Skip to content Wk 4: Bold Prayer Nov 18 · 49 min ...more
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Joby Martin is the founder and lead pastor of The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville, Florida. Since launching the church in 2012, he has led a movement for all
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0:00 That moment and I decided after that that I was truly going to surrender my life to Him and began experiencing Him moving in my life. Jesus Christ is0:11 my Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.0:14 Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. Jesus is my Lord and my Savior of my life.0:30 Amen. Hey, welcome to 11 22. If you've got your Bibles and I hope you do, we're gonna be in Acts chapter 4. If you need a Bible, just grab 1 right there in front of you or if you'd like to raise your hand, we'd be happy0:42 to hand you a Bible. Can go either way there. Acts chapter 4, if you don't own a Bible outright or you own 1 in a translation that you have a difficult time understanding, if this is our gift to you, feel free to take0:53 this 1 home. 1 announcement before we dig in to the Bible is in an effort to get the church launched, we haven't talked about missions very much and if you're a regular 11 20 tour, then you1:05 know that you got 3 years to go on a mission trip to experience short term mission experience with us and so, the time has come for missions to get cranked up. We don't leave on the trips until next1:17 year but all the informational meetings are starting right now. On the back of your notes, there's the information. 1 of the trips that's open to be signed up right now is the Jamaica A and B. We have pastor1:29 Ryan's leading 1 of those trips and I'm leading 1 of those trips especially for you like 1st timers. You you're a little nervous about going that. Those will be great trips for you. There's also the NewGen Kids local1:40 trip. There's the NewGen students domestic trip. We have the Panama family trip. All those information meetings are coming up and you get all of that information in the connect center at the end of any service, every1:51 service. So, please do that. We need to take hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people on short term mission experiences. So, I think that's it. So, go to Jamaica with me and sign up for that. You don't have to pray2:02 about it. Just pray about where which 1 you go to. Also, I'd like to say what's up to our students. How are you guys doing? That's fun. For those of you that are sitting behind the students, I just hope and2:14 pray that you are thankful to God that we've got a generation that stands on their chairs to worship and not that you couldn't see. Alright? Amen? Amen. Alright. If they do it every week, we'll adjust the student section2:25 of, you know, accordingly to the back but I know that it it's quite an honor to lead a church where kids don't get in trouble for standing on stuff, right? But we say, way to go. So, we are2:37 glad that you are here with us this morning. Students, sit up straight. I know you you got like 6 hours of sleep cumulative over the whole weekend, but we're not done. Alright. I think we should we should be there by2:47 now. Acts chapter 4. We're gonna pick it up in verse 18. Thanks for letting me be away. Last weekend, I was here, but I was not preaching. Pastor Ryan did an awesome job preaching last weekend and it was because the week2:59 before that, I was with Compassion International in South Dakota. Typically, when I'm with Compassion International, we are rescuing children from poverty in Jesus name. Last week, we were shooting deer and pheasant in3:11 Jesus name and so, I really appreciate that and I know some of you are like, oh but I love animals and I do too. I really do. Mostly grilled And so if that offends you, you're3:23 not gonna like it here. So, but it was awesome. It was a great time away but I am so excited to be back and to pick up on our very last week of this series called Bold. This is our very last week.3:35 So, you can shave off the mustaches after today and all the wives said, amen, alright? They have not been as excited about this as we have been. Gretchen not in love3:46 with this part, right? In fact, maybe I'll encourage you this. You single guys that may be struggling with purity, grow 1 of these. It could help you more than you know, alright? We'll cover more of3:58 that in a different sermon. Alright. Here we go. Last week of bold, we're gonna talk about bold prayers. We're gonna pick it up in verse 18 even though pastor Ryan covered this just to just to get us going again. If4:09 you'll remember in the very 1st week of bold, the thing that kicked off all of the events of chapters 3, 4, and 5 are this healing of a man that was born lame. He couldn't walk for 40 years.4:21 He's begging for money. Peter and John say, we don't have any money, but what we have, we give to you in the name of Jesus. Arise and walk. So he gets up and he walks and then Peter preaches the sermon, 3000 people get4:31 saved and then he gets arrested and so where we pick it up here is they they are they've just been arrested and and they've kind of had their little court hearing. Verse 18, then they,4:43 the they is a group of people called the Sanhedrin like the judges. Then, they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus but Peter and John replied, judge for yourself4:54 whether it is right in god's sight to obey you rather than god for we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. To you skeptics in the room, this should be good news to you, that Peter and John are saying,5:06 we're not talking about what we just believe in, because people believe in all kind of stuff. We're not just talking about what we have faith in. People put their faith in all kind of weird stuff. We are talking about5:14 what we have seen and heard. That this whole Christianity thing is not just based on a belief system, but act an actual event, 1 historic event that this this guy named Jesus claimed to be the son of5:25 God, died on a cross in your presence. He was buried and dead, and yet 3 days later, in the town that he was killed in, he was resurrected from the grave, and he appeared to over 500 people for 40 days.5:38 A lot of us have seen and heard that and we can't stop talking about it and then what pastor Ryan pointed out last week is not only did they see and hear the events but they5:49 personally experienced Jesus and they could not help talking about the things that they had seen and heard, verse 21. And after further threats, they let him go. And they couldn't decide how to punish him because6:01 all the people were praising God for what had happened. Verse 22, for the man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old, verse 23. And on their release, Peter and John went back to their own people. So they get6:13 out of jail and where do they go? They go to their own people. Let me just encourage you here, you need some people. You need some of your own people, especially when times get tough, you need some of your6:24 own people. 1 of the reasons you need to be in a disciple group come January is because you need some of your own people, students. You need some of your own people. And the Bible says,6:36 He who walks with the wise grows wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm. Some of the reasons that your life is jacked up is because you've given your heart to Jesus, but your own people are still whack. That's why6:47 your life is still whack. You need to start surrounding yourself with the people that you would like to become like. He who walks with the wise grows wise, a companion of fools suffers harm. So Peter and John get out6:59 of prison and they go back to their own people. Let me just say this too. If you're new to church and you've never fit in at church before, the church of 11 22 are probably your people, okay? If if you7:11 if you've been a Christian for a long time and you're just not self righteous about it, the church of 11 22 are your people. If you're young people, old people, we got all kind of people. But the people here are the7:22 people that know the God of the 2nd and the 3rd and the 4th chance. That we know that it's okay to not be okay, it's just not okay to stay that way. That God is not in love with some future version of you, but you right7:34 now. And to your left and to your right and in front of you behind you, you are surrounded right now by people that are not perfect, that are forgiven, not because of what they have done but by what Christ has7:45 done for them. And so these guys had some people. So on their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. Now, 1 of the thing about when you7:57 read the Bible, you get to verses like this and you can just cruise right by it, okay? But you've gotta understand, this actually happened. So Peter and John got arrested, put in prison and then let8:09 out. They didn't come with a report, like on day 1 we healed a guy, and on day 2 we got sent to prison, and then I said, and he said, and now here we are. No, no, no. This was like an actual event. I mean, gotta8:19 understand, Peter and John were young guys too, so they probably showed up and the other apostles and disciples said, what are y'all doing here? We thought you were in jail. We were about to come help. Yeah, right. And8:30 Peter and John are like, get everybody in the room. We're gonna report to you all that was said and done. And everybody would gather up, and Peter would probably go 1st because he's always talking in the Bible. And Peter8:39 would go, man, you all are gonna believe what happened. Remember the other day when I was when we healed that guy, then I preached to all those people, and then they arrested us? Yeah, we remember. Well, put us in front8:48 of the Sanhedrin, all these judges, 71 judges all the way around us, and they were hurling questions at us like, By what name did this man get healed? And I stood up and I said, By the name of Jesus Christ, I said, Arise9:00 and walk. And then they said, You better quit talking about Jesus. And Peter said, I'm a tell you what I'm about to do. I'm gonna talk about what I have seen and heard. And then they said, Stop. And then I said, and then9:10 the guys would be like, Did it really go that way? And John would be like, Just like that? Like this was an actual event. It would be like if Ben and I got arrested over the weekend for preaching the9:22 gospel. And we got out and we were here this morning, you know what we would do? We'd get everybody together and be like, you don't even believe what happened. Ben and I, we were up on the north side preaching the9:32 gospel. I mean, I was laying it down and and lame people were walking and crackheads were being set free and it was crazy. It was awesome. And then and then the police came and they arrested me and Ben and they put us9:44 in jail and they put us before the judge and the judge said, You better stop. And I told them, You do whatever you wanna do. I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna preach in the name of Jesus. And then men9:53 played a song and then boom, we got out of jail. Y'all believe that? So you gotta, you gotta know that's the kind of environment that's going on right here.10:05 Upon their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and they reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them, verse 24. And when they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer10:17 to God. Somebody in the group, after hearing all that had happened, said, we gotta pray. We've got to pray. I don't know if that's your 1st instinct. It's not often10:29 my 1st instinct. I'm not and I know some of you think I'm not a good pastor for this and I don't blame you. I'm I'm not the 1st 1 to sign up for prayer group, okay? Partly, it's kind of the way we pray. You know, I'm not10:40 a big fan of hold hands in circles. I don't like that especially with other men and and let me just tell you this because we got so many of you new to church. When you pray in a prayer circle, alright? We don't go10:51 interlocked ever, men, okay. God does not hear the prayers of fingers interlocked amongst fellas, alright. So we're going cupped, that's how we're going. And if11:03 you're praying next to me, the intensity of your prayer does not need to be matched by the squeezing of your hand, okay? Now don't give me dead fish, you gotta give me a little something to hold on here. But as you get11:15 going, you don't have to break my hand off, you understand? And don't move your thumb. You can't move your thumb. All the students know, anybody that grows up in church know that's how you get11:27 a church camp girlfriend. Alright? What you do, you position yourself right during the prayer time to be next to the honey. And then as you're praying, if you move your thumb, if she moves it back, you got a girlfriend.11:38 That's how that works. So if you move your thumb on me, I can't pray anymore. It's over. Okay? So I don't know if it that's probably that's why I went to seminary to learn these kind11:50 of things about 1st century prayer group. Now if I'm honest, and I know this is church, not a place for honesty. But if I'm honest in this, if this is happening to me, I'm probably not thinking12:02 prayer, I'm thinking plan. If Peter and John come in and say this has happened, somebody's going, let's pray. I'm thinking, no, no, no, we need a plan. We need a security plan. 1st of all, Peter and John, you can't12:12 travel together anymore. Okay? Because this is like the president and CEO of Jesus International and that's too much in in 1 group here. You guys have to be divided out. Alright? You go 1 way and you go the other. We12:23 need a security team to follow these guys around. We're getting the earpieces. You know what we need? We need we need tricked out escalades. That's what we need. All the apostles, bulletproof Escalades from now on. I12:34 would be going with a plan. What they go with is prayer. And here's how they pray. Sovereign Lord. Fresh out they still12:46 smell like jail, and they're praying, Sovereign Lord. Sovereign just means that God is in control of all things. Sovereign Lord. And in fact, the phrase sovereign Lord is a little bit redundant on perfect on purpose.12:57 Sovereign Lord. Did you realize that the way you pray reveals what you believe about god? Think about the things that you prayed last week. The way you pray reveals what you believe about13:09 god. Some of you, if you're honest, would say, well, I didn't really pray pray last week. Well, then I got bad news for you, then you don't really believe in God. I know you say you do or you wouldn't be here this13:19 morning, but if you're not praying to him often, then he's just not that important in your life or if you're praying praying these little wimpy prayers are gonna happen13:31 whether you pray em or not, then then maybe you believe kind of in this distant higher power but not much higher than you. That god's only like a a half inch taller than you or13:43 if you only pray memorized formal prayers, it could believe, it could be because you don't believe in a personal heavenly father a personal relationship with him but you believe that god is some kind of distant13:55 judge. Last week, in here, Maria, she was setting up 1 of the worship songs. She said, if you feel like god is distant, it could be because you're following him at a distance and so if that's what your prayer14:07 life is like, I'm I hate to break it to you but it reveals what you believe about god. The scariest 1 is this and this is how most Americans pray. This is how most of us pray. If you're14:19 praying a bunch of me centered prayers, like you're like, oh, I pray all the time, alright? Bless me, protect me, keep me safe, watch over my children, me, me, me, me. Then, you might actually believe14:31 that you don't exist to bring god glory but he exist to serve you and that you might think that that you tell him what to do and some of you will even or some of us will even wrap it like you'll find a Bible verse14:43 as if you can make god do what you want him to do as if he is he is the servant and you are the lord. You see, you see, me centered prayers will lead to self14:55 serving people which which leads to a self serving church. It's not the kind of church I want to be a part of and I hope you don't either But the way we pray reveals what we believe about God. I'll15:06 tell you this though, but if you've been praying all week, if you begin to learn what the Apostle Paul meant when he said pray without ceasing, it's not just saying your prayers but you're in constant communication with15:16 an Almighty God, then you believe, you believe in the omnipresence of God, that he is always with you and always, always listening. Jesus prayed. We need to learn all kinds of stuff about prayer. Matthew 1415:27 23. This is how Jesus prayed. After he dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. So, sometimes he prayed along. In Matthew 19 13, then little children were brought to Jesus for him15:39 to place his hands on them and pray for them. He prayed for other people. Mark 1 35, very early in the morning. Listen to this college students, very early in the morning. Come on. While it was15:51 still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where he prayed. Did you know there was a part of the morning that's still dark? I don't know if you're aware of this. Some of you could just15:59 stay up 2 extra hours and just pray then. You'd be in the same time zone. Alright, here we go. Luke 5 16, but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 6 12, 1 of those days16:11 Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and he spent the night praying to God. Luke 22 42. And being in anguish he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. See16:23 if you look at the prayer life of Jesus you find out what he believed about the father. He believed that that he had an intimate relationship. He believed that he prayed that god was there all the time. Prayed at night,16:32 prayed in the morning, prayed all night, prayed all day, prayed alone, prayed with people. That your prayer life reveals what you believe about god. So, if you've been praying rated R prayers and I encourage you to pray16:43 rated R prayers, then you actually believe there really is a god who is really listening and it's if it's important to you, it's important to him because you are important to him and if you're praying intimate like16:55 confessional type prayers to god, it's because you know that god loves you, not some future version of you and sent his son to die on the cross for you and wants to meet you right where you are17:07 And so look how these guys pray, sovereign Lord. And if you're in praying impossible prayers, I mean impossible prayers, it's because you believe in an Almighty17:19 sovereign God and they pray sovereign Lord. Now let's just be honest, if we're fresh out of jail, we're probably not praying Sovereign Lord, we're probably praying Dear God, help17:30 me curse them, Amen. Change the circumstances to fit what I want, not sovereign Lord. But they pray, sovereign Lord,17:42 you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. See how theocentric these prayers are? They're just lifting up the name of God. Verse 25. You spoke by the holy spirit through the mouth of your17:53 servant David, your servant, our father David. 1 of the things they believed is they believed in the that that the the Bible or the scriptures were the very words of god. That David wasn't just a good poet and they like18:04 to read Psalm chapter 2 but that that these were the very words of god. 1 of the boldest ways you can pray especially when you don't know what to pray is you just pray god's word. You just claim the truth of God's word18:16 back to him. And so what they're gonna do here next is they're gonna pray Psalm chapter 2. Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together18:28 against the lord and against his anointed 1. In other words, what they're saying is god, you're not surprised by this. Hundreds of years before this ever happened, you spoke through your servant, David, to let us know18:39 that Jesus was gonna be crucified and that we were gonna be persecuted. Hey, let me just encourage you parents. You need to be praying the scriptures over your kids, alright? This is just a freebie but every, I mean, all18:50 the time, I pray the scriptures over my kids. Every night, when I lay my 3 year old little girl down in her bed, I pray Psalm 1 39 14. Dear god, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are19:02 wonderful. Know that full well. Why? Because she's a beautiful little 3 year old and when she's a beautiful little 13 year old, the world is going to try to rob her of knowing that. I want to plant that deep into her19:13 soul because I want to pray boldly for my kids. For my son, I pray Psalm 1 almost every night of his entire life. Blessed is he who does not walk in the way of the wicked or stand in the way of the sinner or sit in the19:23 seat of the mocker but his delight is in the law of the lord and upon his law, he meditates day and night and then I make it personal for him and JP, may you be planted like a tree by streams of running water. May you19:32 bear fruit in season. May your leaves never wither. May everything you do prosper and the lord will watch over the righteous. Now, I didn't even intend to memorize it but when you do that every night for 7 years, it19:40 begins to stick and I hope it begins to stick deep in his soul that we plant the truth of god's word deep in the hearts of our children. So, when this world tries to rip them apart that they can be anchored19:52 with the truth of God's word. That's praying boldly. And so that's what these men do, they pray the words of God back to God. Verse 27, indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate20:04 met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now notice20:16 this folks, notice this, they're not even praying that their circumstances are changed. They're praying that God would be glorified in their circumstances. Now I know there's some people that are not super stoked about20:26 the election last week, alright? But these guys, they're not just upset with people's policies, The people that were in charge of this government were killing Christians. And you know what they pray? God, you are20:38 sovereign. That those evil men could not be in power without you allowing it. And so God, we know that you are still in charge. You know what they don't do? They don't evaluate20:50 God's purposes and God's plans based on their current circumstances. But they know Romans 5 8, that God demonstrates his love for us in this, that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us.21:03 In other words, they don't look around and be like, hey, god. I I think things are out of control. Did you take a nap? What happened? I mean, you gotta imagine the day that Jesus was sentenced to be crucified, some of21:14 the disciples had to think, uh-oh. I don't think the plan's working, God. Where are you? What are you doing? And God would respond, I'm redeeming the world. This is what I'm doing. So as you're21:25 praying, especially big, bold, audacious kind of prayers, don't let your current circumstances define God, but be defined by him and his love. I wanna try to explain it this way. I hope this helps21:37 you. About 3 weeks ago, JP earned a spanking. Alright? Now, now I know some of you are like, we don't spank our kids. We know. Alright. So, so21:49 we don't, I mean, you know, we do time out, we do all that kind of stuff, but but we we spank because we love and and look, I wish I would have grown up in this era. I wish I would have gotten. Now you need to go to your22:00 room and think about it. Okay. Alright. That's probably what's wrong with some of you. But anyway. And now, so what we do is I make him go in my room and22:12 wait. And the reason is because he can't go into his room because he's got Xbox and all of that. And some of you do that. Go to your room and think about this. And they're playing Xbox. It helps me think. And be like,22:20 oh, because you don't wanna hurt their precious little face. Bless you. Alright. So we I send him to my room. Gretchen and I talked this over. What's the punishment gonna be? And we decide spanking. And so I'm literally22:32 standing at the door going, alright. What does gospel centered spanking look like? How do I explain to JP that there is no condemnation, that I'm not just punishing him for22:44 something that has been done, but by God's grace, I'm trying to point him in a new God honoring direction. And he doesn't do good things so that God will love him, but he knows God does love him.22:56 Therefore, he should live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus. Now let me just tell you, it is easier to preach to you to than to explain the gospel to a 6 year old. So I'm in the bedroom, eyeball to eyeball with him.23:07 He's standing on the bed, and I'm trying to explain to him that God loved you so much. He's so gracious to you, that he would let you grow up in our family, that I would get to be your daddy, and that this isn't just23:17 punishment for what you've done, but this is discipline because we love you and I and we've had to steer you in a new direction. You're not allowed to lie to your teachers at school, and we're gonna point you in a new23:27 direction, and so, and then and then we get to like, you know, get get to the time, and and he's crying and I'm telling you, it hurts my heart and he's crying and and do we have to have a spanking? Yes, we do and and I23:38 tell him, now, I get done, when I get done, you stay in here as long as you need to. You cry in here as long as you need to But when you're done, you come on out of here and and, you know, I love you no matter what. You23:49 got it? I got it. So he rolls over on the bed and I'm getting ready to go. And I don't use any, torture devices like my dad did. Right? I just just be in the hand. And so I'm going and he's trying to get the hand and I'm23:59 going, I'll get the hand too. You know? And I almost said it. I I was this close to saying it. I almost said, son, this hurts me more than it hurts you. I almost did. But by the grace of Jesus, I was24:11 not possessed by my dad, Perry Martin, and somehow I kept it all in. And then 3 smacks, whap, whap, whap. And apparently it was kinda loud, but right after that 3rd 1, he popped around and said, I'm good.24:24 And I said, you you stay in here and till you're ready to quit crying. And I walk out and Gretchen says, man, that was loud. Is he okay? And I'm like, baby, he's getting tough. Alright?24:36 Later that night, I'm in his room and we're playing. And we're just kinda hanging out and playing and I say, hey, hey, buddy roe, let me ask you a question. Earlier when I gave you a spanking,24:49 did I not spank you hard enough? And he goes, well, you see he just gotten a spanking for lying and now he's thinking, do I lie? What do I do?25:02 And so he goes, so dad, if I tell you no, are you gonna do it again? I was like, no, no way, no way. And he goes nah not really and then right after that he goes dad I love you25:14 and he stands up and gives me a hug. Now let me tell you what he was able to do in his little 6 year old mind. He had the ability to do, to not evaluate my love for him based on the circumstances for earlier25:26 that day but somehow, by god's grace, he was able to see the big picture that he has a dad that loves him and wants to and it loves him enough to discipline him to point him towards maturity and that I love him25:38 no matter what and he can't earn it and he also can't mess it up. That's what the apostles are praying here. Not let me evaluate my current circumstances and God, your love for me is based on whether I go25:50 to jail again or not, but sovereign Lord, none of this could happen if you didn't let it happen anyway. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Verse 29, now26:02 they get to the part in their prayer that we typically start with. We typically start with bless us, give us. This is the prayer request part, not them. They start sovereign lord. It's26:13 theocitric. It's god honoring. They quote some scripture. They pray, god, don't change the circumstances to match us but change us to match your will and now, here comes the the prayer request.26:25 Now, lord, consider their threats. So, what they're saying is, hey, lord. You know that part where if we keep talking about Jesus, they said they're going kill us? So, consider that and then here's what they prayed for26:36 And enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Now, if you're in the prayer circle holding the hands, aren't you gonna go, okay, time out prayer warriors. What do you pray for? Boldness. Didn't26:48 you just get out of prison for being bold? Didn't you just didn't you just get arrested because you wouldn't quit talking about what you have seen and heard? I think you're all square on the27:00 boldness. I don't know that you need any more boldness but look what they pray for. Not help me, not change me, but they pray that they will be able to speak the word27:11 with great boldness. And I imagine there's somebody in the group that wants to give them advice. You don't need boldness, you need wisdom. You need discernment. You need a safe house. You need to lay27:23 low for a little while. You need to change your rhetoric. Let's just leave out the Jesus stuff for a while, and then once the once the crowd has kinda calmed down, we can get back on mission. And and I even imagine27:35 some people would try to be kind of spiritual about it and say things like, do do you think god might be trying to tell you something? You ever have well intentioned Christians do that for you? You're just trying to be27:47 obedient to what the word of god says and they let the circumstances dictate what's going on. Well, maybe every time you preach about Jesus, you went to jail. Maybe god's trying to tell you, you shouldn't be preaching27:58 about Jesus in Jerusalem. You know what the problem with that is? It's the Bible. Remember acts 1 8? We kicked off the whole study of acts on it. And you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you28:09 will be my witnesses where? In Jerusalem. It's why I tell you lovingly, I don't care about your feelings. I'm not saying that I don't care what you feel or I don't care that you28:21 have feelings. I care about that stuff sorta but what I'm really saying is I don't want you to be lorded over by what you feel like that day. That either Jesus is lord or28:33 maybe your feelings are lord but they both can't be lord. That that I want you to be surrendered to him. I want us to follow him and then we'll have all sorts of feelings in that journey but so, what they do28:45 is they pray for boldness and then they continue in verse 30. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. They're praying to which again28:57 you go, hey guys, isn't that what got you in trouble? And you're praying for more of that? That more people would be healed? That more people would be saved? And and not so you could be famous, but for the name and the29:07 renowned of Jesus? And they're saying yes and amen. These guys are praying big audacious prayers cause they believe in an Almighty God. And then look what happens in verse 31, and after they prayed, the place29:19 where they were meeting was shaken. When was the last time after you prayed, the place was shaken? Because most of us just pray casual, weak, wimpy little29:30 prayers. I mean, there's a lot of times where I'm just kinda laying in bed at night and I'm just sorta praying, dear god, thanks for this day because I don't know why we always pray that and just sorta praying and then29:40 go to sleep. Wake up the next morning. Amen. Right? And the only shaking going on is Gretchen going, roll over. You're breathing my air. Alright? I'm like, come on woman. What's wrong with you? Wake me up.29:53 But when these guys prayed, when they got finished, when these men and women prayed, the place was shaken. I think the Holy Spirit shook the place and it shook the people and some of you need to be shaken. I30:05 mean really shaken. Like these men and women were shaken and they were all filled with the holy spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. God answered their prayers. The reason30:17 that we are here today, the reason there are 21st century Christians is because of the boldness of the 1st century disciples. Because God answered that prayer. God gave them the courage to take the30:29 message of Jesus back into the very city that was persecuting them. He gave them courage. Courage isn't a lack of fear. Courage is behaving as if you believe that God is actually in charge. That's what courage30:41 is. And so that's what these men and women did. You see, here's the point. That when you believe in a sovereign Lord, you pray big bold prayers. When you believe in a sovereign Lord, then it's reflected in30:52 your prayer life. You begin to pray big, bold, audacious kind of prayers. And if you're honest, most of the time we pray the wimpiest little prayers. And I have to be a little careful when I teach on31:04 this because on the 1 hand, this is very true, alright? You're just talking to your dad. You're just talking to your dad. If it's important to you, it's important to god because you're important to god And my kids bring31:16 me little wimpy things and I love it because I love them, alright? So I'm not saying necessarily do away with some of these things, but if the totality of your prayer life is little wimpy prayers, I'm gonna make fun of31:27 you. Alright? If you pray these out loud in front of me, I might go during the prayers because some of the pray some of the things we pray are just dumb. And I know you don't mean it or or maybe you just picked it up,31:38 but some of the things we pray is, dear god, thank you for this day. Okay. If you've been on life support before, that is very, very meaningful to you. But for most of us, you're just, I think God would kinda go,31:50 alright folks, got it. Memo to all the Christians. I get it that you are thankful for the day. And then we go with, dear God, would you please just be with me? Well,32:02 where are you gonna be? Because I'm pretty sure I'll be there too, alright? It's called omnipresence. And not only that. Remember Jesus, my son? He promised in Matthew 28, and lo,32:14 I will be with you always. Or we love to pray this 1. Dear God, please watch over us. What? Watch over? No, no, no. I don't wanna watch over you. I wanna live in you. If you've surrendered your32:26 life to the lordship of Christ, your body is the temple. That doesn't have anything to do with what you look like in a bathing suit, praise God. That means that the holy spirit lives in you. You are not your own, you're32:35 bought at a price. The spirit lives in you. So if you would rather me leave you and hover over your minivan on the way to Disney, we can do it that way. Or I could live in you and work through you. Why don't we32:47 go with that 1? Or this 1, we love this 1. Dear God, keep us safe. Okay, wear your seat belt, drive the speed limit. Okay? Students, this 1 gets prayed a lot. Dear God, please help me on my32:58 test. Look, atheists do good on their test. Okay? Study. Amen. And then the 1 I love the most, really means I hate it.33:11 Dear God, thank you for this food, that's good, thank you for this food. And please let this food nourish our body. Well, what else is it gonna do? That's just what food does. Whether you ask it33:23 to or not. Whether you pray to God or I've never met the person going, I don't know what's happening. I just eat and eat and eat and there's no nourishment going on. That's just what food33:35 does. Right? Now maybe at a drive thru sometime, you should go, now God, let this food nourish my body. That's like praying, dear God, let my hair33:47 be hairier and my the water be wet. I mean, it's just they're not even real prayers. Now again, it's it's about a relationship so you can33:58 pray about whatever you want to pray about. If it's important to you, it's important to god but but I really believe if that's the totality of your prayer life, it says a lot about your relationship or lack of with god.34:08 If your prayer life at some point is not intimidating to you, I believe it's insulting to god. I think god's going, is that all you got? Alright. I got it. Gratitude for the day. The beanie34:20 weenies are gonna work again. Good luck on your test. Is that really it? Is that all you're ever gonna bring me? Because you know what? God says, bring me the impossible. Bring34:32 me the impossible. That's the kind of prayers that I've been praying for this last year. I I taught on this passage back in back in February. So I went back to check it out. And it was actually it was when we launched34:44 the Upon This Rock campaign. Remember all that? And and quite honestly, the 1st week, it didn't go so well. We needed over 600 people to give over 6000000 dollars and thank you and God bless you and you did. Amen. But34:55 the week 1, we weren't we weren't even close. We had 200 people, and you know what? All these people kept coming to me going, well, maybe God's trying to tell you something. God's trying to tell me we got some selfish35:04 people, and I just gotta share God's vision with them. That's what God's trying to tell me, And every church expert I went to and said, okay, here's the plan. I've never led a church ever, and we're gonna take a35:16 nondenominational church and launch it out of a denominational church, and we're gonna lease a Walmart and turn it into a church. And I had I had experts in church world go, that's impossible. And I went, I know. I know.35:27 I know. So it's got God's name written all over it. So that's the kind of prayers that we're gonna pray. Because I don't wanna pray normal prayers. Because I don't wanna be a normal35:38 believer. Normal in this world is broke, depressed, and lonely. That's normal. I don't wanna be any of that. Alright? I wanna be I want God to do something in me that is35:50 exponentially greater than I could ever do. And I want him to do the same thing in you. I want God to do the impossible. Guys, God God loves loves loves answering the impossible36:01 prayer. You know how I know? It's the cross. The cross. You know what was impossible? Your righteousness before God. Impossible. And yet when you pray, dear God, save me. By the blood of36:13 Jesus on the cross, he saved you and redeemed you. To the 8 students that surrendered your life to Jesus over this weekend, nothing is impossible for God. And in addition to those 8, to36:25 the 139 people who've surrendered their life to Christ since we opened the doors on the Walmart, that was impossible and God says bring it on, I love the impossible, it's like a36:37 hanging curveball that he just likes to knock out of the park and said, see that? Not to your name, but to his name be the glory. That's the kind of prayers, church, that we gotta start praying.36:49 Big, bold, audacious prayers because we believe in an almighty God. Now is that how you've been praying? Think about your prayers last week. I mean, just think about your prayers37:01 last week. What if God would have answered every prayer we all prayed last week? How would the world be any different? Your food would have nourished you. Some of you'd have37:13 a date. The Jags wouldn't be 1 and 8. But how would this world be any different? I mean, will we have the same amount of orphans? Will will we have the same37:25 amount of people trapped in human trafficking? Will will we have will the churches still be empty all over our country? Will there still be people locked up in addiction?37:37 Probably because the way we pray is so me centered, so self centered. It's so wimpy. Preacher. So, what if god said yes to all of your prayers?37:49 You see, I want to lead the kind of church that prays big, bold, audacious prayers. This table is or what's on this table is is so important to me. This is every prayerShow more
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Will You Trust God Enough to Step Out of the Boat? - Deepen with Pastory Joby Martin: Matthew S8E3 Joby Martin
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