(some material from Bill Hybels)
SERIES: “THE CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH FOR 2005”
TEXT: MATTHEW 21:18-22
TITLE: “UNLEASHING THE POWER OF PRAYER”
INTRODUCTION: A. Prayer has been called “communicating with God”
--Here are some prayers from kids written as Letters to God:
1. Dear GOD, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t
you just keep the ones you have? -Jane
2. Dear GOD, Maybe Cain and Abel wouldn’t kill each other so much if they had their
own rooms. It works with my brother. -Larry
3. Dear GOD, If You watch me in church on Sunday, I’ll show you my new shoes. –
Mickey
4. Dear GOD, I bet it is very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world.
There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it. -Nan
5. Dear GOD, In Sunday school they told us what you do. Who does it when you are
on vacation? -Jane
6. Dear GOD, I read the Bible. What does "beget" mean? Nobody will tell me. -Love,
Alison
7. Dear GOD, Are you really invisible or is it just a trick? -Lucy
8. Dear GOD, Is it true my father won’t get in Heaven if he uses his bowling words in
the house? -Anita
9. Dear GOD, Did You mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident? –
Norma
10. Dear GOD, Who draws the lines around the countries? -Nan
11. Dear GOD, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that okay? –
Neil
12. Dear GOD, Did you really mean "do unto others as they do unto you"? Because if
you did, then I’m going to fix my brother. -Darla
13. Dear GOD, Thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy. –
Joyce
14. Dear GOD, Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before. You can
look it up. -Bruce
15. Dear GOD, If you give me a genie like Aladdin, I will give you anything you
want, except my money or my chess set. -Raphael
16. Dear GOD, I think about you sometimes even when I’m not praying. –Elliott
17. Dear GOD, I would like to live 900 years like the guy in the Bible. -Love, Chris
18. Dear GOD, We read Thomas Edison made light. But in Sunday school they said
you did it. So I bet he stole your idea. -Sincerely, Donna
19. Dear GOD, The bad people laughed at Noah - "You made an ark on dry land you
fool." But he was smart, he stuck with you. That’s what I would do. -Eddie
20. Dear GOD, I didn’t think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made
on Tuesday. That was cool. –Eugene
B. How do you see prayer?
1. Some see it as asking for something that couldn’t possibly happen anyway.
2. Others see it as their personal vending machine: put in the right combination of
currency, push the right buttons, and get what you want.
3. There are those who see prayer as a religious exercise.
4. There are those who don’t think prayer is effective at all.
C. In the middle of a somewhat puzzling event, Jesus makes a startling statement
concerning prayer
1. Jesus had made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on a Sunday.
2. He cleansed the Temple for a second time declaring that it was His house and that it
should be called a place of prayer.
3. During the week that proceeded His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus stayed in
Bethany and traveled to Jerusalem on a daily basis
4. It’s during one of these trips between Jerusalem and Bethany that the event
described in our Scripture passage this morning occurs
5. Matt. 21:18-22 – “Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he
was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it
except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately
the tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the
fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked. Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you
have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but
also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be
done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
D. Preceding the events of the final week of His life, Jesus had tried to prepare His
followers for what was going to happen
1. The disciples are confused, excited, and afraid all at the same time
2. Can’t you just hear the discussion going on between them?
--He’s told us that He’s going to die but the people welcomed Him as a king. So
why are here? What’s really going to happen? Why are we traveling back and
forth between Bethany and Jerusalem? The Jewish leaders are really upset about
the Temple thing. What’s Jesus going to do next?
E. In the middle of the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders and the floundering faith of His
followers, Jesus uses a fig tree to teach an important lesson about LIFELESSNESS
1. It’s pretty easy to pretend to be full of spiritual life
--All of us have done it at one time or another
2. We’re showing a lot of leaves but the proof of our spiritual life is the fruit that we
produce
3. Jesus says that the reason for lifelessness is a lack of practicing powerful prayer
a. By the way, I changed the title of this message from Promoting the Power of
Prayer to Unleashing the Power of Prayer
b. It’s one thing to promote the power of prayer
--It’s an entirely different thing to practice the power of prayer
I. THE REALITY OF THE POWER OF PRAYER
A. The simple truth of the matter is that prayer is powerful
1. Skeptics might say, “Answers to prayers are just coincidences.”
2. I like what one British preacher observed about the power of prayer: “It’s amazing how many
coincidences occur when one begins to pray.”
B. Amazingly, the power of prayer has been a topic of study and speculation in the secular media over the
last few years.
1. TIME, NEWSWEEK, CNN, BBC, and THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL have all done recent reports or
feature presentations concerning this very topic.
2. Several organizations and individuals have conducted scientific studies into the proposed power of
prayer.
3. Our own Federal government has given several grants over the last couple of years for research on the
power of prayer.
C. The Bible clearly shows the power of prayer throughout its entirety.
1. Abraham prayed for a son – God gave him Isaac
2. The children of Israel prayed for deliverance from slavery in Egypt – God sent Moses
3. Moses prayed for deliverance from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea – God allowed the children of
Israel to cross and drowned the Egyptian army.
4. Hannah prayed for a child – God gave her Samuel.
5. David asked for help many times – God provided.
6. Solomon asked for wisdom – God gave it to him beyond measure.
7. Elijah asked for a show of God’s power against the pagan prophets on Mt. Carmel – God sent a fire so
intense it not only burned up the offerings, it also dried up thousands of gallons of water poured out to
drench the offerings.
8. Jabez asked for success in all he did – God granted his request.
9. Ezra asked for safe return to the Promised Land for God’s people in Babylonian captivity – God not
only granted the request, He provided the funding for the return from treasury of pagan peoples.
10 . Zacharias and Elizabeth prayed for a child – God blessed them with John the Baptist.
11. The people of Israel prayed for a Messiah – God sent His one and only Son.
12. Jesus prayed and people were healed and raised from the dead. A dramatic storm was stopped dead
in its tracks. 5 loaves and 2 fish were turned into enough food to feed over 5,000 people.
13. The disciples prayed in an upper room – God sent the Holy Spirit.
14. The apostles and other early church leaders prayed and people were healed, churches were
strengthened, and the people of Christ found strength to face the daily toils of life.
D. Several years ago, there was a movie called Cast Away starring Tom Hanks. Hanks plays a man
named Chuck Nolan, who is a fast-tracking executive with Fed Ex who gets stranded on an island when
the Fed EX plane he’s riding in goes through a terrible storm and goes down in the middle of the South
Pacific. The story is that of a modern-day Robinson Crusoe and Hanks’ character trying to survive on
this island by himself.
Hanks swims out to the plane wreckage several times to salvage everything possible. The story takes
place during Christmas time so the FedEx plane is loaded with Christmas presents going to wherever
FedEX delivers. In one of the packages is a volleyball made by the Wilson company.
While trying to dry off, Hanks tries to start a fire with a sharp stick and makes a big gash in his hand.
In his anger, he takes the volleyball and throws it as hard as he can. When it lands he sees that his bloody
hand had made an imprint on the ball that looks like a fiery head. With his finger, he draws a face in the
blood. Hanks now has a new fried named Wilson.
One of the most notable things throughout the movie is that Hanks’ character never talks to God. He
only talks to the volleyball. Why would he do that? But then again, you have to ask yourself why people
trust in all kinds of things rather than God.
E. Bill Hybels: “Prayerless people cut themselves off from God’s prevailing power and the frequent result
is the familiar feeling of being overwhelmed, overrun, beaten down, pushed around and defeated.”
1. The reason we don’t ask God for help, the reason that we fail to pray as we should is that we really
don’t believe God has the power to anything about the situation.
2. Jesus said that a lack of powerful prayer is nothing more than a lack of faith
--We have convinced ourselves that God is not able or that He doesn’t really care
F. God Is Able!
1. He has power over nature
a. When certain bodies of water needed to be moved, God moved them aside.
b. When His people were hungry, He dropped food from heaven or caused bread and fish to feed a
multitude.
c. When a storm endangered the lives of His disciples, He stopped the storm: “Peace, be still.”
d. When His army needed more time to win the battle, He extended the daylight hours by holding the
sun in place in the sky
2. He has power over circumstances
a. In Acts 12, we find Peter in prison
--Herod had killed James and was going to execute Peter
b. The church had a prayer meeting the night before the scheduled execution
c. Peter was miraculously released by an angel
3. He has the power to change people’s hearts
a. Softened Pharaoh’s cruel heart
b. Kept a discouraged Elijah from quitting
c. Turned the most fanatical persecutor of Christianity named Saul into a globe-trotting missionary
named Paul
F. We have to stop agreeing with the doctrine of God’s omnipotence and own it for ourselves!
--God does not change!
1. Mal. 3:6 – “I the LORD do not change.”
2. Heb. 13:8 – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
3. If God could ever control nature, alter circumstances and change peoples hearts, He can still do it today
--Right here, in Washington, IN and He can bring victory in our lives, in our church, and over our
problems.
II. THE REQUIREMENTS OF POWERFUL PRAYER
A. I read a story some time back about a father who took his little six-year-old boy fishing with him one
day. They put out the line and then went up to the cabin. After an hour, they went back down to the river
to see if they had caught anything. Sure enough, there were several fish on the line. The boy said, "I
knew there would be, Daddy." The father asked, "How did you know?" He replied, "Because I prayed
about it."
So they baited the hooks again and put out the line and went back to the cabin for supper. Afterward,
they went back to the river; again, there were fish on the line. The boy said, "I knew it." The father said,
"How?" "I prayed again." So they put the line back into the river and went to the cabin.
Before bedtime, they went down again. This time there were no fish. The child said, "I knew there
wouldn’t be," and the father asked, "How did you know?" The boy said, "Because I didn’t pray this
time." The father asked, "And why didn’t you pray?" And the boy said, "Because I remembered that we
forgot to bait the hooks."
1. Prayer works!
2. But there are some things that have to be in place before it works
B. Powerful prayer requires several things:
1. Powerful prayer requires submission
a. It means that we submit our will to God’s will
b. Someone defined prayer: “Prayer is communicating with God for the purposes of knowing Him,
seeking His heart, and doing His will. It is putting your ear to God’s chest to hear and know His
heartbeat.”
2. Powerful prayer requires humility
--It means that we have to admit that we can’t do it on our own
3. Powerful prayer requires relationship
--It means that we have to get together with God on a regular basis and spend time with Him in soul-
searching conversations
4. Powerful prayer requires faith.
a. It means that we are convinced to the core of our beings that God can make a difference
b. A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smokies built a new sanctuary on a piece of
land willed to them by a church member. Ten days before the new church was to open, the local
building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the
building. Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they would not be able to use the
new sanctuary. Unfortunately, the church with its undersized lot had used every inch of their land
except for the mountain against which it had been built. In order to build more parking spaces, they
would have to move the mountain out of the back yard.
Undaunted, the preacher announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening
with all members who had "mountain moving faith and believed in the power of God." They
would hold a prayer session asking God to remove the mountain from the back yard and to
somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening
dedication service the following week.
At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation’s 300 members assembled for prayer. They
prayed for nearly three hours. At ten o’clock the preacher said the final "Amen". "We’ll open next
Sunday as scheduled," he assured everyone. "God has never let us down before, and I believe He
will be faithful this time too."
The next morning as he was working in his study there came a loud knock at his door. When
he called "come in", a rough looking construction foreman appeared, removing his hard hat as he
entered. "Excuse me, Preacher. I’m from Acme Construction Company over in the next county.
We’re building a huge shopping mall. We need some fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a
chunk of that mountain behind the church? We’ll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the
exposed area free of charge, if we can have it right away. We can’t do anything else until we get
the dirt in and allow it to settle properly."
The little church was dedicated the next Sunday as originally planned and there were far more
members with "mountain moving faith" who believed in the Power of God on opening Sunday
than there had been the previous week!
CONCLUSION: A. The word “mountain” is a figurative term.
--It refers to whatever stand in your way
B. How do we accomplish “mountain-moving” prayer?
1. Look at God and not at the mountain
--You have to take your focus off of the size of the mountain and focus on the
sufficiency of the Mountain-Mover
2. Walk with God
--step forward in obedience
C. Two Old testament accounts
1. Numbers 13
--God had promised His people a land that would be their own – one with abundant
resources. As the children of Israel parked on the outskirts of the Promised Land,
they sent in 12 spies to survey the area. Ten of them came back and said, “The
cities, the armies, the giants – they’re too big! We’d better go somewhere else.”
Two of them refused to look at the mountains in the way. They said, “Yeah, there
are obstacles in the way. But our God is able and He told us to go in and conquer
the land. Let’s get started.”
2. 1 Samuel 17
--The army of Israel stand on a hill looking over a battlefield. The Philistine
champion Goliath swaggers out to frighten them. They say, “We’re not gonna fight
him. He’s nine feet tall! Look at his armor. Look at his spear.” A teenaged
shepherd by the name of David comes out and says, “My God is able. He wants
this giant pagan braggart defeated. I’m gonna go out an whip him good!”
D. Everyone has stood in the shadow of a mountain that just won’t move
1. A destructive habit
2. A character flaw
3. Difficult marriage
4. An impossible work situation
5. A financial problem
6. A physical illness
E. What’s your mountain?
1. Stop looking at the mountain and start looking to the Mountain-Mover!
2. Look at His glory, power, and faithfulness.
3. Then start walking in obedience and watch that mountain move!
