Let Us Pray - 3

Let Us Pray - 3

Subject – The Supernatural Aspect of Our Praying

by Rick Welborne

Matthew 7:24-27 (NKJV)
²⁴  "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
²⁵  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
²⁶  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
²⁷  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." 

--It is tremendously obvious to me that we must have a solid foundation as we move forward with the Lord knowing that storms are coming. The place of no storms is called heaven.

--John tells us that infancy is for intimacy but adolescence is for accruing power. You need that power because we have an enemy. You know you have an enemy who does not want your house to stand?

Finally, John says I am writing to you fathers (to mothers) …notice he does not say adults. We are in a time where we are not just in need of adults but we are in need of some spiritual fathers and mothers.

--God needs some fathers and mothers who have some longevity and who have withstood some storms to come alongside those in the church who need to build their foundation. Your life and testimony can help.

--This is why churches need to be multigenerational. We can’t have churches that are just made up of millennials or seniors. We need spiritual fathers and mothers who will take them by the hand and guide them. 

--Today, with God’s help, I want to share with you that there is more and in this world we definitely need more.

--Imagine with me if we had a time machine and we could go back in time 2000 years to the upper room in Jerusalem, just a week after Jesus’ ascension. 

--You are sitting in the corner and you are scanning the crowd and you are looking into the faces of the 119. What do you see? Think about who they are and where they have come from.

--First, you look at the apostles and you ask yourself what was the Lord thinking when He chose these guys? Why didn’t He choose rabbis and scholars of the Law? He could have chosen gifted orators who could sway…

--Instead you see a fisherman. You see a tax collector. You see a former member of the Zealots, a radical political group. You see ordinary men. No executive search would have ever chosen this bunch.

--These are the last people you would pick to launch a church plant much less to start a new religious movement. But, of course, Jesus did this on purpose. 

--He knew it would almost be impossible for these guys to depend on their human ability. Instead, they would have to depend on Jesus’ promise of power from on high.

--Jesus recognized the more educated and the brighter people become, and the better their connections to human influence, money and power, the more they tend to look away from the power of God. Trust in God’s grace less.

--Even more troubling in the upper room were people who just had recent spiritual failures. Just a few weeks before, in a moment of crisis they deserted their leader. Disqualified.

--Three years of intense discipleship training by Jesus just went out the window and all the lessons they learned (taught by the greatest teacher ever) seemed to count for nothing. 

--They had watched His example in every kind of circumstance and watched Him stand up against the Pharisees. They held their breath when He courageously cast out demons.

--Yet when their hour to stand came they couldn’t…they didn’t. They ran instead. All the modelling by Jesus and all of His great teaching seemed to evaporate into the night there at Gethsemane. 

--Not only did they show they were cowards, one of them went into a full blown denial about knowing Who Jesus was. He denied Him three times, the last of which he used profanity.

--About three days later, Thomas was told Christ had come back from the dead. He was so steeped in doubt and self-pity that he replied in essence, “No way…not possible. He dead!” Build your church with these guys? Nope

1. Simply Waiting

--120 people simply sit in the room doing what? Praying I am sure. What do church people do when they don’t feel they can pray anymore? They sing a song. Just waiting but for what?

--Can you imagine how alone they felt at this time? Memories of Jesus fills their minds…Him walking on the water, calming the storm, feeding thousands, and healing sick people.

--All of that seems like a distant past with Jesus gone and by the way, where did He go? They feel, I am sure, guilt from their failures when He needed them the most.

--Maybe we should just go outside and disperse. That could be dangerous, couldn’t it? They are in the middle of Jerusalem where people were just recently crying…crucify Jesus. They had no love for His followers.

--This is key: Jesus told them to wait there in the upper room until they were filled with some kind of power when Holy Spirit came on them (whatever that meant). Then they would be witnesses to the ends of the earth.

--Let’s be honest, how could this happen? Who was this Helper or Counselor Who would be with them forever and would turn them into mighty men of God?

--There was no doubt that they needed some powerful someone to come along and to change them into great spiritual champions. After 10 days something happened:

Acts 2:1-4 (NKJV)
¹  When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
²  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
³  Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
⁴  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

--Don’t miss it…what is important here is that something supernatural came from heaven and invaded men and women on earth, changing them forever. 

Jim Cymbala – I think we have lost the wonder of that because we are so familiar with the passage. Since Holy Spirit is God, what is the depth of the meaning in those words “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit?” They were filled with God Himself!

--Please forget how familiar you are with this passage of Scripture and what you have been taught by others about it and open up yourself to what God did there. 

--Frail, hurting men and women were not just given a temporary emotional high or Holy Ghost goosebumps, they were filled with God the Holy Spirit. 

2. Power for right now.

--Who can deny that this is what the church needs today. This is the desperate need for pastors definitely starting with me first. We need something supernatural from heaven.

--Too much of what we have today is made up of programs, projects, human ideas, talents, and strategies. All these things have value but they fail to meet what the church is really in need of. 

--What is missing is something from heaven itself, something from God the Holy Spirit that comes and floods our lives and changes us forever.

--This is what God has always designed for His church. Take this statement for example from the Bible:

1 Peter 4:11 (NIV)
¹¹  If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God…

--How long has it been since you have heard preaching that is authoritative and heart searching? Preaching that is anointed by Holy Spirit power and that gets people to repent before God?

--The indictment by skeptics against the church is that many of our services are barren of life and are spiritually dead. Who wants a God when His church is dead and lifeless?

Sir Walter Moberly addressing Christians involved in an academic environment:  You, Christians, if one tenth of what you believe is true you ought to be ten times more excited than you are. But evidently it is not true. I take one look at your face and rest my case.  

Oliver Wendell Holmes - I may have entered the ministry if certain clergy I knew had not looked and acted like undertakers.  

Robert Lewis Stephenson in his diary said with great amazement - I have been to church today and I am not depressed.  

--You can have church where everything is doctrinally right and where you are teaching and preaching the Tenets of Faith but if there is nothing from heaven to grip the hearts with conviction. Where’s the power?

--What marked those in the New Testament church was that they were having powerful encounters with the living God. Sinners were converted. It was anything but dull and ordinary. Come, Holy Spirit!

--Have you ever been listening to a beautiful song of worship or were listening to sermon where something, actually, Someone from Heaven showed up and God touched you so deeply.

--I love when someone comes to me after a service and wants to know who had I been talking to about them. And why did you keep staring at me during the service. Heaven showed up!

3. Wind, Fire, and Supernatural Languages – I dare you!

--Holy Spirit is often referred to as wind or as the breath of God. But on the day of Pentecost this was no ordinary wind…this was powerful…watch this.

Acts 2:2 (NLT2) ²  Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.

 Acts 2:2 (NIV) ²  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

--What do violent wind storms, like hurricanes and tornadoes, do when they come? They destroy everything material and they show us that what is left is the most important. Life!

--The church needs such a violet wind from Holy Spirit that all the rubbish is blown out of our lives and such that the material world doesn’t mean that much anymore.

--We need a typhoon-like visitation from Holy Spirit that doesn’t just rearrange the furniture but totally rearranges our lives just like He did for the 120 on the Day of Pentecost.

--I dare you to wait on God with all your heart for Him to send the promised Holy Spirit into your lives. I dare you to ask God for something from heaven not something with the smell of man on it.

--Who here today will beg God for Him to do it again? Another Pentecost! Another violet wind that shakes everything that can be shaken! Come Spirit of the Living God!

--Just like in Ezekiel breathe on these dry bones and let them live again.

Ezekiel 37:7-10 (NKJV)
⁷  So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.
⁸  Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.
⁹  Also He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." ' "
¹⁰  So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

--Holy Spirit is referred to as fire and Acts 2 says that there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. One sat upon each of them!

--Holy Spirit is not just for the fanatic; He is for everyone. All 120 men and women had the fire of God or what appeared to be fire on their heads. Why our heads? We’ve got messed up thinking about Holy Spirit.

--I dare you to invite the fire of God to rest upon you this morning. He’ll burn out the junk and He will refine you so that your life will be pure before God. 

--Holy Spirit took control of their tongues! Why tongues? James tells us that the tongue is the most unruly part of the body and that it can cause a fire of destruction wherever it goes. 

--I dare you to invite Holy Spirit and allow Him to take control of that tongue that needs some sanctifying. When the Spirit took control of the 120 what did the people hear in Jerusalem from them?

Acts 2:11 (NKJV)
¹¹  --we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.

--The world needs to see Spirit filled believers not talking smack with them but talking about the wonderful things God has done!

--I dare you to stand and to beg God for His wind to blow, His fire to fall, and to change our tongues by taking a coal from the altar like Isaiah begged for…Come Holy Spirit!