We're going to worship the Lord by turning to His word in Isaiah 40, and we'll just read verses 28 through 31. Isaiah 40, 28 through 31. Have you not known, have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we come to you and praise you because you are a God who promises to those who will wait on you, to those who will come to you in dependent prayer, that you will give ability and strength, that you will accomplish much through us if we will depend upon you. Lord, we're going to see that later on today. We confess before you that we are just inclined to do things in our own strength, to muster up our own will, to try to do things our own way, in our own power. And Lord, we pray, Lord, today that you would challenge us and encourage us about the matter of dependent prayer. Help us to see just how important that is in our lives if we are truly going to glorify you. And Lord, as we worship you this morning, may we do so in a way that pleases you. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Good morning. The face change. If you'll stand with me this morning as we lift up our voices in praise to the Lord, we're going to sing Hymn 175, Abide With Me. Stand with me if you're able. Hymn 175, Abide With Me. Abide with me, fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens. Glore with me, O Lord. Swift to it. I need thy presence every hour. myself, my guide and stay can be. Oh, cloud and sunshine, all abide with me. Hold As morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee, in life, in death, O Lord, abide with Amen, you may be seated. And we will turn to 516 as we continue along the theme of God's abiding presence. You know, the last words recorded in the Gospel of Matthew where he said, And lo, I will be with you always, even unto the ends of the earth. As we continue speaking of God's abiding presence, his presence in our prayers. You know, God is with us when we pray. and his spirit makes intercession for us. So we're gonna sing Sweet Hour of Prayer, hymn 516. It'll be up on the screen. Sweet Hour of Prayer. Sweet heart of prayer, sweet heart of prayer, that calls me from a world of care, and bids me have my father's heart. make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief, and oft escaped by thy return. Sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer. Thy wings shall not I petition fair to him whose truth and faithfulness engage the waiting soul to last. And since he bids me seek his face, And trust his praise. I'll cast on him my every care and wait for thee. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, may I thy consolation share. He'll come now, his God's love denies. I'm you, my own, I take my flight. This hope of flesh I'll drop and rise. the everlasting light and shout the passing through the air, farewell, farewell. Won't that be a wonderful day where we no longer have to worry about an hour of prayer because we will forever be in the presence of our Savior who will meet all of our needs up there. As my wonderful wife comes up to join me on stage, we're going to lead you in the song of the month, which until that sweet hour of prayer is done for, we have a refuge for our weary souls while we are here. This is the song of the month this month, Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul. you Dear refuge of my weary soul, on thee when sorrows rise, on thee when waves of trouble roll, my fainting hope relies. To thee I tell each rising grief, for thou alone can steal. Thy word can bring a sweet relief for every pain I feel. But oh, when gloomy doubts prevail, I fear to call thee mine. The springs of comfort seem to fail, and all my hopes decline. Yet gracious God, where shall I flee? Thou art my only trust. And still my soul would cleave to Thee, though prostrate in the dust. Hast thou not bid me seek thy face, and shall I seek in vain? And can the ear of sovereign grace be deaf when I complain? No, still the ear of sovereign grace attends the mourner's prayer. O may I ever find access to breathe my sorrows there. My mercy seat is open still. Here let my soul retreat. With humble hope attend thy will and wait beneath thy feet. Thy mercy seat is open still, still art my soul retrieved. With humble hope attend thy will and wait beneath thy feet. All right, so that is the song of the month. Again, the idea that we have a refuge in Christ and we go to him in dependent prayer, which pastor is going to preach on in just a moment. But stand with me if you're able and we'll sing dear refuge of my weary soul. my weary soul, on thee when sorrows drowse. Thy word can bring a sweet relief for every pain I feel. The low and gloomy doubts prevail. I'm here to call thee mine. ♪ And still my soul would plead to Thee ♪ ♪ Though prostrate in the dust ♪ ♪ Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face? ♪ ♪ And shall I seek Thee? ♪ And can the ear of sovereign grace be deaf when I complain? Yeah. Amen. Excellent singing. You may be seated as we go to hymn 390, Constantly Abiding. Again, just remembering that we are abiding in Christ until he comes again, where we will forever be with him. Constantly Abiding, hymn 390. Children can be dismissed on, I believe it's the third verse. There's a peace in my heart that the world never knew A peace that cannot take the rage Savior and King, when He sweetly came to my heart. Thrones of men obey, and my life's work today, blessing Jesus, her glorious heart. There's a treasure I have in the temple of day. While near on his footstool I rest. But he's coming to take it. But with me abiding, Jesus is nigh. Well, good morning. Beautiful chilly morning, right? The calm before the storm, I heard. Okay. Let's go to the Lord in prayer before we come to his word. Heavenly Father, we are so grateful this morning and so thankful. Father, we praise you because you are holy, holy, holy. You are God Almighty, all-powerful, all-wise, and all-knowing. And Father, we're grateful this morning for your great love for us in sending your only begotten son, Jesus, to come and take the sin of the world upon himself and die on that cross, paying the penalty for our sin. And being buried in the tomb on the third day, he arose up out of that grave and is now seated at your right hand, interceding on our behalf. And Father, we're grateful this morning for the privilege that has been sent our way through our faith in Jesus Christ and what he has done, that we have this privilege to come before your throne this morning and lift up our praise and our worship and our concerns, Father. And we pray this morning as we come into your word that Father, those who are unable to be here today and those who may be streaming, Father, we ask that you will bless them and heal up those who are not feeling well. and pray that you would bring them back to us soon, Lord. And we do ask this morning that you would help us to set aside all the cares and distractions of the week and even of this morning, Father, that we might take this time that we would concentrate solely upon your word as your spirit encourages us and teaches us and strengthens us, Father. And I pray that as we would leave here today that we would be changed more and more into your image as we receive your word and Lord as we meditate upon it and think it through and apply it in our lives. And we ask that in all things your great name would be glorified and lifted up in Jesus name. Amen. Now I think this is a first for me this morning. I think Pastor Jim might have been trying to trip me up because I'm getting old to see if I can do this. But we have three different scriptures this morning, all in the book of John. And so I'm going to begin in John chapter 14, verses 12 through 18. Most assuredly, I say to you, He who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Now we're going to go to chapter 15, and we are going to be looking at verses 5 through 8. Chapter 15, 5 through 8. Jesus speaking here says, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, He is cast out as a branch, and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. And now we are going to go to chapter 16 and look at verses 23 through 28. And in that day, you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the father in my name, he will give you. Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language. But the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you figuratively language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day, you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and believe that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father. To begin this new year, I wanted to just take some time to emphasize very vital, vitally important truths about the matter of prayer. frequently in our lives, even as Christians, we focus on goals, but we don't focus on the final goal. There's a word for this. It's the word penultimate. You put the illustration up there on the screen. Penultimate is the second to the last goal, or the second to the last thing, and then ultimate is the last. And very often in our lives, even as Christians, we can do things for a goal that in our lives as Christians is actually a penultimate goal, and we forget about the ultimate goal. Let me show you what I mean. So we work our jobs to support our families. We pursue our hobbies to enjoy life. We are nice to our friends and families to have peace. We serve in our church to be obedient. We raise our kids so they don't end up as criminals. I mean, all of these are very good goals, but for the Christian, every single one of these or others that we might have are penultimate goals, not the ultimate goal. Nothing wrong with having a hobby to enjoy life, but there ought to be an ultimate goal. Nothing wrong with being nice to our friends and family, to even have peace, that's fine, but there ought to be an ultimate goal. We ought to serve in our church to be obedient, but there ought to be an ultimate goal. And we ought to raise our kids, hopefully for more than just keeping them out of jail, but there ought to be an ultimate goal. And the ultimate goal for every one of these is to glorify God. You see, we ought to pursue our hobbies, to enjoy life, to ultimately glorify God. Did you know you could do that? You can. We ought to be nice to our friends and family, to have peace, to ultimately do more than that, to glorify God. We ought to serve our church, to be obedient, but to glorify God. We ought to raise our kids so that they're not criminals, but to ultimately glorify God. See, so often in our lives, we are focused on the penultimate, but God wants us to be focused on the ultimate. And for the Christian, the ultimate is to glorify God. So the question is how? How do we move from just focusing on the penultimate to the ultimate? And the answer is prayer. It's prayer. That is the answer. I hope that you will see this morning, if you get nothing else, that that is the only way that ultimately you will be able to fulfill the ultimate goal to glorify God. Jonathan Edwards said this, he said, resolve to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea, violence I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert in any way that can be thought of. He realized that in our lives there are goals, but there's got to be the ultimate goal, and the ultimate goal of glorifying God is also the ultimate goal of our future happiness in the next life. We're gonna see that actually in Scripture as we go through this. Let me put it another way. What is the easiest way for you to waste your life as a Christian? What's the easiest way? And I'm going to suggest to you that the easiest way to waste your life as a Christian is to not pray. The most effortless way to waste your life as a Christian is to do all kinds of things with penultimate goals, but to fail to pray. And the same is true the other way. The best way to ensure that we are fulfilling, living fulfilling and fruitful lives is to pray. It all depends on dependent prayer. Last week we looked in the Old Testament, in the book of Isaiah, and we saw that God was warning the nation of Israel and also comforting the nation of Israel about the fact that they were going to be captured by Assyria and taken into Babylonian captivity. And so they needed to, they should be comforted though that God would be with them. If you remember from last week, Isaiah 44, one says, yet hear me now, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen, thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you. And we learned last week the biggest hindrance for receiving help from God is idolatry. Why? Because God will not share his glory with anyone else or anything else. And so idolatry will hinder us from receiving help from God to do what God has called us to do. The passage, or as Harry pointed out, the passages, which in a sense actually are all one passage. This is the upper room discourse. Jesus is talking and he is looking ahead to a time where he won't be with them anymore. And he says to his disciples some very important things about what it's going to look like and what they need to do. And four times in John 14 through 16, he says something very important here. In all the passages that we're gonna be looking at, there's a commonality, and you're gonna see it here highlighted. Isaiah 14, 12 through 18, it says, if you ask anything, actually, it's there twice. If you look at verse 13, wherever you ask in my name. And then it says in verse 15, if you ask anything in my name. And then in John 15, later on, it says, verse seven, you will ask that you desire and it shall be done for you. And John 16, 23 through 24, ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. And again in John 16, 25 through 27, you will ask in my name. Five times in these three chapters, Jesus tells us you've got to ask. Ask and I'll do it. Ask in my name and it'll be done to you. Ask and your joy may be full. Ask. In Matthew, we have the same thing. Ask and seek and knock. In Luke, we have the same thing. Ask, he says. Over and over in the Gospels, we have this admonition from Jesus to ask. So God, what we're going to see here in this text is that glorifying God requires dependent prayer. It requires it. I'm going to go out on a limb here and simply say that you cannot glorify God if you are not praying. This was very convicting to me, very candidly. Sometimes in my own life, I've thought to myself, well, I'm probably not praying enough, but I'm doing a lot of good things, and God can use those things. Maybe not. And we're gonna see why it's so important in this text. We're gonna see four things, four reasons why it's so important. Number one, dependent prayer is mission critical. Dependent prayer is mission critical. Dependent prayer requires an awareness of inadequacy. It requires an awareness of inadequacy. Dependent prayer results in fullness of joy. And dependent prayer is based on a loving relationship. And for these reasons, dependent prayer is absolutely essential to glorifying God. We pick up here in John chapter 14, and we see our first passage here, our first text, where it says, most assuredly I say to you, verse 12, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me and the works that I do, he will do also. And the greater works than these he will do, because I go to my father. So he begins by saying, he's talking about these works. He says, he who believes in me, the works that I do. When he says, the works that I do, what is he talking about? Well, I actually want us to look at these passages. We're going to do a little bit more flipping than usual today in our Bibles. Would you take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 4 and pick up in verse 34. I actually want you to see this. Actually in the book of John you see many times where Jesus refers to the work he is doing or the work the father is doing or his work that needs to be done. He refers to this many times throughout the book of John. We won't look at all of them, but I want us to look at some key ones. The first one we're going to look at, Jesus has just saved the Samaritan woman. You remember the story of how he went to the Samaritan woman at the well, and ultimately she came to Christ, she was saved, and she went out and told others. And then he's alone at this well, and the disciples come back, they bring him food, and this is what he says, John 4, 34. And Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work. Now that sounds a little strange, doesn't it? My food is to do something. I mean, usually, I don't, when I think of, and to finish work, when I think of eating, I don't think of work. In fact, I think of almost the opposite of work. I enjoy eating. Why would you call it work? He's pointing something out here. I think he's pointing out that the visible thing the disciples can see is what is being done, but there is more behind the scenes in that he is receiving before he gives. he is receiving before he works. And we're gonna see that as we go on. Would you look then, just flip over, maybe it's one or two pages, John chapter five, John five, and look at verses 17 through 21. John five. We're gonna see here, picking up at verse 17, and Jesus answered them, my father has been working until now, and I have been working. Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because by the way, he had just done a miracle, raised Lazarus, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but he said that God was his father, making himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered and said to them, most assuredly I say to you, the son can do, notice what it says here, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the father do, for whatever he does, the son also does in like manner. Now, notice what Jesus says here. He says, the son does nothing of himself. He can do nothing. Keep that in mind. He can do nothing of himself, but he does what the father does. Notice what it says verse 20 and the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself does and he will show him greater works than these That you may marvel for as the father raises the dead gives life to them even so the God the son gives life to whom he will There's a few things we understand about from this passage It is the father's work that is being done through the son and the work that he is doing is giving life Ultimately, it's because of Christ's death on the cross that we are able to receive eternal life But the work that is being done the mission if you will is that people would receive life Look flip over again to John 6 John 6 and look at verse 26 through 33 Picking up in verse 26, John 6, Jesus answered them and said, Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, the ultimate, not the penultimate. Verse 29, Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God. What is the work of God? That you believe in him whom he sent. The mission of Christ was to seek and to save those who were lost. The mission of the Father was to bring life that people would believe. That's the mission. Verse 32. Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So the mission of the father handed down to the mission of Jesus is to give life. That's the mission. And the Father did it through the Son. Christ said, I didn't act on my own power. Now, did Christ have his own power? He was God. But he chose to act in such a way that he was a conduit of his Father as he worked through others, worked through himself to others. Now, I want you to see what it says in the text. Go back to our text, John 14. and we're gonna pick up here. It says, most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. That is, those who believe, those who are Christians, those who believe in me, the works that I do, he will do also. Well, he's not saying that we can actually be givers of life, but we do have the same mission. that we would see others transformed from death to life. And we see the transfer here in this text. There's another very helpful text that we see that the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. Christ says to his disciples, and us by extension, those who believe in me, my mission, my work is going to be transferred to you, and now you have the same work I had, as Paul puts it this way, as ambassadors for Christ. And also what it says in the text in John 14, it says that there are going to be greater works. He says, the works that I do, He will also, and greater works than these He will do because I go to my Father. Jesus says, because I go to my Father, even greater works will be done. Now, if you look at the book of Acts, you see this. You see the Spirit of God working through believers and disciples, and they go out and share the gospel, and others come to Christ, and others come to Christ, and others come to Christ. You have multitudes coming to Christ. Many, many people come to Christ. There are even greater works that were done beyond what Christ did in saving souls when he was here on earth. Of course, the ultimate sacrifice that Christ made, nothing tops that, is because of the ultimate sacrifice that Christ made, that you have a multiplicity of works being done of people coming to Christ, given new life in Christ. But I want us to notice that this is our mission. Well, how are we to accomplish this mission? How does, not just how do we, how does somebody say we're supposed to accomplish this mission, but how does Jesus say we're supposed to accomplish this mission? Look at verse 13. And whatever you ask, did you catch that? And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. The answer is prayer. Did you catch that? The way that we accomplish the mission that God has for us is through prayer. We must ask God to do through us what the mission is to do. Why? Because then he gets the glory. This is an incredibly important idea. We actually see in the text here, he says it twice. He says, that I will do. He says verse 13, that I will do, and then he says in verse 14, I will do it. Do we get the idea that he is really trying to assure his disciples that if you will ask, In my name, I will do it. Well, what's it in reference to? It's in reference to the work that Jesus was doing. And the work that Jesus was doing was life-giving work. And then we see that the result or the reason for it is to glorify God. John Piper gives this illustration. I think it's a helpful one. He says, imagine that there's somebody that's totally paralyzed. They can't do anything for themselves. And a good, strong, faithful friend, reliable friend comes and says, I'm going to live with you, and I'm going to help you, and I'm going to do everything for you. And another friend comes by to see that paralyzed friend. How would the paralyzed friend give credit or glorify the person that is helping? He wouldn't give credit or glorify the person that is helping by trying to stand up on his own while his other friend was there. No. He may express to the second friend, he might express that it is the friend that's living with him, that he's able to live, he's able to be strengthened, all that. Or it may be that he actually says, can you help me with this? Or can you help me with that? Right in front of the friend. See, that actually glorifies or gives credit to the friend. Piper says it this way. He says, no. You would say, friend, please come lift me up, and would you And would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest? And would you please put my glasses on for me? And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him and asking him for help and counting on him. And that's what God wants us to do. We glorify God by needing him. We glorify God by asking for his help. See, God doesn't want fake glory. He doesn't want faux glory. You know what we tend to do sometimes? We tend to do things in our own strength, by our own self-determination, and then we say, well, God did it. We glorify God, we praise him for it. No, what God wants us to do at the very outset is to be dependent on Him through prayer so that when something does happen, we give Him the glory because He did work through us. That's why prayer is absolutely so important. Acts 17 says this, verse 24. God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath, and good things, and all things. Sometimes we serve as though God needs us, and yet God needs nothing. We get to serve Him by glorifying Him, not by giving Him what He needs, but by receiving what we need. Mark 10 45, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Psalm 50 verse 12 is a very interesting verse. He says, if I were hungry, I would not tell you. for the world is mine and all its fullness. And in verse 15 it says, call upon me in a day of trouble, I will deliver you and you shall glorify me. Do we get the idea that God is glorified by delivering us, by helping us, by our neediness, our dependency on him? How do we express that dependency? The answer is through prayer. We ask Him as we have seen multiple times throughout this passage. And notice then what Jesus says. How does this all work? How is it that we will receive the help that we need? How is it that we can be constantly dependent upon God? Well, he's going to send the Spirit of God to us. See, Jesus is there in his presence with the disciples now, but when he leaves and sends to his father, he says, I'm going to send someone to you, verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments and will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. It almost reminds me of when God said, I'll be with you as you go into Babylon. Israel, I'll be with you. Don't fear, I'll be with you. Or as he said to Joshua, go in and possess the land and I will be with you. Again, we see here, Jesus says, I'm going to send my spirit to come and he is going to be with you. And the Holy Spirit there, it's an interesting word. It's parakletos is the Greek word. And if you look at different translations, you'll see a bunch of different options. I think the King James uses the word comforter. The New King James uses the word helper, which I think is pretty good. There's others that use different words. One translation even uses the word friend. It's one of those words that has so much meaning that it's really hard to peg it down to one English word. But it's the idea that there is someone to come alongside to help in time of need, and there's the sense in which we are constantly and always in need because we cannot glorify God without the Helper, the Spirit of God. In fact, Luke 11, 11 through 13, explaining the relationship that we have illustrates this by, as we know, as a familiar illustration, as a father who would, a son would come and ask for a stone, but instead would give bread, or ask for bread, but instead would give a stone. Well, that would not make sense. So we see in Luke 11, if then you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will you have your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? I don't think he's saying there that you need to ask for the Holy Spirit. I think he is saying that the help from the Holy Spirit is available for those who ask. Now this idea of prayer, what does this include? Well we see clearly from the text, it's asking. It's very simple. We ask. And what do we ask for? We ask for those things that would accomplish the mission of God and Christ as it has been transferred in our lives. The Old Testament concept that we kind of touched on last week a little bit is the idea of waiting on the Lord. And it goes really in conjunction with the concept of prayer. Isaiah 40, 31, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Who is it that gets the strength? Whose strength is renewed, it is one who waits on the Lord. Psalm 33, 20-22 says, Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we trusted in His holy name. Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us. Let us hope in you. Isaiah 30, 15. For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning the rest Turning and rest you shall be saved in quietness and confidence shall be your strength Isaiah 30 16 and you said No, for we will flee our on horses Therefore you shall flee and we will ride on swift horses. Therefore those who pursue you will shall be swift Isaiah 39 30 18 therefore the Lord will wait and that he may be gracious to you, and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are those who wait for him. Charles Spurgeon said it this way in this matter of prayer and this relationship that we have and how it glorifies God. He says this, God and the praying man take shares. First, here is your share. Call upon me in a day of trouble. Secondly, here is God's share. I will deliver thee. Again, you take a share, for you shall be delivered. And then again, it is the Lord's turn. Thou shalt glorify me. Here is a compact, a covenant that God enters into with you who pray to him and whom he helps. He says, you shall have the deliverance, but I must have the glory. Here is a delightful partnership. We obtain that which we so greatly need and all that God get is the glory which is due unto his name." In describing this idea of waiting on God, John Piper says this, to wait, that means to pause and soberly consider our own inadequacy and the Lord's all sufficiency and seek counsel and help from the Lord to hope in him. Now that brings us then to John 15. So if you turn over there and we're going to see that, secondly, dependent prayer requires an awareness of inadequacy. Dependent prayer requires an awareness of inadequacy. Jesus is speaking to disciples, and he wants to make it clear that the one who is going to actually be doing the work is Jesus, and we are to be abiding in the vine. Most of you are familiar with that passage. I preach on it very frequently. But I want to remind us of a few things that I think are really important when it comes to this matter of prayer. John 15 verse 5 says this, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit." And notice what it says, for without me you can do nothing. Well, what's the nothing referring to? If you go back to John and the work that Jesus is doing, and the work that the Father gave Jesus to do, the nothing then refers to giving life to those who need it, refers to glorifying God. You can't, you cannot glorify God apart from the work of Christ in our lives, apart from abiding in Him. And it illustrates it this way, and people get hung up over verse six, but I think it's an important, it's actually an important illustration. He says, if anyone does not abide in me, he is cast as a branch and is withered. And they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. Now, this has been really hotly debated. There's all kinds of different people that say different things about what this is talking about. Some will actually say this is teaching loss of salvation. Others are saying, well, it's a possessor. This is talking about a professor, not a possessor in verse six. I actually think all of that misses the point. I think what he is saying here by this illustration, let's stick with the illustration. You've got a vine and branches, and if a branch is not connected to a vine, if a branch is not connected to a tree trunk, what is it? It's dead. And so what happens to it? It's useless. It's not useful for anything. And so what do you do with it? You burn it in the fire because that's the only use for it. That is actually a use. I have a fireplace at home. I'm burning lots of wood lately, as cold as it is. But that's about the only use. for really dead wood that is not worth building something with. It's useless. It's not going to bear fruit because it's not connected to the vine. That's the point here. The point is that if we're not connected to the vine, we are useless for the glory of God. Well, how do we connect? Well, there's a lot to that concept of abiding in the vine, remaining in Christ. But notice what he says here, verse 7. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, that is, we're in fellowship with God and we're receiving the words of God, we're receiving the nourishment of the truth of the word of God, then notice what he says, you will what? There it is again. You will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this, my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. Piper says this, he says, God aims to exalt himself by working for those who wait for him. Prayer is the essential activity of waiting for God, acknowledging our helplessness and his power, calling upon him for help, asking his counsel. since his purpose in the world is to be exalted for his mercy and it is evident why prayer is often commanded by God. Prayer is the antidote for the disease of self-confidence which opposes God's goal of getting glory by working for those who wait for him. So we see then finally that Piper finally says this, this is really interesting, he says, God is not looking for people to work for him so much as he is looking for people who will let him work for them. The gospel is not a help wanted ad, neither is the call to Christian service. On the contrary, the gospel commands us to give up and hang out a help wanted sign. This is a basic meaning of prayer. Then the gospel promises that God will work for us if we do. He will not surrender the glory of being the giver. This is Verified by first Peter chapter 4 verse 11. It says this if anyone speaks Let him speak as the oracles of God if anyone serves or ministers Let him do it as with the ability which God Supplies that in all things what happens that in all things? God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belong the glory and dominion forever and ever if we are going to serve and we should serve and We are going to have to serve from God's supply. Why? So that He gets the glory. How do we know if we're serving from God's supply? We're praying. This is how frequently we see in Scripture the importance of prayer and the importance of glorifying God. And if we do, what we see in the passage is that we will bear much fruit in this life. And it also tells us later on in chapter 16, turn there, verse 23, that our joy will be full. John 16, actually it says at the end of John 15 as well, but John 16 it says, And in that day you will ask me nothing, but most assuredly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. He says that the key to our joy, the fullness of our joy, is that we ask and we receive. We pray and we see answers to our prayers. We are living on mission for God to ultimately glorify Him in our lives as Christians. And the joy that we have is a joy of gladness and fulfillment. In this text, we have this word joy. It's used several times in the book of John and also in 1 John. And if you go one, if you go back to the classical Greek, this is New Testament is written in Koine Greek. If you go back one period of the classical Greek, there are three illustrations that are helpful where this word is used. It's used in reference to the filling up of the lungs with breath. It's used where an employee is paid in full and it's used when having poured wine into a vessel until it was full. This word joy is the idea of to being totally full or to be completely fulfilled. How do we become completely fulfilled in this life and frankly in the life to come? The answer is prayer. And this joy that we can have in the future and now, this joy is actually our strength. Nehemiah 8 says it this way, then he said to them, go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, send portions to those whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to your Lord. Do not sorrow for the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is your strength. See, it comes back to, if we're doing all this, then we are strengthened by the Spirit of God to do what God wants us to do by our joy. And then finally, what causes this to be so joyful? Well, we pick up in verse 25. and we see that dependent prayer is based on a loving relationship. There's a lot that can be said about this passage, but I'll just pick up, we'll pick up actually in verse 26. It says this, in that day, talking about the day after the resurrection when Christ is no longer there, in that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you, For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father." Jesus isn't saying here that he is not going to be our mediator, or he certainly is. We know in Scripture that he is our mediator, he is our intercessor. He is simply saying that because of what he has done on the cross and being resurrected, We now have access to the Father, where we can have this relationship with the Father, where we can ask the Father directly. Why? Because the Father loves us. There's this loving relationship that is expressed here in this text. Now, as we put all this together, why is this all so important? Because I hope that as we As we look at all of this, we come to this conclusion that prayer is critical for glorifying God. It's essential for glorifying God. It's not one of the things that we do to glorify God. It should be in everything in order to glorify God. That means we ought to be praying, as the New Testament says, without ceasing. When we think of the New Testament, we think of all of what is done. The Apostle Paul is constantly saying he's serving to pray. He's going to them and he's praying for them. There's prayer throughout the book of Acts as people are coming to Christ. And maybe it is possible that we aren't seeing the fruit that God wants us to see. Why? Because we're not praying. I was convicted of this as I was going through this and studying this and thinking through this. that so oftentimes we are so prone to do, but not to pray. That's why it's so important this coming year, as you think of the different devotional things, I've heard lots of people saying, well, I'm gonna read the Bible in a year or two years, that's great. Or I'm doing these devotions, or I have these goals, that's wonderful. But can I encourage you not to forget to pray? To pray about everything. When we wake up in the morning, pray. When we're going to work, pray. Think about the ultimate, not just the penultimate. I'm going to work, yes, to provide for my family, to ultimately glorify God. I'm going to raise my children, yes, because I have to keep them alive, and yes, I want to keep them out of jail, but I want them to glorify God, and by doing so, I want to glorify God. If I'm doing a hobby, I want to enjoy what God has given me, ultimately to glorify Him. How does this happen? As we are praying. So, three important questions I think will be helpful for us. Number one, do you view prayer as critical for accomplishing your God-given mission? Do you really see it that way? I'm asking myself the same question. It's critical. It's not optional. This is something that I must do. I don't know about you, but I don't want to come to the end of my life and say, boy, I wasted that. How do I keep from doing that? I've got to pray. I've got to do things based upon God's strength and His empowerment and His working as vessels and channels for Him. Do you view prayer as critical for accomplishing your God-given mission? Number two, do you view prayer as a necessary expression of dependency? Why do we pray? Because we're dependent. Why do we cease from praying? Because we are independent, we are self-confident. The level of self-confidence that we have will determine the lack of prayer, and the level of humility and dependence we have will determine the amount of prayer. Number three, do you believe that prayer is truly the key to fullness of joy? Do you believe that? It's what we see in scripture. Do you really believe that? These are questions I've been asking myself this week. Do you believe that the answer, the key to fullness of joy is a prayer life? You know, I mean, sometimes prayer, we think of prayer, and it can be a little on the boring side, or boy, there's so many things I need to do, or there's so many things that are more exciting than prayer. Have we learned to enjoy God? Have we learned to know Him? Have we learned to know the Word of God and then pray that Word to Him? I believe that prayer is truly the key to fullness of joy. Maybe you're here this morning and you don't have a relationship with God. You don't know that the first place of dependency is understanding that we're sinners and we're on our way to a place called hell and we need Christ to save us. We must depend on Christ to do what we cannot do for ourselves and dying on the cross for us. If you're here this morning, and you don't know him, please come and talk with me. I'd be glad to take a Bible and help you know for sure that you have a relationship with the Lord. For the rest of us, may this really challenge us this coming year about the importance of constant prayer. Why? So that we can truly come to the end of our lives. And we could say with the Apostle Paul, I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept the faith. And there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me at that day. And not for me only, but also to them also who love his appearing. May that be our goal, our ultimate goal as we go through this year. Let's pray. Father, we come to you and again we confess that we so easily do everything else except pray. Yet we see clearly from these texts that we cannot glorify you without prayer. And the more that we do pray, the more that we will be glorifying you. We thank you that your word teaches us everywhere to pray. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us. I know my flesh is weak. I get so busy. Lord, may we not neglect our time with you and praying to you, asking you, depending upon you, and then seeing you do what we know we could not do for ourselves. May we have a year of prayer and a year of glorifying you. And we pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Hello, my name is Jim Ganam, Senior Pastor of Bethel Baptist Church. I'd like to take a minute to thank you for streaming our service. We hope and pray that it was truly a blessing to you. You know, we live in a day where we have access to the preaching of God's Word with just a phone or a tablet or with a couple of clicks on our computer. But we really would love to meet you in person. You know, there is just nothing that really replaces the experience of being in a loving community. Here at BBC, you'll be greeted by people who genuinely want to help you to have the best experience you can possibly have. If you have a family, we can help your kids find their fun, interactive classes, and your littlest ones can get settled into our safe, fun, and well-equipped nursery. Then help yourself to a cup of coffee and join us for the main service for singing, praying, and the preaching of God's Word. Although we'd love to have you visit our church, this is not our greatest concern for you. Our greatest concern is that you know how to have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In fact, I want to let you know about a resource that will help you with this. It is called The Exchange. The Exchange is an easy-to-use, four-week guide that helps people to learn how they can have a relationship with God according to the Bible. If you contact us, we'd love to give you a copy while supplies last, and we'd also love to meet with you either in person, or over the phone, or over a FaceTime or Zoom video call, so we can walk you through this helpful resource. If you're interested in going through the exchange Bible study with us, or if you just have a need we can pray for, may the Lord richly bless you. We hope to see you soon.