back to index2016-01-10 Necessity of Prayer
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Hebrews chapter 12 verse 12 and 13 Hebrews chapter 12 verse 12 and 13. We're 00:00:07.520 |
gonna take a short break. Well it's been a long break but we're gonna take a 00:00:12.480 |
little bit more time talking about the beginning of the year and the projection 00:00:16.960 |
and what are some things that we want to focus our attention in as a church. 00:00:21.160 |
Pastor Mark last week talked about you know making a commitment being resolved 00:00:26.120 |
towards certain things and how important it is especially in the beginning of the 00:00:29.560 |
year that we don't just kind of drift along and allow our circumstances to 00:00:33.220 |
dictate how we spend our time in and our lives. I want to spend some time maybe 00:00:39.000 |
week two weeks possibly up to three weeks focusing our attention projecting 00:00:44.400 |
toward the right direction of what we think that our needs in our church and 00:00:48.760 |
what we need to work on. So I'm not gonna be in this text but I'm just gonna be 00:00:52.880 |
reading this text and then we'll jump into the two various passages this 00:01:00.080 |
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make 00:01:06.320 |
straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint 00:01:14.440 |
Heavenly Father we praise you for your goodness we thank you Lord God for your 00:01:20.360 |
kindness we thank you Lord for safety we thank you for abundance Lord God of 00:01:26.800 |
blessings we thank you for our health we thank you for allowing us to be in this 00:01:33.520 |
country where we can freely express our worship and love toward you. Help 00:01:38.760 |
us Lord God to give you worship that is pleasing and acceptable not simply 00:01:43.720 |
ritualistic but our very hearts that we would think carefully Lord God of where 00:01:49.600 |
where we are going what we are doing what we are thinking that we may 00:01:55.240 |
surrender all things to you Father that we may bring the maximum glory that we 00:02:00.040 |
can in this life for Christ and what he has done. So for that and we pray for 00:02:05.200 |
your blessing in Jesus name we pray amen. You know at the beginning of every year 00:02:10.360 |
we think about what are some areas in the church that we need to work on and 00:02:13.960 |
then we try to focus our attention on that and so whether it's retreat or 00:02:17.800 |
small groups or books that we read or seminars we try to focus our attention 00:02:22.080 |
on those needs so that every year we're addressing different needs that we feel 00:02:25.840 |
like we need. Now we haven't had a lot of time with the leaders to get together 00:02:29.280 |
and to really think about it but you know as I was wrestling what is a 00:02:34.720 |
weakness in our church that we really need to focus on and you know typically 00:02:39.480 |
every year obviously there's a you know we could focus on pretty much every part 00:02:43.560 |
of our of our vision statement whether it's genuine worship or you know right 00:02:48.760 |
doctrine and theology community building missions and evangelism and and 00:02:53.520 |
obviously every year we can you know we're gonna be striving after that and 00:02:58.800 |
some years where it's kind of like not clear because there again so many needs 00:03:03.000 |
there's not one thing that clearly stands out but to me this year when I 00:03:07.680 |
was contemplating what is a what is a need in the church and I can honestly 00:03:13.440 |
say that again as a pastor and as one of the leaders in this church that there is 00:03:18.000 |
a gaping hole in our ministry and that we I believe need to address with the 00:03:23.960 |
sense of urgency and that is the need for prayer. Typically when we talk about 00:03:30.400 |
when we're in a Bible teaching church and you know right theology and right 00:03:34.880 |
thinking and right community and evangelism and all of these things are 00:03:38.640 |
necessary but we have a tendency in our culture where we think well that church 00:03:43.800 |
is about missions or that church is about discipleship that church is about 00:03:47.360 |
right theology that church is about the gospel this church is about you know 00:03:51.440 |
about you know social justice and we almost think like that's okay you know 00:03:57.080 |
because God uses all of us in different ways and so you kind of emphasize one 00:04:00.880 |
thing we kind of side the other thing each local church does not have the 00:04:04.400 |
privilege to you know come before God and say well I'm gonna be about this 00:04:08.480 |
those churches are about theology but we're gonna be about missions. The 00:04:13.800 |
scripture doesn't say pick and choose what stands out to you what what you 00:04:17.640 |
like you know how God created you and do what you think is right. Every part of 00:04:23.280 |
the scripture is relevant to every local church so we can't say because you know 00:04:29.520 |
we're solid on theology we're solid on the word and we're doing missions and 00:04:33.680 |
we're doing this and so therefore the other part you know the charismatic 00:04:37.000 |
churches they tend to be more spiritual and they tend to be more prayerful we 00:04:42.440 |
can't make that excuse. So as we look at our church what is an area that I 00:04:48.320 |
believe is a gaping to me it's not just a weakness it's a gaping hole that I 00:04:53.120 |
think we do need to address in the coming year and possibly further on that 00:04:57.640 |
we need to be a praying church. First and foremost that we need to be a 00:05:02.240 |
praying church it's not one of many things that we need to deal with I think 00:05:05.680 |
we really need to deal with this before we are overly concerned about anything 00:05:10.400 |
else in the church and so what I want to do is spend today and possibly next 00:05:14.280 |
week in the week after that to kind of set the right foundation and obviously 00:05:19.920 |
when I'm talking about this I'm not just talking about church as in like the 00:05:23.560 |
leadership or just a gathering but church as a whole all of us together 00:05:27.040 |
your personal lives and our collective gathering in the church how we're gonna 00:05:31.640 |
address this issue but today what I want to talk about is why why is this so 00:05:36.000 |
important why is he taking time to emphasize this and say it's a gaping 00:05:40.560 |
hole why do we need to do that so there are seven things that I want to address 00:05:43.960 |
this morning of why we need to be a praying church so again if you're taking 00:05:50.760 |
notes you can say one two three four five six seven if not again just know 00:05:53.840 |
that there's seven if I only did six it means I missed something okay so I'm 00:05:57.600 |
gonna go over seven things this morning one the very nature of the church is for 00:06:05.120 |
the purpose of prayer okay that's number one the very nature of the purpose of 00:06:09.920 |
the church is for the for prayer if you remember in 2nd Chronicles 7 14 14 to 15 00:06:16.160 |
it's a dead it basically is a dedication service that they have because Solomon 00:06:21.200 |
builds this temple and they want to dedicate it to the Lord and the Lord 00:06:25.800 |
basically shows up to dedicate the temple the first temple of Israel and 00:06:30.960 |
this is what God says to the nation of Israel in dedication of this temple if 00:06:35.280 |
my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my 00:06:41.640 |
face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and will 00:06:45.280 |
forgive their sin and heal their land now my eyes will be open and my ears 00:06:49.360 |
attentive to the prayers that is made in this place so the way that God 00:06:54.720 |
described this temple obviously their sacrifices there's a lot of social 00:06:59.600 |
things that are going on in the temple but first and foremost God says in 00:07:03.120 |
dedication of the temple that this is where my people will come humble 00:07:07.440 |
themselves and pray and to seek me if you go to the New Testament when Jesus 00:07:12.640 |
begins his ministry he begins his ministry at the temple and he concludes 00:07:16.520 |
his ministry at the temple and in both times the Lord is furious what the 00:07:22.040 |
temple worship has become he says it's become a den of robbers where people 00:07:26.240 |
gathered together to sell goods back and forth and and I know that there was some 00:07:30.480 |
cheating going on because of the weights but ultimately the temple was not being 00:07:35.320 |
used for what God intended it wasn't a place of prayer so he in anger would 00:07:40.760 |
chase people out and he says my house will be a house of prayer and his 00:07:45.880 |
disciples would remember later on remembering that he said his son that 00:07:50.480 |
the that the zeal of the Lord's house would consume him so it wasn't just one 00:07:56.600 |
of many things that the Lord was disappointed and he said he was consumed 00:07:59.920 |
with the thought of the temple not being used for what it was intended he begins 00:08:04.480 |
with that cleansing of the temple and he ends with the cleansing of the temple 00:08:07.920 |
now some of you guys are maybe sitting here and saying oh you know the temple 00:08:12.080 |
is not the church you know that's Christianity 101 it's not the building 00:08:16.360 |
it's not about the building it's about us right if you haven't read that you 00:08:21.000 |
know you haven't been a Christian long that's a kind of like you know pushback 00:08:24.200 |
whenever we talk about church well we come to the New Testament you're 00:08:28.040 |
absolutely correct it is not the building it is not this these four walls 00:08:32.600 |
that make a church but it's first Corinthians 316 said do you not know and 00:08:37.200 |
the you there is in plural referring to the gathering of people do you the 00:08:43.960 |
church not know that you the church are God's temple and that God's Spirit 00:08:49.520 |
dwells in you so Paul's rebuke to the Corinthian churches do you not recognize 00:08:54.720 |
that even though we're not at the temple that you guys when we gather together we 00:08:58.800 |
are the temple and so the rebuke that he was giving to the to the Corinthian 00:09:03.520 |
churches you're not functioning the way that the temple was intended to function 00:09:07.800 |
you're competing with each other I'm of this guy I'm a bad guy but you are the 00:09:13.360 |
temple that same sacred attitude that you had toward the physical temple you 00:09:18.280 |
ought to have toward the spiritual temple the gathering of the believers so 00:09:23.760 |
the very nature of what the church is was meant first and foremost a house of 00:09:29.160 |
prayer now we're gonna be keep talking about this six other things but why this 00:09:34.680 |
is so important if this is the nature of the church this is why gather God God 00:09:39.120 |
gathers us together right first first and foremost it is not so that we can 00:09:44.560 |
get together I want to have some like-minded people to raise our kids 00:09:47.200 |
with you know it's about discipleship and and all of these things are 00:09:51.840 |
necessary all of these things are commands of Scripture but first and 00:09:55.920 |
foremost it has to be a place where me we meet God it is a place of prayer not 00:10:05.000 |
only that if you look the second reason why prayer is so important in the 00:10:10.360 |
Sermon on the Mount Jesus describes his people as people of 00:10:14.600 |
prayer right so number one the gathering of people the church is a house of 00:10:20.160 |
prayer in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus describes the people of God as people of 00:10:26.360 |
prayer so if you remember the chapter 5 through chapter 7 or 8 is a sermon of 00:10:31.280 |
the mount and the sermon of the mount is basically Jesus giving teachings about 00:10:36.320 |
what the kingdom of God is like he begins by how you enter the kingdom and 00:10:41.160 |
what what is like to be in the kingdom and then if within the teaching basically 00:10:45.760 |
he's describing what the people of God what his people basically Christians 00:10:50.240 |
ought to be characterized by and you know what's interesting in the way that 00:10:55.360 |
he describes prayer he doesn't say if you're a Christian if you're a follower 00:10:59.280 |
of the Son you ought to pray he doesn't even say that he assumes it he assumes 00:11:05.440 |
he says when you pray pray this way see the Pharisees were not guilty of not 00:11:12.160 |
praying you know the Pharisees were praying the scribes prayed regularly but 00:11:17.920 |
they were praying for other people to see they were praying hypocritically so 00:11:22.200 |
Matthew 6 15 Jesus says do not pray like the hypocrites but he assumes that you're 00:11:28.240 |
going to pray Matthew 6 9 you know Jesus performed all these miracles he walked 00:11:34.480 |
on water he fed miraculously 510 possibly up to 20,000 people miraculously 00:11:40.680 |
right they were they had front row seats when a lame person got up and he started 00:11:46.080 |
walking right they saw blind people open their eyes they had the front seat they 00:11:53.640 |
saw all of this but when it was coming time for discipleship and and wanted to 00:11:59.000 |
ask Jesus would you teach us how to do this above all the things that they 00:12:04.320 |
observed they come to Jesus say Lord teach us how to pray because they must 00:12:09.840 |
have recognized and Jesus's humanity that there was something different about 00:12:14.120 |
Jesus now they knew that he was the Messiah and that's why they stuck with 00:12:17.320 |
him whether they fully understood him or not and they recognize his miracles they 00:12:21.480 |
recognize all of these things but in his humanity they recognize that there was 00:12:25.680 |
something about his discipline of prayer and so above everything that they could 00:12:31.280 |
have possibly asked they asked Jesus teach me how to pray and it is in that 00:12:38.080 |
context where we get the Lord's Prayer that's Matthew chapter 6 16 says in the 00:12:45.400 |
way that we fast Matthew 7 7 through 11 that we ought to persevere in the way 00:12:50.080 |
that we pray ask seek and knock and then in Matthew chapter 9 36 at the conclusion 00:12:57.080 |
of the Sermon of the Mount he prepares his disciples to begin to go he wants to 00:13:01.320 |
send them out and at the beginning of his calling to send them out so that 00:13:05.640 |
they can begin to practice the things that they've learned the first thing 00:13:09.080 |
that he runs into is that Jesus sees a multitude and he has compassion for them 00:13:13.000 |
and when he has compassion for them he turns around to his disciples he says 00:13:17.000 |
these people are like sheep without a shepherd harassed and so he turns to 00:13:22.360 |
them he doesn't he says therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest the 00:13:26.040 |
harvest is plentiful and the workers are few therefore pray right and that word 00:13:31.240 |
for beseech is not just a casual praying it means to me it means to be committed 00:13:36.200 |
to this to beseech and hang on cry out to God to send out more workers so not 00:13:42.160 |
only is the gathering of the church the very nature of it is for the purpose of 00:13:46.880 |
prayer or the character to me one of the main characters of a Christian is a man 00:13:53.680 |
who prays thirdly the early church they understood this now they had a hard time 00:14:02.200 |
understanding this before Jesus was resurrected but the early church 00:14:06.200 |
prioritize prayer the early church was characterized by prayer now we often 00:14:11.080 |
talk about how you know we need to be like the book of Acts and and you have a 00:14:15.040 |
lot of churches that are saying we're the axe church or acts 29 because they 00:14:18.640 |
want to be like the axe church a lot of times when we talk about that we're 00:14:22.360 |
talking about their fellowship we're talking about evangelism we're talking 00:14:26.200 |
about you know they're just being devoted but one of the main things that 00:14:30.240 |
characterize the early church was their devotion to prayer now we look at the 00:14:36.480 |
early church and say well why were they able to experience so much success in 00:14:41.320 |
fact you know if you remember the early church went from a hundred twenty people 00:14:45.800 |
who was praying at Mark's house hundred twenty and then they added three 00:14:50.480 |
thousand three thousand was just a number of men right anytime you see the 00:14:55.240 |
numbers in the Bible you know that that's only talking about men so 00:14:58.000 |
immediately it doubles okay well not they're not all married but including 00:15:02.520 |
the children immediately an accurate number will be somewhere around six 00:15:05.560 |
thousand to maybe even ten and if they had you know knowing knowing back at 00:15:09.760 |
that time if you include the children it could easily be ten fifteen thousand 00:15:13.560 |
people right so let's just be conservative and I just say ten 00:15:16.720 |
thousand people got added in the early church can you imagine you know we have 00:15:21.400 |
somewhere around four to five hundred people in our church can you imagine one 00:15:24.760 |
Sunday one Sunday you show up and there's ten thousand people here right 00:15:29.080 |
the kind of logistical chaos right that the lunch team prepare for 200 and we 00:15:35.340 |
have ten thousand people right I mean you can imagine the kind of problems 00:15:40.000 |
that they would have had well what caused them to be a church that was so 00:15:46.920 |
used powerfully before God we see over and over again it said they got together 00:15:51.720 |
in Acts 241 after 3,000 people convert they devoted themselves to the apostles 00:15:56.920 |
teaching fellowship breaking bread and to prayer it was a community committed 00:16:03.000 |
to the Word of God and to prayer in Acts chapter 3 1 we see Paul we see Peter and 00:16:09.480 |
John he says in it was time for them to pray it was a time of the day for them 00:16:13.960 |
to pray in other words they had specific times when they went to the temple on a 00:16:17.280 |
regular basis to pray when they run into this man who was lame and he heals them 00:16:23.040 |
it was in the context of prayer in Acts chapter 431 when the leaders of Israel 00:16:28.880 |
tells tells the leaders to Peter and John said if you continue to preach 00:16:33.480 |
you're gonna get in trouble and said well you tell me if it's right for us to 00:16:36.840 |
obey you or obey God and they go out and they praise God and they go home what 00:16:42.320 |
do they do they have a primity and they pray diligently in Acts chapter 6 for 00:16:47.840 |
you guys know that passage right the Grecian widows were being neglected so 00:16:53.320 |
again we'll talk about 120 people went to about 10,000 people and one of the 00:16:58.160 |
first problems that they ran into and we could easily understand that that the 00:17:02.560 |
Grecian widows the minority widows that was part of the early church they were 00:17:07.760 |
being neglected in the distribution of food so a lot of them you know if you're 00:17:12.360 |
a widow at that time you had no other way to eat so they basically came and 00:17:15.680 |
the church collected funds and and they distributed the food to one another and 00:17:19.800 |
the Grecian widows were being neglected because they they weren't part of the 00:17:23.400 |
majority group now you have to understand when we're talking about the 00:17:28.160 |
problem in Acts chapter 6 we're not talking about boba right we're not 00:17:33.480 |
talking about dessert you know they all ate is they they're always getting the 00:17:37.800 |
bigger piece of the cake that's not the problem they weren't eating the food 00:17:42.640 |
wasn't being distributed another they weren't eating so you talk about an 00:17:46.360 |
emergency there's a there's a group of people in the church who aren't eating 00:17:50.840 |
right say man I mean you talk about an emergency we're not talking about a 00:17:54.920 |
leaking toilet we're not talking about you know water coming down the ceiling 00:17:58.560 |
we're talking about a old widows who weren't being fed so if there was any 00:18:06.520 |
excuse to say you know let's stop everything stop everything and we need 00:18:11.200 |
to pay attention to this because until they eat we can't continue to do 00:18:15.520 |
ministry but remember what the Apostle said it is wrong for us to neglect the 00:18:20.320 |
preaching of the Word of God and praying to deal with this now think about that 00:18:27.440 |
we always say oh there's you know they're so wise imagine if you were in 00:18:31.680 |
there it's like they're not eating and you're gonna preach we're gonna have a 00:18:35.800 |
prayer meeting when they're not eating see the early church when the Apostles 00:18:42.040 |
if you really understand in the context they're saying the teaching of the Word 00:18:47.800 |
of God and praying is even more important than eating how often do we 00:18:53.400 |
say you know what I wake up too early in the morning I have so many kids in my in 00:18:57.320 |
my house and you don't know my schedule and they only if I had more time but 00:19:02.720 |
again in the church it said this was so important and we're gonna see why this 00:19:06.760 |
is so important why they had to prioritize this above everything else 00:19:10.560 |
Acts chapter 13 1 & 2 the first missionary journey happened in the 00:19:15.080 |
context of praying and fasting the Holy Spirit says to set up a set apart Paul 00:19:19.480 |
and Barnabas and so as a result of that they lay hands and they begin this 00:19:23.760 |
missionary journey and they go and preach the gospel and plant churches so 00:19:27.920 |
not only is the church the identity of the church a house of prayer the people 00:19:33.440 |
of God are people of prayer and the early church in the very beginning the 00:19:38.000 |
reason why it was so flourishing and fruitful is not because they were more 00:19:43.240 |
smarter than the average pastor it wasn't because they were more powerful 00:19:47.640 |
in some way I mean yes they were the primary reason was because they were 00:19:52.760 |
people of prayer they prayed you know I know like especially the Bible teaching 00:20:02.920 |
church is kind of sounds better if I told you like you know I wasn't a 00:20:07.120 |
Christian and then at one year you know 1983 I was reading the scripture and you 00:20:12.320 |
know Romans 528 and God demonstrates his own love towards and that while we were 00:20:16.640 |
yet since Christ died for us and that gripped my heart and changed my mind and 00:20:20.400 |
I had this revival and Reformation came right it sounds better it sounds more 00:20:25.120 |
consistent with a Bible teaching church that the Bible convicted me what 00:20:30.160 |
convicted me was I saw a group of guys my age praying right because I grew up 00:20:35.920 |
all my life here in the gospel I memorized the gospel I had the Lord's 00:20:40.680 |
prayer memorized in Korean and English I my dad made me memorize the Apostles 00:20:45.280 |
Creed in Korean I didn't understand a word I was memorizing but I did it 00:20:49.480 |
because he's gonna give me a quarter right a quarter was a lot more money 00:20:53.160 |
back then it was like worth like a dollar right so I grew up in a church we 00:20:58.240 |
had family devotions I I don't ever remember not coming to church I don't 00:21:02.360 |
ever remember missing church for any reason whether I was sick or they were I 00:21:06.320 |
just don't remember right I grew up saturated with the gospel what changed 00:21:13.040 |
me was I if you asked me at that time are you a Christian I would have said 00:21:16.720 |
yes because I went to church if you told me what makes you a Christian Jesus 00:21:21.440 |
died for me you do believe in God I would have told you yes I would have I 00:21:25.840 |
wouldn't have told you I don't believe I believe all of that but it was just 00:21:29.960 |
words that I said I went up to a retreat what what sparked my interest was I saw 00:21:35.880 |
a bunch of guys my age and it was a charismatic group so they prayed you 00:21:40.440 |
know they prayed fervently but it made me think like man these guys are praying 00:21:44.440 |
like God's actually listening you know they're actually listening so it just 00:21:50.440 |
got me curious it's like I've always prayed kind of like many of you may 00:21:55.120 |
always pray I always pray before meals you know when you have a gathering of 00:21:59.680 |
Christians you're supposed to start with prayer so you pray yeah you almost feel 00:22:04.080 |
like if you don't pray before you eat you're gonna get stomachache or 00:22:06.400 |
something so you know what I mean so you that's kind of part of your ritual right 00:22:13.600 |
but it was prayer it was these men and women of prayer that caused me to think 00:22:19.520 |
like if God is actually there and if God is actually answering prayers if these 00:22:25.680 |
people actually have a relationship with God that makes sense to me why wouldn't 00:22:31.080 |
you pray to this God and that's what caused me to get on my knees that God if 00:22:35.360 |
if they know something that I don't know I want to know you that was my 00:22:39.800 |
repentance I didn't know any better that's all I said like if they know 00:22:44.960 |
something that I don't know I want to know right and that's what caused me to 00:22:50.080 |
open my eyes that was my invitation for God to come into my life and I began to 00:22:53.800 |
see all this sin and and it wasn't because somebody convicted me saying 00:22:57.000 |
this is wrong this is wrong I already knew I was a sinner and just being in 00:23:01.560 |
the presence of God caused me to realize how dirty I was see this is why prayer 00:23:10.520 |
is so important in the church we ought to be characterized by people who pray 00:23:15.200 |
fourthly we are commanded to pray in Colossians 4 - it says devote yourself to 00:23:22.120 |
prayer devote yourself it is not a casual I'll pray when I can this is not 00:23:26.720 |
a casual if I have enough time in the morning he says no be committed to 00:23:31.000 |
prayer if you can't commit you if you know that you cannot pay your bills next 00:23:35.640 |
year next week you're going to be committed to finding a way for getting a 00:23:40.080 |
job whatever you need to do if you have marriage problems and there's tension 00:23:43.920 |
you're going to be committed to somehow fixing that kid counseling talk to other 00:23:47.280 |
people he says when it comes to prayer he says to be devoted to prayer first 00:23:53.120 |
lesson on 517 he says pray without ceasing constantly you know sometimes 00:23:59.920 |
the way that we pray that we only pray when there are emergencies when 00:24:04.560 |
something happens in our life we lose our job or we're sick or something 00:24:07.760 |
something happens where we feel completely helpless then we come before 00:24:11.160 |
God and we pray right but the problem with that is even the non-christians 00:24:16.760 |
pray when they're desperate when they're desperate you ever hear see now it's on 00:24:22.760 |
the Facebook when tragedy happens you see all these people these gangster 00:24:26.720 |
rappers and then you know they're crossing it up and you know talking about 00:24:29.880 |
all kinds of debauchery and all of a sudden somebody gets shot and then you 00:24:34.240 |
hear on their tweet my prayers are with you right after 9/11 the whole world was 00:24:40.680 |
praying we're praying for America we're praying for these people people have 00:24:45.520 |
never prayed in their life all of a sudden gathering hands and Republican 00:24:48.600 |
Democrats in Capitol Hill had a prayer meeting there was no atheists 00:24:53.080 |
complaining about the prayer meeting at that time if our prayers are only 00:24:58.680 |
motivated when when the whole world is motivated how is our prayer and 00:25:04.080 |
relationship any different see the world prays when they see physical emergency 00:25:09.760 |
when they feel desperate desperate see the difference between our prayers and 00:25:13.120 |
the prayers of the world is that we recognize by faith what the world does 00:25:18.440 |
not recognize that there is an urgency in our lives even if our bills are paid 00:25:23.240 |
even when our children are completely healthy and everything is good we know 00:25:28.320 |
that there is an urgent need for us to pray see in James chapter 513 is any of 00:25:36.400 |
you in trouble he should pray how often do we get into trouble and and seek 00:25:43.960 |
counseling you know we think oh we need to organize our life this way maybe we 00:25:47.360 |
should stop spending money in that way and maybe if we did this and that but he 00:25:51.200 |
said first and foremost anyone is in trouble first and foremost he says to 00:25:56.480 |
pray in fact in first Peter 312 is it for the eyes of the Lord are on the 00:26:01.800 |
righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayers or God is listening any 00:26:07.480 |
desires to listen how often we think of God as just a being or thing or force 00:26:15.360 |
but not really think of a God who who sent his only begotten Son to reconcile 00:26:21.120 |
us that we may become his adopted children now we call him our Abba father 00:26:26.520 |
but do we have the affection that we have for our fathers to our God the way 00:26:34.280 |
that the Bible describes his affection for us imagine if you made an 00:26:39.760 |
appointment with somebody you know at four o'clock and they don't show up you 00:26:43.920 |
know and you guys are gracious and loving and patient people and you're 00:26:49.040 |
Christians and if you're not patient you're gonna get judged so you're gonna 00:26:52.800 |
try to be patient you make another appointment you blew it today I'm gonna 00:26:57.360 |
be merciful I'm gonna be Jesus and I'm gonna be merciful and we'll make another 00:27:01.680 |
appointment tomorrow at four o'clock four o'clock comes on and they blow you 00:27:04.680 |
off and they don't come right again this guy just has no respect he's so 00:27:11.760 |
inconsiderate but you're Jesus you know what I mean like seven times right so 00:27:16.320 |
you know forgive him you're gonna forgive him we're gonna be patient 00:27:19.360 |
because this is what Jesus does right do it third time it's like I twice maybe 00:27:25.080 |
three times that's among me right he needs me to be righteous 00:27:30.600 |
fourth time forget it I'm never meeting with this guy a fifth time move don't 00:27:37.240 |
have anything to do with this guy right even in human relationship I mean we 00:27:41.800 |
would think at some point at some point you would think if you keep blowing off 00:27:45.280 |
and you you're not interested in having a relationship with this person isn't 00:27:49.920 |
that what you would think and if you don't think that somebody in your life 00:27:53.560 |
is gonna tell you that that don't go out how can you last five time you told him 00:27:57.760 |
you're gonna meet him he blew you off he's not interested in a relationship 00:28:01.520 |
with you if God continues to plead with his church and his church continues to 00:28:08.480 |
say I'm busy at what point do you think God was saying maybe he's just not 00:28:12.440 |
interested in me at some point you would think that that would be the common sense 00:28:18.520 |
thing to think right we are told to pray we are told to be devoted to prayer why 00:28:25.320 |
do we need to be devoted to prayer fifth because we are engaged in a spiritual 00:28:30.480 |
warfare we are engaged in a spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6 12 it says we do 00:28:36.960 |
not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the 00:28:40.320 |
authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the 00:28:44.880 |
spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places so that passage kind of reminds 00:28:51.160 |
the Church of Ephesus that this is why you need to be devoted to these things 00:28:54.360 |
because you can't fix you can't win by being smart by having willpower by being 00:29:00.960 |
determined I mean if you're selling coca-cola maybe go to school get the 00:29:06.320 |
education and you apply the right techniques which again in our modern 00:29:10.160 |
church day church growth movement you kind of think like if you just went to 00:29:14.520 |
the right school and read the right books and talk to the right people and 00:29:17.400 |
had enough experience or maybe you're just one of those high-caliber people 00:29:20.960 |
that would have been a CEO in a company now you're just applying your intellect 00:29:25.200 |
and your your gifts to the church and now you're gonna be successful that's 00:29:29.320 |
not what the scripture says is spiritual warfare how are you going to overcome 00:29:33.760 |
the power of Satan by your technique so that's why he says our struggle is not 00:29:40.680 |
against flesh and blood it's not something you can fix by by applying the 00:29:45.720 |
right technique that's why he says to put on the all these different armors of 00:29:51.160 |
God and then he and then he tells us and summarizes Ephesians 618 and pray in the 00:29:56.440 |
Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this in 00:30:01.280 |
mind be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints you notice how often 00:30:05.900 |
he says all you know sometimes the way that we pray in the church especially in 00:30:10.560 |
a Bible teaching church is more of a sprinkling than a dunking you know we're 00:30:14.800 |
a Baptist Church so we believe in dunking that's sprinkling right so the 00:30:18.360 |
way that we pray is we sprinkle prayer before we have a meeting we pray you 00:30:24.880 |
know before we play football we pray before we go watch movies or whatever 00:30:28.600 |
we're doing we pray so we sprinkle prayer in the beginning we sprinkle 00:30:31.640 |
prayer at the end he's saying at all times in all occasions for all people 00:30:38.120 |
for all the Saints he's saying to be saturated in prayer to be protected 00:30:44.480 |
because we're in spiritual warfare the sprinkling is not gonna do he says to 00:30:49.940 |
saturate your life saturate the church in prayer first Peter 4 7 the end of all 00:30:55.480 |
things is near therefore be clear-minded and self-control so that you can pray do 00:31:00.880 |
you notice the priority in first Peter 4 7 you know the priority in force Peter 00:31:05.880 |
he says in all things is near therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so 00:31:09.840 |
that you can pray typically we say you know we need to pray so that we can be 00:31:13.200 |
clear-minded so that we can we can be clear-minded to do the work of God here 00:31:18.320 |
he says the work of God is prayer which makes sense doesn't it is the power 00:31:25.520 |
behind our work was the power behind behind God would you rather you know go 00:31:32.560 |
into battle knowing that God is going ahead of you or you say you know what 00:31:38.080 |
get behind me just push me just tell me where to go and sometimes the way that 00:31:42.280 |
we minister the way that we behave we almost kind of like I'm gonna do it but 00:31:46.360 |
make sure God has my back right and that's kind of like the way we pray 00:31:51.160 |
that's kind of we approach spiritual warfare he says pray and let him go and 00:31:56.920 |
you follow him saturated in prayer remember Matthew 26 41 you know we talk 00:32:04.240 |
about we talk about you know like Jesus is last teaching and we know that he he 00:32:09.600 |
washed the disciples feet so we need to be humble and wash our feet and all of 00:32:13.280 |
that is true that was a formal education that was given to the disciples but the 00:32:17.680 |
very last commandment very last thing that he demonstrated and showed to his 00:32:22.840 |
disciples before he left was in Matthew 26 41 where he was praying at the Garden 00:32:27.840 |
of Gethsemane and the disciples after an hour he would come back and they would 00:32:32.560 |
fall asleep and humanly speaking I completely understand that they just had 00:32:36.400 |
a huge meal they had a Passover meal then they have lamb you know filled with 00:32:41.280 |
their stomach and and then you know like if you're filled with food that's not 00:32:45.000 |
the best way to prepare for for prayer meeting right you need to be hungry you 00:32:48.920 |
be fasting but these guys just gorged on food and just and they're like oh what 00:32:53.200 |
are we doing it we're gonna go pray and I can imagine disciples like what stop a 00:32:58.640 |
clock at night we just had you know buffet you know this was not ordinary 00:33:03.480 |
meal this is a Passover meal he was like it was like a feast right they just had 00:33:07.680 |
a feast and they're going on Jesus going and praying because he knows what's 00:33:10.120 |
coming he comes back and the disciples are falling asleep right it's in that 00:33:14.680 |
context Jesus says watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation the 00:33:20.400 |
spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak watch and pray so that you would 00:33:27.280 |
not enter into temptation Jesus was a human being was he superhuman being that 00:33:33.920 |
that he didn't he wasn't ever tired which is that not the case remember 00:33:38.240 |
Jesus was so tired on the boat everybody else was freaking out because a storm 00:33:42.520 |
but Jesus was sleep you know say oh why was Jesus asleep isn't he omnipotent 00:33:47.160 |
isn't he I'm the I'm the president isn't he omniscient and why is he sleeping 00:33:50.640 |
it's simple answer he was tired he was tired he was a human being he was 100% 00:33:56.880 |
human being and he was that tired but here you don't see the fatigue because 00:34:04.240 |
he knows what's coming the only difference between him and the disciples 00:34:07.760 |
that disciples don't see what's coming so all they know is they're tired and 00:34:13.640 |
that's why Jesus says you may be willing right your spirit is willing but your 00:34:18.680 |
flesh is weak you know how many times we say oh you know our flesh is weak and 00:34:22.440 |
people are so weak prayer so hard and you know we all struggle with that 00:34:26.440 |
because our flesh is weak look what Jesus says he says exactly the opposite 00:34:30.520 |
because your flesh is weak you need to pray he doesn't say because your flesh 00:34:35.960 |
is weak God understands he says no because your flesh is weak you need to 00:34:40.720 |
pray there's a spiritual warfare going on the Bible says there there's a our 00:34:47.320 |
enemies like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour I'm not saying that to 00:34:52.160 |
scare you the Bible says that how many of you know that there is an active 00:34:59.800 |
spiritual force that wants to devour you how many what was the last time you 00:35:06.680 |
thought about that when was the last time you felt safe because you had a gun 00:35:10.600 |
in your house completely not knowing not even thinking about that they're 00:35:17.400 |
spiritual what Satan can do is much more dangerous than what a gun could do right 00:35:24.560 |
I'm not trying to get political and take any sides here but how secure do we feel 00:35:30.360 |
because we locked our doors and we bought our house in a nice neighborhood 00:35:34.040 |
and we don't have strange people walking around our neighborhood when the 00:35:37.440 |
scripture says that we have an enemy like a roaring lion seeking to devour 00:35:41.840 |
you and me anybody who has anything to do with Christ he wants to devour so I 00:35:49.080 |
know you're willing I know your desire but your flesh is weak so therefore he 00:35:54.160 |
says to pray there's a spiritual battle going on six prayer is the most tangible 00:36:01.000 |
way to humble ourselves now we talked about many times how the primary sin of 00:36:08.280 |
mankind is arrogance and pride those of you who've been studying through Isaiah 00:36:13.760 |
with us where Isaiah chapter 14 a description of Lucifer and his primary 00:36:17.840 |
description his arrogance he wants to get to God's level maybe beyond that and 00:36:24.680 |
all his disciples he wants the whole world to get behind him to do that sin 00:36:30.280 |
of mankind Adam and Eve was it their arrogance they wanted to be lifted Tower 00:36:35.280 |
of Babel at the core of mankind sin is pride you know we can be successful in 00:36:43.640 |
the church and it leads to pride we can go to school get a PhD in theology and 00:36:49.280 |
about humility and that PhD in humility causes you to be proud right I mean it's 00:36:56.080 |
an oxymoron it's true you know we're servants of Christ but we're servants of 00:37:00.680 |
Christ you know I mean that's that it doesn't take a lot for us to become 00:37:05.560 |
proud you play a basketball game and you win by one point and you'll brag about 00:37:10.680 |
that for the rest of your life remember that time I schooled you I owned you by 00:37:15.040 |
that one point you barely won right you come into a room right and you're a 00:37:21.280 |
little bit taller than anybody and it's like my shirt here you know maybe your 00:37:27.120 |
hair is a little bit thicker maybe you get it you earn a little bit more money 00:37:30.720 |
maybe you're a little bit more thinner maybe you're a little bit more athlete 00:37:34.160 |
it doesn't take a lot you went to UCLA or over UC Irvine or you went to whatever 00:37:39.360 |
it doesn't take a lot all of this is just a little bit of being a little bit 00:37:46.520 |
better than somebody else and it fills us with pride you read the Word of God 00:37:50.440 |
it caused you to be proud you're a little bit disciplined it caused you to 00:37:53.040 |
be proud it doesn't take much you can be successful in a church you can make 00:37:59.200 |
disciples convert people and at the end of it said look at me and you ruin 00:38:03.720 |
everything the most tangible way for us to humble ourselves is to depend upon 00:38:10.440 |
God remember Paul he says in Corinthians that there's a thorn on his side right 00:38:17.880 |
and he pleaded with the Lord and and no matter how many times I skip through 00:38:21.320 |
that and people say we don't know what it is we don't know what it is I think 00:38:23.600 |
it's pretty obvious the thorn on his side are all the people who are who are 00:38:27.920 |
questioning his apostleship they're causing trouble and the very reason why 00:38:31.880 |
he's writing first and second Corinthians I think that's a thorn on 00:38:34.280 |
his side because when he went to Jesus he said because all this revelation I'm 00:38:40.080 |
trying to keep you humble on purpose so what was humbling Paul all these people 00:38:44.560 |
who are questioning him and Jesus says in order to keep you humble I'm allowing 00:38:50.240 |
this in your life right just to keep you humble I'll bet you anything I'll bet 00:38:57.880 |
you anything that there's somebody in your life that's a thorn on your side 00:39:02.600 |
you know it's some maybe not so bad that you're clean to God but I'll bet you 00:39:08.400 |
anything just from years of counseling people that everybody in this room if 00:39:13.440 |
not majority of you have somebody in your life who just doesn't get you or at 00:39:18.560 |
least that's how you that's what you think say I that guy you know everybody 00:39:22.080 |
thinks he's a good guy but that guy you know you don't know him behind the scene 00:39:25.560 |
he they think he's so generous but no that guy I've seen him with these people 00:39:30.320 |
there's all there's always somebody in your life that he everybody else you 00:39:34.360 |
have you have no problems but that there's that one guy in your life it may 00:39:37.320 |
be a family member and maybe your husband or your wife it may it may be 00:39:44.640 |
say just a just an acquaintance maybe somebody in this room or maybe somebody 00:39:48.800 |
outside this room and maybe that's why you came here right and then somebody 00:39:53.320 |
else happens here right I think there are times when God deliberately in fact 00:39:59.520 |
not times they're always right there's God places certain people and certain 00:40:04.800 |
things in your life for that very purpose of keeping you humble and you 00:40:09.840 |
can't stand it right you can't stand it when somebody questions your integrity 00:40:15.600 |
questions who you are right well Jesus says to Paul I I'm allowing it on 00:40:21.800 |
purpose I'm allowing it on purpose to keep you humble because if you don't 00:40:27.720 |
stay humble you will be ruined you'll be ruined that pride that enters in that 00:40:35.520 |
somehow you think you can do it that you're somebody outside of God will 00:40:39.720 |
ruin you not recognizing the scripture says that God is directly opposed to the 00:40:45.120 |
proud not realizing our desire to be on a pedestal to be seen and to be 00:40:50.880 |
recognized is inviting God's attention to humble us that God says I will be 00:40:58.480 |
against you if you get puffed up and lift yourself up and yet every single 00:41:03.520 |
day we live to kind of be on that pedestal kind of subtly not directly 00:41:07.920 |
you're too smart for that right people will see right through that so it has to 00:41:11.960 |
be very subtle right it comes out in our speech in our conduct and in the way we 00:41:17.400 |
get annoyed when people certain you know question certain things but the whole 00:41:22.800 |
walk with God is about coming before his throne and humbling ourselves there's 00:41:27.200 |
nothing more tangible that we could do as Christians but to humble ourselves in 00:41:31.080 |
prayer even the Lord's Prayer if you look at the Lord's Prayer it says our 00:41:36.400 |
Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name recognizing him thy kingdom come 00:41:40.960 |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven a person who is seeking his own 00:41:46.080 |
will his own glorification cannot pray cannot pray because God says to seek his 00:41:53.360 |
kingdom to seek his will so if I have my will and trying to bend his will you 00:41:58.080 |
can't even pray the Lord's Prayer the Lord's Prayer is a prayer of surrender 00:42:03.040 |
thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this 00:42:08.040 |
day our daily bread now where does that thought daily bread come from right the 00:42:12.720 |
Jews when they were in the desert and God gave them manna and told them to 00:42:16.360 |
only choose daily bread and only the day before the Sabbath collecting up for two 00:42:21.440 |
days but every other day only one day I mean that doesn't seem efficient right 00:42:26.320 |
just go and collect for the whole month and you can have the whole rest of the 00:42:29.920 |
month and do whatever you want there was a reason behind that every day that 00:42:34.320 |
they are reminded that they are absolutely utterly dependent upon God 00:42:37.880 |
and that's the prayer of the Lord's Prayer give us this day our daily bread 00:42:42.040 |
it is a prayer of surrender and dependence forgive us as our debts as we 00:42:47.680 |
forgive our debtors that we humble ourselves and give it away lead us not 00:42:52.520 |
into temptation but deliver us from evil right that's the Lord's Prayer that I 00:42:59.280 |
can't fight I can't be delivered by the enemy's influence in my life without God 00:43:05.240 |
being merciful to me let me say this if you do not pray on a regular basis you 00:43:11.920 |
do not know how much satanic influence is in your head right now you don't even 00:43:19.360 |
know you have demonic thinking the way that you view certain people the things 00:43:24.600 |
that you desire and longing for you don't know how much of that is satanic 00:43:29.920 |
because the only way that we can be delivered from that is by his power not 00:43:33.880 |
by our smart not by our experience you can be thinking about godly things and 00:43:39.120 |
be satanic now let me back that up Peter we can say well you know Judas or my 00:43:47.760 |
heed we can't be we can't be you know we can't be possessed because we're 00:43:52.640 |
Christians yeah right you're right but look at Peter he had every good 00:43:57.720 |
intention Jesus is going to the cross and he says no you cannot go and Jesus 00:44:02.480 |
sees right through that there's satanic involvement in this get behind me Satan 00:44:07.760 |
so when an individual is walking by himself not saturated by the Spirit of 00:44:13.440 |
God even reading the Word of God can lead you astray can it not have you ever 00:44:20.680 |
met somebody who knew the Word of God and actually absolutely pervert the Word 00:44:24.240 |
of God have you ever met somebody who justified every sin that they commit and 00:44:29.320 |
they have a verse to back it up yes I've seen people use the Word of God to back 00:44:35.960 |
up abortion I've seen people use the Word of God to back up adultery yeah I 00:44:41.600 |
mean as ridiculous as that sound when our heart is not pure even the Word of 00:44:47.080 |
God can be perverted and so we even the ability to understand what it says is 00:44:52.240 |
dependent upon his mercy and that's why he says lead us not into temptation he 00:44:59.280 |
doesn't just say just point to me where not to go he doesn't say that because 00:45:03.400 |
even when I know where it's not to go when I'm tempted I will go lead me not 00:45:08.680 |
into temptation deliver me from evil this is an utter prayer of surrender 00:45:15.760 |
that's the Lord's Prayer basically what Jesus was telling the disciples is to 00:45:20.040 |
surrender come before God and be utterly dependent on him saturate your life with 00:45:26.640 |
the Spirit of God that every single day we are saying it is you not me in Psalm 00:45:32.960 |
27 some trust in chariots some horses but we trust in the name of the Lord our 00:45:38.160 |
God seventh and finally the final reason and I think is the most important reason 00:45:44.680 |
is that the whole point of salvation is our relationship with God if we call 00:45:52.080 |
salvation reconciliation to be reconciled can you imagine if right now 00:45:57.880 |
you know that North and North and South Korea you know they have all these 00:46:00.880 |
tensions and and for the last 60 years a country was just torn in half can you 00:46:05.360 |
imagine this is basically what happened in Korea you had people who basically 00:46:09.480 |
during the Korean War was shuffled the whole country was shuffled around right 00:46:14.640 |
young men were forcefully put into put into the Red Army and then they went up 00:46:19.720 |
and they went down and then the parents and small children took up their kids 00:46:25.520 |
and took a few bags they went down to the core they went up north back and 00:46:29.840 |
forth so basically what happened was all the people in Korea got shifted around 00:46:33.040 |
nobody was in their home their home got destroyed they were nowhere to go and 00:46:36.840 |
then right in the middle of that they decided we're gonna split it right in 00:46:40.560 |
half and so whoever got stuck on this side can never come back down this way 00:46:45.320 |
and whoever got stuck in the south can never see the parents and children on 00:46:49.400 |
this way I actually had a lady in my class when I used to teach ESL and she 00:46:55.120 |
was probably in her mid 70s at that time she would probably in her 80 or 90s now 00:46:58.920 |
but she was a widower and I so how long have you been a widow and a widow and 00:47:06.200 |
basically she became a widow about two months after they got married so she was 00:47:11.240 |
maybe in her early 20s 22 23 she got married and and the war broke out about 00:47:15.840 |
two months after and her husband got forcefully dragged into the army and he 00:47:20.720 |
was one of those guys being taken back and forth and when they decided to 00:47:24.160 |
divide the country in half she was stuck on this side and he was stuck on that 00:47:27.680 |
side and she never saw her husband again and she never remarried she never 00:47:32.200 |
remarried one of the godliest ladies I've ever met she spent all her days 00:47:35.920 |
just copying scripture you know she would just copy scripture you know and 00:47:41.560 |
it wasn't just her the whole country experiences so you know you can 00:47:45.040 |
understand that the previous generation why reunification meant everything to 00:47:49.880 |
them because many of them lost everything can you imagine that your 00:47:55.480 |
wife your you know you know that some of you guys may know the church in young 00:48:00.560 |
knock in LA some of you guys know what that church is that big Korean church in 00:48:03.920 |
LA the senior pastor who planted that church experienced the same thing when 00:48:07.000 |
he was a young man the war broke out and he lost his wife he never saw his wife 00:48:11.040 |
and then years later because he was a pastor of one of the largest church in 00:48:15.520 |
here he's had an opportunity to go into North Korea found out his wife died a 00:48:19.280 |
year before he came in the whole country I mean I'm just telling you one story of 00:48:23.960 |
millions of story so you can imagine how important reunification is for a lot of 00:48:29.320 |
the older people can you imagine if reunification finally one day happens 00:48:35.440 |
and the 38th parallel is taken away all the landmines are taken out and said now 00:48:41.120 |
we reunify now we can reconcile and nobody ever moves nobody makes a phone 00:48:49.600 |
call it's like thank God it's open thank God it's open we need to praise the 00:48:55.520 |
people who got together and was smart enough and to remove the barrier between 00:49:00.280 |
us and thank God now we have the access and we're celebrating this open door but 00:49:06.320 |
nobody goes to the other side the whole point of justification is to take away 00:49:13.320 |
the barrier that we can draw near to the throne of grace with confidence what we 00:49:20.080 |
could not do because of our sins Christ took it upon himself and he absorbed our 00:49:25.560 |
sins and took away the landmines took away the wall took away the barrier and 00:49:31.000 |
he says now come and then we watch and celebrate his work and we praise what he 00:49:40.920 |
has done but nobody's going nobody's entering there's no affection for Christ 00:49:49.840 |
there's no hungering for his presence there's no reaching out there's no 00:49:54.480 |
crying out Baba father we thank you so much for doing what we did now what I 00:49:58.960 |
could not do because of Christ now I can do I can come before you in prayer and 00:50:02.880 |
you hear me and there's no barrier between me and you can you imagine the 00:50:07.840 |
tragedy after that happens and everybody just watching each other and celebrating 00:50:13.160 |
the open door and that's where it ends we can talk about the intricacies of the 00:50:19.120 |
gospel or the blood of Christ we can have a PhD in Christology and in the end 00:50:28.840 |
if you do not have a personal relationship with Christ it's all vanity 00:50:34.480 |
it's for nothing the whole purpose of salvation is to bring us to him 00:50:41.200 |
Ephesians 212 remember that you were a at that time separated from Christ 00:50:47.000 |
alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenant as 00:50:50.640 |
promised having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you 00:50:56.040 |
who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ our ultimate 00:51:04.080 |
reason why we ought to pray is because we can because we can God who created us 00:51:11.800 |
sustained says come to me and he's eagerly waiting for us so let me 00:51:17.560 |
conclude with this as we continue on in 2016 that again and I'm not saying like 00:51:24.640 |
this because I want you to all do what I do and become like me but as I evaluate 00:51:29.320 |
my life and as I evaluate our church it is not just a shortfall it is a gaping 00:51:34.960 |
hole that I see and I hope that in 2016 that together you know you encourage and 00:51:41.920 |
challenge me and I will encourage and challenge you that this is something 00:51:46.200 |
that we want to wrestle together that we would become a church of prayer in 00:51:51.440 |
Jeremiah 29 13 so you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your 00:51:56.840 |
heart would you take a minute to again come before the Lord in prayer that 00:52:02.240 |
again as we think upon 2016 and the things that we talk about like 00:52:07.560 |
individually and as a community how can we become more a place of prayer house 00:52:14.600 |
of prayer people of prayer and to really ask the Lord for his strength okay so as 00:52:19.640 |
our worship team leads us let's take some time to pray