Confident in Prayer| Tyrone P. Jones | Book of Acts | Full Service

(upbeat music) - Good morning, CTC. Welcome to church on Sunday morning. Real quick before we get into it, if you are sitting on an aisle seat and there is space in the aisle of things in the middle, I'd love to ask you if you could just scoot in towards the middle so as folks come in and walk during worship, they can get into those rows easily. That would help us immensely. If it's your first time joining us, thank you for joining our family for worship and the word this morning. And if you're someone who comes every Sunday, thank you for being the family that they're joining. It is a wonderful thing to be in the house of God with the people of God. I've been in the book of Psalms a lot lately. And today I want to read out of Psalms 118, verse 24. It says simply this is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. I will rejoice, regardless of what else is going on in my life, regardless of the trials, God gave me this day. And I will rejoice. I will not do anything but rejoice because I'm in the house of God. If you're with me, let's come before God together. Let's lift our hands and lift our hearts and lift our heads to Him and give Him that rejoicing. Father God, we thank you for today. We thank you God that your mercies are new every morning

and that we're living in that today God. We thank you that your Holy Spirit is here because we've gathered with you today, Lord God. We pray that you have your way in this place today, God. And we give ourselves and we give our rejoicing to you right now in worship in Jesus' name. Church, let's worship Him. - Oh, let's just glorify the name of Jesus. Lift up His name today. He is worthy of all of our praise, all of our singing, all of our expressions of worship. Come on, just lift Him up. Jesus, we glorify Your name today, Lord. You come and exalt You, God. ♪ Worthy of every song we could ever see ♪ ♪ Worthy of all the praise we could ever think ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever think ♪ ♪ We'll live for You ♪ ♪ Jesus, the name above every other ♪ ♪ Jesus, the only one who could ever say ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever think ♪ ♪ We'll live for You ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like You ♪ ♪ There is not beside You ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in water ♪ ♪ Show me who You are ♪ ♪ Come fill me with Your heart and lead me ♪ ♪ In Your love to us and love me ♪ ♪ Worthy of every song we could ever see ♪ ♪ Worthy of all the praise we could ever think ♪

♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever think ♪ ♪ We'll live for You ♪ ♪ Jesus, the name above every other ♪ ♪ Jesus, the only one who could ever say ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever think ♪ ♪ We'll live for You ♪ ♪ Oh, we'll live for You ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like You ♪ Open up my eyes and wonder Show me who you are and fill you with your heart and leave me Be love to those who are holy, holy, there is no one like you There is love beside you Open up my eyes and wonder Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and leave me Be love to those who are holy, holy, holy, there is no one like you Stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay You are holy, holy, holy, holy, there is no one like you You are holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy Open up my eyes and wonder, show me who you are and fill me with your heart and leave me Be love to those who are holy, holy, holy, there is no one like you There is love beside you Open up my eyes and wonder Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and leave me Be love to those who are holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy ♪ You are the only one ♪ ♪ I wish I could have the ♪ ♪ I'm not the only one ♪ ♪ I wish I could have the ♪ ♪ I'm not the only one ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Your presence fill this room ♪

♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Breathe on me, breath of God ♪ ♪ I throw my hands up in the air ♪ ♪ You can take me anywhere ♪ ♪ Would you breathe on me ♪ ♪ Breath of God ♪ ♪ I throw my hands up in the air ♪ ♪ You can take me anywhere ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit I surrender ♪ ♪ Forever take over me ♪ ♪ God I wanna be baptized in ♪ ♪ Your fire take over ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Carry me when the God answers ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Somewhere so incredible ♪ ♪ But you can't be me ♪ ♪ Wind of God ♪ ♪ I'm getting good at letting go ♪ ♪ It's better when you're in control ♪ ♪ Move the spirit I surrender ♪ ♪ Forever take over ♪ ♪ Gonna wanna be baptized in your fire ♪ ♪ Take over my body ♪ ♪ My body is a temple ♪ ♪ For all I like will be a lesson ♪ ♪ Please do it come take over ♪ ♪ Take over, take over ♪ ♪ Take over, take over me ♪

♪ Without a single fire ♪ ♪ I could never know ♪ ♪ It's something out of the fire ♪ ♪ In a constant role ♪ ♪ I think there is red ♪ ♪ For a miracle concert ♪ ♪ If the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Who's bound to survive ♪ ♪ Might we never know ♪ ♪ It's something out of the fire ♪ ♪ The impossible ♪ ♪ I think the rule is red ♪ ♪ For a miracle ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ We're bound to receive a final ♪ ♪ Like we never know ♪ ♪ Like something out of the fire ♪ ♪ The impossible ♪ ♪ I think the rule is red ♪ ♪ For a miracle ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ ♪ The spirit I surrender ♪ ♪ For ever ♪

♪ Take over me ♪ ♪ But I wanna keep that time ♪ ♪ And go by ♪ ♪ Take over ♪ ♪ For the spirit I surrender ♪ ♪ For ever ♪ ♪ Take over me ♪ ♪ But I wanna keep that time ♪ ♪ Go by ♪ ♪ Take over me ♪ ♪ We're bound to see ♪ ♪ We're bound to see a final ♪ ♪ Like we never know ♪ ♪ Like something out of the fire ♪ ♪ The impossible ♪ ♪ I think the rule is red ♪ ♪ For a miracle ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ We're bound to see a final ♪ ♪ Like we never know ♪ ♪ Like something out of the fire ♪ ♪ The impossible ♪ ♪ I think the rule is red ♪ ♪ For a miracle ♪ ♪ The fire ♪ ♪ Now the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪

♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ ♪ In the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ And now we're getting final ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Put your knees on me ♪ ♪ Breath of God ♪ ♪ Put your knees on me ♪ ♪ Breath of God ♪ ♪ My body is a temple ♪ ♪ And for all my life I'll be blessed ♪ ♪ Hold this spirit, come take over ♪ ♪ Take over ♪ ♪ Take over me ♪ (upbeat music) (gentle music) ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ I just feel the heart ♪ ♪ Lord, here's my heart again ♪ ♪ I come just as I am ♪ ♪ Hold that I have like it to you ♪ ♪ I don't have much to breathe ♪ ♪ These like a mustard seed ♪ ♪ Hold that I have a gift to you ♪

♪ I plead all my hope and trust in your promise ♪ ♪ I'm just a little pro ♪ Jesus, and I'll live without you. And I won't hear your praises. I'm after your heart where you are. I am really, I'm after your heart. Just one touch of your glory. The fruits of all yours. I'll seek you all my gifts for you and all your sides. The love of my sin. What it is when I walk for you. And you will almost satisfy. And I'll put on my hope and trust in your promise. And Lord, I'm reaching for the help of your garment. Oh, I'm desperate for you. Jesus, and I won't live without you. And I won't hear your praises. I'm after your heart where you are. I am really, I'm after your heart. Just one touch of your glory. Just a touch of your praises. Come on church, let's throw our attention to the screen as someone goes public with their faith. My name is Hannah, growing up I went to church where I knew everyone. I got saved and baptized young because it was the thing I needed to do. I knew the stories but I didn't have a relationship with Jesus. My faith was my mom's faith. I felt like I was doing with checking a box. I never stopped loving the Lord, but I never felt like it was my walk. In 2022, I started attending church for the city. I went from knowing everyone to knowing no one.

I didn't make friends or join a life group. This led a constant overthinking anxiety, what a control over my life. Last year, I decided to finally attend a small group and get out instantly by a community. I began attending Ryan and Allison and waiting in a small group. I attended off and on without really making any effort. Ryan was preaching about the importance of life groups. That's when I knew I needed to make a change. I surrendered it all to Jesus. Since then, a life full of surrender, I now have a relationship with Jesus. That doesn't rely on my family's faith with my own. My heart was once hardened and closed off. I show it to let people in. The Lord has changed me to be more outgoing, start serving, envy and active member in my small group. I'm pursuing a relationship with Jesus and He's true in the center of my life. Today, I'm going public with my faith. Hannah, Jesus said every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because of your confession of faith today, I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And according to Scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Lord. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Where you are I am reality I'm after your heart Just one touch Of your glory Come down Fall down Who I want We want to see you love It's to me And fill me Who I want to touch you Jesus Come down Fall down Who I want to see you Jesus It's to me And fill me Who I want to touch you Jesus Who we ask for And I'm desperate for Come on, sing it out Oh Jesus Come on, He hears a heart cry

He hears a desperation And I'm after You hold me after you hold my heart And I'm after your heart Just one touch Of your glory And I'm desperate for you Oh Jesus And I'm lonely without And I'm lonely and ready I'm after your heart Where you are I am reality I'm after your heart Just one touch Of your glory I am desperate for you Come on, Teresa, just excel Tim, look at the name of Jesus What are you desperate for His presence today? Come on, can we just shout Hallelujah one more time He's all that name above all names He's the reason we're here today Welcome church, we're going to prepare for the message Before we do that We're ready to call a minute to make up Find and greet Two or three new people you've never seen before

Ask them how long they've been coming or attending If they're for the message You You You You You All right, good morning to you Yeah Some of you woke waking up Good morning to you Yeah, welcome to church for the city Where we will teach the word of God And counter the presence of the Lord And spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ So good to see you Thank you so much for being with us Can we go ahead and give a shout out to the Online campus and those that are in prison That are watching us And those that if the Yuma County jail We certainly want to acknowledge them I do want to say those of you that are Watching online, but you live in Yuma I really like saying hello to you But I really want you to say hello to you Here and also I'm talking to you You know what I'm talking to you And so yeah, so we're so grateful to be In God's house

Now we have been doing prayer from On Tuesdays from 9 30 to 10 30 Beginning this Tuesday We're going to do our prayer time We're moving at just back a half hour So our prayer time will be 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. On Tuesday morning's here In the sanctuary It's the time when we pray over the church It's all staff We pray over the city We pray over individuals Proverb areas, ministry, needs, etc And it's always a good time The presence of the Lord is here I just know And you know if you've experienced it When people come together in the community To pray, God just does something And so I just encourage you If you can afford that in your schedule Together with us at 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning Now I do want to thank you for your generosity And you'll see the manners How to give on the screen It's a joy To be obedient to God Lord with a tenth of our income for the house of God and the work of the kingdom of God and offering. And you're not only is it good for you, obviously, but it allows us to do the things for the church here at the church that we believe will change people's lives.

Every time you give, you actually make a room for more because it gives us more opportunity to do more ministry to other people. And so thank you for that. One of the things that your generosity has allowed us to do is life recovery groups. They meet on Monday night here at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and a wonderful couple leads that group. And sometimes, you know, when you talk about life recovery or celebrate recovery, usually people think that that's for folks who got addictions or drugs or alcohol. I'm going to get to the good news, but can I just be real honest with you first? We're all jacked up, all of us. And some of us have some real life struggles and it may not be because of alcohol or drugs, but it's because of anger or it's because of unforgiveness or it's because of resentment or something of that sort. And the whole idea of the life recovery group is to help you find healing in Christ, hope in Christ, and real freedom in Jesus so those things don't continue to affect your life. So, life recovery group Monday nights from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. All right. I want to pray. I want you to stand. You can stand with your Bible. We're going to pray first and then we're going to go right into the Word of the Lord and looking forward to those that will be with us for open house. Turn it. Well, no, let's pray first. Sorry, then I'll tell you where to go. Now, Father, I thank you for this opportunity that we have to be among your people. We know that your presence is in the house and we're so thankful and so grateful. It's good to be able to worship you in freedom and in truth. Freedom, Lord, is even afforded by our country but more so the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. And in truth, Lord, as we stand on the Word of God and the life of Christ. And so, Lord, I pray that even during this time of teaching that you would just guide the words that I speak and made the Holy Spirit personally just really connect with everyone that's listening. May I decrease that you might increase. May the Spirit of God speak louder than me and everyone leaves here today with a greater understanding about this whole thing, about prayer, actually. And Father, I also pray for those who are protecting our country, whether be here or abroad, whether be on the borders, whether be even our personal homes, the first responders. I pray your goodness and grace upon them and protection upon them. And Lord, I pray for every church in our county that Lord, you work. We just sung a great song about having faith for revival and what you want to do. And I do see it, of course, among us, but Lord, I wanted to be locally, county-wide. People in every church in this county experiencing the goodness and grace and the power of God.

I pray for Pastor M.C. and the church connect. Also, First Assembly of God, Lord, that they, in their part of the vineyard, that they would do the work that you've assigned them to do. That Christ would be exalted and you would be glorified. In Christ's name, we pray. May the people of God say amen. All right, two passages. One is Acts 12. We're going to look at verse 1, 2, and 5. That's Acts 12, verses 1, 2, and 5. And then we're going to go to the book of John and look at chapter 14. Acts 12, 1, 2, and 5. We looked at this last week. About that time, Herod the King laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword and verse 5. So Peter was kept in prison, but Ernest's prayer for him was made to God by the church. And now if you just go back a book to the gospel of John and go to chapter 14, and there we're going to look at verses 13 and 14, 13 and 14, 13 and 14 of John. And here's the word of the Lord there. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you You ask me anything in my name. So far, the reading of the word can you say, "Men." You may be seated. Now, in your reading, you've probably discovered that John chapter 13, and it extends probably the chapter 18, is the night-- it's the last night that Jesus is spinning with his disciples before the betrayal. Actually, the betrayal is in process. It kind of consummates that night with Judas. But it's the last night that he spends with them before the arrest, before the sham trial, and before he goes to the crucifixion. And what he talks to them about is about the mission that they're going to be sent to do. He's sending them a mission. He tells them a little bit about what his mission was, and now here's what they're going to do, what you're going to do after me.

And he lets them know, John 16, particularly, that they're going to have trouble. There's going to be tribulation. There's going to be things that's going to take place that's going to make some of this very difficult. But he's telling them what he's going to give them. He's giving them almost, I would say, tools. He tells them that they're going to receive the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit will guide them. The Spirit will lead them into all truth, that they won't have to try to guess. He said, "There will be times when you just open your mouth, and I will fill it." So he's telling them, "I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm going to be with you." He also tells them that they're going to have peace. He's going to leave them peace, even though there's going to be tribulation. He tells them about hope. And then he also tells them about prayer. All of these things are their tools, their gifts, that he knows that they need for the journey. It does remind me of, I'm very much, I love the Lord of the Ring series, and the first one in the fellowship of the ring, when Bilbo and the Hobbits and all of them, the elves, they're all getting ready to take the journey to Mordor. They gather them together right when they're getting ready to leave Elvin. And Lady Gadriel comes in and gives them gifts.

They get coats. They get boots. They get the lambess bread. But she gives Frodo also a vial and says, "You're going to need this on your journey in the time of trouble." And if you follow the series eventually, he did pull that out and it saved him. That's kind of like what the Lord is doing. He's doing here. He's giving them things that's going to fortify them and help them along of the journey. That they would be equipped for difficult stuff and I think the greatest, the great gift that I'm going to address here is the gift of prayer. Here is the thesis of this message. Prayer is the extraordinary privilege of God's children made possible through Jesus Christ, through which God works powerfully in our circumstances while transforming our heart for his glory. Prayer is that powerful tool, act that God gives us, that no matter what our circumstances are, in prayer God transforms our hearts for his glory. Now, I started out with Acts chapter 12 because it's there that you can see the reasons on why some people kind of bail out on prayer. You got two circumstances here, you got Peter and James, both been taken by Harry. The church is fervently praying, earnestly praying. James is released, sorry, Peter's released,

but James is beheaded, though the church was praying. What I know about us as people, there's some factors that keep us from being consistent with our prayer and one of them honestly is deep disappointment. We get disappointed when the things that we pray for does not come about in the manner that we desire or the manner that we ask. Another one also is disillusioned. We get disillusioned because we ask for certain things and then God does other things. When we have the thought that whatever we want God to do, that's what he ought to do. There's a couple of things that I think we fail to consider. We know this, but we don't keep it in the front when we're praying. The one thing that we forget oftentimes is that God is omniscience, meaning God is all knowing. So even when I'm praying, God knows all things. I'm not God. And I don't know all things. So He's omniscient. The other one, which honestly is the word I made up, is omnipotent. I actually like it. I don't know why it's not in the dictionary, but He's all knowing, but He's also all competent. He knows what is best, right, and can accomplish that. And so prayer for us can be a mystery because we don't know God's intent in all of our affairs until He makes them known. So oftentimes we're praying, but we don't know what God knows. So we're praying, not totally sure what He's going to do. And yet He commands us to pray.

He commands us to pray constantly. He commands us to pray faithfully and to absolutely trust Him when we pray. I think John really sets out, or Jesus, as recorded by John, on how we can do that. And I want to talk about three things. I want to talk about the power of prayer. I want to talk about the condition of prayer. And I want to land on the purpose of prayer. Here's the power of prayer. And I'm going to read, you're going to see these verses several times because each time I've put emphasis on certain sections. But here's John 14, 13 through 14 again, the power of prayer, listen to this. And I've underlined this, whatever you ask, in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son, underlying. If you ask me anything in my name, underlying, I will do it. This absolutely speaks about the power of prayer. Now, this is not like, you know, you got a genie in the lamp and you just like rub a dub dub and the genie pops out and give you three wishes. That he'll just give you whatever you want. You got to remember the context of this. Jesus is talking to them about their mission, what their mission is. And as you do the mission that I have you doing, then you ask in my name for my glory and I will do it. Are you following me so far? There's some caveats there, but don't miss the emphasis of what he's saying. The Lord of the universe says I will do it. He's talking about his power and his ability. In James chapter 5, James picks up on what occurred in 1 Kings 17 or 18 with Elijah who was dealing with King Ahab and Jezebel. That king was wicked and Jezebel, well, she was just a Jezebel. So he's dealing with them.

And because of what they were doing to the people of Israel, Elijah prayed that there would be no rain for three and a half years. And after the three and a half years, Elijah prayed that it would rain again. Now James picks this up and listen to what he says here. He says the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. He was a human being as we are and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain. And for three years and six months, it did not rain on the land. Then he prayed again and the sky gave rain and the Lord produced its fruit. James wants us to know even though Elijah was a prophet, he was a man just like us. And when he prayed that it wouldn't rain, God heard him and it didn't rain. And when he prayed that it is to rain, God heard him and it rained. John Calvin was a little bit sarcastic, I would say, when he says this. It was a notable event for God to put heaven in some sense under the control of Elijah's prayers to be obeyed into his request, a little tongue in cheek. Basically what he was saying though is because God responded to Elijah's prayer, God allowed all of earth to be subject to the prayer of Elijah, all of earth, the guy named Austin There's a chapter in there on prayer as a power. And Phelps is describing when one of the Saxon kings was going to invade Wales. And so they were preparing themselves for the invasion. The Welsh army was already established in their places of defense. The Saxon king goes up on the hill and he's got his wingman with him. He looks over where everything is, how everything is set. The way the Welsh army is established so he can be sure that the strategy that he's looking at is going to work. While he's looking though, he sees a group to the right that had no sword, no shield, no nothing. He asked his wingman, who are those to the right? And the wingman says those are the Christians that the Welsh army has brought to pray before they go into battle. The king says, kill them first because their prayers can be so powerful that they'll be our biggest enemies. Some of y'all caught that, some of y'all didn't. This is a heaven king that believes more in the power of prayer than some of us Christians. I'll leave that right there.

Y'all will catch up with me somewhere down the line. Here's what we know. God has chosen to accomplish extraordinary things through the prayers of ordinary believers. God is sovereign. He controls all things. And yet he chooses to work through human prayer. So we know this, prayer is just not some ritual or religious act. It's not even something that just causes us to be more emotionally comfortable. It's the means in which God acts. He acts through prayer and he tells us prayer is powerful. If we really believe that God acts through prayer and prayer is powerful, why do we so often treat prayer as the last resort? That's the power of prayer. Here's the condition of prayer. Again, same verses verse 13 and 14. Whatever you ask underlying in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. He aligns the condition because prayer is not just asking, it's asking in the name of Jesus. It's asking by the authority that we've given from Christ. And the only way that you can pray in that manner is if you're in God's family, if you've been born again. The only way that you can meet this condition to pray unto God believing that the power of prayer will work is if you are in the family of God and have been born again. That's the only way you can pray with his authority. That's the only way you can pray in the name of Jesus. Now, I'm going to ask you to do something here in just a moment. And if you would please humor me for just a moment and let me be the pastor and please do what I ask you to do. Please, just do what I ask you to do as the pastor this time. Listen to this, John 1, 11 through 12. He says, "I came to his own people." He came, sorry, to his own people, which were the Jews. And even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

Hear this. He said, "Those that believed him and those that accepted him are the children of God." If you are indeed, if you have believed in him and accepted him, would you raise your hand? You are a child of God. You've met the condition. You've been born again. And so you've been adopted in God's family. Therefore, we have access to the Father, just like Jesus did. We have authority in Jesus' name to pray. You've been adopted. You've got an inheritance. You've got rights. You've got access. Here it is in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 18. Now, all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. So because we are Christians, because God is your Father, He hears you day and night. He hears you. You never have to worry about whether As a child of God, he hears you. Not only does he hear you, can I just say this? He wants to hear you. He wants to hear you day and night. That's your right, that's your privilege. So we come in Jesus' name as a Christian. That's the condition of prayer. So the power of prayer, Jesus tells us, the condition of prayer is coming in his name. Now here's the third one, and that's the purpose of prayer. And that's when we can mess this up,

because we can have the wrong motives. We can have the wrong motives, because our prayer is actually to have the heart of the Lord and to pray according to his will. Here's the verse again, verse 13, the purpose of prayer. Whatever you ask in my name, and I'll underline, I will do it so the Father may be glorified in the Son. That's the purpose of it. The purpose of prayer is to get a hold of the heart of the glory of God. It's not just for God to change our circumstances, but it's to set our hearts on God's glory. What brings glory to God? Not just circumstances change, what brings glory to God? And what am I praying, do I see the glory of God? Because we can live with two understandings. Here it is, a self-centered understanding or a God-centered understanding. Here's what self-centered understanding looks like. God exists to fulfill my desires. Here's God-centered understanding. My desires must be shaped by God's glory. Here's a self-centered understanding. Prayer is primarily about receiving. A God-centered understanding prayers about knowing and loving God. A self-centered understanding, happiness depends on circumstances. A God-centered understanding, lasting joy is found in God himself.

A self-centered understanding, unanswered prayer means disappointment. But God-centered understanding, unanswered prayer may be part of God's wise care. A self-centered understanding, I want God to give me what I want. A God-centered understanding, I want God to make me who he wants me to be. It's two different ways to look at it. Two different approaches to the whole heart issue when you go into prayer. And it doesn't mean that we don't pray for jobs, we don't pray for health, we don't pray for finance or provision, all of that we still pray for. But we submit all of those requests to God's purposes. If you use something for the wrong reason it was made, you're not gonna get the right results. If you're not aligned and in accord with the purpose, it's not gonna work, it's not gonna work. I read a story recently and then found out that this happened more often than I thought. But a dude in the trailer, stole it, went out or something. So the dude took his space heater and used his space heater to attempt to cook his breakfast because it puts off heat, put a piece of foil over it, and attempted to cook his breakfast. Well, you know the result of that, don't you, Mars? It burnt the trailer up.

Of course it did. That's not the purpose of the space heater. Sometimes we go to prayer for the wrong purposes. And then we don't get the results that we want God to give us. Am I talking to the right church? So here's what the scripture says. First John 5, 14 and 15. This is the confidence we have before him. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him. It's approaching God on the basis that our desires are increasingly shaped by his will. Our desires are increasingly shaped by his will. We see this so clearly with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. If you know anything about the journey of Jesus before the crucifixion, he let it be known. He did not want to go to the cross. He did not want to go to the cross. He knew the pain, he knew the anguish, he knew the suffering. So much so to the night of his betrayal. Here it is in Matthew 26-39. He went a little further and bowed with his face to the ground praying, my father. If you don't know, if you don't know.

be taken away from me. That shows you what His will is, what His desire is. Lord, if it's possible, take this away. But look at what He says, "Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." That's what we want. We want our desires to be shaped by God's will. Jesus absolutely submitted His will to the Father so that we could gain access, by the way. Do you know if Jesus had not submitted His desires to the will of the Father, none of us would be able to pray in Jesus' name? The only way that was possible was for Jesus to submit His desire to the will of God, go through the cross, get lifted up, raised up again on the day of the resurrection so that now we have access to the Father. Only way that could happen is because Jesus took His desires and submitted them to the will of God. And it's not that God doesn't understand what we go through when prayer is not answered in the way that we like or want. He knows about suffering and disappointment, but believers can absolutely trust that God's love, even when He answers us differently, that God's love is proven through those requests. So honestly, what is prayer? Is prayer, is the desire of prayer, or the end goal of prayer for you to be satisfied with your desires?

Is that the end goal? Is the things that will satisfy you? The things that you believe is what you believe or want to be best? St. Augustine, he was responding to a letter and you can actually find this online. He was responding to a letter from a very wealthy woman who asked him how do you pray? And he wrote a lot of things, you can read it all, but a lot of principles he discussed. But the one principle that he stated that I loved was this. He wrote, "Before you ask for anything, you've got to get something settled in your mind. You must account yourself desolate in the world. However prosperous you may be." Now, let me tell you what he's talking about. He's talking to a wealthy person who knows what her prosperity was, what her health was, all of those things, the things she's accomplished. And we could even lay that within ourselves, the things that we've done and accomplished and desires that we've had, but he says, "Even with all of that, you have to consider yourself still desolate." In other words, still dependent on God no matter what you've gained, no matter what you've enjoyed, no matter what you've accomplished, that the first mindset and attitude and prayer is, "I'm going before God, not with the resume of who I am and what I got.

I am desolate. I am nothing before him dependent up on him for all things." That's the first thing that he says, "You've got to settle in your mind." Now, this same Augustine, as you know, is the one that said, "You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless till we find rest in you." He understands that everything about our life is finding what we need in God. And that's very much what the glory of God is all about. When you only see God's power, then you'll just go to him for the things that you want. But when you see God's glory, you'll go to God because you love him. You'll go to God not because of the things that you want, but because there's a beauty in God that you desire. There's a goodness in God that you want to get a hold of. You want to see the glory of God. You want to see the beauty of him. You want to see the greatness of him. It's not just what you can get from him, but what you experience with him, that love relationship, the glory of the Lord. And all of these other things that we have, which there's nothing wrong with that, obviously. Health is great, wealth is great, relationships are great. All of those things are good, but they're not the ultimate things. The ultimate thing for our life is the supreme importance of God,

the glory of God, the supreme beauty of him. The purpose of prayer is to fix your heart so that you'll know where your true joy is really found. Fix in your heart so you'll know where your true joy is. But it's to know Him. It's to please Him. It's to serve Him. It's to embrace His glory. And to do the things according to the way that God wants us to be. When you pray like that, when you pray like to hear me, you will always pray according to God's purpose. You'll never miss it. You'll never miss God's will. Because no matter what you say out of your mouth that you're bringing to God, your heart is already set on, I want His glory. I want what God wants from me. I want my will and desires. They're coming out of my mouth this way. But Lord, you know what I truly want is what you know is best and good. You can never miss His will that way. You can never miss the purpose of prayer in that manner. John Calvin says it like this. He said God always grants our prayers even if He does not respond to the exact form of our request. I think that's pretty amazing. He's basically saying God will always give you what you would have asked for if you knew what God wanted you to know. He'll always give you what you asked for if you knew what God knows. And so you go before God with the mindset that, man, I'm desolate. I'm empty. I'm dependent. Lord, here's what I'm giving you that I believe I need, but I am absolutely trusting you to do what you know is best. What you know is good for your glory. Can you say, man? I'm telling you. I'm glad God fixes my prayers before He answers. I'm glad He fixes them because if He gave me everything that I asked for, it had jacked me up a long time ago. I'm glad He fixes them before I get destroyed by them. And so the greater answer to prayer may not be what God puts in your hands, but what God produces in your heart. What He produces in your heart. Prayer don't just merely change what we receive. It changes what we desire because prayer is for God's glory. That's the power of prayer. That's the condition of prayer, and that's the purpose of prayer. And it's for that reason. If you understand that power you got, condition you understand in His name. Purpose, get a hold of that. It's for the glory of God. If you get a hold of those things, then you will always pray with confidence. You will always pray with confidence. Matthew 7, 7-3-11 says, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.

Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be open to you. Everyone who asks receives, everyone who seeks finds, and to everyone who knocks, the door will be open. You parents, if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not. So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give gifts to those who ask Him? Listen to what He's saying. Jesus is saying, I get it. You ain't always going to have the right words, but you're praying to a good Father. Your heart is right. You desire the glory of the God. You want His purposes. So yes, you may send up things that's not according to what He knows is best, but because He's a good Father, what comes back to you, you celebrate and rejoice because you know God is a good God. And what He's doing for you is for your good and His glory. So we live in the tension of obedience, in the tension of trust, that God is a good God, and He's good in all things and all times. So we pray. We pray boldly because God is powerful. We pray humbly because we're dependent upon Him. We pray purposely because God is glorious. We pray confidently. We don't quit. We don't stop. We don't give up. We don't give ourselves to weariness. We don't give ourselves to a cynical heart. We don't give ourselves to a lost heart, to a lost hope. We absolutely keep praying and seeking Him and trusting God to oversee the prayers. And thank God He does because He's doing things for His eternal purposes, not just from my immediate desire. If God didn't oversee prayers, raiders would win the Super Bowl every year. Every year, daughters would be in the World Series. Every year, if God didn't oversee prayers. If God didn't oversee prayers, every Sunday that I preach, everybody would walk out of here, save and speak in another tones. You're still speaking in tongues. If God didn't oversee prayers, the next time I lift an offering, we'll get all 12 million, we need to build that new building. But God answers according to purpose that he may be glorified. We often make demands of God. We try to manipulate God with our prayers. We ask God to come into our story, but listen to this. Here's the real fact. God is not finding a way to come into your story. God wants us to participate in his story. He's writing a story for us that's so much better than the story that you could write on your own.

He's asking us to participate in his story. And he's always doing things. He's working when you don't even see him working. I'm gonna close with this, with this story. And I'm gonna preface it like I do, like I did the other two services. There's oftentimes you'll hear me talk about prayers being answered, things that we prayed about. And God did this and God did that. And in 33 years, you can probably find on one hand maybe, the number of times I stuck me in the story. It was I, whether I told you about the story, I didn't tell you it was me that prayed or whatever the case may be. But today I'm going to in this particular story. Lady V introduced me to a lady that she had known for quite a few years and got to know the lady just over a period of time. And she was a faithful church goer. We'd go to church, do what we do. And for many of those years, she prayed and asked that God would give her a child, her and her husband, desired a child. And for many years, no child. Then they went through all the various medical stuff. I don't know all the language on that, but they done many things medically so that she can conceive. And after multiple times of that and lots of money, the doctors finally told her, no matter what we do, you will not be able to have a child. She made it real clear to us. I'll keep going to church, but I'm not talking to him. I'm not praying. I'm not asking him for anything.

I'll still do the things that I'm supposed to do, but I'm not, I'm not praying. It got so bad with her that relationships got destroyed. She couldn't be in the same room with somebody that was pregnant. She couldn't go, she would get mad with her family that was going to, what are they called, baby showers because of how personally it was affecting her. She just had it out with her family that how could you go support that person and you know what I'm going through. Relationships was destroyed. Because of her hurt and her pain. There was a moment when I just felt like the Lord was, and you know, V was telling me this story and of course it was affecting me and I just said, I want to pray for her. Now I'm going to be absolutely honest. When I wanted to pray for her, I honestly just wanted to pray that the Lord would comfort her heart, that she would still have a love for him. But as I was praying for, the Lord gave me some words to tell her, this is clear as it was yesterday. The Lord, I declared over her that the Lord will give you the desire of your heart. It's not going to come the way that you're expecting, but it's going to bring you more joy than you anticipate. And on top of that, he's going to do a blessing in your life that you never thought would be needed. Those were the words I gave her, prayed over her, and let it go. She ended up moving to the Northeast. In the meantime, Lady V introduces her to another woman who I became, who I also began to know, who was a friend of hers. And this particular lady already had five children that was difficult for her to care for. And she got herself in a situation where she became pregnant again. She knew that she could not care for that child. So she comes to Lady V and she lets her know that she's going to abort the child. Of course, Lady V talked with her, prayed with her,

not only talked her out of doing the abortion, but also led her to Jesus, by the way. So she committed to put the child up for adoption. While that's happening, the lady who I just talked to you about that I prayed for, the first lady, she moves back to Yuma to apply for a child for adoption and guess what child she got? The child that was gonna be aborted. She had so much joy, she didn't realize how much joy she could get because of what God had done. She saw a whole new light about God, a whole new glory about God, about God answering prayer. But you remember I told her there was gonna be another blessing that was gonna come that she didn't expect. So while they're doing everything for the child, for her to be able to obtain the child, she's reading this book called "Grip By Hope." I happen to know the author of that book. She's reading "Grip By Hope" and the Lord speaks, the Spirit of the Lord speaks to her because she's already, now she doesn't have the child yet, but she's experienced so much joy of having a child now. Beyond what she thought, she tells her husband, even if we don't get this one, I'm believing God's gonna answer our prayer. I'm gonna get a child and it's gonna give me joy. So she said, I wanna get myself physically in all the condition that I need to so that whenever that child comes, I'm a great house. So she goes through all the exams and everything, eyes and ears, everything, full checkup,

and they find cancer that could kill her. She's crushed, devastated, had all this joy. And now this, they tell her, we can try this, it might help. It might help, we can try this, it might help. Her and her husband are going through the options of what she's gonna choose. And then Lady V tells me about it. It hit me hard, but I remembered God said she's gonna get another blessing that she didn't expect. Lady V says, can you pray for her when you see her? I said, no, no, we're gonna go pray for her right now. I know what the word of the Lord was. I know what the glory of God is in this and I know what God's will is. When prayed for, laid hands on her, prayed for God to do the work that I know God's able to do. When she goes back to get her exams to determine what is the best route that cancer is absolutely gone. Not a trace, not a trace. Right now she's holding that child that's given her full joy and she's living free of cancer because God is a God that works his will and his purposes when we go before him for his glory. He does what he does. He's a good God and he accomplishes his purposes. Here's the takeaways I'll give you. Number one, prayer and God's sovereignty are not contradictory. Prayer and God's sovereignty is not contradictory.

God always sovereignly chooses to accomplish his purposes. Prayer number two, prayer is a privilege of adoption. You got access to God, to the heavenly Father. You go to him because you pray because of power. You pray because of the right condition and you pray because of the glory. Number three, God's refusal can be an expression of his love. A request may be denied, but the Father will ultimately do what is best. Number four, prayers and instrument of spiritual formation. As believers, we pray and our desires become more increasingly aligned with God's practices and purposes. And here's the last thing. The gospel is the foundation of prayer because of the cross of Christ. We can have full confidence that God will hear our prayers. I want everybody to stand if you would. You got a card when you came in. I want you to take that card 'cause we're gonna do one more thing together out loud. Hopefully you got that card. What I'm giving you is a card with the prayer that I pray every single morning. Every morning I pray this because I want my will to be aligned with God's will. I want us to pray this out loud. And you take this card, put it on your dash, wherever in your pocket, wherever you know that you're on the mirror, that you'll see it every day.

And you watch how God will transform your desires and your will toward the glory of God. He'll do it. Let's pray this out loud. One more time I get to be the pastor and you're gonna do what I ask you to do. Can you do that? Let's pray it. Let's read this out loud. Let's go. Let me hear of your unfailing love. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Rescue me from my enemies, Lord. I run to you to hide me. Teach me to do your will for you are my God. May your gracious spirit lead me forward on a firm foundation. I'm telling you, pray that every day and watch what God does. Father, prayer team come. Father, I wanna thank you for your goodness and your grace. Thank you for the opportunity to bring forth this message. Lord, may we all be fully reminded of the power of prayer, the condition of prayer, and above all the purpose of prayer as we glorify you. In Christ's name, we pray, amen. God bless you, have a great day. (audience applauding) (upbeat music)

♪ Turn down, fold down ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna see Jesus ♪ ♪ And fill me, fill me ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Come down, fold down ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna see Jesus ♪ ♪ And fill me, fill me ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Come down, fold down ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna see you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Consume me, fill me ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Come down, fold down ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna see you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Consume me, fill me ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm desperate for you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I won't live without you ♪ ♪ You don't want your praises ♪ ♪ I'm after your heart ♪ ♪ Where you are ♪ ♪ Are you burning ♪ ♪ I'm after your heart ♪ ♪ Is the white touch of your glory ♪ ♪ Whoa ♪ ♪ Come down, fold down ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna see you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Consume me, fill me ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪

♪ Come down, fold down ♪ ♪ I wanna see you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Consume me, fill me ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm desperate for you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I won't live without you ♪ ♪ And I'll be your presence ♪ ♪ I'm after your heart ♪ ♪ Where you are ♪ ♪ I am ready ♪ ♪ I'm after your heart ♪ ♪ Just one times ♪ ♪ I'll be your glory ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, we love you, Church ♪ ♪ And we'll see you next Sunday ♪ (dramatic music)