Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Treat Your Problems with Prayer - Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: So this week's message has a title.
- 0:04Speaker 2: See what you think. Treat your problems with prayer. Do
- 0:15Speaker 2: you want to see a father's face turn pale? Do
- 0:19Speaker 2: you want to hear a mother gasp? Then just position
- 0:23Speaker 2: yourself nearby as they discover these three words. on the
- 0:30Speaker 2: box of a just purchased toy. Some assembly.
- 0:39Speaker 1: Required.
- 0:42Speaker 2: What the parents wanted was a gift for their child.
- 0:47Speaker 2: What they got was a lifelong project. They groan, they moan,
- 0:53Speaker 2: and they wonder if it's worth it. They retrieve the
- 0:57Speaker 2: minimal tools, screwdriver, hammer, a welding truck. And what follows
- 1:06Speaker 2: are several hours of trying to squeeze A into B
- 1:12Speaker 2: and bolting D into F and sliding F.
- 1:18Speaker 1: Over Z and then wondering that no, if anyone.
- 1:22Speaker 2: Will notice that steps three, four, and five were skipped altogether.
- 1:29Speaker 2: You know, I'm convinced that the devil indwells the details
- 1:33Speaker 2: of toy assembly. Hell releases these tiny minions into the
- 1:40Speaker 2: workstations of unsuspecting parents. And they scamper off with all
- 1:47Speaker 2: those little.
- 1:47Speaker 1: Missing bolts and brackets.
- 1:52Speaker 2: Somewhere in perdition, there's a warehouse of stolen toy parts.
- 2:00Speaker 2: Some assembly required. Not a welcome sentence, but an honest one.
- 2:07Speaker 2: I wonder if marriage license shouldn't be issued with a
- 2:11Speaker 2: big stamp on it that says, some assembly required. Maybe
- 2:19Speaker 2: job contracts should have some assembly required written at the top.
- 2:27Speaker 1: I think babies should exit the womb.
- 2:31Speaker 2: Wearing a toe tag that says some assembly required. Life
- 2:39Speaker 2: is a gift, albeit a disassembled one. Life comes in
- 2:50Speaker 2: pieces and sometimes life falls into pieces. So how do
- 2:58Speaker 2: you respond? When the pieces of life don't fit. Do
- 3:05Speaker 2: you respond in anger? Do you respond in frustration? Do
- 3:10Speaker 2: you respond in prayer? That's how Mary, the mother of Jesus, responded.
- 3:19Speaker 2: Now her words that we're about to read are not
- 3:22Speaker 2: always included in a list of.
- 3:25Speaker 1: The great prayers of the Bible.
- 3:27Speaker 2: But I think you could make a case that they
- 3:30Speaker 2: should be. Because Mary took a problem and she brought
- 3:37Speaker 2: it to Christ.
- 3:39Speaker 1: Isn't that the basic definition of prayer?
- 3:44Speaker 2: And her example reminds us, before your problems get to you,
- 3:49Speaker 2: get your problems to Christ.
- 3:53Speaker 1: The story begins in John chapter 2.
- 3:57Speaker 2: On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana
- 3:59Speaker 2: of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. Now
- 4:03Speaker 2: both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding.
- 4:08Speaker 2: It's just a common wedding. The bride wasn't the daughter
- 4:14Speaker 2: of an emperor. The groom isn't, at least as far
- 4:18Speaker 2: as we know, a prince. As far as we can tell,
- 4:26Speaker 2: It was a very simple gathering. And apart from one detail,
- 4:31Speaker 2: there's no doubt this wedding would have been lost in
- 4:33Speaker 2: the sands of time. But that one detail is a
- 4:38Speaker 2: wonderful one. And that is Jesus was invited to the wedding.
- 4:44Speaker 2: I know this is the weekend in which we're talking
- 4:46Speaker 2: about marriages. What a great time to pause and receive
- 4:51Speaker 2: the reminder of Have you invited Jesus into your marriage?
- 4:57Speaker 2: Have you invited Jesus to be a part of your wedding?
- 5:02Speaker 2: And isn't it great that Jesus was invited? He wasn't
- 5:07Speaker 2: so stuck up or stuffy that he didn't make time
- 5:11Speaker 2: and wasn't included on the wedding list.
- 5:15Speaker 1: Can you imagine this? Somebody was saying, oh, oh, oh, wait, hey,
- 5:18Speaker 1: don't forget. Don't forget to invite Jesus. He's a lot
- 5:21Speaker 1: of fun.
- 5:23Speaker 2: You know, sometimes we Christians can get so stuffy.
- 5:28Speaker 1: And high and mighty that we're kind of yucky. But
- 5:34Speaker 1: not Jesus.
- 5:36Speaker 2: When they compiled the guest list for the wedding, they said, oh,
- 5:39Speaker 2: we got to have Jesus here. And since Jesus goes
- 5:45Speaker 2: wherever he's invited, he took his disciples from Galilee to
- 5:53Speaker 2: Cana for a wedding.
- 5:56Speaker 1: And while they were there, there was a problem.
- 5:59Speaker 2: The scripture says the wedding party ran out of wine.
- 6:05Speaker 2: Someone underestimated the size of the crowd or the appetite
- 6:09Speaker 2: of the guests or the depth of the vats or
- 6:13Speaker 2: the number of friends Jesus would bring. As a result,
- 6:18Speaker 2: the bride and groom ran out of wine or in
- 6:22Speaker 2: your case, your department Ran out of cash. Or your
- 6:26Speaker 2: team ran out of solutions.
- 6:28Speaker 1: Or you're about to run out. Of energy. There are
- 6:32Speaker 1: those times in life.
- 6:33Speaker 2: In which the needle just hits E. The account gets
- 6:38Speaker 2: in the red. We're out of wine.
- 6:44Speaker 3: Life.
- 6:45Speaker 1: Leaks. Enter stage right. Mary.
- 6:51Speaker 4: Mary.
- 6:53Speaker 1: The mother of Jesus. For my nickel, she appears all
- 6:58Speaker 1: too seldom in Scripture. I mean, who knew Jesus better
- 7:03Speaker 1: than she did?
- 7:06Speaker 2: She carried him in her womb for nine months. She
- 7:11Speaker 2: breastfed him. She saw him take his first steps. She
- 7:16Speaker 2: heard him speak his first words.
- 7:20Speaker 1: And so on the occasion in Scripture, That she speaks up.
- 7:25Speaker 2: We perk up. She's an authority in Christ. And so
- 7:31Speaker 2: here she speaks up. The mother of Jesus said to him.
- 7:38Speaker 1: They have no wine. This is a prayer. Not an
- 7:44Speaker 1: elaborate prayer. Not a fancy prayer.
- 7:49Speaker 2: I don't know of anyone who's ever gone to Hobby
- 7:52Speaker 2: Lobby and purchased this prayer and hung it on the wall.
- 7:56Speaker 1: They have no wine.
- 8:00Speaker 2: People would scratch their heads as they read that prayer.
- 8:04Speaker 1: But this was a prayer.
- 8:07Speaker 2: Mary had a problem and she presented the problem to Christ. Again,
- 8:11Speaker 2: isn't that the basic definition of a prayer? And I
- 8:14Speaker 2: want you to notice, please, if you would, that Mary's
- 8:18Speaker 2: prayer is, specific the pieces didn't fit so she stated
- 8:25Speaker 2: the problem clearly and succinctly presented it to Christ I
- 8:33Speaker 2: think it's wonderful that she didn't get hyper spiritual I
- 8:38Speaker 2: command all the demons of winelessness.
- 8:43Speaker 1: To depart from this place so that we.
- 8:46Speaker 2: I'm just so glad she didn't just kind of go
- 8:48Speaker 2: crazy with the thing. She just said, they have no wine.
- 8:55Speaker 2: I'm thankful she didn't get critical. You know, Jesus, if
- 8:58Speaker 2: somebody had planned better, what's this world coming to?
- 9:01Speaker 1: It's going over the edge. It's crazy. Wasn't for people
- 9:04Speaker 1: like me, we couldn't keep the boat afloat. She didn't
- 9:09Speaker 1: blame anybody. She didn't hyper spiritualize it.
- 9:15Speaker 2: She just did what kids do with their parents. My
- 9:23Speaker 2: kids did this all the time. They offered specific requests.
- 9:27Speaker 1: Dad, can I have some money? How much do you need?
- 9:30Speaker 1: Five bucks.
- 9:31Speaker 2: Dad, can I spend the night with so-and-so?
- 9:35Speaker 1: When are you coming back? Who is it? Where is
- 9:37Speaker 1: it going?
- 9:37Speaker 2: Dad, can you pick us up after the volleyball game? Dad,
- 9:42Speaker 2: How did you get to be such a wonderful, brilliant
- 9:44Speaker 2: human being? Kids offer specific requests and we parents might
- 9:55Speaker 2: act a bit impatient, but down deep we're honored because
- 9:59Speaker 2: we know that's our job. You honor God. When you
- 10:04Speaker 2: offer a specific request. When you take your problem. And
- 10:10Speaker 2: strip all this spiritualization away from it. And just come
- 10:14Speaker 2: to him and say. They have no wine. This is
- 10:18Speaker 2: the problem.
- 10:19Speaker 1: Have you done this? Have you done this?
- 10:22Speaker 2: Do you have a problem? Have you taken that problem,
- 10:30Speaker 2: put it into words, just a sentence will do, and
- 10:36Speaker 2: presented it to Christ?
- 10:39Speaker 1: Her prayer was specific.
- 10:43Speaker 2: And then Jesus answered, continuing in John 2, Dear woman,
- 10:50Speaker 2: why come to me?
- 10:52Speaker 1: My time has not yet come.
- 10:57Speaker 2: His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells
- 11:02Speaker 2: you to do.
- 11:05Speaker 1: Extraordinary dialogue.
- 11:08Speaker 2: Apparently Jesus came to the wedding for the purpose of
- 11:12Speaker 2: attending the wedding.
- 11:16Speaker 1: He didn't come with any other motive.
- 11:19Speaker 2: This was not where he intended to perform his first miracle.
- 11:25Speaker 2: The angelic committee of inaugural miracles was not gathered.
- 11:30Speaker 1: Watching in eager expectation.
- 11:34Speaker 2: It was not on the itinerary of Christ to perform
- 11:40Speaker 2: this miracle. And so Jesus responds to this specific request
- 11:50Speaker 2: with some hesitation. Now, some of you are right there. So, Max,
- 11:56Speaker 2: I've made my request, but I'm not hearing anything. I'm
- 12:01Speaker 2: not sensing anything. I'm not seeing anything yet.
- 12:06Speaker 1: Mary is your model.
- 12:08Speaker 2: In my imagination, I see Mary here, the hesitation from
- 12:12Speaker 2: her son, Jesus, and just smile, nod, And walk away
- 12:23Speaker 2: at peace.
- 12:25Speaker 1: Completely calm.
- 12:27Speaker 2: Why? Because she knows Jesus better than anybody else. She's
- 12:32Speaker 2: been with him for 30 years. She knows he'll do
- 12:35Speaker 2: the right thing. And she has done her part. She
- 12:39Speaker 2: has identified the problem and she has presented it to Christ.
- 12:46Speaker 2: In a sense, she's saying, whatever you do is okay
- 12:51Speaker 2: with me. Because you see, not only was her prayer specific,
- 12:56Speaker 2: her faith was explicit. She trusted him completely. You see,
- 13:03Speaker 2: prayer is not trying to convince God to do what
- 13:06Speaker 2: we want. Prayer is trusting God to do what is right.
- 13:12Speaker 2: Prayer is not arm-twisting God. trying to impress him so
- 13:17Speaker 2: that he will hear such an eloquent prayer that he'll say, oh,
- 13:21Speaker 2: I've got to say yes to.
- 13:22Speaker 1: That one, I guess.
- 13:24Speaker 2: Prayer is an honest expression in which you come to
- 13:28Speaker 2: Christ as a member of his family, just as Mary
- 13:33Speaker 2: was a member of the family of Jesus. And you
- 13:37Speaker 2: leave that request with him.
- 13:39Speaker 1: We know Mary did.
- 13:40Speaker 2: This because she said to the servants, whatever he says,
- 13:44Speaker 2: you do it.
- 13:46Speaker 1: Whatever. What does whatever mean? Whatever. If he says nothing,
- 13:54Speaker 1: then do nothing. If he says something, then do something.
- 13:59Speaker 1: She acknowledged. Please hear this.
- 14:01Speaker 2: She acknowledged that though there was a problem, Christ was
- 14:04Speaker 2: still king of the wedding. Christ was in charge.
- 14:08Speaker 1: She was not. Christ was running the show. She was not.
- 14:13Speaker 2: She had done her part, and so she left the
- 14:17Speaker 2: problem with him. How do you think Jesus responded? Again,
- 14:24Speaker 2: my imagination takes off, but I got to see him smile.
- 14:29Speaker 2: Maybe he glances up into heaven, kind of shrugs his shoulders.
- 14:33Speaker 2: I know this isn't what we intended. And he alters
- 14:38Speaker 2: his agenda. Because of this specific explicit prayer. He alters
- 14:45Speaker 2: his agenda. And Jesus said to the servants. Fill the
- 14:51Speaker 2: water pots with water. So they filled them to the brim.
- 14:56Speaker 2: And Jesus told them draw some out now. And take
- 15:00Speaker 2: it to the master of the feast. You see there
- 15:02Speaker 2: was a cluster of six water pots. And those water
- 15:07Speaker 2: pots were within the eyesight of Christ. And he tells
- 15:11Speaker 2: the servants, now fill those with water and take some
- 15:14Speaker 2: out and take it to the master of the feast.
- 15:17Speaker 1: And they did. They did.
- 15:20Speaker 2: These servants deserve applause as well. They did what Jesus said,
- 15:26Speaker 2: even though it might not have made a lot of sense.
- 15:28Speaker 1: They filled that cluster of water pots to the top.
- 15:34Speaker 2: And then they took some and they handed a glass
- 15:38Speaker 2: to the master of the feast. He tasted the wine
- 15:43Speaker 2: and he licked his lips and he looked around and
- 15:45Speaker 2: he said, man, this is good stuff. Or as John recorded,
- 15:50Speaker 2: the master said, everyone brings out the choice wine first
- 15:55Speaker 2: and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had
- 15:58Speaker 2: too much to drink. But you have saved the best
- 16:02Speaker 2: wine until now. Mary's prayer was specific. Her faith was explicit.
- 16:14Speaker 2: And as a result, the miracle, it was exquisite. H2O
- 16:21Speaker 2: became Bordeaux.
- 16:26Speaker 1: And it was good. No Mad Dog 2020 in this miracle.
- 16:36Speaker 2: Are you wondering how I know about Mad Dog 2020?
- 16:41Speaker 1: That's a story for Testimony Sunday.
- 16:43Speaker 2: And while the master of the feast notes the quantity
- 16:52Speaker 2: of the wine, John wants us to also note, I'm sorry,
- 16:58Speaker 2: I got that backwards. While the master of the feast
- 17:00Speaker 2: notes the quality of the wine, John wants us to
- 17:04Speaker 2: also note the quantity of the wine. Six stone jars
- 17:11Speaker 2: capable of holding 30 gallons apiece. And the servants filled
- 17:17Speaker 2: them to the brim. Quick calculation reveals the amount of
- 17:22Speaker 2: wine in our vernacular.
- 17:24Speaker 1: Anyone want to guess? Jesus' miracle resulted in the equivalent
- 17:30Speaker 1: of hang on to your hat. 903 bottles of wine.
- 17:39Speaker 2: 903.
- 17:39Speaker 1: They could have opened their own wine store. Problem presented.
- 17:46Speaker 1: Prayer answered.
- 17:48Speaker 2: Crisis avoided. All because Mary took the problem. She walked
- 17:56Speaker 2: across the room. She stated it clearly. And she left
- 18:00Speaker 2: it with Jesus. And her simple request resulted in a
- 18:06Speaker 2: divine response. Now there's another version to this story. In
- 18:13Speaker 2: this version, Mary doesn't give the problem to Jesus. She
- 18:17Speaker 2: doesn't take it to Christ. Instead, she takes the problem
- 18:21Speaker 2: out on the master of the feast. She gives him
- 18:24Speaker 2: an earful about poor planning. He blows up, gets angry
- 18:31Speaker 2: at her. The groom overhears the argument and gets angry
- 18:35Speaker 2: at them. The bride sees the angry groom and says,
- 18:39Speaker 2: I'm not marrying you if you can't control your temper.
- 18:42Speaker 2: The wedding is canceled. Mary walks out. The bride and
- 18:46Speaker 2: groom walk out.
- 18:47Speaker 1: And all along, Christ is saying, if they'd have just
- 18:49Speaker 1: asked me, I could have helped.
- 18:53Speaker 2: Now, that version of the story is not in the Bible.
- 18:57Speaker 2: But that version of the story is in most of
- 19:00Speaker 2: our lives. Those times in which we have a problem
- 19:06Speaker 2: and we take it out on others. Or we take
- 19:11Speaker 2: blame we don't need to receive. How many disasters would
- 19:17Speaker 2: be avoided if we quickly went first in faith to Jesus?
- 19:25Speaker 2: The punchline of this story is clear. Take your problems
- 19:29Speaker 2: to Christ.
- 19:31Speaker 1: Take them.
- 19:32Speaker 2: Don't take them to the bar. Jack Daniels does not
- 19:36Speaker 2: know how to fix your problems. Don't take your problems
- 19:39Speaker 2: out on others. Temper tantrums and angry outbursts never make
- 19:46Speaker 2: a problem go away. the moment you sense a problem
- 19:53Speaker 2: however large however small see how quickly you can take
- 19:58Speaker 2: it to Christ you say wait a second you don't
- 20:03Speaker 2: know my life if I take my problem to Christ
- 20:09Speaker 2: Every time I have a problem. Then I'm going to
- 20:13Speaker 2: be talking to Christ all day long. The apostle Paul said.
- 20:22Speaker 2: Don't worry about anything.
- 20:25Speaker 1: Instead.
- 20:27Speaker 2: Pray about everything. Tell God your needs. And don't forget
- 20:33Speaker 2: to thank him. For his answers.
- 20:36Speaker 1: If you do this.
- 20:38Speaker 2: You will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful
- 20:43Speaker 2: than the human mind can understand.
- 20:47Speaker 1: And his peace will keep your thoughts.
- 20:52Speaker 2: And hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in
- 20:59Speaker 2: Christ Jesus.
- 21:02Speaker 1: An unprayed for problem is an untreated thorn. It festers.
- 21:09Speaker 2: It gets infected. And then it infects the entire body.
- 21:16Speaker 2: So go straight to the person who has the tweezers.
- 21:20Speaker 2: Get to Christ as soon as you can. You see,
- 21:23Speaker 2: peace happens when people pray. Change happens when people pray.
- 21:30Speaker 2: We're in the middle of 40 days of prayer as
- 21:35Speaker 2: a gateway family. That's the exact place we need to be.
- 21:40Speaker 2: We need to be in the posture of prayer, continually
- 21:44Speaker 2: presenting the challenge to him. The request of Mary changed
- 21:51Speaker 2: the outcome.
- 21:52Speaker 1: Of the wedding.
- 21:54Speaker 2: Your request will change the future of your children, your country,
- 22:03Speaker 2: your church, your family, there is nothing or no one
- 22:09Speaker 2: more powerful than that saint who takes God at his
- 22:14Speaker 2: word and says, dear Lord, after all, aren't you God's child?
- 22:25Speaker 2: And doesn't a child have clout.
- 22:29Speaker 1: With the father?
- 22:33Speaker 2: I accompanied Dean Lynn on some errand running sometime back.
- 22:40Speaker 2: We went to a store where she could purchase a calendar.
- 22:45Speaker 2: And as we walked through the parking lot, I noticed
- 22:47Speaker 2: something and I pointed to the sign and I said, honey, this,
- 22:52Speaker 2: this is my store.
- 22:59Speaker 1: Office Max, Max, this is my store. She was unimpressed.
- 23:08Speaker 2: I ran to the door and I opened it and
- 23:11Speaker 2: I said, honey, welcome to my store.
- 23:15Speaker 1: She rolled her eyes at me.
- 23:18Speaker 2: You know, I used to think that when a wife
- 23:23Speaker 2: rolls her eyes at a.
- 23:25Speaker 1: Husband, it's a gesture of frustration.
- 23:29Speaker 2: After 43 years of marriage, I have come to see
- 23:32Speaker 2: in actuality, it's a gesture of admiration.
- 23:38Speaker 1: It's admiration. She is stunned.
- 23:42Speaker 2: After all, Dean Lynn, well, she does it so often.
- 23:47Speaker 2: As we continued into the store, I continued my posturing.
- 23:52Speaker 2: Thank you for coming to my store, I told her.
- 23:55Speaker 2: Thank you for shopping in my aisles.
- 23:58Speaker 1: You want to buy some of my product? She rolled
- 24:03Speaker 1: her eyes at me again. I think she was speechless.
- 24:09Speaker 2: When we reached the checkout line, I saw the clerk.
- 24:15Speaker 2: I saw her name. And I introduced myself. I kind
- 24:20Speaker 2: of arched my eyebrow. Lowered the tone of my voice.
- 24:26Speaker 5: Hello there.
- 24:28Speaker 1: I'm Max. As in office.
- 24:33Speaker 2: Max.
- 24:34Speaker 1: Max. I'm the boss here. Really? She said, looking at
- 24:45Speaker 1: Dean Lynn. Dean Lynn rolled her eyes again. I started
- 24:51Speaker 1: to blush.
- 24:51Speaker 2: I was so embarrassed with how impressed Dean Lynn was
- 24:54Speaker 2: with me. I said to the clerk as she was
- 24:59Speaker 2: checking us out, I said, take the afternoon off. And
- 25:07Speaker 2: if anyone asks, just tell them that Max of Office
- 25:12Speaker 2: Max told you to do so. She stopped and she
- 25:20Speaker 2: looked at me and she said, well, sir, you've got
- 25:24Speaker 2: the name, but you don't have the clout. Well, she
- 25:31Speaker 2: was right about me, but that cannot be said about you.
- 25:39Speaker 2: If you bear the name of Christ, you have authority.
- 25:46Speaker 2: And when you pray, heaven listens. And the future of
- 25:53Speaker 2: society is directed by the prayers of God's children. The
- 26:00Speaker 2: future of Gateway is directed according to the prayers of
- 26:06Speaker 2: God's children. The future of our country depends upon the
- 26:14Speaker 2: earnest supplications of God's children.
- 26:19Speaker 1: The church is.
- 26:20Speaker 2: The only entity that is ordained and blessed to talk
- 26:27Speaker 2: to God. And God promises that he will listen. Because
- 26:32Speaker 2: when you said yes to Christ, Christ said yes to you.
- 26:37Speaker 2: And he enrolled you Into divine on the job training.
- 26:42Speaker 2: In which he is preparing you. For an eternity. In
- 26:45Speaker 2: which you will reign and rule with him. Throughout eternity.
- 26:51Speaker 2: He is preparing you for that. And the reason we're here.
- 26:55Speaker 2: Is because that time has not yet come. And he
- 26:58Speaker 2: is preparing us. He is teaching us. He is equipping
- 27:03Speaker 2: us to learn to hear his voice.
- 27:06Speaker 1: And walk not. By what we see. But by faith.
- 27:11Speaker 2: And to quickly. Everybody else takes their problems out on
- 27:15Speaker 2: one another. Everybody else does. But we don't. We take
- 27:20Speaker 2: our problems to Christ. As quickly as possible. Because our
- 27:25Speaker 2: master has given us promises like this one.
- 27:29Speaker 1: When two of you get together. On anything at all
- 27:35Speaker 1: on earth.
- 27:36Speaker 2: And make a prayer out of. My Father in heaven
- 27:40Speaker 2: goes into action. Your prayers impact the actions of God.
- 27:48Speaker 2: After all, is he not our Father? You are not
- 27:52Speaker 2: without hope because you are not without prayer.
- 27:59Speaker 1: Don't you look at me in that tone of voice.
- 28:02Speaker 2: Some of you are thinking, yeah, that prayer stuff, that's for, well,
- 28:05Speaker 2: that's for those, I don't know, People who wear collars
- 28:09Speaker 2: or go to seminaries or.
- 28:10Speaker 1: Have clergy or have reverend or... Hogwash. Hogwash.
- 28:16Speaker 2: If you're a child of God, if you have given
- 28:21Speaker 2: your heart to Christ, then your prayers are every bit
- 28:26Speaker 2: as powerful.
- 28:28Speaker 1: As anyone else's.
- 28:30Speaker 2: Wherever you are as you're listening to these words, God
- 28:33Speaker 2: longs to hear your prayers. Why?
- 28:35Speaker 4: Why?
- 28:36Speaker 2: Because he longs to show you his heart. Offer him
- 28:40Speaker 2: a specific prayer. Respond with explicit faith. And you can
- 28:47Speaker 2: expect an exquisite answer. Our daughter Jenna, I mentioned, is
- 28:54Speaker 2: here with us. And some years ago when she was younger,
- 28:59Speaker 2: at the age of 12, we went to Jerusalem. And
- 29:03Speaker 2: we found ourselves walking through the old city on a very,
- 29:06Speaker 2: very busy afternoon. Walking out of the Jaffa Gate, we
- 29:12Speaker 2: were in the midst of a crowd of humanity. And
- 29:16Speaker 2: I noticed that just ahead of us and to our
- 29:19Speaker 2: right was an Orthodox Jewish family, a father.
- 29:23Speaker 1: The mother wasn't with them, I don't know why.
- 29:25Speaker 2: The mother, I'm sorry, the father and three small girls.
- 29:30Speaker 2: One of the girls, maybe age four or five, found
- 29:34Speaker 2: herself a few steps back from her father.
- 29:39Speaker 1: And she couldn't see him.
- 29:40Speaker 2: Him. Again, there was a thick crowd, lots of people,
- 29:42Speaker 2: lots of jostling. And she was separated from her father.
- 29:46Speaker 2: And she was only a few feet to my right.
- 29:49Speaker 1: And I heard her cup her hands around her mouth
- 29:53Speaker 1: and cry out, Abba!
- 29:54Speaker 2: Abba! Abba! And I remembered that when Jesus taught us
- 30:03Speaker 2: to pray, he said, pray like this, our Abba, our Father,
- 30:10Speaker 2: who art in heaven. So I thought, I'm going to
- 30:14Speaker 2: watch and see what an Abba does when his child
- 30:18Speaker 2: is afraid.
- 30:19Speaker 1: That dad stopped dead in his tracks. Man, he heard
- 30:23Speaker 1: that voice of that child and he stopped.
- 30:26Speaker 2: And he began looking to the right, looking to the left,
- 30:28Speaker 2: and there he spotted her. And he worked his way
- 30:31Speaker 2: back upstream through the crowd.
- 30:33Speaker 1: And he reached down and he took his daughter's hand
- 30:36Speaker 1: and he pulled her real close. I think he said
- 30:40Speaker 1: something to her, maybe a little bit stern. But then
- 30:44Speaker 1: he said, come on.
- 30:47Speaker 2: And he caught up with his other two daughters and
- 30:50Speaker 2: they walked toward the street. The street was busy. She
- 30:53Speaker 2: stepped out in the street. He pulled her back. Then
- 30:56Speaker 2: they stepped across the street and he reached down midway
- 30:59Speaker 2: and he lifted her up And he carried her the
- 31:02Speaker 2: rest of the way. That's what an Abba does when
- 31:08Speaker 2: his child cries out to him. And that's what your
- 31:13Speaker 2: Abba will do, dear friend, when you cry out to him.
- 31:19Speaker 2: You were not made to carry these problems by yourself.
- 31:22Speaker 2: You're not strong enough. You don't have the wisdom apart
- 31:27Speaker 2: from God. But with God, with your Abba, You are
- 31:31Speaker 2: strong enough. And you can have hope. And he has wisdom.
- 31:38Speaker 1: That's yours just for the asking. He is your Abba.
- 31:45Speaker 1: So talk to him. Talk to him. Specifically. Explicitly.
- 31:56Speaker 2: And you can expect something exquisite. Who knows before long
- 32:01Speaker 2: you may be raising a glass to toast the king
- 32:05Speaker 2: of kings. To thank him for the miracle that he
- 32:08Speaker 2: has brought into your life. Thank you Lord for stories
- 32:13Speaker 2: like this in the Bible that give us hope.
- 32:17Speaker 1: For we do grow weary and we do need help.
- 32:22Speaker 2: Grant heavenly father just a fresh downpour of faith to
- 32:27Speaker 2: come over your church. for you are truly the pastor
- 32:33Speaker 2: and we trust you. Hear the prayers, please, of those
- 32:37Speaker 2: who are brokenhearted, lonely, passing through difficulty. We pray for marriages.
- 32:44Speaker 2: We pray for those who long to be married or
- 32:47Speaker 2: who once were married. We pray for blessings on families.
- 32:51Speaker 1: We pray. And like Mary, we trust you. Whatever you do,
- 32:58Speaker 1: we know it will be the right thing We.
- 33:01Speaker 2: Thank you and pray in the name of Jesus and
- 33:04Speaker 2: all God's people said, amen and amen.
- 33:23Speaker 1: As long as you're somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
- 33:33Speaker 3: I don't need to hold you near me Don't need
- 33:36Speaker 3: promises to keep.
- 33:39Speaker 1: Just the thought that.
- 33:40Speaker 3: You are breathing Somewhere in this world I see Even
- 33:46Speaker 3: if I'm not beside you Even if you never know
- 33:53Speaker 3: There's a quiet kind of comfort Just in knowing you
- 33:57Speaker 3: still blow.
- 34:00Speaker 1: I don't need forever.
- 34:06Speaker 3: I just need you to exist.
- 34:11Speaker 6: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
- 34:15Speaker 6: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
- 34:20Speaker 6: out there Calling softly through my.
- 34:23Speaker 4: Days You don't have to look my way You don't
- 34:28Speaker 4: have to be my home It's enough to know you're
- 34:33Speaker 4: living In a world I'm.
- 34:36Speaker 6: Not alone.
- 34:41Speaker 3: I won't chase you through the distance Won't disturb your
- 34:46Speaker 3: chosen life I'll just keep you in my silence Like
- 34:51Speaker 3: a star that shines at night.
- 34:55Speaker 1: Through the dark and through the blue.
- 35:02Speaker 7: I still think of you You don't have to be
- 35:12Speaker 7: my home. It's enough to know you're living in a
- 35:15Speaker 7: world I'm not alone.
- 35:49Speaker 3: I don't need to be your light I don't need
- 35:53Speaker 3: to cross your mind All I need is just the
- 35:56Speaker 3: truth That you're somewhere.
- 36:00Speaker 1: Still alive.
- 36:04Speaker 6: You don't have to stay with me you don't have
- 36:08Speaker 6: to feel the same.
- 36:11Speaker 1: Just as long.
- 36:12Speaker 5: As you're still out there calling softly through my days
- 36:17Speaker 5: you don't have to look my way you don't have
- 36:22Speaker 5: to be my home it's enough to know you're living
- 36:30Speaker 1: In a world I'm not alone