Ora Oraciones Audaces | Experiencia de Oración Inmersiva

00:00:00

- Yeah. That's going to be great in a couple weeks.

00:00:02

Trust me. And I think today is going to be great too.

00:00:04

It's going to be a bit different.

00:00:06

We've been in the midst of a series looking on prayer.

00:00:09

And some of the teaching has been great, specifically,

00:00:13

the teaching that I've done has been great, great.

00:00:16

But we thought, you know, we're like three weeks

00:00:19

in this prayer series, the last one,

00:00:21

here's a wild idea, what if we actually pray.

00:00:28

Wow. What if instead of talking about prayer,

00:00:32

we actually pray?

00:00:33

So that's what we're going to do the rest of our time.

00:00:36

We have a bunch of things to do to stimulate us.

00:00:38

That's part of the reason why many of our prayer lives

00:00:41

is nonexistent or it's its very stale is because

00:00:44

we're not sure how to pray and we don't use

00:00:46

all the tools at our disposal.

00:00:47

So today we're going to use a multisensory approach,

00:00:50

which is really good to keep your focus when you pray.

00:00:53

So one of the things that we gave you

00:00:55

was one of these prayer books.

00:00:58

You can all take that out. We're going to use this today.

00:01:00

If you're with us online

00:01:02

or you're not in any of our rooms right now,

00:01:04

then just find any piece of paper around you at all

00:01:07

and you can use this.

00:01:09

We're going to go through a model for prayer

00:01:12

that I've used for a long time.

00:01:14

It's not the only model for prayer that I use,

00:01:16

but it's one that I use, I've used for a while

00:01:18

and it's been around for a while. I didn't invent this.

00:01:20

It's a four step process for knowing how to pray.

00:01:24

P-R-A-Y. P is for praise, R is for repent,

00:01:30

A is for ask, and Y is for yield,

00:01:35

hearing from God and doing what He says.

00:01:39

Now these four steps are pretty related to

00:01:44

one of the most iconic symbols for connecting with God

00:01:48

in the Bible, which was the Old Testament temple.

00:01:53

The Old Testament temple was a sign of

00:01:57

the character of God and a sign of the way

00:02:00

things operate in the heavenlies.

00:02:02

I'm going to go through the book of Hebrews today.

00:02:05

The book of Hebrews, as we pray through

00:02:07

these various portions, was created so that

00:02:11

the ancient Hebrew people could see how the practices

00:02:15

in the Old Testament are fulfilled in modern times.

00:02:19

That's the point of Hebrews was.

00:02:21

And it says this about the temple.

00:02:23

It says in Hebrews 8:5: They serve at a sanctuary

00:02:28

(that's the temple, they, the priests)

00:02:30

that is a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven.

00:02:34

So the temple, this ancient millennium,

00:02:38

millennia old structure that was destroyed

00:02:41

for the last time in 70 AD,

00:02:43

it serves to mirror things that are in heaven.

00:02:47

So let me walk you, just give you a basic overview

00:02:50

of where we're going to go. This is the temple.

00:02:52

What you would do is you would leave behind

00:02:56

all of your old world, and you would come up into the temple.

00:03:00

This is the outer court. These are the steps coming in.

00:03:03

Actually, now let's come back here.

00:03:05

Let's do this right.

00:03:07

You would leave behind your outer world,

00:03:10

and you would walk up the steps

00:03:13

and you would come into the outer court.

00:03:17

We're going to be at the steps in the outer court.

00:03:20

Then you would come in to where there was the sacrifices.

00:03:25

In this outer court there was praise.

00:03:27

You were saying, "I'm going to leave behind

00:03:29

what was behind me."

00:03:30

And then you would come up into here

00:03:32

where there were sacrifices, we'll talk about,

00:03:34

which is the part of repentance.

00:03:36

And then you would come into the more inner courts

00:03:39

and you would be asking, asking God,

00:03:42

asking Him for things.

00:03:43

And then you would come up to veil.

00:03:46

And this veil was separating where you were here

00:03:49

from where the high priest was.

00:03:51

And there was a level of mystery in here,

00:03:53

as the high priest was interceding for people

00:03:55

and trying to hear from God.

00:03:57

And this is where we yield, we yield.

00:04:00

We praise, we repent, we ask, and we yield.

00:04:06

We're going to do these four things today as a church.

00:04:11

And if you're not part of our church,

00:04:12

we're here today just as a group.

00:04:14

And these are things that you can do in the future.

00:04:18

Now let's start with our little prayer book here right now.

00:04:22

First thing I want to do and I want to pray is

00:04:24

I recognize I am, I'm distracted.

00:04:29

I'm thinking of things I've got to do.

00:04:31

Things pop into my brain.

00:04:33

And so what I want to do is I just want to

00:04:35

try to get out of my mind.

00:04:38

Get out of my mind the things that might distract me.

00:04:42

Like, oh, remember, call Jill.

00:04:43

Don't forget to pick up bread when I leave church.

00:04:45

You know, whatever it is.

00:04:47

So let's use your thing just to do a brain dump.

00:04:51

Whatever's on there, whatever you're thinking,

00:04:53

just put it down. Get it out so you can focus.

00:04:55

So, God, as we dump these things right now at Your feet,

00:05:01

as we dump them at Your feet, would You take these things

00:05:06

and just take care of them?

00:05:08

Just help us get this out, God.

00:05:10

Go ahead. Write it down. Get it out.

00:05:13

1 Peter 5:7 says: Cast all your anxieties on Him.

00:05:19

Cast these anxieties on Him because He cares for you.

00:06:05

Okay, now we're doing, God, and as I pray right now,

00:06:10

you're not going to tell maybe when I'm praying

00:06:12

and when I'm talking.

00:06:13

When I'm talking to God, when I'm communicating to God,

00:06:16

it's not a regimented. I'm conversing with Him.

00:06:20

So you might not be able to tell what it is,

00:06:22

but God is present and He is here.

00:06:24

And so God, right now, as we've written these things down,

00:06:27

will we try to do, God, we want to leave these things

00:06:29

behind for the rest for the next hour or so,

00:06:31

however much time we have left, we want to leave them behind.

00:06:35

Those are behind us with our normal life.

00:06:37

And so, God, we are now walking.

00:06:40

We are ascending the Holy hill.

00:06:43

We want to walk up the steps to have prayer with You.

00:06:50

God, I pray that You would open that gigantic door

00:06:53

to help us enter into Your presence.

00:07:02

God, we don't want the normal stuff right now.

00:07:06

We want You and we're intentionally turning our back

00:07:09

on everything that's on those sheets of paper

00:07:12

and everything else in our life

00:07:14

that we're not going to pray about right now.

00:07:17

We're here today, God, to say we want to be different.

00:07:20

And we recognize that You're different.

00:07:22

We're here to actually praise You.

00:07:26

Hebrews 13:15 says: Through Jesus, therefore,

00:07:29

let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise,

00:07:35

the fruit of lips that openly profess His Name.

00:07:40

And God, we start by giving You sacrifice of praise

00:07:45

and telling You thank You and that we are grateful,

00:07:49

and You're worthy.

00:07:54

Let's stand right now. Let's just stand

00:07:55

and tell Him that right now in prayer and through a song.

00:10:20

- If you could sing those words with a full heart

00:10:22

knowing that God's been with you every moment,

00:10:25

every step of the way, then put your body where your heart is.

00:10:29

Both hands in the air. Sing at the top of your lungs.

00:12:46

- God, I think about survival.

00:12:48

That song says I've survived.

00:12:50

So many of us, God, we could say, "Man,

00:12:52

I can't believe I'm here. I survived.

00:12:54

Survived spiritually, survived emotionally,

00:12:57

or survived physically. I should be dead.

00:13:02

I should be dead and I have You to praise that I'm not dead."

00:13:06

Those branches should have broken

00:13:08

when I was building tree forts 30 feet up in the air

00:13:10

as a little kid, on branches as thick as my dad's thumb.

00:13:13

Should have collapsed. I should be dead.

00:13:15

Should have been dead when I crawled

00:13:17

under a school bus that was idling when I got off

00:13:19

to get a can to crush, and that tire skimmed my hand

00:13:24

just as I left, should have been dead, but I survived.

00:13:26

Should have been dead when I went 70 miles an hour

00:13:28

on a rented motorcycle with no helmet

00:13:31

and flying 60 feet on pavement and air, but I'm here.

00:13:34

I should have could have been dead just

00:13:36

a couple of years ago in a stupid hunting accident

00:13:38

when a bullet hit a tree five feet above my head.

00:13:42

I am here, and I am here because of You, God.

00:13:45

I'm here because of You.

00:13:47

And I may be gone tomorrow. That's fine.

00:13:49

I have no sense of entitlement that I should have

00:13:53

a long life, I have no sense of entitlement

00:13:55

of exactly what should take place in my life.

00:13:57

I just know I'm here.

00:14:00

And I know I'm echoing prayers in here for others

00:14:02

to say I'm here because of You. We praise You, God.

00:14:06

You're higher than we are.

00:14:08

You're greater than we are.

00:14:09

You're of a different category than we are.

00:14:12

You are exalted. We are low.

00:14:14

You are holy. We are unholy.

00:14:16

You are pure. We are impure.

00:14:19

You are masterful and long term,

00:14:22

and we are stupid and short term relative to You.

00:14:25

You are loving and kind and we are mean and gossipers.

00:14:31

You think about things that we can't think about.

00:14:35

You empower people the way we can't empower them.

00:14:37

Because you own the cattle on a thousand hills.

00:14:40

You own all resources, all of them, because they are of You.

00:14:45

And You have a way of seeing things

00:14:47

and empowering people that none of us have.

00:14:50

Because You are God, the holy, most upright one.

00:14:54

And who are You to think of us?

00:14:58

I can't believe, God, You think of us in a way

00:15:01

that I wouldn't, I don't think of ants,

00:15:02

I don't think of them at all. They're way beneath me.

00:15:06

An ant is closer to me than I am You.

00:15:09

And yet You think of us.

00:15:13

Go ahead and have a seat.

00:15:14

Let's have some more prayer right now.

00:15:16

Here's how you're going to pray.

00:15:17

Open up your phone. Take your phone out.

00:15:21

Go to your photos, and your photos are going to serve

00:15:25

to remind you of ways that God has been good to you,

00:15:29

the things that you are grateful for,

00:15:34

things that you're thankful for.

00:15:35

Just open up those photos.

00:15:40

You know, I see, uh, gosh.

00:15:43

I see a 1952 Dodge Power wagon here that I'm restoring.

00:15:47

God, thanks for giving me the resources to buy

00:15:49

an old truck that I don't even need. Thank You.

00:15:52

I see elk. God, thank You.

00:15:54

You've enabled me take down two elk this year.

00:15:57

And now there's my great, great friends.

00:15:59

God, thank you for richly blessing me with *** log 512.

00:16:04

Thank You, thank You.

00:16:07

Always gets me, my three kids, seven grandkids

00:16:11

made me rich. So rich.

00:16:14

Go through your pictures.

00:16:15

Use them as a source of gratitude to God,

00:16:18

how He's blessed you and if you want to write it down,

00:16:20

that's great. If not, just just use it.

00:16:22

Thank you God, I praise You. Thank You for being good to me.

00:16:48

Murmur it to God. Think it to God. Write it down.

00:16:52

Just tell Him.

00:16:54

He never grows tired of His children complimenting him.

00:16:59

We don't do compliments in our culture

00:17:01

and therefore many of us don't compliment God.

00:17:03

Just give it to Him.

00:17:04

You want your kids to compliment you.

00:17:06

I'd like it too every once in a while.

00:17:09

Give it to your heavenly father.

00:17:19

Matthew 6:9, Jesus says: Pray then like this:

00:17:22

"Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your Name."

00:17:27

God, You are hallowed, which means holy.

00:17:29

You are distinct. You are different.

00:17:32

You're in a class all your own.

00:17:35

We would never -- We would never be as kind

00:17:37

or as good or as generous to lesser things

00:17:40

the way You are to us. Who are we?

00:17:43

Who are we that you think of us?

00:17:47

We want to be more like You.

00:17:50

And we praise You for who You are. It's astounding.

00:17:59

Now, as we talk with God and as we praise Him,

00:18:04

it's really hard, God, for us to look at You

00:18:08

without simultaneously seeing ourselves.

00:18:12

And when we're looking at You,

00:18:14

I feel that much worse about myself.

00:18:17

The less I believe about You,

00:18:21

the higher I'm going to think about myself.

00:18:24

Maybe the reason, God, were so -- we're so defiant

00:18:28

in our culture and we're so unapologetic is because

00:18:31

we just don't know You and we're just too high on ourselves.

00:18:35

But as I see You and Your standard, I come woefully short.

00:18:41

I am sickened, I'm sickened, actually,

00:18:45

by the things that I do, the things I am,

00:18:47

the thoughts that I have, the way I judge others,

00:18:51

hang ups that I have that I just I'm still hung up on.

00:18:59

I'm not going to confess all of those

00:19:01

in front of thousands of people,

00:19:02

but I have and I will privately,

00:19:05

and I will to my closest friends.

00:19:06

But God, I recognize these things are just heinous

00:19:09

and horrible and I want to repent.

00:19:12

I want to turn from the ways that I'm not like You,

00:19:16

turn the things that disgust You.

00:19:20

As they would come into the temple

00:19:23

and they would start their praise,

00:19:25

and then they would go in and they would have

00:19:27

the place where the sacrifice was.

00:19:30

The sacrifice was given as they would bring

00:19:32

a baby calf, say, or a lamb, or if you were in poverty

00:19:36

and you couldn't afford that to sacrifice,

00:19:38

you could bring a little a turtle dove

00:19:40

or a little dove, pigeon to bring.

00:19:43

And the priests who were men would sacrifice these.

00:19:46

One of the theories for why these priests were men

00:19:49

and why God didn't want women, just a theory,

00:19:51

is that this was a very physical job.

00:19:53

It's like manual labor back when, yeah,

00:19:58

it's manual labor, because all day long

00:19:59

these guys would be taking these lambs and these calves

00:20:03

and lifting them up and putting them down on an altar

00:20:07

all day long and required muscle mass that

00:20:10

the average woman didn't have to do that all day long.

00:20:16

When we think about sacrificial system,

00:20:19

we get kind of grossed out because many of us

00:20:21

have never seen blood unless we accidentally cut ourselves.

00:20:25

So the thought of bloody sacrifice freaks you and I out

00:20:30

because we've never seen an animal die, most of us, before.

00:20:34

We've never -- Most of us, even though we eat chicken,

00:20:36

we've never actually killed a chicken.

00:20:39

This is very rare.

00:20:40

It's only really within the last 60 years in America

00:20:42

that this has been affordable.

00:20:46

In the ancient world, the blood wouldn't freak them out

00:20:48

because they saw blood all the time.

00:20:50

What freaked them out was that they knew

00:20:53

the spiritual significance of what was taking place.

00:20:56

They would bring their animal to the priest.

00:20:58

The priest would put it on top of the altar,

00:21:01

and both of them would put their hands

00:21:03

on top of the animal, and the priest would take a knife

00:21:06

and slit the animal's throat.

00:21:10

And blood would go all over the place,

00:21:14

and there would be a bleeding and a death that was happening.

00:21:17

And this person who had their hands on the animal

00:21:21

wasn't freaked out by the blood.

00:21:23

They were freaked out at the spiritual weightiness of this

00:21:26

because they knew what was happening was this:

00:21:28

"God, who am I? I should be dead.

00:21:32

I should be, I should be the one.

00:21:34

Because something that's less than me

00:21:36

does something that dishonors me, I squash it.

00:21:38

Whether it's a bug or another person with my gossip

00:21:41

and God, who am I that You are passing over my stuff

00:21:46

and reminding me from the death that that should be me?"

00:21:51

When you and I come to God, when we come to place

00:21:54

of who You are, we come to a place of who we are,

00:21:57

and it's disgusting.

00:22:00

God, we're sorry for lowering Your standards

00:22:04

so that we can barely meet them.

00:22:08

God, we're sorry for being more interested

00:22:13

in unholiness than we are in holiness.

00:22:18

God, we're sorry for just not being willing

00:22:24

to have Your fire refine us,

00:22:28

to have You do something different in us.

00:22:32

Let's take our books out right now

00:22:35

and let's just write down the things you need to repent of.

00:22:43

The things you're going to confess before God,

00:22:45

He knows what these things are.

00:22:47

But you know when you say that to somebody you care about,

00:22:50

you go, "Thank you. That means a lot to me"

00:22:51

It would mean a lot to God for you to tell Him

00:22:54

what He already knows, and that is whatever. Write it down.

00:22:58

We're going to do something with that. Write it down.

00:23:01

And now, if you're afraid someone's going to look

00:23:03

over your shoulder or beside you, I understand

00:23:05

you don't want them to see that.

00:23:06

Just, you can use a code word if you want.

00:23:08

He knows what you're talking about.

00:23:10

Let's just list our sin that needs to be burned.

00:23:14

Let's say our sin that's separating us

00:23:16

from having a relationship with God we want.

00:23:18

Just write it down.

00:25:55

- There's an interesting transition

00:25:57

that takes place in the temple.

00:26:00

Again, that verse we read earlier says

00:26:02

the temple is a mirror of things that are in heaven.

00:26:05

It's setting the people of God up for understanding the future.

00:26:08

And if you've received Christ, you're a person of God.

00:26:11

You're a part of the people of God.

00:26:13

Hebrews 10:12 says this:

00:26:14

But when Christ had offered for all time

00:26:18

a single sacrifice for sins,

00:26:21

He sat down at the right hand of God.

00:26:26

The priests, as they were offering,

00:26:28

they kept offering and offering.

00:26:29

There was no end to offering.

00:26:31

Just bring more, bring more, bring more, bring more.

00:26:35

Jesus is the perfect lamb.

00:26:38

And when He goes to the cross, it's in essence the altar.

00:26:42

And it's a public spectacle where He spreads out His arms.

00:26:47

Instead of a knife to the throat,

00:26:50

nails go through the wrists.

00:26:54

And the right wrist, and a single nail through both feet.

00:27:06

It was a shameful act where He was cursed publicly.

00:27:10

And this happened because He was our representative,

00:27:14

as was the ancient offerings

00:27:17

were the people's representative.

00:27:19

The difference was it's a one time thing.

00:27:21

One time only. One time he did it.

00:27:24

And then He sat down because as a high priest,

00:27:26

He didn't have to keep offering sacrifices

00:27:28

because there's only one, and He gave it for you and for I,

00:27:32

for anybody who would receive Him.

00:27:34

Now I'm going to pray some prayers of repentance.

00:27:36

And I'll just say this, some of you

00:27:37

aren't going to like these prayers.

00:27:39

Some of you aren't going to agree with these prayers.

00:27:41

That's okay. You don't have to agree with them.

00:27:44

Say your own, but I'm going to represent us

00:27:46

and I'm going to say things and pray things

00:27:47

I want to with repentance, and then you can do the same,

00:27:52

or you can participate with me.

00:27:55

So God I am disgusted at my low standards.

00:28:01

I keep trying to dumb down my standards and 'm sorry.

00:28:06

I'm so sorry that I'm afraid to be like You.

00:28:09

And I'm looking for every reason to be

00:28:12

the person I want to be,

00:28:13

instead of be the person that You want me to be.

00:28:17

And God, I'm sorry.

00:28:19

We're sorry that our church is not better at this either.

00:28:24

We're sorry, God, that we in our church, we want to fit in.

00:28:29

We want to be one of the cool kids.

00:28:31

And we've got all the isms here in our church,

00:28:33

all of them, all the isms that some of us have repented of:

00:28:35

materialism, hedonism, racism, isolationism, judgmentalism.

00:28:44

God, we should be better. We should be better than we are.

00:28:48

God, we confess. We confess.

00:28:51

Man, those of us on the right are more into being in

00:28:54

the right than we are being into the Kingdom of God.

00:28:57

Those on the left are more into our ideology

00:29:00

than we are being in the Kingdom of God.

00:29:02

God, those of us on the right, we have our newsfeeds.

00:29:04

We have our things we believe.

00:29:06

And if we don't hear what we want to hear, we get upset.

00:29:09

Well, what about hearing from God?

00:29:10

Those on the left, we're on the left,

00:29:12

we're getting our own news feeds.

00:29:13

And if we don't hear what we want to hear,

00:29:15

oh, man, we are not happy about that at all.

00:29:18

God, we confess we are more into our politics

00:29:21

than we are the Kingdom of God.

00:29:22

We're sorry. It's disgusting.

00:29:24

We confess that we are broken about our brokenness,

00:29:28

and we're confess God that we're broken

00:29:30

about the state of our country. Horrible.

00:29:33

God, it's the basic incident, man, that

00:29:36

we can't even agree on because we're so divided

00:29:38

because it doesn't agree with our political view.

00:29:42

God, we confess our heart that we're not broken,

00:29:46

that a man could be shot in the back while he lies down

00:29:49

by somebody whose salary paid through our taxes.

00:29:53

God, I learned watching Lone Ranger

00:29:54

when I was a little kid, don't shoot somebody in the back.

00:29:57

That's if they're standing up.

00:29:58

Freaking lying down on the ground and getting shot

00:30:01

in the back with a phone in our hand.

00:30:03

And God, sorry, we're not disgusted by this.

00:30:06

We're more interested in defending our worldview

00:30:08

and political view and our immigration status or beliefs,

00:30:12

then just noticing it's a horrible betrayal.

00:30:16

And God, we confess that --

00:30:18

We confess that we don't react well

00:30:21

when something happens that we don't like,

00:30:23

whether it's a church staff member who gets fired,

00:30:25

if we like that staff member,

00:30:26

we're more into maybe that then we're into the truth

00:30:30

of the unholiness behind it.

00:30:32

God, we're asking we become a better and different church.

00:30:35

We're asking that we would all be raving lunatics of love

00:30:42

while at the same time being broken by our sin.

00:30:46

We know that we get that from You.

00:30:49

You've modeled that, You've loved us,

00:30:51

and You've been broken by our sin because You've been broken.

00:30:56

Mhm. Man, You're good.

00:31:00

Jesus sat down because all things we wrote, they're over.

00:31:04

So whatever your things were,

00:31:05

here's what we're going to do.

00:31:07

Just rip out that piece of paper,

00:31:08

or if you want to make another one,

00:31:10

just rip out that piece of paper.

00:31:13

Like these things, just crumple them up.

00:31:15

They're over, done. They're done. Means nothing to God.

00:31:18

You thought the people who were in the service

00:31:20

before you were really sloppy?

00:31:23

No, because what we're doing now is

00:31:25

we're going to throw them in the aisle,

00:31:27

and we're going to walk on them because they're nothing.

00:31:29

They're beneath us. Means nothing.

00:31:31

So just throw it in the aisle.

00:31:34

If you're in the middle and you can't reach it

00:31:36

and someone's sin hits you in the face,

00:31:37

just put it in the aisle for them, because it's nothing.

00:31:41

Get it away from you.

00:31:43

Here's the great news:

00:31:44

God doesn't identify you with your sin.

00:31:47

He identifies you with who Jesus is.

00:31:50

And we're going to walk all over it

00:31:51

as we walk out of here and around here today.

00:31:55

That's how good His. [applause]

00:32:02

That He has the standards that He has

00:32:05

and still is loving us and it's still sat down

00:32:08

and said, "Okay, I'm done with it." Stunning.

00:32:11

That's our God.

00:32:13

Why don't we want to talk with Him more often, I don't know.

00:32:18

Mhm. Now we've gotten our self, God, in a place to ask.

00:32:27

We've left the things behind us.

00:32:29

We've rightly put You in the place in our minds,

00:32:31

which is where You are hallowed and holy and powerful and pure.

00:32:35

We've done a little cleanse of our life

00:32:37

and we've said to you, God, here's the things

00:32:40

I think are standing away, standing in the way

00:32:42

of my relationship with You.

00:32:45

We've done those things, and now we're ready to ask.

00:32:51

Hebrews 4:16 says this:

00:32:54

Let us approach God's throne of grace with confidence,

00:32:59

so that we may receive mercy

00:33:02

and find grace to help us in our time of need.

00:33:07

So we go to God with confidence now, like,

00:33:11

I'm not like this meager little woe is me. I'm not worthy.

00:33:15

No, like, Jesus has died for me.

00:33:18

He's good with me and I go before Him in confidence.

00:33:23

I go deeper in prayer to where I actually ask.

00:33:27

There's a barrier between many of us and God,

00:33:30

or we perceive there this barrier. There is no barrier.

00:33:33

God can hear from you at any time, in any place,

00:33:36

any type of prayer that you want.

00:33:38

When Jesus dies on a cross, being the ultimate sacrifice

00:33:43

that sets us right before God,

00:33:45

there's a significant thing that happens the moment He dies.

00:33:50

It details it in the New Testament.

00:33:52

When He dies there is a curtain

00:33:55

that's 60 feet high, 30 feet wide,

00:33:58

and about the width of a hand thick.

00:34:00

A big, thick, massive thing that would separate

00:34:05

the normal people from the Holy of Holies,

00:34:08

where there was the Ark of the Covenant

00:34:11

that contained things like Moses's staff

00:34:14

and the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments.

00:34:16

And this was the place where the high holy priests would go.

00:34:20

And there was a mystery,

00:34:21

a mystery of what was going on there,

00:34:23

because there was this curtain that was separate.

00:34:25

No one could go in there.

00:34:26

And some of us that might have kept our prayer life back

00:34:30

because we feel like, I don't know what to say.

00:34:33

I don't know what goes on in there, I don't know.

00:34:36

Here's the thing, God breaks down that barrier

00:34:40

that's between us.

00:34:42

When Jesus dies, God reaches down

00:34:47

and He grabs the top of that curtain.

00:35:59

- He has power to heal, power to save,

00:36:02

and He has power to say yes to your requests.

00:36:06

Take out your prayer journal again if you'd like.

00:36:11

And now we're just going to ask.

00:36:13

We're going to ask God what you want Him to do for you.

00:36:20

Because you're more qualified to ask now than ever before.

00:36:25

Because you set your heart right before God exalting Him.

00:36:28

You've cleared out the garbage and junk

00:36:31

and the things you still want to happen right now,

00:36:34

you're probably more more likely to be praying

00:36:37

in alignment with the will of God,

00:36:39

which will cause Him to have more yeses

00:36:42

than had you not done what we just did.

00:36:45

Bible says you have not because you ask not.

00:36:49

It's a good news to know that there are things that

00:36:53

you could have and you don't have

00:36:55

just because you haven't asked.

00:36:59

So write them down right now.

00:37:01

What do you want? Write them down.

00:37:03

I'll pray and you can write.

00:37:13

God, I am praying for those of us

00:37:18

the ends never meet at the end of the month.

00:37:19

They never do. I don't know.

00:37:23

For some of us, there's an income problem?

00:37:25

Is it a wisdom problem? But I don't know.

00:37:27

But I'm praying that You would make a way,

00:37:30

that You would bring resources where there aren't resources,

00:37:35

You'd bring wisdom where there isn't wisdom.

00:37:37

Some of us, God, are unbelievably lonely.

00:37:40

We identify with the isolationism sin.

00:37:43

But it's not by our our own choosing.

00:37:45

We don't like it. We don't want to be isolated.

00:37:47

We're just -- We're not sure how to make a friend

00:37:49

or find a friend.

00:37:53

God, bring a friend. Bring one.

00:37:55

Some of us would like to be married.

00:37:57

We're frustrated we can't find the right person.

00:38:01

God, would you at least give us a date?

00:38:04

Give us a date?

00:38:07

Cause the wart to fall off the end of our nose

00:38:09

so we're attractive to that person. Yeah.

00:38:13

In case you're wondering, God finds me funny.

00:38:15

In case you wonder why. We're talking to God.

00:38:17

I ask that, um, I asked for --

00:38:19

I've talked with folks in here, man, they want a child

00:38:22

or they want another child, and things just aren't working.

00:38:25

I pray that the uterus, the wall lining

00:38:28

would hold what it needs to.

00:38:29

I pray that the sperm would be strong swimmers.

00:38:32

I pray that You would create life for a couple

00:38:36

that wants to honor You because You say

00:38:39

to be fruitful and multiply.

00:38:40

And for those couples that want that,

00:38:42

I ask that you would make that come to pass.

00:38:45

Just if you're here with someone you're married to

00:38:47

and that's you, you both identify with that,

00:38:49

put your hand on right now. Put your hand on.

00:38:54

Do your thing. Do your thing.

00:38:59

God, we pray for our church that in the midst

00:39:02

of all of our differences here, that we would be

00:39:04

a place where Republicans are happy to worship with Democrats

00:39:08

and lefties are happy to worship with righties.

00:39:11

That the world would look at us and go,

00:39:13

"How do those people have some different convictions

00:39:15

about immigration?

00:39:16

How do people have some different convictions

00:39:18

on the budget or whatever?

00:39:19

And yet they still are one,

00:39:21

yet they still love one another?"

00:39:23

Yeah, God, we want to be a peculiar people.

00:39:25

That's what You want. We want to be a different people.

00:39:28

We are different than the average person in our culture.

00:39:32

We choose to not be how --

00:39:34

God, we're asking that we're not defined by our politics,

00:39:37

but we're defined by our identity as a child of God,

00:39:40

that that will be our strong suit.

00:39:44

God, I pray for the medical diagnoses that are --

00:39:46

That seem to be that we've reached the end of the road

00:39:49

and there's no nothing else

00:39:50

other than You to be the Great Physician.

00:39:52

I thank you, God, that you have been doing

00:39:54

legitimate physical healings in our midst.

00:39:58

And we want more. We want more.

00:40:03

God, I pray for the --

00:40:09

We ask for help with the mental illness

00:40:11

that ravages our culture

00:40:13

and ravages many of us in our church.

00:40:16

If You bring healing to the physical eyes,

00:40:18

You can bring healing

00:40:19

to the synaptic connections in our brain.

00:40:23

We ask for, God.

00:40:42

Write down what you want. Write it if you have not,

00:40:44

maybe because you haven't asked.

00:43:36

- Hmm. Okay, now we're going to yield.

00:43:41

God's heard a lot from us, and now we're going to see

00:43:45

if we hear something from God.

00:43:48

When God tore this curtain

00:43:51

from the top all the way to the bottom,

00:43:56

it opened up the Holy of Holies, where there was mystery

00:44:00

of what the high priest was doing in there.

00:44:01

Because there was something, apparently,

00:44:03

that was special between the high priest and God.

00:44:07

And at that time in redemptive history

00:44:11

that was sealed and separated.

00:44:12

Well, now the curtain is torn.

00:44:13

God was saying, "No, it's not.

00:44:15

Anybody can talk to Me any time.

00:44:17

Anybody can hear from Me at any time."

00:44:20

How do we hear from God?

00:44:21

Well, we maybe have a thought that crosses our mind,

00:44:24

"Where did that come from?

00:44:25

Because that's not something I would normally think of."

00:44:27

And Jesus probably likes that thought,

00:44:29

well, just assume that was God.

00:44:32

Maybe it is a literal thing that you hear.

00:44:35

Maybe it's a just a strong urge that's unusual.

00:44:39

We have to learn and can learn to discern

00:44:41

what is just our own emotions and our own enzymes

00:44:45

and what's actually the Spirit of God.

00:44:48

Hebrews 7:25, talking about how the temple

00:44:51

can relate today, says: Therefore He is able to save

00:44:55

completely those who come to God through Him,

00:44:57

because He always lives to intercede for them.

00:45:01

Meaning, as Jesus sat down with God,

00:45:04

He's talking about you to Him.

00:45:06

"Hey, you know, John, I gotta tell you,

00:45:09

God, take care of John. I'm telling You he's with me.

00:45:11

I know he's got -- Take care of him.

00:45:13

Hey hey hey hey, Jill. Have Jill do xyz."

00:45:17

He's -- You're being prayed for by Jesus.

00:45:19

That's how vast His mind is.

00:45:22

And so when I yield, when we yield,

00:45:24

we're just being silent before God.

00:45:27

It's like we're asking God to let us overhear Him,

00:45:31

overhear what He's praying for,

00:45:33

and see if He says anything.

00:45:35

Jesus says this is an act of the Holy Spirit.

00:45:38

And He likens the Holy Spirit to wind

00:45:41

that's very unpredictable.

00:45:43

So let's spend a moment just being silent

00:45:47

and see if God actually says something to you,

00:45:50

if the Spirit of God moves in your life.

00:45:53

Spirit, come, speak as we want to yield.

00:46:41

Now something's coming to you that like you say,

00:46:43

"Hmm, that's interesting I thought of that."

00:46:45

I don't think God at least would oppose that.

00:46:48

Well, then just assume that God spoke to you,

00:46:50

and now you get to yield to it.

00:46:53

Actually, make a note of it. Write it down like, Hmm.

00:46:56

So therefore, as you yield, you're saying,

00:46:58

"God, I'm not just going to be a person of conversation,

00:47:01

I'm going to be a person of action.

00:47:02

I'm going to leave here, and I'm going to do this thing,

00:47:06

going to forgive that person,

00:47:08

going to pray for my enemy,

00:47:11

going to bless that person some way, shape or form.

00:47:15

Going to start this thing, going to stop that."

00:47:17

Whatever it is, just go ahead and go ahead

00:47:19

and write that down.

00:47:27

We have in front of the stages and all of our sites

00:47:33

mock wailing walls,

00:47:35

a cheap representation of the Wailing Wall,

00:47:38

which if you've ever been to Jerusalem,

00:47:40

which I've been many times.

00:47:41

You can go, and the temple was obliterated.

00:47:44

Temple hasn't been around since 70 AD.

00:47:46

The temple has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times.

00:47:49

The last time it was around and destroyed was about 70 AD.

00:47:52

Right now the mosque stands there, is there right now.

00:47:56

The dome of the Rock is there.

00:47:58

But what you can do is you can see the stones

00:48:01

that were the former retaining walls

00:48:05

for the foundation of the temple.

00:48:08

Those retaining wall stones are still there today.

00:48:12

Actually, as I speak right now, there are Jews

00:48:16

who are taking prayers and they are sticking them

00:48:19

in the corner of the Wailing Wall, in the slices,

00:48:23

in the rocks, or visitors who are Christians

00:48:26

who are there right now as well,

00:48:28

sticking prayers into those rocks.

00:48:31

Now they do that because it's a good thing for them to do.

00:48:35

They want to enjoy doing that. It's a meaningful thing.

00:48:38

But it goes in rocks and it stays there.

00:48:41

At all of our sites, we have many wailing walls

00:48:45

where we're going to be able to bring

00:48:46

and put our prayers into the retaining walls of the temple.

00:48:51

And unlike the Wailing Wall, if you want,

00:48:54

this week we have a growing list of people

00:48:56

who are on our prayer team.

00:48:58

All of those things are going to be prayed for

00:49:01

by a person who is a prayer guru and loves to pray.

00:49:05

All of them at at all of our sites.

00:49:08

So you could take the page out of here t

00:49:11

hat was all of your asks.

00:49:12

You could just write one more thing on here if you want.

00:49:15

You can do nothing, whatever you want.

00:49:18

But we're going to connect with God.

00:49:19

We're going to do a song, and you're going to be able

00:49:21

to come forward as a as a sacred moment that says,

00:49:24

"God, I need your power.

00:49:27

Power beyond what I understand.

00:49:30

And I need prayer, and I want You to do something."

00:49:33

So, God, we choose to trust in You right now.

00:49:37

We're going to write these things down,

00:49:39

and we want to trust that You're going to do

00:49:41

something that we can't do, and we're going to ask

00:49:44

that You say yes as we declare,

00:49:46

whether you say yes or no, I choose to trust in You.

00:49:54

- We have a father who loves us.

00:49:58

He's not bummed out when we say,

00:50:00

"God, I need You to show up.

00:50:01

God, I need You to bring healing.

00:50:02

God, I need You to bring comfort.

00:50:04

God, I need You to bring whatever."

00:50:06

God loves it when we approach Him

00:50:08

with boldness and confidence.

00:50:11

God loves it, the articulation of trust that it is,

00:50:14

and love for Him that it is.

00:50:15

I want you to say, "God, we need you."

00:50:17

I don't know what your prayer is.

00:50:20

I don't know what the thing is that you're asking God for,

00:50:23

but I know that God cares about it.

00:50:25

And I know that God wants to see you,

00:50:27

not just think about a thing, or even pray about a thing,

00:50:30

but take a step in faith towards Him.

00:50:34

So while people at sites are going to be

00:50:36

putting their prayers, folding them up

00:50:38

and setting them in the little cracks of

00:50:39

our mock wailing walls here, there's nothing magical

00:50:42

about these fake walls at our site,

00:50:44

or even about the real Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

00:50:47

There's nothing magical about it,

00:50:49

but there's something special about taking

00:50:52

a step towards God, about doing that tangibly.

00:50:55

So we're going to do that even online right now.

00:50:57

This is a chance for you to participate

00:50:59

wherever you are in the world, whenever you're watching this.

00:51:02

We have a tool called Tagboard.

00:51:04

There's a QR code that will be up on the screen.

00:51:06

You just need to scan that.

00:51:08

And once you go there, it'll just have you,

00:51:09

give you an opportunity, totally anonymously

00:51:12

to submit your prayer request.

00:51:13

And myself and the prayer teams will be praying for you

00:51:16

and for your prayer request specifically.

00:51:20

Again, this is a moment for you online, wherever you are,

00:51:24

to say, "God, I need You to show up and I yield this.

00:51:27

I hand it over to You," by texting it in to us right now.

00:51:32

So make this an expression of your trust in God

00:51:36

that He wants to answer your prayers.

00:54:27

- We'll keep receiving your prayers.

00:54:28

I'll just close with this: Hebrews 13:20-21:

00:54:32

Now may the God of peace, that's who He is,

00:54:35

the God of peace, equip you with everything to do His will.

00:54:42

God, thank You for the pleasure of talking with You.

00:54:45

We want to do Your will and we're asking You

00:54:48

to say yes to these prayers, bless these people. Amen.

Recent Series