Skip to content Modeling Prayer Apr 17 · 56 min ...more
Modeling Prayer
April 17, 2024 · 56 min
I want to talk about modeling prayer because I believe prayer is more caught than taught. Nobody better to look at than the person of Jesus.
Series Lifeline: The Power of Prayer April 17, 2024 · 56 min · Lifeline: The Power of Prayer
I want to talk about modeling prayer because I believe prayer is more caught than taught. Nobody better to look at than the person of Jesus. ...more Show the full description Show less I want to talk about modeling prayer because I believe prayer is more caught than taught. Nobody better to look at than the person of Jesus.
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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0:00 Amen. With that, let's go before the Lord and prepare our hearts to hear his living and active word this morning. Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise for who you are and we pray this morning0:09 specifically that you would talk directly to us because Lord, we believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you speak. So our prayer this morning is Lord speak for we are ready to hear0:21 what you have to say. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he says and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you.0:31 Will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. Amen. Today is day 8 of our 21 days of prayer and fasting. Last week, talked about maximized fasting0:43 and how fasting was not just starving ourselves. It was something we do in addition to our prayer life. That to maximize our prayer life, we set aside food so that we can hunger more for God. And I wanna let you know if0:55 you've been participating with us in these last 8 days of these 21 days, I hope your heart has been served more for the Lord, but I wanna let you know something. No matter how deeply you love Jesus, there's more. There's1:06 more that you can have. And the reason I know that is the Bible makes so many promises when it comes to prayer. The Bible says, call to me, and I will answer you and show you great and unsearchable things that you do not1:16 know. The Bible says, if you abide in me and my word abides in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. Look at that.1:29 The bible also says, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened. The bible says, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can ask this mountain to uproot1:40 itself, go throw itself into the sea, it'll be done. And we read those and we ask Christians, do you believe the bible? Yeah. I believe it. Do you believe that? Yeah. It's in the bible. Do you practice that and see that1:49 in your life? No. Not really. And the reason is is that wherever our prayer life is, it's not nearly at the level it can be. And God's given us everything we need for life and godliness. God's laid open a2:01 table, but we have to go and grab it. The Bible says, you do not have because you do not ask. Prayer needs to be primary in all that2:13 we're doing. So as we continue this 21 days of prayer and fasting, I wanna talk to you today about how Jesus Christ modeled prayer. I wanna talk about modeling prayer because I believe prayer is more caught than taught.2:23 Nobody better to look at than the person of Jesus, and I wanna look at a familiar story. It's 1 that's not often preached about, and it's 1 that when we see Jesus in this story, we think, well, that's not really the2:34 Jesus I conjure up. Because for most of us, we think of Jesus as meek and mild. We think of Jesus as just compassionate helper, humble servant, and he is and he was all those things. But Jesus is also2:46 ruling and reigning king. And what we see in Jesus Christ embodied is the God man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And right towards the end of his ministry, he went back into Jerusalem.2:58 And on 1 of those first days that he was back there, that's when the story takes place. I'm gonna be reading from Mark chapter 11. We're gonna look at verses 15 and following, and I just wanna give you a picture of what3:08 was happening in the story. This same story happened in John's gospel at the beginning of his ministry. So right when Jesus started his ministry, he had an encounter just like this, And then at the end of his3:20 ministry, 3 years later, he has this encounter too. Notice what happens when he and his disciples arrive in Jerusalem. Then they came to Jerusalem. This is Mark 11 15. And he entered the3:32 temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves, and he would not permit anyone to carry3:43 merchandise through the temple. And he began to teach and say to them, is it not written? My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of3:55 robbers. Then the chief priests and scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy him for they were afraid of him for the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching. Now4:06 I've seen a lot of precious moment figurines and I've told our guys at men's conferences, if anybody can find 1 of these precious moment figurines, I'd love to have it. Something where Jesus is enraged overturning the4:18 money changers or in John chapter 2, he gets a cord of 3 whips and he's whipping people around. He needs saying, get out of my father's house. My house is to be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you made4:29 it a robber's den. And he wouldn't let anybody carry merchandise through because what was going on is instead of the temple being the place for the presence of God, people had turned it into a marketplace to profit for4:41 themselves. So instead of having people bring their offering to the Lord, they'll say, we'll just make it easier for you. We'll sell your pigeons. We'll we'll sell your offerings. You can just come buy it from us. Sure.4:52 There'll be a little upcharge for you, but that's not a big deal. At least you don't have to think about bringing God a genuine offering, and that's what was going on. And people were using the temple as a thoroughfare5:02 to just cross through the streets. It wasn't being used to honor the Lord anymore. And Jesus at the beginning of his ministry and at the end of his ministry has the same guttural passionate5:14 response. Keep in mind, Jesus Christ is fully God. He never sinned. He never this is not sinning for Jesus. There's nothing he did that sinned. But when he says, my house shall be called a5:26 house of prayer, but you made it a robber's den. It's something we should take serious note of because of the passion and the zeal from which he taught. Even his disciples early in his ministry when they saw this,5:38 they were reminded of the scripture in in Psalm 69 9 that said, zeal for your house will consume me. When they saw Jesus get like this, they're thinking, we've never seen him like this before, but then they thought,5:48 yeah, the Messiah is gonna have zeal for the house of God like that. So today I wanna talk to you about 5 ways that Jesus Christ modeled prayer because his whole life modeled prayer, didn't it? I mean,6:00 very early in the morning when it was still dark, Jesus got up into solitary places and there he prayed. It was his model. Mark 1 35 tells us that, that from very early in the morning, he would get up and he would go6:12 pray. After he did miracles, he would go pray. Before he did miracles, he would go pray. At all times, he was praying. On the night that he was going to be betrayed, when he knew he6:24 was gonna be crucified, he takes his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. What's he doing there? He's praying on the cross. What's he doing? He's praying. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Father,6:36 into your hands, I commit my spirit. He had such an ongoing relationship with his father that he said these words, if you've seen me, you've seen my father for I only do what I see the father6:48 doing. He had such a connection in prayer as the God man that he lived a life of prayer. As a matter of fact, the only thing we see recorded in scriptures that the disciples wanted7:00 to be taught was what? Lord, teach us to pray. And yet so many of us as Christians leave that discipline on the table, and I wanna show you how Jesus7:11 Christ modeled prayer. And the first is this, first out of 5. Jesus modeled how prayer demonstrates a priority for God. Prayer. Don't make make make7:23 no sick make no mistake about it. Prayer demonstrates a priority for God. He began to teach him and say, is it not written? And he quotes Isaiah 56 verse 7. My house shall be7:35 called a house of prayer for all the nations. Isn't this what the scriptures teach? My house should be called a house of prayer. Now the temple was the dwelling place of God. It's where he dwelled in the old testament.7:46 First was in the tabernacle then in the temple. Where does he dwell today? He dwells in the hearts of all those who have repented and placed their faith and trust in Jesus. Those who have, you are a temple of God. You7:58 are the dwelling place of God. He dwells in you. And when that group of people gather together, that's called the church. So what should be primary in the church? I mean, the8:10 scriptures teaches all sorts of things that should be. Second Timothy 4 2 says, preach the word. Preaching should be an element of what takes place in churches, but Jesus did not say, my house should be called the house8:21 of preaching. Scripture should be evident in the church. Give yourself to the public reading of scripture, the Bible teaches. But Jesus did not say my house should be called the house of scripture.8:35 Praise. Praise should take place in the house of the Lord. The Bible says, enter his gates with thanksgiving and enter his courts with praise. The type of worshipers the Lord seeks are those who worship him in spirit and8:46 in truth. Sing to the Lord a new song. Praise and worship should be taking place in the church, but Jesus did not say, my house shall be called the house of praise. Discipleship's important, wouldn't you say?8:58 Jesus told us to go in all the world and make disciples. I mean, disciple making should be a part of what we are doing and what we are being sent to do, but Jesus did not say my my house should be called a house of9:07 discipleship. We're called to take care of the poor. It's the very thing that Paul said he was eager to do, but Jesus did not say that my house shall be called a house of benevolence.9:20 Service, we're called to serve 1 another. Clearly, we are. We're told to engage in the body of Christ, but Jesus did not say, my house shall be called a house of service. But what about love? I mean, love's primary. By9:31 this, all men will know you're my disciples. If you love 1 another even as I have loved you, love should be primary. But he did not say, my house shall be called a house of love. What did he say? He said, my9:42 house shall be called a house of say it with me. Prayer. Say it again. Prayer. My house should be called a house of Prayer. For who? For all the nations. Jesus9:54 said if there's anything that's priority, it's prayer. If there's anything that should be taking place in the church, it's prayer. If there's any ministry that should be going on in the church, it's prayer. It's10:06 primary. It's everything in the church. And if that's not a foundation, it's not the church of God. That's what Jesus said. Those aren't my words. They're those are his. If you have a problem with it,10:18 take it up with him. He said, this is what my house is. It's a house of prayer for who? For all the nations that all people everywhere can connect with my dad. That's why I came.10:30 I wanted people to have direct communication. Prayer is what a church should be known for. We read in acts chapter 2 how the holy spirit fell on the early disciples and begin to10:42 empower them to do all sorts of incredible things. But what we don't read is what was going on before. What was going on before was a prayer meeting that allowed the holy spirit to come. And then they were devote10:52 themselves to the apostle teaching. That's that's the word of God and the fellowship, our relationship with God and how it translates into each other. And the breaking of bread, which is the gospel that Jesus Christ's11:02 body and blood are central to everything and what? And the prayers. Prayer was central to everything. Why do you think we prioritize prayer at Brave? It's been essential from the very beginning11:14 when there was only a handful of people back in Central Illinois that would get together on the carpet and pray that God would bring us a bass player or a drummer or provide a building or provide I mean,11:26 it's always been about prayer. Even when we started first Tuesday, it was me and a handful of people. If you said about 20, 15 to 20, then it got to be 30, then it got to be 35. I11:38 would sometimes play the guitar. Think about that. Because prayer meetings aren't about who's there. It's about the fact that Jesus is present. So think about how we prioritize11:50 prayer at church. We have first Tuesdays 12 times a year. We do 21 days of prayer and fasting to begin the year. We do 21 days of prayer in the fall. We do what we call Taft, Thursday12:02 after first Tuesday. So our staff gathers 12 times a year to seek the face of the Lord from 9 to noon. We have 3 weeks every year as a staff. The week going into Easter, 1 of our busiest weeks. The week going into fall12:14 kickoff, and either the week going into Christmas or the week of New Year's where we spend time as a staff for the entire week from 9 to noon praying and seeking the face of the Lord. We have prayer available to you at12:24 every single service before the service and after. We have people that pray in our church during services. We have people that are learning how to grow in their ability to pray to see more prophecy, healing,12:36 freedom, etcetera. But I started counting it up. I'm like, how many days a year at Brave do we really dedicate, like, specifically that our staff and our church can pray? It's 130 days a year, and we're just getting12:48 started, y'all. You can count on more coming next year. I promise you. Because that's what God wants. Why? Because when we're seeking God, God can tell us what he wants, and it's not about12:59 us. If we did nothing as a church but pray, I promise you we'd have far more impact than 95 percent of churches in our culture. Let me say it again because you don't believe me. I13:11 believe if all we ever did was pray, we'd have more impact than 95 percent of the churches in our culture. Because it's hard to be in the presence of God and not do what God wants.13:23 I heard this earlier this year. I love this quote. I was down at church of the Highlands, and they said the quote, it just stuck with me. Prayer should be our first response, not our last resort. Friends, I'm telling13:35 you this, and I'm passionate about this because I've been on church staffs that don't pray. Now sure all people pray. Atheists pray if they're about ready to get in a car accident. They're like, help. You know? I mean,13:44 they do. Everybody prays to an extent, but I'm saying I'm talking about praying church. I'm saying give time and dedication. I've had people, friends of mine that are pastors that serve on staffs that they gotten in13:54 trouble because they've spent time in their office praying. We're not paying you to do that. I'm paying our pastors to do that. It's the number 1 responsibility that they have. If you can't pray, you can't14:06 serve. If you can't pray, you're of no use to anybody. And yet, what have we relegated church to in our culture? We've made a mockery of what14:17 God desires. Churches that are devoted to prayer are a dime a dozen. There aren't I mean, that are not devoted to prayer. Are dime a dozen. I mean, they're everywhere. There are churches that never pray. They14:29 never pray, but they become entertainment centers. They got some good speakers. They got some good music. They got some good coffee in the lobby. I really feel good when I go there. I'd14:41 kinda like to go back. Friends, that ain't a church. It's not a church. Go somewhere else. Go see the Broncos next year. I mean, go see the14:53 abs and the nuggets. Or we've turned it into social networks. It's a community. I used to have a friend that would before he would say, he was a he was he told me the story. He was a funeral director and he said, we used15:03 to split up. I went to the Methodist church. My brother went to the Lutheran church. My other brother went to Catholic church. When people died, we got all their business. It was a social networking. I wanna go to a15:12 place where I network with the right people so it can benefit me. Don't really want community the way God's designed community. I want community that benefits me. I wanna see what's about me. I'm a consumer for the15:23 church. I'm looking for what suits me. And you can find churches like that. They'll they'll meet all your needs. They just may not give you Jesus. Or what about churches that have become counseling centers or15:35 therapy sessions? Now before I say what I'm about ready to say, I'm all for counseling if it's done correctly and biblically and encouraging, but it should not be a lifetime anchor for you. There can be seasons for15:47 it. And some churches have turned everything into a therapy session like, I know you're all hurting today, and I know you've all had a hard week. Let me tell you how you can make it through another week. That's not what15:56 the church of Jesus Christ is all about. Some have turned it into leadership seminars. We have really educated, skillful people that can give you tools for how you can accelerate in your life. Friends,16:08 the church is not a self help mechanism to help you become a better person. It's not. The bible says about you and me, there is no 1 good, no, not 1. So if you wanna16:20 double that in self help, you're doubly bad at the end of your self help time. It it doesn't work. If you're only coming here to help yourself, you've come for the wrong16:31 reason. The church of Jesus Christ is about Jesus Christ. He's the God of the universe. He's the Lord of all our salvation. We're putting him on display. That's why prayer16:43 must be a priority in the church. These aren't my words. These are Jesus's words. And you can tell where his spirit dwells by how serious the people are about praying and16:55 seeking his face. Now why is that so important? I've had people come to me over the last 13 years and they'll say things to me like this, hey pastor Jeff, hope you stay humble. And I know what they mean, you17:07 know, because I'll look at them, I hope you stay humble too. But I know what they mean. I mean, I I I have friends and I've seen people in ministry that have had ministry that starts going and then because of 1 person,17:19 they blow out the whole thing and hurt a bunch of people and ruin a bunch of things that God was doing. So I understand what you're saying when you say that, but do you know I do not have the ability to stay humble? Do17:29 you know my heart is deceitful above all things and who can understand it? I mean, what kind of responsibility? Like, okay, I'm gonna work on being humble today. I mean, if I came back to you and told you, I think I'm17:37 doing pretty good, I'd be proud. So what can I do? Here's a better question. Hey, Jeff. How's your prayer life? Hey, pastor Jeff. Are you seeking the face of the Lord? Because you17:49 should know like I know when I spend time in the presence of the Lord, you cannot be anything but humble. Right? People I know that have blown up ministries and done some of those things, they lost their prayer life and18:00 their first love long before they lost their church, long before they made bad decisions. May it never be here. May it never be for me. May it never be for you. I mean entertainment18:12 centers, social networks, counseling centers, therapy sessions, leadership seminars, none of these things will turn a center to Christ. All they do is they have a form of godliness and they deny his power. They may not18:22 even talk about Jesus other than at the end of a sermon to say, hey, if you'd to trust Christ, just believe this prayer. But they want nothing to do with God. They want nothing to do with God. Not here, not now, not ever18:32 at brave. May Jesus Christ always be paramount to us. Amen. Prayer demonstrates our priority to God. You know, I18:44 imagine sometimes if you know, you had the privilege of talking to loved ones after they die, you could still communicate with them. You'd take that option. By the way, it doesn't work. Those of you who think you can,18:55 you can't. The Bible makes it clear when you die, you either go to heaven and hell and there's a chasm and you can't cross it and come back. So if you're being talked to, it's not by your relative that deceased. I19:03 promise you that. But I mean, you could, I mean, your great uncle, your uncle, your friend, your aunt, your mom, your dad, your son, your daughter, your niece, your nephew. I mean, somebody that you know personally that19:15 you lost. If you had access today to talk to them and they could talk back, would you take the option? Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose from the dead said there's 1 mediator between God and man. That's the man19:24 Jesus Christ is me. You can talk to God all day long, the 1 that rules and reigns in the universe. And how serious do we take that assignment? How seriously do we take that gift? It's the greatest gift the church has19:35 ever been given. And if anything, we use prayers and afterthought or a last resort rather than our first response. May it never be. Prayer is a priority. It wasn't Jesus's life and if it was for him, how much more should19:46 it be for us? I remember my wife and I, went to, we were in New York City in 2005. We were relatively newly married and we were ministers at the Billy Graham crusade. His last19:58 crusade, we were altar ministers. We got to lead people to Christ and it was great. But 1 of the things that we did with the evangelists that we were with is we got to go to a church for a prayer meeting and the name of20:07 the church was called Brooklyn tabernacle and we'd never been there before. I remember thinking we're going to a prayer meeting. There were about 20 of us and I was picturing in my head, we're gonna walk into a room.20:15 There's gonna be about 50, 60 people all with yellow tablets in their Bible and we're gonna ask the question, does anybody have any prayer requests? And then we're gonna write them down and at the end, somebody with like20:25 2 to 5 minutes left is gonna say, oh, we should probably pray about those. Would somebody like to pray? And then somebody will pray and we'll leave. So I wasn't looking forward to it. And I remember the prayer service20:35 started at 7. I didn't know it was a service. I thought it was just a prayer meeting. Started at 7. We got there at 6 30. There were 3000 people there that were worshiping, singing out, crying out to the Lord so loudly.20:45 I couldn't talk to my wife who was next to me because I couldn't hear. And I thought to myself, what in the world did just we just walk into? And for 2 hours, they read scripture. They prayed. They asked the Lord for20:57 healing and deliverance and freedom. They prayed for missionaries. They prayed for the world. They prayed for everything. When we got done praying in that 2 hours, they had cards like this. They waved them all over. We21:06 were praying for people we didn't know. It was so exciting. We got done. We were young married. We were ready to go out to a dinner with a bunch of friends and we looked at each other and I'm like, I'm whooped. We went21:17 home with the bed. I mean, we fell asleep. We were so worn out from prayer and we said, what was that that we just experienced? And it began to move me and then I read a book called fresh wind to fresh fire. If you've21:27 never read a book on prayer, that should be your first book. Fresh wind, fresh fire by pastor Jim Simba. And he talks about what, how prayer has changed his church and it's been part of my DNA from the beginning. Like if21:38 I ever pastor church, that's what I wanna do and that's why we started first Tuesdays and that's why we give attention to prayer and that's why we wanna grow in prayer because we wanna be a place where people can commune21:48 with God. Yes. You can come to me as your pastor. I'll pray for you and other pastors and elders will pray for you, but did you know that you have full access to the throne of God all by yourself and you can get to know21:58 Jesus? It's for you. So what I want you to have, I want you to have that privilege that Jesus Christ gave to you. And see, here's the problem. If we make church something that Jesus22:10 didn't make it, then we never see the results that we read about it in the New Testament. We read the New Testament. We see salvations, healings, deliverance. We say, well, why why? We never see that. Why?22:22 Because we don't pray. Well, I thought it was because in 70 AD, the apostle said, give me a break. There's nowhere in my bible that says any of this garbage. Jesus is the same yesterday,22:34 today, and forever. Everything he's always done is everything he still does. If you don't see what God's doing, it's because we're prayer less, not because God's changed. Amen?22:49 See, here's what the church is in my understanding. The church is an army of spirit filled soldiers, men and women who have denied themselves in order to fight for the fulfillment of the great commission in our22:59 generation. That's why I'm here. I wanna I wanna see the last person get saved and Jesus come back. I want that in my generation. If not in my generation, I want it my next year. I wanna live as though it can happen in23:10 mine and it can't happen apart from our prayers. Jesus Christ modeled and taught us that prayer demonstrates a priority for God. Rhetorical question, how's your prayer23:21 life? God's first place in my life, how's your prayer life? That's all I ask. Your prayer life is how prioritize Jesus Christ is in your life. Period. End of story. That's it. Number23:33 2, Jesus Christ modeled how prayer develops a passion for God. A passion for God. Notice what he did when he came to Jerusalem, he's overturning money changers, seats of those who were selling doves, which was the23:44 sacrifice. He would not permit anyone to carry anything through. Why is he so passionate? Because he spent time with his dad, and his dad said, this is intolerable, and this is an abomination to me. Don't you ever let23:55 this go on in my house. This is my house. Know how we talk like you see athletes or coaches giving a pregame speech and what do they talk like? This is our house. Nobody comes into our house and I mean, they know how24:07 to do it. Here's what God would say about his church. This is his house. Prayer needs to be primary. And if it is, I promise you, if you seek the Lord, you will develop a passion for the things of God. You will24:19 begin to love what God loves, and you will begin to hate what God hates, and you won't even realize what's going on in your life. If you could rewind my life, if I could rewind my life about 40 years and I would say,24:30 what are you gonna be like? You know, maybe not even 40 years, maybe when I was 20 or something like that. If you said, this is what you're gonna look like, I would have been scared of myself. I didn't like people like24:38 me. But it's interesting that when you spend time with the Lord, you get passionate about what the Lord gets passionate about, and you have a hatred for the things he has a hatred for.24:50 I mean, why is it? Why is it that in our culture, we don't think about God? We can put them on the bench. We can put them on the side. Have you ever considered what God wants, desires, expects, and needs in every25:02 situation in your life? Are you bothered when people don't have the same zeal for Jesus that you do? I mean, people that are lukewarm when they get around a zealous person, they don't like him. It's exactly why the25:13 pharisees wanted to arrest and kill Jesus after this. Cause he was bringing judgment on the way they were doing their abominable religious practices and they hated him for it and religious people still hate people for it25:25 that are spirit filled. I mean, don't you want to see God elevated in our nation? It's prayer. I mean, why is it that we don't start every assembly at every public school and every25:36 assembly and every governing body and every assembly at every sporting event praying in the name of Jesus? Why? Why is that a legal issue? Jesus Christ is Lord. And you NASCAR fans, I25:48 know you may do it, but I'm not talking about a sport that you just take 2000 left turns. Right? I mean, why is it in our culture? This has to be a debate that you can't pray in Jesus' name or you're offending people.25:59 Here's why. Because our culture hates Jesus. They hate him. Lost people hate Jesus. That's why we preach the gospel. God loves all26:10 people. He created all people. He loves you. But if you haven't repented and believed, there is his wrath getting ready to be poured out on you because he hates those who sin. He's angry with the wicked26:22 every single day because he's holy. That's why as a preacher, I preach the holiness of God. I preach righteousness and judgment because hell is real and heaven is real and people go there every single26:34 day. And once you're home, there ain't no coming back. Why do I get so fired up? Because I spent time with Jesus this week. And when you pray, you'll get26:46 passionate about the things that God gets passionate about too. You'll have an intolerance for things God can't stand. I mean, we can make a list. I talk about them all the time. Drunkenness, immorality,26:58 abortion, gender, confusion, not believing the word of God is completely inerrant in every single way. And that's just the culture, let alone what goes on in the church, which is an abominable self help group make you27:09 feel better about yourselves while you're going to hell. That's ridiculous. So if you get fired, I'm mad. I'm not mad. I love you. I'm actually a pretty nice person,27:22 but I get passionate because God's so passionate about you, and he loves you, and he loves your soul, and he wants to spend time with you. And if you seek him, you will realize that the made up God you have in your mind27:33 is not the God of the Bible, and he wants you. Amen? And that's what prayer does. You can't fake that. You can't fake passion. I've watched people on worship teams try to do it over the years.27:45 I've watched pastors try to do it over the you can't fake it. It's not about raising your voice. It's not about lowering your voice. It's not about that. But see, we we've taken away the passion of Jesus and we've taken27:56 away the priority of Jesus and like, yeah, don't really need that anymore. You know what we have? We can dim the lights. That'll do it. We have musical instruments and LED screens. That'll get them. You know, we got we28:07 got all these things. We can turn the temperature up or down. We can get people to feel the way we want them to. That doesn't do anything. Doesn't do anything. Only the God of the bible can do what he says that he can28:18 do. Amen? Let me give you a third thing that Jesus modeled for us and what prayer teaches us is Jesus modeled that prayer cultivates the presence of God. Prayer28:30 cultivates the presence of God. I already told you that Mark 1 35 said, very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus went up to solitary places and there he prayed. He stayed up all night the night that he28:40 had all these disciples and he had to select from them 12 and he prayed. He's God. Why did he have to pray? Shouldn't he just known all I mean, if Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man dedicated himself and28:52 dependent himself upon the father for every movie made, why should we not do the same? And prayer is not praying once like, I prayed before I got married, this would be my wife. I prayed before I got married, this would29:01 be my husband. And I know it's him, and I know it's her, and now we're gonna live in bliss. I mean, that'll last for about a week. You have to continue to pray. Just because you're taking steps with29:13 Brave Academy or Brave Church or what we're wanting to do with me, it doesn't mean that we move this way, and now we're done. It means we're moving this way, and we still seek him. And we're still going after him because29:24 we wanna cultivate his presence. And, yes, let me be clear. God's presence is everywhere. He's ubiquitous. I mean, there's nowhere you can go where God is not. Psalm 1 39 tells us no matter where you go, there he is. But29:34 there's a move and a manifestation of his presence that only comes through prayer. Here's what I'd say about it. 1 touch of Jesus is more important than a lifetime of seminary. I29:46 mean, you get touched by Jesus. He heals your heart in a certain area. He heals your life in a certain area. He redeems you in a certain way. That's more important than all the books that you could study for the rest of29:55 your life. What you're looking for is a touch from God and prayer cultivates the presence of God. Even Jesus at the end of his life was praying, father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. Father, forgive them for they30:06 know not what they do. And it was interesting because even the religious people in in Jesus Christ day were like asking, how come you're how come your disciples aren't doing it the right way? In Mark chapter 2, the30:16 religious leaders, the Pharisees came to Jesus in Mark chapter 2 verse 18. They said this, John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting and they came to him and said, why do30:28 John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? Here's what they were asking. How come we're so much more spiritual than you? How come we do all the right religious activities?30:39 Like, we fast. You're not fasting. Your disciples aren't fasting. You must not be as spiritual as us. They're saying that to the God of the universe. You know how arrogant that is? And you know what Jesus' response30:51 is? It's beautiful. Jesus said and Jesus said to them, while the bridegroom is with them, the attendance of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? Who's the bridegroom?31:03 Jesus. He's like, while I'm here and the purpose of fasting is for my presence and I'm already here, why would they fast for my presence when I'm in their presence?31:16 The purpose of fasting and prayer is to be with Jesus. The purpose of fasting is not fasting. It's presence. Purpose of prayer is presence.31:29 That's what it's about. And so Jesus is saying, okay. Let me tell you something. Why would they fast for my presence when my presence is with them? Then he says, but the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away,31:39 which she has has now, and then they will fast in that day. The day's gonna come when they're gonna want my presence, then they'll fast. Here's what prayer and fasting is for. Do you want the presence of God in your31:49 life, or do you just wanna go through religious routine, or do you just wanna live off the coattails of other people? Do you just wanna say, I like going to brave because I sense God there. I like going to brave because31:59 I feel God there, that's enough for me. Or do you really want him in your life, like, the full because there's more that you can have. He wants to give his full measure of everything to you. He's not holding anything32:10 back from you. And through prayer, you can receive it. Lord, I need this. I need to know how to live godly. I need your life in this area. Lord, teach me how to forgive. Lord, teach me how to love. Lord, teach me how to32:21 do this. Lord, I don't have wisdom for that. Bring people into my life that can help. All of it is available to you. You don't like 1 thing for God's calling on your life. And prayer is the mechanism by which God brings32:32 it. Jesus says this in John 7 verse 38, you know, if you're rightly related to him that literally streams or rivers of living water will flow through you.32:44 Right? It's experiencing the the touch of God. When you spend time in Jesus, you start welcoming his purity. You want his presence, you want his purity, you wanna be holy because Jesus is holy. You want the bridegroom32:55 here. The reason people have experiences in church that don't really help them is most many times the Bible's not even opened. Many times Jesus Christ is not even being worshiped and sometimes people are not even seeking33:07 his face. I felt so convicted by this when I was, you know, when our church was a lot younger, we had about 800 to 1000 people and I said, if we're really serious about prayer, we're gonna start praying in our services33:17 out loud. And I remember when we would turn and have people pray, about 60 percent of people will get in groups and pray, and about 40 percent of people stood there like, this is weird. And I started getting notes from33:28 people that I loved and people that I cared about. We can no longer come to church because we're uncomfortable that you would ask us to pray out loud in church. Jesus said, my house will be a house of prayer. If you33:39 can't pray out loud in church, where else are you gonna pray? And if you don't know how to pray, nothing else that we're pouring into your life will be of any help to you. I wanna teach you how to pray. Say, I don't know33:49 how to pray. Just start talking to God as he's your father. Start reading the words. Start praying the word back to God as your father. Right? Lord, you say you're gonna give me everything I need for life and godliness.33:58 Lord, I don't even know how to pray, but Lord, I'm asking you to give me everything I need for life and godliness. Lord, you told me that I'm your witness. Lord, I'm just gonna pray that you'll help me be your witness.34:08 Lord, you told me that I'm loved. I don't feel loved, but Lord, I'm gonna I'm gonna say that I am loved and I wanna experience and feel your love. I start praying the word back to him. I I don't have to be there's no34:17 perfect prayer out there. I remember we used to go to restaurants when I was a young kid and we'd watch people bow their heads and pray and I remember thinking, that's weird. There's no way we'd be at a restaurant where34:26 you wouldn't see us pray unless it was just a 1 off accident or something like that. We always pray and not so that other people see us, but because we love God. Sometimes we'll ask the wait staff, hey, anything we could34:38 be praying for you? Sometimes people no. We're fine. I'm fine on the prayer thing. Other time people will start weeping and tell you what's going on in their life. Pray. Pray. It's the presence of34:50 God. It's the presence of God. If God showed up in all of his fullness and his presence, I mean, it'd be amazing. Now I've never seen God with my own 2 eyes. I don't expect that I will until I see him face to face.35:02 I just don't. I've not had that encounter and most people that have, they don't speak about it because the people that saw him in the Bible had a hard time speaking about it and they were falling dead in his presence35:10 when they did. Right? What I'm saying is I've experienced his manifest presence. I've seen God do miraculous things in our church. I've seen him save people. I've heard stories of him saving35:22 people through our radio ministry. I've seen him heal people. I've seen him heal marriages. I've seen him heal hearts. I've seen people delivered from demonic influence in their life and set35:33 free who knew Christ, but there was something just hanging on from a moment of unforgiveness in their past where God has freed them from that. Now they love Jesus even more than they did. I've seen his presence, and I35:45 want more of it, not less. And when I pray, I get to personally experience his presence. That's what I want. You want more people in the church? I don't want more people in the church. I want more people seeking the35:56 presence of God in his church. I want more people set on mission because they love Jesus more through his church. I wanna see generation changers in his church. I can't make that happen. You can't make that happen. Well,36:08 got Well, we better pray. Prayer should be first and primary for everything we wanna see and then let God unfold it as we go. Prayer cultivates the presence of God. It also36:20 does this, it unleashes the power of God. It unleashes the power of God. My house shall be called a house of prayer. Now there's a36:32 pattern in the new testament if you read through the book of acts as I talked about. In acts chapter 2, you see the holy spirit show up in power. Now the truth is every time a sinner repents and believes the gospel, the36:43 holy spirit comes to dwell inside of you. But here's what you see in the book of Here's all they had in the book of acts. They did not have buildings. They did not have budgets. They they did not have seminaries. They36:52 did not have trained pastors. They only all they had was men who had spent time with Jesus, women who had spent time with Jesus. That's all they had. So certainly they didn't have any impact, did they? I mean, Peter37:04 had never gone to a homiletics class. How's he gonna stand up and preach? But here's what you see. You see this pattern. You see a group of people seeking the face of God and praying for God to do whateverShow more
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