The Wonders of Prayer

The Lord’s Supper, Prayer for Absent Elders, and Psalm 99 Responsive Reading

I'm very excited to see all of y 'all here this morning. I was blessed with the opportunity to feel the hope that today, as soon as everything gets going, we'll be on our way. Today, when we get started, I said there's going to be a difference today because we're not going to do the Lord's Prayer, I mean the Lord's Supper, because there has to be an overseer here to guard the table.

I mean, so we want to do it biblically, and today we just will not take the Supper because our elders are in Florida. And I do want to take a moment right now just to pray for what they're doing up there so they can feel the hope of the Lord.

Heavenly Father, we come to you this morning, and we just want to pray for the families that went down the river and learned and gleaned from our mother church there in Norman Beach, Florida. We're so grateful for them overseeing our growth, but we know that ultimately our growth is because of you.

You did the growing up here. So Father, just be with them as they learn and glean from the people there at Riverbend so that they can come back and bring that knowledge here so that we can grow and be edified as a body and be a lot.

I want to heal here. So I want to bring your word to all of us. Father, it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to do the read and response. It's going to be from Psalm 99, 1 -5. If y 'all want to stand up, we'll do this together as a body.

The Lord reigns. He sits enthroned upon the cherubim. Let the earth quake. The Lord is great in Zion.

He is exalted over all the peoples. The king is his might. Love, justice. You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Worship at his footstool.

The Wonders of Prayer and the Story Behind the Sermon

Heavenly Father, we come to you this morning. You created all things. So we are so grateful for your majesty and what you work out. Not just in the lives of your children, but in everybody's lives. Nothing can be had apart from you.

And we are so grateful that you created everything for a purpose. And that purpose is you. So today, as we look at the wonders of prayer, they're wonderful. Because we are praying to our great God and saying, In heaven today, glory.

We're so happy that you chose to be here today. I had a preacher when I was growing up. And he said, nobody gets here by accident. But everybody is here by divine appointment. By the Lord's grace that he sustained us and allowed us to be here.

I know that we've already prayed several times. But I want to go back to the Lord again. Because we believe that the word deserves to be prayed upon. And we totally open and transparent right now. There's a little bit of nerves from some of the leaders this morning.

Because we have people that typically are here that are not here. But ultimately, the one who deserves the glory and the grace and the adoration is here. And he always will be. And so we pray this morning that you would see past any talents perceived of the flesh.

That you would see the words that God has ordained. And that he deserves. And nothing less. And we also invite you this morning that as we sing these praises, that they ring true to you. And if they do not ring true to you, they will find somebody.

So that way we can come alongside you. Because the Lord deserves the utmost of what he has allowed us to present you. So let's pray.

God, you reign.

You are marvelous. You are wonderful. All of these things that encompass you. That you appeal to us through your word, through your spirit. Lord, I pray that as we come before you this morning, that these words, that these sounds,.

That these shouts of joy that we make, that they would not be empty.

That they would not be for us or for our own new feelings, God. That you allow us to praise you. But if not, Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would intercede on our behalf to you. Because you deserve affection.

I pray that you would bring us confidence and boldness to sing your word.

Our offerings and our gifts, God.

And we look at it as giving to you, but giving back is your work, God. God, I pray. Humble ourselves before your word. Before each other. Lord, give us ears to hear. It's not of you.

From Church of Christ to Biblical Fellowship at Twelve Five

This is going to look kind of different. It's going to have a touch of Southern Baptist in it. But it's going to ultimately end up looking like a Reformed Baptist sermon. Because we're going to go to the text.

So here we go. I'm kind of going to summarize the last few years of my life. As it gives an angle for today's topic of prayer. Looking back about three years ago, God started to shake my world. And would not let me be content with the life that I was living.

The church that Tari and I attended was the Church of Christ there in Newport called Rimmel. My wife and I both enjoyed it there. As far as the people were loving and encouraging. Always accepting no matter what the circumstance was.

But the doctrine there that was being taught was not lining up with scripture. It got to the point that Tari did not like my reactions. And the faces I made in respect to what was being taught there. In fact, she dreaded going to church with me at times.

This was the onset of spiritual malnourishment. And tension in our marriage. It created argumentation and dissension. Jesus said, man shall not live off of bread alone. But on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

So we were failing in that area of our lives. While we were attending Rimmel, we had no true fellowship. There were no sermon discussions. No digging into the context. No conversations about God. All of these issues put together made for a disconnect.

What it meant to be a people of God. Being built up together for ministry. For His ministry. All this time, I've been praying. I know that my wife was praying too. Because of this, I was in the process of looking for another church.

I felt like there was something missing. Deep down, my wife wanted more. As did I. As I prayed and I looked and tested many places. None felt like the place the Lord was leading me. But did what I want line up with scripture?

There were a couple of churches I attended and visited. One of them was Walnut Street Baptist. A couple of them were charismatic churches. I'm not going to say too much about that. Did I mention that I was doing all of this alone?

While Torrey was still attending services at Rimmel. You can just imagine the tension and dissension that was in our marriage. I can remember going to Rimmel and out of everything that stuck out to me.

Going into the kitchen, there was a sign there. It's got 1 Peter 3 .15. I love this verse. It says, but in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for the reason.

For the hope that you have within you. But do this in gentleness and respect. When we look at the Greek, the word for defense is apologia. This is where we get the word apologetics from. Knowing this led me to seek and desiring more of the word of God.

From this desire, I have watched over a million hours of debates. You can ask my wife. She says that's probably a low number. And again, I began to use names of others like James Watt said this. Or Kent Hovind said that.

My wife, she finally pushed back and said, I don't care less what James Watt says. I care less what Kent Hovind says. She said, what do you say? Man, guys, this is a bad method to use when you're leading your home.

We don't do that. There was pushback. What did I as a spiritual leader of the home believe? Sure, we can glean from great theologians of the past like John Calvin, C .H. Spurgeon, or my personal favorite, Apostle Paul.

Man, the only response should be is what does Scripture teach? This pushed me to elevate and examine Scripture more closely in order to stand on what it teaches. Remember, all this time, I'm praying intently for change.

My wife was praying for change as well. I don't know what she was praying. Only God does. During all this time, I spent watching debates, all those hours learning and growing. We know there was one person in particular that stood out.

If you've been here for any amount of time, you all got a pretty good idea who that is. Man, the way he handled the Word of God with care and precision, emulating the characteristics of Christ while refuting false teachings, this greatly increased my desire to do the same thing.

Man, I was excited at the kindness that he displayed while contending for the faith. Man, after one of his debates, they have this interlocutor biome that tells about who the person is. Jeremiah Nortier, man, he's from Jonesboro.

What? I'm from Jonesboro? Man, this drove me. I was like, man, the church he attends is 12 -5. Man, I've got to find this church. I wanted to learn from this guy. Man, I'm not good with directions, but up to this point, I've not even looked for the address.

I was in a men's Bible group with several men from different churches, great men. Trey Sharon, he kind of gave me an approximate location to where this was at. I mean, I got out here. Finally, I put the address in the GPS, and it got me out here.

Most of you, if you ever got here and the GPS pointed you to this one-way driveway, man, that's crazy. It caused serious doubt in my head. Yeah, this can't be the right place. That's a rich man's driveway.

Nope, I can't do it. So I drove away thinking there's no way there's a church back there behind this guy's house. Man, getting farther away from the place, I realized, where are you going? What are you searching for?

You've been to several churches, and they weren't where God placed you. Man, so I turned around and drove up that driveway. It was kind of sketchy, if you ask me, but I did it nonetheless. Man, my heart was beating almost out of my chest.

It was so real, and man, like anxiety set in, and oh, what was I doing? Are you sure about this? Seriously? Going behind some rich man's house into a building? The first person I met was Christy. Man, she was wonderful, very nice and welcoming, but she was not the person I was looking for.

That's right. I went into this building at the back of this rich man's house. I was unsure of what was to come. I just knew that I had nothing to go back to. The next part was exciting for me, but probably not so much for Jeremiah at first.

I mean, what would you do when you're greeting somebody, and he's like, I've been looking for you? Jeremiah's like, well, he was relieved and encouraged when I said, man, I've seen all of your debates, and I just had to come here and meet you.

Well, this was the beginning of great fellowship and being discipled biblically. Of course, you know, after I come in, I met Pastor Nathan, and Pastor Nathan and Pastor Jeremiah, both are great spiritual leaders.

They want to edify the body and grow us spiritually so that we can look to the Lord in all things. I started attending 12 .5 in August of 2021, and for the next nine months, they poured scripture and doctrine into me, guiding me as they do for the rest of the congregation.

All during this time, I was coming to 12 .5, my wife was still attending services at Rimmel. I was praying for restoration of this division in my marriage, as was Pastor Nathan and Pastor Jeremiah, and the whole church.

Man, I was troubled that as a husband and wife, we were attending two different churches. This is not the biblical design for marriage or worship. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

And me and my wife were not worshiping God in spirit or truth. It got to the point that Pastor Nathan and I had many conversations about this division. About six months in, he kind of told me, he said, you need to stop, man.

Stop beating her overhead with the Bible and love her. Love her like Christ loves the church. Man, this is exactly what Paul teaches in Ephesians 5. Man, deep down, I'm thinking, that's not what the answer I want.

I mean, as a man, give me a systematic thing that I can go through and formula of some sort and teach her. I mean, make her follow me, her husband, right? I mean, I want to respect that surely I didn't understand how all this works.

This was hard, and I was praying for God to help me. But at the same time, I was doing things my way. I wanted her to submit and to follow me, her husband. That's what the Bible teaches, right? Well, sure, in context.

Context is king. Man, as I listened to the counsel of my leaders, Pastor Nathan and Pastor Jeremiah, the weight of all this was removed from my shoulders, and I was left in the hands of my God. Man, as I attended 12 .5 for the next nine months, my wife and I were in opposition.

She would argue that the church cross don't teach baptism saves. Pastor Nathan and Pastor Jeremiah have you brainwashed. Man, unbelievably, this is what my wife told me at one point. This was pivotal, a pivotal moment in our lives.

Times were hard for both me and Tori. She obviously had some doubts and fears about this place. I get it, but I refused to go back to an unbiblical church. One Sunday morning at the house, I was getting ready for church, and I'm thinking, do I ask her to go with me this morning?

Of course, I try to always ask her because I knew the answer was going to be no, but as husbands, we're supposed to try to unite our families. In her mind, she was thinking, man, if he asks me, I'm going to tell him no, but I'll bet.

And so when I asked her, she said, sure, I'll go. I was like, what? Did she just say yes? Man, I was confused at first. A lot of things ran through my mind as she told me yes. However, she had other intentions.

She wanted just to get it over with so that I would stop asking her and she could put this whole thing to rest and that we could go back to Rimmel. We came to service that morning on April 24th of 2022.

That day was the day that God revealed to her that she needed to be by her husband's side. Remember what Paul said in Ephesians 5. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Man, we get this wrong so many times.

In our finite perspective, we want to apply the first part, but we overlook the second part. Man, it's as unto the Lord. That's why husbands and wives unite as a picture of the gospel. Man, it's so beautiful when you just sit back and look at it through the lens of God's Word.

Pastor Nathan threw out all that he had prepared for his sermon the night before. Man, little did he know that God would have him put together and preach a sermon that morning that would penetrate the heart of Tariq.

Man, that was a blessing to say the least. The Lord was continuing to mold us and to conform us to His will. As time moved forward, other things came up. The Lord was not done with us. I and my wife wrestled with the fact that I was re-baptized by Pastor Jeremiah.

Mind you, this wasn't a re-baptism, but a biblical one. This identifies you with Christ and unites you to other believers in the local body. Man, the Lord was working on my wife's understanding of all of these things through prayer, scripture reading, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

In a discussion with Pastor Jeremiah, if you want to ask me how that went, it's kind of funny. You can talk to me about it in sermon Q &A. It's pretty funny. My wife, who was already a child of God through the work of the Holy Spirit, began to desire to be biblically baptized as well.

She was looking at ministries that only members are a part of here like soul care, greeters, street and parking duty. These ministries played a part in her decision, which was cultivated by prayer. It is amazing how God answers prayer.

After about six months, I had the privilege of baptizing her here at Twelve Five, uniting her to this local body of believers. She was already saved by faith in Christ, but now she brings her gifts to the table in the service to the Lord.

In this short story, we see many things that were going on. My wife and I had many ups and downs, trials, the testing of our faith, great leadership, great teaching, expository preaching, expository listening, fellowship, and accountability here at Twelve Five.

But all of these great, wonderful things would have fallen short if it had not been cultivated by prayer. E .M. Bounds says it like this, Man, what wonderful and marvelous power there is in a prayer. As we get started today in the wonders of prayer, I've got three points I want to make.

How to Pray: The Three Negatives and the Heart of Prayer

How do we pray? What is the source of our prayers? And what is the purpose of our prayers? If you'll remember, last week, Pastor Jeremiah spoke in Ephesians 3, 9 -13, and that's where we have confidence through faith to come before the Lord.

Faith is at the core of our prayer. Faith is what gets us to the source. What does our prayer life look like? Are we making His name known as we sanctify His name in our hearts? For the majority of the time today, we're going to kind of look at Matthew 6, 5 -10.

If you'll turn with me there before we get started. All right, here we go. It says, Truly, I say to you that they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty words, empty phrases as the Gentiles do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them.

For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then like this, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. If we'll go to the Lord in prayer before we move on.

Heavenly Father, we come to you just to reminisce and look at you, the source of our prayer, the one we look to in all things. Today's topic is just to honor you. Because without you, we would be lost in this world without hope.

So Father, as we move forward, just touch the hearts of your people here so that you may be honored in what I'm speaking. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. If we go any further in the prayer, it kind of changes in verse 11 to the wants of us.

But today we're going to focus on Him because He is our source. There are several things that Jesus tells us about prayer in the passage. The first is what not to do. That is important to knowing how to pray.

This will take us to the source and purpose of prayer, which we'll get to shortly. But first, Jesus is making a contrast here between worldly prayer, what not to do, and godly prayer, what the children of God should be doing.

Jesus gives three negatives when it comes to prayer. We'll look at the first one here. It says you must not be like the hypocrites do. They wanted to be seen. Hey, look at me. Man, I'm praying in the synagogue and on the street corners.

Man, better yet, listen to the words that I'm speaking, how I articulate all these big words. Man, I'm a pious man. I know God. And what that must have sounded like to the people there. Their motives were evident to all who passed.

The heart of an unregenerate man without Christ will always be looking for temporal rewards and the praise of other men. As King Solomon tells of life without Christ, Ecclesiastes too. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem.

Also, my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil. And this was my reward for all my toil.

Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it. And behold, all is vanity in striving after win. There is nothing to be gained under the sun. Seeking the glory of man and being the center of attention was what had value to the Pharisees.

Praying like this was not meant to be heard by God or to have a relationship with Him. But it was to be elevated to a point of stature, to be honored by all. Man, if you remember who the Pharisees were, they were the ones out front basically with a band saying, Hey, look at me, praise me, it's all about me.

Nah, I'm kind of exaggerating a little bit. In verse 2 it says they only had a trumpet. The picture is the world's perspective on everything. But as Christians in Christ, we are not of this world. The second negative thing we're going to take a look at is do not heap up empty phrases like the Gentiles do.

When we look at the word empty, it's battle lego in Greek. This means to babble not. They were babbling. There is no meaning to all these words flying out of their mouth. They were going on and on without regard or reverence for God.

It's like long-winded chatter. In a sense, they were trying to achieve success in prayer by heaping up empty phrases. The passage clearly says that their reward is only from men. To be seen by men is the world's standard of what greatness is.

Are we trying to be great in the eyes of the world? As King Solomon puts it, Do not be rash with your mouth, nor let your hearts be hasty to utter a word before God, for he is in heaven and you are here on earth.

Therefore, let your words be few. Man, it's a beautiful truth about our God. In verse 7 of the Lord's Prayer, the word Gentiles is referring to pagans, those who are outside the faith. This text shows that all religions, whether true or false, have some form of prayer.

It could be said that the religious emotions of the mind, the emotions which are natural to it, have led men under many situations to the practice of prayer. In a religion of Islam, the Mohammedans, they went to their false god by the name of Mohammed.

And then we see the wild Indians, and they were uttering words to their god, known to them as the Great Spirit. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus is actually comparing Jews to pagans, who think that they will be heard for their many words.

Now we'll look at the third negative. Do not be like them. This would be the unregenerate, an unbeliever, one whose faith is not in Jesus and his finished work on the cross. That person is described as seeking pleasures found in the flesh, and not in God himself.

Man, Jesus is wanting us to do a heart check. Paul says somewhere, he says, examine yourself. Because later in this chapter, Jesus says in verse 21, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Lord's Prayer can be rightly called the Disciples' Prayer, because it is a heart issue. Now we'll look at how to pray. In verse 6, but when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Here Jesus is not telling us that we should be secretive when we pray to our Father, or be in secret or hidden. It is not the geographical location where we are that he is concerned with. He is looking much deeper to the heart.

There are many passages that tell us otherwise. When we look at Luke 6, we see that Jesus is going out onto the mountain to pray. This is in a wide open, out in the open, and this is not in secret. Or when Peter was put in prison in Acts 12, when they got together and was praying in the house of Mary, openly praying for him to God.

And we also see in the widow, and this is my favorite, Luke chapter 2, who was in the temple, she was worshiping with fasting and prayer. Night and day, though we see through this, we see where her heart was at.

She began to give thanks to God and to speak of him. Man, again, Jesus is not against public prayer, but he is showing us the heart of prayer. It is what justifies a person. It is faith. What is the source of our prayer?

The Source of Prayer: The Father, Faith, and the Triune God

Here we look at verse 9. It says, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Looking at this verse, it clearly shows the transcendence of God. And I will give you a couple more verses to kind of bring that picture into more fullness of what transcendence is.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For the heavens are higher than the earth, and my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory is above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God? Who is seated on high? Who looks down on the heavens and the earth? God is omnipresent. This is not necessarily given his location, but God is revealing a truth about himself in Scripture.

He is not bound by or limited to place. This is just what Scripture reveals to us. The word Father in Greek is pater. This is a relational term. It's intimacy. So how do we become intimate with God? Well, I just said a moment ago, by faith you have been justified.

That's what Paul teaches in Romans 5, 1 and 2. That is how we have peace with God through Christ and have obtained access by faith into his grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

That is what faith has done. At this point you're probably thinking, is faith the source of our prayer? That is not the case. I'm saying that faith is how we have access to the source of our prayer. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.

And without faith it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Here at 12 .5 we have been going through the book of Ephesians.

If you were here, it would be hard to forget a truth like this. When we were in chapter 1, we saw the Father choosing us before the foundation of the world. The Son redeeming us by his blood and making known to us the mystery of his will.

And the Holy Spirit sealing us when we heard the gospel of our salvation and believed God. This is a wonderful truth that God is a source of our salvation. But that's not all. Scripture also reveals to us another wonderful truth.

He is also creator of all things. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made all of them, the earth is full of your creatures.

He said, let there be light and there was light. He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. There is no God beside him. He is God to everyone. But O dear church, he is much, much more to those who get to call him Father.

We who have been reconciled to Christ by faith. In Matthew 6, Jesus made it clear that the pagans have already received their reward. But if you are in Christ, our Father has blessed us with what is eternal and not temporal or temporary.

We have been given the spiritual blessings of God. Just kind of going through it. We have been elected, Ephesians 1 -4. We have been adopted as children of God, Ephesians 1 -5. We have been accepted into beloved, Ephesians 1 -6.

Redemption through his blood, Ephesians 1 -7. Forgiveness of sins, Ephesians 1 -7. We were made known the mystery of his will, 1 -8 -10. We have an inheritance, 1 -11. Sealed by the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1 -13.

This is just part of our inheritance. As Paul tells us in the opening of Ephesians 1 -3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Amen. This is not an exhaustive list of our spiritual blessings, but point to the greatest one of all, an eternal home with him one day. Now leads us to the purpose of prayer. The final point I want to make.

The Purpose of Prayer: Cultivation, Conformity, and Sanctification

We know how to pray when we see the purpose of prayer. God, prayer is a form of cultivating. As I've had many conversations with a great friend of mine, Keith Hinnick. Him and his wife, Karen, has this beautiful garden out of their house.

So I'm bringing up cultivating. He's, man, that's a good agricultural term. And he's kind of giving me all the highlights on it. And this is how we kind of put it together. It is a means by which harvesting these spiritual blessings, which grow us spiritually.

Spiritual blessings transform our lives only through prayer with God. Looking back at the storyline of Tari and my journey, we see that the story reveals the purpose of prayer is a means to mold and conform his children to his will and his purpose.

Having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Through prayer, God intervenes in our lives to chastise us, to bring us into unity with him and with each other. In our lives, the tension was heavy.

And the spiritual deficiency was evident in our lives through all of this. God put it on my heart to seek a biblical church, one where we can grow in the knowledge of him. This is what husbands are called to do.

Tari didn't want to let go because she did not like change. And she loved the people there. Our hearts were torn by conflicting emotions and not being disciples made for tension in the home. I wanted more and she was content with what we had.

We were both enduring suffering of the same sort. Turns out all that suffering was for the sake of Christ. As husband, I was called to lead her home as prescribed by scripture. This was not attainable in an unbiblical church.

I thought I was leading biblically and my wife was just being rebellious towards me, her husband. However, God was changing us through all of this. Even though I only saw from my limited perspective because I'm a created being, God had other plans.

He was transforming Tari through all of this. Not just her. Through this, I was brought to understand biblically how to lead our home. This was a difficult time that my wife and I both went through. As Paul says in Romans 8 .18,.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. The purpose of prayer is not to change God but to shape and mold us into the same image of his son and to enjoy him forever.

This happens from one degree of glory to another, as Paul puts it in Corinthians. We are going to look less like the world and more like Christ. As we are in perfect communion with God in prayer. We should want to grow in the knowledge of him but we need to cultivate that knowledge in prayer.

Knowledge without Christ will leave you with empty words desiring to be seen by the world. That is not faith. But faith is cultivating that knowledge through prayer to the triune God which is now as we are conformed to his will.

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God that is good and acceptable and perfect. This verse speaks of being transformed and renewed of our mind.

One way we renew our minds is through cultivation of the knowledge of God through prayer. That increases, strengthens our faith which transforms us. What is the will of God for a believer? It is sanctification.

I will now land the plane. I am so glad that I was able to bring this message today. Hopefully we will all be looking to the Lord in all things. That is what the purpose, the Southern Baptist part was bringing the story into the mix but the Reformed is nailing it down with Scripture because God is wonderful.

We are going to do Koinonia after this. I will say a prayer over our time together that the Lord may be honored in our fellowship. If you will pray with me. Heavenly Father, we come to you just grateful that you have bestowed on us, your children, the spiritual blessings that transform our lives when we are in perfect communion with you in prayer.