Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / The Astounding Prayers of Paul | Pastor Daniel Batarseh | Maranatha Shabiba 2024

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The Astounding Prayers of Paul | Pastor Daniel Batarseh | Maranatha Shabiba 2024 · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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Hey, I don't know about you. I want to just say my heart is
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overwhelmed with joy for many reasons.
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But every year at this conference, I just feel like
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it's a family reunion. And even though there are new
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people here because of the kindred spirit of the Holy
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Spirit living in each of us, I can't tell you the joy that I
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have looking around and seeing people walking and interacting.
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And I think we're getting a little glimpse of what we're
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going to have in eternity. We're going to be with each
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other forever and ever and ever. And if that intimidates you,
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here's the good part. We're all going to be perfected.
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So it's not going to be so overwhelming as much as you
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might think. I'm so excited to be with you
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tonight. And here, here's my prayer also
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for tonight, I hope you have energy reserved to respond to
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this message because there will be a response.
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I'm just telling you where we're going.
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There will be a response to this message.
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And it's going to be an invitation for every single one
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of us. And if you're not energized, I'm
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going to pray that God would energize us because we want to
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meet with the Lord. And James tells us draw near to
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God and he will draw near to you.
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So he puts the ball in our courts, right?
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We initiate the pursuit and God is faithful to meet us there
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with open arms. And so I hope that what you hear
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today would stir you to say, I really want to respond to these
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truths and experience them from my for myself.
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So I prayed, but I would like for us to pray again before we
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crack open our Bibles together. Let's do that, shall we?
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Lord, we ask that you would by your Spirit, drive us to the
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place where you want us to be in prayer.
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Drive us to our knees, drive us to the place of adoration, of
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worship, of faith again. Resurrect things that we've
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stopped praying for. Stop believing you, for we need
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your help, Lord, because we know that Satan would love to stifle
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and to eliminate this reality from our lives.
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But we pray that today it would be a turning point for each of
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us. And so let your word be spoken
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clearly, free from any stammering, confusion,
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distraction. Let it come with authority from
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heaven. We trust that Lord, you will
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hear us even now, and you will guide us for the rest of this
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evening. In Jesus name we pray.
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Amen. Behold, he is praying.
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Those were the comforting words that the Lord Jesus gave to a
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very reluctant disciple by the name of Ananias, who was
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summoned by Christ to go and minister to a radically
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transformed Saul of Tarsus. And what was true of Saul, whom
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we know to be Paul in the infancy of his faith, was a
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trademark throughout his life and ministry until his very last
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moments on the earth. In other words, one of my one of
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my first notes that I still have to this day that I taped behind
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the cover of my Bible were all the requests that Paul made to
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the various churches to pray for him.
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It moves me and move me because of who Paul was and yet at the
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same time how dependent he was on this strange, mysterious, yet
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accessible thing called prayer. And I believe it's because of
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what he believed in. Second Corinthians.
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I want you to turn to with me in chapter one, verse 11 of Second
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Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians 111.
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Look what Paul says to this church.
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You also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on
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our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers
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of many. If you want one simple take away
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from this verse, you'll never forget it.
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Prayer works, and prayer helps. If Paul didn't believe that, he
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wouldn't waste his time asking for it.
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But he really, really believed it.
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And when he wrote this, he was undergoing an undisclosed
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intense season of suffering where he says that I, I could
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smell death. I can actually taste the grade.
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That's how severe this turmoil was that Paul and his ministry
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team were experiencing. And he understood something
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here. He understood that he can be
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helped, that there is certain heavenly assistance that's
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unlocked only upon this premise. If the people of God pray, if
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they don't pray, then we're not going to tap into this help.
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There's only access through prayer.
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And so he demands it. And notice this, he says you
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must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our
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behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
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So again, Paul here believes that there are certain blessings
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that can only be experienced through prayer.
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I wonder how many testimonies we've missed out on because of
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our lack of praying. Then our churches, our families,
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our marriages, what have we forfeited because we have not
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put our faith in this thing called prayer?
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This is something for us to consider because what's
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fascinating is not just what prayer can do, but who Paul's
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asking to do the praying for him?
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The Corinthians. You know, people better be
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careful when they say we need to go back to the days of the early
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church. Which part?
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I think what you're referring to is the early church before Acts
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chapter 5, because as much as there might be problems in our
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churches, and we all have them, I'm sure the Corinthian church
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was messed up, severely messed up.
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And so comparatively to the apostle Paul, Paul asked
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struggling Saints to pray. And not just the Corinthians,
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the Thessalonians, the Ephesians, the Colossians.
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He asked all these different churches, with all their
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weaknesses and their defaults and their limitations, to pray.
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To pray. You may never preach a sermon in
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your life, but you can pray. You may never be invited to do
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something like preach at a conference or travel and plant
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churches, but you can pray. You may never be able to, out of
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the goodness of your heart, give financially, but you can reach
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into the treasury of intercession and pray.
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Prayer gives all of us equal access to making an impact for
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the Kingdom of God, no matter what you are, what you do, what
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you feel like you're limited by. So Paul invites these believers
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to pray Weak, stumbling, inconsistent Christians
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believing that God would hear them if they came in humility.
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And so this is a gift that God has given every single one of us
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to be, to be able to make a profound move forward for the
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Kingdom and the glory of Jesus Christ.
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And if you're not moved by the fact that the Corinthians were
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invited to partner with Paul, partner with heaven through
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prayer, then be moved by the fact that Paul is the one asking
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for it. If there was a guy that I can
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write off as someone who didn't need to go around asking people
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for prayer, it was Paul. Paul, this guy was a machine of
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a missionary. No matter where Paul went, one
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of two things happened. There was either revival or
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riots or sometimes both. This man, again, as we've been
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studying, is just, he's unique in many ways.
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And yet in virtually every single one of his letters, he
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goes, would you please pray for me?
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You know, when Christians ask for prayer, they kind of say it
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like a second hand kind of sign off to the conversation.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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Pray for me, brother. Do you think that's how Paul
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asked people for prayer? Do you think it was just
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Christianese? Now let me show you how much
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Paul really believed in people praying for him and how much he
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needed it. So we read Second Corinthians,
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but go to Romans and look at chapter 15, verse 30.
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He says to these Christians, I appeal to you, brothers, by our
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Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to strive
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together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.
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Do you see the desperation in this man's words?
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Look again, I appeal to you, I urge you, I beg of you Romans, I
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need you to pray for me. Now when I, when I read this and
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meditated on this, this is the, this is the thought that ran
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through mind. This is the question that caused
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me to reflect. If Paul asked people to pray for
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him, why don't I? Why don't I ask people to pray
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for me? Is it because I'm afraid that
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people would see me as weak or Paul had no problem looking weak
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before others? Or is it perhaps that I I'm
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limited my understanding of what can happen when I collect and
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combine my faith with other Christians?
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Is that what's hindering me from joyously making a couple of text
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messages to people to say please pray for for me?
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Paul had no reservation. In fact, Paul understood that
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one of the things about Christian community is that we
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make a dedication to do this thing called prayer for one
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another. And he did not hold back.
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And notice that when Paul asked for prayer, it did not mean that
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he did not engage in it with himself.
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Read again Romans 15, verse 30. I appeal to you, brothers, by
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our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to strive
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together with me. So you have another extreme
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where people ask everybody for prayer because they don't pray
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themselves. That's not the way to do it.
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Strive together with me. Strive together with me.
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There's some ministers who are apparently too busy to pray, and
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so they'll ask people to pray for them or they'll create a
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prayer team. That's not how Paul ministered.
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Paul didn't allow himself to get to the point where he justified
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his lack of praying, even in the name of ministry.
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He said strive together with me. Let's work together now to
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bombard the throne of grace and to believe that God will send
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something down. And as you can tell, so much can
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be said about this incredible treasure.
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But for the sake of time, if you are a note taker, I want to
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present to you 3 glorious life altering possibilities through
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this thing called prayer Three. And the first one is this prayer
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prize. Open prayer peels.
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Open prayer opens spiritual eyes and that truth is found in
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Ephesians chapter one, beginning in verse 16.
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Let's read that together, shall we?
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Ephesians 116 Paul says, I do not cease to give thanks for
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you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit
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of wisdom and revelation, and the knowledge of him having the
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eyes of your hearts enlightened. That you may know what is the
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hope to which He has called you. What are the riches of His
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glorious inheritance in the Saints, and what is the
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immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe
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according to the working of His great might?
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There are three. What's that Paul includes in the
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introduction of this letter? Three, what's that he wants
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these believers to experience and to know?
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The first one is what is the hope to which he has called you?
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The second what is what is the riches of his glorious
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inheritance in the Saints? And lastly, what is the
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immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe?
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Now these verses, they they encourage me and they challenge
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me at the same time. You know why?
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Because Paul is not writing to non believers.
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When you go back to verse 15, you realize that he is writing
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to people who have exemplary faith, who have been radically
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transformed by the gospel. And yet at the same time he
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tells them, I'm praying that you would see more, that you would
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see more, right? And he tells the things that he
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wants them to, to behold and to witness in the innermost part of
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their being, which tells me that you and I can be saved but
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remain shallow. And Paul couldn't imagine of a
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greater nightmare for believers to just come to the knowledge of
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Jesus Christ and stay there at the basic understanding of your
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faith. He goes, no, no, no.
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I want you to know the depths of his power, the depths of his
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riches, the depths of this hope that is your inheritance.
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Now, I want to ask you, if you were here and you teach the
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Bible on any level, Sunday school mothers to your children,
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you have a Bible study, a Home group, you run a men's meeting,
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you're an elder. Whatever you do in terms of you
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communicating the truth, how would you go about trying to
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unfold the what's that Paul presents to this pupil?
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What would you, what would you do?
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What would be the primary means? It's very simple.
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You would probably teach it. I'm going to now have a series
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on what on what is the hope to which he has called you for the
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next seven weeks. We're going to do a series about
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what are the riches of his glories inherits in the same.
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There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but what I find so
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fascinating about Paul is that he doesn't necessarily expound
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on these things before he tells them that I'm praying for you to
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experience them. I am praying that your eyes will
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be open. And what Paul reveals here is
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that you can have incredible abilities to argue and
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illustrate and and be compelling in your communication skills.
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Those things are not enough. And we're living in an age in
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which even among Christians, we are moving further and further
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away from the supernatural components of our faith, so much
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so that so many people have shriveled up in their prayer
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life, including ministers. Paul didn't rely on his oratory
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skills. Paul didn't rely purely on his
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writing ability. Paul understood here that growth
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and spiritual knowledge cannot be fully achieved until I take
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some time to put my knees on the end of my bed and to ask God for
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you to see it with greater clarity and supernatural
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assistance. So elders, if there are elders
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here beyond elders of NBC, when you're ready to share the word
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of God, do you pray for the people to see what you're about
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to explain? Youth group leaders, do you pray
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for the young people every other Friday?
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When you give a small lesson, do you ask God, Lord, I'm praying
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that you would open their eyes because I can only take them so
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far. Parents, all my beloved parents
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and so many, the babies in here make me so happy.
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They don't bother me one bit. I love to hear the voice of
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these children as they are in the presence of God's people, in
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the presence of singing in his Word.
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But can I ask you something? Are you creating a habit even
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now with those little ones in your arms to pray and ask God
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that as soon as they can, their little eyes would be able to
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behold the majesty of Jesus Christ?
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Because apart from prayer, it's going to take a lot more work in
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your strength to do it. Paul says, I'm praying that you
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would see he didn't depend on humanistic ideas.
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In fact, he he echoes this not in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 3IN
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that very famous passage where he says I bow my knees before
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the Father. Then he goes on to tell them
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another thing that he's praying for, that they would know the
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height, the death, the breath, right?
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The length of the love of Jesus Christ.
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I'm praying that you would know that again, I can explain to you
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the love of Christ. And there is an importance in
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that, in preaching and teaching and declaring and explaining
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you. You can't nullify that.
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But Paul here also shows that it's one thing to explain the
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love of Jesus, it's another thing to experience it.
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And I believe Paul understood that to experience it, it must
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be prayed over, lest what happens here is just a lesson
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and there's no real impartation through the power of the Holy
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Spirit who takes these truths and drives them into your heart.
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So Paul here believed that unless I seek the Lord, people's
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eyes will not be able to open up to the degree that they should
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be opened. That's true for people you pray
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for and certainly that's true for yourself as you pray and you
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ask, God, let me see you, let me understand you.
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Let me behold the wondrous things that you're out of your
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law. Open my eyes, God, please.
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But that's not the only thing. There's a second thing that
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prayer does. Prayer now only opens spiritual
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eyes. Prayer increases and matures our
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love. So that's found in Philippians
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chapter one. Go there with me if you would.
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And in verse 9 to verse 10, I'm here to tell you today that
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love, Holy Spirit, love Christ centered and themed love is not
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going to come through spontaneous combustion, right?
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This kind of godly love does not have to be depended upon your
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empathy being stirred by some event or some suffering that
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you're beholding. Paul shows us here that there
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can be a loved access and experience through prayer.
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Notice what he says to these believers.
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And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more
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with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may
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approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the
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day of Christ. So Paul wrote a total of 4
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letters from prison. This is one of them.
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And what's amazing here in that in every single letter, his
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prison epistles, he mentions how he is praying for the Christians
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that he is writing to. You know why that's important?
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Because although Paul was bound by chains, although he couldn't
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walk and travel and sail, to be before the people and to preach
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to them and to counsel them and to console them, he knew prayer
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can go where he could not go. He knew that though he may be
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shackled, his prayers could not be limited.
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They could traverse through the walls.
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They can traverse through terrain and cities and
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provinces. It's no accident that Paul told
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the people while under house arrest that he was praying for
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them. Because prayers outlive the
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people who even pray them. You realize that prayers will
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outlive you. There are some people, I
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believe, including George Mueller.
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We're told of George Mueller, that he prayed for two specific
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individuals to come to Christ. One of them did right before he
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died and the other one did after he died.
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Prayers outlive the ones who pray them.
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That's a remarkable thing about prayer.
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And Paul here tells him I'm praying for you.
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And in the theme of his prayers centers on love.
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But notice that he qualifies the kind of love that he's asking
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God for. He's not very general.
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He gives 3 features about the kind of love that prayer makes
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possible for your life. And you're saying, well why is
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this important? If you're a Christian, you
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understand how important love is the first characteristic.
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If you're taking those, these are sub points to what Paul's
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praying for. Three features of this love that
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if you but pray for can be true for you.
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And the first one is this, that the the love they would know
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would be abounding. Isn't that what he says?
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And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more.
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So it's not that the Philippians lacked love because earlier he
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commends them for their support in verse 7.
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But Paul knew that there was even more, even more for them to
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tap into. And this is what he's asking God
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for. And he understood.
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Listen, that prayer is the spiritual pump that draws out
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tangible, sacrificial Christ, reflecting love from any heart
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that desires it. If you're honest enough to say
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that you're weak in love for your spouse, for your church,
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for your elders, for fellow believers, for the lost, for
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certain ethnic people, you're in need of prayer and ask the Lord
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for it to abound more and more, and you will be amazed at how
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God will inspire you. You would be fascinated to
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realize what he can do. But Paul doesn't stop there.
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The second quality he seeks for the people about their love is
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not just that it would abound, not that it would overflow
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merely, but that it would be a knowledgeable love.
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Isn't that what he says, That it would have bound more and more
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with knowledge and discernment? So we talk about love in in such
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a general way, and it's foreign to the Bible.
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The Bible has specific, meticulous ways of describing
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biblical love, and one of them is a knowledgeable love.
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And what does that mean? What does it mean for love to be
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knowledgeable? Well, because there are many
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people who love but not loving the truth.
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And there's some people who love, and their love is more
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stimulated by emotion than conviction.
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So the extended of love depends on the fuel of what they're
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feeling that day or that week. If they feel like loving you,
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you'll experience their agape love.
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If they don't feel like it, then you might not experience it.
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And so, so many acts of service, so many sacrifices, so many
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times of patients are dependent, unfortunately, on on stirrings
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of the heart. And Paul's saying, I'm actually
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asking that God would give you a love so much deeper than that,
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that it would not rely on things that are so fleeting, like how
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you woke up that morning and because you had a good week and
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not a bad week, I'm asking for something greater than that, a
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love that is stimulated by knowledge rooted in what you
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know. And this is important because I
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wonder, I wonder what Paul would have prayed like when he asked
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God for that. I imagine that it would be.
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Lord, let the believers in Philippi come to a place where
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they love because they know who you are and they know what
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you've done for them. Lord, please let this love be
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unbroken. Let it be something that
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remains. Let it be something that's not
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easily taken from them. Let it stay true.
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And as they grow in their knowledge of you, may that only
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increase their love more and more.
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A knowledgeable love. But here's where I think it is
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the most interesting feature about this love.
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He's not just talking about a love that abounds, not just a
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love that's knowledgeable, rooted in truth, but a love
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that's discerning. I'm praying that you would
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increase in your life with knowledge and discernment.
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And I cannot express how relevant this is to us today.
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They're Christians who believe, and they're Christians who
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defend. And there are Christians who act
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on behalf of people and causes and our culture, churches that
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embrace agendas and ideologies, thinking that they are doing so
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in love. And they justify it because it's
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done in love and it lacks discernment.
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And a love that lacks discernment is dangerous because
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what you end up doing is manifesting a type of love that
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lavishes affection and approval on those who will live in open
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and unrepentant sin. Christians who will give
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anything to anybody out of their compulsive compassion.
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There's so many things that can go wrong when Christians do
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things in the name of love, void of discernment.
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And Paul says, I'm praying that your love would be protected and
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they would be funneled and it would be framed by discerning
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instruction. So discerning level instruct you
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when to comfort, a discerning level call you to rebuke.
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At times, a discerning level tell you when to go, when to
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stay, what to give, what to not give, what to support, what not
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to support. Fail to have this discernment
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and you end up supporting and feeding things that can even
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damn people to hell. So if you don't seek the Lord
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for a discerning kind of love, you're going to do more harm
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than good. And Paul understood that, and so
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he prayed for this discernment. But it's it's more than that.
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Discerning love doesn't just doesn't just decide what to do
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and what not to do, what to believe and what not to believe,
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what to support and what not to support.
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But this is where it gets more practical.
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This discerning love also in in a very real way, tells us the
26:11
best way to go about loving people.
26:17
I would be afraid if you love your unbelieving neighbor in the
26:23
same way you love your spouse, that would be wrong.
26:27
There would be problems there. There will be problems if you
26:31
love your brothers in Christ the same way you love your sisters
26:34
in Christ, right? And so Paul understands that
26:40
there is a wisdom in love that needs to be accessed in order
26:42
for us to be the most effective in our loving.
26:44
So he prays for a discernment that you would know what to do
26:47
with every situation and every single person, every object of
26:51
your love by the Spirit living in you will give you the exact
26:56
and the best way to lavish them with Christ, affection for them.
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Paul's so obviously led by the Spirit enlisting these things.
27:09
And so we see here that this multifaceted way of love, God is
27:13
ready to dispense it if we just humble ourselves and ask for it,
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isn't it? I mean, what a gift this is,
27:19
what a gift this is that I don't have to excuse my lack of love
27:24
or my careless love or my spontaneous love to my
27:28
disposition or my upbringing. Now all of that can be cancelled
27:32
if I just get before the Lord and say Lord, if Paul believed
27:36
it was possible for the Philippians and himself to
27:38
experience it, give it to me. Give it to me.
27:42
You know who got it? Not the Philippians at this
27:45
point, at least the Thessalonians.
27:49
You don't have to turn there, but listen to these amazing
27:51
words about the Thessalonians and what kind of love they
27:54
experienced in First Thessalonians 49.
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Paul says now concerning brotherly love, you have no need
28:03
for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught
28:07
by God to love one another. God did a direct work in the
28:13
heart of the Thessalonians and Paul, recognizing he says what
28:16
you guys are doing for each other and for others outside of
28:20
your church, that comes from God, no doubt about it.
28:26
Imagine that that prayer can to can take us beyond listening to
28:32
a series of messages on love, though that's important.
28:34
I'm not trying to dismiss that would belittle that, but I'm
28:36
trying to open our hearts to realize that this thing called
28:39
prayer, we can't afford to neglect it.
28:43
There's something to be known in it that deserves greater
28:47
attention. And before I move on, I wonder
28:50
if we caught this when Paul spoke to the Philippians, right?
28:53
He asked that their love would abound, that it would be with
28:55
knowledge and discernment. For what reason?
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So that they would be found blameless at the day of Christ.
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Did you catch that? If you didn't catch it, go back
29:03
and look at it. He says it here in verse nine of
29:07
Philippians and 10:00 so that you may approve what is
29:10
excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.
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When you're talking about the day of Christ, you're talking
29:16
about the return of Christ. You're talking about Christ
29:18
coming back to judge this world. He's going to do that by the
29:21
way. He's going to come and he's
29:23
going to clean house. He's going to he's going to do
29:25
everything that we have been hoping for for generations and
29:31
establishing a government that will be without fail and promote
29:34
a peace that will be eternal. He's going to do it.
29:36
Only him. He's not going to be your
29:38
favorite political candidate. I'm sorry to disappoint you.
29:41
Only Christ is king, and only Christ will make everything
29:44
right. But notice in Paul's mind when
29:47
he speaks about the day of Christ and believers preparing
29:51
for the day of Christ, you know what's going through his mind?
29:55
Their love, their love increasing as the day of Christ
30:00
is approaching. And I wonder how many
30:03
Christians, in these tumultuous, troubling times, as we believe
30:08
more and more that the return of Christ is closer than it's ever
30:11
been, how much of our conversation, how much of our
30:14
dialogue, how much of our praying for one another, centers
30:18
on our love increasing so that when Christ comes back, he'll
30:20
find his love mirrored in our hearts?
30:25
If your only sense of preparation for the day of
30:29
Christ is looking for bunkers, loading up an ammunition, and
30:35
storing up food and buckets, you you're not reading the Bible
30:39
right. He's telling these Philippians,
30:44
hey, listen as a day of crisis coming closer and closer.
30:48
Get your love going and prayer will get it going.
30:53
Let Christ come back and find the people who reflect His
30:56
affection. Prayer creates a love in US and
31:03
grows it. But thirdly, prayer invites us
31:07
to express and experience, express and our experience, our
31:11
holy desires. I invite you to turn to Romans
31:13
chapter one. When you come to Romans and you
31:25
read Romans, you have to understand a very important
31:27
element about Paul's relationship with these
31:30
believers. Paul never met the Romans.
31:33
Paul didn't lead the Romans to Christ.
31:37
Paul heard about their faith. There was already a church
31:39
established there, and he's writing this letter to them to
31:43
encourage them in the faith. But he also explains them that
31:46
upon hearing about their faith, he's tried many, many times to
31:51
be there and to meet them. So we don't exactly know who led
31:57
the Romans to the Gospel, but there is a clue in Acts chapter
32:01
2, verse 10, when the day of Pentecost occurred and the Holy
32:05
Spirit fell upon the 120 in that upper room.
32:08
And we're told about different names of peoples or people
32:11
groups rather, that were present when they began to speak in
32:14
tongues and glorify God in their respective languages.
32:17
And we're we're told there that there were visitors from Rome.
32:21
So could very well be that there were Romans who were there
32:23
during the feast and they heard about the Gospel and they went
32:27
back with the gospel changing them in a church being
32:30
established through that. Nevertheless, Paul he was moved
32:34
by their testimony. He he explained something here
32:38
in verse nine. I want us to read it together.
32:41
For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the
32:45
gospel of his Son that without ceasing.
32:48
I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by
32:55
God's will I may know at last, or that somehow rather excuse me
32:59
at last in coming to you for I long to see you, that I may
33:04
impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you.
33:09
So listen, I haven't mentioned before, but I want to tell you,
33:12
and I'm calling God to witness, that I haven't stopped praying
33:14
for you. And the fact that he has to call
33:16
God to witness about his prayer life shows how difficult it is
33:21
to remain consistent in our prayers, right?
33:24
To say that I have not stopped praying for you.
33:27
That's a difficult feat to accomplish, right?
33:29
But he says, I'm calling God to witness, that I actually have
33:32
been consistent in seeking God on your behalf.
33:36
And he prays. But we see here that there were
33:38
these hurdles. There are these external
33:40
obstacles from him actually getting there.
33:42
He's done an over and over again.
33:44
And I am happy that Paul never went to Rome at this time.
33:49
Do you know why I'm happy? Because perhaps if Paul did go
33:53
to Rome, he would never have written the book of Romans.
33:58
The book of Romans is the result of him being restricted and him
34:02
reaching out with his efforts to bless this church from a
34:05
distance. So.
34:06
So don't be squeamish and don't raise your fist to heaven.
34:09
If God closes the door, maybe he's wanting to open something
34:12
else. One of the most brilliant,
34:16
fascinating theological masterpieces came as a result of
34:19
God not allowing one of his men to go to Rome.
34:25
But we see here that Providence is not the only insight we
34:27
gained from this early chapter. We also are instructing about
34:30
what what Apostolic praying looks like.
34:34
So he says here, God is my witness, whom I serve with my
34:37
spirit and the gospel send that without ceasing.
34:38
I mention my prayers and notice that Paul again calls God to
34:41
witness. But more than that, he tells
34:44
them that he submitted to God's will in the whole matter.
34:47
So look at verse 10. He says, always in my prayers
34:50
asking that somehow by God's will.
34:57
So when you pray, you're always keeping in mind and you're
35:01
always ready to submit to God's ultimate decision with your
35:05
prayer request and by the fact that the fact that he's saying
35:08
God's will is even more meaningful when you look at his
35:10
desire in verse 11. Look at the beginnings of verse
35:13
11 for I long to see you like he really wanted to see the Romans.
35:17
He really wanted to travel. He really wanted to impart
35:20
something to them and he really wanted to receive something in
35:22
return. I long to see you and yet I
35:26
still am willing to submit to the will of God.
35:29
That's that's what we must do first.
35:34
How often do you take your desires to prayer?
35:37
How often do you communicate those desires to him?
35:40
Is he your friend? We sang it, my Lord, write my
35:43
companion, my friend. So when's the last time you have
35:45
just in simplicity and an honesty poured out your heart
35:48
and saying, Lord, I, I long for this.
35:51
It can be anything as long as it's holy.
35:53
If it's sinful, you have no business even entertaining it.
35:56
But if it's holy like these things, Lord, my heart really
36:00
yearns for this. I really want to serve in this
36:02
way. I really want to be married.
36:05
Something wrong with that? I really want to begin this
36:08
project. I really want to do this.
36:10
You have every right to do that. And that's one of the gifts of
36:13
prayer that we can vent to the Lord.
36:14
We can open ourselves before him.
36:16
But at the same time, guard yourself by conscious surrender
36:21
to the sovereignty of God. Because what you'll realize over
36:25
time is that no matter how strong your desires are, if God
36:28
gave you everything that you asked for, that would hurt you
36:30
more than anything else. Listen, I've been walking with
36:32
the Lord, let's say here 12 years now, and there are many
36:35
prayers that I thought should be answered.
36:37
And in hindsight, I'm so glad God didn't answer.
36:40
Very happy, actually. And so I come with that boldness
36:46
and I come with that honesty, but I also am cushioned by
36:50
knowing that as I'm speaking to my Father, He will not give me
36:54
something that He knows will not be good.
36:55
He knows and so I'm never nervous wondering if I prayed
36:59
hard enough or long enough to convince God.
37:01
That's not how it works. He honors your faith, but He
37:05
goes more than just honoring your faith.
37:08
He will protect you from things that you think will be goodwill
37:11
actually not be good. We've been studying Elijah and
37:15
I've mentioned this before but I can't help but refer to him.
37:17
Elijah prayed 3 significant prayers.
37:19
One time was fire from heaven, it came instantly.
37:22
The second time he prayed for rain, it came slowly.
37:25
And the third time he prayed to die and God never answered it.
37:31
In fact, he never died, right? And so we have to understand
37:37
those things. God can answer prayers right
37:39
away. God can answer prayers slowly.
37:41
And one of God's hidden blessings is that God will not
37:43
answer your prayer. Paul here prayed and he's, he's
37:49
submitted to the will of God. And you know, there are some
37:52
people who are afraid to pray and ask God for his will because
37:55
they think it'll be lesser than what they have planned.
37:57
If you have that understanding of God, take a pause on
38:04
understanding how prayer works and explore the character of God
38:07
first because you have a skewed understanding of how good he is.
38:12
I've talked to so many people like that.
38:13
I'm scared that if I ask God, he's going to do this and I
38:15
don't want that. So you have a better blueprint
38:20
for your life than God, supposedly.
38:24
But look here at verse 11. Paul celebrated the faith of the
38:27
Romans and he believed that there is more for them to tap
38:29
into, just like what we read earlier in the Ephesians.
38:32
But what I love about his request for the spiritual
38:36
enrichment of these believers is that he volunteered to be the
38:38
means of it. So look again at verse 11.
38:42
For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual
38:44
gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may be mutually
38:48
encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.
38:51
So Paul wanted the Romans to be blessed.
38:55
Paul wanted the Romans to grow. But Paul in his prayers also
38:59
volunteered himself to be the answer to those prayers.
39:03
That makes sense. I hope I didn't put you in a
39:05
pretzel there with your thinking.
39:08
I'll tell you why this is important because sometimes how
39:11
Christians use prayer is as a scapegoat.
39:14
They try to use prayer as a way of not having to deal with
39:18
things or involve themselves or thing with things or interact
39:21
with people. And so they kind of try to pray
39:23
it away, right? And so we asked the Lord and,
39:29
and we comfort ourselves because we're doing the holy thing.
39:32
We're praying, but what we're doing, really doing is saying,
39:34
Lord, can you just not let me deal with this or not let me
39:37
have to face this. Paul didn't pray like that.
39:40
Paul prayed for believers from a distance, but Paul also
39:43
positioned himself to say, and Lord, I'm willing to be the
39:46
answer to that prayer too. I'm willing to come.
39:51
And so listen, prayer is meant to transcend your capabilities,
39:54
but it's also designed to empower you to enlighten you and
39:58
to help you achieve the very things that you're praying for.
40:02
So don't don't rely on prayer as a way of.
40:06
Distancing yourself allow prayer to do something in you so that
40:10
you can embrace the very thing that you're challenged by.
40:15
We see here something else in verse 12.
40:17
Paul, if you read all his prayers, they are spiritual in
40:20
nature. There's nothing wrong with
40:23
praying for physical needs and material things, but Paul was so
40:26
consumed with the Kingdom of God that you rarely find him asking
40:30
for transient matters. It was always related to things
40:35
about the soul, things about salvation, things about
40:38
sanctification. And he's always praying for
40:41
others to be blessed, people to be safe, people to be healed,
40:44
people to be rescued. But from time to time you find
40:47
Paul praying things for himself. And so he comes in verse 12.
40:53
And he asked not only for them to be built up, but he says here
40:56
that we may be mutually encouraged.
41:02
And I see here an invitation that you and I should ask God
41:08
for things. You and I should ask God for
41:11
spiritual blessing, for miracles, for help, for
41:17
manifestations, for whatever you are a part of, to be more
41:22
heavenly and spirit empowered. He really sets a precedent for
41:28
what should happen every time you gather with Christians,
41:30
right? There should be a giving and a
41:31
taking, a providing and a receiving that we may be
41:34
mutually encouraged. Everybody is going to give
41:37
something and everybody's going to leave with something.
41:40
If that's how we operate in our churches, we'll be much more
41:44
excited for church. So he sought God to be with
41:50
other believers. He sought God to be blessed by
41:52
those believers. He sought God for things, and
41:57
God would honor that. Or would he that Paul received
42:03
the answer to his prayer to be with the Romans?
42:09
People are staring at me. I see some shoulders shrugging.
42:13
I see some people saying no. I see some people saying yes.
42:19
You want an answer? Acts 28 is your answer.
42:23
Acts 28 verse 14 and 15, the last chapter of the book of Acts
42:28
tells us Acts 28, verse 14, Luke writes.
42:44
There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for
42:47
seven days. And so we came to Rome.
42:51
Oh, looks like somebody made it to Rome, and the brothers there,
42:58
when they heard about us, came as far as the form of APS and
43:02
the three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God
43:07
and took courage. Paul got his answer to prayer.
43:12
I really want to see the Romans, Lord, I really want to know
43:16
them. I want to experience
43:18
encouragement with them. And God gave him that request.
43:26
But keep in mind how God answered his request.
43:31
All that makes all the difference, right?
43:33
How did Paul arrive to Rome? Did he purchase a ticket on
43:37
kayak and get a one way nonstop route?
43:43
Study acts to realize what it took for him to get to Rome?
43:47
False accusation? Beatings, A failed assassination
43:51
attempt? Shipwreck at sea, stranded on an
43:56
island, bitten by a snake. Finally, after all of that, he
44:01
gets to Rome. So be very specific with your
44:05
prayer request, but be very open to how God will answer it.
44:10
Yeah, because that's where a lot of people get disappointed in
44:13
prayer. They, they ask God for things
44:15
and when he brings it about in his timing, in his way, they get
44:19
frustrated, perhaps not even realizing that God is in the
44:22
process of answering it. So the way to rejoice in prayer,
44:29
to have confidence in prayer, to know joy in prayer is to marry
44:32
prayer with the doctrine of Providence that God can bring
44:40
this about. And I am fully submitted to the
44:43
way he's going to perform it. I want to invite you tonight by
44:53
limiting my time in preaching and giving more time this
44:56
evening to praying. I want to ask you to muster up
45:04
the faith to believe God for something tonight in this very
45:09
room. Parents, your wayward children
45:13
who you would love to see here at this conference, but are not
45:16
here because they'd rather be in the world than be in the
45:19
presence of God's people. I'm inviting you tonight to grab
45:22
a hold of your husband's hand, of your wife's hand, to look
45:26
each other in the eye and say let's pray.
45:29
Let's pray for him, Let's pray for her children, your parents,
45:36
whom you would love to see in heaven.
45:41
I know so many people trying to understand the mechanics of
45:44
prayer, God's will, and my prayers.
45:49
How does that work? If God really wanted to unfold
45:53
the engineering of prayer and how that all works and how all
45:56
that can be reconciled, he would have given us a whole book on
45:59
it, I'm sure. But from my study of praying in
46:03
the Bible, what I've come to the conclusion about it is that when
46:06
you and I pray, God hears that specifically for a person and he
46:12
will go based on your prayer and intensify his conviction, his
46:16
power, his love, his protection for the one that you are praying
46:20
for. And where I get that from is
46:22
Abraham and Lot. Abraham prayed for a lot.
46:24
And what did God do for a Lot? He went above and beyond to
46:28
rescue Lot from Sodom. And he still gave Lot a choice,
46:31
didn't he? Not he says, hey, listen, you're
46:33
out of here, don't turn back. If you look back, it's over.
46:38
And his wife look back. So what I take from that is when
46:41
we when we intercede for people, the Lord does work in their
46:45
lives in a profound way, in a way that would not be realized
46:48
if you've not prayed. So I'm, I'm asking you, you
46:51
people who have a, a, a lost father, a lost mother, pray
46:57
tonight and ask God we do a miracle in the very moments of
47:01
your prayers for your ministries, so many ministries
47:06
represented here. Maybe your services for months
47:09
have been absolutely dead and you can't figure out a solution.
47:14
You tried the games route, you tried the entertainment route,
47:18
you've tried the video route, you've tried everything.
47:21
It's not working. Why don't you spend some time
47:25
praying and asking God to pour out his spirit and to open their
47:28
eyes, to warm their hearts, to do something with your
47:33
preaching, to do something with the singing that would be more
47:37
than just external emotion. It would be deeper because now
47:42
God's hand is on the things that you're doing because you prayed
47:47
your desires. Maybe you've come to this
47:50
conference with desires on your heart and it's, it's actually
47:53
weighing you and you've, you've come to the point where you're
47:57
like, I can't even talk to people about it because I think
47:59
I've annoyed most people repeating myself about my
48:02
desires and my longings. People might get tired, but the
48:07
eternal 1 does not. He is never overwhelmed with
48:13
your request, even if they're repeated.
48:15
He never sighs when you approach the throne of grace.
48:18
He never shoes you away. He actually delights in you,
48:22
casting your anxieties at his feet.
48:23
He delights in it. So why don't you take some time
48:29
and you're going to have an all nighter, I'm sure perhaps some
48:31
of you, you're going to be with people.
48:32
Why don't you tonight just block out people around you and just
48:36
bow your head and murmur your petitions to the Lord of glory?
48:42
Why don't you do that? And don't do it tonight because
48:46
the person with the microphone is telling you to do it.
48:48
Do it tonight because you just got a glimpse of what prayer can
48:51
do, the miracles that can take place, the moments that can be
48:56
created. So let's bow our heads and I'm
49:03
going to just ask a couple of people from the praise team to
49:10
gently assist us in music. So at this time, if you need to
49:17
pray on your own, prayer on your own.
49:20
But if you want to grab the hand of somebody else, if you want to
49:22
pray with 2-3 other people, and I want to make one more, I want
49:34
to ask that if you've come with somebody who doesn't know Jesus
49:36
Christ, to ask them if they would like to give their lives
49:41
to Jesus Christ. Explain to them the gospel that
49:47
God sent his Son and great love to die on a cross for our sins
49:53
so that we would not experience the wrath of God, but the love
49:55
of God for all eternity. And if that person has any
50:02
obstacles, any questions, take the time to answer that and pray
50:08
with them that they would experience the gospel after
50:11
understanding it. So let's do that.
50:14
So if the praise team can come, please, I'm going to take some
50:17
time to pray as well. If you need anything to be
50:20
prayed for, if you want to combine faith together, I'm
50:22
going to be back there and I'm willing to pray with you.
50:25
And if there are more than one person who wants prayer, just
50:28
please keep that in mind. As much as I would like to hear
50:30
everything in detail, I want to also give an equal chance to
50:32
other people to receive prayer. But I want to ask every person
50:35
here, let's lift our eyes to heaven.
50:37
Let's lift our hearts to the throne of glory and ask the Lord
50:40
to do something spectacular. What would it be like to leave
50:43
Marinatha Conference at the Sea answers the prayer.
50:46
That's what I'm hoping and believing God for.
50:48
Let's do that, shall we?