Colossians - Prayer: It Requires Devotion

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There was a story about a man who Encountered a great deal of trouble while flying his little airplane
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So he called the control tower and said pilots a tower I am 300 miles from the airport
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Only 600 feet above the ground and I'm out of fuel
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I Am descending rapidly, please advise over The control tower responded
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Tower to pilot, please repeat after me our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name
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Sometimes in life Prayer will be all you have Especially if you're 300 miles from the airport 600 feet above the ground and out of fuel
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Sadly too often for Christians prayer is a last resort and not a first choice This needs to be reversed
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It should be the first choice the second choice all of our choices should be like the air we breathe
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Book of Thessalonians, I believe it's the first book of Thessalonians talks about praying without ceasing
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Means the ongoing habit of your life is a habit a life of prayer A Healthy prayer life as we're going to start to look at today in Colossians chapter 4 and we'll also take a look at Hebrews 11 6 in a little while We're gonna start this conversation look at scripture what it talks about with a healthy prayer life now
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Many sermons have been preached many books have been written many blog articles have been written there have been far more
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Conversations in this room amongst you than probably I have had in my life about how
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God answers prayer and what to pray for and all these good things and there's certainly nothing wrong with talking about those things the
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Bible certainly Touches on those subjects and has a lot to say about it. But as I am with most everything
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I like to do things a little different. So I'm gonna Centralize and focus on what makes a prayer life healthy what is involved, but I'm gonna focus a lot on the relationship
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Aspects of prayer, so we will look at relationships of praying for your family What that relationship with God should look like as you pray to God and so on so forth
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So these will develop and evolve as I work on them So I can't say with certainty what each week will look like All I know is at least for the next two or three weeks.
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We'll be looking at the subject of prayer but a healthy prayer life requires devotion
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I Want to look today at some of the aspects of the devotion that is required. Well number one
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Ongoing Devotion is what you need Colossians chapter 4 and verse 2 says devote
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Yourselves to prayer This word devote is a word that means to continue steadfastly
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Persist in Persevere in This means that you will have a steadfast and a consistent strength in prayer
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Have you ever thought about the fact that you need strength to pray? Now the Bible is clear that the
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Holy Spirit helps us and intercedes on our behalf That even when we don't know what to say and we are without strength the
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Holy Spirit testifies when in our spirit and intercedes on our behalf and knows What the achings and the longings of our hearts are crying out to God?
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But generally speaking it takes strength and this strength that you need to have the type of devotion that Colossians is talking about it is a strength that will prevail in spite of challenges
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In spite of difficulties in spite of opposition you will endure in prayer
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This work can also mean that you will remain firm Remember our discussion on the spiritual war
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Ephesians talked a lot about standing firm and having done all the stand Same concept involved here remaining firm and staying focused and fixed on the direction
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God wants you to go even during times of trial never giving up The book of James talks about how we're supposed to consider it all joy when we fall into various trials why
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God says all the wisdom you need to know how to go through that trial to endure that trial
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How to walk with God in that trial because God doesn't promise to take all of our trials away
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That's why I disagree with those that preach the prosperity God I feel that we're all supposed to just be healthy and perfectly wealthy all the time.
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It's just not scriptural Jesus says the world hated me know that it will hate you
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You will have trial and persecution in this life now, there are certainly times of blessing and mountaintops, but there's also valleys
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There's going down the mountain. There's going up the mountain. There's so much more than just simply Oh God wants all of you to be wealthy.
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Well, if you're wealthy as I've said in the past that money's not for you It's for God. How does God want you to use it for his kingdom?
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So even in these times of trial the book of James tells us the Unwavering person the one that has faith in God in those times that persists in prayer and ask
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God What do I need to know about this trial? What are you teaching me? What do I need to change?
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How can I grow God says he will give you that wisdom each and every single time and he will uphold or keep back from you nothing
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So so much of our prayer life doesn't need to be so much centered on what we want or what we want God to fix or take away
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But How we can be devoted to prayer It doesn't say devote yourself to prayer if it works
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God's not some kind of slot machine like they have out in Vegas where you put your coin in and hope that you get all
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Sevens, is that the one where you get the big jackpot all sevens? I wouldn't know I've never been out there Nothing wrong with going to Vegas and have a good time.
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I suppose. I don't know as long as you don't sin Although they call it sin city for a reason So I imagine there's a whole lot of sin to get into out there
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But as long as I have a Dairy Queen and an Applebee's somewhere, I guess I'd be right at home I don't think they have
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Bojangles though. That's Probably why they're utterly sinful, you know people run south to have
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Bojangles. We're just nicer That's not scriptural. That's just my opinion But too many pray with selfish motives
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They pray for what they think they can get out of it now Might as well just get my little mirror that I keep saying
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I'm gonna bring here and put right there so I can look at Myself. This is the part where I'm preaching to myself because I struggle in this area
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We pray for thinking what we get out of it but worse yet is you even have some people that would take a step further than what
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I would and they think that if they Pray enough or the right way or use the right words that somehow
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God's beholden to them like he owes them something God doesn't owe you anything, but you owe
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God everything There's nothing about us to make puts
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God in any position where he even had to create us Let alone die for us or save us Doesn't mean
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God's unloving or unkind, but he is God and we are not he's an infinite being
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We are finite You pray because you are changed by the prayer
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That's the bottom line to a healthy prayer life Not seeing what you can necessarily get out of it
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Although there is nothing wrong with our petitions to God and want to see a move in a situation there's certainly nothing wrong with these things, but the bulk of what we pray for should be with the understanding that I Pray because I'm changed by the prayer
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You don't need to be praying for what God can do for you You need to be praying for how
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God wants to change you Being able to go to the throne of grace is great, and that's all part of it as well
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We'll touch on that at a later date but so much of our focus and how we need to change the way we view prayer is they need to be a prior a reprioritizing of our prayer life and Right up there at the top of the list needs to be
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I'm going to pray because I want to see God change me through my prayer Because it's an ongoing
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Devotion number two, it's a watchful Devotion a watchful devotion notice once again in verse 2.
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It says devote yourselves to prayer keeping alert in it
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This word means to be awake It's and just without let me go back for a second the word translated devoted at the beginning of the verse
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I forgot to mention. This is a present tense imperative. It's ongoing action It is command
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Paul's not saying if you get around to it He's saying devote yourselves to prayer now in the case of the keeping alert
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You've got simply a present tense form here meaning We're supposed to continuously be awake in the prayer that were devoted to Be vigilant be active not passive Now it's it's okay when you get people together in circles
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Not everybody's okay with praying openly and all these different practical things as they work themselves out
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But we're talking about you and God in the privacy of your own prayer closet
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You need to be vigilant and active whether you audibly say anything or not
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You can pray and just think you don't necessarily have to speak the words Although I would argue it's a good practice to audibly speak to God a
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Watchful devotion will be keeping watch for areas that God wants to change in your life and see this is important because it fits
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The context devote yourselves a prayer and if you take into consideration Everything he said before that in the book of Colossians and he gets to this point tells you to devote yourselves to prayer
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Keeping alert in it keeping watch beer be watchful be alert in it because we're supposed to be looking for and Finding those areas in our life where we need to be gradually and progressively and consistently and Ongoingly if I can create a word on the fly here sanctified and conformed to the image of his son
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Jesus Christ Christianity is not a sideline activity If you've been saved for 50 years or 40 years or 30 years or even 10 if you've been saved for a year
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Your Christian life should be Worlds different than it was at the moment of your justification the moment of your salvation
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If you have a Christian that hasn't progressed at all, they're not active. They're not vigilant prayer is the key to so many things and It's a watchful devotion you think about the
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Apostles with Jesus He went away to pray and he came back and he scolded him for what he says you could even watch
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Watch get watch Couldn't watch or be alert with me for but an hour just an hour
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How many times does Jesus look in our lives and say you couldn't pray couldn't keep alert for an hour
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Break down your week take seven days times. However many minutes there isn't a day in five percent ten percent pick out a number twenty five percent and find out what that name what that number is
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I Guarantee you brought you as low as five and most of us don't even spend five percent of our week in prayer yours truly included
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I'm not absence from this conversation. I Mostly preach those things that I need to do better at But a watchful devotion number three, it's a thankful Devotion notice he says devote yourselves to prayer keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving an attitude of thanksgiving
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So much of our prayer life needs to be filled with giving thanks to God not only for who he is
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But what he has done for us what he's going to do for us how he's going to change us
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You see so much of the Psalms David over and over and over again
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Thanking God for his deliverance Thanking him for who he is Thanking him for what he's done in the past Thanking him for what he's currently doing and then asking him petitioning him to do it again
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One of the ways, you know Very quickly if you do not have a healthy prayer life is if your prayers never have any thanksgiving in them
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If it's constantly me me me me me and never you you you you you
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With the you being God You're not going to have a healthy prayer life One of the ways to correct this and we talk about this when we look at church health and church growth
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Talks when you talk about the inward -outward balance you want to be in balance and have inward and outward
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Focuses in balance, but if you are overly inward church for a season You would need to be overly outward to bring yourself in balance and vice versa
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So the same thing would apply to your prayer life if you have a prayer life that's absent of thanksgiving
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What I would suggest is you take a season whether it's a month six months or even a year whatever you feel is good for you that the
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Holy Spirit is Instructing you to do and take a season and all of your prayers be nothing but Thanksgiving That's it
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Take self off the table completely and do nothing but thank God for who he is and what he's done for you
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What he's doing in your life and how he's changing you and it'll bring you into balance because It's a thankful Devotion and number four.
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It's a focused devotion a focused devotion Notice he says with an attitude of Thanksgiving and notice verse three with me.
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He says praying at the same time For us as well. Why? That God will open up to us a door for the word
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So that way we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which
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I have also been imprisoned a Healthy prayer life one that requires devotion will have a focused devotion to it
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Praying that God will provide opportunities For the purposes of Christ We So focus on praying for this is in my world.
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This is in what's in front of me. This is what I feel like I want And there's certainly nothing wrong with those and like I said, we're to cover that another day
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But the subject of this is the off -balance nature to it that we so overly focus on self and we forget the primary
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Focus of our prayer life should not only be on Thanksgiving, but also on the purposes of Christ 100 % of a church's effort should be focused on the
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Great Commission Because after all the Great Commission is not a suggestion either. It's a command
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Go ye therefore present tense as you go make disciples make disciples evangelize the laws teaching preaching praying
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The Apostles you look at Acts chapter 2 right around verse 42 and following it talks about after Pentecost the
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Holy Spirit came and all that went on it said they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and the
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Apostles teaching was Christ teaching so they devoted themselves to teaching and to prayer and Of course to the breaking of bread to is in there, which
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I know is Baptist. We say hey me You like to break in a bread part? I know I do so I'm clearly glad that's an inspired scripture that they devoted themselves to teaching they prayed and they ate
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Thank you, Jesus Because of that one was in there like man That's a good thing
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But they prayed for opportunities for the purposes of Christ which goes without saying that we need to understand and to know and to promote and to walk in the purposes of Christ You can't pray for that which you don't know what it is
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And if you remember back in Colossians chapter 2 when we were going through there It says in Colossians chapter 2 verse 6 therefore as you have received
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Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in Him and It is through that walking in him and the studying of his word and being submission to his word that you'll know the purposes of Christ you'll know the purposes of God you'll be walking in it and you'll be praying for it because your
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Focus the direction of your life that tunnel vision that you have will be on Christ and not on all those other things
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That's why God has such You know an objection to idols because they're made out of things that are created things in Romans chapter 1
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It talks about they suppress the truth and unrighteousness and they were worshiping the creation rather than the
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Creator Because They're not focused on the right things they're not focused on the purposes of Christ notice
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He says we want an open door for the Word of God One of the biggest cures to self in your prayer life
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Take a season and pray for nothing else other than there would be an open door for the
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Word of God in People's lives that you know People that you work with people that you go to school with people that you see at the grocery store people that live in your own home if need be
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Children you may have that are grown and gone Whatever the context whatever the relationship pray for that that God would open a door to get the
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Word of God to them and see Them saved so that we can get them in a local body of believers and see them become disciples of Jesus Christ He wanted an answered prayer to speak for Christ Speak forth the mystery of Christ and Notice that God is not bound to us, but we are bound to him.
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What does Paul say says? For which I have also been imprisoned this word translated
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Imprisoned here in the New American Standard is a word that means tied to or fastened to So God is not tied to or fastened to us as if he owes us anything
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But we are tied and fastened and bound and in prison to him There's only two types of people in this world.
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They're slaves of sin They're slaves of Christ and slaves of righteousness and as Christians we are bound to God.
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We are bound to Christ We've been united with him. The only true freedom in this life is to be a slave of Christ So we've got an ongoing devotion
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We've got a watchful devotion a thankful devotion a focused devotion.
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And then lastly number five a Rewarding devotion
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Rewarding devotion for this turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11 Hebrews chapter 11 we're only going to be looking at one verse in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6
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It says without faith is impossible to please him now what faith is it speaking of let's go back for just a second
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It says now in verse 1 now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction or not things not seen for by it
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Old men of old gained approval and then so on so forth throughout the chapter it gives examples So he takes a pause here in verse 6 and says without faith.
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It is impossible to please him This is this is why and I could be wrong
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I may get to heaven one day and find out I'm wrong. So I can't say this dogmatically But my opinion is that Paul wrote
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Hebrews There are plenty of people to have different arguments and they're with their well -evidenced and backed up Just one of those things you can disagree over it really doesn't make a big deal difference
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But one of the reasons I make the argument that I think Paul wrote it is because of this verse When he says without faith is impossible to please him that is fully consistent with how
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Paul writes in the book of Romans Chapter 8 those of the flesh do not possess faith.
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They do not possess saving faith They do not thus do not possess the the eternal life of John 3 16 because they do not have repentance and saving faith
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Ephesians 2 a is by grace you were saved or by grace you're saved through faith and all the consistent writings of Paul He says without this faith without the saving faith.
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It's impossible to please him consistent once again with I believe it's chapter 8 verse 7 a book of Romans where he talks about the fact that those that are
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Not of the flesh and not of the Spirit are not able to subject themselves to the law of God They're not even able to do so Because they're not doing it through faith
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It's faith that you need to please God And he says for he meaning the person who comes to God in faith
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Must believe must or comes to God must believe that he is For he who comes to God must believe that he is
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In the beginning God Bible doesn't seek to prove God it assumes it
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The Bible doesn't seek to prove the Trinity it assumes it Because God's the author is stay honest.
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Ah, it's God breathed In the beginning God Therefore you must believe not only that he exists, but that he is the
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God that he has revealed himself to be That's why so many of these false religions get so off because they take what
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Scripture says and they either add to it Take away or change it in some way You get this with Mormonism.
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It's the most polytheistic religion. I've ever seen in my life and Yet they profess to be
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Christian just like in first John they were dealing with the Gnostics and John says here's what Christianity is
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So anything else other than this is not that Because it takes the faith of the
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Bible to please God it says you must believe that he is and notice this that he is a rewarder of Those who seek him
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You could say of those who? diligently seek him Seeking him in prayer in prayer in prayer ongoing
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Devoted focused thankful watchful all of it focused. It's rewarding
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Because this word rewarder Christ is the water. It literally means one who pays wages
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So if any of you in here are in employers bosses at your job and you have employees that you pay
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It's similar in that concept and that thinking so what it's saying is that in seeking
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God Diligently and wanting to be changed by him and live for him You are guaranteed that the
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God of the universe and Jesus Christ will pay out the wages for your efforts
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God will never leave a Christian unpaid Unrewarded that is diligently seeking
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God in prayer It'll never happen because God's Word says it won't it says just the opposite.
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He said he is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek him
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We need to be people that diligently seek God God and as I've said very often in many different ways he blesses obedience
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This is one of the you know, if you ever wonder well, you know guy and he says God blesses obedience Well, what's something tangible
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I can sink my teeth into and know what that looks like right here You devote yourselves to prayer
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We're commanded to do it. What's the blessing of that obedience? He will reward those who diligently seek him
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James chapter 1 you'll have all the wisdom you need God's not gonna leave you helpless if you obey him and follow his instruction
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So if we're going to diligently seek him we have to understand where you will find him and where you won't find him
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Things should be pretty practical pretty obvious But it needs to be said places where you won't find
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God in tradition in idols status quo One of the things and commitments
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I made to my God of the universe that created me is that in 2019 I was gonna leave with courage and without not without it not with fear
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Places you won't find God Whether the pastor dresses the way you want him to whether he's wearing a tie
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That's not where you're gonna find him You won't find him in complaining about spelling errors in the bulletin and all these things that I've heard over the last two years
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That's what that's not where you find him Where do you find him in his word in prayer the five letters that will revolutionize your life o t h e r s others
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Dying to self obedience to his word leading by example being present walking in holiness
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The Bible says be holy for I am holy Yeah, I hear
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I've heard it several times so many people come to my office and they're concerned and I truly believe them I see people's hearts.
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They say, you know, we want to see revival. We want to see growth. We want to seek success Well, here's how it'll come.
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I've tried to track down their words I'm not the original author of this the best I can tell is there was an evangelist at one time named
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Gypsy Smith and it Threw me through a loop because I've never actually heard the first name Gypsy, but apparently it's a real first name.
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G Y P S Y I haven't had the time to do the full research on it
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But the story is true and this is how it went down and I've the only problem is I've seen it credited to two
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Different peoples why I always try to make sure I give the proper credit best I can tell is an evangelist named Gypsy Smith who
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One night after revival service a man came up to him and said, you know, how can we have revival?
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Well, this evangelist said let me ask you a question. Do you have a place where you can pray? Yes, the man replied.
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He says well I tell you what you do go home go wherever it is you pray and draw or make us somehow make a circle around you and then kneel down in that circle and Every time you pray you only pray one prayer that God will bring revival to everything that's in that circle
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And you keep praying that over and over and over and over again until God answers that prayer
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See, I don't know if it's just a Southern Baptist thing. I don't know but Southern Baptist churches have got everything so backwards
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They look and everything's We have a magic pill solution. The pastor's great that makes everything great.
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We don't like the pastor. We'll blame him and kick him out It's all his fault This says it's you.
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It's me. It's all of us If people in churches get revival in their soul, you can have the worst pastor ever walk the planet and he won't be able to stop it
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Stop worrying so much about me and make the circle in your home
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Pray that God will bring revival to that circle and you know what? The devil himself won't be able to stop the revival in this place
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He won't because God's Word says he can't That's how it comes
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That's the one time in Scripture where self is a good thing I pray for revival for yourself and God says he'll reward that prayer.
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Why because you'll be diligently seeking him See God's looking for people like that Ezekiel 2230
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I think it is where it talks that it's my knowledge the only word you find the word gap in the Bible Talk about standing in the gap building up the hedge
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There's a gap in the wall If you don't do something about it, the enemy's gonna come in and get you somebody has to stand in that gap and hold firm
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He's looking for people to do that He's looking for people in Emporia to do that Harry's iters knocked it out of the park at the
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Community Revival Service He said there was this graffiti or something I don't know exactly what the thing said
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But he was talking about it as graffiti all over this thing in a town and everybody knew it They all knew it and they talk about it and say well
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We all know what that means and uh, they said the problem isn't that it's there The problem isn't that people know about it.
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The problem is that it's still there God's waiting for people to not just stand for the
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American flag But stand for his word you can get in churches and have an American service. Everybody will stand all and that's all fine
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And well when it comes to living for God, we just cross our arms. We close our eyes We ignore what the preacher says.
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We say well if he don't say what I want and meet my fleshly needs I he don't have nothing to say to me That's not what we're here to do
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God wants people to stand up to rise up to say it's gonna be God's way and God's will and I want to serve
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Him I want to submit myself to the living God of the universe That's how you have success
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That's how you have growth That's how you are rewarded because you're diligently seeking him
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Now look y 'all can get mad at me all you want it's fine you can hate me You can vote me out tomorrow if you want to But here's the thing my friends
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God didn't call and equip me to be what you want He called and equip me to be what you need and what y 'all need more than anything else right now is to understand that there is a
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God and He wants to reward you. He wants to pay out those wages, but you have got to diligently seek him
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He's looking for leaders that will be here. He's looking for leaders and people that will be committed to the
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Great Commission He's looking for a people that will be committed to studying their Bible every single day
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Praying every single day seeking God diligently every single day
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And you don't have to get to where you're gonna be on day one if you're starting over here
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And you haven't read your Bible for years You can't even remember the last time you prayed and way over there is a guy or gal that reads their
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Bible every day and prays Every day don't try to be that today Start small do something read your
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Bible today pray Today, and then you know what you do Read your
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Bible tomorrow Pray tomorrow, and then read your Bible the next day pray the next day
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And when God shows you something in his word that is either incorrect in your life Or in your church life or your work life or your marriage
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Change it Fierce resistance to change whether it's in your personal life in the church or wherever it's at is not scriptural and It's killing y 'all it's killing you and God wants so much more for you because the people we need are already here and I plead and I beg and I've been preaching for two years
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When's it gonna come When are people gonna get sick and tired of it always being the way it's always been with all the downtrodden in the decline
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Do you know in 2008 y 'all had almost 200 people on average in attendance here? God can do that again
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We got some of the greatest collection of Christians I've ever met in my life in this room But the time to work is now
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The time for submission to God and to his word and to be devoted to prayer is now
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And it'll change everything Don't be like our friend from the first paragraph
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Don't wait All the statistics are clear don't wait until we're in desperation mode
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And we know the money's ran out and we're know it's only a matter of time for the doors are closed. Don't wait until you're 300 miles above the ground.
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I'm sorry 300 miles from the airport 600 feet above the ground no fuel Descending rapidly and all
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God says to you that point as well repeat after me our Father which art in heaven the time to act now
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We can do this You can do this There's nothing holding you back
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There's nothing preventing you from being all God wants you to be except for one thing What's in that circle?