0:00 Hey. I don't know about you. I wanna just say my heart is overwhelmed with joy for many reasons. But every year, at this conference, I just feel like it it's a family reunion. And even though there are new people here because of the kindred spirit of the holy spirit living in each of us, I can't tell you the joy that I have looking around and seeing people walking and interacting, and I think we're getting a little glimpse of what we're gonna have in eternity.
0:26 We're gonna be with each other forever and ever and ever. And if that intimidates you, here's the good part. We're all gonna be perfect. So it's not gonna be so overwhelming as much as you might think. I'm so excited to be with you tonight.
0:37 And here here's my prayer also for tonight. I hope you have energy reserved to respond to this message because there will be a response. I'm just telling you where we're going. There will be a response to this message, and it's gonna be an invitation for every single one of us. And if you're not energized, I'm gonna pray that God would energize us because we wanna meet with the Lord.
0:56 And, James tells us draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. So he puts the ball in our court. Right? We initiate the pursuit, and God is faithful to meet us there with open arms. And so I hope that what you hear today would stir you to say, I really wanna respond to these truths and experience them for my for myself.
1:17 So I prayed, but I would like for us to pray again before we crack open our Bibles together. Let's do that, shall we? Lord, we ask that, you would, by your spirit, drive us to the place where you want us to be in prayer. Drive us to our knees. Drive us to the place of adoration, of worship, of faith again.
1:39 Resurrect things that we've stopped praying for, stopped believing you for. We need your help, Lord, because we know that, Satan would love to stifle and to eliminate this reality from our lives, but we pray that today it would be a turning point for each of us. And so let your word be spoken clearly, free from any stammering, confusion, distraction. Let it come with authority from heaven. We trust that, Lord, you will hear us even now, and you will guide us for the rest of this evening.
2:07 In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Behold, he is praying. Those were the comforting words that the Lord Jesus gave to a very reluctant disciple by the name of Ananias, who was summoned by Christ to go and minister to a radically transformed Saul of Tarsus. And what was true of Saul, whom we know to be Paul, in the infancy of his faith was a trademark throughout his life and ministry until his very last moments on the earth.
2:42 In other words, one of my one of my first notes that I still have to this day that I taped behind the cover of my Bible were all the requests that Paul made to the various churches to pray for him. It moved me. It moved me because of who Paul was, and yet at the same time, how dependent he was on this strange, mysterious, yet accessible thing called prayer. And I believe it's because of what he believed in second Corinthians. I want you to turn to with me in chapter one verse 11 of second Corinthians.
3:21 Second Corinthians one eleven. Look what Paul says to this church. You also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. If you want one simple takeaway from this verse, you'll never forget it. Prayer works, and prayer helps.
3:58 If Paul didn't believe that, he wouldn't waste his time asking for it, but he really, really believed it. And when he wrote this, he was undergoing an undisclosed intense season of suffering where he says that I I could smell death. I can actually taste the grave. That's how severe this turmoil was that Paul and his ministry team were experiencing, and he understood something here. He understood that he can be helped, that there are certain heavenly assistance that's unlocked only upon this premise if the people of God pray.
4:39 If they don't pray, then we're not gonna tap into this help. There's only access through prayer, and so he demands it. And notice this. He says, you must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. So, again, Paul here believes that there are certain blessings that can only be experienced through prayer.
5:05 I wonder how many testimonies we've missed out on because of our lack of praying then. Our churches, our families, our marriages, What have we forfeited because we have not put our faith in this thing called prayer? This is something for us to consider because what's fascinating is not just what prayer can do, but who Paul is asking to do the praying for him. The Corinthians. You know, people better be careful when they say, we need to go back to the days of the early church.
5:40 Which part? I think what you're referring to is the early church before Acts chapter five. Because as much as there might be problems in our churches, and we all have them, I'm sure, the Corinthian church was messed up, severely messed up. And so comparatively to the apostle Paul, Paul asked struggling saints to pray. And not just the Corinthians, the Thessalonians, the Ephesians, the Colossians.
6:10 He he asked all these different churches with all their weaknesses and their defaults and their limitations to pray. To pray. You may never preach a sermon in your life, but you can pray. You may never be invited to do something like preach at a conference or travel and plant churches, but you can pray. You may never be able to, out of the goodness of your heart, give financially, but you can reach into the treasury of intercession and pray.
6:41 Prayer gives all of us equal access to making an impact for the kingdom of God no matter what you are, what you do, what you feel like you're limited by. So Paul invites these believers to pray. Weak, stumbling, inconsistent Christians, believing that God would hear them if they came in humility. And so this is a gift that God has given every single one of us to be to be able to make a profound move forward for the kingdom and the glory of Jesus Christ. And if you're not moved by the fact that the Corinthians were invited to partner with Paul, partner with heaven through prayer, then be moved by the fact that Paul is the one asking for it.
7:28 If there was a guy that I can write off as someone who didn't need to go around asking people for prayer, it was Paul. Paul. This guy was a machine of a missionary. No matter where Paul went, one of two things happened. There is either revival or riots or sometimes both.
7:47 This man, again, as we've been studying, is just he's unique in many ways. And yet, in virtually every single one of his letters, he goes, would you please pray for me? You know, when Christians ask for prayer, they kinda say it like a secondhand kind of sign off to the conversation. Yeah. Yeah.
8:04 Pray for me, brother. Do you think that that's how Paul asked people for prayer? Do you think it was just Christianese? Now let me show you how much Paul really believed in people praying for him and how much he needed it. So we read second Corinthians, but go to Romans and look at chapter 15 verse 30.
8:27 He says to these Christians, I appeal to you brothers by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. Do you see the desperation in this man's words? Look again. I appeal to you. I urge you.
8:48 I beg of you. Romans, I need you to pray for me. Now when I when I read this and meditated on this, this is the this is the thought that ran through my mind. This is the question that caused me to reflect. If Paul asked people to pray for him, why don't I?
9:09 Why don't I ask people to pray for me? Is it because I'm afraid that people would see me as weak, or Paul had no problem looking weak before others? Or is it perhaps that I, I'm limited in my understanding of what can happen when I collect and combine my faith with other Christians? Is that what's hindering me from joyously making a couple of text messages to people to say, please pray for for me? Paul had no reservation.
9:46 In fact, Paul understood that one of the things about Christian community is that we make a dedication to do this thing called prayer for one another. And he did not hold back. And notice that when Paul asked for prayer, it did not mean that he did not engage in it with himself. Read again Romans 15 verse 30. I appeal to you brothers by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the spirit to strive together with me.
10:11 So you have another extreme where people ask everybody for prayer because they don't pray themselves. That's not the way to do it. Strive together with me. Strive together with me. There are some ministers who are apparently too busy to pray, and so they'll ask people to pray for them although they'll create a prayer team.
10:31 That's not how Paul ministered. Paul didn't allow himself to get to the point where he justified his lack of praying even in the name of ministry. He says, strive together with me. Let's work together now to bombard the throne of grace and to believe that God will send something down. And as you can tell, so much can be said about this incredible treasure.
10:54 But for the sake of time, if you are a note taker, I wanna present to you three glorious life altering possibilities through this thing called prayer. Three. And the first one is this, prayer pries open, prayer peels open prayer opens spiritual eyes. And that truth is found in Ephesians chapter one beginning in verse 16. Let's read that together, shall we?
11:26 Ephesians one sixteen. Paul says, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might. There are three whats that Paul includes in the introduction of this letter. Three whats that he wants these believers to experience and to know.
12:19 The first one is, what is the hope to which he has called you? The second, what is what is the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? And lastly, what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe? Now these verses, they they encourage me and they challenge me at the same time. You know why?
12:39 Because Paul is not writing to nonbelievers. When you go back to verse 15, you realize that he is writing to people who have exemplary faith, who have been radically transformed by the gospel. And yet at the same time, he tells them, I'm praying that you would see more. That you would see more. Right?
12:57 And he tells the things that he wants them to to behold and to witness in the innermost part of their being, which tells me that you and I can be saved, but remain shallow. And Paul couldn't imagine of a greater nightmare for believers to just come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and stay there at the basic understanding of your faith. He goes, no. No. No.
13:20 I want you to know the depths of his power, the depths of his riches, the depths of this hope that is your inheritance. Now I wanna ask you, if you are here and you teach the bible on any level, Sunday school, mothers to your children, you have a bible study, a home group, you run a men's meeting, you're an elder, whatever you do, in terms of you communicating the truth, how would you go about trying to unfold the whats that Paul presents to this people? What would you what would you do? What would be the primary means? It's very simple.
13:51 You would probably teach it. I'm gonna now have a series on what? On what is the hope to which he has called you? For the next seven weeks, we're gonna do a series about what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the same. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but what I find so fascinating about Paul is that he doesn't necessarily expound on these things before he tells them that I'm praying for you to experience them.
14:20 I am praying that your eyes will be open. And what Paul reveals here is that you can have incredible abilities to argue and illustrate and and be compelling in your communication skills. Those things are not enough. And we're living in an age in which even among Christians, we are moving further and further away from the supernatural components of our faith. So much so that so many people have shriveled up in their prayer life, including ministers.
14:55 Paul didn't rely on his oratory skills. Paul didn't rely purely on his writing ability. Paul understood here that growth in spiritual knowledge cannot be fully achieved until I take some time to put my knees on the end of my bed and to ask God for you to see it with greater clarity and supernatural assistance. So elders, if there are elders here, beyond elders of NBC, when you're ready to share the word of God, do you pray for the people to see what you're about to explain? Youth group leaders, do you pray for the young people every other Friday when you give a small lesson?
15:38 Do you ask God, Lord, I'm praying that you would open their eyes because I can only take them so far. Parents, oh, my beloved parents and so the babies in here make me so happy. They don't bother me one bit. I love to hear the voice of these children as they are in the presence of God's people, in the presence of singing in his word. But can I ask you something?
16:01 Are you creating a habit even now with those little ones in your arms to pray and ask God that as soon as they can, their little eyes would be able to behold the majesty of Jesus Christ? Because apart from prayer, it's gonna take a lot more work and your strength to do it. Paul says, I'm praying that you would see. He didn't depend on humanistic ideas. In fact, he he echoes this not in Ephesians one, in Ephesians three in that very famous passage where he says, I bow my knees before the Father.
16:32 Then he goes on to tell them another thing that he's praying for, that they would know the height, the depth, the breadth, right, the length of the love of Jesus Christ. I'm praying that you would know that. Again, I can explain to you the love of Christ, and there is an importance in that, in preaching and teaching and declaring and explaining. You you can't nullify that. But Paul here also shows that it's one thing to explain the love of Jesus.
16:58 It's another thing to experience it. And I believe Paul understood that to experience it, it must be prayed over. Lest what happens here is just a lesson, and there's no real impartation through the power of the Holy Spirit who takes these truths and drives them into your heart. So Paul here believed that unless I seek the Lord, people's eyes will not be able to open up to the degree that they should be opened. That's true for people you pray for and certainly that's true for yourself as you pray and you ask God, let me see you.
17:38 Let me understand you. Let me behold the wondrous things out of your out of your law. Open my eyes, God, please. But that's not the only thing. There's a second thing that prayer does.
17:47 Prayer not only opens spiritual eyes, prayer increases and matures our love. So that's found in Philippians chapter one. Go there with me if you would. And in verse nine to verse 10, I'm here to tell you today that love, holy spirit love, Christ centered and themed love is not gonna come through spontaneous combustion. Right?
18:18 This kind of godly love does not have to be dependent upon your empathy being stirred by some event or some suffering that you're beholding. Paul shows us here that there can be a loved access and experience through prayer. Notice what he says to these believers. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. So Paul wrote a total of four letters from prison.
18:57 This is one of them. And what's amazing here is that in every single letter, his prison epistles, he mentions how he is praying for the Christians that he is writing to. You know why that's important? Because although Paul was bound by chains, although he couldn't walk and travel and sail to be before the people and to preach to them and to counsel them and to console them, he knew prayer can go where he could not go. He knew that though he may be shackled, his prayers could not be limited.
19:25 They could traverse through the walls. They can traverse through terrain and cities and provinces. It's no accident that Paul told the people while under house arrest that he was praying for them because prayers outlive the people who even pray them. Do you realize that? Prayers will outlive you.
19:49 There are some people I believe, including George Mueller, who were told of George Mueller that he prayed for two specific individuals to come to Christ. One of them did right before he died and the other one did after he died. Prayers outlive the ones who pray them. That's a remarkable thing about prayer. And Paul here tells him, I'm praying for you, and then the theme of his prayers centers on love.
20:11 But notice that he qualifies the kind of love that he's asking God for. He's not very general. He gives three features about the kind of love that prayer makes possible for your life. And you're saying, well, why is this important? If you're a Christian, you understand how important love is.
20:26 The first characteristic, if you're taking those, these are subpoints to what Paul is praying for. Three features of this love that if you but pray for, can be true for you. And the first one is this, that the the love they would know would be abounding. Isn't that what he says? And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more.
20:49 So it's not that the Philippians lacked love because earlier he commends them for their support In verse seven, but Paul knew that there was even more, even more for them to tap into. And this is what he's asking God for. And he understood, listen, that prayer is the spiritual pump that draws out tangible, sacrificial, Christ reflecting love from any heart that desires it. And if you're honest enough to say that you're weak in love for your spouse, for your church, for your elders, for fellow believers, for the lost, for certain ethnic people. You're in need of prayer, and ask the Lord for it to abound more and more and you will be amazed at how God will inspire you.
21:40 You would be fascinated to realize what he can do, but Paul doesn't stop there. The second quality he seeks for the people about their love is not just that it would abound, not that it would overflow merely, but that it would be a knowledgeable love. Isn't that what he says? That it would abound more and more with knowledge and discernment. So we talk about love in in such a general way, and it's foreign to the Bible.
22:08 The Bible has specific, meticulous ways of describing biblical love, and one of them is a knowledgeable love. And And what does that mean? What does it mean for love to be knowledgeable? Well, because there are many people who love but not loving the truth. And there are some people who love, and their love is, more stimulated by emotion than conviction.
22:33 So the extended love depends on the fuel of what they're feeling that day or that week. If they feel like loving you, you you'll experience their agape love. If they don't feel like it, then you might not experience it. And so so many acts of service, so many sacrifices, so many, times of patience are dependent, unfortunately, on on stirrings of the heart. And Paul's saying, I'm actually asking that God would give you a love so much deeper than that that it would not rely on things that are so fleeting, like how you woke up that morning.
23:08 And because you had a good week and not a bad week, I'm asking for something greater than that. A love that is stimulated by knowledge rooted in what you know. And this is important because I wonder I wonder what Paul would have prayed like when he asked God for that. I I imagine that it would be, Lord, let the believers in Philippi come to a place where they love because they know who you are, and they know what you've done for them. Lord, please let this love be unbroken.
23:38 Let it be something that remains. Let it be something that's not easily taken from them. Let it stay true. And as they grow in their knowledge of you, may that only increase their love more and more, a knowledgeable love. But here's where I think is is the most interesting feature about this love.
23:55 He's not just talking about a love that abounds, not just a love that's knowledgeable rooted in truth, but a love that's discerning. I'm praying that you would increase in your love with knowledge and discernment, and I cannot express how relevant this is to us today. There are Christians who believe and there are Christians who defend, and there are Christians who act on behalf of people and causes in our culture, churches that embrace agendas and ideologies thinking that they are doing so in love. And they justify it because it's done in love. And it lacks discernment.
24:42 And a love that lacks discernment is dangerous Because what you end up doing is manifesting a type of love that lavishes affection and approval on those who will live in open and unrepentant sin. Christians who will give anything to anybody out of their compulsive compassion. There are so many things that can go wrong when Christians do things in the name of love, void of discernment. And Paul says, I'm praying that your love would be protected and it would be funneled and it would be framed by discerning instruction. So a discerning level instruct you when to comfort.
25:25 A discerning level call you to rebuke at times. A discerning level tell you when to go, when to stay, what to give, what to not give, what to support, what not to support. Fail to have this discernment, and you'll end up supporting and feeding things that can even damn people to hell. So if you don't seek the Lord for a discerning kind of love, you're gonna do more harm than good, and Paul understood that. And so he prayed for this discernment.
25:57 But it's it's more than that. Discerning love doesn't just doesn't just decide what to do and what not to do, what to believe and what not to believe, what to support and what not to support, but this is where it gets more practical. This discerning love also, in in a very real way, tells us the best way to go about loving people. I would be afraid if you love your unbelieving neighbor in the same way you love your spouse. That would be wrong.
26:27 There would be problems there. There will be problems if you love your brothers in Christ the same way you love your sisters in Christ. Right? And so Paul understands that there is a wisdom in love love that needs to be accessed in order for us to be the most effective in our loving so he prays for a discernment. That you would know what to do in every situation and every single person, every object of your love by the spirit living in you will give you the exact and the best way to lavish them with Christ affection for them.
27:04 Paul is so obviously led by the Spirit in listing these things. And so we see here that this multifaceted way of love, God is ready to dispense it if we just humble ourselves and ask for it. Isn't I mean, what a gift this is. What a gift this is that I don't have to excuse my lack of love or my careless love or my spontaneous love to my disposition or my upbringing. Now all of that can be canceled if I just get before the Lord and say, Lord, if Paul believed it was possible for the Philippians and himself to experience it, give it to me.
27:41 Give it to me. You know who got it? Not the Philippians at this point at least, the Thessalonians. You don't have to turn there, but listen to these amazing words about the Thessalonians and what kind of love they experienced. In first Thessalonians four nine, Paul says, now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
28:11 God did a direct work in the heart of the Thessalonians, and Paul recognized it. He says, what you guys are doing for each other and for others outside of your church, that comes from God. No doubt about it. Imagine that. That prayer can can take us beyond listening to a series of message on love.
28:33 Though that's important. I'm not trying to dismiss that or belittle that, but I'm trying to open our hearts to realize that this thing called prayer, we can't afford to neglect it. There's something to be known in it that deserves greater attention. And before I move on, I wonder if we caught this when Paul spoke to the Philippians. Right?
28:53 He asked that their love would abound, that it would be with knowledge and discernment. For what reason? So that they would be found blameless at the day of Christ. Did you catch that? If you didn't catch it, go back and look at it.
29:04 He says it here in verse nine of Philippians and 10, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. When you're talking about the day of Christ, you're talking about the return of Christ. You're talking about Christ coming back to judge this world. He's gonna do that, by the way. He's gonna come and he's gonna clean house.
29:24 He's gonna he's gonna do everything that we have been hoping for for generations in establishing a government that will be without fail and promote a peace that will be eternal. He's gonna do it. Only him. It's not gonna be your favorite political candidate. I'm sorry to disappoint you.
29:41 Only Christ is king, and only Christ will make everything right. But notice in Paul's mind, when he speaks about the day of Christ and believers preparing for the day of Christ, you know what's going through his mind? Their love. Their love increasing as the day of Christ is approaching. And I wonder how many Christians in these tumultuous troubling times as we believe more and more that the return of Christ is closer than it's ever been, how much of our conversation, how much of our dialogue, how much of our praying for one another centers on our love increasing so that when Christ comes back, he'll find his love mirrored in our hearts.
30:25 If your only sense of preparation for the day of Christ is looking for bunkers, loading up an ammunition, and storing up food and buckets, you you're not reading the Bible right. He's telling these Philippians, hey, listen. As the day of Christ is coming closer and closer, get your love going and prayer will get it going. Let Christ come back and find a people who reflect his affection. Prayer creates a love in us and grows it.
31:04 But thirdly, prayer invites us to express and experience, express and experience our holy desires. I I invite you to turn to Romans chapter one. When you come to Romans and you read Romans, you have to understand a very important element about Paul's relationship with these believers. Paul never met the Romans. Paul didn't lead the Romans to Christ.
31:37 Paul heard about their faith. There was already a church established there, and he's writing this letter to them to encourage them in the faith. But he also explains to them that upon hearing about their faith, he's tried many, many times to be there and to meet them. So we don't exactly know who led the Romans to the gospel, but there is a clue in Acts chapter two verse 10 when the day of Pentecost occurred and the Holy Spirit fell upon the 120 in that upper room, and we're told about different names of peoples or people groups rather that were present when they began to speak in tongues and glorify God in their respective languages. And we're we're told there that there were visitors from Rome.
32:21 So it could very well be that there were Romans who were there during the feast, and they heard about the gospel and they went back with the gospel changing them and a church being established through that. Nevertheless, Paul, he was moved by their testimony. He he explains something here in verse nine. I want us to read it together. For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing, I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may know at last or that somehow rather, excuse me, at last in coming to you.
33:01 For I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. So he said, listen. I I haven't mentioned before, but I wanna tell you and I'm calling God to witness that I haven't stopped praying for you. And the fact that he has to call God to witness about his prayer life shows how difficult it is to remain consistent in our prayers. Right?
33:24 To say that I have not stopped praying for you, that's a difficult feat to accomplish. Right? But he says, I'm calling God to witness that I actually have been consistent in seeking God on your behalf. And he prays, but we see here that there were these hurdles. There were these external obstacles from him actually getting there.
33:42 He's done it over and over again. And I am happy that Paul never went to Rome at this time. Do you know why I'm happy? Because perhaps if Paul did go to Rome, he would never have written the book of Romans. The book of Romans is the result of him being restricted and him reaching out with his efforts to bless this church from a distance.
34:06 So so don't be squeamish and don't raise your fist to heaven if God closes a door. Maybe he's wanting to open something else. Else. One of the most brilliant, fascinating, theological masterpieces came as a result of God not allowing one of his men to go to Rome. But we see here that providence is not the only insight we gained from this early chapter.
34:29 We also are instructed about what what apostolic praying looks like. So he says here, God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of the sun, that without ceasing, I mention you my prayers. And notice that Paul, again, calls God to witness, but more than that, he tells them that he submitted to God's will in the whole matter. So look at verse 10. He says, always in my prayers asking that somehow by God's will.
34:57 So when you pray, you're always keeping in mind and you're always ready to submit to God's ultimate decision with your prayer request. And by the fact, that the fact that he's saying God's will is even more meaningful when you look at his desire in verse 11. Look at the beginnings of verse 11. For I long to see you. Like, he really wanted to see the Romans.
35:17 He really wanted to travel. He really wanted to impart something to them, and he really wanted to receive something in return. I long to see you, and yet, I still am willing to submit to the will of God. That's that's what we must do. First, how often do you take your desires to prayer?
35:37 How often do you communicate those desires to him? Is he your friend? We sang it. My lord. Right?
35:43 My companion. My friend. So when's the last time you have just in simplicity and in honesty poured out your heart and say, Lord, I I long for this? It can be anything. As As long as it's holy, if it's sinful, you have no business even entertaining it.
35:56 But if it's holy like these things, Lord, my heart really yearns for this. I really wanna serve in this way. I really wanna be married. There's nothing wrong with that. I really wanna begin this project.
36:09 I really wanna do this. You have every right to do that. That's one of the gifts of prayer that we can vent to the Lord. We can open ourselves before him, but at the same time, guard yourself by constant surrender to the sovereignty of God. Because what you'll realize over time is that no matter how strong your desires are, if God gave you everything that you asked for, that would hurt you more than anything else.
36:31 Listen. I've been walking with the Lord, let's say, here twelve years now, and there are many prayers that I thought should be answered. And in hindsight, I'm so glad God didn't answer. Very happy, actually. And so I come with that boldness and I come with that honesty, but I also am cushioned by knowing that as I'm speaking to my father, he will not give me something that he knows will not be good.
36:55 He knows. And so I I'm never nervous wondering if I prayed hard enough or long enough to convince God. That's not how it works. He honors your faith, but he goes more than just honoring your faith. He will protect you from things that you think will be good will actually not be good.
37:13 We've been studying Elijah, and I've mentioned this before, but I can't help but refer to him. Elijah prayed three significant prayers. One time was fire from heaven, and it came instantly. The second time he prayed for rain, it came slowly. And the third time he prayed to die, and God never answered it.
37:30 In fact, he never died. Right? And so we have to understand those things. God can answer prayers right away. God can answer prayers slowly.
37:41 And one of God's hidden blessings is that God will not answer your prayer. Paul here prayed and he's he submitted to the will of God. And, you know, there are some people who are afraid to pray and ask God for his will because they think it'll be lesser than what they have planned. If you have that understanding of God, take a pause on, understanding how prayer works and and explore the character of God first. Because you have a skewed understanding of how good he is.
38:12 I've talked to so many people like that. I'm scared that if I ask God, he's gonna do this, and I don't want that. So you have a better blueprint for your life than God, supposedly. But look here at verse 11. Paul celebrated the faith of the Romans and he believed that there is more for them to tap into just like what we read earlier in the Ephesians.
38:32 But what I love about his request for the spiritual enrichment of these believers is that he volunteered to be the means of it. So look again at verse 11. For I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. So Paul wanted the Romans to be blessed.
38:55 Paul wanted the Romans to grow, but Paul, in his prayers, also volunteered himself to be the answer to those prayers. Does that make sense? I hope I didn't put you in a pretzel there with your thinking. I'll tell you why this is important because sometimes how Christians use prayer is as a scapegoat. They try to use prayer as a way of not having to deal with things or involve themselves or thing with things or interact with people, and and so they kind of try to pray it away.
39:25 Right? And so we ask the Lord and and we comfort ourselves because we're doing a holy thing. We're praying, but what we're doing really doing is saying, Lord, can you just not let me deal with this or not let me have to face this? Paul didn't pray like that. Paul prayed for believers from a distance, but Paul also positioned himself to say, and, Lord, I'm willing to be the answer to that prayer too.
39:49 I'm willing to come. And so listen, prayer is meant to transcend your capabilities, but it's also designed to empower you, to enlighten you, and to help you achieve the very things that you're praying for. So don't don't rely on prayer as a way of, distancing yourself. Allow prayer to do something in you so that you can embrace the very thing that you're challenged by. We see here something else in verse 12.
40:17 Paul, if you read all his prayers, they are spiritual in nature. There's always related to things about the soul, things about salvation, things about sanctification, and he's always praying for others to be blessed, people to be saved, people to be healed, people to be rescued. But from time to time, you find Paul praying things for himself. And so he comes in verse 12 and he asked not only for them to be built up, but he says here that we may be mutually encouraged. And I see here an invitation that you and I should ask God for things.
41:10 You and I should ask God for spiritual blessing, for miracles, for help, for manifestations, for whatever you are a part of to be more heavenly and spirit empowered. He really sets a precedent for what should happen every time you gather with Christians. Right? There should be a giving and a taking, a providing and a receiving that we may be mutually encouraged. Everybody is going to give something and everybody's gonna leave with something.
41:40 If that's how we operate in our churches, we'll be much more excited for church. So he sought God to be with other believers. He sought God to be blessed by those believers. He sought God for things, and God would honor that, or would he? That Paul received the answer to his prayer to be with the Romans?
42:09 People are staring at me. I see some shoulder shrugging. I see some people saying no. I see some people saying yes. You want an answer?
42:20 Acts 28 is your answer. Acts 28 verse fourteen and fifteen. The last chapter of the book of Acts tells us Acts 28 verse 14. Luke writes, there we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days and so we came to Rome. Oh, looks like somebody made it to Rome.
42:56 And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum Of Appius and the three taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. Paul got his answer to prayer. I really wanna see the Romans, Lord. I really want to know them.
43:16 I want to experience encouragement with them, and God gave him that request. But keep in mind how God answered his request. Well, that makes all the difference. Right? How did Paul arrive to Rome?
43:34 Did he purchase a ticket on kayak and get a one way, nonstop route? Study acts and realize what it took for him to get to Rome. False accusation, beatings, a failed assassination attempt, shipwreck at sea, stranded on an island, bitten by a snake. Finally, after all of that, he gets to Rome. So be very specific with your prayer request, but be very open to how God will answer it.
44:11 Yeah? Because that's where a lot of people get disappointed in prayer. They they ask God for things, and when he brings it about in his timing and in his way, they get frustrated, perhaps not even realizing that God is in the process of answering it. So the way to rejoice in prayer, to have confidence in prayer, to know joy in prayer is to marry prayer with the doctrine of providence, that God can bring this about, and I am fully submitted to the way he's going to perform it. I wanna invite you tonight by limiting my time in preaching and giving more time this evening to praying.
45:00 I wanna ask you to muster up the faith to believe God for something tonight in this very room. Parents, your wayward children who you would love to see here at this conference but are not here because they'd rather be in the world than be in the presence of God's people. I'm inviting you tonight to grab a hold of your husband's hand, of your wife's hand, to look each other in the eye and say, let's pray. Let's pray for him. Let's pray for her.
45:34 Children, your parents whom you would love to see in heaven. I I know so many people try to understand the mechanics of prayer. God's will and my prayers, how does that work? If God really wanted to unfold the engineering of prayer and how that all works and how all that can be reconciled, he would have given us a whole book on it, I'm sure. But from my study of praying in the Bible, what I've come to the conclusion about it is that when you and I pray, God hears that specifically for a person and he will go based on your prayer and intensify his conviction, his power, his love, his protection for the one that you are praying for.
46:20 And where I get that from is Abraham and Lot. Abraham prayed for Lot. And what did God do for Lot? He went above and beyond to rescue Lot from Sodom, and he still gave Lot a choice, didn't he not? He says, hey.
46:33 Listen. You're out of here. Don't turn back. If you look back, it's over. And his wife looked back.
46:40 So what I take from that is when we when we intercede for people, the Lord does work in their lives in a profound way in a way that would not be realized if you'd not prayed. So I'm I'm asking you, you people who have a lost father, a lost mother, pray tonight and ask God would do a miracle in the very moments of your prayers for your ministries. So many ministries represented here. Maybe your services for months have been absolutely dead, and you can't figure out a solution. You tried the games route.
47:16 You tried the entertainment route. You've tried the video route. You've tried everything. It's not working. Why don't you spend some time praying and asking God to pour out his spirit and to open their eyes, to warm their hearts, to do something with your preaching, to do something with the singing.
47:36 That would be more than just external emotion. It would be deeper because now God's hand is on the things that you're doing because you prayed. Your desires. Maybe you've come to this conference with desires on your heart and it's it's actually weighing you. And you've you've come to the point where you're like, I can't even talk to people about it because I think I've annoyed most people, repeating myself about my desires and my longings.
48:06 People might get tired, but the eternal one does not. He is never overwhelmed with your request even if they're repeated. He never sighs when you approach the throne of grace. He never shoos you away. He actually delights in you casting your anxieties at his feet.
48:23 He delights in it. So why don't you take some time and you're gonna have an all nighter. I'm sure perhaps some of you, you're gonna be with people. Why don't you tonight just block out people around you and just bow your head and murmur your petitions to the Lord of glory? Why don't you do that?
48:44 And don't do it tonight because the person with the microphone's telling you to do it. Do it tonight because you just got a glimpse of what prayer can do, the miracles that can take place, the moments that can be created. So let's bow our heads. And I'm gonna just ask a couple of people from the praise team to gently assist us in music. So at this time, if you need to pray on your own, pray on your own.
49:19 But if you wanna grab the hand of somebody else, if you wanna pray with two, three other people and, I wanna make one more I wanna ask that if you've come with somebody who doesn't know Jesus Christ, to ask them if they would like to give their lives to Jesus Christ. Explain to them the gospel that God sent his son in great love to die on a cross for our sins, so that we would not experience the wrath of God, but the love of God for all eternity. And if that person has any obstacles, any questions, take the time to answer that and pray with them that they would experience the gospel after understanding it. So let's do that. So if the praise team can come, please, I'm gonna take some time to pray as well.
50:18 If you need anything to be prayed for, if you wanna combine faith together, I'm gonna be back there and I'm willing to pray with you. And if there are more than one person who wants prayer, just please keep that in mind. As much as I would like to hear everything in detail, I wanna also give an equal chance to other people to receive prayer. But I wanna ask every person here, let's lift our eyes to heaven. Let's lift our our hearts to the throne of glory and ask the Lord to do something spectacular.
50:42 What would it be like to leave Maranatha Conference and to see answers to prayer? That's what I'm hoping and believing God for. Let's do that, shall we?
