It is finished! Well Almost! It will be finished in about 30 minutes.
If I may be so bold as to say, I have seen a change within PFC over the past few weeks and I like it! I can see that you desire and are becoming the kind of church that Jesus had in mind, but please remember that when we finish with the series today, you will need to continue to be a worshipping church, an evangelizing church, a learning church and a loving church.
This doesn’t end when the series ends, it must continue until Jesus returns for His church.
Today I am going to add an important ingredient to the well.
It begins with the letter I. I WELL.
Intercession.
I would have used prayer, but it just didn’t sound as good.
Intercession is prayer and if you will remember last week’s message, prayer is one of the ways we can worship God.
Is it important for a Christian to have a prayer life?
Is it important for us to have oxygen? Having a prayer life is of the utmost importance.
Without prayer God cannot get to know us and we cannot get to know God.
We need prayer in our lives.
PRAY
Father,
Open my eyes so I can see Your truth.
Open my ears so I can hear Your voice.
Open my minds so I can understand your Word.
And, open my heart so I may receive all that You would have me receive.
AMEN
In the Old Testament book of 2 Chronicles we see an awesome Scripture that gives us a glimpse God’s kingdom principle of prayer.
2 Chronicles 7:11-16 3x
11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace, 12 the LORD appeared to him at night and said:
"I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 2 Chronicles 7:11-16
Three bad things that could happen to the people of Israel in those times were drought, locusts, and plagues. God mentioned all three when He spoke to Solomon.
The reason they were so bad was because when they happened no one could do anything about them.
God shows us an upside down principle that can make a difference in life no matter what the circumstance.
He said, that we need to humble ourselves, call on God, seek His face, turn from evil and then He will do the impossible. He will do the supernatural. He will heal, provide, strengthen, and deliver.
In God’s upside down principles, when things are at their worst and people are obedient to Him and do what He says, God steps in and goes to work.
It is a kingdom principle that has been proven time and time again. When people pray God listens.
The first century church knew the power of prayer. In the book of Acts we see a time in which God intervened in a desperate situation through the power of prayer.
Let me set this up for you.
Herod Agrippa, who was the third Herod since the birth of Christ was actively persecuting the church. He had already had James the brother of John killed and had the Apostle Peter in prison awaiting trial.
Herod Agrippa was a typical politician in the most negative sense of the word. He wanted to be popular and he wanted to be powerful but he did not care about the people he represented. The only thing Herod Agrippa wanted was to be in charge. So he did whatever he needed to do to stay in charge and it did not matter if it was right or wrong.
James was killed and Peter was in jail for the same reason.
They had been preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Herod took special care in making sure that the Apostle Peter was closely guarded. He did not want Peter to escape. He did not want the same thing that happened to his father’s prisoner to happen to him.
Who was his father’s prisoner? His name was Jesus and Herod Antipas has Jesus put to death but he didn’t stay in the grave. He escaped death and lives today!
Herod Agrippa wasn’t going to let the same thing happen.
Let’s take a look at this Scripture and see what we can apply to our own lives so that we can be the church Jesus had in mind.
Acts 12:1-19
1It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 4After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
5So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
6The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.
8Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. 9Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
11Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."
12When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"
15"You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."
16But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place.
18In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.
Acts 12:1-19
When all seemed hopeless, when the light at the end of the tunnel was a freight train speeding toward them, when they were at the end of their rope what did the church do?
Did they boycott products made by Roman manufacturers?
Did they stage a protest at Herod’s home?
Did they write their local representative and ask him to do something?
They did not do any of those things. Instead they took the most effective course of action that the church can take. They prayed.
And the result of their prayer was that the Apostle Peter was able to break out of jail.
The first century church knew the power of prayer. They observed it firsthand. They knew that prayer made a difference.
And guess what? Prayer still works today.
I am going to let you in on a little secret… in the church that Jesus had in mind… prayer is a powerful weapon.
Prayer is powerful against sickness, depression, financial problems, and temptation. Prayer is a powerful tool against all the Satan wants to throw at us. Prayer is a powerful weapon to have in our arsenal as we walk through life.
In God’s Word we are instructed on how to pray, what to pray for and when to pray. When we pray according to the Word of God we are using the upside down, right side up principles that God has designed for His church.
I want to give you four principles of prayer today that will help your personal prayer life.
Principle 1 – We need to pray as a first resort not the last.
Before anything else we should pray. Before you open the bottle of Advil, before you max out the credit card, before you try to fix the situation by yourself you should pray.
Listen to what is says in James 5.
13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:13-16
Many people in the church today have not received all that God has intended for them because they use prayer as the last resort. Prayer should be the first thing we do.
James said in James 4:2 “You have not because you do not ask God.”
Now understand that I am not saying that God is going to do everything you ask for in prayer, sometimes God says yes, sometimes God says wait and sometimes God says no.
Principle 2 – Pray for what God wants not what you want.
14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15
Let me give you an example of praying for what God wants.
Let’s say there was two people who together where asking God to bless their relationship. They are in love with each other and they want to see the relationship grow and for God to bless it. The only problem is that they are married to other people. That is not praying according to God’s will.
We need to understand that prayer is not us getting God to move our way but instead prayer is all about getting us to move towards God.
That is upside down thinking.
Principle 3 – We should pray all the time and with persistence.
16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Praying continually means that we need to have an attitude of prayer. That doesn’t mean that we spend every moment of our life in prayer but it does mean that we talk to God every chance we get, not just when there are problems but anytime.
In our world of technology we can understand this because if someone has a cell phone, you can talk to them almost any time. You don’t need a cell phone to talk to God and you don’t have to worry about Him picking up because He is always there!
Heartfelt prayer is a face to face talk with God. It is getting into His presence and seeking His heart and will so that your heart and will can line up with God.
Persistent, passionate prayer is what God desires.
The Apostle Paul said “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2
Principle 4 – Pray in faith regardless of what God’s answer might be.
Did you hear what I said a moment ago? Sometimes God says yes, sometimes God says wait, and sometimes God says no.
God’s answer may not always be what we think it should be. I have been praying for years for God to bless me with 10 million dollars but He keeps saying no!
I have faith that God can do it but still He keeps saying no. Do you know why God keeps saying no? Because God knows that I would probably move some place really warm if I had that kind of money thus I would not be living in His perfect will for my life.
God is always going to do what is right even though we do not always agree with it or understand it. We need to extend our prayers beyond what we want to happen and trust in God.
Our faith in prayer needs to be rooted in our faith and trust in God. And when it comes to faith all we need to have is faith the size of a mustard seed to see mountains move. Matthew 17:20
Our part as the kind of church Jesus had in mind is to pray in obedience and with as much faith as we can find and trust in God.
When we pray according to these principles will make a difference in our lives and in the lives of the people around us. It is praying in an upside down, right side up way.
Would you make a decision today to make your prayer life everything it can be as you live for God?
Prayer, Worship, Evangelism, Learning and Loving; we are on our way to becoming the kind of church Jesus had in mind.
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