back to index2022-01-02 Hope and Pray Pt1
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Ephesians 3, verses 14-21. 00:00:10.760 |
So we're going to be taking, again, taking a couple weeks in this text as we prepare 00:00:16.320 |
for 2022, and we want to make sure that we understand what our priorities are and what 00:00:22.000 |
are some things that we're going to be focusing on in the new year in 2022. 00:00:25.960 |
I want to take two weeks to dive into this text and hopefully we'll get a better footing 00:00:35.120 |
I'm going to be looking at verse 14 all the way to verse 21. 00:00:41.240 |
For this reason I bound my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and 00:00:45.480 |
on earth thrives its name, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to 00:00:49.720 |
be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell 00:00:54.280 |
in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be 00:00:58.320 |
able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 00:01:02.600 |
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all 00:01:08.840 |
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according 00:01:14.440 |
to the power that works within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus 00:01:32.360 |
Lord, we know that we can exposit and we can teach, and yet without your Holy Spirit, Lord, 00:01:42.880 |
And so we are dependent on you, asking Father for your grace. 00:01:47.440 |
Open our eyes, our ears, soften our hearts, Lord God, that we may receive your word. 00:01:56.520 |
Some of you guys probably already know that the names of each month of the year is actually 00:02:01.840 |
based upon some Roman idol or God that they worshiped, because our calendar came from 00:02:08.600 |
And so the Roman idol that got the name for January is Janus. 00:02:15.920 |
And the reason why they named January Janus is because Janus, the God that the Romans 00:02:22.640 |
worshiped, was the guardian of the arches or doors. 00:02:29.520 |
And what it represented was that you would pass from the previous year to the new year, 00:02:34.960 |
and so this God Janus guarded that door to make sure that the right things are passing 00:02:40.720 |
through, and that's why they named January January. 00:02:45.480 |
Appropriately, obviously, because we're making that transition, and then every year around 00:02:48.880 |
this time, you know, we make New Year's resolutions as we think about the past, what happened 00:02:53.680 |
in 2021, and where should we be headed in 2022. 00:02:59.240 |
And so again, we're in this text because we want to make sure that we're grounded and 00:03:06.200 |
You probably heard this quote from Socrates many times, "An unexamined life is not worth 00:03:16.360 |
This is a quote that is quoted quite a bit, but I'm not sure how many of you know the 00:03:22.000 |
Socrates actually was executed because of his influence on the youth of his generation. 00:03:28.160 |
So he was beginning to question some of the state's mandates of what gods that they're 00:03:33.840 |
supposed to worship, what gods they're not supposed to worship. 00:03:36.000 |
And so Socrates in no way was a Christian, but he was beginning to influence the youth, 00:03:41.920 |
telling them that some of these idols were worthless, and he was introducing idols of 00:03:46.680 |
And so they brought him into court basically saying that if you don't stop teaching these 00:03:50.400 |
youth and begin to have this mass influence, that you're going to be jailed or even executed. 00:03:55.840 |
So it's in that context that Socrates stood up and said, "A life that is unexamined is 00:04:02.440 |
In other words, I'd rather die than to just give in and just you telling me to think the 00:04:07.640 |
way I'm supposed to think and do whatever I'm told to do, it's not worth living. 00:04:12.000 |
So that's the context in which Socrates says this term, "An unexamined life is not worth 00:04:19.400 |
As we face 2022, what is it that we have thought in 2021 that needs to change? 00:04:27.480 |
What are some things that we're going through in the new year that we want to examine? 00:04:33.160 |
Whenever we want to head somewhere, we need to make sure that we have three things that 00:04:40.800 |
First, let's say if you're going to Fashion Island and you're looking for Nordstrom, as 00:04:46.080 |
The first thing you do when you get out of your parking lot and you get to, before you 00:04:50.480 |
start walking, you need to find out where Nordstrom is. 00:04:53.360 |
So typically you'll look at a map, find out where it is, and then once you find out where 00:04:58.080 |
it is, there's a second thing that you need to know. 00:05:05.680 |
Knowing where Nordstrom is is useless unless you know exactly where you are. 00:05:09.560 |
And so once you find out where you need to go and then you figure out where you are, 00:05:14.360 |
the next step is what's the fastest way to get there? 00:05:18.740 |
So whenever we're lost or when we have specific direction, we need to first figure out where 00:05:24.960 |
And so Apostle Paul actually says this very thing in Philippians chapter 3, 12 through 00:05:30.680 |
13, as he is in jail with possibility of execution, he says in summary of his life, he says, "Not 00:05:38.560 |
that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may 00:05:43.480 |
lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." 00:05:50.120 |
Apostle Paul says his main goal in his life is to possess for himself what Christ has 00:05:57.860 |
Now we all know that we've been purchased by the blood of Christ so we belong to him. 00:06:01.740 |
But Apostle Paul says, "As much as I belong to him," he says, "Christ needs to belong 00:06:12.880 |
Know Christ and then obviously his ministry was to make him known. 00:06:16.760 |
So his goal is pretty clear and this is not uniquely to Apostle Paul but for every Christian, 00:06:23.280 |
that our purpose in life is to have Christ and then to have more of Christ, to know him, 00:06:30.320 |
to love him, to proclaim him, to honor him, to glorify him. 00:06:36.400 |
If you've been a Christian for any period of time, you know that the Bible makes it 00:06:41.980 |
But the second thing that we need to know is then where are you in that? 00:06:47.600 |
Apostle Paul says, "Not that I have already obtained it." 00:06:53.480 |
If Apostle Paul's not there, for sure you and I are not there. 00:06:58.360 |
Typically we can think of our justification, it's like we're saved so from now on we just 00:07:02.720 |
kind of coast along in life and we'll see where this goes. 00:07:05.480 |
He says, "No, Apostle Paul, the man who teaches us about justification says, 'I have not obtained 00:07:11.840 |
In other words, he doesn't have the fullness of Christ. 00:07:15.880 |
And so he says, "I'm not there yet," so therefore he says, "I pressed on, I reached, forgetting 00:07:24.080 |
And so for every Christian as we face the new year and look back at 2021 and the previous 00:07:31.800 |
years, what is it that I need to do in order for me to be able to say at the end of my 00:07:40.960 |
If you have a bucket list of places to go, if you check off all of that, at the end of 00:07:44.960 |
your life you're going to say, "Well, this was a good life because I saw everything I 00:07:54.120 |
Is that what you would say at the end of your life and say, "This was a good life"? 00:07:58.520 |
I don't think any Christian would say that, right? 00:08:02.280 |
Because what we value, at least we profess to value, is Christ. 00:08:08.240 |
And so we live based upon what we would be able to say was a good life, to honor Christ, 00:08:18.920 |
And so what is it that we need to do tangibly when we make applications? 00:08:24.160 |
Whenever you make an application that's kind of vague, every year you're going to make 00:08:30.320 |
the same application, "I need to be a better Christian." 00:08:34.080 |
And so what does that mean, to be a better Christian? 00:08:36.960 |
So at the end of the year you're going to look at your life and you're going to have 00:08:39.520 |
some things that you feel guilty about, and maybe I shouldn't have done this, I should 00:08:43.800 |
The next year, when the new year comes around, you say, "Well, what do you need to do?" 00:08:50.480 |
Whenever you make your applications vague, you're going to end up repeating the cycle 00:08:56.880 |
So if we're going to make application, we need to be specific. 00:09:01.840 |
What is it that you think needs to be put away? 00:09:05.520 |
What is it that you need to actively pursue and prioritize? 00:09:07.960 |
So if you say, "I'm going to value my time with Christ and I'm going to really prioritize 00:09:26.380 |
So if you say, "I need to be in better health," what does that mean? 00:09:34.040 |
So you take all of that and you apply that, and then after you finish, you can look back 00:09:41.540 |
But if we're not careful, we make these general sweeping things that I need to be in better 00:09:45.120 |
health, I need to do this better, but then there's no specific applications that we make 00:09:52.220 |
It's just like going to Fashion Ion, I need to get to Nordstrom, I'm way over here, hopefully 00:10:00.080 |
And then you just don't look at the path and you don't start walking, right? 00:10:04.020 |
And so that's the reason that we want to make sure that as we're headed to 2022, what is 00:10:08.920 |
it that we lack individually, but specifically today, what is it we lack as a church that 00:10:15.440 |
we want to make sure that we need to be strengthened in? 00:10:22.880 |
I put today's title of my sermon, "Hope and Pray," right? 00:10:29.500 |
And the reason why it's not much different is because at the end of the year, as the 00:10:32.760 |
elders get together and we evaluate where we need to go, again, we feel like this is 00:10:41.420 |
And so this is not...through the years, we probably put this as a theme more than any 00:10:46.080 |
There's a few years where we say we need to build community, we need to have better teaching 00:10:50.100 |
in this and that area or evangelism, but probably more than any other theme that we've evaluated 00:10:56.560 |
and said we need to really be strengthened, and it's probably this topic of discipline 00:11:03.440 |
And I don't think it's any different this year. 00:11:07.200 |
I feel like we made some progress, but not to the point where we feel like where we ought 00:11:13.720 |
We need to be a church that is not just known for Bible teaching, but also for prayer. 00:11:22.440 |
Prayer tends to be weak in Bible teaching churches, and I don't think we're any different 00:11:31.340 |
We have a tendency, because we know our theology, we know our Bible, that somehow that gives 00:11:44.680 |
If we are theological and if we are Bible-centered, without prayer, without you knowing it, you 00:11:55.720 |
Even the ones that may be sitting here thinking like, "I don't know about that." 00:12:01.240 |
Obviously, I'm exaggerating, but almost always, if you commit yourself to the Word of God 00:12:09.460 |
without prayer, pride creeps in, whether you know it or not. 00:12:14.160 |
Because you think you know when you really don't. 00:12:17.760 |
You feel like you're in the presence of God when you're not. 00:12:21.500 |
You think you know God when you do not know Him. 00:12:24.880 |
It's just like it's no different than reading a book about somebody and saying, "I know 00:12:33.320 |
And that's why a tendency is a strong Bible-teaching church tends to be weak in prayer because 00:12:39.920 |
we feel confident that we are right with God in this. 00:12:44.160 |
Of course, prayer is important, but we don't realize just how important it is. 00:12:51.320 |
If I teach wrong doctrine, you will be up in arms, and I hope you will be. 00:12:59.900 |
If I taught something wrong and nobody said, "Amen," and then you went home, I'm not doing 00:13:08.860 |
But for some reason, Bible-teaching churches, when prayer is lacking, there is no up in 00:13:18.740 |
And again, that's because this is our blind spot, and we need to work on that. 00:13:24.860 |
And even if it takes the rest of my life, we need to work on that. 00:13:29.300 |
And I say this not because I've mastered prayer, but because I desire to, and I want our church 00:13:38.260 |
Ephesians 6, 18-19, we are told to put on the full armor of God. 00:13:47.660 |
The helmet of salvation, but breastplate of righteousness. 00:13:51.140 |
And after he goes through all of that, saying that our battle is not against flesh and blood, 00:13:54.740 |
it's a spiritual battle, and after he tells us all of this, he concludes this statement 00:13:58.940 |
by saying in verse 18-19, "With all prayers and petitions, pray at all times in the Spirit, 00:14:06.060 |
and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance, with petitions for all the 00:14:09.900 |
saints, and pray for me on behalf so that utterance may be given, my mouth will be opened 00:14:17.420 |
And so in other words, what he says, after you've done all of that, he says, pray, pray, 00:14:29.340 |
So we shouldn't miss that, the whole point that he's trying to get at. 00:14:31.860 |
After you've done all of that, if you do not pray, you end up relying upon your own resources, 00:14:39.460 |
your own knowledge, your own experience, your own intellect. 00:14:44.180 |
After you've done everything that God calls you to do, humble yourselves and recognize 00:14:48.620 |
that you need Christ in your theology, that you and I need Christ in our ability, in our 00:14:56.820 |
talent, because easily we can take every gift that God has given us and turn it into a curse, 00:15:10.340 |
Think about Jesus' ministry, his disciples who walked with him, and all the things that 00:15:16.860 |
the disciples could have asked Jesus to teach them. 00:15:20.340 |
Jesus, that his disciples said, "Teach us how to do what? 00:15:32.340 |
Evangelism would be so easy if I just walked on water. 00:15:37.260 |
And if I was levitating on water and preached the gospel, in my mind, I think they'd come 00:15:43.140 |
You get a bunch of hungry people together and feed them miraculously. 00:15:52.580 |
He calmed storms that even professional fishermen were scared to death because of the storm. 00:16:01.420 |
And you want to think with all the things that Jesus did, that the disciples would teach 00:16:20.140 |
Yet they observed of all the things that Jesus did, that what they wanted to be able to do, 00:16:36.740 |
Of all the things that Jesus did, prayer is the most mundane. 00:16:41.260 |
Prayer is something that they've been doing for thousands of years. 00:16:44.740 |
Prayer is something that any one of us can decide to do. 00:16:47.440 |
Is it because they didn't know how to close their eyes? 00:16:50.740 |
Is it because they didn't know the words or they weren't articulate enough? 00:16:55.580 |
What was it about Jesus' prayer in the midst of all the miracles and the power that He 00:17:05.940 |
There was something about His prayer life that they recognized that this is something 00:17:19.940 |
Matthew chapter 7, 7, Jesus says, ask and it will be given to you. 00:17:32.460 |
If He's so eager to give it to us, why does He wait for us to knock? 00:17:41.820 |
Think about what the point of salvation ultimately is. 00:17:46.180 |
The point of salvation isn't simply to save us from the penalty of sin, but the power 00:18:00.060 |
The point of the gospel is not simply not going to hell. 00:18:03.700 |
That is a byproduct of being reunited with our Heavenly Father, the author of life. 00:18:10.440 |
So the whole point of salvation, the whole point of justification is to call sinners 00:18:18.040 |
So when He says, your sins have been forgiven, the very next thing is come. 00:18:28.260 |
In the old covenant, God didn't tell them to come. 00:18:34.180 |
And if you do want to come, here are all these rituals that you need to go. 00:18:37.620 |
Here are the animals that need to be soldered. 00:18:39.820 |
Here's the blood that needs to be sprinkled all over. 00:18:44.620 |
Sinners were not welcomed into His presence or you will die. 00:18:48.940 |
So now that Christ has come and washed us with His blood and He took away the barrier, 00:18:58.220 |
And that's why He says ask, seek, and to knock. 00:19:02.540 |
Because He wants us to take advantage of what it is that He has done for us. 00:19:07.140 |
And it says in James chapter 4, 2, you do not have because you do not ask. 00:19:13.660 |
Think about how frustrated we are sometimes with life, the people that we complain about, 00:19:40.500 |
I don't know how many times I come to the Lord in prayer frustrated and even angry about 00:19:47.860 |
certain things at church or maybe even certain people. 00:19:51.900 |
And I would be on my knees being rebuked in prayer. 00:19:58.140 |
And in prayer realizing how gracious God is and how loving He is. 00:20:06.380 |
It was me who was bitter that I wasn't practicing the love that He gave to me. 00:20:12.140 |
He was actually much more patient than I was. 00:20:15.580 |
And then there's also times when I'm at perfect peace. 00:20:20.920 |
And in prayer realizing that God is not at peace. 00:20:29.020 |
He wants me to say and draw the line and be righteous. 00:20:33.460 |
But I don't know how many times I've thought in my mind that because I have a verse to 00:20:43.700 |
But my heart is corrected when I come in the presence of God in prayer. 00:20:49.620 |
I can know all things in my head but there's a huge difference between being illuminated 00:21:07.500 |
Illumination is when God takes the revelation and He changes your heart. 00:21:12.960 |
So a sinner is not saved simply because he hears the gospel. 00:21:17.860 |
If that's the case the whole world will be saved. 00:21:21.780 |
It's the revelation where the Holy Spirit comes and He opens our eyes and He illuminates 00:21:32.340 |
And so the Bible tells us that you and I cannot bear fruit unless we abide in Him. 00:21:46.100 |
Abiding in Him means to be broken in our sins. 00:21:52.740 |
To be humble before His presence and to be dependent on Him. 00:21:55.860 |
So if you are a man or a woman who is very proficient in the Word of God and weak in 00:22:00.740 |
prayer you're just as weak as somebody who is not proficient with the Word of God and 00:22:10.900 |
You do not know Christ anymore than the next person who doesn't know anything but doesn't 00:22:23.540 |
Again, I say all of this because you and I are in a Bible teaching church which I am 00:22:28.820 |
the primary teacher and this is something that I recognize that we need to continue 00:22:36.660 |
That prayer is not, as long as we have the right doctrine, like prayer is something that 00:22:45.580 |
That if you cannot tolerate wrong teaching you should not tolerate prayerlessness either. 00:22:55.940 |
And so as a church as we face 2022 this is something that we want to continue to emphasize 00:23:02.340 |
We don't want to be known just as a church that preaches right doctrine. 00:23:08.500 |
We also need to be known as a church that is humble before God in prayer. 00:23:14.700 |
The text that we're looking at in verse 14-21 Paul is summarizing what he's been saying 00:23:22.780 |
in three chapters about who God is and then he kind of leads us into prayer. 00:23:29.660 |
And so there's five things that I want to point out in this text and so today we're 00:23:33.340 |
going to cover two and then next week we're going to cover the other three. 00:23:37.220 |
So the first thing that we want to look at, why do we need to pray? 00:23:44.140 |
And he just simply says in verse 14, "for this reason." 00:23:48.700 |
Well, for this reason means that he's been making an argument prior to this text. 00:23:54.700 |
So the immediate context of this is for this reason he's talking about his gospel ministry. 00:23:59.380 |
And I believe that Apostle Paul is not just talking about this immediate context. 00:24:03.140 |
He's talking about what he's been saying all throughout the book of Ephesians. 00:24:08.140 |
And so he's summarizing the whole three chapters and he says, "everything that I've been telling 00:24:13.080 |
you about your salvation and what God has done, the love that he poured upon you, for 00:24:17.780 |
this reason we need to bow our knees before our heavenly father for this reason." 00:24:24.020 |
So a quick summary of the first three chapters. 00:24:28.580 |
Ephesians chapter 1, 3-14, and I'm just going to give you a cliff note version of this text. 00:24:41.780 |
He adopted us according to his will, by his grace. 00:24:50.660 |
He made known the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention, he purposed, he gave 00:25:02.860 |
If you have any text that you say, you know what, I want to really memorize this and put 00:25:08.060 |
it to heart, it would be this text because it is just rich in theology. 00:25:12.940 |
From predestination to justification to election, adoption, inheritance, all of it is contained 00:25:20.100 |
So whenever we go through this text or whenever we study the book of Ephesians, we can get 00:25:23.780 |
wrapped up in what is predestination, what is election, what is adoption, what is inheritance. 00:25:29.300 |
Every single one of these topics are rich in theology that we really should master. 00:25:36.100 |
But if we're not careful, we can miss the whole point of this text. 00:25:40.700 |
Because this text, as rich it is in theology, what holds it together? 00:25:56.220 |
So when we talk about predestination, election, inheritance, adoption, and all this stuff, 00:26:00.380 |
he always emphasizes he did it, he purposed it, he provided it, he did it according to 00:26:06.140 |
his riches for his glory, his grace, 23 times. 00:26:11.940 |
So the main point of the text isn't simply what we got from that. 00:26:24.060 |
When a child is adopted into a home, the blessing for that child is not a better house, or a 00:26:47.700 |
And so everything that that child gets is a byproduct of being adopted and loved by 00:26:57.540 |
We can easily mistaken and celebrate predestination and election, and about eternity in heaven, 00:27:03.940 |
and not going to hell, and being freed from judgment. 00:27:06.620 |
We can do all of that and completely miss the point. 00:27:10.780 |
Because the whole point of the condemnation of man is that we were separated, fallen what? 00:27:17.180 |
Fallen short of joy, fallen short of the garden of Eden, fallen short of heaven. 00:27:31.220 |
We've been separated from the author of life. 00:27:33.260 |
So the whole point of salvation is to bring us back. 00:27:42.180 |
See, if we're not careful, we can spend all our days celebrating how awesome the work 00:27:55.980 |
And we become, the more we study the Bible, we become the experts in describing how awesome 00:28:17.140 |
He came incarnate, became incarnate 100% man, 100% God. 00:28:20.900 |
And so we become so proficient in theology, and we become experts in describing what happened, 00:28:28.620 |
yet never entering the throne of grace with confidence. 00:28:33.980 |
Because the whole point of salvation is not to simply say, the wall, the barrier has been 00:28:41.500 |
The whole point of salvation is because the barrier is taken away, to come. 00:28:48.140 |
It's like receiving a gift and never using it. 00:28:53.980 |
The greatest gift that you and I have, you have, from the old covenant to the new covenant, 00:28:58.540 |
is that the curtain to the Holy of Holies was ripped. 00:29:03.300 |
So the curtain ripping basically meant there was a welcome mat. 00:29:09.780 |
Instead of saying, "Return," He said, "Now you can come." 00:29:17.100 |
Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:29:21.200 |
You know why He says, "I will give you rest"? 00:29:22.860 |
Because we're all striving, the whole world is striving after event after event, job after 00:29:31.580 |
It's not peace of mind for our children, peace of mind for retirement, peace of mind 00:29:39.540 |
But He says, "No, come to me, all you who are weary, going from place to place, from 00:29:45.200 |
stage to stage in life, and you shall not find peace there." 00:29:49.540 |
He says, "I will give you peace, and you shall find rest for your souls. 00:30:00.860 |
So the whole point of our salvation is to come to Him. 00:30:03.940 |
So if we study the Word of God, and we're laboring in the church, and we're doing all 00:30:09.020 |
of these great things, proclaiming, and yet we neglect prayer, neglect to come to Him, 00:30:13.940 |
then you've neglected not just a small part of your salvation, you've neglected the whole 00:30:26.460 |
Does your bucket list have anything to do with Christ? 00:30:31.940 |
Ephesians 1, 18-19, Paul basically summarizes his whole heart. 00:30:37.700 |
And this is something that I think you and I need to pay attention to. 00:30:41.940 |
The whole reason why the Bible is taught, the whole reason why we do expository preaching, 00:30:49.100 |
is not so that at the end of it you say, "Oh, I've heard a lot of sermons from a lot of 00:30:52.860 |
great preachers, and so I know more than you." 00:30:58.580 |
Hearing and studying of the Word of God for you has done more damage than good, if that's 00:31:06.580 |
Paul says, in Ephesians 1, 18-19, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened." 00:31:11.700 |
Now, why do their eyes need to be enlightened when Paul basically revealed everything to 00:31:17.540 |
He's like, "Oh, it's because they're not smart? 00:31:24.140 |
Is he praying for all of us to be A students so that we can exposit the text and understand 00:31:29.820 |
What does he mean for their eyes to be enlightened when he's the one who told them? 00:31:40.460 |
He's praying that God would use the Word that you've heard and break you, break me, to humble 00:31:55.580 |
He's calling us when he says, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened 00:31:58.820 |
so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory 00:32:03.140 |
of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward 00:32:11.620 |
Our churches are filled with people who have right theology, who know the verse to quote, 00:32:26.620 |
The person who does the greatest damage is the person who has the greatest knowledge 00:32:37.180 |
We need to couple our efforts in the Word of God with much prayer, not just prayer sprinkled, 00:32:44.140 |
not just knowing the importance of prayer, but we need to pray. 00:32:50.980 |
As much attention we give to the exposition of the Word of God, we need to give equal 00:33:00.080 |
We pray ultimately because we have hope, and that's really the summary of everything he's 00:33:08.700 |
Why do we need to know the love and the power that we have in Christ? 00:33:15.300 |
Remember David, because of his great sin, he commits adultery and then he ends up killing 00:33:22.180 |
Bathsheba's husband, and as a result of that, God said that your kingdom is going to be 00:33:26.580 |
divided and you're going to lose your first child. 00:33:30.740 |
And just as God said, the prophecy is coming true. 00:33:33.740 |
After Bathsheba has her child, the child falls ill and is about to die. 00:33:40.660 |
And David gets on his knees and he begins to pray. 00:33:45.020 |
And he cries out to God and he said he fasted. 00:33:47.060 |
He fasted so much that his subjects were actually concerned for him. 00:33:53.920 |
My child is sick and I need to plead to the Lord. 00:33:57.260 |
And as God said, prophecy comes true and his child dies. 00:34:03.380 |
And to the surprise of his subjects, he just gets up, he shakes it off, and then he just 00:34:14.260 |
I mean, you were so passionate praying and fasting. 00:34:18.780 |
How do you just, you know, he dies and you just move on? 00:34:21.380 |
And David's response was, as long as he lived, I have hope. 00:34:28.140 |
But now that he's gone, I can go to him, but he can't come to me. 00:34:48.660 |
But here's the difference in the new covenant. 00:34:52.100 |
In a new covenant, remember the disciples, they were so courageous. 00:34:56.300 |
Like Jesus, the leaders of Israel were trying to get at Jesus from the very beginning of 00:35:01.860 |
But remember, Jesus would just walk through the crowd, right? 00:35:05.380 |
I mean, they hated him from the beginning because from the get-go, it didn't take him 00:35:13.900 |
As soon as the Pharisees and Sadducees came, Jesus said, who told you to come to be baptized, 00:35:22.620 |
Your repentance means nothing if there's no change in your life. 00:35:26.860 |
And so they were angry with him from the get-go. 00:35:29.940 |
And these are powerful men who could literally put him in jail and possibly even stone him 00:35:35.300 |
And so the disciples, as long as they walked with him, they were safe. 00:35:41.860 |
In the middle of the storm, he would calm them down. 00:35:44.640 |
But all of a sudden, Jesus comes into Jerusalem and he begins to surrender. 00:35:49.220 |
He's the most powerful person that they've ever met. 00:35:54.960 |
And yet he surrenders himself to go to the cross. 00:35:58.680 |
The disciples are watching him from a distance. 00:36:04.200 |
He's going to pretend like he's going to surrender. 00:36:06.660 |
And then right before he's crucified, he's just going to go, bam! 00:36:12.660 |
So they're watching him from a distance, watching, watching. 00:36:15.700 |
And then when they realized that Jesus was going to be handed over and die, all of a 00:36:26.260 |
This courageous man, Peter, who was willing to take his sword out and go on this fight, 00:36:32.740 |
even though humanly they were outnumbered, all of a sudden becomes a coward. 00:36:38.780 |
And so as Jesus is being crucified, all the disciples scattered in fear and locked doors 00:36:52.140 |
Christ comes back and resurrected on the third day. 00:36:56.300 |
And after they meet the resurrected Christ, their hope is reignited. 00:37:02.700 |
And it is in this hope Jesus calls them to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing 00:37:08.780 |
them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:37:15.140 |
The Christ who was crucified, who was resurrected on the third day, he is with you. 00:37:21.100 |
And the apostles say that the power of the cross says even when you die, he said, you 00:37:30.320 |
And that's what he means when he says for this reason we have to pray because we have 00:37:39.800 |
It doesn't matter how long this pandemic lasts. 00:37:42.380 |
It doesn't matter what kind of government that we have. 00:37:44.540 |
It doesn't matter what kind of economic downturn that it may have. 00:37:47.980 |
There is no Christian who is never without hope. 00:37:51.960 |
We have a hope that this world cannot take away no matter what circumstance that we're 00:37:57.580 |
No matter what happens in 2022, our hope remains steadfast and steady. 00:38:11.740 |
First Peter 1 through 36, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according 00:38:15.180 |
to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope, through the resurrection 00:38:25.280 |
To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in 00:38:29.920 |
heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready 00:38:36.120 |
You notice he doesn't say protected by your hard work, protected by your church, protected 00:38:53.600 |
Despite us, God says you have hope, living hope. 00:39:03.320 |
In this simple statement, he says to kneel down before, kneel down, bow my knees before 00:39:10.760 |
the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derived his name. 00:39:17.720 |
Philippians 2, 10 through 11, he says so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow 00:39:22.000 |
of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will 00:39:25.160 |
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord through the glory of God the Father. 00:39:36.520 |
The word kneel, the posture basically is to surrender in awe. 00:39:44.080 |
Last week, Pastor Nate gave a sermon about fear and the general thing that was kind of 00:39:53.120 |
proclaimed last week about fear is there's a fear that leads to despair. 00:40:00.460 |
So many of us make decisions based upon what we're afraid of. 00:40:05.120 |
That if we do this, what will people think of me? 00:40:12.400 |
And so we hedge every decision that we make, what is the results that's going to hit? 00:40:20.280 |
Am I not going to be able to advance in my career? 00:40:26.080 |
And what if my children don't get what they want? 00:40:28.000 |
And so everything that we do, we hedge it based upon the fear. 00:40:32.680 |
Well, if I say this, what are they going to think of me? 00:40:34.960 |
If I don't do this, what are they going to think of me? 00:40:36.800 |
So all of our life is kind of like hedged and bound by certain fears that we have. 00:40:48.280 |
And then there's fear that leads to worship, which is what the world doesn't understand. 00:40:55.440 |
Because the only fear that leads to worship is when we are knelt before our holy God. 00:41:03.600 |
Every instance in the Bible when men and women are in the presence of God's glory, the first 00:41:11.440 |
The first response is an, "Oh God, we were waiting for you. 00:41:21.920 |
Ezekiel chapter 128, Ezekiel is in the presence of God's glory, the incarnate Christ. 00:41:32.040 |
Matthew chapter 17, verse 6, God speaks of his son, "This is my son in whom I am well 00:41:38.760 |
And when the disciples see the glory of God, their first response is they fell on their 00:41:48.320 |
In Revelation chapter 117, when Apostle John is in the presence of Jesus' glory, it says 00:41:59.120 |
And in Revelation 5, verse 14, the elders in the presence of the glory of the throne, 00:42:07.520 |
And then look what it says in Revelation 7, 11 to 12, "And all the angels were standing 00:42:11.000 |
around the throne, around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their 00:42:15.800 |
faces before the throne and then worshipped, saying, 'Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom 00:42:23.440 |
and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. 00:42:30.000 |
You don't equate ... you and I don't equate fear with joy. 00:42:36.800 |
If something causes fear, we move away from that. 00:42:40.680 |
We don't buy houses where we don't feel safe. 00:42:46.880 |
Our whole world got shut down because of fear of this thing that we can't even see. 00:42:53.880 |
Fear usually does not equate with joy and peace. 00:42:59.480 |
And yet, in every instance, a man or a woman who have gotten in the presence of God, they 00:43:20.960 |
And Jesus said, "I have come to give life and give this life abundantly." 00:43:24.400 |
And it wasn't until they recognized they were in the presence of God's glory that they felt 00:43:28.960 |
terrified and then that terror led to worship and joy and life. 00:43:35.680 |
So the whole purpose of our salvation is to bring us to this holy God, covered in the 00:43:40.600 |
blood of Christ, recognizing who we are standing in front of, who we are praying to, and experiencing 00:43:54.960 |
One of the most convicting sermons I've heard was on this subject of prayer is Martin Lloyd 00:44:01.120 |
Martin Lloyd Jones says, "Prayer is the hardest, one of the hardest things to do as a professing 00:44:07.240 |
Christian, and it is impossible for an unsurrendered person to pray." 00:44:12.120 |
I mean, prayer as a discipline is easy, physically. 00:44:19.520 |
When other people close their eyes, you close your eyes. 00:44:22.440 |
And you have certain things that you want to say in your head, just say it. 00:44:28.760 |
But he said, "True prayer, you cannot come to God on your own terms. 00:44:34.240 |
An unsurrendered man or woman cannot come into the presence of God." 00:44:41.880 |
Jeremiah 29, verse 13, it says, "You will seek me and find me when you search me with 00:44:50.280 |
Part of the reason why prayer is ineffective in our generation is because our churches 00:44:58.280 |
are filled with people who have not surrendered their lives to Christ. 00:45:03.000 |
And just like Martin Lloyd Jones says, you cannot pray unsurrendered. 00:45:08.240 |
Because the Holy Spirit that is residing in us is groaning and interceding on our behalf, 00:45:18.680 |
The thing that the Holy Spirit wants for us and from us is leading away from what we desire 00:45:28.640 |
So our prayers and the work of the Holy Spirit is fighting each other. 00:45:34.160 |
So when we come to the Lord in prayer, instead of communing with God, we're wrestling with 00:45:43.420 |
And that's why our prayers are so frustrated. 00:45:45.960 |
Because an unsurrendered man cannot pray until he has decided for himself that this is what 00:45:54.200 |
And it's in Amos 5, 4, and 6, it says, "Seek me that you may live." 00:45:59.080 |
It doesn't say, "Seek me so that you may have peace." 00:46:01.600 |
It doesn't say, "Seek me so that you may experience joy." 00:46:13.840 |
No one casually drifts into the presence of God. 00:46:17.880 |
No one wakes up one morning and says, "You know what? 00:46:20.520 |
And hopefully, if I'm around enough Christians, and if I attend Bible study faithfully, that 00:46:25.000 |
I'm going to wake up at the end of 2022 and just have this passionate love for Christ." 00:46:30.840 |
Because everything around us is drifting away from Him. 00:46:36.640 |
So if we don't actively anchor ourselves, if we don't actively pursue Christ, if we 00:46:40.480 |
don't actively pray before God, you will find yourself at the end of 2022, further 00:46:58.880 |
Even before we pray, we need to make up our mind. 00:47:04.040 |
You can't—bowing the knees here is not just talking about physically, right? 00:47:08.680 |
As long as you don't have bad knees, any one of us can just get on our knees, right? 00:47:13.000 |
Obviously, that's not what he's talking about. 00:47:20.640 |
He's talking about recognizing who he is to be surrendered. 00:47:27.080 |
At the end of his life, he was so frustrated with the Israelites because they kept on going 00:47:32.160 |
back and forth to worshiping God, to worshiping idols. 00:47:36.040 |
And the reason why they were worshiping idols is not because they were more attractive. 00:47:40.560 |
I mean, it's just a wood figure that they just carved out. 00:47:45.240 |
But the reason why they kept on worshiping these idols is because they were looking at 00:47:48.600 |
what the Canaanites had and thought, "Maybe if I worship it, maybe we'll have wealth. 00:47:56.960 |
And so they were willing to compromise because they weren't surrendered to God. 00:48:02.400 |
And it's at the end of his life, Joshua says, "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve 00:48:07.640 |
the Lord, choose for yourself today whom you will serve. 00:48:12.840 |
Whether the gods which your father served which were beyond the river or the gods of 00:48:16.960 |
the Amorites," I almost say Americans, "in whose land you are living, but as for me and 00:48:29.880 |
To bow our knees before the Father, we need to make up our mind. 00:48:36.100 |
Have you said this to your family, to yourself? 00:48:40.000 |
I'm not sure where the other people are going, but for me and my household, we will serve 00:48:48.000 |
Not my safety, not my comfort, not my retirement, not my wife, not my children. 00:49:00.120 |
As we go forward in 2022, as we focus our attention on prayer, because we need to focus 00:49:06.680 |
on prayer, the question we need to ask is, "Are you surrendered? 00:49:19.040 |
When two people get married, they're entering into a covenant, and it is assumed, and you 00:49:24.760 |
don't have to be a Christian, but it is assumed when they enter a covenant, Christian or non-Christian, 00:49:30.520 |
that they're going to put aside any other relationship outside of this relationship, 00:49:40.600 |
No one comes into the altar and say, "You know what? 00:49:48.880 |
You don't come into the altar and say, "You know what? 00:49:50.840 |
I feel strong today, but I have no idea tomorrow." 00:49:57.480 |
Because a covenant relationship, basically, you're publicly professing that this wife, 00:50:02.320 |
this husband, is going to be my sole love for the rest of my life. 00:50:08.360 |
So how much more, when we have this covenant relationship with this holy God, that we must 00:50:14.680 |
be committed that we will serve no other gods but Him? 00:50:21.560 |
So a commitment to prayer is a commitment to surrender, to recognize that He's my life, 00:50:28.160 |
He's my hope, that all the pain and sorrow that you may be experiencing now, have experienced 00:50:35.320 |
in the past, and may be coming in the future, that my hope is in Christ, in Christ alone, 00:50:45.440 |
that we would make this commitment together, commit in 2022. 00:50:54.080 |
And as the praise team comes up, I want to sing this song as our closing song. 00:50:59.560 |
And you know this song well, "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus," and I've shared this before, 00:51:03.280 |
but I want to share again before we sing this. 00:51:05.600 |
And as we sing this, make this a dedication for our new year. 00:51:17.840 |
This is a very simple song that you probably, if you grew up in the church, you probably 00:51:23.640 |
But the background story behind this is it was composed by a missionary in 1889. 00:51:30.600 |
So it's been around a while, but the reason why it got so popular is that when Christianity 00:51:35.540 |
began to sweep through India in the remotest parts of the village, this one particular 00:51:41.120 |
family came to Christ and they were so excited about their faith, they began to share it 00:51:48.100 |
And so the village leader, who was very hostile toward Christianity, came out and basically 00:51:53.000 |
got the crowd to be riled up and took all of his family and in the middle of the village, 00:51:59.560 |
threatened them that if you do not denounce your faith, that your children and your wife 00:52:06.600 |
Well, this man sat there and he said, "I cannot deny my faith." 00:52:11.080 |
And he saw his children one by one martyred for their faith. 00:52:19.480 |
And finally he turned to him and saying, "If you do not denounce your faith, you also will 00:52:24.640 |
And it is at that moment he began to sing this song, "I have decided to follow Jesus. 00:52:37.640 |
So when he said, "I have decided to follow Jesus," he's not saying that I'm going to 00:52:40.760 |
go to church on Sunday, that I'm going to give a portion of my wealth, that I'm going 00:52:53.240 |
When he says, "No turning back," no turning back, that he wasn't going to surrender this 00:52:57.880 |
new life in order to hold on to the life that was about to be extinguished. 00:53:05.840 |
The second verse says, "Though none go with me, I still will follow." 00:53:18.800 |
They wait until other people confess their faith. 00:53:22.920 |
That I need to be with other people who are passionate for Christ. 00:53:26.200 |
And we're kind of on a holding pattern until you see a movement happening. 00:53:30.480 |
And until there's a movement of prayer, until there's a movement of revival, movement of 00:53:40.720 |
Sometimes our greatest hindrances are our own environment, sometimes even in our own 00:53:48.680 |
So when he says, "Though none go with me, I still will follow," even if sometimes your 00:54:01.880 |
Because you want to do this with him, but he's not coming, so you're waiting. 00:54:08.080 |
I want to passionately pursue Christ, but I can't do it with her, so you're patiently 00:54:15.360 |
Or maybe my children are a little bit older, and I can do this with them. 00:54:19.240 |
Or maybe my friends, or my church, or my leaders. 00:54:24.840 |
And we're just quietly, passively waiting for revival to break out until there's a 00:54:28.800 |
movement so I can participate in this movement. 00:54:33.200 |
But every instance where God calls us, he calls us one by one. 00:54:39.320 |
And sometimes it will be many people being called one by one. 00:54:52.600 |
Though none go with me, I still will follow, though none go with me, I still will follow. 00:55:02.880 |
Third verse, "The world behind me, though crossed before me." 00:55:07.440 |
As this man was singing this song, when he says, "The world behind me," he's talking 00:55:18.880 |
Our greatest desire in this life is not to live a long, peaceful, prosperous life. 00:55:37.720 |
Sorrow, bitterness, all comes from a result of not letting go of this rat race. 00:55:45.720 |
And so when he says, "The world behind me," he's not simply talking about having nice 00:55:51.320 |
He says, "No, this whole thing that is under the judgment of God is no longer a pursuit 00:56:13.120 |
So this morning as we sing this song, that this would be our confession, even though 00:56:19.360 |
we may not be practicing it perfectly, that this has to be our pursuit. 00:56:27.240 |
To make 2022 a year where you are deliberately, specifically, and passionately pursuing Christ 00:56:35.640 |
above everything else, above your job, above your marriage, above your children, above 00:56:47.160 |
your career, to make the pursuit of Christ the most important thing that I do every single 00:56:57.200 |
So why don't we rise up together, and as we sing this song, may it be our proclamation, 00:57:04.400 |
may it be our confession for this coming year, 2022.