Learning to Pray the Right Things

All right. If you have your Bible or whatever device that you're accustomed to using, go to Acts chapter four this morning. Acts chapter four. The notes are on the refuge app. We always encourage you to fill in the blanks.

Follow along with the notes that we provide each week. If you're joining us for the first time. Back in November, we were in a series for five weeks that was entitled the desperate Cry. We've been examining notable prayers, the Bible, and then we paused for December. We were in our Christmas series.

But I really felt from the Lord that we were supposed to resume this study of notable prayers of the Bible. So we're doing that here in the month of January as well. Back in the day, many years ago, I spent about 10 years in youth ministry. And I know this is going to be hard for you to believe, and I wish I would have provided a picture to our team just to prove that I'm not lying. But I had a mullet to die for back in my youth ministry days.

I had a full head of hair. I had a mullet. It was business in the front, party in the back. And I did youth ministry for many years right here in this region, in this area. And I got invited to one of the high schools to go speak to the freshmen in the health classes of all things sexuality.

And so I had a presentation on when I spent the entire day, I spoke to all of the freshmen at that school. And the word began to spread and other schools began inviting me to do the same. And somebody from the county school system came and they sat in on one of the presentations. And the result of that was that they endorsed my presentation. And they said, we want you to speak to every freshman at every high school in the county.

And so year after year, I would go into the high schools and I would speak to all of the freshmen in all of the health classes on sexuality at every high school that was in the coup Harris county school systems. Now, I had students. I had a large youth ministry. I had students that were attending different schools. And on occasion, I would go to these schools during the lunch period, and I would just have lunch with some of the students.

Well, I had some students that were at Northwest High School, just over to your left, a few hundred yards, Northwest Cabarrus High School. And they said, will you come have lunch with us? And so I went to their school to have lunch. I stopped by the office to let them know that I was there. I was going to have lunch with some students and the principal of the high school.

It was a Lady. And she made it crystal clear to me that day that I was not welcome on her campus for that reason, I was not welcome to have lunch with the students. And she made me leave. And so I left. Well, one of those students just wasn't going to take no for an answer.

And I had an organized a prayer meeting, a prayer time for students, middle and high school students, at 6am every Monday morning before they started their week, before they went to school. And every Monday morning, I would gather with students from 6 to 7am and we would pray. And one of those young men that was a student, Northwest Cabarrus High School, that was upset that his principal wouldn't allow me to come have lunch with him, decided that he was going to battle in prayer. How many of you think that's a good idea, to battle in prayer? And so I would hear him praying every Monday morning.

And this is what he would pray. God, either change her or move her out. That's what he prayed Monday after Monday after Monday. God, you change her or you move her out. Now a few months later, he's praying this every Monday.

A few months later, out of the blue, I get a phone call from that principal. And I'm like, oh, Lord Jesus.

She says, would you come by? I need to see you. Would you sometime, would you be willing to stop by? So I said, sure, glad to do it. So I go by, I walk in her office, and I'm like, boy, you know, I'm kind of.

I've got one glove on. I haven't put both gloves on, but I'm ready. Like, I think it's about to go down. And she says, you know, I know you approached me about having lunch with some of the students here, and I told you that you couldn't do that. Da, da, da, da, da.

And I'm like, yeah, I remember that conversation very well because you were very forthright and very rude to me in the moment. I didn't say that. I just was thinking that. And she said, you know, I've thought about that. She reaches in her desk and she pulls out a big stack of passes, slides them across the desk, and she said, I just want you to know you are welcome on this campus anytime that you want to come.

No joke.

So I would go. I had an open door, I had passes. She said, if you ever run out of these, you let me know. I'll give you more. You're welcome to come anytime.

Which I did. And it's interesting now that, you know, decades later that we have such a Strong presence on that high school, Northwest Cabarrus High School, Northwest Cabarrus Middle School, our club, vertical ministry to public school campuses that we're on several campuses in the region. Now, chances are that some of us have prayed a similar prayer to what that young man prayed. God, get them.

God fix them. God fix my boss. God fix my spouse. God fix my neighbor. Fix my friend.

God get him. Whatever we pray, maybe a similar prayer to that now in Acts chapter four. If there was anybody who had reason to pray a prayer like that, it was the disciples because of what happened to them and what we're going to look at in just a moment. In my opinion, they had every reason to say, God, get them, but that's not what they did. Acts, chapter four.

We're going to read this story, and I want you to stand to honor the word of God this morning as I begin to read in verse 23, if you don't have your Bible or if you don't have a device, we always put the verses on the screen. Everybody ready for the Word today? It says, beginning in verse 23, as soon as they were freed, and we'll talk about this in a moment, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. And when they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in complaining. Oh, sorry.

In prayer to God. Here's what they prayed. O sovereign Lord, creator of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. You spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit, through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans?

The kings of the earth prepared for battle. The rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah. In fact, this has happened here in this very city where Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate, the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel are all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will. And now, O Lord, hear their threats and give us your servants great boldness in preaching your word.

Stretch out your hand with healing power. May miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And then they preached the word of God with boldness. Come on, let's make some declarations together before you're seated all over the building.

Everybody watching online. You ready? Go. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is Life to my body.

I will be a doer of the Word. And I am confident of this that he who has begun a good work in us will complete it. In Jesus name, Amen. You can be seated. Now here's some things that you need to understand.

The New Testament church has just recently been been birthed. When we read the story that we just read started with 120 people that were gathered in an upper room. You know the story Acts chapter 2. And the Holy Spirit fell on them in a powerful way, a dynamic way. They began to go out, they began to proclaim Jesus, they began to talk about his resurrection, they began to preach repentance.

And the New Testament church there in Jerusalem grew from 120 people to over 10,000 people just in Jerusalem. Now that sounds exciting to us, but let me tell you to the religious establishment of the day, that was not exciting at all. To the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They felt very threatened by the fact that there was this new thing going on, this new movement going on that was threatening and jeopardizing the religious system of the day. You know, there were a couple of guys by the name of Peter and John, disciples of Christ, and they were on their way to the temple for prayer at three in the afternoon one day.

And there was a lame man, he was begging at the doorway of the temple. And so if you're familiar with the story, Peter says to him, listen bro, we don't have any money, but here's what we do have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk. And so the lame man stands up, begins walking. The Bible says and leaping and praising God created quite a stir in town.

Peter and John go on into the temple and Peter begins to preach repentance. And there in the temple and that was not received very well by some of the religious leaders. As a matter of fact, the priest of the temple, some Sadducees and a member of the like the temple guard, like the police of the temple, security officer if you will. They all approach Peter and John and they arrest them and they take them into jail, trying to decide what they're going to do with them. Now we'll come back to that story in a moment.

But the Bible says in James chapter 5 and verse 16 that the earnest prayer of a righteous person, male or female, has great power and produces wonderful results. Now here we are studying these notable prayers of the Bible. But I believe that a vital part of praying prayers that have power and produce results, watch. Is praying the Right thing, praying the right thing. Let me give you an example.

John, chapter five tells us a story about a man who was not able to walk for 38 years. And he would lay beside this pool called the Pool of Bethesda. Now, unscheduled and unplanned, an angel would stir the waters of the Pool of Bethesda. And whoever managed to get into the water, the first was healed. And here was this man who had not walked in 38 years.

We don't know how long he had been laying beside the pool. We assume 38 years. We don't know that for sure. He's laying aside the pool, and I would say he's probably praying for somebody to help him get into the water. And then Jesus comes along, and Jesus says to the man, hey, do you want to be well?

Do you want to be healed? And the man begins making excuses. He began saying, listen, when the water is stirred, people are quick to run into the water and they're able to jump into the water because I can't walk. I don't have anybody that can help me get into the water. And so he's making these excuses, and Jesus just completely ignores what he's saying.

And Jesus tells him, right there, right then, right on the spot, he says, get up and walk. Get up and walk. Maybe all along the man should have been praying that he would be healed, not that somebody would help him into the water. Maybe the reason he wasn't praying a prayer that really produced powerful results was that he was praying the wrong thing by chance. Praying the wrong thing.

Now, I've asked this question before, but let me ask you again. If all of your prayers were answered, would the world be a better place or would just your life be better?

You see, we need to learn. As New Testament believers in these last days, I believe we need to learn to pray the right things. Now, it's easy for us to pray things that are personal to us, things that are concerning to us, things that are affecting our lives and touching us. And listen to me. Don't get me wrong.

God doesn't mind that. God wants you to petition him for things that you need in your life. But if that's all you're praying, you are missing your assignment as a last days believer. I think we need to learn to pray the right things. Acts, chapter four.

Watch. Verse 13 and 14. It says, the members of the council, now Peter and John had been arrested. The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. For they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the scriptures.

They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. Oh, can we just pause right there for a moment? How many of you want to be recognized not as somebody who's YouTube famous or Instagram famous, but recognized as somebody who has been with Jesus?

Wouldn't you love for a complete stranger to walk up to you at some point and go, I think I know you? Like, there's something different about you. Like, there's something coming off of you. You ever notice, like, unbelievers don't really know what to call it, man, there's this aura about you, and you want to go, that's the anointing of the Holy Spirit. But you don't want to freak them out.

Say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've got this aura about me. But what a compliment if the people around you recognize you because you've been with Jesus. And that's what these religious leaders said about Peter and John, verse 14. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say. So here's what they did.

The religious leaders pressured them and threatened them and told them they had to stop speaking about Jesus. They had to stop. They couldn't say anything else. Sound familiar? I mean, isn't that much like the culture in which we live, the canceled culture in which we live?

Hey, you got to tone it down a little bit. You're talking too much about your Jesus, your relationship with him. You need to tone it down even so much as dared to tell people of the church back during COVID you can't worship in church. You can't gather more than 10 people in church. Oh, I pray that the church never cowers again like we saw many do in 2020?

I say that with no pride or no arrogance, but you've heard me say before, the doors of this church will never, ever be closed for any reason.

So they tell him, you got to stop this stuff. Quit talking about Jesus. Quit talking about his resurrection, verse 19. But Peter and John replied, do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything that we've seen and heard.

And the council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn't know how to punish them without starting a riot. And that's where our story picks up, where we just read beginning in verse 23. So Peter and John go back to the other disciples and the other believers, and they tell them what had happened and what the religious leaders had said what the high priest had said, and then their response was they just started praying. Oh, life could be so much different, couldn't it? If, like, when crisis hits, instead of us, like just going to the figure it out room, if we would go to the throne room first, right when crisis comes, when, when the enemy attacks, instead of us just talking, talking, talking to everybody and posting and all this kind of stuff, if our first response was just prayer, and that's what they did, they just began praying.

And there's a couple of things about their prayer that I want you to notice. A few things, four things, as a matter of fact, about their prayer that I think are important for us. Number one, they acknowledge God's greatness. Right out of the gate, they said, o Sovereign Lord, creator of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. You think God's up in heaven, going, oh, wow, I lost my idea.

I didn't realize that's who I was. Thank you for reminding me of who I am now. God doesn't need that reminder. We do. And I really believe that all prayers should begin with us recognizing and acknowledging that there's no one higher, no one greater and no one more powerful than, than our God, the one true God.

And I think every time we approach him, we should acknowledge that. And that's what they did. Second thing I want you to notice, they remind themselves of his promises and of what the Word says. They remind themselves, they said, you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, why were the nations sowing? Or why did they waste their time with.

With futile plans? The kings of the earth prepared for battle, the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against His Messiah. So they're reminding themselves of what God has promised and what His Word says. I think we would do well if we would remind ourselves on a regular basis about the promises of God and what His Word says to us. Let me ask you a question.

Are you going to allow your life to be framed by the circumstances of life, or will you allow your life to be framed by what God has said in His Word? I know it's easy for us right now to say, oh, no, no, no, my life will be framed by the Word of God. And I'm with you on that. But when crisis hits, or when we're just not feeling it, or when we're not gathered with people of like, precious faith, worshiping the Lord together, or when we feel all alone, when we feel like the relentless attack of the enemy will never stop, when we're sick in our body, when we're trying to pay the bills, when the kids are acting like demons, when your boss is breathing down your neck all the time and you just feel like, I can't take anything else. In that moment you have to decide, will my life be framed by the circumstances going on around me or will my life be framed by the Word of God?

Because I can tell you, although heaven and earth may pass away, His Word will never fail.

That's why it's important that we remind ourselves constantly of what the Word says. Let me tell you a great way to do that. Be in the Word regularly in the Word. Not just on Sunday morning, but get on a reading plan. Pull up your version.

Get a Bible reading plan. If you're not reading the Bible through in the entire year, well, do a plan. They've got two week plans and month long plans and they've got a quarter plan. And you can do that and then change to a different plan. But the thing is, stay in the Word.

Be a person of the word. Study to show yourself approved unto God. A workman who does not need to be ashamed, but rightly divides the word of truth. You're constantly in the Word. Here's the third thing that they did.

They recognize God's sovereignty and his plan at work. Look at verse 26 through 28. It says there the kings of the earth prepared for battle. The rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah. In fact, this has happened here in this very city for Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate, the governor, the gentiles and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed.

But everything they did watch was determined beforehand, according to your will. So these disciples are praying. They said this bad stuff has happened like Jesus was crucified. And all of these religious leaders now are trying to squelch our influence. They're trying to silence our voice.

But the disciples basically are saying what they don't understand and what they don't realize is when they thought they were so masterful at coming up with a plan to kill Jesus, they were just operating all along with the, with the plan of God. Like God had already set all that into motion and they didn't realize that. And all this stuff that's happening right now, Peter and John being thrown into prison, they think they're getting the best of us. Peter and John are saying, but God's already designed this. Because we recognize God's sovereignty.

We see that the hand of God is working because he's more powerful than the religious forces. He's more powerful than your boss. He's more powerful than. Than the government. He's more powerful than those with an Antichrist spirit in our nation or in our world who would love to silence the voice of those who carry the influence of God and the anointing of God, or those who would love to eradicate our culture with the word of God and wipe it out.

But what they don't realize is greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. Daniel, Chapter three. There's a great story of these young teenagers. They'd been given names, the names that we're familiar with, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They're in Babylonian captivity.

And the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, has a statue built of himself, 90ft tall.

And then he calls everybody together, says, we're going to have this big celebration. He said, I've put together one of the most amazing orchestras in the land. In a moment, they're going to begin playing. And as soon as the music begins, he said, everybody's going to bow down and they're going to worship the statue of me.

So here's these three teenage boys, along with Daniel, who've committed. In fact, you can read in the Book of Daniel, I believe it's chapter one, verse eight, where they said they refused to allow themselves to be defiled by the king's food. So they decide, we're not doing this. We're not going to bow our knee to some statue. And Nebuchadnezzar makes it very clear that anybody who refuses to comply, they're going to be thrown into a furnace.

And so, sure enough, the music begins to play. You know the story. And these three teenage boys, everybody bows. And, I mean, they stand out, pardon the pun. But everybody can see that they're not complying with the order of Nebuchadnezzar.

And so he summons them. He calls them and says, guys, maybe you didn't understand, but here's what we're doing. Here's how this works. And we're going to fire the orchestra back up again. We're going to give you another shot.

And everybody has to bow, right? And so they don't. They refuse to bow. Nebuchadnezzar, the Bible says, is in a rage at this point. And so he orders that the furnace be heated up seven times hotter.

And he gives them another chance. And as they come before Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 3, verse 16. It says this Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied, o Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, your majesty.

But even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, your majesty, we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue that you have set up. Yeah. So listen, watch these guys make a great statement of faith. These three teenagers, Our God will rescue us. Great statement of faith.

But they also recognized the sovereignty of God. And then they make this statement. But even if he does not listen to me, that's not a lack of faith. No, they're full of faith. They know God can rescue them.

They also recognize God is sovereign. And they're at the place in their lives that they say, whatever will bring God the most glory and whatever will advance his kingdom in the greatest measure, that's what we want. That's what we want. Revelations, chapter 12, verse 11 says, they triumphed over him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. They did not love their life so much as to shrink from death.

Oh, for the day that the American church could die to ourselves and. And say, what matters more than anything is the advancement of the kingdom, the furthering of the kingdom, no matter what it costs me, no matter what it means for me. I want to see God's kingdom advanced here in the earth. Here's the fourth thing I want you to see. And then we're going to pray.

They prayed the right thing. They prayed the right thing. They didn't ask God to deal with the religious leaders. And they had every right. They could have said, get them God.

Fix them God. They're all jacked up in their mentality. They're all stuck in their religious traditions, in their religious ways. So get them God. But they didn't pray that they had a right to.

That's not what they prayed. They don't ask for a break from persecution.

They don't ask God to raise up somebody else to preach instead of them.

They know they've been threatened. Either be quiet or else. Of course, these disciples, they've probably walked by many times and seen people that had been crucified for various offenses.

And they knew that they didn't have a get out of jail card, free get out of jail card. Same thing could happen to them. But they prayed with one thing in mind, and that was the advancements of the kingdom.

Verse 29, it says, and now, O Lord, hear their threats. Watch and get them, God, fix them. God, bring revenge on them, God. They threw us into jail. They weren't justified in what they did.

So God, let them break out with boils. God, let them die an early death. No, no, no. Here's what they prayed. And now, O Lord, hear their threats and give us your servants great boldness in preaching your word.

Watch. They ask for the very thing that got them thrown into jail the first time. They asked for more of that. Thank you, sir. Can I have another?

Some of you will get that, some of you won't. It's a poor reference.

Instead of get them, God, they said, God, that thing that got the attention of the religious leaders and got us thrown into jail. We want more of that. We want more of that. Give us boldness, God. And then look what they pray.

In verse 30 of Acts, chapter four, they said, stretch out your hand with healing power. May miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. And guess what? That's what happened. Mark, chapter 16, verse 20.

And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them and confirming what they said by many miraculous signs. Oh, Church, are we praying the right things? Come on. In 20, 25, how many of you would agree? I don't know about you, but I've noticed a shift.

Like, I watch sports, I watch college football, I watch a little bit of the NFL stuff, but I've noticed something. People are more bold and more vocal than I've ever seen them before about talking about Jesus. Have you guys noticed that there's a shift, There's a boldness that's coming over the people of God, I believe. But along with that boldness, I believe we need to be praying that we'll operate in the gifts of the Spirit. I believe we need to be praying that there will be signs and wonders.

Like those religious leaders said, we don't know what to do with these guys. But standing right in front of us is a guy that we've known for a long time who sat at the temple gate, who could not walk, and now here he is walking. We can't argue with that. Can we just pray and believe as New Testament believers that God will begin to move in a way that atheists will say, I don't know what to do with this. But I cannot argue with what God says doing.

There's miracles happening, signs and wonders that are breaking out.

Come on. That's what we need to be praying That's a notable prayer of the Word of God. That happened a couple of thousand years ago, but it needs to be happening now. We need to be praying, God. Give us boldness, Lord.

Don't let us cower. Don't let us conform. Don't let us back down, down when the pressure is on, God. When the pressure's on. Let us experience more of your boldness.

And not just that, God, but give us opportunities to lay our hands on the sick and to believe they're going to recover, they're going to be healed. Give us a chance, Lord, out in the marketplace, that we would be bold and we would stop people and say, you know, I just feel like the Lord wants me to pray for you today. And signs and wonders would begin following the preaching of the Word.