November 5, 2023 / The Holy Spirit and Prayer

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead

pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth

for the life we're searching for. Let's take our Bibles this morning and turn to the book

of John, chapter 16 today as we talk about the Holy Spirit and prayer. If you've been

John 16 · chapter mention

with us the last few weeks, you know that we've been looking at John 14, 15, and 16,

and specifically we're asking questions about what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit and

now today what Jesus says about prayer in this context of the Holy Spirit as a whole.

You know, we talked about the fact that Jesus told his disciples, it's expedient, it's

important that I go away, because if I don't go away, then I can't send the helper to

be with you. But if I go away, I'll send the helper, literally another helper like

myself and he'll be with you forever. And you know who he is because he's with you

now and he will be with you forever. As in John chapter 14, John 15 is all about abiding

John 14 · chapter mention

in the vine and being closely connected to the Lord. And then John 16, another reminder

about the Holy Spirit and prayer. So we know it's of essence to understand the power of

the Holy Spirit in our life. But I have never in my life heard a series taught on just what

Jesus said about the Holy Spirit. And yet that's got to be foundational to everything

else that we learn about the Holy Spirit. So take your Bibles, John chapter 16 beginning

John 16 · chapter mention

in verse 23, let's stand together as I read several verses here, this focus on prayer

in John chapter 16. John 16 verse 23. Listen to what Jesus says about prayer. In that day,

John 16 · chapter mention John 16:23

Jesus says, now he's referring to the day when he goes away and leaves the Holy Spirit

with us. In that day, you will not question me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you,

if you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you. I want to pause long

enough to just think about the magnitude of that statement. If you ask the Father for

anything in my name, he will give it to you. Surely you want to understand what all that

means. Verse 24, until now you have asked for nothing in my name, ask and you will receive

so that your joy may be made full. These things I've spoken to you in figurative language.

An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will

tell you plainly of the Father. In that day, you will ask in my name and I do not say to

you that I will request of the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you because

you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. Father, in Jesus

name we come wanting to understand prayer, wanting to understand what Jesus has said

to us today. And Father, my prayer is that we will walk away from here today motivated

to pray, understanding more about why we pray and understanding your call that when we're

in prayer, you draw us closer together. Father, I pray that you'll bless this text in our

lives in Jesus name, amen. Please be seated if you would. Man, I've been loving this series,

just absolutely love what we're learning about the Holy Spirit, love what we're learning

about prayer. In the middle of all of these statements about prayer, you're going to find

one line that comes up over and over and over. It's almost unbelievable in its promise. I

mean, it's almost beyond what we can imagine. And sometimes our imagination does run away

with us when it comes to this prayer, this line that Jesus shared with us. But I want

to bring it up. I want to clarify what he said. I want to clarify the power of this

statement. Here's what he said. He said, ask and you will receive. Ask and you will receive.

In essence, Jesus says this in John 14, 15, and 16, but Matthew records Jesus saying

this in Matthew chapter 7 as well. Knock and it'll be opened to you. Seek and you'll find.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Ask and it shall be given to you. These words about asking the Father for something are

pretty powerful. And I think we all know this. We know we need God to be at work in our life

and we desperately want to see him answer our prayer. So here's this statement Jesus

makes that we need to understand ask and you will receive. Now when I get down to these

last few verses of John chapter 16, having walked through 14, 15, and 16, I'm drawing

John 16 · chapter mention

this conclusion that I want you to see and that is that Jesus makes it clear that the

two things most necessary for our success as followers in Christ are the presence of

the Holy Spirit and prayer. You cannot do the Christian life without the presence of

the Holy Spirit. Jesus never said we could, by the way. He never said that you're supposed

to live the Christian life in your own power. You can't do it. He never said you could.

But he will do it. He always said he would. That's an old line by a guy named Major Ian

Thomas. So the Holy Spirit is indispensable to you living the life Christ has called you

to and I want you to see with Jesus' words today so is prayer. These are the two things

that are indispensable. Now I think that's a big statement because sometimes we forget

about the Holy Spirit. We forget about his presence. We forget about his power. We forget

about what he's doing in our lives. Sometimes we're not even aware that we're indwelt by

the Holy Spirit. That's a problem when we get to struggling in the Christian life. And

sometimes it seems we forget about prayer. We don't find ourselves motivated to prayer

or we're confused by prayer or for some reason we're frustrated when we don't get an answer

to a prayer. And so the two things most necessary, the Holy Spirit and prayer, we back off from

from time to time. No wonder sometimes we fail. But Jesus said these two things are

available for you. One has been given to you, the Holy Spirit. The other is something you

are to do and that's prayer. All right? So if you can keep that in your mind today as

we walk through this, the Holy Spirit's been given to you. Every believer has the presence

of the Holy Spirit in their life and prayer is something that they're given the opportunity

to do. You need to step forth. You need to pray to activate all that God said for you

to do. And I know some of us will say what I say and that is I don't understand fully

how prayer works. Anybody ever said that? I don't fully understand how prayer works.

If you don't have your hand up, then I want to talk to you after the service because if

you understand fully how prayer works, you'll be about the only person in the room that

does. I don't understand fully how prayer works. I can't easily explain why a sovereign

God who knows everything from eternity past to eternity future, every need I'll ever have,

I can't always explain how he requires me to ask before he answers the prayer of something

I need. I can't explain exactly how that works. Vance Habner years ago said I can't explain

electricity but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit in the dark until I do figure it out.

He's got a great point. We're called to pray even though we don't comprehend and even though

we're not fully aware of how it works and why God does it just that way. And my encouragement

to you today is even if you don't fully understand it, even if you misunderstand some aspect

of prayer, don't put it on the shelf. Quite the opposite of that. Exercise the prayer

that God has caused you to pray and watch God work in your life in a way that he would

not work otherwise. So Jesus gives us some principles I'm going to give you today out

of the verses that we read. There are four of them in all. First of all, Jesus is telling

us that we pray with attitude. Pray with attitude. Now I want you to read what it says there

in verse 23. We're going to walk through this phrase by phrase. Truly, truly I say to you,

if you ask the Father, if you ask the Father. Now when I say pray with attitude, I don't

mean what people often mean when they say do it with attitude. Sometimes when we say

they have an attitude, we're describing someone that's got a chip on their shoulder or in

some way they're kind of snarky, they have an attitude about them. I'm not talking about

that. I'm talking about having the proper attitude in prayer. I'm talking about having

the correct posture in prayer. Not so much about whether we're on our knees or on our

face, but have the right heart mentality, the perspective of prayer. You say, well where

does it say that? Well the word for ask is a very definite word that describes prayer.

It describes someone of lesser rank asking someone of greater rank for something that

they need. In other words, Jesus positions prayer as not you talking to someone else

as you would talk to an equal, but talking to someone that has greater rank than you.

In other words, Jesus, if I could just cut to the case, says just keep in mind you're

praying to the most high God. But I'm telling you that you can do that. You can pray to

the most high God. And if I were to word this in such a way to describe and summarize it,

we're given the privilege of asking the most high God to meet our need. The most high God.

You ever made a phone call about something that you needed service for and someone that

took the phone call wasn't giving you answers, you wanted to ask for their manager, and maybe

even their manager came on the phone and they didn't do a good job of it either, and you

want to go to the top of the company. Let me talk to the president of the company. Listen,

you're talking to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords when you pray. You can't get

any higher authority than that. So Jesus is telling us that we need to keep in mind that

he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords when we pray and to pray with the attitude

that reflects that. Did you know that your concept of who God is flavors how you pray?

If you see him as an equal, then you pray as though you're talking to someone that's

an equal. If you see him as a benevolent grandfather, so to speak, then you'll appeal to him like

he would a benevolent grandfather. If you think he's a divine Amazon representative,

you're going to be placing your orders like he would with Amazon. But we're not told to

do any of those things. Instead, we're to realize that we are a person of lesser rank

asking someone who is of greater rank for what all we need. So that means when it comes

to prayer, I can't ask flippantly or arrogantly with a prideful heart. That means when I pray,

I can't demand things of God with an angry heart. That means that when I pray, I can't

presume upon him or manipulate him with a selfish heart. And I would say we've probably

all been guilty of some of those things. But instead of all that, prayer moments are holy

moments. You and I have the privilege of talking to the most high God and it's a holy moment

when we exercise that activity of prayer. Do you remember the man Moses after he'd wandered

in the backside of the desert for 40 years and he encounters this burning bush that God

had set on fire? It wasn't being consumed, but it was there to get Moses' attention.

Do you remember what God said to Moses when he approached to see it closer? He said, Moses,

take your shoes off because the ground you're standing on is what? It's holy ground. Prayer

moments are holy moments. And as Moses began to listen, God began to identify himself.

Moses, I just want you to understand who it is that's talking to you from this burning

bush. And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and

the God of Jacob. That's in Exodus chapter three, verse six. In other words, Moses, you

need to have no question about who you're talking to right now. And Moses had the appropriate

response, if you read on, Moses falls on his face because he's struck by awe of the fact

that he's in the presence of God. Now I want you to remind you today, as casually as we

sometimes pray, just remember, pray with the right attitude. Pray with the attitude that

reminds you of who God is and reminds you of who you are. And I love this Moses and

the burning bush story because this two-way conversation actually unfolds. God is speaking

to Moses, but once Moses has gained some of his composure, he has some questions for God.

Who am I to go back to Egypt? What should I say? What will I do if they do this? What

will I do if they do that? And the interesting thing is, the God of all creation gives him

an answer to every question he has. He recognizes who he's talking to, the most high God, and

he's able to say, here's what I need, here's the question I have, and God speaks to him

and answers the question. You know the story of the Exodus, God uses Moses to go back and

set his people free. So I want you to pray with attitude, Jesus says. I want you to understand

the proper relationship between yourself and the one you're praying to. And that really

means the big question is not why should I pray, but why would I not pray if I'm given

that amazing opportunity to talk to the God of the universe? Why would I not do that?

When I was a young pastor just at a seminary, I was pastoring a church in Oklahoma, kind

of a small church, and our deacons, we didn't have many rooms in the building, we had a

worship center and a few rooms, but we met as deacons in the worship center when nobody

else was in there, and they sat in the choir off, and I would sit on the stage, or stand

on the stage and kind of lead them, and I remember one night we were having a prayer

meeting, God was doing some great things, and I remember being in a prayer meeting,

and I'll never forget it as long as I live, I was praying out loud at that moment, and

I just began to articulate, God you are a great God, a great King beyond all of the

earth, and you stand in power and in majesty, and as I was saying those words, all of a

sudden it hit me that that really is who He is, and they ceased becoming just words that

I had read off the page, and my awareness of the power and the presence of God was very

real, and I did what Moses did, not intentionally, but I just got down on my knees and got down

on my face and just went silent for a few moments, and I know those deacons were going,

what have we done, we've called this guy here, and he's fallen on his face in prayer.

Now that doesn't happen all the time in prayer, but you'll never forget it when it does.

When God impresses upon you how big He is, how great He is, how powerful He is, how able

He is, all of a sudden you realize this is not conversation with a wall or a ceiling

or with another person, this is conversation with the Most High God. Pray with attitude,

Jesus says. Then He tells us to pray with alignment. I like that word alignment because

it tells us a great deal about what it means to pray in the name of Jesus. Notice what

it says in verse 23 as He goes on, truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the Father,

you see the next three words, in my name. When you hear people pray today, they pray

in the name of Jesus. And you hear me pray, I'll pray in the name of Jesus. I just need

you to know today, and Jesus wants us to know, these words help us define that this is not

a holy password. It's not a holy password. It's not just a name we throw out there in

order to gain entrance to the throne room of God. There's all the work that Jesus did

behind that, there's the blood He shed on the cross, there is His death, His burial

resurrection, all that is involved in that, and much, much more, which I'll explain in

just a second, but first, it's not a password. When you say the name of Jesus, don't say

it the same way you say any other name in prayer. You remember what it meant in the

old days, you knock on a door, somebody open the door or the peephole or the window to

the door and say, what's the password? Have you ever seen a movie like that? And then

they have to have some magic word that opens the door, some agreed upon descriptor word

that says, okay, you can gain entry here. You have passwords in everything you do online.

You have everything in your email, you have a password. On your apps, you have a password.

You have passwords for your passwords. I have a note on my iPhone that has all the passwords

that I have in every app I use, in every banking app, in every church app even, I've got passwords

for that app. If I lose my special, special notes on iPhone with all the list of passwords,

then I'll never get in anywhere. Passwords are important. But Jesus is not a password.

That's not what Jesus is talking about. Even though he says it simply, those disciples

understood it differently than we understand it today. Let me just say, I've heard people

say and pray some crazy things in the name of Jesus. It just shows me they don't have

any idea what Jesus meant here because it's not a password. And that's why they would

pray crazy things because they think it is a password. Okay? So I want you to know, we

can't do anything else in Jesus' name as a password. I can't lie in Jesus' name. I can't

steal in Jesus' name. I can't cuss in Jesus' name. Oh wait, some people do that, don't

they? I can't pray in Jesus' name as a password. Now it's important that Jesus says this six

times throughout these texts, which we'll look at in just a few moments. But what Jesus

is saying is this. He is reminding us that the Father will answer prayer that's in alignment,

prayer that's consistent with Jesus' ways and words, prayer that is offered as a representative

of Christ on earth, which is what we're called to do, a prayer that is in alignment with

the Father. You say, well, all of a sudden that gets real complicated. But actually,

it doesn't get real complicated. It just helps us understand that the name of Jesus is not

a password for anything. I want you to go back to John chapter 14 and look with me at

John 14 · chapter mention

several verses just reminding you of what Jesus had said. John chapter 14, go back in

John 14 · chapter mention

your Bibles to verse 13. Jesus said, whatever you ask in my name, that will I do so that

the Father may be glorified in the Son. Look at verse 14. If you ask anything in my name,

I will do it. If you go to chapter 15, you see it again. Verse 16, you did not choose

me but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your

fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to

you. And then look in chapter 16, which is the passage we just read. Verse 23, in that

day you will not question me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the

Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you. Then verse 24, until now you've

asked for nothing in my name, ask and you will receive. And then verse 26, in that day

you will ask in my name. So Jesus really wants us to understand this. And there is power

in the name of Jesus but this is not a password. He wants us to pray in alignment with all

that he's taught us, all that he's saved us from. Let me verbalize what I believe this

text is telling us. It's saying I want my life and the things I'm asking to honor him.

I want my life and the things that I'm asking to honor Christ, to honor God. It means that

I am aligning myself as best I know how with Jesus Christ himself so that when I ask the

Father in his name it's in full alignment with him. Jesus, every prayer Jesus prayed

was answered by the Father perfectly. Jesus always did those things that pleased his Father.

That is for us to understand how that works and what this means. I want my life and the

things I'm asking to honor you. Now if you know what that is, pray that. And if you don't

know what that is, ask him to show you. And ask perhaps this way, Lord, your will be done.

Don't you remember when the disciples asked Jesus, teach us how to pray. Jesus taught

them the prayer that we now call the Lord's Prayer, more appropriately probably named

the Disciples Prayer because this is how they would pray. And at the end of that prayer

there's a line that says, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

God, I may not know everything that you want done. I may not have every answer already

in my mind. I don't even know how to pray. But I know this, I want to pray your kingdom

come, your will be done. That's what it means to pray in the name of Jesus. I want my life

to honor you and I want my prayer to honor you. And when we do that, we move into alignment

with God and our prayers become far more powerful. We're asking him for what we know he wants.

In 2004, this church suffered a catastrophic financial disaster that happened in this church

and they were seven plus million dollars in debt with no plan for repayment. And the interim

pastor at the time, a guy named Bill Anderson said, I know what we're going to do. We're

going to pray and ask God to meet his need. And he said, I'm not going to tell you how

to give. I'm not going to tell you what to do. But I am going to tell you what I think

you ought to pray. And he said, I want you to pray these three questions. Number one,

Lord, is this a view? Number two, Lord, what's my part? And number three, Lord, bless your

people as we obey those first two. How many of you were here during that time? Some of

you, many of you were here. It's now called the miracle. I came about halfway into the

miracle. I was called as pastor in 2006 and in 2007 I stood on this stage and we burned

the note, paid everything off. God provided above and beyond and the miracle is still

a find that people still get to. Now 20 years later, yeah, somebody praise the Lord. Millions

of dollars have come through that fund, all going to ministry in varieties of ways. But

the amazing thing about those three prayers were simply this, that the encouragement was

to pray in alignment with Jesus. Don't just pray what you want. Pray, Lord, is this a

view? Lord, what's my part? You tell me what it is. I talked to Bill Anderson weeks ago

as I was going to share this with another group of people and I said, why did you pick

those three prayers? Where did you find them in the scripture? Why did you pick them? He

said, well, I was convinced that if I told people how to give and what to give, it would

never work. And besides, I don't have enough wisdom to do that. But I was convinced that

they would pray to the Father, he would tell them what to do. And they did and he did and

the rest of that is the story called the miracle. And I say, amen. Praying, Lord, I want to

be in alignment and I want to also have my prayers be in alignment are incredibly important

thing to pray. So I want to encourage you in that way. You say, well, now that we're

talking about prayer in the Holy Spirit, what does the Holy Spirit's role in prayer? What

does he have to do with all this? In John 14, 15 and 16, everything we've said about

the Holy Spirit is about him bringing us into alignment with Jesus day in and day out. That

the life he is causing us to live, he's shaping us to live, brings us to a place where that

prayer is in alignment with him. And sometimes it takes a huge work of the Holy Spirit to

get us to the place of surrender where we say, not my will, but your will be done. Most

of you in the room know my story. I tell it from time to time. I lost my hearing as a

young boy when I was just short of six years of age and incredibly high fever, very sick,

and lost 95% of my hearing. I'd already learned to speak so I could speak, but from that moment

forward, my world went silent and it took a while for my parents to figure all that

out and what happened to me. And they thought I was a disobedient child. I was not disobedient

at all. I just couldn't hear them. You've heard that before. As a teenager, I was angry

at God. God, I prayed that you would restore my hearing. God, I don't understand why I

have a hearing impairment. Lord, nobody else I know has this problem. My world was very

small obviously. Lord, why won't you change this? I had people praying for me that I trusted

far more than I trusted myself to pray wisely. I'd been surrounded by prayer with elders

and leaders in churches hands on, anointing with oil. Lord, heal this young man. Give

him his hearing back. And God never did restore my hearing during those years. At some point

at the early 20s stage in college, I began to pray differently. I began to pray instead

of Lord, heal me of my hearing loss, I began to say Lord, use my hearing loss in any way

you want and then restore it whenever you're done. And what happened was this. God changed

my prayer request because He changed my heart. He changed my prayer request because He brought

me to the place of saying, all right, if you're not going to do that, then obviously I'm not

praying in the right direction. Whatever you're going to do, do that. And now I look back

on my life and realize God has used that in a powerful way. One day I'll hear perfectly

in heaven or sometime before, but until then I'm content to not hear 95% of the things

that I don't need to hear anyway. As a pastor, I don't hear 95% of the criticism directed

my way and that's fine. You know, Paul has a similar experience where he said about the

thorn in the flesh. He said concerning this, I intruded the Lord three times that He would

remove it and He never did. Instead in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9, Paul said, he has said

2 Corinthians 12:9

to me, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly

therefore I will boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ might dwell in

me. And then he goes on and says, when I am weak, He is strong. Now Paul began by praying

for that thorn in the flesh to go away. He ended by saying, I'm going to boast about

what God is doing through that thorn in the flesh. The Holy Spirit changed his heart and

allowed him to pray in alignment with what God's will was for his life. So pray this

way. When you pray in the name of Jesus, pray that you want your life and the things that

you're asking for to honor Him. That's how sometimes prayer changes us. And then Jesus

says pray with authority. Pray with authority. He says in verse 24, until now you have asked

for nothing in my name, ask and you will receive. Now Jesus repeats this command several times

and does it with a very strong form of the verb. It's what we would call present imperative

mood. And all you need to know about that is, it's an imperative direct strong command.

Jesus says, this is how it's going to work. You're going to ask the Father and He's going

to respond to your prayers. Now before that moment, the disciples had just appealed to

Jesus standing right next to them and Jesus prayed on their behalf. And they were pretty

trusting of Jesus' prayers and what Jesus said. And now Jesus is saying, that's not

the way it's going to be. When I leave, I'm commanding you to do the asking. So you ask

and you have all the authority that I've given you to ask the Father for this to take place.

When you pray, when you ask the Father for whatever it is you ask, you have the authority

of Christ behind you and you can literally say, Father, I'm coming to you because your

son Jesus told me to bring this before you. You have authority when you pray. Not to command

God, not to command the Father at all, but you have the authority and the license and

the right given to you by Jesus the Son to come to the Father day in and day out. You

say, why do you emphasize that so much? Because sometimes we feel pretty unworthy to pray.

Sometimes we feel pretty ill informed to pray. We don't know what we ought to say. We don't

feel like we've had a good week, so how can we pray and ask the Father anything? But Jesus

says, no, you have authority based on the fact that I've told you to take it to the

Father yourself. Because I'm going to be with the Father. And now the Holy Spirit is inside

you. Ron Dunn is one of my favorite preachers of all time, a great author as well. He writes

a great book called Don't Just Stand There, Pray Something. Wrote it many decades ago,

still an awesome book. He tells the story of taking his three children to the county

fair. If you know what a county fair is, you know that sometimes they make you buy a big

round, a real roll of tickets and you get in the ride with the ticket. So Ron had his

three children with him and he had the roll of tickets and they were at the Ferris wheel

and the kids wanted to ride it. So one walked by him and he gave the first one a ticket,

another walked by, he gave the second a ticket, the third one walked by, he gave that third

child a ticket. And then another young boy walked by, he had never seen him before with

his hand out. And he looked at the boy and said, I have no idea who you are. And he said,

I'm friends with your son. And at that point the son turned around and said, Dad, he's

with me, can he get into? And Ron said, what do you think I did? He said, I pulled another

ticket off and gave it to him because he was coming in under the authority of my son. And

he gives that little story as an illustration of the fact that we have authority to ask

the father for what's going on in our lives. We have the authority to say, I need something

from you and your son has given me the authority to ask you. That's a big deal. You can ask

in the name of Jesus. When you pray to the father, you do it in the authority given to

you by the son, Jesus Christ. Now why does Jesus make this such a big deal? Because there

are some things God will do if we ask that he will not do if we don't ask. And this is

what's hard to understand. And the sovereignty of God, why is it if he knows all these things,

if he takes care of all of our needs, that he won't do some things if we don't ask, but

he will do them if we ask. Say, pastor, what's the answer to that? And I'll say, I don't

know. But I do know that's the way he's decided to act on the basis of our prayers. Jesus

said it, the Bible says it over and over. So pray. You have the authority to pray, to

go before God. You should have the motivation to do it as well. Think about it like this.

There's the universal thing that God has called us to do about everything. Many of those things

we can't do anything else about, but he's commanded us. He's given us the authority

to pray. Pray as the first thing you do because it should be the first thing you do and pray

because it's the best thing you do. And it is the best thing you do every time. Instead

of worrying about things, instead of the panic that we're often stricken with, instead of

being overcome with anxiety and fear and everything else that happens, why don't we direct our

prayers to God first and see it as the best way to start to wrestle with the problem?

I love what it says by Paul in Philippians chapter four. He said exactly what I've been

talking about here. He said, be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and

supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And then what it says

in the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ

Jesus. I've been anxious about things before that I couldn't do anything about at all.

I could do absolutely nothing but pray. And when I'm in that spot, prayer will be enough

because if God has not given me the equipping to do anything else about it, then I can't

do anything, but I can pray in the authority and in the name of Jesus Christ and I should

pray in that way. Pray. I may not have the authority over the will of others, but I have

been given the authority to pray. I may not have authority to change circumstances, but

I have been given the authority to pray. I may not have the authority to stop the wars

that are going on in interesting places in the world, but I do have the authority to

pray, so I need to pray. Sometimes God will remind me of those promises and those encouragements

to pray. Back in 2006 or 2007, something like that, our oldest daughter who was approaching

30 years of age was dating a guy and she lived in Chicago at the time and we didn't know

him, but we had a bad feeling about it. We just didn't like what we'd heard. Now that

may be true of every parent, every circumstance, but we felt pretty strongly about it. And

she called us one day and said, you know, I'm going on a trip with this guy. We're going

to Cabo western part of Mexico down south of Baja California and we felt even worse

about that. And so in appealing to her, we said, hey, we've got our reasons and tried

to kind of help her understand what our reasons were and she insisted, no, we're going to

go. And so we looked at each other and said, I guess we can pray. And sometimes when we

say those kinds of things, it's almost like a resignation. Well, all else has failed,

so I guess we pray, right? But that should have been the first thing and the best thing

that we did. So we prayed. About a week before the trip, she called us and she said, hey,

we're not going down on that trip. And we were celebrating on the other end of that

phone, but we waited long enough to find out what she said about it. Well, why is that,

John? And she said, well, strange thing, a hurricane came up and is blowing in towards

the resort we were going to. And so now we're not going because of the hurricane. And I

said, oh, okay. She said, dad, do you know what the name of the hurricane is? And I said,

no. She said, hurricane John. I'm not sure if you're telling you that that hurricane

was named after me at all, but you'd have a hard time convincing me that that was just

a coincidence. Sometimes the first thing and the best thing is pray. And you miss it when

you don't pray. You know, I may not have authority over winds and waves, but I have authority

to pray to the one who does have authority over winds and waves. And so do you. What

an incredible opportunity Jesus is giving us. And there's something else that happens

when we come to him in those moments where we're falling apart, we don't know what to

do and we begin to pray. Something else happens and what happens is he becomes very real to

you. All of a sudden he's not as distant, he's not as far off. All of a sudden you have

given him your heart and your life and your words and your prayer and he becomes real

to you. We have a new granddaughter and my son and daughter-in-law called us not too

long ago and said Sloan has a fever and we're kind of concerned about her. Went to the emergency

room and all the tests they were doing, they wanted to do a spinal tap. And that's one

of the most horrifying things a parent hears about. And so they were going to do the spinal

tap, long story short it all worked out just fine. She didn't have what they were looking

for so she was well within a day or two. But that important moment where my son had to

step into that gap and say there's nothing I can do for her but pray. And my wife and

I looked at each other, we've been there many times before. We've had the same kind of things

done for our children. There's nothing we can do but pray. And in those moments we were

drawn closer together and closer to God. You ever wonder that maybe God allows you to go

through things like that where there's nothing you can do but pray to draw you closer to

him and that's a good thing if you'll have it, if you'll have it. So Jesus says pray

with authority. You have that authority to go to him and come to him and this is the

way it works so pray. Then finally, and I almost missed this and I don't want you to

miss it, pray with assurance. Pray with assurance. Now look very carefully at that last line

there. In that day you will ask in my name and then the strange wording that Jesus gives

us, I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf. Leading after

that moment Jesus has been requesting the Father on their behalf but now he says I'm

not going to tell you that. I'm not going to tell you I'm going to ask the Father on

your behalf. Now read the next line. For the Father himself loves you. These years you've

been walking with me, you've just trusted that the Father loves you because I've been

telling you that. I've been showing you that. I'm going to show you that in an ultimate

way when I go to the cross. But I'm not going to tell you that I'm going to ask the Father

on your behalf anymore and the reason is because you're going to become acutely aware that

the Father himself loves you just as he loves me. If that doesn't motivate you to prayer

I don't know if there is anything that will. Jesus is saying in essence the Father himself

loves you, it's not just me, it's the Father. He loves you to ask, ask, go to him. And the

reason I'm so surprised to read this is because I missed it in all the other places where

Jesus said it. And maybe we all need to be reminded, maybe we all need to refresh our

course on what Jesus said because when we pray we often ask God do you even know, do

you even care, are you even hearing what I say? And Jesus has laid the groundwork for

this statement right here. Let me just read a few verses. Matthew chapter 6 verse 32,

Matthew 6:32

for the Gentiles eagerly seek after these things. But your heavenly Father knows that

you need all these things but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness alignment and

all these things shall be added to you. He knows. Jesus said in Matthew 7, if you then

being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly

Father give what is good to those that ask him? He knows, he's willing. Romans 8, 32,

the apostle Paul said this, he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for

us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things, man? It's all through

the Bible. And then the end here, until now you've asked for nothing in my name, ask and

you will receive so that your joy may be made full. And that's the promise you have from

God the Father. Maybe we'll find more joy than we have right now when we learn to pray

the way Jesus said to pray. That maybe is kind of an angle. You will have more joy when

you pray the way Jesus said to pray. You know, many of us in this room know what it's like

to be lonely. My great-great-grandmother was a woman that prayed for her family in a very

devoted way. And we don't know how many times she read through the Bible but it's likely

to be 50 times or more in the last 10 years of her life. In the last few years she was

reading through about five times a year. A godly woman, a prayerful woman, all alone

by the time she died. She died when I was about 10 years of age. I met her one time.

But her reputation preceded her and remains as a woman of prayer. And the word about her

was that even though there was no one else around her in her latter years, she was by

herself a lot but that she was never lonely. Alone but never lonely. And the reason she

was alone is because of her age and where she lived. But the reason she was never lonely

is because she knew what it meant to have a life of prayer with a father who loved him

herself, loved her himself. There are those of us in this room today that are sometimes

lonely. Sometimes we're all by ourselves and we really feel we're lonely but I have to

tell you today, you're never alone, never fully alone. You have a father that knows

you, who loves you, and he loves you just like Jesus loved his disciples and loved you

enough to dial him across. Pray, ask, walk with him in that command. Just a few moments

I want to offer you two or three invitations. Number one, I'm going to close us in prayer

and we'll have our decision stations open. It may be today that you realize, you know,

I don't really have that kind of a relationship with God and I'm not really sure about what

it means to put my faith and trust in Jesus. We want to talk to you about that. We'd love

to have a Q&A, a question and answer time with you. And our decision stations are open

at either side at the back of the worship center. As you leave today, stop by and talk

with one of those individuals who can't wait to share with you the good news of what it

means to have a relationship with Christ. I'm also going to invite you, if you're a

guest, to come to guest reception center. It's right outside the center exit door and

across the hallway, a glassed in room. I'll be in there to answer some questions, talk

to you a little bit about Cross City Church. And in that room, if you're a first time guest

or a guest that comes to guest reception, I have some free food truck coupons. I mean,

the only thing better than food trucks is a coupon for the food truck, right? So you

get all the food you want to eat. And our encouragement to you is to come and hang out,

meet some of our people and just get to know Cross City Church a little bit. And thirdly,

I want to ask you to invite someone to come with you next week. One of the most important

things we can do is invite people to the gathering where God's people meet so they can hear the

good news of the gospel and have an opportunity to see their lives change as well. Would you

stand with me as we have a word of prayer?

Father, I am so grateful today for these in this room and the opportunity we've had to

worship you, to dedicate families, to look at prayer. Father, as we leave today, I ask

you, Lord, that you would keep reminders in our minds and heart about prayer, that we

would be encouraged to pray and to trust you with what you'll do through those commands

to pray. For those that don't know if they have a relationship with you or not, Lord,

help them be drawn to getting the answer to that question today. It's so important for

us to have eternal life and we find it only in you, Jesus. So today, direct us as we leave.

Help us walk with you in these days ahead in Jesus' name. Amen. You're dismissed and

God bless.