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Josh Fowler: All right, we're going to ⁓ jump into God's Word ⁓ today. we're in a series called Let's Grow. And we're looking at those different areas that God's leading us to grow in our relationship with Jesus. As a church, our goal is to help people, leading people to a growing relationship with Jesus. And we've been taking, wow, the last few months just going through, what does that look like? How do we grow in our walk with Jesus? so. We've identified eight key areas and those shirts in the lobby have all those eight on the back and we're just taking just some time to go through those and helping us discover what it means to walk with Jesus, what it means to grow in a relationship with Jesus. So we started with surrender, you know, a relationship with Jesus begins with surrender. We need to acknowledge that we need the Lord, surrender to him, surrender to his Lordship in our life, surrender to the Holy Spirit's work in our community, we looked at the importance of community and being around people of faith, around us to encourage us, lift us up, that we could serve one another. The Bible we looked at, ⁓ that we need to get into God's Word, that God's Word is true, it's life-giving, it's helping us to know what the... Sound good? It's been a long weekend, so this mic... I don't know what I'm gonna say today, so no. But where was I? The Bible. The Bible helps us to know what is right and what is wrong. And then today we're gonna look at prayer this morning. So let's pray and jump into God's Word today. Jesus, help us today. Give us the words, give us the strength today. Help us to understand, to grasp what you're speaking to us. Help us to live it out. ⁓ apply it to our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Someone shout me down. Amen. How many of us want to be more like Jesus? ⁓ yeah, you know, just want to be more like Jesus. How many of us look to Jesus as our example and as our savior? Amen. Well today we're going to look at a key part of Jesus' life and hopefully it becomes a key part in our life. A growing disciple of Jesus will do what Jesus did and what he modeled for us, and that is pray. As we look through the gospels, a repeated pattern and rhythm comes as evident, and that's the prayer life of Jesus. And so today we're gonna do just a little study in the prayer life of Jesus. Have you ever wondered what it was like to be with Jesus when he was praying? You know, have you said, man, I wish I could go back a few thousand years and just sit with Jesus and listen to what he's saying and his prayers? Well, you know, it's a blessing that there's so many of what Jesus has prayed in our Bible, in the Gospels, in the New Testament. And if we would just, you know, just do a little study of like the prayers of Jesus and you can kind of learn and grow yourself of how we pray to the Lord. And so I came across this one resource, Kevin Halloran, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, but he compiled a list of the prayers of Jesus, the prayer life of Jesus, and I wanna share a few of those today. so the scriptures will be on the screen, they're probably too fast to go turn with me, but you can just kinda listen. We can take an inside look and just picture yourself, get a glimpse of what it would be like. sitting next to Jesus and hearing him pray. A prayer of thanksgiving, Jesus says in Matthew 11, at that time Jesus declared, I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise in understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. at Lazarus' grave. Jesus looked up and he said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me. A prayer when troubled. Jesus says, now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say, Father? Save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Jesus says, Father, glorify your name. Then a voice from heaven said, I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. And then this one, this one's a little bit longer, so I'm gonna ask you just to bear with me. This is the high priestly prayer of Jesus found in John chapter 17. Listen to what Jesus is praying to the Father. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you. the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorify you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do, and now Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. He says, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you. And they believe that you sent me. I am praying for them. Listen to this. Jesus is speaking to the Father, he says, I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours, all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them, and I am no longer in the world, but they are in the. and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me, I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now, I am coming to you. And these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given
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them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is. If you skip ahead a little bit, it says, do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word that they may all be one just as you, Father, are in me and I in you. That's us. Jesus praying to the Father, praying for his disciples, praying for future disciples that would follow him. Christ praying in the garden, Matthew chapter 26, then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to the disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Have you ever cried in your prayers? Have you ever thought, maybe I'm not being spiritual, showing emotion in my prayers. Jesus was sorrowful, he was troubled, he knew the cross was ahead of him. Then he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death, remain here and watch with me. And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. As a church, we say it's about his will, it's about his way, it's about his glory, amen. There's lots of prayers of things that we want and we hope and we anticipate, ultimately it's about His will. It's about His. How about this, the first cry from the cross in Luke 23. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. or a prayer of an agonizing cry from the cross found in Matthew 27. At about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, Lemma, Sabachthani, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? or the last cry from the cross found in Luke 23. Then Jesus calling out with a loud voice said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And having said this, he breathed his last. And you can study, there's another slide, there's all kinds of examples of the prayers of Jesus, the habit of prayer, the rhythm of prayer of Jesus. He would get alone from the crowds and he would spend time with his father. The gospels give us a very personal and intimate look at the prayer life of Jesus. There is absolutely no doubt that Jesus was a person of prayer. Think about that, Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of all humanity. was a person of how many think that we should probably be people of prayer? If prayer is good enough for Jesus, I think it's good enough for us, right? Or are we so spiritual, like, you know, I don't think I really need to pray, you know? Maybe Jesus needs to pray, but I don't need to pray. No, I think if we're honest, we say, you know, we should be people. of prayer, and it wasn't just Jesus who prayed, his disciples in the early church also practiced what Jesus modeled they prayed. When you read through the book of Acts, you will encounter over and over and over again the disciples of Jesus, the early church, gathering together and praying. Here's a few examples, Acts chapter one. says the apostles returned to Jerusalem for the hill called the Mount of Olives, the saddest day a walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. And it says in verse 14, they all joined together constantly in A few verses later, verse 20. Peter says it is written. May his place be deserted. They're talking about Judas. They now have to fill his slot as an apostle. Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. Verse 23, so they nominated two men. And then it says in verse 24, they prayed. Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen. We did that a few weeks ago as a church. We had our annual business meeting, nominations and elections, and we as a church say, God, okay, here are the nominees. God, show us who you have for this season. Acts 2, 42, they've devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. chapter 4. starting with verse 23. on the release, the release from prison. Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. Look what it says in Acts 4 verse 24, says, they heard this, the church heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. Sovereign Lord, they said, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David. Why do the nations rage in the people's plot and vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in the city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now Lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. Look what it says in verse 31. And after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God both. praying church. Acts chapter 10 verse 9, Peter goes up to the roof to pray about the noon the following day as they were on the journey approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He had seen Jesus get alone and get away and. Acts chapter 12, this will be our last one. starting with verse number one. It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the
church. Intending to persecute them, he had James, the brother of John, put to death with a sword. When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feastival of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for a public trial after the Passover. Verse five, so Peter was kept in prison. And what did the church do? It says, the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Says, the night before Herod was to bring him to trial. Just so happened to be the night before he was to come to trial, Peter was sleeping between the two soldiers bound with two chains and sentry stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick, get up. And the chains fell off Peter's wrist. Peter walks out of the prison as a free man. Peter was in prison, the church was praying, and Peter was released. We could read through so many more examples in the Gospels, in the book of Acts. We see Jesus pray, we see the disciples were praying, we see the early church praying, and so we make the same conclusion. If the disciples of Jesus were people of prayer, if the early church were people of prayer, we should be people of prayer today. Prayer is not an option. Prayer is not just a spiritual discipline for the chosen few. Prayer is not just limited to a calling for some. Prayer is not just for the intercessors. You know, kind of growing up, that was just kind of like, well, you know, the intercessors prayed, and you know, just certain people prayed. Like, no, disciples of Jesus are people of prayer. Prayer is to be a vital part of the daily rhythm and lifestyle of every follower of Jesus. And I love this quote from Smith Wigglesworth, because we think, oh man, a time, do I have to go to this special place, or do have have all this time, I'm just sitting alone? Smith Wigglesworth, rewind, Smith Wigglesworth said this. great evangelist, apostle of faith. He says, I never pray for more than 30 minutes, but I never let 30 minutes go by without. is that Paul says, and constantly be in prayer, right? Pray in all occasions. Prayer doesn't have to be complicated, doesn't have to be complex. Prayer is simply having a conversation with Jesus. Sometimes we're talking, sometimes we're quiet, sometimes we're eliciting. We can pray quietly, we can pray silently, or we can pray out loud. We can pray in our known language, we can also pray in tongues. We can pray sitting down. We can pray walking around, we can pray in the car, we can pray wherever we are. I feel like Dr. Seuss. The Dr. Seuss anointing is coming over me today. And in the spirit of Dr. Seuss today, I did ask Chet GBT, Chet GBT, would you write me a poem just like Dr. Seuss would on prayer? And listen to this, this is fascinating. AI, I tell you, it's just, you know. In a town not so tall, not so wide, not so square, and lived the whos who once wondered, why do we pray? Do we care? They bustled and hustled with things left undone till a whisper said softly, come seek the one. Pray, said a young Lou with a tilt of her head. Is it something we think or something we've said? It's more than just words, said Bartholomew Blue. It's a pathway of heart that will carry you through. You can pray in the morning when sunrise is new, with a yawn and a stretch in a sky bright with blue. You can pray in the night when the stars softly gleam, when your worries feel big and your hopes feel like dreams. You can pray when you're happy, hooray, hip hooray, with a skip and a clap in a jubilant way. You can pray when you're sad, when you're shaky with fear, for the one who is listening is always quite dear. not with trumpets or noise or a booming display, but in quiet and trust in a humble, small way. There are prayers full of thanks, ⁓ thank you for bread, for the friends and the family and places we tread. There are prayers asking help, please show me what's right. Be my guide in the day, be my peace in the night. There are prayers for forgiveness when we've lost our track, when we've wandered too far and we're longing back. Forgive is forgiven the wise voices say let grace flow like rivers that carry away There are prayers for the others the big and the small for the lost and the lonely for each and for all For the sick and the weary the burden the weak for the ones who are searching, but don't know to seek You can pray without stopping. Yes all through the day not just once not just twice not just hip hip array and you're walking and you're walking and you're walking, you're working, you're thinking, you're playing, there's a whispering thread you can follow and pray. And the who's learned at last in their bustling small town that prayer lifts you up when the world weighs you down. It's a chat, it's a song, it's a sigh, it's a plea. A living connection alive and set free. So whether you're big or you're tiny like Lou, there's a listening love that's waiting for you. Just open your heart, no fancy display, and step in the wonder and beauty. Isn't that cool? neat? If we want to grow in our walk with Jesus, we'll be people of prayer, just like our Savior Jesus, just like the disciples, just like the early church. Doesn't have to be complicated or complex, but going through on our day having a conversation with Jesus. When there's needs, when there's issues, when there's good things, you just take it to the Lord. our action step as a church is this, let's grow as we daily spend time with Jesus in prayer. Would you bow your heads and your hearts with me this morning? Jesus, we thank you for the example that you have given to us. Lord Jesus, you were. person of prayer. You prayed for us. You prayed for those who would one day receive the word and respond. Lord, help us to be people of prayer today. To not relegate prayer to just a certain group of people. not just for those that have a passion for a burden for intercession, but Lord help us as disciples of you. to go throughout our days. as people of prayer. As we wake up and we begin our day, as we get into your word, as we reflect on what you're speaking to us, maybe as we're driving to work with our commute. throughout our day, maybe in the classroom. or just under our breath, just having a conversation and giving, laying burdens at your feet, allowing your spirit to speak to us. Maybe on our lunch breaks, maybe we'll take walks or go for a hike just to get alone from the busyness and the hustle and bustle. you Sometimes even for busy parents, it's just like when we're just getting ready in the bathroom and the kids are there, but they know when mom and dad are, you know, they're getting ready, they just leave them alone and we're just in that bathroom. shaving, we're showering, we're talking with you. Thanks or just to help us to be people of prayer. Lord that we need you. We need you to speak into our lives. We need to trust you to do the impossible in situations. When we're faced with problems, when we're faced with decisions, when we're faced with hardship and challenges, Lord, that we will be a prey first people. When Peter was in prison, the church didn't whine or complain, the church prayed. and there's power when your people pray. Lord, there's nothing you cannot do. created us, the habits, the rhythms, the patterns to be people of prayer. No I pray for anyone in this room, anyone listening or watching today that does not have a relationship with you, Jesus. Lord, that today would be a time of surrender in their life, surrendering their hearts and their lives to you, acknowledging Jesus, you are Lord and Savior of their life. that Jesus, not just an example to follow, you're a savior to surrender to. So I pray, we pray as a church today if there's anyone in this place, anyone listening, watching. Lord, that they would respond to you, Jesus. They would say, Jesus, I surrender. Jesus forgive me of all of my sins Jesus, put my faith and trust in you, in what you did for me on the cross. Jesus help me to live Help me to follow you as a disciple of yours, Jesus. And help me to grow in my walk with you, this in Jesus name. Amen.