A call to pray

Luke 5:17–26 (NIV)

17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Make room “a call to pray”.

How does one become great in this world? by reaching the heights of whatever the thing is.

Top of the class

Top of the field

Top of the sports league

The idea is that we are supposed to attain the highest position in we can in this life.. and in doing so were called the best, were esteemed, were celebrated, were held in HIGH REGARD

Its about how HIGH can i go?

*** the distance between my knees and the floor is around 21 inches.***

Its quite a contrast the upside down kingdom of God that we are aparty of which is that to truly be the most successful, the Bible says, you must do whatever possible to go lower than you ever have before

The world says, Go high, The kingdom… says Go low

The lower we go, the greater our spiritual standing becomes. The closer we are to heaven, The more use we are to God. The most effective we are in the kingdom.

It’s quite the contrast isn’t it

Luke 14:7–11 ESV

7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Matthew 18:1–4 NIV

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

The lower we go - The closer we are to God.

And it’s in the LOW place, that mercy is received, that Grace is given - that Jesus is closest…. Because we are just like him.

But the question is this….How low are we willing to go?

“If we truly knew the efficacy of prayer, i believe we would never stop praying”

MAKE ROOM CONTEXT & REVISIT from VISION Sunday.

The Building

If you’re new or don’t have context for Make Room, on Vision Sunday Jill and I shared that we are moving forward in construction of a new church building. It’ll be built right here, same address, on the land we have been able to purchase behind this current building. If you missed Vision Sunday, I’d encourage you to go check it out on YouTube for more context.

The Need

About 550 seats in our current main aud. With the new building, we will be tripling our capacity. There isn’t another facility in St. Augustine (outside of the Amp) that hosts this amount of people. Not only do we need more room in here, but we need to make room for Kids, Youth, Exchange, Woven, our community partners, etc.

This is a spiritual need, a financial need, a prayer need

WHAT I AM ASKING OUR WHOLE CHURCH TO DO: Begin my Making Room for some real, fervent time in prayer. This message is titled “a call to pray. This is a call to go to the Lord in prayer and pray for some certain things

And I really want to believe today that our WHOLE church will, if you haven’t already, to pray for our church as it steps into a season of MAKING ROOM.

Last week was a call of the heart - This week “A call to pray”

(*** i really believe the Lord is placing on my heart right now that there is significant prayer needed over and for our church). It’s time for our own boiler room: Spurgeon had one… now its time for us to have one.

Spurgeon was a19th-century English preacher and pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in London, England, later named the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

The church held 5,000 people.

With no sound system, it was said that his voice-could be heard by all.

A group of young ministers called on him one day to see the large preaching place. To get a tour of the magnificent space where thousands would gather and many many would be saved.

After showing them his massive sanctuary, Spurgeon then offered to show then his “boiler room.”

The guests declined but the pastor insisted.

Spurgeon led them to the basement. They found about 100 people in prayer.

“This,” Spurgeon said with a smile, “is my boiler room.”

WHAT IS PRAYER ALL ABOUT AND WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT?

FOUNDATIONS OF PRAYER & what is prayer all about?

I.Prayer is expected. Its an expectation in a relationship that there would be communication. Dialogoe of some kind

imagine meeting the person you on this earth are supposed to have the closest relationship you know of

say for the married people in the room, you know this.

When i am on a trip Jill expects to hear from me. Not because She’s mad about it but that She cares and She loves me and she wants me to call and check in…..we expect that there would be calls and texts and checking in——I couldnt imagine for a moment Beginning my marriage to Jill and then her and I speaking never even talking to each other. How weird would it be if we just didn’t talk to each other. It doesn’t make sense yet thats what people seem to think a relationship with God is, that HES UP THRE.. I’m DOWN HERE… He doesn’t really want to hear from me

What a sad perspective on Gods true nature!

“As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.” - Luther.

Whitney, Donald S. 1991. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

No one summed up the need for prayer more than Jesus himself. When he taught the Lord’s Prayer, he begins the teaching with “and when you pray

Jesus Expects Us to Pray

Don’t think of prayer as an impersonal requirement. Realize that it is a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, with all authority and with all love, who expects us to pray. These excerpts from His words show that He Himself expects us to pray:

Matthew 6:5, “And when you pray.…”

Matthew 6:6, “But when you pray.…”

Matthew 6:7, “And when you pray.…”

Matthew 6:9, “This, then, is how you should pray: …”

Luke 11:9, “So I say to you: Ask …; seek …; knock.”

Luke 18:1, “Then Jesus told his disciples … they should always pray.”

Prayer is Learned / Its something that doesn’t come naturally to us, we have to develop that spiritual discipline. To take time to pray.

(as we grew up as a family, our kids were taught to offer a prayer of thanks for the food. We tried our best to example it and now its developed …now we always pray as a family before every meal - that took time and it now is normal. commonplace

I honestly couldnt imagine starting a meal now with my kids and my family and not praying

Prayer is something you must develop and learn. If you don’t pray at all now this is what I want you to do.

Learn to do it after you read your bible in the morning for a minimum of 5 minutes after you read.

Prayer is answered

Why does prayer work? Yes. Because it’s what God wants, He has a LEAN towards his children, His ears bend towards us the scripture says. The enemy wants you to believe God doesn’t want you to pray.

We pray:

-Because He is listening / Psalm 138:3 “On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.”

-Because he likes to talk with us / Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

-Because it changes our hearts & keeps them soft: us from the inside out - We go to the prayer place in our lives which is our heart and that is where God goes to work on us. Only after our hearts have connected with him in prayer does our mind begin to move in line with what he’s done or doing in our hearts

-Because it shifts things in our lives 1 Chronicles 4:10 “Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.”

-Because we always recieve what we need because we have prayed:

Psalm 138:3 ESV

On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.

Finally,

You know the real reason we need to pray: because we can!

Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

I’m believing now for a church with a boiler room. Not one underneath the sanctuary like Spurgeon was blessed with. But that our church would become a boiler room underneath our city.

The Make Room Prayer call:……Wearing out the altar and Wearing out the carpet in prayer and worship.

I need you to have a prayer closet, and if you dont have one, i want you to create one. I want us all to get on our knees today and

What are the prayer needs of the church with MAKE ROOM:

We know the direction…we believe God is working, He is drawing people in, He has called us to MAKE ROOM… we se what God is doing and we know the need is to MAKE ROOM

now we need to KEEP praying - I want to believe for We need to

Here are the three things

1.PRAY FOR PLANNING

Wisdom. Discernment. Focus and a sound strategy going forward.

For success at each step.

Each step is taken at the correct time

For wisdom

2.PRAY FOR PROTECTION

This is a big one.

I will spend most of my time on this one. And it’s Th a big one for us all.

Expect the spiritual warfare to tick up. Be aware this is a spiritual battle.

We don’t fight flesh and blood.

We fight rulers and authorities and battle strongholds in the heavenly realm. We need Gods armor. His protection.

Will you pray for our churches protection? For our staff’s protection, For our Peoples protection.

Ephesians 6 ESV

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. 9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Pray Psalm 91.

Psalm 91:9–16 “Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.””

3.PRAY FOR PROVISION

We obviously need God to send us the provision. To bring it forth through miracle after miracle.

Will you pray, will you commit to pray for provision?

The Lords Prayer: