Because I love those people with my life. And if they need me, I want them to be able to get to me.
00:18:15
Speaker
Y'all, we're talking about God here. He wants to be your provider. He wants you to lean into him when you have needs. He wants you to come to him when you have concerns, but he also has ultimately his glory as the ultimate end of all of it. So what he does with his wisdom is he finds a way to take your need and bring it into alignment with his kingdom. How do I fix this and still bring glory to myself? So, let's jump to Acts chapter 12. Let's get back over here where we've been for the last several months and look at this really cool story. And I'm just gonna warn you, this is a story, man, that could have absolutely, we could be here for a while, just unpacking everything that's in here. So, ah Acts chapter 12, beginning in verse one.
00:19:08
Speaker
It says, about that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church. And he executed James, John's brother, with the sword. I want to tell you a cool side story that I read and do in my research on this thing right here. This is James, the brother of John, the disciples. Remember James and John, the sons of thunder? James is put to death and he is, according to this, executed with a sword. When they said that, typically what that meant was they were beheaded by a sword. But Eusebius, who is a historian from the time, gives this recounting of what happened that day. The Roman soldier who had been locked with James up until the point that he he is beheaded had watched James and his testimony all the way up to the point of his death, how he refused to give up his hope in Jesus Christ and how he held such confidence in his future despite what was about to come that according to Eusebius,
00:20:01
Speaker
The soldier removed his sword, laid it down, confessed Jesus Christ, and was beheaded alongside of him. Let that be a reminder of how your testimony and trial can change the future of somebody's life.
00:20:17
Speaker
Verse three, when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter, too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. That's a great reminder that politicians today aren't any different than they were 2,000 years ago. Right? Let's take a survey. What's the popular thing? That's what I'll do. It suddenly is now my values and convictions. That's how politicians 20 years ago go on record and say, I don't support this. And then 20 years later, I'm fully in support of this. Why? Because opinions change. And just like that, their values change. This guy goes, hey, James being killed was such a popular thing, let's let's throw one more on the pile. And so he goes out and he grabs Peter and he arrests him right in the middle of the Festival of Unleavened Bread. It says, after the arrest, he put him in prison and decided four squads of four soldiers. You better believe he did because Herod's already heard the stories. Peter keeps slipping out of prison somehow. We got to figure out how to keep this guy locked up.
00:21:11
Speaker
says that they were intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover, so Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.
Faith and Trust in Imminent Danger
00:21:21
Speaker
That word fervently is a Greek word that actually gives the idea of a muscle that's extended as far as it possibly can, that's being stretched as far as it possibly can. In other words, these were people who were praying with every ounce of their faith that God would intervene on what Peter's life was gonna, what the course of his life was gonna be. Verse six, it says, when Hera was about to bring him out for trial that very night, Peter bound up with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.
00:21:53
Speaker
In this room, I don't have a clue what many of you face. I don't know what trials or struggles you have. I don't know what anxieties kept you awake this week. I don't know what fears you you feel are looming over you right now, but I'm pretty sure that not one of you, not one of you, has the imminent danger that tomorrow you will be beheaded. Peter did, and the Bible says he slept peacefully. Think about that. Why? Because Peter knew God has already won. We sang that promise just a minute ago, but do you really believe that? Because if you really believe that, then take your anxieties and set them in front of Jesus and say, I'm gonna walk away now, you got this. Let me quote a passage of scripture for you. You've heard me say it many times before. Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Do you know who wrote that? Peter.
00:22:53
Speaker
Peter, the guy who slept while the guards were sharpening their swords. The guy who slept while he was chained up between four prisoners, who i mean guards who wanted to see him put to death. You see, while the world is watching for his death, Peter's sleeping knowing he will eventually be glorified to stand before the father. That should change our outlook, guys. That should change our outlook. Our salvation isn't found in who wins the next election. Our salvation isn't found in the promotion at work. Our salvation isn't found in the circle of friends we have. Our salvation has found in the completed work of what Jesus has already done. And when we pray prayers about our fear and our doubt and our discouragement and our anxiety, we lay them at his feet and walk away. And walk away with the confidence that he's already won.
00:23:54
Speaker
You keep reading. It says, suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, quick, get up, and the chains fell off his wrist. Get dressed, the angel told him, and put on your sandals, and he did. Wrap your cloak around you, he told him, and follow me. So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what the angel did was really happening. But he thought he was seeing a vision. After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him. Did you hear that?
00:24:32
Speaker
Before Peter even knew he was gonna get to the iron gate, God had already provided the answer for the iron gate. I got word for you, i got I got a promise for you. You don't even know what's coming to you tomorrow, God already does. You don't even know what challenge you're gonna face this week. God's already got the answer before you even ask the question. you You're sitting here today and you're going, man, i've got the my life I got it under control and God's going, no you don't, you don't see the iron gate that's coming. You don't see that iron gate that stands between you and my glory, but I promise you, if you will trust me, I've already got it open for you. The Greek word there is the word automated. Have you ever thought about that? If you trust in a God who's so big, so powerful, so incredibly strong that he spoke the universe into existence, then hear this. He's already automated the answers to every one of your problems.
00:25:30
Speaker
The answers are there, you just gotta align your heart with where he wants you to be.
00:25:39
Speaker
When Peter came to himself, he said, now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.
Power of Fervent Prayer for Others
00:25:47
Speaker
As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was called Mark, where many had assembled and were praying. He knocked at the door of the outer gate and a servant named Rhoda came to answer. This is the only time Rhoda is mentioned in the Bible and this is her claim to fame. Right here, you ready? She recognized Peter's voice and forgot all about him. She literally walks away and forgets that Peter's standing at the door. We'll not forget. She just goes, oh, ah I don't have time to answer this. I gotta go tell everybody who's outside. So she goes and she tells them and they say, you're out of your mind.
00:26:21
Speaker
But she kept insisting that it was true and they said, well, it's gotta be his angel. Peter, however, kept on knocking. Kept on, you heard that phrase before somewhere? He kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. Motioning them with his hand to be silent, he described them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. Tell these things to James and the brothers. This James is not the other James. Obviously, he's been beheaded. This James is the brother of Jesus, who's now the head of the Jerusalem church.
00:26:53
Speaker
Tell these things to James and the others, he said, and left and went to another place. At daylight there was a great commotion, I imagine there was, among the soldiers, as to what had become of Peter. After Herod had searched and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and ordered their execution. Then Herod went down from juahth Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. I gotta imagine somewhere along the way, as he's riding in his chariot from from Judea to Caesarea, he's going, what does it take to keep this guy in a prison? What do I gotta do to keep this guy down? Well, I wanna talk to you a little bit about what we see in this story regarding prayer very quickly. um Notice that the church prayed about what caused them fear.
00:27:36
Speaker
They didn't sit around and wring their hands, and there's no indication that they sat around trying to figure out what some strategy to rescue Peter. How do we get him out? They didn't try to figure it out on their own. It says that they went to the Father consistently with prayer. Eugene Peterson in his book, Answering God, How to Pray the Psalms, talks about two kinds of prayer. One of them is evening prayer. Evening prayer. What is that? That's praying your worries to God. It's literally saying, okay God, here's what I'll face tomorrow, this week, next month. I'm giving y'all to you, night night. See you end in the morning. But most of us don't have the ability to do that.
00:28:13
Speaker
We will pray that prayer and then we will lay there wide awake going, okay, what do I need to do next? How do I fix this? How do I resolve this? The second prayer is the morning prayer, praying boldly against the things in the world that are not right. This is where we go to warfare, fighting against the things of the devil, the evil around us. If you develop this practice of evening prayer, it will give you incredible peace. If you develop this practice of morning prayer, it will give you incredible purpose. but you need to be in conversations, in dialogue with God. What were these people praying in that room that day? We don't have any record, but I'm pretty sure they were praying, Lord, whatever your will is, whatever your will is, you do it. We just wanna be aligned with it.
00:28:57
Speaker
We just wanna be in line with your mission. Now let me get very practical very very quickly here, some things I want you to think about. Because sometimes we pray this very spiritual stuff. We say some very spiritual things, right? We get that holy look on our face when people talk to us, and we say, prayer doesn't change the situation, it changes me. And that's not true. sure and that's not true at all See, prayer moves the hand that moves the world. it It moves the hand, it moves the world. Read all the way through scripture and you'll see how God moved in response to the people's prayers, how sometimes he would change the way he carried out his plan because people pray. The average Christian's prayers though are filled with cliches and platitudes.
00:29:41
Speaker
cliches and platitudes. You might recognize yourself in a few of these things I'm going to describe here, but here's my goal. My goal isn't to criticize our prayers. My goal is to elevate our prayers. How do we get beyond just saying phrases that we've heard all our life that sounds right? You know, things like, Lord, let this food nourish our bodies and our bodies to thy service. You ever prayed that prayer? Okay, I just do it because I'm the paid professional in my family, I guess. We pray these prayers at family reunions and big gatherings and life groups and things like that. And and we get there, we're going, I just prayed a prayer that I prayed a million times. I need to think about what I prayed. Let's elevate our prayers. Instead, we do things like asking God for things he's already promised us. How many of you ever prayed, God, will you be with me today? God goes, have you read my Bible? I said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
00:30:31
Speaker
And again, not a bad prayer, it's a good place to start, but most of us should have moved on from the milk to the meat by this point when it comes to our prayer life, right? Or how about this, asking God things that aren't supposed to really be the primary focus of the day. God, will you help me with that algebra test? And God goes, well, there's nothing wrong with that prayer except for I gave you a brain, I gave you a study sheet, I gave you a textbook and I gave you a teacher. How about letting that be the answer to your prayer?
00:31:02
Speaker
How about this one? This is the one that convicts me. Lord, would you bless this food today? And God looks at me and goes, you're having a third pound beef hamburger with lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard, and fried onions with french fries on the side. How about trying some broccoli for a change?
00:31:21
Speaker
And then I've heard this prayer ever since I was a kid and and many of you I know pray it. I've heard you pray it myself. If you don't raise your hand, I'm gonna call you out. Lord, will you give us traveling mercies? What the heck are those? God's probably like, put on your seatbelt, drive the seat limit and put down your cell phone and you will have your traveling mercies. Again, there's nothing wrong with any of these prayers, right? They're good prayers, but shouldn't we grow up a little bit as we pray? I mean, do you still talk to your mom and dad the same way you did when you were three years old? Die, die?
00:32:00
Speaker
gi me That was your conversation when you were two or three, but now that you're 33, you got to at least get past the die-die part and start praying something of substance. How about this? Lord, I know your desires that everybody on this planet get to hear your name. Where do you want me? You know why we don't pray prayers like that? Because we're scared he's going to answer.
00:32:26
Speaker
we're scared that he's and he's We're scared he's remove every bit of doubt and he's gonna say to us, Zimbabwe, or your office, or your baseball team. And then we're stuck, because we can't pretend like we didn't hear God. So it's better just not to pray. We'll stay with, can I have traveling mercies today? um
00:32:53
Speaker
Let me encourage you, learn to pray scripture. Praying scripture takes our prayers much deeper, much, much deeper. Expands the things that we know that God has promised us because they're his promises he's given us to in the word. Claim the promises of God. I think we give up way too early, way too early.
Miraculous Outcomes of Persistent Prayer
00:33:18
Speaker
Sometimes you have to keep asking, keep calling out to God.
00:33:23
Speaker
pray like a needy neighbor or an annoying widow. The story here ends with a twist of irony. Let me just very quickly say this. Number one, Peter walks out of a prison right under Herod's nose. That's pretty amazing. The story at the end of the chapter is pretty interesting too because Herod goes and he's ready to give this big speech. And according to extra biblical sources, the day he shows up for the speech, he's wearing this silver outfit that's so shiny that when he steps out into the sun to give the speech, that he's reflecting the sun and he looks very brilliant. So the people are amazed. And it goes on to say that as he gave the speech that day, they said, this man's not talking like a man, he's talking like a God. And Herod very much
00:34:06
Speaker
like a presidential candidate we have right now who has had no humility whatsoever. I hate to talk about him because I know most of you voting for him. But the guy's the most arrogant person probably in the history of politics. He does not give credit to God. He does not call on God. He references God like he's some kind of lucky charm and he gives this speech and when Herod is done, boom. Angel strikes him dead because he wasn't humble. But here's the best part of the story. My favorite part of the story all the way through the book of Acts. It says the word of God increased and multiplied.
Conversion and Miracles through Prayer
00:34:50
Speaker
The moral of the story, don't mess with God's people when they're praying to their father. Don't mess with God's people. You wanna see America change? Don't worry about who you vote for or worry about who you're on your knees before.
00:35:03
Speaker
You wanna see America change? Start consulting with the Father and saying, Father, how do we turn this thing around? What do you need to do in me? What do you need to do in my church? How do we change this because we act more like God's people? Acts chapter one says the church prayed in the upper room for 10 straight days and the Holy Spirit poured out power. Acts chapter four says they prayed again and God filled them with boldness and it turned the city of Jerusalem upside down.
00:35:32
Speaker
Acts chapter five, the church prays again and over 10,000 people come to know Jesus, including some of their harshest critics, like the Jewish priests and a guy by the name of Saul. Acts chapter 12, we just read, it says they pray and God blows open a prison and strikes down Herod with worms. And next week, as we get into Acts 13, you'll see that they pray one more time and a guy by the name of Saul becomes Paul, who becomes the greatest missionary in the history of the church. Don't mess with God's people when they pray to their father. So again, let me ask you this question.
Impact of Prayer on Church and Community
00:36:10
Speaker
What is your prayer life like? But let me make it more personal for you. What if the success of Grove Hill Church depended on the faith, the force, and the frequency of your prayers?
00:36:26
Speaker
What if the history of this church was dependent on you presently right now on your knees before God?
00:36:34
Speaker
What if your neighbor down the street who you've been praying for, what if his salvation was hanging in the balance waiting for you to stop praying, God, will you will you you lead him to you? Will you help him understand you? And instead said, God, will you lead me to him so that I can help lead him to you?
00:36:57
Speaker
Jim Cymbalov, pastor of a large, successful church in Brooklyn, New York, says this, Sunday attendance will tell you how popular the pastor is. Prayer meeting attendance will tell you how popular Jesus is.
00:37:16
Speaker
This needs to be us. This needs to be us. If we believe the battle's already won, then why not go to the one who is victorious? Why not consult the one who has given us all that we need in Christ Jesus to be free? The one who has overcome, 1 John 4 says, greater is he that is in you than the one who is in the world. This needs to be us. Because nothing really replaces a person who is persistent in their prayer. Will you join me as we pray?
00:37:53
Speaker
Father, thank you God that you've already won. Thank you that we can have confidence in that right here, right now.
00:38:06
Speaker
Would you help us to grow in our faith? to be more confident in what you've created us to be, more confident in this relationship that you have desired for us. Would you help us to experience you in ways that we haven't before so that we can grow in our faith that you will be there even in the next season, the next trial, the next struggle?
00:38:31
Speaker
Lord, I pray that you would teach us to pray consistently, persistently, to ask, to seek, to knock, and to keep on doing it. to never give up, never give in, to know that you always remove in response to our prayers.
00:38:51
Speaker
Help us to know that here today with confidence. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen. As we stand to sing in just a second, I wanna point out something to you. There's power in praying together, right?
00:39:09
Speaker
but I want you to hear something from me. You don't have to have your pastor pray with you for prayers to be heard. There's nothing magical about you showing up in my office, sitting on my couch and pray on me. I will pray with you anytime you want me to, but I want you to have confidence that when you need Jesus, you just need to open up your mouth and speak his name. Anytime you wanna call John or Kyle or Lori or any of our deacons or elders, they're happy to pray with you. There is power in numbers. but you do not need to underestimate the power you have within you because the same Holy Spirit in me is the same Holy Spirit that's in you. You have the authority to knock on the door of heaven. You have the authority to ask the Father for your needs. You have the authority to seek His will for your life. Tap into that power. Start today, right now.
00:40:05
Speaker
As we sing, if you want to come to this altar and pray, we invite it, we encourage it. If you need somebody to pray with you, we have people available. But as a church, let's keep on praying.