So we bring you greetings from the brethren in Denton. Well, let's get right into this. I want us to look in in John's gospel. I want to speak during this hour and in the next one on prayer. And before we read, I heard an illustration recently that John Piper used, and it goes like this. He said to his church, if you heard that there was a bank draft in the amount of one million dollars in an account made out to you, and all that it took tomorrow morning on Monday morning was a signature and it was going to be yours. He said, I guarantee you that would change the rest of your day. To realize that an unbelievable reality of resources were suddenly available to you personally, it would change a person's life, wouldn't it? That far greater infinitely greater than that is the reality of what we have available to every Christian. Whether you came to know the Lord two weeks ago or forty years ago, it doesn't matter. The youngest, weakest Christian to the most mature Christian among us. The resources of prayer are simply far beyond our highest thoughts. We have never even come close to realizing what we have available in this means of grace that comes to us through prayer. So I want us to think about that this morning, about the possibilities of prayer for you and for every Christian. John chapter 14. We're going to look through these three chapters, 14, 15, and 16, and what's called the upper room discourse. Now, let's get the picture here. Jesus is here with the disciples. Where does He go next after this? Well, He goes in the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, right? Where is He going after that? He's heading to the cross. He's heading to a betrayal by one of His own a mock illegal trial on trumped up charges, cruel mocking, then physical suffering, pulling out his beard, all kinds of ill treatment on the way to the cross. So this upper room discourse is our Lord's last Bible study, if you want to put it that way, his last time with his disciples. Now, think about this. He's fixing to leave them. He's going to die and rise again. Then he's going to be here before his ascension for 40 days. But that 40 days post-resurrection, we don't know how much of it was teaching. It was celebration. It was awe and wonder. It was worship. Maybe some teaching. We don't know. He did give them the Great Commission after His resurrection before He was going to ascend to heaven. But it's valid to see this upper room discourse as His last time of instructing them. Now, if you had a group or you were a boss and you were leaving a company with your chief assistant and you were having a last session with them, what would you emphasize to them? The most important things. The things that were utmost on your heart. And the things that were most important for them to remember and apply. That's what you would talk to them about. I believe that's what the Lord Jesus does here. Because if you sum it up, Do we remember what Christ talked to the disciples about in the upper room in John 14 through 16? If you summed it up in a couple of areas or a couple of truths, what would it be? Anybody want to take a shot at that? The Holy Spirit, right? And prayer. These are the two things he majored on. And so I want us to see We're going to look at some various verses where the Lord is instructing the disciples in prayer. All right. John 14, verse 13. We're just going to see his statements, his independent statements that stand alone. Brother Tim, let's see, we're just I need to stop at exactly what time? Ten fifty. All right. Let's let's get on our galloping. Stallion, and let's ride fast. John 14, 13 says what? Now let's stop and just realize, whatever the Lord Jesus says to the disciples here, it's for us. It's for every believer in future generations. So He's talking to you and I. It's as much our truth, and it's as much for us to walk in as it was for Peter and John and the disciples. Verse 13, whatsoever you ask in my name, this I will do that the father may be glorified in the son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. John. Fifteen. Verses seven and eight. John 15, seven and eight. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask what you will. Some translations, yours may say, ask whatever you will or ask whatever you wish. Now see, these promises in prayer seem so extravagant, our human minds want to say, he couldn't have meant what he said. But see, it's always qualified by, in his name, what will glorify the Father. See? I can't work up faith for a 2007 Mercedes with all my effort. Forget it. See? And when we talk about prayer, let's just remember this. There's only three things that will hinder a believer from regularly getting his prayers answered. They are sin not dealt with. If I regard iniquity in my heart, you finish it. The Lord will not hear me. Prayerlessness, you have not because you ask not. And the third one kind of is related to the first one too. Asking with selfish motives. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you might consume it upon your own lusts. So, unrepentant sin that you know is in your life and you won't agree with God about it, You won't go to your father and deal with it and face it and walk in the light. God's not going to hear your prayers. The ceiling, the heavens will be brass. And then prayerlessness, not asking enough, and asking with selfish motives just for yourself. But I think the second one is often as much a reason as lack of answers to prayer as any of them. We don't believe the promises of God about prayer. We really don't believe them enough. Because in John 14, 13 and 14, and in John 15, 7 and 8, the Lord says the same thing. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will and it will be done for you. By this, Asking what you will and the father answering by this My father is glorified That you bear much fruit now the fruit in the context is answered prayer All right John 15 verse 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and notice again the fruit. I You should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it you. The other day, my family and I, Linda, my wife, and our twins, who are 13, were supposed to fly to Alabama. Well, you ever tried to get teenagers up at 4.30 in the morning and get to the airport 45 minutes away? We missed the flight by 5 minutes. They put us on standby. And the flights were full. So we waited five hours for the next flight. Myself and my daughter, Caroline, they had two seats. So we had to get on. And my wife, Lyndon, our son, Richard, had to stay. They were going to try to catch one of the next two flights. The next one was full. They couldn't get on it. The last one was full. And by the time they were still waiting, I was in Alabama. And several times through the day, I felt impressed in my heart. Father, I ask you to open up two seats for them. Lord, I just desire this. I ask you. You've brought us. You've sent us here. I'm asking you for two seats. And that last lot came. It was full. They were boarding. Suddenly, the guy on the speaker calls two men up there. And my wife's eavesdropping. She's right there. She's eavesdropping. And the man says to these two men, listen, we're afraid you're going to miss your final connection. We're putting you on another airlines. And then the next thing he says was, would Linda Tomlinson please come to the... And he said, we've got two seats for you. Our Father is serious about and delighted to answer prayer. I mean, I'm fixing to start preaching here. I've got to resist the temptation. There's a verse that is so amazing. The Bible says the prayers of the upright are His delight. Now what delights you? Think of something that just excites your heart and delights you. What an amazing, astounding reality that our Heavenly Father is delighted by the prayers of His children. See, this takes prayer to a level above duty, above drudgery, above ought to, have to. It's an exciting thing answered prayer is. And so the Lord Jesus. Says to them, and I'm going to I'm going to go on through this quicker. Verse 15 chapter 15 verse 16. He says you didn't choose me. I chose you and appointed you to go bear fruit and your fruit should remain so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. Now look in the next chapter, verse 23. 1623. In that day you will ask nothing of me. What does he mean by that? In that day you will ask me for nothing. He's talking about the day that he ascends to heaven and he's enthroned as our great high priest and he's not on the earth anymore physically. Their asking is going to go to a new level because they had been with him three years asking him in the flesh. He's going to be gone. And in that day, their praying is taken to a new level. They're not going to ask the man Christ Jesus on the earth anymore. They're going to ask. Notice. Twenty three. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father through me or in my authority, in my name, he will give it to you. Prayer, John Bunyan said is this, the pouring out of the heart to God through Christ by the power of the Spirit, asking the Father for whatsoever He has promised. Your Father as a child of God, as a Christian, He hears you when you pray. If you're walking in the light and those three areas aren't issues, you can know every time you come to the throne of grace, you are being heard. 1 John 5, 14 and 15, this is a confidence we have in Him. That if we ask anything according to His will, He is hearing us. And if we know that He's hearing us, we know that we have the petitions we desire from Him. This is the most foundational thing about prayer. To really see the foundational reality about prayer for a believer, you don't start in the epistles or the book of Acts. You start with the Lord's teaching in the upper room. Because He said to the disciples, and we could read more, verse 24 there, He said, Well, 24, until now you've asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive. In order of that, notice this, your joy may be full. You ever thought about that? That one of the purposes of God for answering prayer is that our joy may be full. That's astounding. He wants to give us fullness of joy by answering prayer because He shows us how great He is and that He does things man couldn't do. He gets the credit and we get joy. All right, the last reference is chapter 16, verse 26. He says, In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say, to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father Himself loves you." Well, the implication is there He's going to hear you because you pray. Now, notice the picture of this. Jesus is teaching the disciples on prayer. What does He say to them in that upper room discourse? What's the theological doctrine of John 14 through 16 about prayer? You know what it is? He says to him seven times in a row, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask. I wonder what he was trying to say to him. It's like he wants us to ask. I used to believe that majoring on asking was self-centered until I began to realize that the majority of the emphasis on prayer in the New Testament is petition. Think of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 5-7 and then in Luke 11. How does it start out? Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. That's God-centeredness and worship. How does it close? God-centeredness and worship. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Everything else in that prayer is petition. Every bit of it. If you don't believe it, go read it. It is. It's all petition. And see, if we know and love the Lord, and we're seeking first the kingdom, and we want the glory and honor of God, and we're living for Him, then we ought to do much asking. We ought to be asking great things continually. We ought to be ever asking, because when we ask, do you know what it shows our Heavenly Father? It shows Him that we're acknowledging our utter dependence on Him. If we're not asking, then with our life we're saying, Lord, I can do it on my own. So, let's hasten on. Seven times the Lord said to the disciples there, I want you asking. And you follow this through, you see in the book of Acts, they were always asking. You see in the epistles, Paul's prayers, he's always asking, just continually asking. Now, our primary example in prayer is who? The Lord Jesus Christ in His earthly life. Hebrews chapter 5 sums up His prayer life, where it says, Who in the days of His flesh offered up strong cryings and plead in a strong, offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him who was able to save him from death. And he was heard in that he feared because of his reverence and his obedience to the Father. So his whole life on the earth was a life of prayer. But just think of it. Let me just give you these references. You don't have to turn to them. But as you see the snapshots of the Lord's life as a man of prayer, he's our primary example. But before we See these. Answer this question. Think about it. Why did Jesus pray? He's God. Did you read my notes? He prayed because He loved to pray. He loved to be with His Father. He loved communion with His Father. He enjoyed the Father. So He would steal away and get alone and pray. He prayed because he loved the Father. Secondly, he prayed because he needed to. He had to pray. He had to pray to make it through. So he said, I do nothing of my own initiative, but what I see and hear the Father do, that's what I do. He was continually in communion with the Father in one sense to get his marching orders. Did you know he prayed all night the night before he chose the twelve? Picture the Lord's prayer life. Mark 135, And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out to a quiet place alone, and there prayed. Mark 646 says this, And when he had sent them away, he departed up into a mountain to pray. Do we depart to go pray? If we don't, we're not like the Lord Jesus in our discipleship. Luke 5.15, and he withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. Luke 6.12, in those days he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer. Luke 9.18, and as he was alone praying. Luke 11.1, he was alone praying and when he had deceased, one of his disciples came to him and said, Lord, what? Teach us. Teach us to sing. Teach us to preach famous sermons. Teach us to work miracles. Lord, teach us to pray. Notice they said, the question was, the request was, Lord, they didn't say teach us principles about prayer or teach us teaching on prayer. Teach us to do it. Teach us to pray. And the thing that evoked that question in their hearts and the desire was His example in prayer. Luke 22, 41. In the garden, He withdrew from them and knelt down and prayed. Throughout His life, the Lord Jesus was praying. At His baptism, Luke is unique in the Gospels. Luke, somebody has said, is the Gospel of prayer. Because Luke is the only one that says that at his baptism, Jesus was praying. And as he was praying, the Spirit descended on him like a dove. Luke is the one that records that Jesus called Peter, James, and John up to the Mount of Transfiguration to pray. They went there to pray. Matthew and Mark and John don't record the reason why. And it says as he was praying, he was transfigured. The same is true for you and I. You can study the Bible until your brains leak out your ears. You can read theology all day. And you can be dry and as lean in soul as possible. Prayer is the most transfiguring thing there is when you truly pray and seek your Father. That was true of the Lord Jesus. At His transfiguration, at His baptism, at the calling of the Twelve, When people would have come, when they saw the miracles, and they would have come to take Him by force and make Him the King, what did He do? He withdrew to pray. Because He was always hearing His Father's direction. Remember when He said, We must need to go through Samaria? Why? Because there was a divine appointment with a woman. And more of the Samaritans were going to be saved. Our Lord Jesus Christ was directed by the Father. But prayer was a vital, vital part of that. In the garden, He had three seasons of prayer, remember? Before the cross and upon the cross, He was praying. Are we like Him in the place of prayer? So, when you think about it, the Son of God, our Redeemer, is our pattern and example in the Christian life for real prayer. Because it is prayer that brings us into communion and fellowship and increasing relationship with our Heavenly Father. I believe many Christians only have a vague idea of the power of prayer, and even a lesser experience of what prayer can do in their own life. I mean, as a Christian, do you remember a time where you were needy, discouraged, under pressure, defeated by a sin or battling it, and you were desperately needy, and you went to prayer because you had to, and God met you, and He poured His presence out upon you, or He quickened His Word to you, great assurance and strength came, and everything was different. God met you in prayer. That's what prayer does. And the Lord Jesus said, when you pray, go into your closet, and your Father, who is in secret, will reward you. Now that says an astounding thing. That says when a believer withdraws to pray, the Father, the Father's presence and grace is waiting on him. Why do we not avail ourselves more of what's available to us? I mean, it's like having that million dollar bank account and you don't ever go draw upon it when you need it. Something wrong right here. The mind's not renewed yet to the truth of what is yours by right of redemption and sonship. I'm not talking about stuff for preachers or theologians or famous missionaries or strong, deep people. I'm talking about children's bread for every Christian. Prayer, the possibilities of it are astounding. You see, what we've got to be reminded of continually is our Father, Paradise is regained. The heavens are open. There's no barrier. Sin's been dealt with. We have access 24-7 because of the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. We are at a throne of grace. We have a mediator who invites us and commands us and welcomes us to come. Come and ask. God says to us, ask of me. And it's astounding, even through the Old Testament as well as the New, how much the Scriptures say to us, ask. Ask. Come and ask. Think about these examples in the Bible. The Jews, God wants to deliver them in Daniel's day, because they're down in Babylon. God purposes to deliver the Jews, but Daniel must intercede for that to happen. God purposes to bless Elijah and send rain upon the nation, but Elijah must do what? To Hezekiah, God said through Isaiah, remember this? God told Isaiah, you go to Hezekiah and you tell him to set his house in order because he's going to die. Isaiah delivers the message. He leaves. What does Hezekiah do? He turns to the wall and he prays and his heart cries out for mercy. And while Isaiah is walking away, God says, you go back and tell him, Hezekiah, his prayers have been heard, and I'm going to give him 15 more years. Now you just, you've theologized that one. You can't. We're just supposed to believe it and to realize that God's eyes are over the righteous and His ears are open unto their prayers. His ears are open to your prayers. So why do we not pray more? Because we don't believe it. Disciples after resurrection, oh you slow of heart. Oh you unbelieving and slow of heart. That's the way we are. Jonah is told to go to Nineveh. And he brings the message of judgment. And from the king down to the most common person. Somebody said from the white house to the outhouse. All of Nineveh repented and believed God. God heard their cries. And He did not do what He had purposed to do in bringing judgment. Elijah prays over a dead child and the child comes to life. Christ prays at Lazarus' tomb and Lazarus walks out. Peter prays over Dorcas who had died in the book of Acts. She opens her eyes and sets up. Jacob's praying changed Esau from a bitter, hate-filled brother to one who was weeping on his neck and hugging him. Joseph was the child of Rachel's prayers. Hannah's Continual prayers gave not only a son to her and her husband, but a prophet to Israel in Samuel. Zacharias prayed and God gave John the Baptist. It's astounding the possibilities of prayers. And we could mention many, many other examples. Remember Ezra's praying in the book of Ezra? Ezra's praying. brought the Spirit of God in deep conviction upon the nation and changed things. Isaiah prayed and God turned the sun back ten degrees. Hezekiah prayed and God sent an angel and that angel killed 185,000 enemy soldiers in one night. Daniel's praying opened up to him God's vision. And through it, God made him the prime minister of a nation that saved the nation. And prayer shut hungry lions' mouths. Prayer did that. Well, you get the point, right? The fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man, meaning a true Christian, avails much. is very effective. And if we really believe that when we go to our Father in prayer, humbly, through the Lord Jesus Christ and His merits alone, independence, believing the promises of God, believing that our Father has said to come and ask, God will do wonderful and miraculous things through your prayers. if you will just be about the business of praying. But oftentimes, week in and week out, we meet the end of a week, and we... I may sound like an Armenian to you, but I don't care. We can miss things that God would have done through prayer, but we didn't receive them because we hadn't prayed. Now what our Lord said in Luke 19, verse 46, is amazing too. He said, My house shall be called a house of prayer. In another gospel, He said, My house is a house of prayer. I wonder if yours is and mine is. Because prayer is to have such a central place in our lives. There's power in it. God's purpose is to make it a channel of grace and power. When I was growing up in West Texas, one of my jobs was I would move irrigation pipes. Before they had the motorized stuff, where these long pipes with a sprinkler in the middle, and you joined them together at the end. Well, if you move pipe, you'd go out about 5.30 in the morning and you'd move it over to the dry area about 20 rows over and connect them all and then you'd come back in the afternoon about the same time and you'd move it again. That's how the cotton fields got irrigated. And when there was not sand or mud that clogged up the pipes, And those pipes were just the channels of the water to come to irrigate and bring life to those crops. Prayer is a pipeline to channel grace to God's people. We cannot neglect prayer or it will be to our own detriment. We have not. God said because we asked Him. Iambounds, and if you've never read Iambounds on prayer, you should read Iambounds on prayer. He said this, without prayer, the Christian life is robbed of its sweetness and beauty and becomes cold and dead and formal, but rooted in the secret place where God meets with and walks with and talks with His own children. One's life receives the fragrance of Christ. Thus, resembling our Lord and Master, we will be more used for the glory of God and the salvation of men when we truly lay hold of Him in prayer. And the last thing I want to say, I've got to stop. Philippians 4.6, what does it say? It's the cure for anxiety. Prayer is. What does Philippians 4.6 say? Be anxious for nothing. Don't worry about anything. Worry and anxiety, no. No. My mother's generation, my parents died when I was young, my cousin who became my mother raised me, their generation believed that it was a God-given responsibility to worry. They just thought it was right and it was natural. You weren't loving and you weren't concerned unless you worried about your kids and stuff. Philippians 4, 6 says, don't worry about anything. Instead, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, simply let your requests be made known to God. Then the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Now think about this. What does worry do to change or solve the situation you're worrying about? Nothing. It just makes your hair fall out. That's all it does. Turns it gray, gives you a stomach ulcer, robs you of joy. Nothing. Worry does nothing about the problem. But what can prayer do about the problem? Judge this statement. God does nothing except in answer to prayer. I say heresy. That's not true. I don't believe that. If that's true, where was the praying person at creation? Now, God does a lot of things without prayer. But this is true. God has ordained and delights to do great and mighty things through prayer. That's true. So if you can pray and see God take over and answer, or if you can worry and get nothing but misery, it's a no-brainer, isn't it? Beloved, pray. God delights to hear the prayers of His people. We'll continue this in a few minutes. Let's pray right now. Our gracious Father, We thank You that You're with us. And we bow in Your presence. And we come in the name of Your dear Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You that You hear our hearts cry. And Lord, we just join the disciples in saying, Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us more to pray. Make it a delight of our hearts. And equip us more in this area, stir our minds and stir our hearts, that we would both be instructed with the truth about prayer, and our hearts' affections would delight to draw aside and enjoy Your presence alone in prayer. This is our prayer, Father, this morning. Thank You. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we do pray, Amen.