Turn with me, if you would, to
Psalm 107. Psalm 107. I have something for us this
morning that has been very heavy on my heart, very weighty on
my heart. I believe it's very urgent and
very needful right now. We are going to be looking at
the subject of prayer. I feel like we have a lot of
things that need urgent prayer. There are always, everything
needs urgent prayer, but I feel like right now, especially, there
are so many things that need desperate, urgent prayer. Sometimes we forget about prayer. And by that I mean all the time. Unknowingly, usually we put prayer
on the back burner. And for God's children, prayer
is vital. Prayer is necessary. It's our
direct communication to Him. And it's just necessary. We are acknowledging, I believe
that as a congregation, we are coming to a realization that
we may have to get another building. This is serious to me. This is very, very serious to
me. It affects every single person in this congregation. As we think
about things that take place, I think about every single person
in this congregation. It affects everyone and it is
weighing so heavy on me. I know it is to you too. I know
it is. We have been talking about it
and I know it is. But that seems so insignificant
compared to the fact that we have a fellow pastor, a dear
brother who just lost his wife. Put yourself in that position.
Put yourself right there. I know some have been there. Oh, he's grieving. His family's
grieving. Her funeral is over and it's
kind of like your mind moves on. That congregation is grieving. We have another fellow pastor
whose wife is going through chemo and radiation for brain cancer. We have another fellow pastor,
think about that, fellow pastor, fellow pastor, fellow pastor,
preaching this message, who just found out he has lung cancer. As I think about all of these
things that are going on in other places and things that are going
on right here, things that some of us are dealing with in our
personal lives, it brings a real sense of urgency to me. I mean,
a fervent urgency to me that we need to be crying out to our
Lord. We desperately need to be crying
out. We need to continually be crying
out to our God. We cannot afford to put that
on the back burner. We just can't afford to do it.
We need the direction. We need the comfort. We need
the help of the Lord our God. Right here in Psalm 107, it's
talking about God's people constantly being in trouble. It is something
that we all can relate to. Constantly in trouble. Psalm
107, verse four says, they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary
way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. But verse six says, then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them
out of their distresses. They cried and he delivered them. Then reading on down, they find
themselves immediately in distress and need again. Verse 12, it
says, therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They
fell down and there was none to help. Verse 13 says, then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out
of their distresses. As soon as he delivers them out
of that, verse 17 says, fools, because of their transgression
and because of their iniquities are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth
all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death. Verse 19 says, then they cry
unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their
distresses. After trouble and deliverance
and trouble and deliverance and trouble and deliverance, what
should a child of God be expecting to come right around the corner?
Verse 26, they mount up to the heaven, they go down again to
the depths, their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel
to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, they are at their wits end.
Verse 28 says, then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble
and he bringeth them out of their distresses. We need prayer. I need your prayer. I really am just trying to just,
we're just talking this morning. I need your prayer. I need it so desperately. This
ministry needs prayer. You know, when you have children,
they're always on your mind. Or we all have something that's
always on our mind. And everything is, you're just
constantly, you worry about them. This ministry,
all of us need to worry about it. It needs to constantly be
on our mind. Is the Lord in control of this
ministry? Absolutely. But He has placed it in our hands. He has given us the ministry
of the gospel, and this ministry needs prayer. It doesn't need
my opinion. It needs prayer. Prayer. Our brethren need prayer. The Lord is the great physician.
Our brethren need prayer. I pray that if God is willing,
he will use this right now to give us a real urgency for prayer. We need it so desperately. The
Apostle Paul begged the saints that he wrote to. He said, brethren,
pray for us. He was begging them everywhere
he went. He said it in more than one location.
Brethren, pray for us. He said, pray without ceasing.
Make these things a matter of prayer. In Luke 18, our Lord
spoke a parable, it says, to this end, that's what it says
right there in Luke 18, to this end, meaning this was the moral
of the story, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Don't give up. Don't give up. Keep crying out and don't give
up. And he said, men ought always
to pray. Ladies, you are included. Men
means mankind. I urge you, I urge you ladies,
pray with us, pray about these things. Let's all seek the help
of the Lord, the deliverance of the Lord, the healing of the
Lord, the comfort of the Lord, the direction of the Lord, because
we so desperately need it. Now if you'll turn with me to
Romans chapter 8, Romans 8, this right here, is
the absolute truth. So it's critical we understand
this. Romans 8, verse 26, it says, likewise, the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray
for as we ought. And that's the truth. That's
the truth. We really don't know what we
should pray for as we ought. We don't know what we should
be praying for. We say that we're going to be praying about things.
Well, how should we be praying about it? What should we be praying
in regard to it? What, what should we be saying?
What should we be asking for? Usually we pray for the outcome
that we want. And this is what I'm going to
say. As I say these things, how should we be praying? We know
not what we should pray for as we ought. We know that. What
should we be asking for? I believe everybody here already
knows the answer. I'm going to go through my outline
and I'm going to tell it to you. But I believe we all know how
we should pray, what we should say, what we should ask for.
But still, even though we know that, Usually we pray for the
outcome that we want, and we say, this is what I want, and
I'm praying that it's what you want, too, because I want what
you want, but I'm just really hoping that you want what I want.
That's usually what we do. And I'm guilty. I'm guilty. The problem is we don't have
any idea if it's a good outcome. We don't have any idea. We don't
know what God has purposed for the future to be. Therefore,
we cannot know if what we want to see happen will bring consequence
or blessing. We have something in our heart
that we would like to see happen. Well, this is how I would like
for it to go. We have no idea if that will bring consequence
or blessing. We cannot know that. So truly,
we don't know what we should pray for as we ought. The disciples
came to that very realization. Go with me over to Luke chapter
11. Luke 11 verse 1 it says, And it came to pass that as he
was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, and this is speaking
of the Lord, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us
to pray as John also taught his disciples. And He said unto them,
When you pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done. As in heaven, so in earth. First thing, he said, acknowledge
who it is you're speaking to, and then say, thy will be done. Acknowledge who it is you're
speaking to, and then say, Thy will be done. This is the only
safe thing for us to pray. Thy will be done. Only He knows
the future of things. He's the only one. Only He knows
what will bring blessing or consequence. So thy will be done. When I first
started preaching, I wanted to know, how do I preach? When I first started preaching,
I really wanted to know, how do I preach? Somebody calls on
you to preach. That's how it happens. Somebody
says, you know, would you fill in for me? The very first time
it comes and, well, okay, you know, And then you immediately go,
how do I preach? I mean, where do you begin? How do you? And
I saw these different men that we know and love. I heard these
different men. They all had the same message. They all had one message, but
they had different styles. They had different deliveries.
And I wondered, how should I preach? What should, should I preach
like him or should I preach like him? What should my manner be? How
should I, how should I deliver these things? And it finally
dawned on me, there's no better example than the Lord himself.
And I turned over, I remember I was sitting in my living room
and I turned over and I started reading one of the Lord's messages. How did he preach? That's what
I wanted to know. How did he deliver these things? What was his manner with people?
And I'm not saying that I'm anything like him. I'm just saying he's
the example. That's all I'm saying is he's
the example. And the same thing applies to
prayer. The very same thing applies to
prayer. If we truly would like to know
what things we ought to pray, he's the example. What did he
pray? Turn with me to Matthew 26. Matthew
26, verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit
ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and
very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry ye here, and
watch with me. And he went a little further,
and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. This cup of sin, that's what
He's talking about. This cup of suffering, this cup
of bearing the iniquity of His people. This cup of being touched
with the feeling of their infirmities. This is important to know. He set His face like a flint
to the cross. He set His face like a flint
to give His body and shed His blood to redeem His people. He
said, for this cause came I into the world. I came to save my
people from their sin. But in the process, he had to
touch that sin. He had to feel that sin. He had
to feel the guilt of that sin. He had to grieve over that sin. And he said, if it's possible
for this portion of that to pass from me, I pray that that might
happen. Verse 39, and he went a little
further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
as I will, but as thou wilt. He had something in him that
he wanted as a man. as a man, as a substitute for
man. There was a way in him that he
was asking for it to go. But he said, if that way goes
against your will, then yeah, don't hear my request. He said, what I want as a man
is irrelevant because ultimately my desire for your will to be
done is greater. It's greater. I pray that God
would put that same desire in us. I pray he would honestly
put that same desire in me, in whatever it is that we are bringing
before the Lord, all of these things. May He give us a heart
to say, what I want is irrelevant. Thy will be done. Thy will be done. Verse 40 says,
he cometh unto the disciples, he findeth them asleep, and saith
unto Peter, what, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch
and pray that you enter not into temptation. The Spirit indeed
is willing, but the flesh is weak. And he went away again
the second time and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup may
not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep
again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away
again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words, Thy will
be done. Thy will be done, not what I
want, only what you have purposed to be done. Over in John 5, if
you'll turn with me over there, John 5 verse 30, he said, I can
of mine own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment
is just because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the
Father which hath sent me." He said, that's my only concern,
His will. Now, there is no difference in
the will of God the Father and the will of God the Son, because
they are one. There is no difference. They
are not split in desire, mind, heart. They are one. But as a
man, as a substitute for man, as our example, on our behalf,
he said, my only concern is your will. My only concern. The disciples said, Lord, teach
us to pray. He said, say this, thy kingdom
come, thy will be done. That's what we should pray. All
right, now I'm closing, but there's something else that we can see
and learn from what the disciples asked. They said, Lord, teach
us to pray. Teach us to pray. Teach us what
and how we should pray and teach us to pray. Teach us to do it. Teach us to do it. Are you as
ashamed of yourself as I am of myself in how little I pray? How often we forget to pray. I've told you this before, but
I'll come in and sometimes you get up in the morning, you get
kids ready for school, and it can be a little bit chaotic.
And I'll come in and sit down at my desk and I've got to get
a message ready, we've got a service coming up and I'll get into it
and I'll struggle and I'm going nowhere, I'm spinning my wheels,
I'm getting nothing done and then it'll hit me, I haven't
even prayed, haven't even called. I'm going to expect to bring
a message that I haven't even asked for? Turn with me to James 4, all
right, we will close with this. James chapter 4. Verse two, you lust and have
not, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, you fight
and war, yet you have not because you ask not. He said you have
not because you ask not. Again, this is something we bring
up so often, but our Lord said, I'm going to do all of these
wonderful things for my people, but they are going to ask me
for it. I'm going to do it for them,
but they are going to ask me for it. So I urge us. I urge
us today, starting right now, let's start asking Him. Let's
start asking Him for all of the help we need, all the direction
we need. We need His will, we need His
mind, we need His comfort. If He is willing, we need His
deliverance. And if we are asking Him, then
let's ask Him more. Let's increase it. Lord, increase
our faith, increase our prayer. All of us, let's go to Him in
prayer, asking Him that His will be done. Show us Your way. We need it. Our brethren need
it. And then after we ask, let's
wait in faith for Him to deliver it, deliver it to us. Let's wait
on Him to give it to us. Verse 8 right here in James 4
says, draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. Don't
you love that? Draw nigh to God and He will,
He will. All right, you're dismissed.