The Power Source: Prayer as Spiritual Warfare

• Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God [00:00:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recaps the previous weeks' teachings on the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, and shoes of peace, emphasizing that armor is preparation for battle, not the battle itself.
• The Shield of Faith and Community [00:04:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the analogy of Roman shield walls, the pastor argues that faith is not individualistic but communal; believers must link shields to protect the weak and vulnerable among them.
• Political Engagement and Pro-Life Advocacy [00:07:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects spiritual warfare to political action, specifically opposing a Florida amendment on abortion, framing it as a battle for the 'voiceless' and 'unborn' against the 'author of lies.'
• Grace and Condemnation [00:10:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses those with past abortions, offering grace and stating there is 'no condemnation' for those in Christ, while simultaneously calling the church to fight against the practice.
• Crisis Pregnancy Centers and Pro-Life Advocacy [00:11:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights the impact of the '1010 Life' initiative, citing specific numbers of babies saved through partnerships with crisis pregnancy centers, and argues that the church must fight for life from womb to tomb.
• Christian Political Engagement [00:12:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor refutes the idea that the church should stay out of politics, using William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther King Jr. as examples of believers who fought for justice and freedom because of their faith.
• The Helmet of Salvation [00:14:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the helmet protects the mind from the enemy's primary attack: doubting one's salvation, God's love, and God's work in their life, emphasizing that identity in Christ is secured by being forgiven, justified, reconciled, and adopted.
• The Sword of the Spirit (Scripture) [00:15:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies the Sword of the Spirit as the Word of God, explaining that believers must memorize scripture to identify and replace the enemy's lies, citing Jesus' use of 'It is written' during temptation.
• Prayer as Power Source [00:17:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that prayer is not a last resort but the first response and power source for spiritual warfare, using analogies of football communication and mobile phone batteries to illustrate that without connection to God (the power source), spiritual tools are useless.
• The Necessity of Prayer [00:23:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that prayer is fundamental, not supplemental, citing Jesus' need for prayer and the early church's reliance on it, contrasting this with modern church practices.
• Spiritual Warfare and Identity [00:31:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor redefines prayer as a battle against the devil, emphasizing that addressing God as 'Our Father' asserts a believer's citizenship and immunity to demonic claims.
• The Lord's Prayer as a Model [00:29:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the Lord's Prayer is a structural model for heart-focused communication with God, not a script to be memorized and recited without thought.
• Forgiveness as Warfare [00:36:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies forgiveness as a primary act of spiritual warfare, explaining that canceling debts for others mirrors Christ's work and denies the enemy leverage based on feelings.
• Forgiveness and Spiritual Warfare [00:35:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines forgiveness as canceling a debt rather than managing feelings, linking it directly to spiritual warfare against the enemy who uses emotional attachment to hinder horizontal and vertical forgiveness.
• Persistent Prayer (The Parable of the Friend at Midnight) [00:37:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the parable of the persistent friend, the pastor clarifies that God is not annoyed by repeated requests like a sleepy neighbor, but rather encourages believers to 'ask and ask' because God is a willing Father, contrasting this with human impatience.
• The Nature of Prayer as Warfare [00:42:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > Citing John Piper, the pastor argues that prayer is a 'wartime walkie-talkie' for the church's mission against darkness, warning against treating it as a 'domestic intercom' for comfort, and emphasizing that life is fundamentally a war.
• Prayer in the Early Church ([Acts 4](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+4&version=KJV)) [00:43:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > Illustrating the proper response to persecution, the pastor describes how the early church immediately turned to corporate, scriptural prayer and worship ('Sovereign Lord') rather than strategic planning or hiding, demonstrating reliance on God's sovereignty.
• Sovereignty and Predestination [00:47:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor quotes Acts 4 regarding God's predestined plan, using it to correct the congregation's perspective on control and to affirm that God is in control even when circumstances seem chaotic.
• The Nature of Biblical Prayer [00:47:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts selfish, transactional prayer ('bless me, curse them') with scriptural prayer, urging the congregation to 'pray God's scripture back to God' and to ask for boldness rather than just changed circumstances.
• Spiritual Warfare and Boldness [00:51:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor frames prayer as 'going to war in the heavenlies,' emphasizing that prayers should be intimidating to the enemy and that believers must stand firm against evil schemes through faith and armor.
• Corporate Worship as Prayer [00:52:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that congregational singing is a form of unified prayer, inviting the church to join together in spirit and truth, specifically referencing the song 'Let It Be' as a declaration of surrender and faith.

• Sermon Illustration [00:00:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his health, joking about his 'high ankle sprain' and 'cough,' and thanking congregants for essential oils and prayers, while noting his doctor is in the back.
• Sermon Illustration [00:05:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a story from his childhood where he would boast that his dad could beat up other dads, using it as an analogy for believers identifying with the sovereign King of the Universe to stand against the enemy.
• Sermon Illustration [00:05:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the Roman military tactic of the 'shield wall,' where soldiers linked shields together for mutual protection, illustrating how the church must support one another, especially the vulnerable.
• Sermon Illustration [00:12:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references historical figures William Wilberforce (abolition of slavery) and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (fighting Nazi Germany) to argue that the church must engage in political and social justice issues rather than staying silent.
• Sermon Illustration [00:11:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor cites statistics from the '1010 Life' initiative, noting that 2,163 babies have been saved through partnerships with crisis pregnancy centers due to the church's generosity.
• Sermon Illustration [00:17:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a football player who has all his equipment but no communication with the coach, resulting in him standing on the sidelines doing nothing, to illustrate that prayer is the communication line that provides power and direction in spiritual warfare.
• Sermon Illustration [00:19:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor compares prayer to a charging cord for a mobile phone, noting that without the connection to the power source, the phone (the believer's tools) is just a worthless paperweight, and describes the panic of a low battery as a form of idolatry.
• Sermon Illustration [00:23:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to watch and pray, arguing that if Jesus needed prayer support, believers certainly need the prayers of their brothers and sisters.
• Sermon Illustration [00:25:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of a national anthem at a ball game to illustrate how the church treats prayer as a ceremonial opening rather than the essential 'game' itself.
• Sermon Illustration [00:26:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts a calm deer by a stream (common in Baptist bookstore art) with a chased deer panting for water to explain the desperate intensity David felt in Psalm 42.
• Sermon Illustration [00:29:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor compares learning to drive a car to learning to pray: it starts with a conscious checklist of steps but eventually becomes an instinctual habit through maturity.
• Sermon Illustration [00:30:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a story from his locker room days where the team barked out the Lord's Prayer aggressively before a coach yelled a cuss word, highlighting the disconnect between rote recitation and genuine reverence.
• Sermon Illustration [00:35:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal childhood memory of asking his father for a horse and rifle for Christmas, but receiving a BB gun and puppy instead, to illustrate God's wisdom in denying requests that would be harmful.
• Sermon Illustration [00:35:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a childhood story where he asked for a horse and a .30-30 rifle for Christmas, but received a BB gun and a puppy, realizing his father's love meant protecting him from the consequences of having a rifle in town.
• Sermon Illustration [00:38:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > An analogy of parents making terrible parenting decisions, such as giving Twizzlers for dinner, just to get their children to stop bothering them, used to contrast human impatience with God's willingness to answer persistent prayer.
• Sermon Illustration [00:39:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > A personal anecdote about his own household where the phrase 'Ask me again' is a threat rather than an invitation, used to illustrate the persistence required in prayer, contrasted with God's patience.
• Sermon Illustration [00:42:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > A rhetorical illustration asking the congregation to imagine if God granted every prayer request instantly, questioning whether their world would truly be different or if they would still face racism, injustice, and unreached people groups.
• Sermon Illustration [00:43:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > A historical/biblical narrative from Acts 4 describing Peter and John's arrest, their release, and the early church's immediate response to pray together using Scripture, contrasting their reaction with modern tendencies to plan PR strategies or hide.
• Sermon Illustration [00:46:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a rhetorical device to mock selfish prayer, stating, 'Dear God, bless me, curse them. Amen. See you at church,' to illustrate what prayer is NOT. He then contrasts this with the apostles' prayer in Acts 4, who asked for boldness rather than relief from persecution. He also references the father in Mark 9 ('I believe, help my unbelief') to illustrate the type of desperate, honest faith required in prayer.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of the empty tomb to argue for the possibility of miracles, stating that if God can breathe new life into His dead son, He can breathe new life into marriages, finances, and relationships.

• Pastoral Charge [00:11:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor urges the local congregation to collectively oppose the passing of the specific state amendment by declaring 'not on my watch'.
• Pastoral Charge [00:16:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > Memorize scripture and identify lies of the enemy using provided resources (app, newspaper).
• Pastoral Charge [00:22:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > Engage in continuous, Spirit-led prayer specifically for other believers (the saints).
• Pastoral Charge [00:28:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor implicitly calls the congregation to ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, mirroring the disciples' request.
• Pastoral Charge [00:27:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to examine and adjust their prayer life to reflect a desperate, survival-level thirst for God.
• Pastoral Charge [00:40:56 ▶️ 📄]
  > Open your Bible
• Pastoral Charge [00:40:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > Raise hand
• Pastoral Charge [00:51:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > Persistently ask, seek, and knock in prayer.
• Pastoral Charge [00:50:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray together for healing, signs, wonders, and God's glory.
• Pastoral Charge [00:53:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > Lift hands in worship and bring tithes and offerings.
• Pastoral Charge [00:54:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > Come forward to pray specifically for listed struggles.
• Pastoral Charge [00:54:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for the pastor, church, city, and country.

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:02] Amen, and amen, and amen.
[00:00:05] Thank you to my fellow elders for calling us into a season of fasting and praying.
[00:00:09] It's good to be back this week.
[00:00:10] Also, the cough is still here, so I feel like I'm running back with a high ankle sprain.
[00:00:14] I can play, but it's not quite 100%, okay?
[00:00:16] So pray for me.
[00:00:17] I appreciate all your prayers.
[00:00:19] All you essential oil people, thank you for your concoctions and voodoo you've sent me, and all the cough, everything, all the things.
[00:00:24] Everybody's sending you all the things.
[00:00:26] In fact, maybe you start praying for my doctor.
[00:00:28] He's sitting right back there.
[00:00:28] Maybe pray he can figure this thing out.
[00:00:30] You know, what do we pay that guy for?
[00:00:31] So anyway, in fact, that's what we're going to talk about.
[00:00:34] We're going to talk about prayer.
[00:00:35] If you've got your Bibles, go to Luke chapter 11.
[00:00:37] That's where we're going to end up.
[00:00:39] But at this point in our series on spiritual warfare, we're done with the armor.
[00:00:45] Like we're all armored up.
[00:00:46] We've gone through all of the elements, and yet there's still two more weeks.
[00:00:52] Because what do you do when you get all armored up with the armor of God to stand firm against the devil and his evil schemes?
[00:00:59] You're not done then.
[00:01:00] You have just prepared for the battle.
[00:01:02] this is gonna be a little recap since I didn't get to do a bunch of them week one we we just wanted to wake up the church to let you know we are at war this war is real just because it's
[00:01:15] spiritual doesn't mean it's not actual there's actually the devil and demons and spiritual forces of darkness and they're not just trying to get you to stumble or just to be a little confused. They want to rip your head off and put it on a silver platter and then laugh at you about
[00:01:36] it. The devil comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. And listen, man, I'm telling you, I feel like I put my finger in his chest on behalf of our whole church. And there has been some spiritual
[00:01:47] warfare in my life, in my family's life, and I know in the life of this church. Amen. But I'm here to tell you, I've read to the end of the book, I'm a professional and we win. So how do we walk
[00:01:57] that kind of victory. Well, that gets a week too. You gird up your loins with the belt of truth that this is war. And we stand on the truth of God to fight. And our enemy is unseen. Just like
[00:02:12] fluonia, the unseen world can mess with the seen world. But our fight is we don't fight with the tactics of this world, that our weapons of warfare are love and truth and grace. And we got to week
[00:02:27] three, the breastplate of righteousness. And when you know who you are, you will know that your heart is protected in this dirty war campaign of the mind, because God has placed the protection of God's approval on you. It's not a thing you earn that the moment that you put your faith in
[00:02:49] Jesus Christ, then your, his righteousness is placed on you like a breastplate. And I told you ever seen a chubby breastplate? No, man, they look awesome. And from God's perspective, you look like his son, Jesus Christ. And when you know that you have the approval of God because of
[00:03:08] what Christ has done, then you are ready to do what God tells you to do. That you're not defined by your past. You're not defined by your scars or your sin or your circumstances. You are defined
[00:03:18] by the sovereign son of the King who tells you who you are. That's just, that's what that means.
[00:03:25] Then week four, my friend Josh Howerton was here.
[00:03:28] He was awesome.
[00:03:29] And he said that we need to be ready to advance the good news of the gospel of peace.
[00:03:35] He said this, the birthmark of the Christian is a bullseye.
[00:03:42] Yeah, man, if you haven't gotten your nose bloodied a little bit lately from spiritual warfare, it might be because you're playing for the other team.
[00:03:48] If you hadn't bumped into the devil, it may be because you're just going with him along with his ways.
[00:03:53] and so we are to be ready to share the good news of the gospel of peace that we are born behind enemy lines and this is a rescue mission it's a prisoner exchange and the moment we get rescued
[00:04:09] by Jesus Christ then we become a part of that rescue team then I went to camp and again like I said last week one of you little you're one of your kids and no dirtbags try to kill me
[00:04:20] i love him and pastor brit took up the mantle and he's talking about taking the shield of faith against the flaming darts of the evil one that phrase that phrase flaming darts and the scheme
[00:04:38] of the enemy is the same thing and one of my favorite parts of pastor brit's sermon he says when you when you were hiding behind the shield of faith and the enemy is launching those flaming
[00:04:48] darts at you and this shield, it's like a four foot by two foot, big old shield. And they would soak it in water so that when the enemies would, would fling flaming darts, that the shield would
[00:05:00] extinguish the flames. And Pastor Britt said, when you hold that shield and the enemy hurls his lies at you, you stand there behind the shield of faith. And you say, do you know who my dad is?
[00:05:12] I know, I know y'all don't do this anymore because somebody would be offended. But when I was growing up, we would always play to my dad can beat up your dad. Did y'all ever do that? My dad was a
[00:05:21] boxing champion in the Navy. And so I put his name out there all the time. You know who my daddy is?
[00:05:26] My daddy can whip your daddy. And when your daddy's the sovereign king of the universe, you look at the enemy and you go, do you know who my dad is? Now I did write a sermon that week. I
[00:05:37] didn't get to preach it. But one of the things that I learned in studying about the shield of faith is the shield was not merely meant for the individual. The way Rome took over the world is
[00:05:49] they would build a shield wall and the shields were created to connect one to another. And in fact, the way they would order you in the army was by families that you literally would be beside
[00:06:03] your brother, your dad, like in this world, like if it, if it went down now and we were building the shield wall, then it would be my daddy. He's 75. He can still beat most of y'all. I'm just
[00:06:14] telling you, man, he's tough as nails. All that dad turns into like all that sausage becomes steel and like the twinkle of an eye. I'm telling you, he's tough old man, but it would be my daddy and
[00:06:25] it would be my brother, Russ, and it would be my son, JP. And never in a million years could I let that shield down. Why? Because my dad and my brother and my son were on the left and right of
[00:06:37] A part of what it means to take up the shield of faith, listen, ain't about you.
[00:06:44] What we are supposed to do as believers, as brothers and sisters, as sons and daughters and co-warriors together as a church, we're supposed to link our shields together so that when the enemy launches those flaming arrows, especially for the weak, especially for the
[00:07:03] vulnerable, especially for the person that's gotten knocked down and can't hold their shield up for that moment. Say, okay, your faith might be little right now, but don't worry. I'm going to cover over you because I'm in this battle with you. Listen, this is a huge part of what the 1010
[00:07:18] life is all about. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus says, I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly. That's not just about you. That's about me and
[00:07:30] you together protecting the most vulnerable where the most injustice is happening. And so I bring that up because there is a scheme of the enemy right now coming at our state, coming at our state. And if you're like, Oh, is it going to get political? Man, politics tried to get theological
[00:07:53] and they stepped into the kingdom of God's ground. We are here to fight for life from womb to tomb, from womb to tomb. That's what we're here for. It's not all we're here for. We're here to do.
[00:08:06] it's all for the glory of God. That's what we're here for. And one of the most vulnerable things you could be in today's world is a child in the womb. And the devil is the author of lies.
[00:08:22] He's, he's a deceiver. He breeds confusion. And there's an amendment coming to Florida.
[00:08:33] You got to know the difference between amendment and a law, man. Legislatures can change the law.
[00:08:38] Amendments are hard, hard, hard to take off the books.
[00:08:40] Only one amendment has ever been struck off the books in the whole state of Florida.
[00:08:45] And our enemy is the king of deception because he only wants to steal, kill, and destroy.
[00:08:50] And he wants to kill the most vulnerable among us, the voiceless, the unborn.
[00:08:54] The title of this amendment is to trick you.
[00:08:59] Here's the title of the amendment, you ready?
[00:09:01] It's called Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion.
[00:09:06] I mean, when I read that, I was like, I'm going to limit all kinds of government intervention. Like I'm still, I think what Reagan said, the most dangerous words you could hear is hi, I'm from the government and I'm here
[00:09:15] to help. I'm still kind of in that. I think the answer is Jesus. All right. That's it. That the church ought to do what she's supposed to do all around the world to take care of the most
[00:09:25] vulnerable, the needy. That's the role that we ought to play. It's written in a way to confuse the person that wants to fight for life. Let me tell you what this amendment does. It permits
[00:09:38] late-term abortion through the ninth month, well past when babies feel pain and can even survive outside of the womb. It's for any reason at all. Secondly, it eliminates parental consent for minors, right? Reagan goes to Providence. I love it. They won't give her an aspirin without calling
[00:09:59] me. This amendment means your child without your consent could have an abortion. It does not define what a healthcare provider means, which means non-doctors could perform this. And they want to make Florida an abortion tourism state. If this thing passes, here's what it equals. It equals
[00:10:18] 40,000 babies lives a year, a year. Listen to me. If you've had an abortion, I ain't trying to beat you up, man. I'm not trying to beat you up. Maybe if I walked in your shoes and believe the lies of
[00:10:31] the abortionist and the enemy, maybe I would have made the same decision, but that doesn't define you. Therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And when Jesus says it is finished, he was talking about you too. Okay. So don't you hang your head around here.
[00:10:47] But what we're called to do with the shield of faith is not just to fight for our own abundant life, but to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. Do you know how many people tune
[00:10:58] in every single week to an 1122 service live 70,000 people, about 20,000 or so in the rooms than about another 50,000 people watching online live.
[00:11:10] If just the believers at 1122 said, not on my watch, this thing doesn't pass.
[00:11:16] And so what I'm calling us to do is link our shield together.
[00:11:20] If you believe that God has fearfully and wonderfully made every single image bearer of him and knit them together in their mother's womb, then we say no to this and say, not on my watch.
[00:11:34] You know, we started the 1010 Life, you know we're kind of coming around turn four here like if this is talladega this is it we've done all i mean all kind of planning campuses and churches and i mean so many things
[00:11:47] it's so we're going to celebrate it later one of the things that chokes me up man because of your generosity through a partnership with first ghost women's services and saint gerard's house and in saint augustine and skylark and jessup these are crisis pregnancy centers 2163 babies
[00:12:09] have been saved because of what you've done with the 1010 Life. Let's go. Let's go. You know how many world changers are born? How many pastors are going to come out of that crowd? You know
[00:12:20] what I'm saying? And we don't stop there. We foster, we adopt, we fight for life from womb to tomb. And don't you give me this. I thought the church was supposed to stay out of the politics.
[00:12:36] Aren't you glad William Wilberforce didn't stay out of politics? You know what he did?
[00:12:39] yeah he fought for the abolition of slavery in British Parliament and he said I don't check my faith at the door it is because of my faith that I believe every single person deserves freedom
[00:12:51] or Dietrich Bonhoeffer you ever heard of that name that he fought against Nazi Germany while most of the churches in Germany were silent because they're like we're just going to talk about Bible stuff Bible stuff is you go in there and you fight for those that cannot fight for
[00:13:08] themselves. Or how about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? The reason that he fought for equality was because of his Bible and professed faith in Jesus, that we would not be judged by the color of our
[00:13:20] skin, but the context of our character, because Jesus came to die for all people. This is why we fight. And they have brought the fight to us, so bring it on. Let's go. Join our shields together.
[00:13:33] Now, I can stay there for 30 more minutes, but I won't. We got to go. And then week six, Britt again.
[00:13:40] Boy, he did good.
[00:13:42] Yeah, man.
[00:13:46] You should clap louder at that.
[00:13:47] You're gonna hurt his feelings.
[00:13:48] That's all right.
[00:13:52] Then we put on the, there it is.
[00:13:54] Yeah, yeah.
[00:13:54] He's a dude, man.
[00:13:58] Then we put on the helmet of salvation.
[00:14:03] And one of the primary fiery darts that the enemy is gonna throw at you is to doubt your salvation.
[00:14:10] I think that's why it's the helmet of salvation.
[00:14:12] Because you can lose an arm.
[00:14:13] You can lose a leg.
[00:14:15] You lose your head, you're done.
[00:14:18] You get it?
[00:14:18] You know you can replace your heart?
[00:14:20] You replace your liver and you're still you.
[00:14:23] You replace your brain, it ain't you anymore.
[00:14:26] And so when you put on the helmet of salvation, God is telling you who you are.
[00:14:30] And the enemy always wants you to doubt.
[00:14:32] The word of God, did God actually say?
[00:14:34] The worth of God.
[00:14:36] If he really loved you, he'd take better care of you.
[00:14:38] Is he worthy of your worship?
[00:14:40] And the work of God.
[00:14:41] You know what the work of God is?
[00:14:42] You.
[00:14:44] He wants you to doubt him in regards to the decisions he made in putting you together the way he put you together.
[00:14:50] and primarily he wants you to doubt when jesus died on the cross did that really count for you but pastor brett taught us that in our salvation we are forgiven we are justified we are reconciled
[00:15:04] and we are adopted and so then ephesians 6 shifts gears and now we take up three things to go to war against the enemy sometimes you'll hear that the sword of the spirit is the only offensive weapon
[00:15:20] That's not true. There's actually three offenses that we're going to cover. The first one is the sword of the spirit. So we talked about this last week. You identify the lies of the enemy because
[00:15:31] this is a dirty war campaign of the mind. The enemy's trying to lie to you. You identify the lie. You do not conform to the pattern of this world, but you are transformed by the renewing
[00:15:41] of your mind. How do you transform something? You take off the old, you put on the new.
[00:15:44] you identify the lie of the enemy and you replace it with the word of God. We looked at how Jesus did this when he's tempted by the devil. He says, it is written in the scripture as a tool for us,
[00:16:01] not only to know Jesus, but to know that we walk in the freedom and victory over the adversary of the devil. Now here's the thing. Did you memorize any? It is written last week. Cause if not,
[00:16:14] what are you doing? I mean, I told you to do it. We gave you an app, gave me a newspaper.
[00:16:22] I gave you four or five examples. If you just left last week, I'm like, I don't know. I'm so glad he's back. It's so good. And didn't identify some lies and memorize some scripture. You're
[00:16:33] dumb, man. And here's the problem. I can't disciple a demon. I can't cast out dumb. So I don't know what to do with you. And James says it more eloquently than this. Be not merely hearers
[00:16:47] other word. And so deceive yourself. You know how easily deceive you could go by coming to church and, and just, and just like feel the fields and then not do what we talk about. So the place that
[00:17:00] we start to take ground against the enemy is memory. Identify the lies of the enemy.
[00:17:09] See what the word of God says about that. Memorize it, proclaim it. And when the enemy tries to lie to you did god really say you can say shut your face because it is written and you
[00:17:21] stand on the truth of the word of god now we go to the second offensive weapon that was all intro now we're gonna start preaching you ready the second offensive weapon in our arsenal against
[00:17:35] the adversary is prayer is prayer hmm let me ask you a question is prayer for you a last resort or first response because in all this spiritual warfare talk man without prayer you're powerless without prayer, you're powerless, man.
[00:17:59] I mean, think about it, bro.
[00:17:59] If you go to the football game and you're on the football team and you get all your football equipment on, but you were not in communication with the coach to know what play to run, guess what?
[00:18:07] You ain't gonna play.
[00:18:09] You're just gonna stand on the sidelines in tight pants and a helmet from doing nothing to help your team win.
[00:18:17] Prayer is the power source for us to walk in victory when the enemy tries to whip us.
[00:18:23] Come on, you know this, but it's true.
[00:18:24] You see, you experience this every single day.
[00:18:26] You can have all access to these amazing tools in your life, but if you don't have power, you got nothing. You got one of these dumb things? Think about it. In your pocket, you realize what we have access to? I mean, maps. I mean, it could be terrible stuff too,
[00:18:47] but just go with me here. Anything you want to know, anything you want to learn about, directions to everywhere. You can learn true stuff and fake stuff about everything.
[00:18:59] All the things, man.
[00:19:01] But what happens when it runs out of power?
[00:19:04] It's just a paperweight.
[00:19:06] It's worthless.
[00:19:09] You get that feeling like you wake up in the morning, you had 100%, you know, it's cool.
[00:19:13] You're listening to the Gretchen's Devo like I told you to, don't be dumb.
[00:19:17] You work on it all day.
[00:19:18] You do all the things.
[00:19:19] You get to about six o'clock and you know, they're trying to say, just shut your battery down so you got about a new one about every three weeks and that's from the devil too, but I'm not talking about that right now.
[00:19:28] And then what happens, man, when you get low battery, you start to feel a little bit panicky.
[00:19:31] Ooh, that's called idolatry, but that's also another sermon, but you know what I'm saying?
[00:19:36] And then what happens? You're like, Hey man, I need a chart. I need a charger. You got a charger.
[00:19:42] I've told you this before, man, at my house, I don't know what happened.
[00:19:45] We have phones and we have 50 cubes and somebody stealing the cords that go between the two things.
[00:19:56] And so, and you feel helpless, right? You're standing there with your dead phone and you see the little power, the little cube. And you're like, I am this far away from what feels like an infinite power source that can give me everything I need to power up this tool.
[00:20:13] But if I don't make the connection, I might as well just throw my phone in the ocean.
[00:20:19] Prayer is the cord. You realize that when you put your faith in Jesus and he pushed up on his narrow pier feet and he says, it is finished. The Bible says that the curtain between the people of
[00:20:30] God and the presence of God was torn from the top to the bottom, not bottom to top like we earned our way in, but an invitation from almighty God to say, come on into the king's chambers and ask
[00:20:40] whatever you would ask. Cause I'm a good dad and I'm for you. And I want to say yes to you. You just got to come to me like a bunch of dummies were standing outside the temple going, I can't
[00:20:52] find a way to plug it in. You come on, man. We got to pray. This is what prayer is. Ephesians six says this. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor
[00:21:05] of God that you may be able to stand, that means fight, against the schemes of the devil. For we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
[00:21:20] places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand, fight in the evil day and having done all to stand firm stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth
[00:21:32] put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace and in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of
[00:21:49] salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God now you're dressed for battle so now what do you do here's what you do i mean you're in the locker room man you got it on
[00:21:59] coach smart has given you the speech and then it's all right nobody's perfect praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints supplication is a big church word
[00:22:24] for ask for stuff that's what it is so how often do you do that he says pray at all times not sometimes not just bad times pray at all times pray in the spirit pray for your brothers
[00:22:44] and sisters that's all the saints let me ask you man who's praying for you I mean for real man for real who's praying for you don't say your mama you don't you don't tell her the truth ain't no
[00:22:57] chance you tell her the truth if you don't have some brothers and sisters that are on their knees at war on your behalf in the heavenlies, you ain't doing it right. Let me tell you this, man.
[00:23:08] When Jesus is about to go to the cross, he goes to the garden of Gethsemane, man, the place of crushing. And he looks at his disciples, he's got 12 and he says, Peter, James, and John, y'all come
[00:23:18] on a little farther. People get all bent out of shape only today. And they're like, that's not fair. Fair is not a biblical value. Okay. Shut up. And people say, why is it? Why do those three get
[00:23:30] to do all the cool stuff? You know, mountain of transfiguration, see the little girl come back to life? Is it because he likes them the best? I don't think so. I don't think so at all. Now,
[00:23:40] if you're a Bible person, you might be like, well, I'm a pastor, but John is the disciple that Jesus loved. And you're right. The Bible does say that in the book of John written by
[00:23:48] John. So, you know, whatever. I think these are the three men can't be, can't be trusted. I did student ministry for 15 years. Some students, you can't leave alone. He's like, Hey guys, stay here and pray. Peter, James, John, get in the truck. And then he's like, y'all got to come
[00:24:02] over here with me. Now here's the thing. He looks at these three men and he says this watch and pray if Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, the preeminent one who spoke everything into existence
[00:24:20] and by his power holds everything into existence and everything was created by him, for him, through him and to him. And he knows all things. If he felt like he needed some brothers to pray
[00:24:32] for him, who the heck do you think you are to think, yeah, I got this on my own. You were so out of touch with how you have been created. Not only do you need to be praying for your brothers
[00:24:42] and sisters, you need them to be praying for you. Here's the thing. Here's my great concern about today's church. What was fundamental for the early church has become supplemental for the modern church. I heard Tony Evans preaching about it. Oh, that dude can bring it. Okay. He said, listen,
[00:25:02] man, you go to a ball game and they start with the national anthem, right? And it's cool. It has nothing to do with the game. Does it? I mean, maybe you could say, well, we get to play this
[00:25:14] because of, you know, our troops, but they play sports in other countries. Communist countries have, well, they only got one sport, communist kickball, soccer, but you know what I'm saying?
[00:25:26] But here's the thing. You don't go to the game for the national anthem, do you? No, no, no. You're like, oh, that's cool. Be careful we don't treat prayer that way. Like, it's just my custom that
[00:25:38] this is how I start. Bible study, a meeting, whatever. But you don't sing the national anthem at your foursome when you're just going to play golf by yourself, right? Oh, say, what are we doing? Hold on. This is what I do before I tee off. It's very important to me. Nah, man. And
[00:25:55] sometimes we can treat prayer like that. Like, it's just a formality that we go through as opposed to a lifeline because an enemy is trying to steal kill and destroys and whether without the power of
[00:26:05] god we will by definition be powerless you see prayer was essential to jesus and essential to the early church is it essential to you i mean the psalm says as the deer pants for the water so my
[00:26:21] soul longs for you we have so jacked that psalm up man because of the baptist bookstore because you go in there, and there's a velvet painting of a deer by a stream of water. And even the way
[00:26:42] we sing it, you know the camp song? As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul. Nah, man.
[00:26:52] You ever been deer hunting? A chill deer standing beside water ain't panting. A chased deer by an enemy like me trying to kill him and put him on my wall. He's painting. David says, I want to be
[00:27:11] so desperate for you because the enemy is chasing me through this world. And I'm just saying, can I get away? Can I get away? Can I get away? Can I take this next step? And I like a, like a deer
[00:27:22] running for his ever loving life because he's trying to stay alive. It's just saying, if I could just get one sip of water, I could take one more step. May my soul thirst for you like that.
[00:27:33] God. Is that like your prayer life? I wish I could say that's mine. Sometimes. Yeah, when I was in the hospital two weeks ago trying to breathe, oh, I was desperate then. So how do we pray? Luke
[00:27:51] chapter 11, verse 1. This is incredible. Now, Jesus was praying in a certain place. And when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray. Think about this. Of all
[00:28:09] the things that the disciples experienced with Jesus, if you were going to ask Jesus to teach you to do anything, what would you ask? Lord, teach me to preach. Lord, teach me to do miracles.
[00:28:23] Lord, teach me to do some leadership lessons. But apparently the disciples understood the foundation for everything that Jesus was doing to bring heaven to earth was prayer. Would you teach us the most fundamental thing to your ministry. Lord, teach us to pray as John taught
[00:28:45] his disciples. And so apparently we need to be taught to pray because some of us pray dumb.
[00:28:51] It's like a child. You have instincts to reach for your parents, but, but we need to pray the way Jesus teaches us to pray. And it's, and at first, if you're new to it, it's very instructional
[00:29:04] and eventually it's just all instinct you ever teach a teenager to drive that'll help your prayer life good gracious all right but you know at first you're like all right step one you open the door then you get in the car then you buckle your seatbelt then you check your mirror you know
[00:29:19] you have to tell them step by step by step and at first there's like a checklist to go to but when's the last time you went through a checklist when you got in your car you don't have to anymore
[00:29:28] because you know how to drive what used to be instructional is now instinctual because you've matured in that area. That's what prayer is too. So then Jesus gives us these guidelines and he said to them, when you pray, not if, when you pray, and then he gives us what's called the
[00:29:47] model prayer or the Lord's prayer. And here's, what's funny about it, man. If you always use the scripture to interpret itself, the same, a version of this same prayer is also in the book of Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount. And in Matthew, when he says to pray, he says,
[00:30:05] and when you pray, pray like this. And the whole point of the prayer is don't just do a bunch of rote memorization and repeat after me words, because that's not what God is looking for.
[00:30:17] God is really just looking for your heart. Like a kid going to their dad in the middle of the night, asking the king for some water is the way we come to God, but it's all about him first.
[00:30:28] so here is a model on how to pray and then what does the church do the church takes that prayer memorizes it word for word and just regurgitates it without even thinking about it do you know
[00:30:41] where i learned the lord's prayer in a locker room and we didn't even bro we said it loud we said it kind of barked it out our brother who are in heaven that'll be on that i can't
[00:30:54] come that will be done on earth that doesn't happen right just like that and then right after we'd say amen and my coach goes now let's go kick there and he would say a cuss word
[00:31:01] and I was like I don't think we're doing this the way God said like now I do pray it word for word all the time to kind of like warm it up this is not a thing just to be memorized it's a model a
[00:31:18] structure for us to pray so he says and when you pray I want you to pray like this and here's how we know it doesn't mean word for word Luke like the way he does it in Luke he doesn't even use
[00:31:28] all the same words as in Matthew so if you're a legalist you're like Jesus you didn't use all the Words. You didn't say it, right? That's not the part. He starts out with this father.
[00:31:40] And listen, I need, I want us to look through the lens, not just your devotional life. So you feel like real cozy with Jesus. That's not what we're talking about today. We're talking about when you
[00:31:48] go to war spiritually against the devil and some demons that are trying to kill you. You pray. How do you pray when the devil's trying to kill you? You start out this way, our father, you're claiming
[00:32:02] I'm yours. You're also looking at the devil going greater as he was in me than who he, who was in this world. You got no claim on me. Like if you're an American citizen, you have a passport.
[00:32:14] That means you belong in this kingdom. When you put your faith in Jesus, you get a kingdom passport to the kingdom of God. And you show that passport to the demon and be like, you ain't
[00:32:24] welcome in my life or here or my house or in my family. Like I am a co-heir with Jesus. Why?
[00:32:30] Because he is my father. You know who my dad is? Our father. A.W. Tozer says the most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God. What do you think? The way you pray
[00:32:42] will define or will reveal what you think about God. If you think he's a judge, then you're always going to try to perform. If you think he's a cop, you're going to try to make excuses while you're
[00:32:56] not that bad and pray against all those other evil people that you work with. If you think he's like some kind of sky fairy, then you're just going to like not step on bugs and be a vegan or whatever
[00:33:05] you're going to do. I don't know what you're going to do, but if you think he's the sovereign king of the universe. And he's your dad and he loves you. And Jesus is the proof. Then you can go to him
[00:33:16] like a kid goes to his dad, father. So you notice in Luke, he doesn't say our father who art in heaven. This is how we know it's not a word for word thing. This is so important. Hallowed be
[00:33:30] your name. That's worship. Worship is war. The devil, Satan, Lucifer, he wanted to sit on God's throne to be worshiped. Every single time you worship, not just in song, but in word, in deed, in prayer. Every time you say, hallowed be your name, God, you're looking at Satan and going,
[00:33:52] you don't belong on his throne and I ain't worshiping you. This is how you go to war against the devil that's trying to kill you. Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
[00:34:05] Matthew adds, on earth as it is in heaven. Here's what you're saying. God, in this war torn world where the enemy has some semblance of rule and reign. How can you use me to let this
[00:34:19] place look a lot more like heaven? How do I declare the gospel? How do I share my faith?
[00:34:26] How do I fight against injustice in Jesus name for the glory of God? God, if I'm a city on a hill, if I am the light of the world, God, would you use me to let other people see my good works
[00:34:38] for your name's sake and point them to you. Your kingdom come. But the way we fight is different.
[00:34:45] It's not by, it's not by might. It's not by powers by my spirit says the Lord. Then he says, give us each day our daily bread. This is supplication. Can you ask for some stuff from God? Yeah. He's
[00:34:59] a good dad. He loves you. He loves to give good gifts to his kids, but he's not, he's never going to give you a thing to put a wedge between you and him because he's a good dad and God answers
[00:35:11] all prayers. Sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes not now. But man, when I was six years old, I asked my daddy for Christmas. Daddy, if you love me, you'll get me a horse and a 30, 30, 30, 30 is a
[00:35:24] lever action rifle like cowboys would use. And I thought, I think I'm ready for it. And for Christmas, I got a BB gun and a big old puppy. Why? Because my daddy loves me. If I'm riding around downtown
[00:35:35] with a 30, 30 on a stallion, somebody's going to jail. You understand what I'm saying? And if you're like, well, I don't want to bring the sky because it's not that big a deal. You're a big deal to
[00:35:46] that's why this is a big deal so you bring it give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us you know what one act of war
[00:36:01] is against the enemy and spiritual warfare forgiveness he's got no retaliation for it you know what the greatest physical example of the gospel of Jesus Christ is is when you cancel somebody else's debt against you, whether, especially when they don't deserve it. Why?
[00:36:25] Because Christ canceled your debt and you didn't deserve it. Do you know why he tries to hang you up on forgiveness? He tries to attach forgiveness with feelings. And when feelings come up, even though you've decided to cancel the debt in about six weeks or something, I'm going to do a whole
[00:36:38] week on this. It's because the enemy wants to get up there and go, well, you didn't really forgive her because you still have these feelings. You got to be reminded. It ain't about feelings. It's
[00:36:47] about canceling the debt. Why? Because if he can convince you that forgiveness on a horizontal level doesn't work, then surely forgiveness on a vertical level doesn't, and God doesn't forgive you. Yeah. You want to go to war against the enemy? You forgive. And then he says, and lead
[00:37:00] us not into temptation. In Matthew, he says, and deliver us from the evil one. Why? Because this is spiritual warfare. Now, if you grew up Catholic and you're Baptist and you're new to Bible study
[00:37:12] and you're like, well, where's the end?
[00:37:15] Somebody just wrote that in later.
[00:37:17] Why?
[00:37:18] I don't know.
[00:37:20] Because who wants to end with that?
[00:37:22] Hey, and lead us not into temptation.
[00:37:24] Amen.
[00:37:25] So that's why they added that little part.
[00:37:26] And the song's better, you know.
[00:37:30] You know that thing?
[00:37:32] That's not in there.
[00:37:33] Somebody made that up.
[00:37:34] You can pray it.
[00:37:35] Probably shouldn't sing it, but you can pray it.
[00:37:38] And then he explains.
[00:37:41] And he said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, friend. Let me some, let me three loves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I
[00:37:49] have nothing to set before him. And he will answer from within. Do not bother me. The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you though,
[00:37:59] he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend yet because of his impudence.
[00:38:05] No one knows what that word means. It means persistent, aggressive rudeness because the guy won't leave him alone. He will rise and give him whatever he needs.
[00:38:16] Now, does this mean that you just gotta bug God to death until you can wear him out?
[00:38:21] Parents, you've done this before, right?
[00:38:22] You've made terrible parenting decisions because your kid, you're like, fine, Twizzlers for dinner.
[00:38:27] Just get out of my face.
[00:38:31] Parable means to lay alongside of.
[00:38:35] Some parables are like, God is like a good father.
[00:38:38] This one is like, God is not like this guy.
[00:38:41] But if you can convince your evil, selfish, sleepy neighbor to answer your request. How much more does your heavenly father that wants you to have the abundant life, hear your prayer and be willing to answer them. That's what he's saying. And I tell
[00:38:59] you, ask, and it will be given to you in the Greek. This means ask and ask and keep on asking and seek. And you will find and knock and the door will be open to you. This means ask and ask
[00:39:12] and keep on asking and seek and seek and keep on seeking and knock and knock and keep on knocking.
[00:39:17] And maybe you don't get your prayer answered the way you want, but you know what you get?
[00:39:21] You get him and he's better than any prayer request you've ever had.
[00:39:25] But he just says, come on, ask and ask me again.
[00:39:28] And I've told you this before, man.
[00:39:29] You say the word, if I say the words, ask me again in my house, it is not an invitation.
[00:39:32] It's a threat.
[00:39:33] Ask me again.
[00:39:34] That's how that goes.
[00:39:36] And yet God is so patient with us.
[00:39:40] I mean, you've been praying for your one more for a long time.
[00:39:41] Don't quit.
[00:39:42] Don't you quit.
[00:39:43] You've been fighting that addiction for 20 years.
[00:39:45] Don't you quit asking.
[00:39:48] You just keep asking, you keep seeking, you keep knocking. And then he says, what father among you, if his son asked for a fish, would instead of a fish, give him a serpent? Or if he asked for an
[00:40:00] egg, would give him a scorpion? If you then who were evil, how many dads in the house? Raise your hand if you're a dad. Yeah, you're evil. You know you are, right? And what would you do for your
[00:40:16] kid? Do I do anything for mine? Ain't nothing special about me. It makes a ton of sense that our God, our heavenly father would be willing to lay down his life for us. Not because we deserve
[00:40:28] it, but because we're his children. I would lay down my life right now. And so would you.
[00:40:33] And he's like, all right, man, if a bunch of evil, lazy, selfish dads know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy spirit to those who
[00:40:45] ask not stuff, but the spirit. Now here's, this is very important. I saw this for the first time this week and y'all got to listen a little bit faster because I'm kind of behind. If you got
[00:40:56] your Bible open, which you should. If you notice the next two things that happen in the Bible, Jesus casts out demons and gets in this conversation about Beelzebub, another name for the devil. And then he talks about when you cast a, when you cast a demon out of a house,
[00:41:15] if you don't replace it with something, then seven more are going to move back in and it's going to get worse. Here's the thing. You think that the, the order of the Bible is just
[00:41:27] haphazardly put together? You think the spirit of God treats the events in the scripture like Jenga? Oh, that'll fit there. Let's just put it there. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. There's this long teaching on prayer. And then there's this long examples about Jesus going toe to toe with
[00:41:44] the enemy. Prayer matters. Prayer is warfare. John Piper says this in one of my favorite books, don't waste your life. I read this on week one. He said this, life is war. That's not all it
[00:42:00] is, but it is always that. Still, I don't know what that means, but I love that word. I love that so much. Life is war. It's not the only thing. It's also vacation and it's golf and it's
[00:42:11] whatever. But if you don't think we're at war, you're a dead man. He says our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is a, is primarily a wartime walkie
[00:42:25] talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den. God has given us prayer as a wartime
[00:42:40] walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in this world. So what if God showed up to you tonight and said, okay, the answer is yes.
[00:42:52] Like to what? Everything you've prayed for for the last week. How would this world be different?
[00:42:59] would your world be any different? Or would you just be thankful for the day and your food would have nourished your body and you were the hands that prepared it would have done what they did. And you got a parking spot and hit a couple of green lights and Georgia
[00:43:16] would be Clemson and whatever your thing is. I mean, think about it, man. Would there still be racism and injustice? Would there still be unreached people groups? Would all of your relationships be reconciled? Like, what are you praying for? Listen, if our prayers are not
[00:43:37] intimidating to us, they very well could be, they could be insulting to the almighty God who holds the whole world in his hands. Church, let's pray. I want to give you a real life example. Acts chapter four. This is it in action because this is an individual. This is the church.
[00:43:54] They just got started. They're two chapters old. Started in Acts two, Peter preaches, 3,000 get saved. So if you don't like big churches, you'd have hated the first one. I mean, it was the fastest growing church in Jerusalem. They went from zero to 3,000 in one talk. Now
[00:44:09] they're trying to figure out what to do. Peter and John have been arrested for healing a guy.
[00:44:14] Peter now filled with the Holy Spirit. He's had breakfast with the resurrected Christ. He's a totally different human being. He's been run over by the grace train. He was afraid to admit that he knew who Jesus was to a servant girl. She had no authority over him. Now in Acts chapter four,
[00:44:27] he's going to stand in front of the Sanhedrin, the same people that got Jesus crucified.
[00:44:30] and they were like hey man you got to shut up with this Jesus stuff you can heal people everybody loves a good healing but you got to quit with the Jesus and he's like you do whatever you want to do
[00:44:39] but I can't stop talking about what I have seen and heard they didn't know what to do with it so they beat him up and they send him home and so he leaves Acts 4 23 this is the first church there's
[00:44:51] only one at this point it says and when they were released that's what just happened they went to their friends and they reported what the chief priest and the elders had said to them and don't
[00:45:02] think about this like flannel graph or veggie tales or some little comic book. These are two grown men. They're like, what happened? I'm about to tell you what happened. That dude said, you better shut up. I'm like, you can shut up. I'm going to do what God told me to do. And John's
[00:45:17] like, no, that's for real, man. He did. And then the guy they healed, he comes bebopping through and what are they going to say about that? So here we are. They still smell like jail. You
[00:45:26] understand? And look what they do. Say they reported what the chief priest and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, like, what would you do? What would you do? We need a
[00:45:41] plan. We need to get a better PR strategy. We need a safe house for you to hide out in. We need a security team, right? How many of us plan first and say, God, will you come bless this? Let me
[00:45:56] tell you what does not happen out in the field. The sheep does not say we're going this way. Hey, shepherd. You want to come? That ain't the 10, 10 life, man. Look at the first thing they do.
[00:46:07] If this ain't convicting you, God bless your ministry. And when they heard it, first thing they do, they lifted their voices together to God. Oh, it's prayer for you. A first response or a last resort. And here's what they say. Sovereign Lord. Wait, what? You know what that
[00:46:26] means? You're in charge of everything. You know, everything. You were not surprised when our friends got arrested. Sovereign, that's what that means. Lord, and we're going to do whatever you say. Listen, man, when things don't go my way, just confession. I don't pray good. Listen,
[00:46:41] you know what I pray? Dear God, bless me, curse them. Amen. See you at church. That's how I pray.
[00:46:50] That ain't it. Sovereign Lord, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in it. Oh, they're just worshiping. They're just worshiping. Who through the mouth of our father, David, your servant said by the Holy spirit. Now they're going to go from worship to just
[00:47:08] quoting scripture. Hey, you want a little prayer hack in a guarantee? Your prayers get heard in heaven. Use the words that began in heaven. Pray God's scripture back to God. I think it's Psalm one 38 to where God says that he has lifted above everything, his name and his word. So take his
[00:47:31] word back to him. And so they quote the Bible. Why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain? The king of earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord
[00:47:43] and against his anointed for truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
[00:48:02] So all you Methodists look at that. It says predestined just says what it says. So get over yourself. All right. So they go from God. We want to talk to you about you. Now we're going to quote
[00:48:11] your word and worship. And now we're just going to remind ourselves of the gospel. And here's what they're saying. When we were standing at the feet of Galgatha and Jesus was on the cross, we had a tendency to think, God, have you completely lost control? Right? I mean,
[00:48:28] if you were there now, see, we we've got the benefit of seeing through the empty tomb to the empty cross, knowing that Jesus died for our sin while they're standing at the foot of the cross.
[00:48:39] If you're honest, they would look at that. And many people would think, God, what are you doing?
[00:48:43] Have you completely lost control? And God says, just hang in there for the weekend. Yeah. This has been the plan from before the beginning. You say, God, what are you doing? Letting your son die. And he answers, I'm redeeming the world. Just give me a minute. So if he was in control of that,
[00:49:02] surely he is in control of your current situation and he can be trusted. It says to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now Lord, so here comes their request.
[00:49:16] And again, what would you request? I would request, get them God, send the locust hailstorm, do that Elijah thing and call down the fire. You know what I mean? I'm not a good Christian. Here's
[00:49:32] that they request. And now Lord, look upon their threats and grant your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. They don't even pray for a change of circumstances. They pray that they would be changed in the circumstances. And if you're honest, if I'm, if I'm
[00:49:51] like, I do some church consulting. So if the original apostles would have invited me to consult, I would go, I don't think you have a boldness problem. You keep getting locked up for your boldness. And you know what they pray for? More boldness. Verse 30. This is what I'm praying for
[00:50:07] for this season of Saturated right here. You ready for this? I dare you to pray this with me.
[00:50:12] I wish 70,000 of us would agree together on this one. While you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. That everything would be about his eternal glory. That God would do what only God could do. And we would do what
[00:50:31] he tells us to do and check this out and when they had prayed the place in which they were gathered was shaken when's the last time you went to a place and prayed and you were shaking like you
[00:50:47] were shaking or the room was shaking and they were all filled with the holy spirit you know where the holy spirit shows up where he's wanted don't you want him to show up yeah prayer is an invitation
[00:50:59] for him to show up and they were all filled with the holy spirit and they continue to speak the word of God with boldness. And God gave them exactly what they asked for. Again, man, if your
[00:51:09] prayers are not intimidating to you, maybe they are offensive or insulting to God. Please ask and ask and keep on asking and seek and seek and keep on seeking and knock and knock and keep on knocking.
[00:51:20] And if you think, well, it's impossible, I promise if any church knows that we ought to know it, if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. If God can breathe new life into his dead son in the
[00:51:28] tomb, he can breathe new life into your marriage. If he can reconcile sinners like you and me to a holy God, he can reconcile whatever relationship you're talking about. If you've got some kind of
[00:51:38] financial strain and pain, even if it's your own dumb fault and you got yourself into that situation, he owns it all. He can handle it. If you're beaten down by stress and anxiety, he offers peace that transcends all understanding. When the enemy's coming against you and coming
[00:51:56] against me, you stand firm against the evil one and his evil schemes. And you get all suited up in the armor that we spent all these weeks going over. Then you're ready. And step one in the
[00:52:11] playbook now is you pray, you go to war in the heavenlies against the evil one. And with all requests and all supplication, and you pray for your brothers and sisters on your right and on
[00:52:24] your left, and you hold up that shield of faith and you go to war. Why? Because it is God that fights our battles. And you're just inviting him into the battle. And now what I want to do
[00:52:39] is just turn this thing into a prayer meeting. I mean, every single week we invite you to do this, right? We respond and we sing. You know what it is when we sing? It's just one big prayer.
[00:52:51] All of our campuses and all these people all over the world watching online, we sing the same song with the same words at the same time to the same God.
[00:53:01] it's the way we join together in a prayer to God. And that's what we're going to say. We're going to sing a song called let it be. So, and it gets to this part, man. And you say, amen, about 25
[00:53:14] times, which I love. I love, I can't remember songs anymore. So when we do that, you know, and it's just one word, I can close my eyes. Good. And go for it. Amen. Means let it be. So
[00:53:23] when we get to that part and you want God to empower you to walk victoriously over what the enemy's throwing at you, you better, if you've got hands on the end of your arms, you better
[00:53:35] lift them high and we're going to sing amen. Like we mean it. And I'm going to invite. So we sing and we bring, we're going to bring our tithes and offerings, our first and our best. That's
[00:53:42] the clanging word against the enemy. And we're going to pray. And I know you can pray way up there. He's up there. I get it. But we, when we, when we position our body, like we want our heart
[00:53:56] to be positioned before our King, who is also our father, something's different, man. And I wish we can take out all the chairs down here right now so that everybody gives us, because that's probably
[00:54:06] how much room we need. But I want you to come and pray like your life depends on it because it does.
[00:54:10] I want you to come and pray against addiction and depression and money problems and despair and broken relationships and tough marriages and prodigal kids and health situations and struggles with sin. And like the dad in Mark nine who comes to Jesus with a sick kid and says, Jesus, if you
[00:54:26] can, will you heal my son? And Jesus is like, if I can, what do you mean if I can? All things are possible for one who believes. And the dad immediately replies, I believe, help my unbelief.
[00:54:39] You can pray like that. Cause you know what Jesus says? It's not the power of your prayer that matters. What matters is the one you are praying to because he is all powerful. If you just got
[00:54:48] enough faith, like the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. It's not the amount of faith that's the object of your faith that matters. And would you please come and pray for me and my
[00:55:00] family and this church and your one more and our city and this country. And let's pray like our lives depend on it because it does. And maybe just maybe when we get to the end of it all and we say
[00:55:18] amen, we and this church and this city and this country and this world will be shaken by the spirit of God and we'll never be the same. Hey, stand up. Let me pray for you. Then we're going
[00:55:30] to respond. Our good and gracious heavenly father, God, I thank you. And I praise you for the invitation of rebellious children who have been adopted into your family, that we can walk boldly into your throne room by the blood of Jesus. And we can cast all our cares, make all our requests
[00:55:49] known to you because you care for us. God, we pray for power. We pray for spirit filled gospel saturated power. God, we pray that you would use us, our father who are in heaven. God,
[00:56:02] we hallow your name. God, we pray that your kingdom would come right here in Jacksonville and around the world, just like it is in heaven. We would be that kingdom mind. God, we need you
[00:56:15] every single day. Like we need food. God, we pray that forgiveness would not terminate on us, what would flow through us.
[00:56:25] And God, we need you to rescue us from the evil one.
[00:56:29] And God, we pray it all for your kingdom and your power and your glory.
[00:56:34] And God, we say, let it be so.
[00:56:36] We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
[00:56:39] Won't you join us in prayer?
[00:56:40] We're gonna sing, we're gonna bring, we're gonna pray.
[00:56:42] Let's respond.