Pray For One Another

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected], dot. We would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:25] Speaker B: Well, good morning, everyone. You know, some 60 times in the New Testament, you read these words one another, and then it's always associated with how we are to relate to one another, care one another's burdens. The Bible says that we are to exhort one another. The Bible says that we are to forgive one another. And this morning we're going to talk about another powerful idea that's connected with being involved in relationships with one another. And that's the idea of praying for one another. And what's the obvious about that connection that we have with one another is the fact God has created us to be relational. He didn't create people to isolate or insulate. Psychologists say that probably one of the worst things you can do to yourself is to insulate yourself from other people or isolate yourselves from other people for a period of time. Now, I've told you before that when you go through a hard experience, a devastating experience, a soul crushing experience, that is the natural tendency, at least for a period of time, is to isolate, is to insulate, is to protect yourself. And I get that. I told you a few weeks ago, it's okay to go there. It's not okay to stay there. We have intensive care units and hospitals for a reason. And they're not designed to be residential places. They're designed to help people get out so they can get healthy again, so they can get on their feet again. It is considered to be a place where people can heal. And for a period of time, you and I need places to heal. Sometimes people just walk through the doors of our church and they sit in a congregation like this, and they're going through a soul crushing, very difficult experience. And they really don't need to serve. They really don't need to do anything but to sit and allow the spirit of God with the word of God and the power of God to heal their heart over time. And that takes time. And so I understand the tendency that we have to isolate and insulate for a period of time. And as I said, you can go there, but just don't stay there. Eventually, you need to come out of that experience because romans 14 seven says, none of us live to ourselves alone. None of us die to ourselves alone. We need each other. And one of the greatest things you and I could do for one another is to pray for one another. We all need prayer. We all need someone to pray for us. And there is great power in this idea of prayer when you look at it. In biblical history, the idea of prayer actually stagnated. In the first century. People got to where they didn't pray. Even at the time of Christ, when he walked the earth, prayer had stagnated. People thought prayer was something that only the paid professional could do. It had to be the work of the priest or the work of the rabbi. They're the only ones really qualified to pray. And the priest and the rabbi really didn't help people with that thinking because they made prayer out to be a very difficult thing. So the average person, out of frustration, just stopped praying. And when Jesus came on the scene, he kind of changed that model. And Jesus said, your heavenly father is approachable. In fact, you ought to go with him. Go to him rather with familiarity. Jesus said, when you pray to God, call him father, call him dad, call him Daddy. You just go to him with that sense of familiarity. Now, Cindy and I raised two kids, and I can tell you our children never had a problem coming to us and asking us for anything. They were never intimidated by that. They never had to approach us with a sense of dread and fear and awe, wondering if we would go Old Testament on them at some point. My kids never came to me and said, oh, great, gracious, holy and wonderful father, who inhabits the cab of thy truck, wilt thou bestow upon this thy child the benefits that I so desire? I don't know why I'm praying in king's English, but anyway, King James only right. And so the idea there was that there was a familiarity that we have with our children, and Jesus was trying to bring that down to say, that's the familiarity his kids ought to have with him. You have something asking, James said, you have not because you ask not. And Jesus said, just approach me and just come to me and approach me as your heavenly Father. But prayers became very formalistic. People assumed that the prayer had to have a certain form that if you didn't follow the form, that God would not hear you when you pray. Not only formalism hampered prayer in the first century, but ritualism hampered prayer. They became very ritualistic. There were only certain times of the day that you could pray like God keeps office hours. You know, in other words. You got to approach him with a certain form. Your prayer has to have a certain form, and your prayer has to be at a certain time of day. So there was ritualism and there was formalism, and so prayer stagnated because people felt that it was something that they just couldn't do. Prayers were long, prayers were repetitious. There was one prayer that the rabbis prayed that had 63 adjectives in front of the name of God. Can you imagine? And not only did you have to have the adjectives correct, you had to have them in the right order. There was prayers for a new moon, there was prayers for a new job. There was prayers for the prospect of a child. There was prayers for the child arrived. There was prayers for everything. And if you didn't pray the right prayer at the right season, God's going to say, talk to the hand. I'm not listening to you. You did it wrong. And so people got frustrated and people failed to pray, and they missed out on some of the greatest blessings that are associated with prayer. So Jesus again comes on the scene, Matthew six. He breaks it down very simply. He says, just avoid three simple things when you pray. Avoid these things. Number one, hypocrisy. [00:06:13] Speaker C: Hypocrisy. [00:06:14] Speaker B: Avoid hypocrisy. Don't be as the hypocrites do, he said in Matthew six. In other words, keep it real. I mean, I've had people before who say, I'm too angry to pray. And I tell them, we'll pray an angry prayer. Pray an angry prayer. You say, well, I'm too hurt to pray. Pray a hurt prayer. You say, well, I couldn't pray an angry prayer. I mean, as though God doesn't know you're angry, he doesn't know you're hurt. I mean, believe me, God can take it, he can handle it. And I think wherever you are and whatever you're going through, be real. Don't be hypocritical about it. Just go to him and be exactly who you are and share exactly what you're feeling. And Jesus says, just don't come at me with a sense of hypocrisy, feeling like I don't know the circumstances and I don't know your heart, because I do. So he said, avoid hypocrisy. The second thing he said to avoid is repetition. Avoid repetition. Don't say the same prayer the same way every day. Keep it freshen. I mean, if you walked in and you saw your wife, you saw your husband or you saw your significant other, and you said, the same thing to them every day the same way. After a while, that would get a little worn and, you know, I'd wear thin. They'd say, really? Hi, honey. How was your day? And that's about all you ever say. And Jesus said, yo, when you come at me, don't be hypocritical. When you keep it fresh, I want to know what you're feeling in the moment and make that fresh. So avoid hypocrisy. Avoid a vain, empty repetition. And then he said, the third thing to avoid is pride. Avoid pride. You remember in Luke 18 when you have these two men who go into the temple, and one of them was a publican, and he was so proud of himself that the Bible said he prayed within himself, which tells you everything about his prayer. He prayed within himself and he said, he smote himself on the breast. And he said, I want to thank God that I'm not as these other people are. [00:08:05] Speaker C: Now. [00:08:05] Speaker B: Can you imagine that? Somebody standing up here saying, I want to thank God that I'm not like any of these guys. I'm glad I'm not like any of these people in the room? No way. I'm far above and all beyond all of that. And he went on, the Bible says, and he just prayed within himself. But in contrast to that, he said, here was this very humble man who would not even, the Bible says, as much as lift his eyes toward the ceiling of that edifice. Instead, he just humbly said, lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner. You say, God, I failed you. I've messed up. I've tried to do right. I've gone wrong. It just seems like my life is falling up, but, God, just have mercy on me. And you know, which of the two prayers the Bible said God heard? It's not that he didn't hear the other prayer, but what's implied in that is which prayer he responded to. It was the prayer of the humble man, the prayer of the honest man, the prayer of the man who admitted that he had issues in his life, and he just wanted to be open and honest and not hypocritical or proud about it. He just said, God, I cannot do this without, without you. I need you. And, folks, when we can get that real and we can get that genuine before God, that's the kind of prayer I submit to you this morning. God hears. He responds to, God will answer. Think about all the things the apostles saw jesus do. I mean, they saw him speak before thousands of people and hold their attention. In fact, he held their attention. Remember the story of the feeding of the 5000, which was more like 5000 families, is kind of how they counted them. So really the feeding of the 5000 was more like the feeding of the 20,000. And so here Jesus was, and the Bible said he had spoken, he had preached a long time. In fact, it was past the lunch hour. Cowboys had already kicked off all that was going on. And what was crazy about that, just make sure you listen. And what was crazy about that is he didn't lose anybody. He didn't lose anybody. Now I told you, my goal as a speaker is to try to finish before you do. That's kind of my goal. But Jesus, he was so good at communicating that even after he had spoken a long time and gone well into the dinner hour, he didn't even realize, these people are hungry. Brother's got to eat. And it was his apostles that said, cut it out. You know, can you cut this thing to the chase? We got to feed. These people are hungry. My point is they saw him speak with that power. And don't you know, as speakers themselves they must have said, give us some technique. How do you do that? What's your style? How do you connect with people and how can you hold their attention for that length of time? But that's not what the apostles said. They wanted him to teach them how to do. Nowhere in the New Testament do the apostles say, teach us how to communicate. Jesus had done miracles. I mean, he healed people who were blind, he healed people who were deaf. He had raised the dead. Pretty amazing things. And yet not one time does his apostles say, lord, teach us how to do miracles. Not one time. He knew how to, he knew how to put things back together. He could take fractured families and he could make them whole again. He was great at counseling. He was great at helping people in crisis. And not one time did they say, lord, teach us how to be more effective at counseling people. But when you get to Luke 18 one, you know what the one thing they saw jesus do that they knew they needed help learning how to do, they said, this, Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us to pray. Because everything he did, the power that he possessed, was all tied to his prayer habits. And they realized, man, if I can get this praying thing down, all of the other problems in my life will work themselves out. I need to understand, I need to see the value. I need to understand and comprehend the power of prayer. Now, I'll tell you this morning, prayer is not making God aware. Some people have that idea. Matthew six eight. The Bible says he has knowledge of our needs before we ask. So prayer isn't catching him up to speed. So when you pray, don't spend a lot of time in your prayer saying, okay, God, last time you and I talked, a lot's happened then, since then. So let me start back here with my last memory of prayer and I'll catch you up. No, you can start in the present and know he knows all about the past, by the way. He's been with you every step of the way. We just sang about it. God is with us. We may not have acknowledged him, but he's been there and he knows that. So you can start with where you are, because he already knows that. And so prayer is not making God aware, by the way. Prayer is not talking God into something. Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It's laying hold of his willingness. You're not overcoming. You're not saying, oh, God, please, please, I know you don't want to bless me. In fact, Jesus even used the illustration. He said, which among you who has a son or a daughter that's hungry and they ask for fish, would you give him a snake? Now, there's humor in the Bible. Jesus was, I think, a very humorous person. And that's a funny illustration. He said, if they ask of bread, would you give him a stone? That's funny. Your kid comes and says, I want a biscuit. And you say, suck on this rock. Funny, right? Jesus was funny. And the point he was making when he gave that illustration, he said, if you who are sinful people know how to give good things to your kids, how much more does your heavenly father want to bless you? So he's saying, I want to bless my kids, too. You don't love your kids any more than I love you. You're my kid. And so it's not overcoming his reluctance as much as it's laying hold of God's willingness. Prayer is God's way of blessing us. James, chapter four, verse two, by the way, according to Philippians four six, prayer is a cure for worry. Are you a worrier? Some of you worry if you don't have anything to worry about. I'm not worried. [00:14:07] Speaker C: I'm worried about that, right? [00:14:09] Speaker B: I mean, but prayer, you say I can't overcome worry. Well, here's what you, here's practice what Paul said to do every time you worry. Pray. Connect prayer with the thing you worry about. Some of you will be incredible. [00:14:20] Speaker C: Prayers. [00:14:21] Speaker B: Prayers. You'll pray all the time. You like to worry all the time. Just connect every time. You can't find yourself worrying. Pray instead of worry because you can't worry and pray about the same thing the same time. So prayer is a cure for anxiety. It's a cure for worry. Let me give you this prayer. Listen to this. Prayer is not only receiving what God gives when he says yes, prayer is accepting what God doesn't give you when he says no. Wow. Yeah. It's easy when I pray to receive what God says when he says yes. Have you ever prayed and God said yes? Things just worked out. You go, prayer works. Put it out. Post that on facebook. Prayer works, man. It worked cause it came. But what do you do? What do you do when God says no? Thank you, Lord. You didn't do what I asked you to do the way you thought. I thought you would do it. So thank you. [00:15:15] Speaker C: Right? [00:15:17] Speaker B: And yet part of prayer is understanding. God only wants for you, as we've said, what you would want for you if you just know everything he knows. We don't know everything he knows. Second Corinthians twelve. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. We don't know what it was. Some kind of a physical ailment perhaps, that he prayed, the Bible says at least three times, and we know if you study it very intently, very intense prayers for God to deliver him of that thorn in the flesh, for God to heal his body. And the Bible says, God said no. He said, my grace is sufficient for you. Is your prayer life strong enough and is your faith strong enough not to just receive what he gives when he says yes, but to accept what he withholds when he says no? I've said this before and I think God really underscored it with me when Cindy went to heaven, that the greatest test of one's faith is not, do you have enough faith to be healed? Here's the test. Do you have enough faith not to be healed? What if God says now, I mean, I believe God can do anything. I've seen him do a lot of things. I don't think there's anything beyond the reach of God. I don't think there's anything that he cannot do. But when we pray, we understand. We pray according to his will. Let your will remember, in the model prayer, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Sometimes when we pray, we restrict our prayer and we pray like this. My will be done in heaven. And that's not how he said to pray. Now that doesn't mean we don't pray for healing. Of course we did. That doesn't mean we don't pray for the outcome that we desire. Of course we do. I'm just saying, in your prayer life and with your faith as a foundation, make sure you've made enough space for God to work. If he chooses not to do the thing we've asked him to do in the way we've asked him to do it, just carve out a little space for that. It's the faith of those hebrew teenagers in Daniel three. When Nebuchadnezzar said, recount your faith and bow before me when the music sounds. And what they said to the king is, we won't bow. We won't bend, we won't recant our faith. They said, listen, our God is able to deliver us from the fire. But read Daniel 317. Our God can deliver us from this fire. But here's the and they said this, but if he doesn't. What if he doesn't? They said, well, even if he doesn't, we're still not going to recount our faith. We're still not going to quit. We're still not going to resign. I mean, even if he doesn't do what I thought he should do when I thought he should do it, I still will follow him. It's the faith of job. When Job said, though he slay me. [00:18:00] Speaker C: Yet will I trust him? [00:18:02] Speaker B: So I'm saying, guys, when we pray, understand all of these aspects of prayer and all the things that go into praying, but we pray according to the will of God, knowing God desires to do good things for his kids, but trusting him in that process. Now, I'll tell you when I've studied this, there are things that will hinder our prayer life. One of the things is selfishness, self centeredness. James four, three. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives. Sometimes when we pray selfishly or with only our self interest at part that hinders our prayer being answered, sometimes it's not selflessness. Sometimes it's just sinfulness. You remember you're connected to God two ways. You're connected to God through a relationship to him. He's your father, you're his daughter, or you're his son. [00:18:50] Speaker C: That's relationship that can't be broken. [00:18:53] Speaker B: What can be broken is fellowship. You can be in a relationship with someone and be out of fellowship with someone. [00:18:59] Speaker C: If you're married, you understand that. [00:19:03] Speaker B: If you have kids, you understand that. Love this guy, just don't like him right now. Love my children. Don't like them right now. Somebody asked that lady one time when their kids became teenagers, if you could do it all again. Would you still have kids? She said, yeah, I just wouldn't have the same ones. We've all been there. I'm just saying. The point is, you can lose fellowship with God without losing relationship to God. You're always his childhood. I mean, when he seals you with the holy spirit. According to Ephesians one, you're sealed into the day of redemption. You're as good for heaven as though you're already there. So what is broken is not your relationship. It's what David prayed for in psalm 51. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. He didn't say, restore my salvation. He hadn't lost that. He had lost fellowship, which meant he lost his joy. [00:19:53] Speaker C: That's what he was missing. [00:19:55] Speaker B: So I'm saying one of the things that sinfulness will do, it will separate us from God. In fact, Isaiah made it very clear. In Isaiah 58, he said, your sins have separated you from God. And listen to this so that he will not hear you. They didn't say cannot. He said, he will not. He's just saying, you got to fix this relationship. Rather, you got to fix this fellowship. If you want things from me, me and you got to be on good terms. So you have to go back and say, God, I'm sorry, John one nine. One John one nine. If I confess my sin, he's faithful. And just to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me of all unrighteousness, that means I go back. What is confession? Confession, by definition, is agreement. All you do when you confess is say, God, you were right, I was wrong. We weren't seeing eye to eye, but we are now. I see it your way. I confess. And God says, when you do that, I forgive you. I put those sins against the cross, never to be remembered against you again. And our fellowship is now restored. What do you need now, kid? And I'll do it. [00:20:55] Speaker C: If it'll help you and it'll glorify. [00:20:57] Speaker B: Me, I'll absolutely answer your prayer. So, selfishness, sinfulness, another thing that will hinder your prayers. Faithlessness. Faithlessness. In fact, in Matthew, chapter 1358, the Bible said he didn't do many mighty works among them because of their unbelief. They didn't believe he would, so he didn't. So when I pray, I pray believing that God is going to answer according to his will in his time. That's why it takes the anxiety off of me, because I know he's got a plan. He's working it out. He has a purpose. He has provision. It's going to come in his time. I can take that stress off of me and not carry it by giving it to him. Cast all your cares upon me, he said, for I care for you first. Peter five seven. So when I pray, I'm just taking that pressure off of me, putting it on him. It brings great joy to my life because I can trust him and know in time he's going to answer according to his will. And I pray in faith, believing. But sometimes when I don't have that faith, he doesn't move because I didn't think he would to begin with. It's like that old story, that rural farming community had gone through a drought, and they called everybody to prayer at the little country church. And the pastor looked out among all the farmers that had gathered out on the vaughn of the little church for prayer, and he said, guys, I don't think God's going to hear us. He said, we're here to pray for prayer, and I don't see an umbrella in the group. And his point was, we were praying, but we're praying, not really expecting rain. We're praying thinking God's probably not going to do it. And faithlessness will affect our prayer life. And the fourth thing is being unforgiving when I carry unforgiveness in my heart toward other people. Mark 1125. When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your father in heaven may forgive you. He said, in other words, keep short accounts. Keep short accounts. In other words, don't hold and harbor unforgiveness in your heart. And we talked about a few weeks ago forgiving one another. So one of the values of prayer, there was a study at the University of Michigan, and it wasn't on capturing signs of the other team. It was a different study. But there was a study at the University of Michigan, and it was testing the impact of praying for others compared to those who don't pray for others. And here's what the study found. This is just a secular study on the power of prayer. When you pray for other people as compared to those who don't pray for other people, first thing they said, praying for others led those to report less anger toward others than those who didn't pray. Another finding praying for others who had angered them made them less aggressive toward that person than those who didn't pray. Another finding, praying for others who made them less. Wait a minute. Praying for others made them less judgmental and more willing to help than those who didn't pray. So the benefit of prayer is incredible. Even secular studies have shown the power and the great benefit of prayer. That's why when James talks about this, James says, is there any among you in trouble? [00:23:55] Speaker C: Let them pray. [00:23:57] Speaker B: Reminds me of the story of the knock at the door at three in the morning. Knock at the door. And the wife wakes her husband and says, somebody's at the door. And so the husband goes to see what it is, and he comes back to bed frustrated. He goes, oh, it's some drunk guy at the front door needing to push. And she said to him, well, honey, you remember the time our car broke down and we needed help? She shamed him. She said, you get back out there and you help that poor man that's pouring down rain. You help that man. He just needs a push. So he goes out there looking for this drunk guy, yells out the front yard, hey, buddy, where are you? I'm here to give you a push. He said, I'm over here on the swing. I don't know, I thought that was funny, I tell you. The point is, he says, as any there among you need help, are you in trouble? Let them pray now. Let me. It's kind of a slow roll, isn't it? You'll be in the car on the way home and go, oh, yeah, that was funny. Oh, anyway, James, chapter five, look at this with me and we'll go real quick. Now, James, chapter five, he says in verse 16, confess your trespasses to one another. Pray for one another that you may be healed. Now, I believe in healing. [00:25:06] Speaker C: Let me say that first and foremost. [00:25:07] Speaker B: I don't want to chase this rabbit too far, but let me explain it, because I have firsthand experience with this, with a wife and a granddaughter who are in heaven. And I can tell you that I believe with all my heart that God does heal. There is sickness that is associated sometimes with original sin. I think that's the origin of all sickness, original sin. We're in a fallen world. People get sick. Even the faith healer, they won't tell you this, but they get sick too. So all sickness is a result of original sin. Some sickness is a result of particular sin. You violate your body in a certain way, you may affect yourself eventually in a certain way. So there's some sickness we can bring on ourself. And some sickness is just so that God might be glorified. John nine, where the man born blind, the question was, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? And Jesus said, neither. It's not about sin, but it was about that the works of God might be made manifest through the affliction of this man's life. So I do believe in healing. I do believe we pray for healing. And that's what he's getting at here. He's saying, look, you pray for one another that you might be healed. And by the way, healing is more than healing of the body. Sometimes it's healing of a marriage. Sometimes it's an emotional brokenness that needs to be healed. Sometimes it's a relationship somewhere that needs to be healed. Sometimes, you know, healing can be a lot of different things, but it's applicable to all of those things. So he said then the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much. And he gives the illustration. Elijah, the Old Testament prophet, was a man with a nature like ours. He prayed earnestly. That wouldn't rain. It didn't rain in the land for three years and six months. He prayed again. And the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit. [00:26:47] Speaker C: Let me give you three thoughts. [00:26:49] Speaker B: The first thought that he's talking about when it comes to prayer and praying for others is there is first a confession that precedes it. I said a moment ago, it is important that our fellowship with God be as it should be. He said, verse 16, confess your sins to one another. Now, what does that mean? That means, first of all, private sin that we commit against another person should be confessed privately to that person. If I wrong you or you wrong me, I'm obligated to you, as you are to me, to come and say, man, I'm sorry I hurt you. I said this, I shouldn't have. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me? And we are obligated as Christ followers to forgive one another. Another topic we talked about. So private sin should be confessed privately to the person that we've offended. Then he talks about also in scripture the principle of not just private sin, but he talked also about personal sin. That's where I have sinned. I'm sorry. Private sin is a sin to my heart that I've committed against God, that I confess to him. Personal sin. I'm trying to hurry, guys. I'm looking at the clock, so forgive me. Private sin are the sins that we have committed in our own heart against God. And those are confessed to him and him alone. In other words, when I mess up privately between me and God, I don't have to come and confess to anybody else. That's just between me and God. So that makes sense. Private sin, personal sin, that's when I've wronged you or you've wronged me. Now we're on track then. Public sin is when someone sins against the great body, and then that person is obligated to go before the great body and confess the sin for forgiveness. So there is private, personal and public sins. But the point is to confess sin. And that's the precursor of having our prayers answered. Our hearts must be clean, our hearts must be pure. Prayer removes the roof, so we're connected to God vertically. Prayer removes the walls, so we're connected with each other horizontally. Does that make sense? Here's the second thought. I'm gonna do this. Hang in here with me. There is also an intercession that provides it. The Bible says, pray for one another again in verse 16. This idea of praying for one another is intimate. It's intense. It should be something that we do. You never have to say to anyone, there's nothing I can do for you. [00:28:59] Speaker C: You can always pray for them. [00:29:01] Speaker B: So you have here then, secondly, the intercession that precedes it. And then thirdly, you have the illustration he gives that proves it. He talks about Elijah the prophet praying there would be no rain, and God closed the heavens for all that period of time. He prayed that it would rain again and God open the heavens for that period of time. And the reason he did it was so that God would be glorified. What does that mean? It's so that God would be seen as a result of the prayer. When David said, oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us make his name known and let his name be great, what did that mean to magnify? Think about a magnify. [00:29:37] Speaker C: Magnify. [00:29:38] Speaker B: Magnification glass. You make something larger. When you magnify God, you make him larger. You say, how do I make a sovereign God, the God who stepped from nowhere to stand on nothing and speak everything into existence, and it all stays there because he tells it to. How do I make that God bigger? Well, he's not saying, when you magnify God, you make him bigger in the world. He's saying, when you magnify God, you make him bigger in you. He's a big deal in you. You make God a big deal. You're magnifying the Lord. And prayer is a way whereby we can make God wall to wall in our life each and every day. [00:30:10] Speaker C: There is an enormous benefit that comes with prayer. [00:30:14] Speaker B: Let me close with this. Years ago, a chaplain at Cook's children's Hospital shared this story with me. He said, you know, we deal at Cook's children sometimes with some of the saddest situations. We have also some really wonderful outcomes as well. It's a wonderful hospital. And he was talking about these kids on the cancer ward, and they had this little area, a little kind of a gathering playroom, if you will, where a lot of these kids would go at certain times of the day if they were able to and kind of hang out, socialize. And he said they had a new child that had just been admitted on. [00:30:44] Speaker C: The floor, and they were kind of. [00:30:46] Speaker B: Observing the child to make sure he was interacting well and the other kids were interacting well. And that, you know, he was socializing. Okay, because those kids, man, not only are they facing some tremendous physical challenges, but the emotional challenges that they go. [00:30:58] Speaker C: Through is just heartbreaking. [00:31:00] Speaker B: And we've had families in our church that have walked that road, and my heart is heavy and goes out to you for that. And this one little child, he said, I observed, went over to this new child that was new, the floor. And he said, I overheard the conversation. [00:31:13] Speaker C: It went something like this. [00:31:15] Speaker B: He introduced himself and he just said, how are you doing? And he said, I'm not doing very good at all. He said, I don't understand why I have what I have and why I am where I am. And he said, I can't go do. [00:31:26] Speaker C: The things that other kids get to do. [00:31:28] Speaker B: And he said, I'm just mad. I'm just angry. [00:31:31] Speaker C: I'm just struggling with where I am right now. [00:31:33] Speaker B: And the little boy said to him, he said, well, have you ever thought about praying? A little boy, the chaplain said, responded to him. And he said, praying? He goes, yeah. [00:31:42] Speaker C: Have you ever started praying? [00:31:43] Speaker B: And he said, I actually prayed. And I just told God how upset. [00:31:46] Speaker C: I was and how unfair I thought this was. And he said, I just prayed. And the little boy said, well, what did God do? He said, I don't think he did anything. [00:31:56] Speaker B: He said, what did God say? [00:31:57] Speaker C: He said, I don't think he said anything. And the little boy asked him, he said, well, then, how do you know God even heard you? You know what he said? He said, because it made me feel a lot better. It made me feel a lot better. You know, friend, I can tell you as I close this morning, when you can see God at work in your life, he's working. And when you can't see him at work in your life, he's working. [00:32:18] Speaker B: When you know God's up to something. [00:32:20] Speaker C: In your life, he is up to something. And when you don't know what he's up to in your life. He's still up to something. [00:32:26] Speaker B: I'm telling you this morning. [00:32:27] Speaker C: God loves you. If you were the only person on this world to redeem a, he would have gone to the cross just for you. He doesn't just love all of us, he loves each one of us. You matter to him. You move the heart of God. [00:32:39] Speaker B: He loves you so much. He brought you to this room just. [00:32:41] Speaker C: To tell you through this voice and through this worship how much you mean to him and how much he loves you. And all you have to do is reach out to him in prayer. Just reach out to him in prayer. They will greet him just as I am without one plea, but that your blood was shed for me. O lamb of God, I come. You come to Jesus with your broken self. You come to Jesus with your messed up self. You come to Jesus with your hurting self. You come to him just as you are. And Jesus says, those who come to me, I will in no wise cast out. Listen, salvation is not in a church. It's not in a pastor. It's not in friendships. Salvation is in the name and the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 416, I am the John 14 six. I am the way, the truth, the life. And no one comes to the father except by me. Boy, if you don't know Jesus, I highly recommend him. And what a wonderful day this would be right now, where you are to humble your heart and say, jesus, I receive you. Would you pray with me, Father? Thank you for the privilege of prayer. Lord, we have access. [00:33:54] Speaker B: We can go right into the throne. [00:33:56] Speaker C: Of heaven and talk to you, the creator of all things. Lord, you know us. You know our rising up and our laying down. You know us on the mountaintops of our life and in the deepest valleys of our life. You know us, Lord, when we are going through moments of great splendor and success. And you know us in those moments of devastation and loss, and you love us. So. Father, I pray for my friends this morning in this room and those watching online. [00:34:29] Speaker B: We're all broken. We're all broken. [00:34:32] Speaker C: We're broken in different places, and we're broken over different things, but we're all broken. I pray we'll gather the brokenness of our lives and we'll bring it, lay it at your feet. For those who've never trusted you, may this be that moment where they just humble their heart right where they are. Pray a simple prayer like this and say, Lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust everything I know about you. Come into my life. I cannot do this anymore on my own. With all that I am. I trust you. Receive me. Forgive me. And I pray, Father, that you will answer me in Jesus name. Amen. [00:35:17] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.