Amen. All right. Well, we're there in Matthew chapter number six. And today I'm preaching on the subject of prayer. And I would like this sermon to be a comprehensive overview on the subject of prayer. And of course, I'm not going to be able to cover every aspect of prayer in one sermon, but I'd like for us to be able to cover the subject of prayer. And my hope is that by the end of the sermon, you'll have a general understanding and also be motivated to have prayer and to give attention to prayer and to develop a daily prayer life. Now you're there in Matthew chapter 6 and I'd like you to keep your place there because we're gonna come back and forth throughout the sermon to the book of Matthew. But I'd like you to go quickly with me to the book of Luke. Luke chapter number 11. Keep your place in Matthew and go over to the Gospel of Luke if you would. You've got Matthew, Mark, and then Luke. Matthew, Mark, Luke. And go to Luke chapter number 11. Luke chapter number 11. I want to highlight for you here in Luke chapter 11 in verse 1, the Bible says this, and it came to pass that as he, and the he here of course is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says, and it came to pass that as he was praying, in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. I think it's interesting that we see a request here from the disciples, and they are asking the Lord, teach us to pray. Now they're asking him to pray after they had witnessed him pray. The Bible says there that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, when he ended. So they are watching him pray, and when he gets done praying, or as he's praying, apparently they're thinking to themselves, well that's not how we pray, and that's something different than what we do. And as a result, they ask this question, Lord, teach us to pray. And it's worth noting that the disciples, in scripture, as far as we can tell, They never asked Jesus to teach them other things. Now Jesus taught them many things, but we don't have a record of the disciples teaching Jesus. For example, after maybe a great sermon that Jesus preached, we don't have a record of them asking Jesus to teach us to preach. We don't have a record of the disciples asking Jesus to teach us to do counseling. We don't have a record of the disciples asking Jesus to teach us how to plant a church or how to administer a church. And don't misunderstand me, all those things are good things and they're worth learning. But we do have a record in scripture where the disciples specifically ask, Lord, teach us to pray. And I think this is something that is important that we must learn how to pray and we must learn about the subject of prayer and I hope that today we can do just that. I'd like to give you several thoughts on the subject of prayer. I've got six different points for you this morning and I'll try to move through them as quickly as I can and I would encourage you to take notes on the back of your course of the week. There's a place for you to write down some notes. I'd like to begin with the purpose of prayer. The purpose of prayer. I want to begin by talking about what is exactly the purpose or the point of prayer. Now if you would go back to Matthew chapter 6 where we started. I'd like you to look down at verse number 9. Now again, there's lots that can be said in regards to prayer, but I would like to just give you a threefold thought here with regards to the purpose of prayer. If we're going to be people of prayer, and if we're going to give some of our time to prayer, what is it that we're trying to accomplish with regards to prayer? The first thing that I would say is this, and of course here in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 9, We have what's commonly referred to as the Lord's Prayer. And the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching His disciples to pray. And He says in Matthew 6 and verse 9, Now He is not telling them, I want you to repeat this prayer and to chant it over and over. But He's giving them an example, a manner of prayer and teaching them to pray. And in the beginning of this prayer, we see the first purpose of prayer, and it is this, to acknowledge God. to acknowledge God. Notice the Bible says here, After this manner, therefore, pray ye. This is what Jesus said. When you begin to pray, start like this, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Now again, I'm not saying that we have to say those words verbatim, but the idea is this, that in prayer, and one of the purposes of prayer is for us to acknowledge God. for us to acknowledge our Heavenly Father. When we go to pray as believers, the first thing that we do is acknowledge God. And here Jesus teaches us to begin by saying, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And the idea is this, that oftentimes in life we get busy and distracted with the affairs of life and the business of life and the problems and distractions of life. And it is good for us to take time during the day to acknowledge the Heavenly Father, our Heavenly Father, to acknowledge God and to lift up our eyes or to put our thoughts on the things of the Lord. And here, notice, Jesus, I love how he says this because he gives us these two thoughts in regards to our Father, which is in heaven. Number one, we see here that we can approach God in an intimate way. we can approach Him as our intimate Father. The idea here is that He's teaching us to come to God, and there'd be nothing wrong with us coming to God and saying, God, Almighty God, Creator of all the universe, all those things would be good for us to maybe say in prayer. But Jesus teaches us that when we come to God, we can come to Him in a very intimate way and say, our Father. because he is our heavenly father, our father which are in heaven. So we see that we can acknowledge God and we can come to God in an intimate fashion, but not only do we come to him in an intimate fashion, and I think that it is important for us to realize that we can draw near to God and we can be close to God and we can be intimate with God, but let us never forget that though we can draw near to God, we must always draw reverently to God. He says, our Father which are in heaven, yes, that is intimate, but it is not casual. It is not common. It's not referring to God as the man upstairs. Our Father which are in heaven is an intimate term, but then he gives us an infinite term. He says, hallowed be thy name. And the idea is this, that one of the purposes of prayer is that we come to God and we acknowledge God, but let us remember that we acknowledge God, we should acknowledge Him as both intimate and as infinite. He is our Heavenly Father, but He is also the Almighty God. He is the I Am That I Am. He is the self-existing One. And I think that we should be careful about how we approach God. I think it's good for us to maybe pause before we pray. and to take a second to consider who it is that we're speaking to. That we are speaking to the God of the universe and that we must come to him in a reverent way. That's why at our church, one of the things we try to do, and we're not super strict about it, but one thing we try to do is to not have people walking around or walking in and out while we are in prayer. If we are in the middle of prayer, the ushers might ask you to pause for a second before you enter in. Why? Because we're taking time to speak to our Heavenly Father. And that should be done in an intimate way, but it should be done in a very reverent way, in a way that acknowledges not only Him as intimate, but Him as infinite. So what is a purpose of prayer? One of the reasons, if you ask the question, Pastor, why should I develop a daily time of prayer. And I hope that you will develop a discipline of daily prayer if you've not done it already. And you might ask, well why would I do that? One reason is to acknowledge God in our lives. To acknowledge that we have a Heavenly Father and that He is interested and we can approach Him in an intimate and we can acknowledge that He is infinite. Then I want you to notice a second purpose for prayer. Not only to acknowledge God, but also to align ourselves with God. Notice what Jesus says there in Matthew 6 and verse 10. He begins the prayer by saying, He acknowledges God, the Heavenly Father, but then we see in verse 10 an aligning of ourselves with God. He says, Now I want you to notice that before Jesus asked for anything, Before Jesus brings any petition or request to God the Father, He first acknowledges God and then attempts to, and of course we know Jesus did it, but we should attempt to align ourselves with God. Before we begin to ask God for the things that we want, we should acknowledge that we should want what God wants, that in our lives we desire that His kingdom would come, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven and I would maybe ask you this question and it is this because you might have an understanding of prayer and I think that sometimes Christians think of prayer as though we're giving some sort of a wish list to Santa Claus and we're asking him for all the things that we want. And we're hoping that if we've been good boys and girls that He'll bring us the gifts that we want. But what if prayer has more to do with us aligning our wants with God's will than it has to do with God giving us everything we want? A purpose for prayer is to acknowledge God. And I wonder how many times we go and how long we go throughout the day before we acknowledge God. The Bible says, in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. So we should acknowledge God. And then another purpose for prayer is before we start bringing our wish list to God, is to align ourselves with God. To say, God, I want to live a life that is aligned with Your will. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. And then I want you to notice a third reason for prayer, a third purpose for prayer. One, is to acknowledge God. Two, is to align ourselves with God. And then number three, it is to ask God. It is to ask God. Notice what Jesus says here in Matthew 6 and verse 11. He says, give us. I want you to notice that he does not begin his prayer time by saying, give us. He begins his prayer time by acknowledging who God is. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. He begins his prayer time by aligning his will to the will of the Father. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. But then there does come this time and it is a purpose of prayer. for us to ask God, to bring our requests to God, to bring our petitions to God. And we'll talk about this more later on in the sermon, but I want you to notice there that we see Jesus bringing His requests. Give us, and these are physical requests, give us this day our daily bread. So when we ask the question, what is the purpose of prayer? What is the reason for prayer? We must remember that it is to acknowledge God, to align ourselves with the will of God, and to ask God. To ask God. Now let me just say this just because we're looking at this famous prayer given here by the Lord Jesus Christ and just help you out with a little bit of etiquette when it comes to prayer. Because remember we want to pray in a reverent way. And by and large when we pray we should direct our prayers to God the Father. Now I'm not saying that it's necessarily wrong at times to pray to the second member of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ, or maybe even to the third member of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. We know that they're all equally God, they're all coexistent, it's one God that exists in three persons. But Jesus taught us to direct our prayers to God the Father. And when we pray, we should, by and large, direct our prayers to our Heavenly Father, to God the Father. Not only that, but let me just say this, when we finish our prayers, and I don't have time to develop this or to show you verses on this, the Bible is clear about this, we should finish our prayers by acknowledging the Lord Jesus Christ, and we should finish our prayers in some sort of way that acknowledges the fact that we can come to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. We should end our prayers by saying, in Jesus' name. And that's not just a spiritual talk or religious talk. That is an acknowledgement that the only reason that you and I have even the access to be able to speak to God the Father is because of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and that you and I do not get to come to God in our own name. or by our own access or by our own authority, but the request that we're bringing to God the Father and asking God the Father to answer on our behalf, we are bringing in the authority and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's not just spiritual talk. It's important for us to understand that if God is going to answer your prayers, he's going to do it for the sake of Christ. So we should make sure that we always pray in Jesus name. But I do want you to notice here that a purpose for prayer is asking. John R. Rice famously said, prayer is asking and receiving. And like I said, we'll talk more about that here in a little bit. But I want to make sure we understand the purpose of prayer. What is it? To acknowledge God, to align our will with God, and to, of course, ask God, to bring our request. and our petitions to God. Now please keep your place there in Matthew chapter six, I think you've already done that, but go with me if you would to the New Testament book towards the end of the New Testament of 1 John. Towards the end of the New Testament, if you go backwards from Revelation, you have Jude, 3rd, 2nd, and 1 John, and I'd like you to find 1 John, chapter number five. Revelation, Jude, 3rd John, 2nd John, then 1 John. If you're going backwards, 1 John, chapter five, And here's the second point. We began by talking about the purpose of prayer, but let's talk about, secondly, the promise of prayer. The promise of prayer. In 1 John 5 and verse 14, the Bible says this, 1 John 5, 14, and this is the confidence that we have in Him. that if we ask, remember prayer is asking and receiving, if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us and we know that and we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him and the Bible says there in verse 15 if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. And here's the promise of prayer, and the promise of prayer is this, that we know that God hears our prayers. We know that we as believers have access to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, and we can have confidence that He hears our prayers, and if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Now, let me just say this, and I won't take a lot of time on this subject, but we also know that God answers our prayer based off certain things. God is not just going to answer your prayer just because you prayed. There are many keys that the Bible tells us for answered prayer, and we find one of them here, that we are to pray according to His will. And there are other keys to prayer. And I won't take the time to go into it. That's a sermon for another day. But we'll see some of it as we continue in this sermon. The Bible says that we must pray believing. You must pray in faith if you want your prayers answered. You must pray according to the will of the Father if you want your prayers answered. You have to pray righteously and be right with God if you want your prayers answered. Even relationally, the Bible says that having a conflict even within marriage will hinder God answering our prayers. So we understand that there are many promises to answered prayer, but a promise of prayer is this, that we know that God hears us. And we can have confidence that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. And again, the word petitions means a request. It's what we're asking for. So we saw the purpose of prayer and we saw the promise of prayer. But then let me give you thirdly this morning, the practice of prayer. If you would go back to Matthew chapter number six, the practice of prayer, And let me just be very practical. If you and I are going to be people of prayer, then how are we going to do it? How is it that we should practice prayer? What are some practical tips for prayer? And Jesus, of course, as He taught His disciples how to pray, He gave us instructions with regards to these things. So we talked about the purpose of prayer, and we've talked about the promise of prayer. But let's talk, thirdly, about the practice of prayer. And when it comes to prayer, and if you're going to be someone who prays, and I hope that everyone here would have a desire to pray, let me just say a couple of things. Number one, you should have a specific place to pray. A specific place to pray. Jesus taught this. Are you there in Matthew chapter 6? Look down at verse number 6. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 6, the Bible says this, Jesus said this, on the subject of teaching on prayer. He says, but thou, when thou prayest, by the way, notice that he says when, not if. There's an expectation there from the Lord Jesus Christ that we would all pray. And he says, but thou, when thou prayest, notice what he says. He says, enter into thy closet. And when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy father, which is in secret, and thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. So we see here that Jesus is teaching that we should have a specific place to pray. And here, he refers to entering into thy closet. And the idea is this, that you would go somewhere, that you would have a specific place, and that it would be a place where you can have some privacy. He says, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. So we must choose a place to pray. And by the way, the person who is probably the greatest example of prayer, there's many great examples of people who prayed in the Bible, but one of the greatest, I would say the greatest example of a prayer warrior in the Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And we can see Jesus pray in the Gospels. Let me give you an example. Go to Matthew chapter 14. You're there in Matthew 6. Flip over to Matthew chapter 14, if you would, and look at verse number 23. Matthew 14 and verse 23, the Bible says this, and when he, this is Jesus, Notice what the Bible says here. So if you and I are going to be people of prayer, we must first have a specific place to pray. And I would say this, that the place itself is less important, but it's It's important that we have a place. Jesus talked about a closet. Now, do you have to literally, physically go into your closet? It might not hurt to go into a closet. But the idea is that you find a space, a room by yourself. Here we see that Jesus went up into a mountain apart to pray. He was there alone. And I would ask you, do you have a place where you pray? And if you don't, you should choose a place. You should pick a place somewhere in your home, somewhere where you can get alone with God and pray. If we're going to be people of prayer, and if we're going to practice prayer, then we must have a specific place to pray. But let me say, secondly, not only must we have a place to pray, but we must have a time to pray. You're there in Matthew, and continue to keep your place there in Matthew, but go with me, if you would, to the book of Mark, Mark chapter number 1. Matthew, And then Mark. Mark chapter 1 and look at verse 35. Here again we see Jesus praying. Mark 1.35. And notice, not only do we see that Jesus has a certain place to pray, but He has a certain time to pray. And the Bible says here in Mark 1.35, and in the morning, rising up a great wild before day. We see a very specific time here. He went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. So notice, we see a place, a time that Jesus prays, and we see a place in which He prays. It's in the morning, rising up a great while before the day. And I would say this, that if you and I are going to be people of prayer, not only do we need a specific place to pray, but we need a specific time to pray. And I would ask you, not only where do you pray, but when do you pray? And look, we must make time for the things that are important to us. And if you do not schedule it, if you do not decide, this is when I pray, This is when I take time to get alone with God. Here's where I go and here's what I do. And then you and I are always going to be distracted. We're always going to be too busy and we're never going to actually be people of prayer. If you want to be someone who prays and has a prayer time, who becomes a prayer warrior for the glory of God, then you must not only choose a place, but you must choose a time. You must make an appointment with Almighty God to pray. And I would say this as well, I recommend having some sort of a prayer list. I think it's good to have a prayer list. Maybe it's a physical list on a sheet of paper. Maybe it's some sort of electronic list on a phone. Maybe it's just in your head. I think it'd be good for you to have some sort of a prayer list to keep your prayer time organized. And not only that, but a great benefit of a prayer list is that it serves as a list of answered prayers as the Lord answers your prayer. So we saw the purpose of prayer. What is it? To acknowledge God and to align our wills with God. and to ask God. And we saw the promise of prayer. The promise of prayer is this, that we know that God answers our prayer and that we know that God will hear our prayers and that He will answer our prayers. We know that God hears our prayers and we know that God answers our prayer. Then we saw the practice of prayer. And the practice of prayer is this, we must have a specific place and we must have a specific time. You're there in Mark Go to Luke, if you would. Matthew, Mark, Luke. And let's talk about the persistence of prayer. We've seen the purpose of prayer, the promise of prayer, the practice of prayer. And then I'd like you to notice the persistence of prayer. Prayer is something that requires patience. In Luke 11, verse 5, the Lord, again, teaching on the subject of prayer. And you might be surprised how much the Lord taught on the subject of prayer. In Luke 11, verse 5, we have a parable that is within the context of Jesus teaching on prayer. Notice what he says, Luke 11, verse 5. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves, Notice verse six. Four. You see the word four there? The word four means because. He says, Here Jesus is giving this illustration, this parable. And he says, if you had a friend who came to you in the middle of the night, at midnight. He's knocking on your window, knocking on your door, and he's saying, friend, lend me three loaves. And you say, well, why would he be asking this? He's asking because, he says, for a friend of mine in a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And Jesus here is using this parable to teach us about prayer and to teach us about the persistence of prayer. I think oftentimes what happens is that we don't stay with prayer. We'll do it for a little while, we'll keep at it for a little while, and then we give up. But what Jesus is teaching us here is that our inability should be our motive to pray. Why is it that this man in this story is coming to his friend in the middle of the night and asking for three loaves? He is asking for it because, notice there, verse 6, he says, I have nothing to set before him. He didn't have three loaves. He didn't have what he needed. His inability drove him to ask. And listen to me, you and I will become people of prayer when we get out of our 21st century American mindset and begin to realize that there are some things that we are not able to do. There are some limits to what we have. There is an inability for what we can accomplish. I know we like to think and to an extent I think it's good for us to have this mindset that says I'm going to pull myself up by my bootstraps and I'm going to work hard. I believe in all of that. But we have to understand that there are some things that we are just not able to do. And it is our inability that should drive us to prayer. Our inability should be our motive to pray. This man comes to his friend in the middle of the night, and he says, I have nothing to set before him. He said, I have nothing that I can give to this man. I need help. So we see our inability should be our motive. And this is what the Bible teaches. You don't have to turn here, but in Philippians 4 and verse 6, the Bible says this, be careful for nothing. And the idea there when it says, be careful, the word careful is talking about being full of care. The word that we would use today would be anxious. He says, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And I would ask you this morning, what are you anxious about? What is it that keeps you up at night? What worries you? What are you full of care about? Are you bringing those things to God? Are you bringing them to God in prayer? But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. In 1 Peter we're told, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. So we see that our inability should be our motive. And if you say, well, I don't know. I struggle with prayer. I'm not motivated to pray. You got to consider, what are the things in your life that you feel like you cannot control? What are the things in your life that you feel like, I can't fix this? I don't have the resources. I don't have the power. I don't have the bread to give to this man. And I think when you and I can identify this, then we can be motivated to pray. And I think that maybe it's our pride that makes us think that we are in a little more control than we actually are. I'm here to tell you something. I think that you'll start praying for your children living at home when you realize that no matter how good of a parent you are, no matter how consistently you bring them to church, and I hope you bring them consistently to church, and I hope that you're living a Christian life, and I hope that you're doing all the things that you're supposed to do as a parent, when you realize that I really do not have any control over whether those kids are gonna grow up and live for God, you'll start to realize, I gotta pray! As a pastor, oftentimes people bring problems to me and they bring issues to me, as they should, and I'm thankful they are. But oftentimes I think to myself, there's nothing I can do. There's nothing I can do. for this person in this financial need. There's nothing I can do for this marriage that is struggling right now. There's nothing, there's really just nothing I can do. As my wife and I bowed our heads last night, late in the evening, and prayed for an individual that was going into surgery, I thought to myself, there's really nothing physically that we can do to help this individual, but we can pray. And we can bring our inability to God, and we can come to our Heavenly Father and say, I have nothing to be able to help in this situation. But I know you do. So we see that our inability should be our motive for prayer. But I want you to notice that not only should our inability be our motive for prayer, but our importunity should be our method in prayer. Look at verse 7. And he from within, Jesus is giving this parable. A man goes to another man in the middle of the night. He says, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. Jesus then says, I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. Now that word, importunity, is not a word that we use a lot today, but it means persistence, especially to the point of annoyance. And the idea is this, that our inability should be our motive in prayer, and our importunity should be our method in prayer. Our method in prayer is that we should be persistent. We should bring our prayers continually before the Lord, especially, he says, it's defined as to the point of annoyance. Now let me just say this about this parable. As far as God wanting to answer our prayers, I don't believe that this is a parable of comparison. I don't think that Jesus is saying that our Heavenly Father is like this friend who doesn't want to help us, but if we bother Him enough, He'll help us. I don't think this is a parable of comparison. As you study parables throughout the Bible, you'll notice that some are parables of comparison, where Jesus is comparing us to someone and saying, be like this. But then there are also parables of contrast. And I believe that this is not a parable of comparison, it is a parable of contrast. And what Jesus is saying is this, that if someone would be willing to persistently annoy a friend who's unwilling to help them, and get them to the point where the friend is willing to finally get up in the middle of the night and help him just to make him go away. If someone would be willing to be that persistent with someone who's hostile towards them, how much more should we be persistent with a God who loves us and who's willing to answer our prayers? And I believe that the purpose of the parable is saying this, we will often call and knock and text and email and bother people and try to get people to do things for us. And again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. I think the Bible even teaches that we should seek and we should not. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. But how much time do we spend trying to get somebody and pull something out of someone and motivate somebody to do something when they're not willing to do it? And we fail to go to our Heavenly Father who wants to answer our prayers, who wants to provide for His children. So this is not a parable of comparison, it is a parable of contrast. But the idea is this, that our inability should be our motive and our importunity should be our method. And let me just say this, the Bible teaches that God wants to answer our prayers. If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give unto them? God wants to answer our prayers. But isn't it true that sometimes, and I think that maybe one of the reasons we don't pray is because sometimes we feel like God doesn't want to answer our prayers. Now that's not true. But if you feel that way, then learn from this parable that yet because of His importunity, He will rise and give. So we see the purpose of prayer. What is it? To acknowledge God, to align our wills with God, to ask God. We see the practice, the promise of prayer. What is it? That we know that God hears our prayers, and we can have confidence in the fact that God hears our prayers, and if we pray according to His will and faith, believing all those things, then we know that He'll answer our prayers. And then we see the practice of prayer, that we ought to have a specific place to pray and a specific time to pray. We see the persistence of prayer. that our inability should motivate us to pray and that our importunity should be our method in prayer. Go back to Matthew if you would, Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21, let me give you the fifth point this morning and it is this, the power of prayer. The power of prayer. We've talked about the purpose of prayer, the promise of prayer, the practice of prayer, the persistence of prayer. But how about the power of prayer? In Matthew 21 and verse 21, the Bible says that Jesus is teaching his disciples. Now just to give you a little bit of context because we're not going to read all the verses, Jesus went up to a fig tree looking for fruit and had none, and he cursed the fig tree. And the fig tree withered away. And the disciples marveled at this. They were shocked that Jesus would curse the fig tree and the fig tree would wither away. And then Jesus takes this as a teaching opportunity. Matthew 21, verse 21. Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith and doubt not. Because remember, there's many keys to answered prayer. One is to pray according to God's will. One is to have faith, as we see here. He says, if you have faith and doubt not, you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if you shall say to this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done. So you hear Jesus saying, look, not only will you have the ability if you pray, if you have faith and doubt not, if you ask, Not only can you do what has been done to this fig tree, he says, but also, if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done. Look at verse 22. And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive. And here we see a purpose of prayer, and a purpose of prayer is to do that which we cannot do. In a very practical way, prayer is not meant for us to pray for things that we can do, things that we can do, we should do. Prayer is about us praying for things that we cannot do. Even today in our society we will use this terminology where Jesus said, if ye shall say to this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done. And the idea is this, that I can't move a mountain. And oftentimes people today, they'll say things like this, I'm under a mountain of stress. Or I'm under a mountain of debt. And they'll use this terminology of a mountain being something that we cannot move, that is in our way, that we need it removed. It's impossible for us to do. But Jesus is teaching us here that if we shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done, and all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing you shall receive." And here's what I'm telling you, in a very practical sense, the purpose of prayer is for us not to pray about things that we couldn't do or that would already have happened, whether or not we would have prayed, but it is to move the hand of the Almighty to do that which is impossible. To move mountains. I mean, do you believe the Bible when it asks the question, is there anything too hard for the Lord? You believe the Bible when it says that with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Go to Matthew chapter 7 if you would. Matthew chapter 7. We've talked about it already, but let me just say it again. Prayer is asking and receiving. Prayer is asking and receiving. And God wants us to pray. He wants to answer our prayers. By the way, God doesn't just want us to pray and then do nothing. He wants us to put feet to our prayers. He wants us to do. Someone said it this way. We ought to do everything we can. We should work as though it all depends on us, and we should pray as though it all depends on God, because it does. But we should do our part. What do you mean? Well, look at Matthew 7, verse 7. Ask. If you don't mind marking in your Bible, I'd like you to mark this word, ask. Prayer is asking and receiving. Ask and it shall be given you. Jesus said, ask and it shall be given. Then I want you to notice this word, seek. I'd like you to mark this word in your Bible, seek. Seek and ye shall find. Then I want you to notice this word I'd like you to mark in your Bible, knock. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Why? Why should I ask? Why should I seek? Why should I knock? Verse 8. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. And if you mark those words, ask, seek, knock, you get what I refer to as the prayer acrostic. And it is this. If you notice the first letter of each word, ask, seek, knock. If you notice the first letter, it spells ask. And I believe that what the Bible is teaching us here is that we should ask, but after we ask, we should seek. And while we're seeking, we should not. Look, yes, we need to do our part. We need to get out there and work at it and seek and do the things that we need to do. But let's not forget to ask. Why would I ask? Because to him that everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened unto him. Prayer is asking and receiving. Go with me, if you would, to the book of James, towards the end of the New Testament. If you go backwards from Revelation, you have Revelation, Jude, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st John, 2nd and 1st Peter, and then James. James, chapter number 5. James chapter number five. I'd like you to keep your place in James if you would. We're gonna leave it and come back to it. But do you believe that God can answer your prayers and do you believe that you can become a person whose prayers get answered? James five and verse 16. James five 16 says, confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. Why don't you notice these words, the effectual. The word effectual means effective. The effectual or effective. Fervent. The word fervent means passionate. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. And here again we see another key for answered prayer. You have to be a righteous man, righteous woman. The idea is not that you're sinless, but you're right with God. The Bible says that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The word avail or avail means it helps or benefits much. Look, you and I have to get to the place where we actually believe that when we ask, God wants to answer and that prayer is asking and receiving. The Bible says, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. Whatever requests you have, whatever petitions you have, whatever prayers you have, the Bible says that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask. Or even what you think. So we see the power of prayer. The power of prayer is this, that God can do the impossible through our prayers. And that if we ask, He shall give unto us. If we ask, we will receive. If we seek, we will find. If we not, it shall be open. And herein we find the reason why so many Christians have no prayer life or an anemic prayer life. They don't have the petitions they desire of God. You're there in James 5, flip over to James chapter 4. James chapter 4, look at verse 2. I won't take the time to go through the context of verse 1, but notice there in verse 2, the Bible says this. He says, ye lust. The word lust means to desire. He says, there's things you want. Ye lust and have not. And then you take it into your own hands. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You try to do what you can physically do to get what you want, but you still don't have it. You're still not satisfied. You lost and have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war. And of course here James is using hyperbole. Hopefully no one's actually killing anyone to get what they want, although some people do. He says you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, you fight and war. Then I want you to notice this little phrase. He says, yet ye have not because ye ask not. Now again, there's lots of reasons for answered prayer. We should pray according to the will of the Father. We should not pray according to, just based off our lusts and desires. We should pray in faith. We should be right with God. We understand that there's many reasons for answered prayer. But here James tells us that the main reason that you and I go without, the main reason that our prayers are not answered is because we don't pray. He says, yet ye have not because ye ask not. Because here's the thing, prayer is asking and receiving. And we have not because we ask not. I just want to ask you, when's the last time you prayed for something big? When's the last time that you gave yourself over to a season of prayer? That you said, I'm going to be persistent about this thing? and there's something I need, there's a mountain I need moved, there's something that only God can do, and I believe that God can do it, and I'm gonna pray and align my will to God to make sure that I'm not praying for something selfish or something that I may, regarding to my own lust or my own desires. I'm gonna be right with God. We understand all those things. I'm gonna pray in faith. We understand all those things, but when is the last time? And can you say, I've seen God move mountains on my behalf? You can. The power of prayer is available to all. Just recently, I was going through some old prayer lists and I've been thinking about the subject of prayer and I've been teaching on prayer a lot lately, not just in this sermon but other sermons. And I was going through some old prayer lists and I found a prayer list from years ago and it had requests in there regarding the purchasing of a church building. And this was many years ago that I'd written out this prayer list and I'd been praying about it. I just thought it was interesting because as I was looking at that prayer list, it was before we were ready to purchase. We were not in a place financially or our church physically. It was just something I was praying about for the future. But as I was looking at the list, I just kind of had to chuckle. And here's the thing. This is, again, one of the benefits of having a prayer list. Because sometimes we write these prayer lists, and we even forget about the prayer list. And then we find them years later, and we start going through them, and we realize, wow. I kind of have to chuckle, because as I'm praying, and I've got all these notes, and I remember praying about these things. And of course, we have purchased this nice, beautiful property here, and this is a church building, but I assume that we were not going to be able to purchase a church building. I was assuming years ago, O ye of little faith, I was just assuming that we would purchase some sort of a warehouse, a flex-type building, which is the types of buildings that we'd been renting. I just thought that maybe God would one day allow us to purchase a building like that and convert it into a church building and I was going to this prayer list and I had all these things that I was praying for and I was saying Lord one day help us to be able to have the money to be able to purchase a building and again I'm assuming this is an industrial type building and I'm asking the Lord Lord I need it to be this much the square footage needs to be at least this much and it needs to hold at least 400 people Lord because Right now, we have a building and it fits 200. I mean, we could pack a lot more in there, but comfortably we can fit about 200 people and it's not worth moving if we can't at least double the capacity. So Lord, I need it to be like 15,000 square feet, 20,000 square feet. I need us to be able to hold 400 people. But Lord, I've looked at a lot of these industrial type buildings, and I know how it works. They're not meant for a church. They're meant for businesses. So though they might have 15,000 square feet, they'll only have like 15 parking spots. And I need more than 15 parking spots. So Lord, I don't know how you're going to do it, but I need a building, and it's got to have parking all around the building. And it's got to be 15,000 square feet. And it's got to hold 400 people. And then I said, and then I prayed, and on my little prayer sheet that I was looking at, I remember praying about this, I said, and Lord, if possible, and I'm not asking that this happens all at once, but if possible, could there be an empty field next to this building? And I don't know that, I don't think that we can purchase the building and the empty field all at the same time, but if we could purchase the building, Lord, and if there could be an empty field, and if you could keep people from building on it, so that one day we could purchase that empty field, and then we can have some property for the children to be able to play in, and to be able to have some activities, Lord, if you would, this is my prayer request five, six years ago. I just recently was looking and I just had to chuckle because I'm looking at this thing and I'm thinking to myself, I was praying that the Lord would give us a 15,000 square foot building. We own a 15,000 square foot building. And I was praying that the Lord would allow us to have the capacity to hold around 400 people and we have a 400 seat auditorium. And I was praying that we'd have enough parking to cover these many people and that the parking would surround the building. And we've got a parking lot that surrounds the building. And I was praying that the Lord maybe one day would allow us to purchase a field somewhere that we could have adjacent to the building for the children to play with. And we literally have a field next to this building. And the Lord answered our prayer and allowed us to purchase this four acre property, 400 seat auditorium. And here's all I'm saying to you. Ye have not because ye ask not. And if you believe that God could move mountains, And to me, this was a mountain. How could a church, starting in a living room with a handful of people, meeting in little storage front buildings, 800 square foot buildings, and 1,200 square foot buildings, and 3,000 square foot buildings, one day own a building or a property, a $3.5 million property like this? To me, that was a mountain that only God could move. I remember when we found this building. My wife and I came here, and we looked at it. And we kind of came, I've told you this before, with a bad attitude, because I thought, there's no way this building is going to work for us. And we toured it, and we're like, whoa, I think this building might just work for us. And we've been working for years. I know some of you know the story. We've been working for years, and years before, we had looked into, well, what's it going to take for us to purchase a building? And we talked to several banks, and they all told the same thing. Because you're a nonprofit, and you Because you're a church, you're going to have to put at least 20% down for a building. And we looked around and kind of figured, OK, well, the building that we would like to have one day is going to cost x amount of dollars. So we figured 20% down means we're going to have to have $800,000 to $1 million. And we started praying, Lord, will you help us raise $800,000 to $1 million. And we were praying this when we had $15,000. And again, that seemed like a mountain. And then the Lord, by God's grace, over years of saving and visions offerings and things, we got to the place where we had that. But of course, in between that, we had COVID. And when we had the money, we thought to be able to purchase and put 20% down on a building. We found out, and we found this out from multiple banks we talked to, and for some reason, and I don't know if they're still doing this right now, but when we were looking to purchase a building, after COVID, they made some decision that said churches not only have to put 20% down, but then we also have to give them a minimum $200,000 just to store in a bank somewhere just in case we don't make our payments. And I'm like, well, we already spent years saving up the down payment. Now we've got to save up another $200,000. We don't have the money to do that. And we were already in the process of talking to people and doing things. And I remember with this building, God just kept opening doors, and I remember talking to the real estate agent and we were starting to discuss the purchase of the building and I told him, I said, look, you go in there and you, you talk about the price and you haggle that, but you need to tell them upfront that we still have not found a bank to finance us. And what's killing us is this 200,000 extra that all of a sudden, you know, I don't know how COVID makes you want an extra 200,000, but apparently the flu does that. And I was praying, Lord, you gotta help us. Look, it looks like things are opening up for this building, but we need the financing, and you gotta help us find a bank out there. There has to be a bank, Lord, that is going to do this, and you gotta move this mountain, because we don't have 200,000, and we can take the time to save it, but people are kind of tired of the homeless people coming into our building, and this building could go away. And I was just putting it in the Lord's hands and my wife and I were praying and saying, Lord, you got to figure out this this this bank situation because we can't find a bank that is willing to work with us. And on top of that, our church has been sued because of my preaching. And then it's like, you know, are we going to go down that road? And then they're going to ask you about the lawsuits and all these things that we had to deal with with the bank. And we're just praying and saying, Lord, look, it's up to you. It's your will. But I remember I told the real estate agent, you need to tell them that we don't have The financing's settled yet. We're still working on getting that. I want to be up front with these people, make sure they know. He comes back to me, and he says, you know, I talked to him about your bank situation, and they mentioned, what do you think about them self-financing and just bypass the bank altogether? And I said, well, we can give them 20% down, but we don't have the $200,000. They don't need the $200,000. And it was just an answer to prayer. And I remember just... Thinking, wow, Lord, I'm asking for you to help me find a good bank, which doesn't exist. And God answers the prayer. He says, let's just bypass the bank altogether. And I'm saying to you, you have not because you ask not. You have not because you ask not. And if you started asking God for some big things, and you started seeing God give you some big things, you might keep asking. I remember we moved into this building, and we began to remodel it. And something happened that doesn't happen to our church a lot. I know it happens to other churches, but by God's grace over the last 14 years of ministry, it doesn't happen to our church a lot, but it happened in the midst of us remodeling this building. And it was this, we ran out of money. I mean, we literally had nothing in the bank. We spent all of it. And again, that's not something usual. Usually we have a buffer and all those things. But in this instance, we were purchasing this and purchasing that and needing to do all sorts of work. And we ran out of money. And then we had this emergency bill. I remember Brother Oliver called me. and said, we have this $10,000 bill, and it needs to be paid now, and we cannot move forward until it's paid. And we had this deadline. And I'm thinking to myself, why do you only call me with bad news? But he said, we need $10,000. And I said, I don't have $10,000. We don't have $10,000. And we just prayed. My wife and I prayed. I remember going to bed, and right before bed, As I'm laying in bed and just kind of drifting off to sleep, I'm praying, Lord, you've got to help us get these $10,000. We've got to pay this. And we can't stop this thing. And we're already behind schedule and this and that. Lord, we need $10,000. And I went to sleep. Next morning, I woke up. And when my eyes opened, the first thought was, you have $10,000. And what had happened is that we had worked with a lawyer in the past, because when you preach like I do, you get sued a lot. And we'd worked with a lawyer, and that whole lawsuit had kind of been settled and done with. But in order to work with this lawyer, we had to give him a $10,000 retainer. And the idea is that if you don't pay the lawyer, they take the money out of that retainer. But we won the lawsuit, and there was no problem there. But we had not received the $10,000 back. And to be honest with you, with the business of us moving into the building and this and that, I kind of just forgot about it. I mean, it wasn't lost. It was there in an account, but I kind of just forgot about it. And I went to bed asking, Lord, I need $10,000. I wake up, and the first thing as I open my eyes, the first thing that pops in my head is $10,000 retainer from the lawyer. And I called Brother Oliver, and I said, did we ever get that $10,000 back? And he's like, you know, they were supposed to send it, but I don't remember. Let me call them. Calls the lawyer, says, I don't know how this happened. Normally, we're really good about this. But yeah, we have your $10,000. We'll send you a check. We'll overnight it. And the Lord answered our $10,000. Now, you might hear that story and say, well, I don't know. I mean, you already had the $10,000. You just kind of forgot about that. It's not really an answered prayer. Let me tell you the rest of the story. We get the $10,000, we deposit it, make the payment, send the $10,000 payment off. And literally, I'm not exaggerating, you can ask Brother Oliver, he's here, he calls me, we get the whole thing paid off, calls me the next day and says, we need another $10,000. Now there's this bill. And I'm like, why do you only call me with bad news? And literally, this other bill just showed up. I mean, back to back, $10,000, we paid it, another $10,000, another deadline, another emergency. I'm like, I just got $10,000. I don't have any more money. So we prayed. My wife and I prayed. Brother Oliver calls me the next day, and I'm like, I'm not going to answer this. He never calls me with good news. I answered the phone call. He says, we just got a $13,000 check in the mail. And I'm just here to tell you that you have not because you ask not. And I'm giving you these examples. They're physical examples, financial examples, I think just because it's easy for us to understand these things. But I'm telling you that there are some mountains in your life. There are some mountains in my life. There are some things that we just have the inability to do. And God wants to answer our prayers. But do we pray? Do we really believe that prayer moves the hand of the Almighty? And the answers are prayers. Jeremiah said it this way, God said through Jeremiah, Go to Hebrews if you would just real quickly, Hebrews chapter 4. We talked about the purpose of prayer. to acknowledge God, to align our wills with God, to ask God. We talked about the promise of prayer, that we know that God hears our prayers, we can be confident that God hears our prayers, and we can be confident that God can answer our prayers and wants to answer our prayers. We talked about the practice of prayer, to have a specific place to pray and to have a specific time to pray. We talked about the persistence of prayer, That our inability should be our motive to pray and our opportunity should be our method to pray. We've talked about the power of prayer. That prayer is asking and receiving and I think that one of the biggest problems we have is that we have not because we ask not. And let me give you lastly this morning the privilege of prayer. The privilege of prayer. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 14. The Bible says this, seeing then that we have a great high priest, which is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Hebrews 4, 14, and 15 are talking about Jesus, our great high priest. who was touched in all points like as we are yet without sin, he died on the cross for our sins, and now he serves as our high priest and as our mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And then with that idea and with that concept and with that understanding, he says, the writer of Hebrews says in verse 16, led us therefore. Therefore, for this reason, that's what that means. For what reason? Because we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, the mediator between God and man. Because God, because Jesus is mediating between us and God the Father, he says, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. You know that prayer is the most powerful thing in the Christian life? I'm not saying it's the most powerful thing in the universe. I'm saying for us, it's the most powerful weapon tool at our disposal. Why? Because it has the potential to move the hand of the Almighty. But prayer is honestly probably the most ignored thing in the Christian life. It's one of the most ignored things in Christian discipline. I don't think many Christians read their Bible every day, but I think more Christians read their Bible every day than pray. The Bible tells us here that we can come boldly unto the throne of grace. You and I don't have to be timid about it. Because of Jesus, and because our Father, because God is our Heavenly Father, we can come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I've given this illustration in the past, but I think it's a good illustration. Here in this building, as the pastor of this church, I have an office. If you walk up to the door of my office, you'll see a sign that says, Pastor's Office. And oftentimes, especially during church times, before and after the service, people will meet with me or ask to meet with me. And they'll walk up to that door. And they'll do the respectful thing to do. They'll knock on the door. And I'll say, come in. Someone will open the door for them. Brother Oliver might open the door for them if he's bringing them. And they'll come in. And if I give permission, they can ask. They can come in. That's how it works. Not because I'm the pastor. It's just politeness, and that's how it works. In your workplace, at your office, it would work the same way. But you know, there are some people in this congregation that are very rude when it comes to my office. In fact, there's six of them. And they're my children. and they never knock. I mean, Hannah never walks up, Lydia never walks up, Ruth never walks up to the door, and I say, come in, and they say, may I come in? And that never happens. I mean, it doesn't matter if I'm in there by myself, I'm in there meeting, I mean, they just run in and swing open the door. Oftentimes they swing open the door as I'm meeting with somebody, and I tell them, hey, you need to close the door and leave or whatever, and they just come in. Now that would be really rude, If it wasn't for one thing, that I'm their daddy. And unlike everyone else, when they've scraped their knee, when they can't find mom because she's meeting with somebody, when they have a problem, they can come boldly into my office. They don't have to knock. They don't have to go to Deacon Oliver and say, I'd like to meet with pastor. I'm Hannah. I'm six years old. I'd like to meet with the pastor. Could you see if he's available? They don't have to do that. You have to do that. They don't have to do that. They can walk right up and walk right in and come in boldly and say, Daddy! And you and I have the same privilege of prayer. That because of Jesus and because we've been adopted and we've been accepted into the beloved, we can therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We can come boldly and to think about the fact that at any moment, at any time, you and I can come in boldly into the throne room of God and say, our Father, which are in heaven. and make our request unto God. It's the privilege of prayer. Why don't we take advantage of it? Reminds me of the hymn. What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. I hope you will. I hope you and I will take advantage of the wonderful privilege and power of prayer. I hope we'll be persistent. I hope we'll take advantage of the promise and the purpose, and we'll practice and be practical at this thing. Because the truth is this, oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you acknowledging that we are coming into the throne room of grace. And we can bring our requests unto you. We have the privilege of having access to the power of prayer. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to become people of prayer. Help us to choose a place and to choose a time. Help us to lean into our inability and allow it to motivate us and to use importunity as our method. Lord, help us to bring our requests unto you. Help us to become people of prayer. In the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Well, God bless you. Thank you for being here this morning. I do want to remind