Fan the Flames (Pt 2) | Night of Prayer

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Father, I thank you.

I thank you for opportunities for us to come and gather in your name.

Father, with an expectation, Lord, that you're going to meet us at this place.

Your word reminds us that you're a rewarder of those who diligently seek you, God, those who go out of their way, God, those who get stuck in traffic, Father, those who rearrange schedules, but they make it an effort to come into your house, and your word responds with saying that you're going to meet us where we are.

So, Father, I pray for every person that diligently oriented their lives so they could be in the household of faith, Father, that we can see the promise of that word become true in their lives, that we can see the blessing, we can see the healing, we can see the restoration, Father, that we can recognize this as a time of visitation where we can declare on the name of Jesus and recognize that when we're in the presence of God, that it changes everything.

Have your way in this place.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

Can we put our hands together for the goodness of God and you can go ahead and say hello to somebody around you and take your seats?

We're so, so glad that you're that you're here with us.

Moments like this just fill me with with so so much joy and seeing how many of us would come out and engage the presence of God tonight.

Uh, what I want to do is I really want to uh set the framework of what our time tonight is going uh to look like.

Um if you guys were with us on this past Sunday where we were talking a little bit about the topic of prayer, um, we shared that we're gonna uh conclude that message briefly and then go into some targeted times of prayer.

So what we're gonna do tonight is I'm gonna unpack a couple more thoughts that are connected to uh the Lord's Prayer to kind of finalize what I was sharing on Sunday.

So if you miss Sunday, um you'll get it's kind of like watching the movie in reverse, you'll hear this part, but go back and watch uh the first section of it because it'll give it full context.

But then what we're gonna do is we're gonna create some space um just for us to pray.

Uh the altar is gonna be open for those that would love to come down.

We have prayer requests that are on my side here, and if you want to fill those prayer cards out, these are things that me and the staff and even our prayer team um are praying over um during the whole entirety of the fast.

In fact, this is just gonna be our our rhythm going forward.

Um but then after we have a moment of just prayer and reflection and journaling and what it is that God puts on your heart to do, um, we're gonna come back together for corporate prayer.

And we're gonna be praying over some very specific things, things such as healing and things such as marriages and things like that.

Um, and so there'll be opportunities for you to come to the altar if you would like to.

We're gonna have a space where we'll be just praying with people, but we believe um in the power of prayer.

So I do want to set the tone of what uh tonight is going to look like, and I believe that this is a night um that can change everything.

Amen?

Amen.

Okay, let's let's get into it.

Um, if you do have your Bibles with you, you can you can join me in in Matthew chapter six.

I want to read uh the passage to us um that I read to us uh on Sunday, just to kind of frame up where we where we left off at, um, and just to kind of give us some context as to where we're gonna be going tonight as we prepare to uh continue slash conclude um our time together today.

Um, Matthew chapter six, verse number nine says this.

Jesus is speaking to um his disciples.

He's in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount, and he says this, he's talking to them about prayer.

This is not the first thing that he says about prayer.

In fact, earlier in that chapter, he unpacks having the right posture about prayer.

So there's another a lot of other dynamics that will be beneficial for you to take a look at.

But when he begins to tell them the type of prayer to avoid, he then says, But when you do pray, pray this way.

Our Father who is in heaven, hallow be thy name, um, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.

Amen.

So what we what we talked about uh this past uh Sunday, just to give you a really brief recap, is that we understand that when we're cultivating a lifestyle of prayer, that it means that we need to have a time, we need to have a place, and we need to have a plan.

We need to have a way that we approach God in a way that when we pray, we actually feel like um we're we're engaging the presence of God.

I'm gonna share something with you guys that will probably catch you by surprise just a little bit, and that is that for different disciplines and different Christian beliefs, some have gotten to a place where their theology has evolved beyond uh the importance of prayer.

Um, because when you think about it, some people look at the unchanging sovereignty of God and that God is gonna do what he's going to do.

So men's prayers really don't move and change the hand of God, because if God changes something, does that change his nature?

And there's a whole lot of theological discussion on it.

Um and and there's books written on it on both ways and on God's will being fulfilled, and and and I can argue both sides.

And obviously, I'm a person that believes in the power of prayer, but I also think it's worth mentioning, I don't believe that God would tell us to do anything that was pointless.

When we look in scripture, if God is telling us to pray, then there's a reason for it.

And when we look in instances where people have engaged God and we see that they've asked for things and we see a shifting, there's something to it.

We even hear the words of Jesus saying that you have not because you ask not.

There are things that are available to us if we only could pray.

This is what God is trying to lead us to do.

And so we want to have a place that we pray, we want to have a time that we pray, and we also want to have a plan, a way that we can approach uh the presence of God.

We want to ensure that when we engage the presence of God, that we're having an impact.

So, what we talked about last week is looking at this model that Jesus had provided for us, it was really meant to provide us with a little bit of context on how we can engage the presence of God.

The first thing was to engage God relationally, knowing that he's our Father, um, to worship his name, exalt who he is, recognizing that he has all power, um, then to pray his agenda, actually asking for his kingdom to come, coming into alignment with the things that he wants to see on earth as it is in heaven, and then we depend on him for everything.

So that's really just us saying we're casting our cares on him.

And so now we continue with the same thought.

And so here's my point number five for those who are taking notes from um part two of Sunday.

Um, forgive and be forgiven.

What he says is forgive and then you will be forgiven.

And so the passage that we're pulling from is where it says, forgive us of our debts as we forgive those um who are debtors to us or trespasses, depending on what translation um you're you're reading from.

It's interesting how when we read in scripture, how they relate uh forgiveness and sin as debt.

It's something that is owed to someone, it's weighty.

And if anybody understands uh just the weight of debt, can I get an amen to that?

Um we we we know the weight of debt.

We know those bills that are due every single week, those things or those things that are strain and a burden onto us.

And so sometimes we can have these things that can keep us from moving forward.

There's many things that I'm sure that as you're looking at what you make and what you owe, and there's a lot of times I know for me personally, when I'm thinking, man, there's a lot I could do with this money if I didn't have to make these payments.

So literally, the debt is keeping me from moving forward.

It's keeping me from doing some things.

Well, when we're talking about the context of forgiveness and living a life of unforgiveness, that's the picture that Jesus wants us to understand.

He wants us to understand that when we're holding on to things, it's keeping us from moving forward.

So let's talk a little bit about this weight of sin.

We understand that sin separates us from God.

So that's the that's the weight.

It's it separates us from God.

We see that expressed in in the Garden of Eden from when Adam and Eve had sinned, we see that there was then they were put out of the garden, that there were angels that were meant to block them, to keep from getting access to the tree of life.

God didn't want them to live eternally in a sinful condition.

So until Christ came, he made it so that men's days will be limited and that you don't have access to eternity while you're in your sinful state.

There's a whole um lot to go with that, but sin separates us from the will of God.

But then when Christ came, he he died, he he covered us of our sins, and now we have the gift of salvation.

And so the goal is for us to live lives where we continually are reminded of the sacrifice of Christ, but when we do commit sins, that we confess those sins.

Now, now let me tell us briefly uh just a quick uh theological definition of what sin is so we can understand what we're talking about.

What sin is, is sin means to miss the mark.

It means to miss the mark.

Now, now let me let me give you uh an illustration that I think can help to drive this home a little bit.

If there's anyone in here who who's ever gone dart throwing, axe throwing, looking at you, Megan, because she went axe throwing and she didn't do well.

Um but but um if you ever go into any of those things where there is a target that you're supposed to hit, you're trying your best to throw the dart.

You're doing your best to shoot the archery bow, you're doing your best to throw the axe, and and you're hoping that you don't hit somebody in the process.

But but what you'll find is very few people can hit a bullseye.

So what sin means is that you're you're making an effort to hit the target that God has for us, but we're we're missing it.

So it's not meant to be something that's condemnation.

It's not meant to be something that tears us down, but it's also meant to be a reminder that we all miss the mark.

There are times when we are in our lives and we just miss the mark.

In fact, one of the things that I do when I'm having my, it's called an ignatious prayer, which is a prayer of reflection that I'll typically do at the end of the night, but I'll often say, God, where did I miss the mark?

And then God will begin to reveal to me, hey, when you were a little bit short with your children, you missed the mark right there.

You didn't live up to the standard that I have for you.

When you're at work and you and you and you didn't respond the right way, you missed the mark in that way.

So what sin is, is simply acknowledging the places that we missed the mark, that we didn't live up to God's standards.

And so that can hit a myriad of different ways.

Only man then begins to place weight and measures on those things.

But in the eyes of God, it's just saying, here's my standard, you missed the mark.

Now, thanks be to God, through Christ, He's not gonna judge us for missing the mark, but when we are able to confess it, it's the only way that we can get better from it.

So, what if the expectation is that when I can acknowledge and I can have moments where I'm reflecting on, man, am I missing the mark here?

Is there areas of my life where I'm not living up to God's standard?

When I'm made aware of that, then true repentance can take place, which means it's not just Lord, forgive me, but I'm gonna keep doing the same thing.

But true repentance is Lord, I acknowledge that I fall short in this area, and not only do I see it, but I'm making an effort to go the opposite direction.

And watch this, I'm putting things in place so that it doesn't become easy for me to go back to it.

What God wants for us is for us not to live lives where we live in habitual sin.

So when Jesus is coming to us and saying, I want you to live a life where you're confessing your faults, where you're living your life, where you understand that I do have a kingdom standard.

I don't expect you to be perfect because I was perfect on your behalf.

But when you reflect and when you think about areas where maybe you've missed the mark, let's have a conversation about it.

So I could begin to order your steps, so I can begin to shift your directions, I could begin to lead you into relationships that will help you to not miss the mark so frequently.

So God is leading us on a path where he wants us to live a life where we acknowledge that we fall short of his kingdom standards, and so that we can begin to walk lives of freedom.

He doesn't want it to continue to hold us back.

God has offered us complete forgiveness.

And so when Scripture says in 1 John 1 9 about confessing our sins to one another, it's not meant to be us getting into a deep dark circle with someone and say, Let me tell you my deepest thing I've ever done, never in my life.

But but what it is is, and and we see this a lot in our in our men's group that that I that I love, we're about to start groups up again.

But what that happens, come on, somebody's happy about groups.

Um but what that what that happened, what that looks like practically speaking, as we're talking about whatever lesson we're in, and we have space where we're having conversation around it, it's like, man, I'm struggling in this area.

I'm having a hard time implementing this because my boss is very difficult.

I'm struggling with walking in complete peace when I have an environment that is so toxic, man.

Like, how do I, and all that is just conversations about how you can miss the mark sometimes.

You see, it's not meant to be this dreary thing where you have to list your resume of sins and wait for people to judge you.

It's just inviting people in in a healthy community way that can help uh to presence God in all of it.

So, what I believe God wants us to do is simply to ask Him to check our hearts.

God, where are the areas that I'm that I'm falling short?

What are the things that I'm missing the mark on?

And then as we enter into this time of prayer, we simply ask God to help us.

God, I'm I'm acknowledging that I fall short, but I'm asking you to help me so that I can begin to redirect and make some adjustments in my life.

But then there's another side of this coin as well, because it says not only um forgive us, but it also says, but also forgive others.

Let's talk about that for a moment.

Because most of us, we can like, we can, we're we're on board.

Like we had a very loud amen corner when I was talking about how sin can hold us back.

We had a loud amen corner when it's talking about God wants to move us forward.

But man, when we start talking about forgiving other people, it gets a little bit quiet in the church.

Because honestly, when we think about it, there are some people, watch this, who don't deserve forgiveness.

There are some people who don't even acknowledge what they've done and haven't even asked for forgiveness.

How can I forgive someone who doesn't feel like they've violated me in any way?

How can I begin to really live a life that I'm not bound and being held back by this debt around my neck, but these are people who don't even acknowledge it?

I always found it interesting when um we talk about the concept of closure.

And and I do believe that there are moments when if it's available, absolutely go for it.

But sometimes I think we can make an idol of it because sometimes the thing you need closure from is something that somebody else wants to keep open.

And so if we're not careful, we'll begin to feel that the only way I can forgive someone is if it's a transaction.

You do this for me, and then you will have earned my forgiveness.

But the premise, the principle that God wants us to be reminded of that's found in Matthew 18, is the idea of like, hey, you have been forgiven.

So from the overflow of you getting something that you didn't deserve, of you getting something that you didn't earn, the overflow of that is what I want you to extend to other people.

Because I have forgiven you, my expectation is that you are going to be a person who forgives others.

And that is absolutely challenging for us.

That is difficult for us.

And I get that that's the part where a lot of times we need to get freed up from.

We all have people in our minds right now that we know that have done us wrong.

We all know people that have violated, people who have done things that were just so inconsiderate, people who have who have let us down.

We have all have a list of those things, and and we can certainly hold on to those things.

And unfortunately, if we hold on to them too long, it can keep us from moving forward.

But when we can lean on what the scripture says so that we can experience freedom, I believe we can walk in wholeness.

The story in Matthew 18.

I won't read it in its entirety of several passages, but ultimately, Jesus presents the parable of a man who has a who's a servant, and and he owed a lot of money to the master.

And so the master said, You know what, man, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna wipe your deck clean.

Don't even worry about it.

It's all good.

Go ahead and just go on with your life.

And then literally, after he leaves that room, he goes and he finds somebody who owes him money and then throws him into jail.

So Jesus says, like, you wicked servant, how dare you try to hold someone accountable for something that they owe you when I didn't do the same thing to you.

Ultimately, what Jesus is saying, and I believe I have good authority to say that he's saying, keep that same energy.

The same way that you came to me looking for forgiveness is the same way that I want you to extend forgiveness even to people that don't necessarily deserve it.

It's in moments of prayer where we can work through those things.

It's in moments of prayer when we can come with humility, with honesty, and with sincerity into the presence of God that we can share where we are, and we can literally just tell Jesus, man, I'm struggling with forgiving this person.

This is a this is a burden for me.

I feel like they've they've done me wrong.

I feel like this is a violation that is so hard for for me to move on from.

Uh, I'll tell you a story really quick, but I I remember when um the the unforgiveness that was built up in my heart um with my biological father.

He left when I was four.

I've shared that in different settings and and maybe here, so I'll keep it brief.

Um but I remember just for years, I just had this unforgiveness in in my heart.

Um and and so uh oddly enough, he would call me on Father's Day.

I'm like, I have nothing to say to you.

Like it was just built up.

My stepfather raised me from the time I was about nine, even until now.

Um but I remember there was a moment when my biological father had gotten sick, and I didn't know at the time that it would result in him in him dying.

Um, but I remember my stepfather coming to me and saying, like, hey, I think you should go and and make peace.

We don't know what the next steps are gonna be.

We don't know if he's gonna make it or not, but I think you should go and make peace.

You should go and and resolve it.

And and everything in me didn't want to do it.

Um, but lovingly, he he made me.

And so when he forced me to go, um he he paid for the ticket, he he kind of forced me to go.

I remember going into uh the room, and as I was sitting there with my dad in the hospital, and I just remember sitting next to him, and and at this point he's hooked up to these machines and and and all these things.

I I sat next to him and I just and I wasn't even really walking with God at the time.

I had a God awareness, like a God-adjacent type relationship.

I was I knew about God as a result of being raised in it, as a result of seeing my mom, but I I didn't couldn't say I had a personal, intimate relationship with God, but I knew enough that I knew that I felt something that was on my heart, and what I felt was God just said, just sit down next to him and have a conversation.

And as I sat down next to him, I just began to say, Dad, there's a lot of things you missed out on my life.

You you you missed you missed when I got into my first fight.

I won.

Yeah.

Yeah.

These are these are go muscles.

I'm just gonna keep going.

Okay, so I said, Dad, you missed my fight.

You you missed you missed my first girlfriend.

You there's a lot of key things that you missed in my life, but as I was confessing these things, I just felt the weight was coming off of my shoulder.

I didn't realize that I had built up such resentment.

I didn't realize that those things were things were in my heart, because quite honestly, my stepfather had done a masterful job at compensating for those things.

But there was still something I was holding on to.

And as I began to just say those things out loud, it began to give me a measure of freedom that by the time I was done, I walked out of that room completely free.

Now, now all of us may not have the ability uh to do that.

Maybe you can't stand in front of the person and confess that, but you have a heavenly father you can do that with.

You can certainly come to the altar and just say, God, I'm wrestling with these things.

These are the areas that my family has let me down, but I'm confessing them to you.

I'm giving them to you with an expectation that I'm gonna walk away, experiencing freedom.

Jesus says that it's important that when we engage God, as he breaks down this pattern of how we engage him, that we engage him looking for forgiveness, confessing where we missed the mark, but also acknowledging the areas where maybe we're holding resentment in our hearts so that we can live a life of freedom where the debt doesn't hold us back anymore.

Amen?

Amen.

Okay, so here's the second thing that that that Jesus hits on in the context of today's thing.

He says, now we're engaging into spiritual warfare.

Because what he says is lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, or other translations say the evil one makes it very specific.

It's not just a uh a conceptual evil, but it's an evil one.

That means strategic demonic warfare.

Jesus is telling us, I want you to begin to recognize that there's some things in your life that you're facing and that you're dealing with that are literally spiritual strongholds.

Now, when we begin to talk about this idea of spiritual warfare, it can get it can get a little bit murky for for all of us.

And depending on our church background, depending on what influences we've had, we we all may have a different perspective and and take on it.

And and while I respect and understand everyone's different position and doctrines and certainly all the different denominations that have different ideas about it, I'm going to look at it the way that Jesus looked at it.

I I've I've I've concluded that there can be a lot of different perspectives on a lot of things.

But if Jesus believed in it, then I'm going to believe in it.

If Jesus spoke to it, then I'm going to speak to it.

If Jesus said it, then I believe that we should be mindful of it.

So Jesus begins to talk about this idea of entering into spiritual warfare.

It's very important for us to understand that when we go into times of prayer, that we're also communing with God, but we're also engaging in spiritual warfare.

Because what the Bible tells us is that we don't wrestle with flesh and blood.

That means that even though we can put a name on whatever the thing is we're struggling with, that even though we can acknowledge the people that we can see these things working through, that ultimately what Jesus wants us to understand is that there are spiritual influences behind everything.

So this is why when he talks about making sure that we're not holding people uh accountable, what it means is not accountable when he says that we're not holding things against people, is because he's saying, because now you're about to shift into spiritual warfare.

So so if you make it about the person, you'll never get to the place where you're beginning to deal with the strongholds that have been established that are allowing these things to exist in the first place.

So, yes, I want you to be a person that holds people accountable.

Don't be a doormat for anyone, but let's also look at the root, and that root is always spiritual in nature.

We see that Jesus encountered demonic spirits all the time throughout the course of his ministry.

That as he would go and as he would do things, we would see that demons would begin to tremble and ask questions.

We see the way that he commanded it.

What scripture is trying to help us to understand that when we pray, that we are people that are engaging into spiritual warfare, we even see um in Matthew chapter 4 when when Jesus is in the garden and he's dealing with the temptation of the enemy, how he responds with scripture to overcome the attacks of the enemy.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

He responds with scripture.

I want to I want to say this to us, so let me read it to us so we can get this deep in our soul.

That when Jesus confronted the devil, he did not confront him as God, he confronted him as a man with the word of God.

That he didn't confront him with any super abilities beyond just being a person who trusted and having unbroken fellowship with the Father and armed with the Word of God.

The reason why that's so important is because sometimes we can think that what Jesus did we can't do.

But he responds with scripture by saying the very thing that I use to defeat the enemy is the very same thing that I'm putting into your hands.

You have the ability to overcome this.

What scripture says in Ephesians 6.12, which I reference, is we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against evil rulers and against authorities in the unseen world, against almighty powers in a dark world, against evil spirits in heavenly places.

These are the words of Paul.

The biblical worldview of the people who wrote the Bible, they've clearly understood that we were dealing with some pretty strong stuff that comes against us.

We would often call it intelligent evil, strategic attacks in order to keep us from fulfilling our God-given purpose.

It can be hard for us to wrap our minds around it, but I want us to look at what Jesus says in John 10 10.

He says that the devil comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

That is the devil's mission statement.

And I'm not saying that we over-spiritualize everything.

I'm not saying that when you get stuck at a red light, the train keeps you from getting to that appointment on time.

That man, that's the devil.

Like, I mean, who knows?

But I mean, who knows?

What I'm saying is sometimes it just means get up earlier.

So sometimes sometimes it just means like, hey, I need to do some self-reflection.

However, what I am saying is maybe there's moments in your life where you just recognize, like, man, I I feel like I'm I'm dealing with some weight to this.

There seems like I'm dealing with the same thing.

I know that there have been times in in our lives where Megan and I have have just recognized, like, okay, this is not coincidence.

We're literally dealing with opposition in everything that we've established that we're going to set up for God.

And ultimately what spiritual warfare is, it's the enemy trying to oppose anything that brings honor to God.

Anything that brings honor to God, the enemy is going to oppose it.

So when you're dealing with resistance on anything that's God honoring, you're engaged in spiritual warfare.

That's with your marriage.

Did you know that your marriage brings glory to God?

Your singleness brings glory to God.

The way that you live your life brings glory to God.

The way that you steward your life when you're at work, it brings glory to God.

Everything we do brings glory to God.

So when we are moving and functioning and the enemy is opposing that, you're engaged in spiritual warfare.

So it doesn't mean that we don't have a practical response, but we need to have a spiritual, um, we need to have spiritual authority in how we begin to engage these things.

Understanding that we're in spiritual warfare.

So there's a couple of ways that we can engage in in spiritual warfare.

In fact, we have a whole equip class that we um recorded online um that goes in a lot more detail about this.

That's already available on our YouTube page.

So here's a plug for Equip.

Um if you if you didn't if you didn't get a chance to check it out, and I can see the amount of streams, most of y'all didn't check it out.

Um that's you know what I'm gonna start doing is when people are like, hey, Pastor, can I meet with you to talk about something?

I'm like, hey, did you watch Equip yet?

Um did you listen to my last message?

Do those things and then okay, okay.

So so you can go and check out the equip class.

It's actually broken up into like four different sections where we're breaking down like spiritual warfare and all these things.

So I'm not gonna go in detail, but if you go check out equip, you'll get more context around it.

But helping us to understand the armor of God.

And and when we're engaged in spiritual warfare, as you can imagine in any strategy when you're going against an opponent, is that you need to have the appropriate um armor.

And so we break down what the armor of God is.

You can read it in Ephesians 6, but that's an important part of understanding how to protect your mind, how to make sure your heart is protected.

All those, um, all those elements are vital.

So go check out the equipment.

Read Ephesians 6, because all it is is just looking at God's word and making sure that we're properly equipped.

Understanding also the weapons of our warfare, the way that we respond to it, it's always through the word of God.

The word of God, the word of God, the word of God.

If I can look at God's word and allow that to be the thing that shapes my mind, my thoughts, and then ultimately we know about the armor is that it provides uh protection for us.

Second Thessalonians 3, 3 says this, but the Lord is faithful and he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.

He will He will guard you from it, but we have to make sure that we engage it with the right uh approach.

And and here's the here's the third thing that I want to share with us uh tonight.

Express faith in God's ability.

We want to express faith in God's ability.

When Jesus is praying through the Lord's prayer, he says, Deliver us from the evil one.

Then he says, But yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

What he's saying is that even though we have spiritual warfare, we have a lot of things we've talked about up to this point.

We've interceded for people.

I recognize you're my father.

I recognize that I can have intimacy in this relationship with you, fear of no fear of judgment.

We've talked about forgiveness, but because forgiveness is such attached to people, he then leads us into understanding there's spiritual warfare connected to it.

But then we end it on, but God is able.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

What Jesus wants us to understand is that he wants to end our prayer moments with him by reminding ourselves that God is able, that nothing is impossible for God.

Because if we can be honest, man, I know I've been in seasons of my life where I've engaged in the presence of God in prayer, and then when I said amen, I didn't live my life like amen was real.

Here's a plug for this upcoming Sunday.

I'm I'm actually going to be preaching on what the word amen means.

Because what amen act never mind, I'm not gonna do it.

I'm not gonna do it.

I'm not gonna do it.

I am not gonna do it.

I feel tempted to do it, but what I'm saying is that amen is more than just saying a word.

It's about how you posture yourself.

It's about coming into agreement and alignment.

Megan, you better get this mic from me, girl, before I start going into this thing.

Okay, y'all need to come here, y'all need to come here on Sunday.

We're gonna be preaching about the power that comes with when we declare amen.

What are we saying?

It's more than just amen.

It's I am I am in agreement and I'm in alignment with what God says.

But a lot of times when we say amen, our amen isn't with authority, it's with a whisper.

Amen.

And we walk away feeling just as hopeless as if we didn't just get finished casting our cares on the eternal creator of the universe.

What he wants us to do is when we pray and when we come to him, that we end our prayer acknowledging God, you are able.

There is nothing too hard for you.

Come on, somebody can put their hands together.

Yes.

Well, praise God.

Okay, let me read this to us.

Jeremiah 32, 17.

O sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm.

Nothing is too hard for you.

I want to read that to us again.

I want you to get this deep in your heart.

O sovereign Lord, you made the heavens and the earth by your strong hand and powerful arm.

Nothing is too hard for you.

Imagine when we go into the presence of God and we're praying, we pray, understanding that this is the creator of all things and nothing is too hard for him.

That even though I know that I'm dealing with a dead situation, but we're seeing through the character of God, we're seeing through the ministry of Jesus, that he resurrects dead things.

We see that nothing is too hard for him.

The reason why the significance of the Lazarus miracle really hits us different is because what we're seeing here is that there's different stages to death.

There's the stage of death, which is a fresh death, and we see when Jesus begins to resurrect people, we see that he's resurrected three different people, and they were all at three different stages of death.

But Lazarus was considered to be the worst because at this point he was decomposing and smelling.

But Jesus is saying, like, no matter what degree of death you may be experiencing, nothing is too hard for me.

That means that no matter what measure of despair you may be walking through, nothing is too hard for me.

So whether that thing just breathed its last breath, or whether it's been dead for years now, nothing is too hard for me.

This is what we engage in when we go into moments of prayer with the with the presence of the powerful God is understanding that regardless of whatever is said, nothing is too hard for him.

It's reminding ourselves that your kingdom, you have all authority, your power, that almightiness flows through you, and that you have all glory.

That means that victory is complete in you.

This is ultimately what it means to enter into this space of prayer with God.

And so what I want to do is I want to create some space.

Now that we've been uh equipped with a little bit more information on what does it mean to really engage in the presence of God.

Um, Pastor Lindsay's gonna come up and she's gonna lead us in just having some worship in the background.

But but here's the thing: this is not a worship night.

We're gonna have that in in a couple of weeks.

What this is, this is a prayer night.

And what prayer is, is it's meant to be a place where we engage God relationally.

It's a time for us to come and just recognize uh the goodness of God, that he is for us, and if God be for us, nothing could be against us.

We pray with God relationally.

This is also an opportunity for us to come into the presence of God, acknowledging that he is holy, that he is set apart, that he is other than us, that he doesn't think the way that we think.

It says that with man it is impossible.

With God, nothing is impossible.

What it also says is that my ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts.

That means that when we engage the presence of God, we can't approach him with the same logic that we approach our friends, that he's other than us, he's outside of the way that we think, and so we have to recognize that he's holy and that he's different.

We have opportunities to do that, but then we begin to pray for his will to be done.

Jesus' ministry was the beautiful crescendo when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he began to recognize what he wanted, but he submitted his will to God.

Thy kingdom come, your will be done.

God, whatever whatever it is that you want to do, Lord, I would prefer for it to go this way, but but if it's not, then then your will be done.

It takes a lot of maturity to get to a place where you can recognize what you're in need of, but you can conclude your prayer by saying, But God have your way.

We want to create space for for you to just kind of sit back, meditate, reflect, journal, fill out prayer requests.

Come up to this altar if you want to, but just begin to engage your God fatherly and relationally.

Begin to recognize that he is powerful and that he is holy and that he's set apart and that he is for you.

But let's begin to then begin to pray about what are the things that on earth as it is in heaven.

God, I'm inviting for your will to be done.

And then after we do this for a few moments, we're gonna come up and we're gonna have moments of intercessory corporate prayer.

There's power and individual prayer, which we're about to engage in, but man, I seen transformation happen in scripture and in my own life when people begin to pray together.

And this is where we're gonna begin to really see just so a lot of the presence of God beginning to move.

And I believe for healing, I believe for breakthroughs and all types of things that take place.

So, what I want us to do is as Pastor Lindsay leads us, is let's, if you need space, take space.

If you want to journal, journal.

If you want to read your Bible, read your Bible.

But here's what I'm gonna ask you to do: try your best to refrain from the distractions that are easy to pull us away.

Don't that that that the score of the magic game, I can tell you what it is, I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you how it's gonna end.

I feel a prophetic spirit coming on me right now.

They didn't win.

Okay.

Um who knows?

Because with God, nothing is impossible.

Whatever is waiting for you will be there for you in in about 30 minutes.

I promise you it will.

But but let's fully engage in this moment.

And maybe it's it's husbands and wives that need to pray together.

Maybe there's some things that are on your heart, maybe there's some areas where you just want to begin to declare forgiveness so that you're not being held back by that debt that's keeping you from moving forward.

Whatever that is, we want to give you the personal space to do that.

But I do want to ask you to take advantage of coming up to and filling out the prayer request cards because we are praying over those very fervently.

If you want to come to this altar, we actually have a team that'll come up and pray with you if you're at this altar here.

But whatever it is, let's not do anything.

God's a rewarder of those who seek him.

Draw near to God.

He draws near to us.

This is an opportunity for us to draw near to him with an expectation that he's gonna draw near to us.

And I believe we're gonna have a powerful moment of prayer at the end where we're gonna see a lot of freedom take place.

Amen.

So let me pray for us as we prepare to pray.

God, I thank you so much for giving us the space to come to learn about prayer so that we know how to engage you in prayer, understanding that you are for us, that you're our Father, understanding, God, that that you are holy, um, that we can declare your name over every area of our lives, Father, that that we have been recipients of forgiveness, so we can extend that same forgiveness, Father, that as we look at the things we've discussed so far, that we can just walk through that if we want, we can we can meditate on your goodness, Father.

But this is the moment where, Lord, I just ask for your presence to be so ever felt, so tangible, Lord God, that surely we will know that we were in the presence of God and not listening to the words of man.

In Jesus' name, be with us.

Amen.

Thanks again for listening.

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