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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's words you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 830 or 10:30 a.m. If you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, find [email protected] be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: So good to see all of you this morning. Before we get into our message, I just want to take a moment to express my appreciation to our shepherds for last week as we had our vision Sunday. And for those of you who were here, you know what a room packed and with all of our church family in the same room together means. It's just great to have everybody together. And that worship was certainly encouraging and stimulating and exciting and all those kinds of things. The singing was awesome, messages were good. But I want to share my appreciation for what the shepherds put before us in reminding us of what took place last year and looking back and seeing the great things that have happened and the growth that we've experienced here. We don't say that with any kind of sense of pride, but just in gratitude for what God has done and what we see him doing. When you look up and you have 75 new families, and that's amazing. But if you go into, forget the number, but if you go into each of those families individually and you get to meet them and you get to see them rolling up their sleeves and getting active and involved and getting plugged in, that is just something that is amazing. And so that 150 or whatever it is, new members is exciting and it's great for us to think about. It's great for us to look forward to and be excited about being here together. But I also think about while we learned all about the great things that have happened, in fact, the elders challenged us to give a certain amount. Last year we gave more than that. That was wonderful to see that we were generous in our spirits and we were ready to share and to give more, and that's great. But they also put in front of us that while we see all of these great things happening in our world, we also see some of the things that are still challenges out there and things in our community that are open doors for us. We think about, while all of this is good and we see this very affluent community here in Madison, there's still poverty. There's still a lot of children who are on reduced lunches, reduced and free lunches. There's still a lot of families that are coming into this area that we don't know yet. We have seen population increases in all kinds of different directions. And we look at all of those things and it just says there's opportunity. So I'm excited that as we thought about the concept of overflowing, that God's blessings have overflowed on all of us. And as we are now overflowing out of this facility, the expansion and all the things that they put in front of us. But I want you to catch the message that is most important in my mind, and that is that the church in acts chapter two, they were about really four things, says they met together. They embraced the apostles teaching, and those were the things that Jesus taught. And they began to share those things with other people. They came together, they broke bread together, they enjoyed meals together, they had fellowship. They enjoyed this special unity that was only found in Christ.
And then they devoted themselves to prayer.
I think it's amazing that when we think about that, that's the formula for moving forward, right? That's the talking points. That's the measure of whether or not we're doing what that early church did. And I want you to notice that if you look at their practices, you'll see increased growth, you'll see enthusiasm, you'll see God's spirit working in their lives and how he shaped the community around them, how they began to be a people who drew favor, and they were people who were magnetic. The Bible talks about the apostles as they turned the world upside down. And so as we think about what has been in the past at Madison and as we look forward to the future and we see that the fields are still widened to harvest, and we still see the blessing of the opportunities that are out there and things that we have not yet tapped into, that expansion is going to help us meet those needs, and that's a very powerful tool. And so all of us need to be preparing ourselves to challenge ourselves to do more and to think about ways that we can do that. In the midst of those four things that we saw last week, there are two things that our shepherds really wanted to put out in front of us. And those things are what we're going to focus a lot of time on this next year. So 2024 is going to be a year that we talk a whole lot about prayer and Bible study. We believe these two spiritual disciplines are going to help us get into that right frame of mind that helps us be the church that we need to be, not just for us and to enjoy this blessing together, but for us to share this with the rest of our community right here in Madison. And so I'm excited about it. I hope you guys are, too. What a great message they put in front of us. What a great challenge they put in front of us. And we all need to prepare ourselves for that. So as we begin this new year and as we begin this first series of the year, we're going to be talking about creating a culture of prayer. And Andrew is going to specifically deal with some of that next week. So I don't want to get into that too much. But the idea of a culture of prayer where we begin thinking about ways that we can strengthen our relationship with God through our communication to him. That communication is two ways we talked about Bible study, but we're going to focus this next six or eight weeks on prayer. These are some of the things that we're going to be talking about. We're going to talk today about the prayer that we have in prayer or through prayer. We're going to talk about creating a prayer culture here at Madison, and we believe that's going to be an amazing thing. What does that look like? We've got lots of questions about that, but we want our place to be known as a place of prayer. We also want to talk about how we need to become more vulnerable, how we need to be a little bit more open to sharing things that are going on in our lives in ways that we're struggling, ways that we need help, ways that we can improve our lives and getting really open and revealing those things. The Bible talks about in James chapter five, how we pray for one another and we confess our faults to one another. And through that, there's some healing that takes place as God kind of helps us, as we open ourselves up and open up our hearts, that he comes in and helps us through those tough times. And so we'll talk about that in great length. We're going to talk about praying through the psalms. We have a guest speaker coming. His name is Randall Bailey. He is one of the professors I went through when I was at Faulkner. And I may have thought of him as brutality, but he's a really good guy, and I expect that he will come and share with us some things that are really powerful he's written a book on the life circumstances in the book of psalms and how those prayers can help us in all the things that we go through in life. And then, of course, we'll talk about praying for each other and praying in our homes and how we create that culture of prayer, not only just in this area around here with us, but in our individual homes and in our individual hearts and lives. And so there's a lot for us to discover, a lot for us to go through. And we won't hit all of these things today, but you can expect the next six or seven weeks for us to really talk about this. And I want to encourage all of us right now to open up your hearts and your minds to this, because I think we think in terms of prayer that it's something we do, and I think we have made it a little bit more repetitive and maybe at certain times of the day or certain things. But I want us to be encouraged with this first passage this morning, and it comes from first Thessalonians, chapter five, verses 16 through 19. If you were with us a couple of weeks ago, we talked about the joy that Paul had for these people at Thessalonica, the relationship that he enjoyed with them, and what a blessing it was to not only see that their reputation was strong in that community, but that their reputation had expanded to Achaea and to Macedonia and to other places. Their reputation was so strong, and he was very proud of them and had a great relationship with them. So as he's wrapping up this first letter to them, this is one of the things that he concludes with, and it's this, rejoice, always pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
So he says these things, and I hope that you're capturing, there's one word that sticks out above all of this, and that's the word always, if you think about it. Always rejoice, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances, the term always. And he says, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. In other words, if you belong to Jesus, there are certain things that are meant to be going on all the time. And one of those things is the idea of joy. Now, I just want to encourage all of us to embrace this. This is something very difficult for us, because in our lives, there are lots of things that slow us down from getting to where we want to go or accomplishing the things that we want to accomplish. We feel like maybe we're spinning our wheels from time to time. And so in the midst of that battle, that daily grind, sometimes it's hard for us to be joyful people. But I want you to know that God has saved you.
He's forgiven you. He's given you a new life in Christ. And because of that, we have reason to rejoice. That's why Paul in prison, even in those circumstances, says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. That's why he can say to these people at Thessalonica, rejoice always. The second part of that is pray. Pray all the time. And so as we're beginning this series and we're talking about prayer and how important it is for our lives, I want us to capture that there's a sense in which we do this all the time. And you may say to yourself, well, I don't want to walk around with my eyes closed all the time. In fact, sometimes I'm driving down the road. No, open up your eyes while you're driving.
But begin the day with a prayer. And as you are spiritually aware of things that are going on in your life all day long, begin to lift those things up to God. If you see something of concern, pray about it. If you see something you're thankful for, pray about it. If you see something that alarms you, pray about it. If you see something that makes you afraid for down the road, pray about those things. In every one of those situations and in all those circumstances, pray. And so he says, be joyful people. Be prayerful people. And then, man, here's another one, be thankful.
We talk about it a lot in November, but, folks, it's time for us as God's people to demonstrate that gratitude that we have for all that he provides for us.
I'm reminded that sometimes I don't always lead with my gratitude. Maybe I whine, maybe I complain a little bit. Maybe I don't see the blessings for the struggles that are in front of me. And sometimes I'm not a very grateful person, and I hate that about me. But I think what God is calling all of us as christians to do is to recognize the blessings that we have and to find that gratitude and that thankfulness in our hearts. And he says for us to always be this way. So we're supposed to set a standard for the other people. We meant last week we talked about the light, right? How we are to represent the light. And so we can do that by these things, doing them over and over. Now, the last part of that. And you may remember what the verse says. The last part of it says, do not quench the spirit. What I'm trying to tell you is simply this. That those three things, when done properly, they allow the spirit to work in our lives and to change things and to change people and to change us from the inside. But if we're not doing those things, you get the picture here that it's a quenching. It's a pouring water on those flames. It's putting it out. It's doing it away with it. So he says that these are three things that we need to be doing. So we want to focus our hearts on prayer. Now, as I was studying for this three or four books that I read, at least two of them made the analogy that prayer is like breathing physically, because. So prayer is spiritually to us what breathing is to us physically. Now, I don't know if you guys have lost your breath. I'm reminded of something that happened just maybe a year or so ago. Gage came home from a trip. This is my oldest son. He's in college. He's a freshman. He's know. And he came home from a trip. He was super tired. And his little brother Nick had friends over, and they were having a good time. And he looked over and saw that Gage was asleep. Just mouth open, that kind of thing. Just really passed out. And Nick said, watch this. And you know what's about to happen, right? So he walks over and he smacks him right on top of the.
You know. And he starts, you know, I'm not quick. I couldn't get to Gage quick enough. And you know what happened next? Right before I could get, Gage was on him like wild on rice and a glass of milk on a paper plate and a snowstorm. And he jumped on top of him. Before I knew it, he had him. Wow. And gave him a nice uppercut right in the gut. And when he did that, Nick went and he held that pose for what felt like forever. And I get over there and I'm like, gage, stop. He's like, he woke me up. It's a big thing going on. And so now I'm dealing with Nick. Is he internally know? And I look over at him and he's like, just breathe. He's like, I can't. I can't breathe. It's expelled, every bit of it. And I can identify with this a little bit. I have a genetic thing. Okay. Some of you may know about this, some of you may not know about it, but I sneeze every time I see the sun.
That was my daughter laughing because she knows this is true. If you watch me today and the sun is out and I walk out into the parking lot, you will watch me. And if you know me, you know I don't get cheated on. Sneezes like it's a blast for the whole community. Like, I get it out of there. Because in my mind, if God gave that sneeze to you, you are to expel it, right? So I do that.
Well, when I was maybe 15 years ago, we were at Rainbow Omega, we carved out this, like, literally cut out trees out of a quarter of a mile of these woods to create a walking path for the residents. And we created this gigantic burn pile. And it was so much fun. It was just so good to see that work come to fruition. And we're burning that pile. And for a while, just to have an adult on the scene where we were lighting things up and burning them, I stayed close to those flames and I absorbed a lot of the smoke. And after about two or two days or so, I started getting really wheezy, like almost asthmatic. And I was having a hard time breathing. I couldn't catch a deep breath, and if I did, I would lose my breath. It was kind of concerning. So I went to the doctor and they did some tests on me and had a lot of questions, had a lot of questions about whether I had asthma and those kinds of things. I didn't. But as we looked into it, it turns out they asked me, have you been near a burn pile with poison ivy?
I was like, yes, I have.
They were like, how long? I said, like hours.
Okay, well, you have inhaled poison ivy in your lungs, and so you're having a reaction.
Okay, well, they said it's going to take about ten to twelve weeks. We'll get you fixed up. You're going to have steroid shots, you're going to have these antibiotics, you're going to have all these different things. And I was like, okay. But, folks, when I would sneeze or when I would cough, everything would seize up and close.
And when it would close, literally spasm.
I could not get air.
And it would last for about 30 seconds. It wasn't like a minute or anything like that. But if you're like me and you sneeze wholeheartedly, okay, and you do that and then it closes up, you cannot get air. It's desperate, it's horrifying. It's ridden with anxiety. And every time I would get to where I felt like things were starting to get dark around me, right? And as they would get dark around me, I would, and find a little bit of air. And that little air would get me up and get me running again. And I take a breath and I would slowly but surely catch my breath. I did this for ten to twelve weeks, okay? Every time I sneezed, every time I coughed again, every time I look at the sun, look all those things. And if you can imagine that every time there's anxiety and struggle and battle and all those kinds of things. So when I hear quotes like this, to be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than being alive without breathing. I want you to understand what it's saying here is for us, spiritually speaking, if we are not in constant conversation with God, we're leaving some gaps where we're not breathing. We're leaving some gaps where the system is failing. We're leaving some gaps where we find stress, where we find anxiety, where we find terrifying things and heartache and disappointments and struggle, because we are not in constant connection with the God who provides us with that comfort. Find words like this in Matthew chapter seven, where it says, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find, knock and it will be open unto you. Talks about giving over our request to God because he's the one who gives us these gifts. We as parents may not always give the best gift, but even we try to give good gifts to our children. How much greater will those gifts be for God in heaven? And so, wow. This passage reminds us that we can lift up our concerns or lift up our request to God, and we can ask for the things that we want in life. And of course, we got to fall in line with his will. That's certainly the case, but I'm thankful that I can call out to him when I'm troubled and when I'm going through difficult times, that that is a freedom that I get and a release of those anxieties and those struggles, and I can give those things over to him. But not only that, but James chapter one is also encouraging because it reminds me that I can also call on him for wisdom and discernment.
You ever find yourself saying, I just don't know what to do spiritually here? I don't know what the right thing is. Have you taken the time to pray to God?
Because this passage says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it'll be given to him. Now, here's the qualifier, let him ask in faith, not wavering. A person who wavers is tossed about like the wind is, and they're unstable in all their ways. It's not ask God and then take it back. It's not ask God and not believe in it. It's no, ask God to help you and confidently trust that he's going to provide the answers for you.
That is what we're wanting to create as a culture here at Madison, that we are in constant conversation with God. So in my mind, the goal of prayer is three things.
It's to gain the ear of God, to have his presence with us, and then to tap into his power.
And I think that's what we all need to be striving for. Those three things, the ear of God, his presence and his power. Let's talk about his ear.
There are several passages that I think, help me. And there's way more than I could put into one sermon. Okay, so before I say that this is like a comprehensive list, this is not. In fact, if you go through the scriptures and you list, just look for passages that talk about God listening or him hearing us.
You just can't even imagine how often it talks about God hearing our prayers. But in two chronicles, chapter seven, this is where Solomon has rededicated the temple. And God comes to him and says these things to him. Now that the temple is there, my presence will be there. He says this, if my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear them from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. One John, chapter five. We read this already. This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
We want God's listening ear. Jeremiah, chapter 29. In talking to Jeremiah writes a letter to the exiles who were over in Babylon. And he says, hey, there's coming a day where you can come back. And here are some things that you need to understand in those days when you pray, God says, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. And then psalm 40, verse one. I waited patiently for the Lord to hear me, and he turned to me and he heard my cry.
What is it like to know that we can call on the God of the universe? And through our sorrow, through our fears, through our struggles, through our terrible circumstances in life, even through our sinfulness, he is willing to hear us.
But I'm reminded, as I think about this, that there can be obstacles in the way.
The Isaiah, chapter 59, verse one and two passage where it talks about God's ear not being dull, that he can't hear and it's arm short that he can't save. It's our iniquities that have separated us from our God so that he won't hear us.
What he's saying is, if we're living in rebellion, we are turning our back on him. But when we turn back to him, he hears us. The Bible says the Lord is near to the broken hearted and close to those who are crushed in their spirits. What an awesome thing to have the ear of God. Let's pray about that as a church.
Father, thank you so much for listening.
So thankful, Father, that we have this kind of confidence that we can call out to you and know that you're listening. And we know sometimes, Father, that there are obstacles that stand in the way of us, of us finding your listening ear. And, Father, I'm asking right now that you will remind us of those things in our life that are not wholesome, that are not pure, that are not inside your will. And that you will give us the courage, Father, to confess those things and to lift them up to you, knowing that that stands in the way of us gaining access to your ear. And I pray, Father, that as we do this, that you will open our hearts to ways that we can be more open to you, that we can share the difficulties that we're going through, that we can become a little bit more open.
And that you, Father, because of your compassion and your mercy, will reach down to us and hear what we have to say. We thank you for the blessing, Father, of knowing that you're there.
And we pray that your hand will guide us through all this. In Jesus name, amen.
Some of us may find ourselves saying, well, what is it like when I can't utter the words, we've talked about this before, that there are moments where you got a struggle. Maybe it's multiple struggles. Maybe there is a spiritual problem that you're facing that is complicated, it's difficult, it's multi layered, and you really and truly just do not know where to begin.
And I'm thankful for passages like this that talk about the Holy Spirit, how it expresses those things to God. It hears the groanings of our heart. It hears the pain. And sometimes all we have to do is just say, God, help me. And all of those things that we're going through. Those things are packaged up beautifully, and they're presented up to God. And I have seen so many of you in circumstances that are so challenging.
And I know there are times where you may bow your head. The tears may come, but the words may not.
I find comfort in this passage that God still hears what you're going through, and he's there to intercede and to help you. The spirit brings those things to God so that he knows exactly what we're going through.
Let's talk about his presence with us. Philippians four, six, and seven is a familiar passage to everyone, and we've probably quoted it so many times. But we're not to be anxious about anything, but through prayer and supplication, we're to let our request be made known to God with thanksgiving. And it says, something happens in that moment that when we give those things over, that the peace of God that surpasses all knowledge guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. I want you to understand something. When we find that peace. I want you to capture this. That is the presence of God helping you in those moments. There's only one person that can bring that peace in your life, and it is God almighty, and we have that rest. That's why Jesus said, come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, because God is the one who comes in and gives us that sense of peace in our heart. How many of you have been through those moments where you were lifting up your prayers to God, and all of a sudden after praying, you just felt that comfort as he came to you? I'm thankful for that passage because it reminds me that his peace is there and his presence is there. Other passages, Isaiah 55 six. Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him while he is near. The Lord is close to all those who call on him. Yes, all those who call on him, in truth, search for the Lord for his strength. Continually seek him. Hebrews four, verse 16, talks about this special relationship that we have, that Jesus has torn down the barriers, and so now we can come boldly to the throne of our gracious God, and there we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. And then the passage in James, chapter four, draw near to God, and he'll draw near to you. Let's pray for that presence of God.
Father, in the midst of our busy schedules and in the midst of the challenges that we're going through in this life, we are overwhelmed at times. And as we call out to you, Father, we know that you hear those things, but we are asking for the release of those burdens. Father, we know we have to cast them on you and that you care for us. But help us to trust in that truth and to recognize that you can bring us to a peaceful understanding of you, and that you can help us see the big picture, that you can help us see with spiritual eyes and know the battle that we're facing and know that we can have comfort. We pray that you help us, Father, to be more open and vulnerable to you. And that in that, and through that, Father, that you will come and provide for us that stability and that foundation that helps us stand so sure, and our hope to be filled in you. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
But then also through prayer, we have access to the power of God.
In Ephesians, chapter six. I love this passage, and you guys do, too. I know that you've taught this in your Bible classes, especially with the small children. We can visualize this so beautifully, and I love it. I've done drawings myself at times of what this armor might have looked like. But I want us to capture what's happening here. In Ephesians chapter five, it talks about us walking in the light, okay? And it says that we are supposed to shine as lights in the midst of the darkness that's around us. And so you may be asking yourself, well, what is that darkness? What does that represent? And in those times, it may have been persecution or maybe been the idolatry that was around them. Different people teaching different things, false teachers and those kinds of things. But as we get closer to the end of this letter, as he's writing this to the Christians at Ephesus, he says this, finally, this final word, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. And he says, put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Now, as we look at this and we think about the armor of God, you're already ahead of me. You're already thinking about all those different aspects of the armor. And I want you to. If you'll push that on pause just for a second, we'll get there. But I want you to recognize that there's a focus here, and it's not the armor.
The focus is not on the things that we put on. The focus is on the one who provides those things for us. And this guy says, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And we do this so we can stand against the schemes of the devil. Our spiritual power rests in God's might. It's not in our own.
And I think too often, maybe we think, I just do these things, and all of a sudden I'm going to be strong against the schemes of the devil. But the reality is that you and I are not very strong. We still have our temptations, we still have our struggles. We still have the things that plague us, the tendencies that we have to do things that are not good for us. It's only through God that we're going to be able to overcome these schemes of the devil. And I want you to recognize that it's not just a physical battle that we're going through. It's much different than that. In fact, the passage goes on to say we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. Again, in those times, thinking about the darkness that was all around them, that these people were to shine out as lights.
And so Paul is reminding them, you're going through a battle, but it's stuff maybe that you can't see, but there are influences out there. There are things out there that shape us, the way we think about things. There are things that we're surrounded by and brought into and pulled into, and we can even just be asleep at the wheel. In fact, Ephesians chapter five says, awake, o sleeper, because the idea is that we can be kind of going through life and not recognizing the things that are being put out in front of us as a trip up. And so he says, we're not wrestling against flesh and blood. This is something I need you to open your mind up to, to have a deeper spiritual awareness for the battle that you're facing. So he says, stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. It's not a belt.
It's the truth of God. And he talks about the breastplate of righteousness. It's not that we put on something and all of a sudden we are great. No, it's that the breastplate belongs to God. It's his righteousness that we get to clothe ourselves in, and it's his power that helps us become righteousness. But he also says to put on your shoes, on your feet, the shoes of the gospel. And it's the readiness of the gospel. It's not shoes. It's the reality that the gospel prepares us. The reality that I am lost in my sin, but Jesus died for me, and that because of that, I can die to myself, be raised up with him in baptism and live a new life. It's that beautiful message that says, I can have a fresh start and I can have a future that lasts way beyond this life here. It's that confidence that I gain as a result of what he has done for me, that readiness of the gospel of peace. And it talks about the shield of faith. Faith is that confidence in God, that he is the one that can shield me from these things. It's not my shield, it's the shield of faith. It's that faith and that trust in God, that that is the thing that will extinguish all those flaming darts, all those fiery arrows of the evil one. And I take my salvation as he owns me. And because I've given myself to him, I belong to him, and he is there fighting this battle for me. And then I take the word of God, that spiritual sword, and I use it as a way to fight off the temptations that are there in front of me. It's like I know the truth, I know what God has said to me, and through it I trusted, and that trust, and that confidence in God is the thing that gives me the power that I need. The message is simple, we need more than the armor of God, we need the God who provides that armor.
And I hope that we're shaping our minds to see this. It's a spiritual battle. And so this idea of us praying to God is so critically important now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think.
Catch this, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Question is not where the power comes from, the question is whether or not we are willing to take the time to access the power of God.
Let's pray about that.
Father, we need your ear, we need your presence.
And we confess, Father, that we are so weak that we need your strength.
We know that you have equipped us, Father, with all the things that you've provided for us.
Help us to place our trust and our confidence in you. Knowing that you will help us, Father, help us to realize that the day to day interactions we have with you, the approach to you, the humility and the coming before you, that we can be your presence in this world. And we ask, Father, that you open our minds up to things that are obstacles for us. We ask that you open up our minds to opportunities that are in front of us. We ask you to open up our hearts to the people that are around us who are lost. And we pray, Father, that as we live our life with joy, as we live our lives in patience and in gratitude, as we live our lives with full confidence in you and that we lift up these things to you, Father, that you will work through our lives to be a shining light to everyone around us. Help us to do this in our homes. Help us to do us to do it in our private time together. Help us, Father, to embrace a daily routine of offering up our lives to you through prayer. And, Father, help us to stand in all of the things that we know you will do in Jesus name. Amen.
In Mark, chapter nine, there's a unique story, and I'll just kind of run through it real quickly here.
I'm afraid sometimes we as christians, because we're very physical beings and because we live here on earth and we interact with people all the time, that we can begin to take on this idea that God works through me, but we forget that it's the God part that is taking place in our lives. And it's because of him that we're able to do what we're able to do. And so I look at this passage because I think it reminds us that even the christians of their time, and Jesus had his followers, and they were going out, and they were healing people, and they were doing all kinds of amazing things. And it may have been that there came a time where maybe they thought that it was them who was doing all these great things, that, yes, God was empowering them, but it was their power, their ability to do this that caused some problems, because there's a story here where it says a man came to them after there was a big uproar in the crowd because something was not happening the way this man wanted. So someone from the crowd answered him. Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute, and whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and he grinds his teeth and becomes so rigid. And so I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able to, and he answered them, o faithless generation. And I want you to understand, I don't think he's talking to necessarily the faithless people that are out in the audience. I think he's talking on some level to his followers, the ones that are doing all of these great things. There's a sense in which he's going, hey, your faith is lacking here. In fact, if we looked at Matthew, chapter 17, we find out that that's one of the things that they're struggling with, is they actually don't trust God. They're kind of trusting in themselves.
And so they brought the boy to Jesus. And when the spirit saw him, immediately convulsed and fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked the father, well, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, well, it's been happening from childhood, and it's often cast him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion and help us.
You ever had a child that needed something and you couldn't provide it, and you're going everywhere in the world to try to find help for that kid.
I know there's some in this room that have done that.
You're trying to find answers, and you come to Jesus and his followers are doing all these great things, but they can't find a way. And so the guy just says, hey, is there any way that you can pull this off? Because they couldn't do it? Is there anything that you can do? And so he asked very with a lot of passion, says, can you just heal him? He says, well, hey, if I believe. He said, if.
Listen, all things are possible if we believe. And so Jesus, he casts out the demon out of this man, out of this little boy, and the boy falls limp and dead, and Jesus walks over. Everybody thinks he's dead. Jesus picks him up, and everybody is blown away that Jesus did this. So the disciples then come back later to Jesus, and they said, why is it that we couldn't heal this one? And what is it that Jesus points them to?
This type is the kind that can only be taken care of by prayer.
You see this God is working. He's working through his people. He's doing great things through them. They are healing people. But there's something to be said for him calling them faithless and for them not taking the time to pray about this. First, where is the power?
The power is in God.
It's not in us.
And if we want to create a culture of prayer at this congregation, in your life, in your family, it has to first realize that the power lies only in God, but it is most certainly in him.
In this situation, prayerlessness. And in our situation, in life, prayerlessness means we're self defeating. It means we won't get very far because we're not plugged into the power of prayer.
We're not going to study all these real quickly, but I want you to see the list of things. And this is just a quick scan. I didn't even go into every verse. This is just things that you jump off the pages you're reading through the book of acts how the early church had this culture of prayer and how they put themselves to the task where they devoted themselves. They got together and they often gathered for the purpose of prayer so they could see God at work. And the more they saw him, the more they offered time together. There's going to be a time where they don't pray to be released from all the hostility and the persecution, but they pray that God gives them more boldness. I mean, there's things that they do that will blow you away and make you stand in awe of a church and a family of God who put prayer to the test. And God answered those prayers. So many things for us to look into over the next several weeks. I'm going to leave you with two things for today. These are your action steps. It's simply this. First of all, make prayer as important as breathing.
Start your day with prayer. Let that prayer go all day long and have a daily conversation with God. Lift up your concerns, lift up your gratitude, lift up your fears. All those things that we've talked about today. Give those things over to him and make it so important to you that you don't go through those moments where you're gasping for air, that you are constantly in conversation with him. And the second thing is, capture his ear, his presence and his power through your prayer life. This morning, if there's anyone who has a need, I hope that you'll come forward, that you'll share the things that you're going through, that we can be here to support you and help you and encourage you, and we can pray for you. That's the greatest thing that we can do for you, is pray. And I hope that if there's anyone here who needs it, that you'll come. While together we stand and sing.
