The Greater Work - Week 3

You got a Bible, go to Matthew chapter ten.

We're gonna be Oh, we're gonna be closing our series today.

This is the final week of our series, The Greater Work,

and I just I've enjoyed this series. On prayer, Oswald

Chambers said this, we must pray with our eyes on God,

not on the difficulties. We must pray with our eyes

on God, not on the difficulties most of us. When

we enter into prayer, our thoughts are not on God.

Our thoughts are on the difficulties that we face, and

we want God to meet the need in.

The gap that we have.

So our thoughts, our primary thrust in prayer is on difficulty,

not on God.

When we go to prayer, it shouldn't be.

In response to something that's happening in our life. Okay,

I'm gona give you another chance to say Amen. When

we pray, the catalyst for our prayer shouldn't be in

response to something that's happening in our life. It should

be in response to who God is. See, that's the

whole difference between people who pray prayers and people who

truly pray prayers.

We're just seeking.

God's response to something but when we truly are people

that pray, we're seeking his face. God never told us

to seek his hands. He told us to seek his face.

And when we find his face, we find purpose. And

when we find purpose, we find life, and life more abundantly.

In John chapter ten, verse twenty nine, that says, are

not the sparrow's soul for a copper coin, and not

one of them falls to the ground apart from your

father's will.

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Do not fear.

Therefore you are of more value than many sparrows. Let's pray, Father,

we thank you for your word. It's the only change

agent we have on the face of this planet. And

I pray God that you work and move and change

us today. Let your word take route at the fabric

of our being, that place that we hide from everybody,

that place where we doubt, we're insecurities birthed, where fear hides.

Let your word reside there instead.

In Jesus' name, Amen, Jesus is talking, and he says, Hey,

you're worried and you're stressed out.

But look at the sparrows. He said, these birds.

You can go down to the pet store and you

can buy two of them for a copper coin. Now,

we used to make copper coins. They used to be

called pennies. We don't do that here anymore. Amen, you

know the world's changing when they just start doing away

with money because nothing is cheap enough to use it

for anymore.

He said, Listen, you.

Used to buy it, used to be able to buy

two sparrows. But here's the reality. When one of those

crashed to the ground, your father in heaven knows about

it because he keeps up with it. Then he says,

he even knows the number of hairs on your head.

He knows.

The minute details of your life, and he cares about

those details. He says that when he says, don't fear,

you're of more value than these sparrows. When God created everything, everything,

at the end of the day, he looked and he

saw that it was good. But when he created you,

he looked and he said that it was very good.

That you are elevated above all creation, and that he

deeply cares about you. And the reality is is that

is that your value is not determined by what you do.

It's determined by.

Who you are. Your value is not.

Determined by what you do, but by who you are.

And the flip side of that, your value is also

not determined by what happens to you. It's determined by

who you are. A lot of times we think that

we can behave good enough come on somebody, that we

can do enough that God looks.

At us and he smiles at us, and he appreciates

us because of what we do. And we think that

we do enough.

Good things that it offsets those secret things in our life.

And if that's our attitude, if we think that because

we can earn favor with God through our actions, we

also think that means that when bad things happen, that

God thinks less of us.

In those moments than in those times.

That because things are bad in my life, God must

be disappointed or mad or upset, or he's just forgotten

about me altogether. But in John, in first John, chapter three,

verse one, it says, behold, what manner of.

Love the Father has bestowed on us that.

We should be called the children of God. Therefore the

world does not know us because it did not know him.

See here's the reality is, and that God doesn't love

you because of what you do.

He loves you because you're his child. He loves you

because you're a child.

Now, now, listen, I know that there are that there

are some twisted relationships that happen in the world, but

the reality is that most of us, I'm.

Going to ask for a show of hands. I want

you to search deep.

Most of us love our kids even when they go

through those moments where they're unlovable.

Raise your hand if you love your kid.

Even when they go through those moments when they seem

to be unlovable, when they're hard headed, when they do

crazy things, when they smart off and you just knocked it.

Listen, transparency, right.

I mean I'm still being sanctified in some areas of

my life.

Amen.

You know, uh, you know, sometimes my kid's mouth off

and I just want to just and they're grown. I

mean that would probably you know, if I spanked my

daughters in public right now, that'd probably be looked at bad.

Amen.

But I still love them regardless of how hardheaded they are,

regardless of those things. I still love my kids because

they're my kids. And God loves you not because of

what you do, but because of who you are.

You are his child, and because you're.

His child, that means you have certain availabilities. You have

certain things that are entitled that you are entitled to.

In Galatians chapter four, verse six, it says, and because

you were sons, don't get your feelings hurt.

That just talks about all of his children. Because you were.

Sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son

into your hearts, crying out all the Father. Therefore you're

no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son,

then an.

Air of God through Christ.

That literally, because you're a son, your inheritance is everything

that God has. Now I want you to think about

how special and set apart that makes you. That you

literally are the heir to all of creation. That everything

God has done, that everything God is built, he built

it for you. He built it for you to take advantage,

not take advantage of, but to take advantage of. He

built it for you to live in. He built it

for you to prosper with. He built all of those

things for you. But yet so many of us we

still believe that God is angry, or that God is upset,

or that God doesn't care when we go through those

seasons of life where things are difficult. And I want

to assure you of one thing that as long as

you're alive, you are going to face some difficult situations.

As long as you were still living, life is going

to happen. The world is going to hate you. The

Devil's gonna hate you. You're gonna continue to get a

little older. Come on, somebody earlier. The Holy Spirit was

moving and I moved over here, and I got down

on one knee and I was praying. I was seeking

the face of the Lord. Quit laughing, Matt, watch me

get up.

I was near that.

I was having a spiritual moment. And then I mean,

you know, it was just me and y'all just disappeared. Man,

it was just me and God over here. We were

hanging out. I got through and I started to get up,

and man.

It was hard.

My legs were shaking, Sweat popped.

Out on my head. I mean, I know I'm fat,

but I'm not that fat yet. I just had that.

Old man moment where I couldn't get up off the ground.

Life is going to happen, and we're gonna keep getting

older and I can play listen. It would have been

easy to say, God, here, I am worshiping you, and

then you embarrassed me like that In front of all

these people almost fell off the front of the stage.

But you know what, that's part of.

Being alive, that's part of building legacy, is that we

have to get older to build legacy, We have to

get older to.

Build our testimony.

We have to get older in order to impact the

people around us and make a difference in the world in.

Which we live. But yet somehow we respond.

To God negatively, negatively when the natural things are happening,

and we think somehow that's our value.

But He sees you as his child when we pray.

We need to understand that we pray with value already

appropriated to us from the Father. That we're not asking

for favor, we're not seeking the favor. We're already favored

because we're his child when we come to him. All

about those moments of you and your father, you and

your parent having a conversation where you tell them thank

you for everything they've done for you, and they in

turn tell you what an object of affection you are

and how proud they are of you.

That's where prayer is born.

But most of our time in prayer, most of our

time in prayer should focus.

On Him and who we are in him.

In Luke chapter eighteen, verse ten, it says two men

went up to the temple to pray, one a pharisee

and the other a tax collector.

The pharisee stood and prayed.

Thus with himself, God, I thank you that I'm not

like other men.

If that's the way you start your prayer.

There's some other things wrong other than the fact that

you're just standing up in front.

Of everybody praying it right.

If your prayer starts, I just thank you that I'm

better than everybody else. That's well, we're gonna have an

altra call in just a minute. That I'm not like

other men, extortioners, unjust adulters, or even as this tax collector,

I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all

that I possess. And the tax collector standing afar off,

would not so much as.

Raise his eyes to Heaven.

But beat his breast, saying, God be merciful to me

a sinner.

I tell you this man went down to.

His house justified rather than the other. For everyone who

exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself

will be exalted. He says, Hey, when you pray understand

that the value is already there. You're not trying to

impress God. You're not trying to get anything from God.

The value and the relationship is already there.

You're just spending time together.

You don't have to convince him that you're better than

somebody else. You don't have to convince him that Randy

is bad so I can be good. I don't have

to point out all the bad parts of Jeremy's life

and point out all the good parts of my life

so that God thinks I'm just a little more special.

God already knows both of our hearts, and he values

both of us as we are being shaped and formed

into his image. And then we read all the countless

prayers and psalms of David where David doesn't make it

about himself. Now there are some times where he, yeah,

he does make it about hisself, and he whines a

little bit. But most of what David does is he

talks about the majesty of God. He talks about the

king enthroned in the heavenly. He talks about the matchless

goodness of Jesus, who he is passionately in love with

the Father himself. And David was a man after God's

own heart because he didn't seek value from other places.

He sought value and identity from God. And even though

he missed the mark, listen to me. Even though he

missed the mark, the value was still there that even

though he was one of the most we exalt people

in scripture above what they actually are A lot of times. Amen,

these were broken people, just like us, and David may

have been the most broken. But God looks at him

and says, because of the time we spend together, because

of these moments where you see me for who I

am and you see you for who I say you are,

you're a man after my heart. We have a fervent, loving,

vibrant relationship together because of the time you spent with me.

Every time they look look for David as a child,

he was in the field playing something on his guitar

and singing, or he was in prayer.

Seeking the Lord.

That's where you found him, isolated and building his relationship

with his creator. When God looks for you, where does

he find you? When God looks for you, does he

find you somewhere in a hurry, stressed out and anxious

and trying to figure things out On your own when

he's still waiting, just saying, hey, if you'll just understand

who you are and who I've created you to be,

if you'll just spend time with me, I can speak

those things into your heart and shape you, inform you

into the true image that I desire for you to be.

And that happens when we're in prayer together. Setting our

minds to come into prayer knowing that God is moving

on our behalf shifts how we pray and what we

pray about. See, here's where we marry these two things together,

the series that we did in January and this prayer

series together. If we already understand because we've been renewing

our minds, if we can already set ourselves to know

before we ever bow our knee that God is already

moving and working on our behalf, then when we come

to prayer, we're not spending all of that time asking

him for things that he's all listen, that he's.

Already going to do for you.

He already knows the needs you have, he's already going

to prove he's already going to provide every need you have.

Some of you are like, I don't know about that.

I don't even know if that theology is right.

Yes, it is.

His promise is that he provides for every need. Now

you may have your wants and needs mixed up, but

he provides for every need.

He provides for the things that will.

Take you and point you towards your purpose and allow

you to achieve your purpose. Everything you need, he's already

going to provide. But we spend so much time where

we could be in formation receiving from God because we

think he's far from us. But if we'll spend time

asking those three questions that we talked about in January,

it frames our mind and renews our thinking.

So when we come to prayer.

First of all, we've already expressed we've already expressed gratitude.

What are three things I'm thankful for? We already have

expressed gratitude, so we already know God's working on our

behalf already said, hey, where do I see God working

even in the little things? And we see that he's

very close and very near, and he's engaged to my

life right now.

And then what's.

Something down the road that I know is coming that

I'm gonna need God's wisdom or peace? And we've already

leaned into our dependency on Him, and if we've shaped.

Our mind to think that way, it changes.

Our prayer life because when we come into prayer, we're

not doubting whether he will. We're stepping into meeting the

one who has already done it. We're just waiting for

time to catch up. When we stack principles and we

stop trying to isolate things in our lives and understand

that God is working on our life holistically. Instead of

thinking that you know what, I just need to let

me just ask how many of you you've ever thought

to yourself, I need to pray more, and then maybe

day or two later, I need to read the scripture more,

and then oh I need to give more. Oh I

need to help somebody this week because that's what the Lord.

Want me to do.

And there's all these instances, there's all these things, and

we said, we need to do this better, we need

to do that better, we need to do that better,

and we isolate these things as independent things. But the

reality is God is working holistically in our lives and

He will order those things when we spend time with

him and give him the authority to direct our lives

and stop allowing the enemy to lie to you and

point out your deficiencies, because he doesn't see deficiencies. He

just realizes that you're not there yet, that you're still

working and you're still moving, because you're his child and

he's your father, and he's still teaching. He hadn't given

up on you. He hasn't forgotten about you. You're seated

right there in his presence, in his will, waiting for

you to acknowledge him. In Matthew chapter six, verse thirty one,

the bank can come and get ready. In Matthew chapter six,

verse thirty one, it says, therefore, do not worry saying

what shall we eat, or what shall we drink?

Or what shall we wear?

For after all these things, the gentile seeks for your

heavenly father knows that you need all things.

You know. The reality is that as believers, that's our promise.

But if you're not a believer, you don't live in

the same covenant and you don't have the same promise.

When we read those scriptures, it's easy for us to

look around and think that he means that for everybody,

but he means that for you. That he is the

provider to those who seek him that he is the

provider for his children, but he has no obligation to

provide for those that are outside of the covenant. It

rains on the just and the unjust alike, but specific

provision comes to the believer. And if you're here today

and you've never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins,

you've never made him the Lord of your life. You've

never stepped into covenant relationship with him. That means a

contractual agreement. If you've never done that, then you're trying

to sort through a pretty tough world all by yourself,

with no safety net to fall back on. But for believers,

his promises that he'll provide, never seen his children forsaken,

never seen them begging for bread, That he is able to.

Move just in time to meet every need. And it's

still hard to navigate the world.

Sometimes, it's still hard, even knowing that God is for

me to face some decisions that have to be made

and to step out of that boat onto the water.

It's hard to do those things.

I couldn't imagine what it would be like if I

didn't have the Lord in my life, that if every

decision I made carried the ultimate consequence that if every

step I made, if it wasn't the right one, that

I was responsible for paying the debts that I was creating.

That's what life is like when you're not inside the Covenant,

but when you surrender your life to Jesus, he steps

in and brings protection and provision and peace and comfort

and strength. If you're here today and you've you've never

asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, never ask

him to.

Be the lord of your life, to be your guiding force.

I want to give you an opportunity to do that,

with every head bowed and every eye closed. If you're

here today and you'd say, Pastor Steve, I'm in some

of the hardest, hardest times of my life. I don't

know how I'm gonna make it. I need the Lord

to before me. I'm tired of trying to make those

things happen on my own. I want to trust Jesus.

If you're here and that's you, and you'd say today,

I want to give my life to Jesus, just slip

up your hand and say that's me. By aster on

and working for me and not against me, on in providing.

For making a way. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, Jesus.

M h.

Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus, thank you Father.

Amen. Every eye open, everybody stand to your feet.

M hm m h m.

The band's gonna do this last worship song. H. If

you're in that song, you you realize, Yeah, I probably

should have, probably should have come to the altar. I

probably should have sought after the Lord. I'm just gonna

stand right down here until they get done. I'll pray

with you.