Prayer true or selfish

Q: What does the Bible say about the purpose of prayer?

The Bible teaches that prayer is for communion with God and submission to His will. In Matthew 8, prayer is illustrated as a means through which believers express their needs and desires to God. Importantly, prayer is not about manipulating God or demanding outcomes, but about recognizing His sovereignty and our dependence on Him. The true essence of prayer involves coming before God with humility, acknowledging that it is His will that must be done, as seen in the example of the leper who approached Jesus with the plea, 'If you will, you can make me clean.' This submission highlights the transformative power of prayer, which changes us rather than attempting to change God.

Q: How do we know that God hears our prayers?

Believers know God hears their prayers because His Word assures them of His response to cries for help. The assurance that God hears our prayers comes from Scripture, which depicts prayer as a vital lifeline between God and His people. The leper's prayer in Matthew 8 demonstrates this, as he came to Jesus knowing that only He could cleanse him. God responds to prayers that reflect genuine needs and desires in accordance with His will. This is reinforced by Jesus' declaration, 'I will be clean,' indicating His willingness to respond to heartfelt pleas. Thus, the assurance lies not in the fervor of our prayers but in the faithfulness and sovereignty of God.

Q: Why is prayer important for Christians?

Prayer is important because it fosters dependence on God and cultivates a relationship with Him. For Christians, prayer is essential as it nurtures a personal relationship with God and reinforces our continuous dependence on Him. In Matthew 8, various prayers are shown to be motivated by different needs, reflecting the emotional and spiritual struggles believers encounter. Prayer drives home the reality that we are not self-sufficient; we need divine intervention in all aspects of life. Furthermore, through prayer, we align our hearts with God’s will, allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our desires and draw us closer to Him. Therefore, prayer is not merely a ritual but a crucial aspect of the Christian life, enabling us to seek God's guidance and express our trust in His ultimate plan.

Q: What is the significance of the leper's prayer in Matthew 8?

The leper's prayer illustrates a heart of submission, recognizing God's authority and sovereignty. The leper's prayer in Matthew 8 serves as a profound example of how to approach God with the correct attitude. It highlights the necessity of acknowledging our unworthiness and helplessness before the Lord. By declaring 'If you will, you can make me clean,' the leper demonstrates faith in Jesus' sovereign authority and ability to heal. This prayer emphasizes that true prayer comes from a place of humility and a recognition of God's omnipotence. It encourages believers to come before God with their needs while submitting to His will, knowing that His plans are greater than our desires. The leper's submission and faith, therefore, epitomize the ideal approach to prayer for Christians.

Q: How does Jesus respond to prayers of faith?

Jesus responds to prayers of faith with compassion and power, often resulting in healing or deliverance. Throughout Matthew 8, we see Jesus responding to various individuals' prayers with compassion and authority. For example, when the centurion approaches Jesus on behalf of his servant, expressing faith that Jesus could heal with just a word, Jesus marvels at his faith and grants the request without needing to physically visit the house. This response highlights the importance of faith in prayer—Jesus not only acknowledges the centurion's trust but also demonstrates that His power transcends physical proximity. By affirming the faith behind the request, Jesus reveals that it is through belief in His ability and authority that prayers are powerful and effective. Thus, Jesus’ responses to prayers serve to illustrate God’s willingness to act in mercy for those who approach Him in faith.

Here in Matthew chapter 8, we
have a lot of prayers prayed. A lot of prayers prayed. And
prayer is a most blessed thing. Oh, it's a precious thing. It's a glorious privilege to
be able to talk with God, commune with God, commune with another
world. And that's what we do. We commune
with another world. And we don't have to use a lot
of words. In fact, sometimes all we do is groan. All we can
do is just cry. All we can do is just murmur.
And come to Lord, help us, please. We need you. Come to our aid. But most people take prayer very
lightly. They take it for granted. It's
something they can do any time and, you know, no seriousness
to it and very lightly about it. And multitudes are very,
very presumptuous in their conception of prayer. They go to God with
their rights, tell God what He needs to do, what He should do,
what He owes them, what He should do for them. And some go to prayer
to try to change God's mind. Go to change God's mind. Instead
of praying for God to change their mind. They want to change
God's will instead of God changing their will. And that's what prayer
is about. Prayer is to bring us dependent
upon God and for His will to be done, not our will to be done. Prayer changes us. It ain't going
to change God. And some pray repetitiously,
over and over and over, expecting to be heard for their much and
often speaking. You take the Catholics, for instance.
They'll go and they'll say, so many Hail Marys. And they got
beads, and they pull those beads. In the Greek Orthodox view, they
got so many beads, and they'll count those beads. And they'll
say, you know, if they sinned so many sins, they got to say
so many Hail Marys. And they say the same thing over
and over and over and over and over. And they'll think they'll
be heard, but they're much speaking. And then you've got the Muslims,
you know, they just say Allah, Allah, Allah, and some other
stuff with it, and they just go over and over and over the
same thing, saying the same things and think they're going to be
heard for their much speaking. And then some pray long and some
pray loud, just in case God's way far off and hard of hearing. How many times have people prayed,
And God hears their prayer, and they never open their mouth.
Never open their mouth. But here in Matthew chapter 8,
we have seven prayers. And these seven prayers are from
different people, and the prayers are for different reasons, and
they all have different results. Let's study them together. Let
me tell you what prayer is. Prayer is when you have a want
or a need. A want or a need. And then you
go to that person and you ask them. You call on them. You ask them for aid. You know,
you go through the scriptures, especially in the Old Testament.
And they'd go to the king and say, I pray thee. What do you
want? He'd ask. They'd go because they
had a need, a want. And then they'd go to ask. That
desire to make requests. And that's what prayer is. It's
if you've got a want, if you've got a need. Then you call on
God to help me, to give me aid, to give me my desire, to make
request. And that's what happens here.
And let's look at this. First of all here, the first
one we see is this. When he was come down, we see
a leper. And this is a prayer of submission here. When he was
come down from the mountain, this is a true prayer. Great
multitudes followed him, and behold, there came a leper and
worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will be thou cleaned. And immediately
his leprosy was cleaned." Now here's a man who came and he
acknowledged the Lord's sovereignty. He came with a true heart, with
true prayer, with a true need and a true desire. He was a leper. And a leper was
people that had a disease that's absolutely incurable. They were
called unclean. And they had to stay without
the camp. They could not come in around other people. They
had to stay off to themselves. And whenever anybody got close
to them, they had to put their hand over their mouth like this
here and holler, unclean, unclean, so people would go around them.
People wouldn't get close to them. Because leprosy is contagious. And leprosy, of course, as we
know, is so typical of sin. It permeates the body. It permeates
the soul. It permeates the mind. And it's
an incurable disease. There's no cure for it. And,
oh, beloved, that's the way we are, sinners. filthy, without
hope or without help for man, an incurable disease that we
inherited from our father Adam. And I mean sin permeates our
thoughts, permeates our mind, permeates our hearts, permeates
our actions. I mean sin is what we are, and
sins are what we do. And here's the way a sinner approaches
God to be saved. This is the way a true sinner
approaches God, a sinner who knows his condition. This was
a leper. as nobody can do anything for
me. I can't be among the Lord's people. I can't go into the tabernacle.
I can't even go to my own house because I'll contaminate my house,
and the house will have to be torn down or cleansed according
to the law. And oh, the first thing he done,
he says, and there came a leper in verse 2 and worshiped him.
That's the first thing that happens. He worshiped him. Worshiped Christ. And that's the first thing a
man does when God begins to show him what he is. He comes and
bows down before him and worships him. Lord, you're God. You're the Lord. You've got all
glory. All glory be to you. I've got
nothing to offer. I'm bringing nothing but leprosy.
I'm bringing nothing but sin. I'm bringing nothing but helplessness.
I'm bringing nothing but inability. And then he called him Lord.
Lord. He didn't say Jesus. He said
Lord. You're sovereign, you're eternal,
you're immutable, you've got all power. You're Jehovah, you're
master, you're God. It's not this little old Jesus
standing around knocking on people's hearts door, would you please
let me in? It's not the one who's walking
the aisles with tears in his eyes, please let me have my way
with you. This is this man bowed before
him and said, Lord! Master! Jehovah! And then watch
what he says, he acknowledges that he's got the will, it's
his will that has to be done. If you will, if you will, if you will, you're the Lord,
you're the sovereign, you're the one with the power, you're
the one with the ability. What can I do for you? What do
I have to offer to you? What can I do to save myself?
What can I do to cleanse myself from my leprosy? It's your will
that's done. You've got the power. You've
got the ability. And watch what he says. If you
will, I'm at your disposal to do with me as you please. If
you will, you can make me clean. And that word clean means purified. Without spot. Without blemish. standing before the law, clear,
without guilt, I mean, beloved, that he can go among the people
now and no longer have to say again, I'm clean, never have
to say that ever again. He said, if you will, you make
me clean. No one else can. My mama's prayed
for me, but it ain't helped me none. Oh my! My family would love to make
me acceptable to the law, but the law shuts me out. You can
cleanse me and the law will acquit me. Oh my! That's what sinners got to do. I mean, beloved, this is the
right way of approaching God. This is the right way. And I
tell you, if you've ever been a leper, Have you ever felt your
need? Have you ever felt your uncleanness?
Have you ever felt your powerlessness and your inability? And have
you ever said, Lord, I'm in your hands and you do what you will
with me. That's what Mephibosheth said.
He came and said, when David called him and said, fetch it
and bring it to me. He said, who am I? A dead dog
to my Lord the King. Sinners have got it backwards,
and preachers have got it backwards. They've got God begging men instead
of men begging God. They've got men with all the
power, and God with the impotent one. God's the one who has the
need. Man's the one who's got the ability. They've got it upside
down. This man said, Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. If you will. And I won't be in
it, you know. If you don't, I'm the way I am. I can't do anything of it. And
oh, beloved, he had a need. He asked. He called on the Lord. And look what the Lord says to
him there in verse 3. Jesus put forth His hand and
touched him. Somebody touch me. And touched
him. Saying, I will. I will. That's the first thing. He said,
if you will, Christ said, I will. Lord, if you will, Christ said,
I will. And oh, beloved, he had the need. He had the inability. He didn't
have anything. And he said, I will be thou clean. Watch what happens now. His leprosy,
immediately, his leprosy was cleansed. He didn't have to go
to the altar. Didn't have to pray through.
Didn't have to go through no hocus pocus. Didn't have to have
no water sprinkled on him. Didn't have to have no bunch
of guys around him and pray. Didn't have nobody begging him
to come. And look what the Lord said to
him in verse 4. See thou, go tell no man. Go tell what? Go thy way and
show thyself to the priest. Why do you say go show yourself
to the priest? Because the priest, the law, has to pronounce you
clean. And he says, you offer the gift, and the gift means
the sacrifice that you offer for the cleansing of the leper.
And that Moses commanded, and he says, now this is for a testimony
unto them that you've already been cleansed. You go to the
law, now the law is going to have to pronounce you innocent
and acquit you and accept you. And that's the way it is, beloved.
When Christ cleanses us, we stand before Him. Now shall love the
Lord thy God, and you know what we find out? We love Him. How do we love Him? Because we've
been cleansed from our leprosy. The law has acquitted us. The
law has done nothing against us. Christ says, you go show
yourself as a testimony. All right, let me show you another
one. Down here in verse 5. Here's another honest prayer.
Here's another true prayer. In verse 5, And when Jesus was
entered into Capernaum, there came a centurion unto him. That's
a man who's over a hundred people. That'd be like a colonel in the
Marine Corps. A centurion beseeching him and saying, Lord, my servant
lies at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. Now here's
a prayer of a man who has great compassion. Here's an unselfish
prayer. It was just a servant. A servant was a slave. That's
what this means. A servant's a slave. Romans had
slaves. But he had compassion on his
servant. He said, Lord, and again, that's
the first thing he said out of his mouth, is Lord. You've got
the authority. You've got the power. You're
the Lord of glory. You're Lord. And watch what he
says. My servant lies. I mean, he's laying. He can't
get up. He's so weak and he's so sick that he's lying down.
He can't get up. He can't get up. And not only
that, but he's sick. He's sick. And he's sick of the
pausing. That means, beloved, I don't
know what the palsy is other than that you just don't have
any ability and you're shaking, baby. I don't know. But anyway,
he says this, and he goes on and says he's grievously, grievously
sick, grievously lying, he's tormented. He's so sick that
he's tormented in his body, he's tormented in his mind, he's tormented
in his soul. And he went into such detail
about the condition of his servant, his slave. And he cared for the
misery of someone else, not his own, but for somebody else's.
His heart went out for just a slave, one of his own slaves, and he
went into such great detail. And his heart went out to this
one that was sick. And I know this, the tender mercies
of the wicked are cruel. And there are those who look
at everything as if it's going to affect them, having no regards
for anybody else. I mean, everything, if anything
happens, how's it going to affect me? What's going to happen for
me? How's this going to affect me?
And that's why most people in this situation say, well, that
poor old servant, you know, if he dies, I'll get another slave.
I've got lots of slaves. Why should I care about him?
He's nothing but a slave. I'll just have to go buy another
one. I'll have to dig up another one. I'll have to find me another
one. That's not the way he was. He was really interested in the
need of His servant. And He called on him who is compassion
personified. He says, Lord, Lord. And look what our Savior said.
He said, I will come and heal him. That's what the Lord said. I'll come and heal him. Now watch
what happens. Now here's a prayer of faith. Here's a prayer of
faith. Two prayers here now. This fellow's
already prayed, Lord, come and do it. And the Lord said, I'll
come and do it. And the censured answer said, Lord, I'm not worthy
that thou shalt come under my roof. But you speak the word
and my service shall be healed. All you've got to do, you don't
have to go anywhere. You don't have to go anywhere.
You don't need to come. I'm not worthy that you even
cross my threshold. I'm not worthy that you should
come into my house. He said, all you got to do is
speak the word. He was not a Jew. He was a Roman. He was a centurion. And you think
of the occasion of this year, what makes his faith so great?
His slave was sick. And when you think of the need
mentioned, his servant was sick of the palsy, grievously tormented
and afflicted in body and soul. And look at the request made.
Speak the word only. You don't have to come. You don't
have to come. And that's exactly why we believe
in preaching the gospel. The word comes to you. Speak the word. That's why we preach
the gospel. That's why we don't have to have
folks come to the front. That's why we don't have to put
pressure on people. Christ speaks the word. And the
gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And watch what he
says. Oh, speak the word. I don't need you to come to my
house. No, I didn't ask for any signs. Faith here is satisfied
with the promise alone and the word alone. All you've got to
do is say it and it's done. You know, that's how this world
was made. Let the world stand in awe of Him. Let the whole
world appear before Him, because He spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. God told Abraham, Abraham, look
up. He looked up. See all them stars? He said,
I see every one of them, as far as I can see. He says, Abraham,
look down. He looked down and said, see
all that sand under your feet? I do. He said, that's how many
children you're going to have. You're going to be the father
of many nations. Abraham said, I believe that. Seventy-five years. Oh, when
God made that promise. And it was twenty-five years
before he ever had that first child. And he only had that child. And you and I are those heavenly
stars that he said. We're the people born from above. that God gave Abraham. Let's
see. Abraham believed what God said. And that's what this fellow
said. Look at the argument he used. He says here, he said in verse
9, all you've got to do is speak the word only, and my spirit
shall be healed. For I'm a man under authority. I'm a man with
great authority. And I have His soldiers under
me. And I'll say to one of them soldiers, you go over there and
you do that. And he goes. He don't argue with me, he don't
debate with me. And I'll tell another, you come over here.
And he comes, and I'll tell my servant to do this, and he does
it. Now this fella understood what authority was. He understood
when he told a man to do something, he thought he's a man that has
soul, and if you have somebody tell you what you need to do,
if you don't do it, you're in trouble. And so that's what he
said. He says, if I'm a man and I have
this kind of authority, what kind of authority do you have
as God? What kind of authority do you
have as the Lord? What kind of authority and power
do you have as the creator of this world? Oh, my. Demons will obey you. If men
obey me, then sickness will obey you. If men will obey me, then
everything got to obey you. And then look what our Savior
said in verse 13. And our Lord said unto that centurion,
just go on back to the house. Just go on back to the house.
And as the house believed, so it be done to thee. Now watch
it. For he got home. His servant was healed in the
selfsame manner. He got home and the servant was
ready to wait on him. Look what our Savior, how He
commended this faith, down in verse 10. And when our Lord heard
it, He marveled and said to them that followed, I'm telling you
truly, I say unto you, that I have not found so great faith in Israel. All of Israel, in the nation
of Israel. And here's a centurion, here's
a Gentile that believed God. And Israel, where God was known,
where His Word was known, And he says, here's a sanctuary that's
got more faith than any place I've ever seen, anybody I've
ever seen. Let me show you another prayer.
This is a selfish prayer. This is a prayer that's not true.
Look down at verse 19, or verse 18. Now, when Jesus saw great
multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the
other side. And before that happened, a certain
scribe came and said unto him, Master, I'll follow you wheresoever
thou goest. And the Lord Jesus says, The
foxes have holes, the birds of the air nest, but the Son of
Man hath not where to lay his head. And another of his disciples
said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
But the Lord said unto him, Follow me, and let the dead bury their
dead. Now here's a prayer for self,
a selfish prayer. First thing he says here, the
Lord describes it, I'm going to follow you. Anywhere you go,
I'm going to follow you. Lots of talk, I'm going to follow
you. Lots of people have that kind of faith, that kind of prayer.
I'm going to follow the Lord. I'm going to straighten up. I'm
going to change my ways. I'm going to try to do better.
I'm going to follow the Lord. And then the Lord starts saying,
you know, it's going to cost you something to follow me. If
you're going to follow me, there's going to be times that you ain't
going to have nobody like you. You're going to have to stay
outside. There's going to be times that you know I don't even
have a place to lay my head. If they've done the Master this
way, what are they going to do to you? He said the foxes over
there, they have holes. Are you willing to follow me
to where you ain't got no place to go, nobody to receive you,
nobody to protect you? Are you willing to follow me
And I ain't got no place to lay down. I ain't got no place to
lay my head. I ain't got nobody that'll give me the time of day.
I ain't got anybody that's anybody that'll thumbs down on me. Oh, a lot of talk about our Father,
where He leads our Father. Are you sure? Are you sure? Most folks don't want to follow
him if it's going to cost them anything. If it cost them having
to get up early to get here. If it cost them to have to leave
a husband or wife at the house. Oh, that's not enough. I can't
afford that. I'll follow him. Most folks won't
follow him long enough to leave the house and leave a cup of
coffee. Most folks won't follow Him long enough to leave a husband
or wife or their company at home. It's time for me to go worship
the Lord. It's time for me to go up and follow Christ. Most
folks put Him off, and you know as well as I do. And I'll tell you, if you can
do without following Christ, you will. I'm telling you that
without a shadow of a doubt. I know it's so. I've seen it
happen too many times. When it starts costing you something,
that's when you're going to quit following me. And it's selfish,
you know, I'll follow you, we'll serve you good, until it starts
costing me something. Instead of costing me some time,
instead of costing me some money, cost me some self-sacrifice.
If it may cost me some lack of peace at home. Wait a minute. I didn't know
it was going to cost anything to follow the Lord. I thought
just following Jesus was the easiest thing in the world. Paul
said, I was crucified with Him. And you know what crucifixion
is? It's death. And you know who you die? You
die. You die with Him. You die to
self. I mean self's got to go. That's what our Lord said, except
a man deny himself. Self. Whose self? Me. My ego, my thoughts, my opinions,
my feelings, my wants, my desires. If it interrupts my relationship
with Christ, it's got to go. And that's why he said, I'm going
to follow you. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see. And then there's another. Look
what this other fellow said down here in verse 21. Another of
his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go bury my
father. That seemed like an easy enough
request. Suffer me first. Or allow me
first. And that's what always comes.
Me first. Me first. How many times do you find this
in the scripture? Me first. Me first. It seemed like a reasonable
thing. Let me first go bury my father.
And it don't say here that his father's dead. If he says, my daddy is dead
and I need to go home. What he's saying is let me stay
at the house, let me take care of my father until he does die. Let me go bury my father. And
oh beloved, you know what our Lord said here? Jesus said unto him, follow me. Follow me. Daddy will be alright. Oh, and look what he says here,
let the dead bury the dead. What does that mean? Oh, my. Let the dead in sin, let the
world, let your mama, let your daddy, let your brothers, let
your sisters, let them do what they're going to do. You let
them, they're dead in sin. They've got no interest in Christ. They've
got no interest in following me. They've got no interest in
the things of spiritual. They're dead in sin. The natural take care of this
world and its concerns. The dead in sin will take care
of the world and its concerns. You say I'm your all. You say
you trust in me. You say you follow me. Well,
then do it. Just do it. Let me show you something in
Luke chapter 9. Let's look at this in Luke chapter 9. in verse 59. Everybody saw it, smelt it, and
felt their things out. But some of them got to complaining
about it and said, oh, we could have sold this and gave the money
to the poor. And he says, you know, you leave
this woman alone. She has done what she could. This is all she could do, and
this is what she did. And beloved, that's what our
Lord says. You do what you can. And that's what He says. If you're
going to follow Me, do it! That's what He said in verse
59 here. He said unto another, follow Me. But he said, Lord,
suffer me first to go and bury my father. Our Lord said unto
him, let the dead bury their dead. You let the world take
care of the world. But you go and preach the Kingdom
of God. You call you my disciple, you call you my... Go preach,
go witness, go tell men. And another said, Lord, I'll
follow you, but let me first go bid them farewell with you.
I'm home, let me tell everybody I'm going to go follow Jesus.
I joined the church today. Oh, I got right with Jesus today. Oh, let me go tell everybody
that I'm going to follow Him. You go home and you start telling
everybody what the Lord... Oh, you know better than that,
you won't last 30 days. They go start telling you what
God's done for them. And our Lord said unto him, No
man, having put his hand to the plow, I mean, he's got it on
him, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. That's
what our Master said. That's what our Master said.
That's what the Lord Jesus said. Oh,
and our Lord said over here, He said, Go follow Me. He said,
Follow Me and let the dead bury the dead. When you're called
to do something, just do it. If the sick need visiting, visit
them. Do the poor need help? Help them.
Do the missionaries need support? Support them. Do the lonely need
comfort? Comfort them. Do the hungry need
feeding? Feed them. And don't advise others. Don't say, me first. Just do
what you can when you're called to do it. That's the long and the short
of it. Let me give you another one. Let me show you another
here right quick. Down in verse 23. Matthew 8, 23. And when he was
entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there
arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was
covered with waves, but he was asleep. And his disciples came,
and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish. And he saith
unto them, Why are ye fearful? O ye of little faith. This one
fellow had great faith. These folks ain't got but just
a little bit. Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was a great calm. But the men marveled, saying,
What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey
him? Here's a prayer born out of fear and little faith. I've prayed many of these, and
I'm sure you have too, out of fear, with very little faith. And I'll tell you something,
little faith is better than no faith. Amen. The Lord didn't
say how much faith you had to have. He said just have faith
for the grain of a mustard seed. But here's the thing about their
faith. Their faith had the right object. First of all, they came
to the Lord saying, Lord, again, that's what they have to say.
People that come to Christ, they first say, Lord. Lord, they had
knowledge of this Lord, the powerful One, the Omnipotent One, the
Lord Jehovah, God Almighty in the flesh. And they requested
the right thing. They said, Lord, save us. Save
us. Save us. That's the right thing
to ask. Save us. How many times have we said,
Lord, save us? You know how many times in my
lifetime since I've been a believer I've said, Lord, save me? You
know how many times I've prayed for the Lord to save some of
you? Not from sin, but from troubles, from heartaches, from sorrow,
from pain, from anguish. And I don't want to be deceived. God in heaven, please don't let
me be deceived. I mean, this world has storms
in it. We have waves. You know, some
of you have had waves roll over you as you've lost loved ones,
lost husbands and wives. They come over you. And your
ship looks like it's going to go down. And you come and say,
Lord Jesus, save me or I'm going to fall under this. This wave
is going to drown me if you don't do it. And they had the right
object. They said, Lord. And they asked
for the right thing. They said, Lord, save us. That's what we're for. Lord,
save us. Save us from error. Save us from
selfishness. Save us from pride. Save us from
self-righteousness. Save us from self-confidence.
Save us from hard-heartedness. Save us from Save us from malice. Save us from materialism. Save
us from a thousand things that we need saving from. And oh, they saw things the way
they really were. Lord, save us, or we'll perish. We'll perish. If you don't save
us, we're going to perish. Oh, that's what you've got to
tell folks. People want healing for their body, but beloved,
they need healing for their soul. If anybody comes to you and says,
Lord, I'm in such shape and my body... You tell them, first
thing, if they don't know Christ, the first thing you need, you
need healing for your soul. You need healing from your sin.
That's the first thing. And oh Lord, save us, we perish.
And oh, and look what our Savior did. He asked them, He said,
why are you so fearful? I'm in the ship. You think you
can go down with me? I didn't have to perish for you
to perish. That's what he said. You know,
Christ would have to perish if He wanted for whom He died to
perish. And these disciples are following Him. The Master always
takes care. Then He arose, verse 26, and
rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was great calm. How
many times has great calm come over us? Great calm come over
us when we trusted the Lord. And we've often been in these
storms. And our faith is bound by fear and little faith. And
then the wind, there's a great calm, and then we do just like
they do. We marvel. We marvel. First of all, we marvel
that we even was fearful and had such little faith. We marvel
that we thought for a minute we was going to perish. And we marvel that the Lord would
do something for us with such fear and such little faith. But
he does. He ain't never failed a shit.
And then here's a prayer of opposition. There's people here that oppose
him. Let me show you another one. Verse 28. And when he was come to the other
side, got in that ship and they went to the other side, and he
come into the country of the Gergesenes, that made him too
possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs exceeding fierce. so that no man might pass by
that way. And behold, they cried out, saying,
What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou
come hither to torment us before the time? Oh, what have we to do with thee?
What have we to do with you? We've got no part in you. Oh,
you're Jesus. You're the Son of God. Have you
come to torment us? They're already in torment, and
that word torment us before the times. What he's saying is, are
you going to send us to hell before it's time for us on this
earth? Are you going to put us in that
outer darkness when the time when he's going to do everybody
that way? When that fellow asked me if I believed in the coming
of Christ, and the judgment, and the money, and all that,
and I said, that's going to be, Christ's going to come, there's
going to be a judgment, and that's it. Ain't going to be no whole long
time for folks to get right. I mean, that's why Christ comes. And that's what they said. If
you come here to put us in outer darkness, if you come here to
put us in hell, if you come here to cause us to suffer and put
us where we ought to be and where we're going to spend eternity
before it's time. And oh, they love it. And that's
what he says. What have we to do with you? We got no part in
you. We don't want nothing to do with you. Thou son of God. What part hath darkness with
light? Here's light married in darkness.
What concord hath Christ with Balaam? What fellowship hath
light with darkness? And they said, we have no part
in you. My Lord Jesus said, I'll not talk with you much, for the
prince of this world cometh and hath no part in me. They knew
who he was. They knew his power. They knew
he could do what he would with them. And I tell you, this idea
that the devil and God have the same power and they're battling
over your soul, there's no way. The devil is not an equal. The
devil cannot do anything until Christ gives him permission.
And that's what they said here. They said, there's a whole bunch
of hoes here. Two thousand, as a matter of fact. And the devil
said in verse 31, if you cast us out, if you take us away from
these men, then we'll cause them to torment. Let me tell you something
here. If you're going to pull us out
of here, out of these men, into who we are for a minute, cast
us in the herd of swine, there's enough of them to fill up 2,000
halls. You know, people say, we don't
see demon possession anymore. There's lots of demon possession
in this world. You think it wasn't a demon-possessed man who killed
that little seven-year-old girl last week, found her body in
the dust? You think people that's engaged in pornography and all
of that is not demon-possessed? You think most people in prison
is not demon-possessed? You think homosexuals is not
demon-possessed? There's lots of demon possession
going on right now. Still lots of it. And you go
to some big city, go to New York, go to Chicago, Go someplace where
there's lots and lots and lots of homeless people. And you'll
find so many people demon-possessed, talking to themselves, beating
the air, running themselves into walls, scratching themselves,
talking to demons in the air. I mean, there's still lots of
demon possession in this world. And when Christ gets around where
they're at, they know it. And we got no part in you. We
don't want nothing to do with you. And boy, he said, well,
he let them fellas go. He let all them demons go into
that 2,000 head of swine. I'm going to tell you what happened.
I'm going to tell you there's a church started here. A denomination
started right here. When those hogs, when all those
demons went into those 2,000 hogs. It says there that they
ran down this steep hill. See, the only people, the only
place where a devil can find contentment and people put up
with him is in a human being. Animals can't stand him. And
they got in those hogs and those hogs run down that hill and they
all run into the water down there and every one of them drowned
themselves. They had never drowned themselves before. An animal
can't stand a demon. Only human beings can put up
with demons and devils. But those 12 hogs, 2,000 hogs
run down in that river and drowned. And those demons come out on
the other side and set up the Church of Christ to start appraising
water for salvation. Ain't that right, James? You
know that's where it started. Alright, let me give you the
last one here. And down in verse And oh, here's a prayer not only
of opposition, but a prayer of rejection, rejecting Christ. And it says there in verse 32,
And he said unto them, Go, and when they were come out, they
went into the herd of swine, and, behold, the whole herd of
swine went violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished
in the waters. And they that kept them fled,
ran, and went their ways into the city, and told everything
in what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. And behold, the
whole city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they besought
him that he would depart out of their coasts." Now, oh my,
what condemnation for these people. Why would they do this? Ask Christ
to leave? Christ to leave our country?
Christ to leave our city? Leave our town? Huh? They were
curious. First of all, that whole city
came out to see him. Oh, the whole city came out to
meet him. They came out to meet him. Who is this man that's got
this power? Who is this man that can cast out devils? Who is it?
We want to look at him anyway. We were curious about him. And they wanted to meet him who
could do such things, but they didn't want to follow him. And
they said, oh, they saw him. You know, they preferred their
swine before the Savior. And the devils drowned them,
and they blamed Christ for their loss. If you'd have just left
them devils alone, we'd still be in the hog business. That's
what happens to people. They say, Lord, that's not right.
We'd still be doing, we'd really be doing gangbusters if you hadn't
come into the situation. And that's what they said. They
blamed Christ for it. And here He has set two men free
that people was terrified of. But instead of bowing to Him,
worshiping Him, and acknowledging Him, they said, leave us alone. Get out of town. Leave us to
ourselves. Leave us to our hogs. You get
on away from here because we don't lose no more pigs. We don't
lose no more living. And they loved their darkness.
And you know when he says, and he asked that they would depart
out of their coast. You know how many times, you
go through the Scriptures one of these days in the Gospels,
and you do this, you find out how many times people ask Christ
to depart from them. Depart from us. And you think
about that. Depart from me? Oh Lord, we're
just the opposite. Lord, don't depart from me. Please
don't leave me. And look what happens in verse
1 of chapter 9. And he entered into a ship and
passed over and came on to his own city. And believe me, he
never went back. Never went back. Now, what kind
of prayers do you pray? Selfish, self-centered, opposition,
rejection, or one, Lord, save us, we perish. Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. Lord, just speak the word. That's
all you got to do. Speak the word of it.

Prayer true or selfish

What does the Bible say about the purpose of prayer?

How do we know that God hears our prayers?

Why is prayer important for Christians?

What is the significance of the leper's prayer in Matthew 8?

How does Jesus respond to prayers of faith?

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Prayer true or selfish

What does the Bible say about the purpose of prayer?

How do we know that God hears our prayers?

Why is prayer important for Christians?

What is the significance of the leper's prayer in Matthew 8?

How does Jesus respond to prayers of faith?

Sermon Transcript

About Donnie Bell

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