back to indexBerean Community Church Praise and Prayer Night 8/23/24
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and we thank you for your sustaining grace in our lives, 00:07:24.640 |
your kindness, your faithfulness, your sovereign hand 00:07:32.080 |
that we get to come as a church to pray to you. 00:07:34.880 |
And despite or regardless of how each of our weeks have been 00:07:46.840 |
to come before you, Lord, with an undivided attention 00:07:52.400 |
I pray for tonight, even if some of us may be tired 00:07:56.120 |
or whatnot, that we would be engaged in prayer 00:08:04.360 |
Father, that our true desire would be to seek you, 00:08:13.000 |
We thank you, Lord, in Christ's name we pray, amen. 00:14:08.040 |
♪ My heart, my heart is filled with a thousand songs ♪ 00:20:53.680 |
but I wanted to pray along with the Lord's Prayer 00:21:01.160 |
and you guys are very familiar with the Lord's Prayer, 00:21:08.780 |
and give some guidance and basically to give a structure 00:21:30.440 |
"for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues 00:21:35.160 |
"Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." 00:21:38.480 |
And so basically, he's saying there's a pattern of prayer 00:21:41.100 |
that they pray and their prayer is not effective, 00:21:47.060 |
for their prayer, but their prayers were ineffective 00:21:52.140 |
So there is a way to pray where God does not answer. 00:21:55.220 |
Just because we pray doesn't mean that God is pleased. 00:22:01.400 |
But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, 00:22:04.240 |
close your door and pray to your father who is in secret 00:22:07.320 |
and your father who sees what is done in secret 00:22:11.280 |
So the natural question is, what are we doing here, right? 00:22:16.760 |
They focus on prayer so that they can be seen by others. 00:22:30.940 |
We tend to focus on things that people can see 00:22:34.060 |
because they can't see that whether we prayed or not, 00:22:38.760 |
So the reason why we gather together for corporate prayer, 00:22:40.900 |
obviously, God tells us to make this a house of prayer. 00:22:52.220 |
And so our corporate prayer hopefully will help us 00:23:04.140 |
You can't say that because we gather once a month 00:23:16.700 |
that we can have a life, a pattern of prayer. 00:23:19.060 |
And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition 00:23:22.260 |
as the Gentiles do for they suppose that they will be heard 00:23:26.460 |
So do not be like them for your father knows what you need 00:23:30.740 |
You don't need to pray a lot or a lot of words. 00:23:49.740 |
and because you can't put articulate sentences together, 00:24:10.460 |
the only words that come out of your mouth are help me. 00:24:22.340 |
If you were standing before God, what would you say? 00:24:25.780 |
Maybe you're in a situation, you're caught in sin, 00:24:31.100 |
and you don't need to explain the intricate details 00:24:37.580 |
You just need to come before the Lord and say, help me. 00:24:43.680 |
So God doesn't hear us because of many prayer 00:24:52.580 |
all you will do all night is to ask for help. 00:25:11.820 |
Pray then in this way, our Father who is in heaven, 00:25:16.820 |
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:25:20.900 |
and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. 00:25:42.300 |
You have a vertical prayer between us and God, 00:25:44.820 |
and then it prays for a horizontal relationship 00:25:54.940 |
unless our vertical line with God is connected, 00:26:19.500 |
But the first thing, no matter what situation is, 00:26:31.020 |
and we're gonna start praying with this first, 00:26:33.060 |
and I'm gonna give you a chunk of time to pray, 00:26:34.860 |
and then we'll deal with the horizontal afterwards. 00:26:53.340 |
So the first part of the prayer is lordship, right? 00:27:04.900 |
Lord could be a way of just expressing honor, like sir, 00:27:09.900 |
right, and so you can call just some stranger, 00:27:12.980 |
just in an honorific way, saying sir, sir this, sir that. 00:27:16.860 |
Is that the way he's using the word Lord here? 00:27:19.420 |
Or another way to say Lord is Lord is in somebody 00:27:29.160 |
but it's just a way of expressing somebody like a rabbi, 00:27:32.820 |
or maybe somebody higher than that, a governor or king. 00:27:37.700 |
The way that the word Lord is being used here 00:27:41.700 |
is the way that the Jews used the word Adonai 00:27:49.440 |
To say your name, hallowed be your name, not my name, right? 00:27:55.660 |
How much of my prayer is about my reputation? 00:28:01.660 |
You know, sometimes we think like what kind of, 00:28:04.180 |
what kind of legacy would you want to leave when you die? 00:28:20.780 |
I want to be known as a man who strove for God. 00:28:23.780 |
No, you don't need to be remembered, you're a servant. 00:28:26.780 |
If you did a good job, they'll remember Christ, 00:28:34.300 |
How much of the headaches do we incur on ourselves 00:28:58.980 |
A servant is not somebody who leaves behind his name, 00:29:02.060 |
and his legacy, and they make a monument for you. 00:29:06.820 |
A good servant basically points to his master, 00:29:16.500 |
is a surrender of lordship to him, that he's my master. 00:29:24.220 |
not other people's name, not our church's name, 00:29:27.420 |
but hallowed be your name, and your kingdom come. 00:29:40.660 |
So first and foremost, we need to remember when we pray, 00:29:56.620 |
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:30:14.580 |
There's no other Lord above him, he is the Lord. 00:30:22.420 |
"Not just Jesus as Savior, but Jesus as Lord, 00:30:25.540 |
"and believe in your heart that God raised him 00:30:30.800 |
Now one of the core books that we have at our church, 00:31:02.500 |
Am I seeking his glory, his will, his honor, right? 00:31:14.860 |
Am I using God for my peace, for my marriage? 00:31:18.780 |
Or how much of our prayer is coming before the Lord, 00:31:23.700 |
Acts 2:36, "Therefore, let all the house of Israel 00:31:28.940 |
"both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucify." 00:31:33.380 |
Christ is Lord, repeated over and over again. 00:31:37.140 |
2 Corinthians 4, 5, "For we do not preach ourselves, 00:31:52.460 |
That's why we're in the condition that we're in, 00:32:12.740 |
that we wrestle with our flesh to make him our Lord, right? 00:32:17.500 |
Not simply with words, not simply in theology, 00:32:24.380 |
1 Corinthians 6, 20 says, "You have been purchased 00:32:27.760 |
"with a price, therefore honor God with your body." 00:33:10.540 |
So the first and foremost, he says, "Pray in this way. 00:33:32.900 |
Second part, he says, "Give us this day our daily bread." 00:33:39.480 |
You notice how he doesn't say, "Give me this day enough 00:33:43.940 |
"so that I don't have to worry about retirement." 00:33:45.900 |
There's nothing wrong with putting money away 00:33:47.540 |
for retirement, but you know that the contents 00:33:56.020 |
This is also a prayer of surrender, that I will trust you. 00:33:59.380 |
It doesn't mean that you shouldn't be responsible. 00:34:01.300 |
It doesn't mean that you shouldn't be good with money, 00:34:04.560 |
but the content of prayer is a prayer of surrender, 00:34:07.220 |
that my life, my decisions, what I do, that I rely on him, 00:34:17.620 |
I don't wanna have to depend on him every day. 00:34:19.860 |
I wanna pray hard today, and then I collect enough 00:34:31.480 |
because he wants us to depend on him every single day, 00:34:39.480 |
We may depend on him this year and then drift the next year, 00:34:42.880 |
and so the principle that he was teaching the Israelites 00:34:46.000 |
when he told them to only collect manna for that day 00:35:04.900 |
not until you have a nice house, but every single day. 00:35:19.480 |
He's not going to self-defeat his main purpose, 00:35:28.340 |
So if making you wealthy causes you to be independent, 00:35:38.440 |
because if he answers that prayer, you will drift. 00:35:50.160 |
His will is so that you and I would surrender. 00:35:59.920 |
and all these things shall be added unto you. 00:36:04.320 |
how will he not along with him give us all things? 00:36:10.360 |
I love God because he gave his only begotten son for me, 00:36:14.200 |
and then the very next minute we turn around, 00:36:17.860 |
I'm not sure if he will provide for my finances. 00:36:29.420 |
Why are we so anxious about what we don't have? 00:36:34.660 |
Does God not have the power to give it to you? 00:36:40.380 |
How can you believe that he loved you so much 00:36:44.960 |
and wrestle so much with trivial things in our lives? 00:36:50.360 |
how will he not along with him give you all things? 00:36:53.040 |
So it says in James, do not say today or tomorrow 00:36:55.640 |
I will do this or that because we do not know 00:37:02.960 |
is a prayer of dependence, prayer of lordship. 00:37:07.640 |
So this is what we're gonna be praying for specifically. 00:37:22.140 |
but where the rubber meets the road is your money. 00:37:24.660 |
This is the reason why Jesus talks about this subject 00:37:27.660 |
so much because he says where your treasure is, 00:37:48.600 |
So is he lord over your finances, first and foremost, right? 00:37:53.020 |
Secondly, your time, look at the way you use your time. 00:38:01.580 |
Now I'm not saying that every single waking minute 00:38:03.600 |
that you have to be reading the Bible and studying, 00:38:06.540 |
but is worship of God something you do on Sunday 00:38:11.540 |
in a Bible study and then the rest of the time is yours? 00:38:16.420 |
Or is my whole life dedicated for his glory, right? 00:38:27.700 |
is because we're afraid we're not gonna get it tomorrow. 00:38:32.780 |
Whatever tomorrow may bring, because of the decisions 00:38:40.620 |
So if he is lord today, whatever that leads me to tomorrow, 00:38:48.700 |
or we compromise today because we're concerned 00:38:51.940 |
that tomorrow we're not gonna get what we want. 00:38:57.820 |
Are you living your life today fully confident 00:39:01.720 |
that he is also lord over tomorrow, whatever that may be? 00:39:08.620 |
How much of you are striving, praying, working, 00:39:18.260 |
or you might not be able to advance in your job? 00:39:20.860 |
Or do you not believe that he is also lord over your career? 00:39:27.660 |
That what you have and don't have is in his hands, right? 00:39:31.860 |
I do what he wants me to do and whatever that leads to, 00:39:36.060 |
whether that leads to poverty, whether that leads to wealth, 00:39:42.580 |
Is he lord over your family and your children? 00:39:45.020 |
I can be, I don't have a problem making him lord 00:39:49.200 |
over my life, but is he also lord over your children? 00:39:51.900 |
That if you commit your children to the lord, 00:39:58.060 |
you're afraid that they might not be able to get 00:40:08.300 |
And so you don't have a problem surrendering yourself, 00:40:13.760 |
If he's lord, he's also lord over your children. 00:40:18.240 |
Wherever God takes you and wherever God takes you, 00:40:21.700 |
wherever God takes your children, he is also lord, right? 00:40:37.580 |
that if you do certain things or not do certain things 00:40:41.280 |
and you do certain things because you're concerned 00:40:46.040 |
You want to be known as a godly man, a man of the Bible. 00:40:58.380 |
because of your reputation or how people will think of you, 00:41:10.640 |
And even if you obey, you may get a bad reputation. 00:41:23.060 |
because we're concerned about what other people 00:41:24.800 |
will think of us and we can't live in full obedience. 00:41:33.620 |
So the first part of prayer is established lordship. 00:41:47.480 |
in my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, 00:41:51.040 |
In other words, there's a condition to effective prayer. 00:41:56.500 |
and praying passionately and God does not hear 00:42:00.480 |
a single word because it has nothing to do with his will. 00:42:13.580 |
and what is best for me and what is best for our church 00:42:15.940 |
is for his will to be done, for his glory to shine 00:42:23.200 |
we will drift from him and that is the worst place 00:42:28.760 |
So first and foremost, as we surrender these things, 00:42:36.660 |
As you think about these areas, is he truly Lord? 00:42:51.060 |
because certain things you deemed more important. 00:42:54.480 |
Don't focus your prayer on what other people need to do. 00:43:00.180 |
Tonight, when we pray, at least for the first part, 00:43:04.540 |
If there's any part of it that I'm wrestling with 00:43:06.340 |
that I did not give to the Lord, come before the Lord. 00:43:08.820 |
Lord, hallowed be your name, that your kingdom come, 00:43:13.740 |
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:43:20.460 |
to the horizontal line and then we'll bring us 00:59:13.740 |
If you can go back, yeah, to the second part. 00:59:24.320 |
"And forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors." 00:59:43.660 |
whatever horizontal relationship that we have, 00:59:52.880 |
And sometimes, even as we're doing God's work, 00:59:55.540 |
so much of it is we want our face to be seen. 01:00:06.920 |
But as that is established, the other part of it is, 01:00:32.680 |
This is a practice of love with one another, right? 01:00:43.100 |
You're practicing love that the world practices. 01:00:54.240 |
if we have love for one another as Jesus loved us. 01:01:21.160 |
more than when you are actively pursuing somebody 01:01:30.280 |
"Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors." 01:01:37.600 |
that they don't like you or you don't like them, right? 01:01:45.020 |
that may be because you live in fear of a man, right? 01:02:07.980 |
there's no way that you can have a relationship 01:02:12.260 |
And so this is not a prayer for just a few people 01:02:29.460 |
But he calls us, he says, "Forgive us our debts 01:02:40.020 |
he says, "To reconcile with your brother first." 01:02:47.140 |
that you are committing to be gracious, to be loving. 01:02:56.380 |
we have to remember what he's forgiven us for. 01:03:00.740 |
If you're concerned about the faithfulness of other people, 01:03:05.540 |
Did you deserve, when you asked for forgiveness, 01:03:07.580 |
were you asking for something that you deserve? 01:03:32.900 |
is to practice what we preach with other people. 01:03:36.420 |
And then he says, do not lead us into temptation, 01:03:41.020 |
So the question is, usually the temptation comes 01:03:54.620 |
you're coveting something that God didn't give you. 01:04:25.900 |
some people are married, some people have children, 01:04:27.940 |
some people have good jobs, some people have a nice house. 01:04:30.860 |
And so the temptation comes when we begin to compare. 01:04:34.780 |
If you're living out in the desert with nobody around you, 01:04:39.940 |
If you're living out in the desert and you're doing fine, 01:04:44.500 |
you're not freezing to death and you can take a bath, 01:04:51.860 |
You covet because you live among other people who have it. 01:05:15.300 |
that causes you to allow coveting to be normal in your life? 01:05:22.180 |
Like long time ago, people would go to the mall 01:05:24.860 |
Window shopping basically is going to see what I want. 01:05:32.420 |
with things that I'm not intending to buy, right? 01:05:42.460 |
When you come home, you're gonna be thinking about it, 01:05:48.260 |
And so you deliberately placed yourself in a place 01:05:52.060 |
that you're telling yourself you're not gonna get it, 01:05:54.120 |
of course you're gonna get it, or at least try to get it. 01:05:56.860 |
The problem with today is the coveting is on your phone. 01:06:01.140 |
It's on Instagram, you see what other people are doing, 01:06:03.420 |
and they're highlighting the best parts of their life, 01:06:23.320 |
And so the natural question that we need to ask ourselves 01:06:35.580 |
So this next part of it, the prayer, next one. 01:06:43.860 |
Yeah, so pray, pray that God will give you strength 01:06:55.680 |
will have somebody that you have been harboring 01:07:17.820 |
Pray that God will deliver you from grudges or bitterness 01:07:20.260 |
that you have been harboring in your heart towards someone. 01:07:23.540 |
And you do not realize when you harbor bitterness 01:07:26.840 |
how much of that affects the way you look at scripture, 01:07:38.240 |
with sunglasses on, and everything is seen through that lens 01:07:57.120 |
What is it in your heart right now that you're coveting, 01:08:01.160 |
that you somehow convince, I need to have that? 01:08:03.920 |
I need to have that house, I need to have that car, 01:08:07.400 |
and it's always in the back of your mind, right? 01:08:11.560 |
And you're looking at it, you're looking at advertisement, 01:08:14.080 |
you're looking at online, you're making jotting notes, 01:08:17.020 |
and you don't realize how much of that has filled your heart 01:08:19.600 |
and you don't realize how much of that is affecting 01:08:48.960 |
You're seeing God through a lens of coveting. 01:09:00.240 |
Pray that God would deliver you from whatever coveting 01:09:08.920 |
At a young church, and even in an old church, 01:09:23.840 |
Don't ever let anybody tell you that that's okay. 01:09:32.280 |
but this sexual sin, he said, you sin against your body. 01:09:34.680 |
Do you not know that you are a temple of God, 01:09:52.020 |
Like Jesus said, even if you have to cut off your left hand 01:09:55.900 |
and gouge out your eyes, he said, to that extent, 01:10:00.360 |
In your struggles against sin, you have not shed blood. 01:10:04.580 |
In other words, this sin, in particular this sin, 01:10:10.540 |
even if you can only gain an inch, you have to fight. 01:10:28.000 |
So any temptation, especially this sin, right? 01:10:45.940 |
And sin is something that we need to struggle, 01:10:48.360 |
even if we struggle to the day we die, right? 01:10:51.640 |
'Cause perfection's gonna come when he comes. 01:10:54.520 |
But don't ever, in between now and the time we get to heaven 01:11:04.280 |
so that we can normalize this and be accepted 01:11:19.200 |
And pray that God will give you a heart of contentment 01:11:22.860 |
Coveting comes when you're not content, right? 01:11:34.780 |
and you start looking for something else to satisfy you, 01:11:39.340 |
So if your heart is not content with what God has given you, 01:11:44.220 |
coveting, grumbling, complaining, bitterness, 01:12:19.660 |
And if you can't say that, that's where we need to pray. 01:12:27.540 |
so that I would be delivered from temptation and coveting. 01:12:33.020 |
let's take some time to pray over these topics. 01:23:45.660 |
If I can get you guys to be in groups of three people, 01:23:48.660 |
and there's three specific prayer I'm going to be dividing, 01:23:56.660 |
and afterwards if our praise team can come up 01:24:08.660 |
and I heard that there's over 20 non-Christians 01:24:24.660 |
and so if you can pray for them, pray for our outreach team, 01:24:33.660 |
that we'll have very deep conversations with them 01:24:41.660 |
pray for the people who are coming, number one. 01:24:46.660 |
Our Taiwan mission team is having our first meeting 01:24:55.660 |
So Pastor Alex and Jen are leading the church over there, 01:25:00.660 |
so if you can pray for the team, pray for the work, 01:25:05.660 |
so that we can come alongside what they're doing 01:25:12.660 |
pray for the work that we're going to be starting 01:25:16.660 |
And then three, pray for our pastors who are out in India. 01:25:35.660 |
I mean, this happened before, but now it's happening 01:25:43.660 |
A small team of us are still planning to go in January. 01:25:50.660 |
So if you can get together with a group of three 01:25:52.660 |
and just designate who's going to pray for what, 01:25:58.660 |
and they're going to wrap us up in the worship, 01:26:00.660 |
and then I'll pray for us, and then we'll end the meeting. 01:34:40.760 |
Okay, if we can stand up for our closing praise. 01:38:45.760 |
Father, we thank you so much for your patience with us. 01:39:03.760 |
that we would not fill our hearts with coveting or discontent. 01:39:17.760 |
and that this life that you've given us abundantly, Lord God, 01:39:26.760 |
when people function the way, God, you have intended. 01:39:30.760 |
So we pray as the wickedness around us is increasing 01:39:43.760 |
to be able to confess that we love you above everything else, 01:39:49.760 |
would be a catalyst for everything that we do. 01:39:52.760 |
So we pray that you would help us as a church to pray, 01:40:08.760 |
that you would be the first one that we turn to, 01:40:13.760 |
Lord, we pray that you would help us in our weakness. 01:40:17.760 |
Lord, we, in various ways with different people, 01:40:20.760 |
we wrestle with different sins and different things, 01:40:27.760 |
Help us, Lord God, to fix our eyes upon Christ, 01:40:46.760 |
and all our striving, Lord God, would be for that day. 01:40:52.760 |
that whatever it is that we have been entangled with, 01:40:57.760 |
that we may live lives worthy of the gospel that you have given. 01:41:01.760 |
Bless us, Lord God, that we may in turn bless you, 01:41:06.760 |
that we may be a blessing wherever you send us. 01:41:27.760 |
there is a station that is stationed outside. 01:41:40.760 |
So if you pick it up here, it'll be $10, okay? 01:41:42.760 |
Those of you who have old books from 1991 or 1993, 01:41:53.760 |
The chapters are the same, but the pages are not the same. 01:42:03.760 |
you can still use that other book if you have it. 01:42:11.760 |
We're trying to make it so that the traffic--