The Enemies of Prayer-Part 4

thank you Andy great job

well this morning I want to finish up this series

a four part series we started a number of weeks ago

about prayer enemies of prayer

and this morning I'm going to add two to that list

we've talked so far about six enemies of prayer

and when I say prayer I don't mean just

you know bowing our heads and praying for a moment

but really having an effective prayer life

and my guess is that a lot of you in this room

if you had sat down and given it some thought

taken an hour or so and said well

what do you think he's going to talk about

you would have named some of these that I've named

and so it came as no surprise to you

I'm going to mention two this morning however that might

there are two this morning I'm going to talk about

that probably a lot of you in this room

wouldn't have said necessarily would have come to your mind

when you think about enemies of prayer

but I think you'll see they may be two of our fiercest enemies

that we've talked about yet

the first believe it or not is success

if you ever thought about how success in life

could actually be a hindrance to your being effective in prayer

believe me you're going to see in just a moment

it can be now I want to be real clear about this

I hope everyone in this room considers themselves successful

you know humility is not having a bad self image and think

well you know I'm just no good to anybody

that's not humility

that's not true humility

so I hope you look at yourself

and I hope you have enjoyed success in your life

and it doesn't mean because you're successful

you can't have an effective prayer life

I hope many of you have been successful in parenting

I hope many of you have been successful in marriage

that you're successful in being a grandparent

that you're successful in your job

you're successful perhaps in some area of interest

that you hold in life

there's nothing wrong with success

so don't hear me saying that this morning

I just want to caution you

that success can be

and often is

a real hindrance to prayer

let me show you what I mean

if you have your Bibles

look with me to Proverbs chapter 30

Proverbs 30 · chapter mention

Proverbs chapter 30

Proverbs 30 · chapter mention

and we're going to look at verse 8

the latter part

and then verse 9

and then we're going to go to another text

in just a moment

but look at Proverbs chapter 30

Proverbs 30:8

verse 8 and verse 9

the writer of Proverbs

he's asking God

for two things

and I want you to

note what these two things are

this is what he says

give me neither

poverty or wealth

I want you to think about that for a moment

that sounds pretty noble right

on the front end

give me neither poverty nor wealth

don't let me starve to death

don't let me have to scramble

to find something to eat

to have shelter over my head

please God

don't leave me in a state of poverty

but also

don't give me wealth

now probably we'd be

way more hesitant

about praying that second part

right

God don't make me

wealthy

but that's what he

prays

and then he

adds this

feed me

with the food

I need

now

a lot of us in this room

kind of think

of ourselves

as being in that category

we think

well you know what

really that's not so unusual

that's kind of how I am

I just want enough

to get by

right

I bet many of you

in this room have said

I don't care

a thing in the world

about being

rich

I really just don't want

to be rich

I don't have to have

wealth

it's not something

that's really

important to me

now some of you

said something contrary

to that one time

or another

right

you said

well I hope one day

I'm really rich

and really wealthy

I found as we get older

as we age in life

we realize it's not

going to happen

a lot of us

kind of get over that

and we say

you know what

I don't have to be

wealthy

I don't have to have

everything

we want enough

to get by

you ever say

anything like that

I just need enough

to get by

I just want to live

comfortably

right

well

I want to tell you

I'm not sure

we're being as honest

in our assessment

of that

as we

want to pretend

we are

because

what the writer

says here is

I just need

enough

all I need

is enough

to get by

today

if you follow

that line of thinking

it's not necessarily

being comfortable

it's simply

having enough

to cover

today's

needs

how many of us

in this room

honestly can say

when we die

we hope we die

just two or three minutes

before our

banking account

is deplete

because that's

what it is

to have

just enough

to get

by

right

you die

and you don't

have anything

left over

you don't

have anything

to leave

family

or friends

or

a charity

that you'd like

to perhaps

leave in your will

you just

die

and there's

nothing left

over

that's what

this prayer

is about

just give me

enough

for today

so

when we think

about that

we say

well you know

maybe you don't

cut it quite

that close

you know

let's

live

comfortably

but what he

prays for

is just enough

to get by

who would pray

a prayer like that

don't surprise you

Solomon prays it

and of course

you know about

Solomon

and he tells us

why he prays it

look at the very

next verse

otherwise

I might have

too much

and deny you

saying

who is the

Lord

or

am I

still

profaning

the name

of my

God

you know

what he's

saying

he's saying

the problem

with having

too much

is

I'll come

to place

I'll say

who is the

Lord

in other

words

who needs

him

who needs

God

in your life

if you got

everything

and you can

meet every

challenge

that ever

arises

by just

reaching in

your back

pocket

and pulling

out your

wallet

who needs

God

so God

don't give

me so much

that I become

independent of you

and self-sufficient

and I don't need

you in my life

but Lord

here's the other

thing

I don't want to be

tempted to have

to steal food

I don't have to

be tempted to

take from

someone else

what is not

mine

and thereby

profane your name

or break your law

that's what he's

talking about

and so Lord

I don't want to

fall in either

one of those

categories

I want just

enough

in other words

I don't really

want to be

that successful

now I'm going to

tell you

if anybody

could write this

and know about

this

it was King

Solomon

when you read

about Solomon

in Chronicles

and Kings

I want to tell you

many of you read

Forbes magazine

Fortune 500

some of you in this

room keep up

with that kind of

stuff and

and boy you know

who are the ten

richest people in

the world and

where they live

and all that kind

of stuff

you've never read

about any human

being who

succeeded in life

financially as

much as King

Solomon

when you read

Chronicles and

Kings and about

his wealth I'm

telling you it is

opulent wealth it

is mind-blowing you

think to yourself

how could anyone

have a mask when

you read about his

stables and the

palace he was

greater than the

temple he built in

Jerusalem for God

when you read about

his wealth you just

say man that's just

awful that's crazy

kind of money and

boy he had it he

lived an opulent

lifestyle and I

think as he's

writing this he's

thinking back at

times perhaps when

that wealth didn't

serve him well but

this guy's got money

he had a thousand

wives a lot of us

have trouble

supporting one

right I mean I

had a film in

church a while back

that he his credit

card got stolen and

he didn't report it

he told me for six

months because he

found out the guy

that stole it was

spending less than

his wife was right

so here's a guy

that's true by the

way I mean it's

true he told me

that's not true she

spends like that

anyhow here's a guy

who says boy there

is danger in having

too much we need

just enough to get

by because he

recognized what

happened in his

life was this he

himself turned away

from God when he

started out he had a

whole heart for God

but by the time he

finished he had

turned his back to

some degree on the

things he'd been

taught in his youth

I want you to look

at a second passage

go with me to the

book of Revelation

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 and let

me set this up for

you in Revelation

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 and 3

this is known as the

seven letters to the

churches of Asia

minor Jesus is

speaking to John

and he's going to

dictate seven letters

he will send to these

seven churches in Asia

minor now many of

you probably most of

you in this room are

somewhat familiar with

these seven letters

you know this already

these seven letters are

strikingly similar in

form not in content

the content of every

letter is unique and

individual and

different from one to

the next but the form

is almost identical he

begins with a greeting

from the Lord Jesus

Christ depicting Jesus

in a certain fashion

that is appropriate for

that city in every

individual letter he

then talks about what

he knows about them and

he either commends

them or he is critical

of them in every single

letter he makes a

promise to them at the

end of every one of

these letters I want

you to hear what he

says to the church at

Laodicea let me just

preface this by telling

you this this is the

letter in which there

is not one word of

commendation he doesn't

say anything good about

this church in Laodicea

everything in this

letter is of a critical

nature look with me to

chapter 3 and verse 14

and here's what we find

to the angel of the

church in Laodicea

write the amen the

faithful and true witness

the originator of God's

creation says I know

your works that you are

neither cold nor hot I

wish that you were cold

or hot now everybody in

this room has heard this

passage right you've heard

it read you read it

yourself you've studied it

you've heard sermons about

it I'm fearful when we

come to this passage

sometimes we bring our

thinking modern thinking to

bear on the words of Jesus

and misunderstand what he's

saying for instance let me

give you an example how

many of you have ever

attended a church where

there just wasn't much

spirit or much life I mean

it just it was just dull and

boring and you left there and

as you left you turned to

your spouse and you said

something like this man that

place didn't have much life in

it right have you ever said

something like this it was as

cold as a milkshake in there

I mean I don't tell you I

preach in some of those

places right I mean it's dead

as three o'clock it was it was

just lifeless it was cold there

was no warmth of spirit that

place just isn't on fire and

then you've been to that place at

some time in your life where man

they preach the word of God and

the singing is uplifting and

there's the spirit of God that's

moving in that place and we

say something like this when we

leave there man that place was

on fire I mean those people are

on fire for God the fires of

revival are burning in that

church you ever heard those

expressions as a result I'll

tell you something it taints our

thinking about this passage because

what we have the tendency to think

is this that hot is good and cold

is bad but I want you to look at

the passage that's not what Jesus

says he says you're neither hot nor

cold you're in the middle you're

tepid you're lukewarm you're neither

hot nor cold I wish you were one or

the other Jesus is not saying I wish

you were good or bad why would he

want them to be bad you understand

that so what he's saying is this both

are good to be hot is good and to be

cold is good but you're not either

you're lukewarm and that's good for

absolutely nothing now what does he

mean both are good because you see

we got to divorce it from how we think

in that spiritual realm about hot and

cold have you ever been out working in

the yard and it's 95 degrees and your

wife comes out and she has pity on you

and brings you a glass of cold lemonade

boy doesn't that taste good you're

outside and you come inside and it's

air conditions blowing and it feels so

good and it's so refreshing just kind of

revives you when you felt like you're

going to pass out or it's cold and you

go inside and it's warm and cozy and you

sit by the fire hot is good and cold is

good but lukewarm it's just in between

it's absolutely nothing and that's what

Jesus is saying here in verse 14 15 and

16 look at verse 16 so because you are

lukewarm and neither hot nor cold I'm

going to vomit you out of my mouth now I

want to tell you you've heard that all

your life you've heard the sermon

preached this passage preached but I

think sometimes we just kind of hurry

through this we don't really think

about it do you realize how repulsive

an image that is your eyes how

offensive that is to say to someone

imagine tomorrow at work your boss does

something that just really ticks you

off how many gonna walk into his office

30 minutes later and say you know what

I just want to tell you something you

make me vomit better be careful about

that one right because he probably

gonna throw you out of his office try

this today when you go home guys your

wife works real hard she puts the meal

on the table you take five six seven

bites out of it you turn to and say

hmm this makes me want to puke you think

you get by all that very long boy it's

pretty offensive thing to say to

somebody you make me want to vomit and

that's what Jesus says now get this these

are not people we would think of as being

his enemies these seven letters are to the

seven churches of Asia minor this is one

of his churches he has loved and died

for and he says to this church you make

me sick well I'm gonna tell you if he says

that to the church the way out of Asia we

ought to pause real carefully and say what

in the world would make Jesus say

something like that I mean that's so

unlike Jesus it's so uncharacteristic of

Jesus to say something so repulsive is

that what is it in the world they have

done that is so offended our Lord well

look at the very next line if you will

verse 17 because you say I am rich I have

become wealthy and need nothing picture

of arrogance isn't it and you don't know

that you are wretched and pitiful poor

poor blind and naked let me tell you about

these people in Laodicea the church of

Laodicea if you had looked at all seven

of these churches this is where the fat

cats were this is the wealthy church this

is the one that has all the money they

need it was a banking community they dealt

often in gold they had three primary

things they made their living from banking

the production of clothing this white

garment and an eye salve they ship this

eye salve for medical purposes to other

communities in Asia Minor Jesus capitalizes

on that and this is what he says he says

when I look at you I see how you see

yourselves now you understand we see

ourselves one way someone else sees us a

different way oftentimes right we can be

delusional and this is what they see we're

doing just fine our bank accounts are full we

got more than enough money all the goal we

could ever want we're producing this white

garment look at us man check out these

threads I am really dressed to the nines

right what about my vision nothing wrong

with my vision we've got this eye salve we

produce and I can see perfectly we're on top

of our game that's what they see when they

look in the mirror and see themselves but

here's what Jesus sees he says when I see

you I see people who are poverty stricken

he's talking about spiritually bankrupt

people he says when I look at you I see

people who are in rags you're naked and

you don't know it remember that children's

book we read to our kids the king who

thought he'd been convinced by this fellow

that he had these beautiful clothes but

really he's standing there absolutely naked

for the people and he says you think you

see so well but you know what I see I see

somebody who is blind and miserable and

naked now I just want to ask you you kind

of upset you and alarm you and cause you

pause to wonder how God looks at us today

we see ourselves one way does God look at

us another you see when you're on top of the

world and you got everything going for you

and you're successful in life as the world

measures success it's pretty easy to get

arrogant and think we never say this out

loud in church we really just don't need

you very much you say well we never think

that here at first pickings well let me

just caution about something it'd be pretty

easy to think that because after all look

at your building I mean look at this

facility their church is out there meeting

that all over this countryside who don't

have a secondary place who don't have a

primary place to worship as nice as this is

let alone your primary house of worship I

mean that's a beautiful beautiful edifice over

there and it's as pretty as any place I've ever

preached it's gorgeous right and look at your

pastors you've had you've got a history of

having had great pastors Fred one of my dear

friends there's not a better pastor in South

Carolina it'd be pretty easy wouldn't it say you

know what we have got some good preaching here at

first pickings and not only that we've had a

history of it going way way way back and what

about your music I mean I've told Brian any

number of times I'd rather work with him and

about anybody I know he just he is gifted in

music your pianist the instrumentalist the

choir I'm not blowing smoke at you this one

I'm telling you you've got an outstanding

music program and I've heard many of you say

we are loaded with town here at first

Baptist Church of Pickings right and I know

this about you you've got good key leaders and

the people in the church love each other and

that's a wonderful thing but I just want to

caution you about something it'd be pretty easy

to say well Lord you know what we don't really

need to depend on you that much we've kind of got

this I mean we're we're kind of good to go we got

good preaching good music good leaders good

building we're meeting our budget everything's

everything's cooked we're rock along just fine right

success can do you in in terms of prayer listen to

what Jesus goes on to tell them I advise you verse 18 to

buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you may be

rich and white clothes so that you may be dressed and

your shameful nakedness not be exposed and ornament to

spread on your eyes so that you may see as many as I love I

rebuke and discipline so be committed and repent now verse

20 get this listen I stand at the door and not if anyone hears

my voice and opens the door I will come in to him and we'll

have dinner with him and he with me verse 20 in my estimation is

one of the verses in the New Testament that is misinterpreted as

much as any verse in the entire New Testament in fact I don't mean to be a

offensive to you today but probably many of you in this room I'd be surprised

if many of you in this room have not used this verse in an incorrect

fashion let me tell you why I say that when we read that verse most of us our

minds go back to that time in revival when somebody came and said Jesus is

knocking at your heart's door and if you will just open your life to him and

open your heart to him he will come in and he will save you and he will give you

eternal life because Jesus wants you to be saved and he's knocking at your heart

and he's not going to force his way into your life but if you'll open that door

the latches on the outside you've heard all those things and he'll just come in to

you I want to tell you something spiritually that's true

Jesus wants men and women to be saved he'll not force himself upon you he's inviting you in the

book of revelation other places to come to him but here's the cold hard truth that's not what this

verse is about Jesus is not talking to an individual and he's not talking to people who are lost he's

talking to his church remember that and the door he's knocking at is not the door of your heart

it's the door of the church you got to ask yourself what would bother him so much that he says i

want to vomit you out of my mouth you make me sick it nauseates you here's what it is he's on the outside of

his church looking in instead of on the inside directing the life of the church they have shut him out you

know why they have shut him out because they have become all sufficient we've got everything we need

we're okay and i'm going to tell you something there are a lot of churches around the country today

mostly the successful ones who are suffering from that same exact problem because god at one time they

were dependent on him and god blessed and with that blessing they became arrogant and they came to the

place that they said god we don't really need you anymore we're capable of running the show on our own

and god has been left out of the church i believe all this country this morning there are places where

people are meeting and sermons are being preached and singing is taking place and god is standing on the

outside looking on the inside wanting in could that have happened here at first baptist church of pickens

you say well no no we really do pray really look at all the things you do and then ask yourself this

how much time do we spend praying and how much time do we spend entertaining and meeting and doing all the

other things that we do you see success can sneak up on it's happened to me in my life before

where with one victory and another victory and another victory it's pretty easy to think you know

what we got this we know how to do this and we thereby exclude god from the picture all together

let me mention a final enemy of prayer and i close and this one likewise is going to surprise you

perhaps not only a successful life but an ordinary life james chapter five before the guys put it on

the screen don't put it on the screen just yet guys and before you turn to it let me just ask you

how many of you in this room know what james chapter five those verses i talked about verse 13 and

following are about does anybody here know i'm sure i'm betting half of you you don't trust yourself to

say it but i'm betting at least half of you probably know what james five is about you know what it's

about you're not going to say are you but i know you know it it's about prayer he's going to cite elijah

as an example and he's going to say here's why you ought to pray because look how elijah prayed and what

resulted from that prayer right but here's my question if prayer is so effective and we need god

to answer prayer why don't we pray that's what this series has been about why don't we pray what

are the hindrances to prayer the enemies of prayer can i tell you the biggest reason we don't pray and

none of us want to hear this i don't even want to say this but it's true it's because we see so few

prayers answered isn't that right because if we were seeing prayers answered all the time we'd be

encouraged and we'd say well let's just pray more that's what happened in acts chapter two

the more they prayed the more god did the more god did the more they prayed but we suffer from the

opposite we pray and we don't see anything and so as a result we say what's the use so we pray these

little namby pamby prayers and we're content to do that and just move right along saying hey we'll

handle all this ourselves well let me show you what the problem was look at james five go ahead and put

it on the screen and turn to it if you have your bible james 5 verse 17 elijah was a man with a nature

James 5:17

like ours i like that you know what that means he was ordinary just like we are he put his pants on

same way you do he got up in the morning did everything he did throughout the day went to bed

got up the next morning he's an ordinary guy yet he prayed earnestly that it would not rain

and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land then he prayed again and the sky gave

rain and the land produced its fruit if you want to understand the scripture clearly can i give you a tip

on something one of the things i do is this and i'm i was blessed to be able to to do this because

i'm not a quick study like a lot of you i was a slow reader so i just read things real slow and as i'd

read them i'd stop and think well what would that do what would that be like and try to insert myself in

that situation and just flesh it out we read this so quickly we miss it do you hear what he said he

prayed it wouldn't rain for three and a half years and it didn't rain not two weeks not a month

not three months not six months three and a half years and we've had some droughts in south carolina

remember a few years ago i can remember that weather map and it had us all in red you know how long it

didn't rain about two and a half months two and a half months you multiply that to where it's three

and a half years you've never seen a drought in south carolina three and a half years do you know

what it would do it would devastate i don't mean it would hurt it would devastate our economy there

wouldn't be a creek bed around that had a drop of water in it our lake levels would plunge like you

have never seen before remember that drought we had back somewhere in the early teens 2012 13 14

owned a lake house down on lake hartwood small little place shallow lot bad for that drought

i'm gonna tell you they could have clemson could have played a football game between my dock and

where the water began right i mean it was long long long way out there to where the water was you

remember driving over there that was about a two or three month drought can you imagine how lakes would

dry up there wouldn't be anything green in the upstate how would that affect agriculture well you'd lose

tomatoes and beans and soybeans and all that but let me tell you something else every cattle farmer

because they couldn't afford to buy hay they'd have trouble even finding if they could buy it and afford

it they'd be selling off all their cattle prices would go through the roof you could go to the grocery

store and not find groceries that's what happened in israel it didn't rain for three and a half years you

know why god was bringing ahab in israel to their knees he wanted to get ahab's attention and bring him

absolutely to his knees and so he says he prays and for three and a half years it doesn't rain

why did this ordinary guy pray and god did incredible things and we pray and nothing happens

well i gotta be honest with you i purposefully left out verse 16b i want you to look at that text

read verse 16b the intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful

the intense prayer that's part of it fervent prayer the righteous is very very powerful

the other thing is this the righteous this was an ordinary man in terms of he was a human being

like all of us but i want to tell you something and this is part i hope you'll get as i bring the

message to a close there was nothing ordinary about elijah's spiritual life at all he was an ordinary

flesh and blood human being but i'm going to tell you something his spiritual life was exemplary

it was extraordinary i mean this is a guy who listened to the voice of god obeyed the voice of god was

obedient to god lived a holy separated consecrated dedicated pure life and i just wonder is that the problem we

have i wonder if today in the church we have become so ordinary we look like everybody out there in the world

in fact can i tell you something there are a lot of churches working their hardest to try to convince the world

we're just like you there are a ton of churches out there selling themselves today on this idea you can

come here and be comfortable because we're just like you we're no different than you are

i'm going to tell you something when people come in the church of the place they look just like

everybody they pass on the street boy something is bad wrong with the church our language shouldn't be

the language of the people on the street our actions shouldn't be the actions of the people on the

street our holiness and purity shouldn't be like the purity and the holiness of the average guy on the

street i'm not talking about living a puritanical legalistic life i'm talking about a life that's simply

dedicated to god that says hey you know what i'm going to listen to god i'm going to obey him i'm not

going to be influenced by my culture i'm going to influence my culture i close by reading you this verse

in isaiah look at isaiah 59 1 and 2 surely the arm of the lord is not too short to save

that's what isaiah writes he says surely the arm of the lord is not too short to save he can reach us it's

not he's got a short withered arm and he's incapable of reaching us nor his ears too dull for hearing

some of you are going through a stage in life right now you've gotten older and you don't hear as well

you need hearing aids right and your grandchildren they speak to you and they say boy papa

dad mom they need some hearing aids that they can't their ears dull their hearing's dull

and isaiah saying surely god's arm is not too short that he can't reach us and surely his hearing is

not so dull he's not so ancient he hasn't been here so long that he doesn't hear us and this is what he

says no but your iniquities have separated you from your god and your sins have or your sins have hidden his

face from you so that he will not hear isaiah concludes this

yes

he says no the reason we're being punished god's not listening to us pray

it's not because he can't hear us he can't see us he doesn't know we're in need

it's because we have so much sin in our lives we have become repulsive to him

and we're just not holy and pure and so i'm going to tell you something until we address our own

spiritual poverty the real problem and need in our life he's not going to be concerned about these other

things about which we're praying

i'm telling you that if you haven't already come to know this

we've got much bigger fish to fry spiritually than most of the things that we pray about

we're far far in greater spiritual poverty than even we know

do you realize how much the world has impacted the church how much we look like people everywhere

else in the world do people see anything about your life that they say well you know what that's

somebody who's dedicated to god i don't mean they said that guy you know he follows this bunch of rules

and regulations no not that kind of thing i'm saying they just know there goes a man who is

holy committed pure clean heart clean spirit clean mouth clean life he's dedicated to god i'm

going to tell you something either james lied or what he said is true the effectual fervent prayer of a

righteous man availeth much and that may just be your problem and my problem that we don't fit that

category anymore there's a way to fix that it's not an easy path but you know what the path is

is it's recognizing that about yourself recognizing that the world has influenced you and impacted you

that you're not as sold out to god as you once were and it's a path of repentance that leads to

confession where we fall on our face and we say oh god i want to know the truth about me i don't want to

look in that fake mirror anymore that causes me to look one way the way the i'd like to see myself i

want to see what you see would you dare to ask yourself that during this invitation time brian's

going to come and he's going to lead us in a song a beautiful song just as i am listen would you ask god

god show me right now in these verses we'll sing show me just how i am to you let me see the truth about

me i don't want to i don't want to live in the dark anymore i don't want to be delusional anymore

i want to know what you see when you look at me let's stand he's going to sing you pray if you need

to come here the front you do that if you want to just kneel right there at your seat or sit there

at your seat you just do business with god

just as i am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me

and that thou bidst me come to thee

oh lamb of god

i come

i come

just as i am

and waiting

and waiting

and waiting

to rid

my soul

of one

dark

blood

to thee

whose blood

can cleanse

each spot

oh lamb

of god

i come

i come

i come

i come