- Why do I pray? Because no prayer = no FRUIT . (Mk 11:12-16)
- Why do I pray? Because Jesus says it's PRIORITY . (Mk 11:17-19)
- How do I pray?
- REMEMBER God's history. (Mk 11:20-21)
- RECOGNIZE prayer is about God. (Mk 11:22)
- RAISE your expectations. (Mk 11:23)
- RECEIVE the answer by Faith. (Mk 11:24)
- RECONCILE with people who need forgiveness. (Mk 11:25)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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00:00-00:03
We're going to be in the Gospel according to Mark.
00:03-00:04
We're on tour with Jesus this year.
00:05-00:16
Again, we're going to see that the Gospel of Mark makes it abundantly clear that Jesus Christ must be known to you as three things.
00:18-00:19
He is the Lord.
00:19-00:20
We're going to see that.
00:20-00:22
He is the ultimate authority.
00:22-00:23
He is God in the flesh.
00:24-00:25
And what He says matters.
00:26-00:27
And He is the Lamb.
00:29-00:30
He laid down His life on the cross.
00:33-00:39
Because of all of the wicked and rebellious and foolish things that I've done, Jesus took My place on the cross.
00:40-00:41
And He is the life.
00:41-00:44
He rose from the dead so that we might have eternal life.
00:47-00:48
First of all, He is the Lord.
00:49-01:06
The title of today's message is "Prayer - How to Throw a Mountain." And looking at this title, "Well, if I'm going to talk about how to throw a mountain, I better know what I'm talking about." So I went to WikiHow. Have you guys seen WikiHow?
01:07-01:09
How many people know what I'm talking about? WikiHow.
01:10-01:19
How many people are like, "I have no idea what WikiHow is. Are you speaking in tongues right now?" Okay. Well, there's a website. You've heard of Wikipedia, right?
01:19-01:23
It's like this online encyclopedia thing that I wish I had when I was in high school, but didn't.
01:24-01:27
But there's Wiki, How, and it's all how-to stuff.
01:28-01:30
Like, it'll tell you how to do anything.
01:31-01:31
You're like, anything?
01:31-01:32
Yes, anything.
01:32-01:35
I got on there this week, right on the main page.
01:35-01:42
It's how to make apple butter, how to attend a taping of Jeopardy, how to cook hot dogs.
01:45-01:47
I'm like, there are people getting online.
01:48-01:50
Like, honey, what do you want for dinner?
01:50-01:51
You know what sounds good as a hot dog?
01:52-01:52
Hang on.
01:54-01:56
I'm not quite sure how to do that one.
01:58-02:01
Oh, you can boil them, you can put them on, wow.
02:02-02:03
Step-by-step instructions, literally.
02:04-02:05
This one cracked me up for some reason.
02:05-02:08
They have a page, how to wear a beret.
02:11-02:12
How to wear a beret.
02:14-02:17
I mean, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but isn't that a one-step thing?
02:17-02:22
Like, mission accomplished, right?
02:22-02:23
I mastered that one.
02:25-02:29
So I looked through some of those and I'm like, now I need to see how to throw a mountain and they had a little search thing in there.
02:30-02:33
So I typed in, how do I throw a mountain?
02:35-02:37
And here were the results that came.
02:38-02:42
There was a page that said, here's how to throw a tomahawk.
02:45-02:47
I thought, that's gotta be useful.
02:48-02:50
Then there was a page, here's how to throw a slumber party.
02:52-03:04
And I thought, "Don't ever see that happening." There was no "how to throw a mountain." But we're going to see from Jesus Christ.
03:04-03:08
He's going to show us exactly how to throw a mountain.
03:09-03:16
And I know there are some people in this room right now that need to throw a mountain.
03:17-03:18
And Jesus is going to show us how.
03:18-03:19
Are you ready?
03:20-03:21
Let me break this down first of all in your outline.
03:22-03:23
Why do I pray?
03:23-03:25
We are talking about prayer today.
03:26-03:27
Why do I pray?
03:27-03:30
Because no prayer equals no fruit.
03:31-03:33
Because no prayer equals no fruit.
03:33-03:39
Picking up in verse 12 in Mark chapter 11, it says, "On the following day," following what?
03:39-03:40
Remember the triumphal entry?
03:41-03:43
Jesus was going public.
03:44-04:11
He was saying, "Okay, you know, we've been teaching for three years in healing and, you who I am and I'm on this timetable here." And with the triumphant entry, Jesus was saying, "Okay, I am the Messiah. I am fulfilling prophecy. I am the Messiah." It says the following day, "When they came from Bethany, he was hungry." Okay, so he went into Jerusalem.
04:11-05:41
He was spending the nights in Bethany though with friends and going back and forth. So he was hungry, and seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. What does that mean? Well, this fig tree, the season that he's referring to here is the season of harvest. Okay? The fruit would come in to be harvested sometime between August and October, and this event, obviously, the Passover, would have been sometime around March or April, right? Easter time, right? So, what Mark is saying was it wasn't harvesting time for the figs. The tree was covered with leaves. Verse 14, "And he said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again.' And his disciples heard it." I've I've got to be honest with you, that's just a weird passage, isn't it?
05:41-05:42
Can we be honest?
05:45-05:47
What in the world is going on here?
05:49-05:58
Several years ago, at my former church, I was in this Passion Play, and I think it was because I was the only one that was 30 at the time.
05:58-06:08
So we're going back a ways and this scene was in the Passion play, because we were on the way to Jerusalem and reenacting.
06:08-06:09
You remember this, Brooke?
06:09-06:12
We had that last week of Jesus' life.
06:13-06:20
And I just always remember in that play, getting to this scene, and they had this like plastic tree.
06:20-06:22
So this scene called for me.
06:22-06:35
I was playing Jesus and I had like shoulder length, hair was dyed dark brown, and I had a beard that I had to color in dark, and I looked like Jesus plus about 30 pounds, okay?
06:36-06:45
But there was this scene where I had to, I had to go to this plastic tree and see that there were no figs, and then I had to turn around and deliver this line.
06:46-06:55
I'll be honest with you, this was like the hardest line to really deliver, Because how do you really get into yelling at a tree?
06:56-07:05
I just, you know, because it was like, may no one ever eat fruit from you again.
07:06-07:10
And they're like, no, Pastor Jeff, you're going to have to turn it up a little bit.
07:11-07:12
So I'm like, all right, take two.
07:12-07:17
And I'm just like, may no one ever eat fruit from you again.
07:17-07:20
And they're like, you need to turn that down just a little bit.
07:24-07:26
What in the world is going on with this tree?
07:27-07:30
Why is Jesus cursing a tree?
07:32-07:33
Here's the issue.
07:33-07:34
And this is very important.
07:36-07:46
With this particular tree - this fig tree, the fruit comes before the leaves on the tree.
07:48-07:52
that this tree, the fruit comes before the leaves come.
07:54-08:03
In other words, if you see one of these trees in the distance, and it has leaves, you automatically assume what?
08:05-08:06
It has fruit, right?
08:06-08:08
Because the first fruit, then leaves.
08:09-08:13
So, I see leaves, that means the fruit must already be on the tree.
08:16-08:43
with me. And this is very important because you notice twice in verse 13, Mark is like talking about the leaves. He said, "Seeing in a distance a fig tree in leaf." And then again, he found nothing but leaves. So Mark is like all about the leaves, the leaves, the leaves. What is going on here? Well, if I see a fig tree with leaves on it, I'm assuming it has fruit, because the fruit comes - what? - before the leaves.
08:47-08:49
So why did this anger Jesus?
08:51-08:53
Why did Jesus curse this tree?
08:54-08:57
Understand that this was an illustration.
09:00-09:01
This was an object lesson.
09:04-09:09
We did see how Jesus feels about a tree.
09:11-09:15
This is how Jesus feels about a tree that is all leaves and no fruit.
09:18-09:19
It's hypocrisy.
09:22-09:23
It's false advertising, right?
09:25-09:26
If I see trees, I better see fruit.
09:26-09:27
It's false advertising.
09:27-09:32
And I come over here and I see this leafy thing and I'm expecting to pick fruit and there's none on there.
09:34-09:34
advertising.
09:38-09:39
I want you to hold that thought.
09:39-09:40
Can you do that?
09:41-09:46
Hold that thought about the fig tree, because we're going to be coming back to it.
09:46-09:47
Look at verse 15.
09:48-09:59
It says, "And they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple.
10:01-10:07
He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
10:08-10:12
And He would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.
10:15-10:17
What does that have to do with the fig tree?
10:17-10:19
Well, this has everything to do with it.
10:21-10:30
Because we're going to see, you know, triumphal entry, Jesus went into the temple right away, then He curses the fig tree, then back to the temple when He trashes the temple.
10:31-10:33
And then we go back to more teaching about the fig tree.
10:33-10:36
There's a reason that these two accounts are intertwined.
10:36-10:38
It's because they have everything to do with each other.
10:39-10:41
But before we get to that, I want you to see what's going on here.
10:43-10:49
So Jesus goes into the temple and it says that he began to drive out those who sold and those who bought.
10:51-10:53
Overturning tables of the money changers.
10:53-10:54
What in the world is going on here?
10:54-10:57
Well, this was Passover, right?
10:58-11:05
And what happened at Passover where the Jews would make this pilgrimage to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice?
11:07-11:16
And keep in mind, this was the day before bullet trains and jet planes and Mercedes Benzes, and they were walking and traveling.
11:16-11:23
I'm sure some by horse or camel or whatever, but they were making this long journey to Jerusalem with their sacrifices.
11:25-11:27
Well, the priests got this idea.
11:27-11:30
actually went into business with local businessmen.
11:30-11:33
Because you know these sacrifices had to be spotless, right?
11:33-11:35
They had to be perfect sacrifices.
11:35-11:36
So here's what the priest did.
11:36-11:38
People would show up with their sacrifices.
11:39-11:48
And the priest would say, "That sacrifice isn't good enough." "Sorry, we can only offer God the very best.
11:48-11:51
Your sacrifice isn't good enough." So what's the guy going to do?
11:51-11:55
Go down to Lamb's R Us and pick out another one?
11:55-11:55
No.
11:57-12:03
"Get on the giant eagle and see if you can get us another lamb." Of course they couldn't do that.
12:03-12:04
So what did they do?
12:04-12:09
The priest would say, "Well, you can buy one of our pre-approved lambs.
12:11-12:16
How much do you think that thing cost?" "A ton." Did you see?
12:16-12:17
It was a money-making thing.
12:18-12:20
What's up with the money changers?
12:21-12:22
What's up with the money changers?
12:22-12:23
Here's what's up with the money changers.
12:24-12:26
They actually had a temple tax.
12:26-12:28
And it's like tax for going to church, right?
12:29-12:30
So it's like, okay, it costs a dollar.
12:31-12:32
For you to be a church, I need a dollar.
12:34-12:35
For real, you get a dollar?
12:37-12:38
It's temple tax, you get a dollar?
12:39-12:40
Last, oh, you know what?
12:41-12:42
I can't take that dollar.
12:42-12:46
You need to use temple tax currency.
12:47-12:49
And that is actually a special coin.
12:49-12:52
You have to pay with this, all right?
12:53-12:54
That's $5.
12:56-12:57
He only has a dollar.
12:59-13:01
At least we know we can trust the treasurer.
13:01-13:02
He's not stealing from the offering, right?
13:04-13:05
But that is what they would do.
13:06-13:07
No, you've got to use our special coin.
13:07-13:10
We get this special coin that you need to use to pay your tax.
13:11-13:16
And they would charge you a fortune to exchange money, right?
13:17-13:19
And it was a money-making scheme.
13:19-13:24
So see, these priests and these businessmen had all these things in place to make money.
13:26-13:27
And then God shows up.
13:29-13:40
On a scale of 1 to 10, how angry do you think God was that they turned the temple into Walmart?
13:41-13:47
Scale of 1 to 10, how mad do you think God was that they turned the temple into a money-making endeavor?
13:48-13:49
10?
13:50-13:52
Interpretation by voting, we all going with 10?
13:53-13:53
Yeah.
13:54-14:02
So keep in mind, when Jesus went into the temple, it would have looked like, if you've ever been to like Rogers Flea Market, did you ever go to Rogers or Hyde or that big flea market?
14:04-14:06
If you have never been there, you have got to go.
14:06-14:08
That'll be like one of the greatest days of your life.
14:09-14:14
But they would have had like booths and tables and all this stuff set up.
14:14-14:23
The inside courts of the temple would have looked like the flea market Because you've got to go here to buy your coins, and then you've got to go here to buy your pigeons if you can't afford the lamb.
14:24-14:27
It was this giant money-making scheme.
14:28-14:32
And Jesus just walked in, and He went to town.
14:33-14:39
So get out of your mind that there were like two little card tables sitting in the corner, and Jesus was like, shoo.
14:39-14:46
He went in there with the fury of the proverbial bull in the china closet.
14:46-14:51
He went in there, up and down, throwing all these tables and driving people out.
14:51-14:58
Notice it says, "And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple." Like how intense was this?
14:58-15:07
People trying to walk through and Jesus is like, "No, you are not going through here." And people are like, "Okay, I'm not going through here." Nobody, nobody.
15:08-15:20
He completely turned the temple upside down, driving the people out that were using it as a money-making thing.
15:20-15:25
People were getting rich in the name of the Lord.
15:26-15:27
People were getting rich.
15:30-15:31
Do you remember that fig tree?
15:34-15:35
Remember the tree?
15:37-15:43
It was a sham for the tree to have all leaves, and no fruit.
15:45-15:51
And it is a sham for the temple to have all leaves and no fruit.
15:52-15:58
And it is a sham for the church to have all leaves and no fruit.
15:58-16:00
You're like, what are you talking about all leaves and no fruit?
16:01-16:04
You see, just like the fig tree, it looks good.
16:05-16:10
It looks like fruitfulness is happening, but there's no real substance behind it.
16:12-16:17
See that fig tree was a picture just like from a distance it appeared to have fruit.
16:17-16:20
From a distance the temple appeared to be fruitful.
16:20-16:23
From a distance, wow, look at all this stuff happening in the temple.
16:23-16:24
All this stuff is happening.
16:24-16:28
All these people are coming in and all this God stuff is happening.
16:28-16:30
And from a distance it looked like that.
16:30-16:33
And then Jesus went into the temple and He said, "That's not what's happening here.
16:37-16:51
You have made something very precious to God, something very important to God, and you turned it into some self-motivated, self-seeking, self-indulging, money-making scheme.
16:55-16:57
Appearing to have fruit, but not actually having fruit.
16:58-17:06
It made Jesus mad enough to curse the tree, and it made Jesus mad enough to trash the at the flea market that was in the temple.
17:07-17:14
And church, we can have a lot of leaves and no fruit.
17:16-17:18
You know, church, stuff can be happening.
17:19-17:21
Stuff can be happening here in our church.
17:22-17:23
Stuff can be happening.
17:23-17:34
You know, there's tremendous music, and we're going to this Harvest Festival thing, and we've got these small groups doing things, and we're looking to get the small groups and some outreach things.
17:36-17:40
We can look like we are really busy and a lot of stuff is happening.
17:44-17:48
But what it boils down to is do we have fruit?
17:49-17:57
In other words, in the midst of all this activity, is God really at work?
18:00-18:01
Is God at work in this church?
18:02-18:06
And understand as a pastor, that's what I'm constantly evaluating.
18:07-18:13
I don't spend my week thinking about did Bob Mastorino hit all his notes on the guitar?
18:15-18:16
That's very important to him.
18:16-18:20
And it is important to do music with excellence, but that's not the thing that I spend my week obsessing over.
18:23-18:38
I don't spend my week obsessing over If we do more sliding scale questions in our small group discussion, what I spend my week thinking about and obsessing over is God at work in this church?
18:42-18:44
Is God at work in this church?
18:45-18:49
The Bible talks about having a form of godliness but denying its power.
18:51-18:52
That scares me to death.
18:52-19:29
I'm like, "I never want to be that church that looks like stuff is happening but God's like, "I'm not even going to that church. They're just a bunch of busy people." We set out from day one to be nothing but authentic. We want to be a church that we are in desperate need of Jesus Christ. We don't want to even - we say it this morning, we won't move without you. We don't want to take a step as a church unless we are called by God, unless we are empowered by God, unless we are motivated by God, this has to be a place where God is at work.
19:30-19:34
Otherwise, we're nothing but leaves.
19:36-19:43
So I would tell you, as you've heard me say this before, if God is not at work in this church, you need to tell me.
19:45-19:48
But if God is at work at this church, you need to tell others.
19:50-19:51
What makes the difference?
19:51-19:54
You're like, "Ok, I'm hearing what you're saying, but what makes the difference?
19:54-20:02
What makes the difference in a church that is just nothing but leaves, and in a church that has fruit?
20:02-20:04
A church that God is at work?
20:04-20:08
What makes the difference?" And listen, this is what makes the difference.
20:10-20:10
Prayer.
20:12-20:14
Prayer is what makes the difference.
20:14-20:16
And that is going to be crystal clear in one second.
20:20-20:37
The church, if we aren't praying, and I mean really praying, in our homes, individually, in our small groups, in our church, if we're not really crying out, we will become a place with lots of leaves, but no fruit.
20:40-20:45
You know, if you're sitting in your seat this morning saying, you know what, I really don't see God doing anything in my life right now.
20:46-20:52
It's been a long time since I've really sensed the Lord's presence and moving in my life.
20:52-20:54
My question for you is, are you praying?
20:56-20:57
How is your prayer life?
20:59-21:02
Because no prayer means no fruit.
21:05-21:06
Why do I pray?
21:06-21:08
Because no prayer is no fruit.
21:09-21:09
Why do I pray?
21:09-21:12
Number two, here's another why.
21:12-21:14
Because Jesus says it is the priority.
21:17-21:20
Because Jesus says it is the priority.
21:20-21:21
Look at verse 17.
21:22-21:35
It says, "And He was teaching them and saying to them, 'Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?' But you have made it a den of robbers.
21:40-21:41
That's an interesting word choice, isn't it?
21:42-21:44
Did you see that in verse 17?
21:44-21:47
It says, "And he was teaching them." I always thought that was an interesting picture.
21:48-21:57
Jesus is going through the temple, throwing tables over, and scaring people to death as they're running out.
21:58-22:04
And like, "Mark, what's going on there?" Mark's like, "He was teaching them." And I'm like, yeah, He was teaching them.
22:05-22:07
He was teaching them a lesson that they would never forget.
22:10-22:11
But please, don't misunderstand.
22:11-22:21
This is not some blind rage, "Jesus flew off the handle, Jesus needs to go to anger management classes." It is not that at all.
22:21-22:25
This is called holy, righteous anger.
22:29-22:36
And in the midst of this holy, righteous anger, Jesus was making it crystal clear why He was so upset.
22:36-22:37
Like, what's the problem, Jesus?
22:38-22:43
The problem is, this place was intended to be a house of prayer.
22:43-22:46
That's actually from Isaiah 56, verse 7.
22:48-22:52
He says, "But you've turned it into a den of robbers." That's from Jeremiah 7, 11.
22:53-22:54
He was quoting Scripture.
22:55-23:04
Jesus said, "This is what God's house was intended to be, and this is what you've turned it into." But church, you have to know, Jesus says this is the priority.
23:06-23:12
As Jesus was going through the temple, He could have said a lot of different things, right?
23:14-23:16
This is to be a house of blank.
23:17-23:21
You realize a lot of different things could go in that blank, right?
23:21-23:32
Jesus could have said, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of fellowship'?" Because God's about relationships, right?
23:32-23:33
Of course He is.
23:33-23:34
We belong to each other.
23:34-23:35
We're members of the body.
23:36-23:39
He could have said, "This is a house of fellowship," but He did not.
23:40-23:43
He could have said, "This is to be a house of teaching.
23:43-23:50
This is to be the place where people come and understand the Word of God." He could have said that, but he did not.
23:51-24:01
He could have said, "This is to be a house of music, a place where we lift our voices up in worship." And he didn't say that.
24:03-24:10
He said, "This place is to be a house of what?" Say it again, "This is to be a house of what?" Prayer.
24:11-24:12
Prayer.
24:12-24:17
The number one thing that this place is supposed to be about is prayer.
24:20-24:27
And you say, "Well, that's good for the temple, but you know, we live in the church age." But do you know the church is called the house of God?
24:28-24:31
Now, we know that God indwells believers, right?
24:32-24:35
Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
24:35-24:42
But you know, 1 Corinthians 3:9 talks about the church collectively as the house of God.
24:42-24:47
1 Peter 4:17 says that we are the household of God.
24:48-25:02
So if Paul and Peter both say that church, we are the household, we are the house of God assembled, what does Jesus teach us about what our priority should be?
25:05-25:05
I'm there.
25:07-25:17
As a pastor, I have the privilege of talking to people that visit our church for the first time, and I ask them, what was your experience?
25:17-25:20
And I love getting feedback - positive or negative - I love to hear the feedback.
25:22-25:24
And I hear great things.
25:24-25:27
Top of the list is I felt very loved and welcomed there.
25:28-25:29
So important.
25:30-25:34
I've heard people say, "Your church seems so compassionate." That's so important.
25:36-25:41
I was talking to someone last week who said your church just really seems like the Bible is the focal point.
25:42-25:45
And you're going after everything in such a biblical way.
25:45-25:46
And that is so important.
25:48-25:50
But what should be at the top of our list?
25:53-25:55
We should be a church that prays.
25:56-25:59
We should be a church that - that's it.
26:00-26:01
What do you want for this church more than anything?
26:02-26:10
My answer is I want us to be praise. Because no prayer, no fruit. Because Jesus said prayer is a priority.
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Verse 18 and 19, "The chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him. For they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching." This guy is overturning our business.
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We had this thing going here, and in their minds it was justified.
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We got this thing going here, everything was running smoothly.
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Notice it doesn't say, "We want Jesus run out of town." It doesn't say, "We want Jesus imprisoned." What does it say?
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"Destroy Him." At this point, their hatred for Jesus was at such a point that they wanted Him destroyed It's not enough to get rid of Him, we want to annihilate Him.
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Well go get Him.
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At this point, you see what it says, "They feared Him, the crowd was astonished at His teaching." They were between a rock and a hard place.
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We want to destroy this guy, but all these people are standing there with their jaws on the floor because of what He's saying and doing.
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The countdown has begun.
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The cross is coming.
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That's why Mark inserts that statement here to say it's coming.
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Their rage is boiling over at this point.
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Why do I pray?
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Because no prayer equals no fruit.
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Why do I pray?
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Because Jesus says it's a priority.
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Number three, how do I pray?
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How do I pray?
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We just watched a video about the four pillars of Harvest Bible Chapel and one of our pillars is believing firmly in the power of prayer.
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This is the one, this is the pillar that we always need to go back to and revisit and tighten up.
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And that's how it is as a church and that's how it is in our personal lives.
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So how do I pray?
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I'm going to go through these next five things very, very quickly.
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Why?
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Because this was all review.
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This is all review that we're seeing here.
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All this stuff that Jesus was teaching here, we've already seen it.
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It's already been covered.
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He's already taught it to his disciples.
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And this was Jesus' way of once again just reviewing the priority of prayer.
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So I'm going to go through these quickly.
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How do I pray?
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Letter A, remember God's history.
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Remember God's history.
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Verse 20 says, "And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree wither away to its roots.
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And Peter remembered and said to Him, 'Rabbi, look!
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The fig tree that you cursed has withered!'" First of all, remember God's history.
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That's how you should pray, knowing that you have seen God do some big things in the past.
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All through the Old Testament, all through the Old Testament, you see a phrase repeated over and over where God says, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt." Have you ever read that?
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Over, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt." "I am the Lord your God who brought..." Why does He keep saying that?
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Because He wants to remind them of their history.
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We have a history together, right?
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You've seen me move on your behalf, right?
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You've seen me mightily at work doing things that only I can do.
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You've seen that, right?
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We have this history together and you see my track record, right?
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That's why it's so important to remember God's history when you pray.
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Has God ever answered a prayer for you?
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How many people here this morning, show of hands, how many people can say, "I have seen God answer a prayer in my lifetime." That is a fig tree that you can point to.
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When you're facing the next thing that you're praying for, is God going to answer, is God going to be at work?
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You should be able to look back at that thing and say, "Look, God's worked before.
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I've seen God show up before.
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I'm going to trust Him to move again.
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Remember God's history.
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Secondly, recognize prayer is about God.
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This sounds so elementary, but so many people miss this.
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Prayer is about God.
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Look at verse 22.
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Jesus replying to Peter, it says, "And Jesus answered them, 'Have faith in God, not faith in yourself.
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The power isn't in you, and the power isn't in your faith.
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The power is where?
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The power is in God.
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And that's why prayer should be about God.
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So many times we go to prayer from a purely self-centered mentality, when prayer is about God.
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Jesus reminds us, have faith in God.
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Let her see. Raise your expectations.
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Raise your expectations.
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Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him." There's how you throw a mountain.
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We think that if we have a huge faith, we're going to see God do little things in our lives.
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Right?
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If I have a big faith, I'm going to see God do some little things in my life.
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That is completely opposite.
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Because the Bible says, if you have a little faith, even faith like a mustard seed, you're going to see God move mountains.
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Now some of you are going to get down to Mount Washington today after church and say, "I'm going to try that thing that Pastor Jeff was talking about.
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I'm going to throw this thing right in the Allegheny River." I don't think Jesus was talking about literal mountains.
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I think what Jesus was talking about is that thing that is a mountain to you.
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That thing that is a mountain to you.
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That health issue that you're going through that has been a mountain to you.
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That financial issue that you've been trying and trying and trying to dig yourself out of debt but you just seem to be digging yourself deeper into debt.
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That's a mountain to you.
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Maybe it's a relationship.
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Maybe you're in an abusive relationship that you're not sure where to turn or what to do and that is a mountain to you.
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That's what Jesus is talking about here.
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Church, you don't need to have a perfect faith.
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Because the truth is, none of us have a perfect faith.
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Right?
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None of us have a perfect faith, do we?
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Is there anybody here that's like, "My faith is perfect.
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My trust in God is A++, could not be better, never wavering." Anybody?
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You see, we all have an imperfect faith.
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The issue is, do you have faith at all?
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Again, Jesus said, "If you have faith like a mustard seed, it throws mountains." So we ask according to His might, how powerful and loving do you think God is?
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How powerful and loving do you think God is?
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That's going to directly affect how you pray.
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I would encourage you to raise your expectations.
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Raise your expectations.
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Letter D.
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Receive the answer by faith.
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Receive the answer by faith.
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Verse 24 says, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." Receive the answer by faith.
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When you pray, you should be moving as if God is moving, because He is moving.
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I'm stepping out, trusting that He's moving.
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We talked about this a couple of weeks ago, remember in the cafeteria, Jesus demonstrated in prayer, passionate, persistent, specific prayer.
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Remember that?
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Your prayer should be passionate, persistent, and specific.
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But what we also saw from Jesus is prayer should be according to God's will.
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It should be according to God's will because prayer is about God, not me.
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It's like, God, I want what you want Because you're infinitely wiser than me, so the things that you want must be infinitely greater than the things that I want.
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So God, even though I'm praying passionately, specifically, and persistently, even though I'm praying for that, ultimately God, I'm going to trust you to do the right thing because you're good and you're loving and you know what's best.
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so you should receive the answer.
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And finally, letter E, reconcile with people who need forgiveness.
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Whenever you stand praying, Jesus said, "Forgive." If you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
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It seems like Jesus was always attaching that part into prayer, wasn't he?
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Talking about prayer, he's talking about faith, he's talking about believing, he's talking about receiving, and then he's like, "By the way, you need to forgive people.
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You need to forgive people because forgiven people forgive." We saw in Matthew 6.14, Luke 6.37, Luke 11.4, Jesus was saying, "Oh, you want this thing.
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You want this thing, but you don't want this thing." Right?
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"I want everything to be great here, but I don't want everything to be great here.
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I'm more concerned about the vertical than I am the horizontal." Jesus said it doesn't work that way because loving God means you love people.
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If you say you love God, you hate your brother, the Bible says you're a liar.
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You don't love God whom you've not seen, and hate your brother whom you have.
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Don't be all about this without taking care of this.
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It was always attached, forgiving people.
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Forgiving people forgive.
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I'm going to give you an opportunity to throw a mountain.
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Some of our elders and folks from our prayer team are going to come forward.
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And we're going to be up front here.
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And as our worship team plays and sings our closing song, we're going to invite you.
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Is there somebody here that needs to come forward and say, look, I've got this mountain in my life that needs thrown.
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And I have been burdened by this, and it is crushing me, and I'm not sure what to do with it.
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I need to throw this mountain.
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We invite you to come.
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We invite you to come.
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We're going to cry out to the Lord and throw that mountain and pray with us.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 11:12-25
As a group, explain why Jesus cursed the fig tree.
What does it mean to pray "according to God's will". How does that empower your prayer? What is NOT "praying according to God's will"? (give an example)
Share ways you/we can all make prayer more of a priority in our own lives.
Is your church a "house of prayer"? How can you improve the prayer priority at your church?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another. Take turns seeing who can throw their mountain the furthest!
