The Keys to Unlock Life Changing Prayer | The Book Of Luke Week 5

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- No, you get this -- this kind of thing.

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She's knocking with conviction.

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She's talking with conviction.

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Jesus is trying to say this to us:

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Pray with conviction.

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- Hey, I'm Kyle.

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- I'm Hannah, and welcome to Crossroads.

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This week, we're in our final week of the Book of Luke,

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and we're calling it Stuff Jesus Made Up.

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Because you know what? Jesus had some parables.

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He made those up,

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but they actually have truth for our lives.

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- Well, somebody else who likes to make things up,

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our senior pastor, Brian Tome. - That's right.

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- He's got a message for us

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and yet another famous parable from Jesus Himself.

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Let's hear what Brian has to say.

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- There are blessing God has in store for you

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that you will not get until you pray.

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Hey, I'm Brian, Pastor at Crossroads.

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Great to be with you today.

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Yeah, I know, I know, the pastor guy

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is going to talk about prayer.

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Let me tell you why.

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Because I want more stuff for you. I really do.

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And you might even think that's weird or dirty.

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Let me tell you about a recent story

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that just happened to me a few weeks ago.

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I was at an event and and I said,

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"Hey, anybody have any any needs,

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anything you want more with?"

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And a guy raised his hand.

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It was about 120 people or so there.

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He raised his hand and he said,

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"Yeah, I've got a lung issue I'd like prayer for."

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I said, "Well, let's, let's pray about that."

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So I came up, put my hands on him,

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and a couple other guys came up as well,

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put my hands on, we're praying for him.

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As I was praying by I could feel heat in my hand

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and I wondered if it was just me.

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I said, "You feel that heat?"

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I stopped in the middle of prayer.

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I said, "You feel that heat?" He said, "Yeah, I do."

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So we prayed and amen, amen.

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And it was nice. Fine time.

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A lot of times you pray

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and you think that nothing has happened.

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Well, I get an Instagram message from him

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about two weeks later says,"

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I just got back from the VA.

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They've taken X-rays.

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I have no more of anything in my lungs.

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He listen to my lungs.

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He said everything is good.

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The doctor can't explain it. It's awesome."

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Real, verifiable, crazy healing took place.

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Let me tell you, I've seen a few of those in my days,

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and sometimes they're not the big, big ones like that.

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Sometimes it's just things of God meeting your needs

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when you're at the very end of your rope

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and you might have a hard time with that,

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you might struggle with that.

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Let me tell you, the greatest reason to pray

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is when you've seen things happen when you pray,

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because when you don't see things happening,

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you're not going to pray.

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Seven things I want to give you today real quickly.

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Number one is this:

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When we pray, we have to have the right theology,

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that is the right belief about God.

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When someone comes to Jesus with a lung issue

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or a --- no one does come to Him with a lung issue in the Bible.

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But if someone comes with an eye issue, an ear issue,

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paralysis issue, a demon issue, whatever it is,

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He never says, "Well, it was God's will

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that you be blind.

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Well, it was God's will that you have epilepsy."

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He never does that.

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He always treats those sorts of things as things

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that are outside of the original created order.

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And so He prays for it.

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And you have to believe

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when someone has something wrong with them,

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none of these weenie boy, weenie girl prayers

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of, "Well, God, if it's Your will,

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then make this person be able to see again."

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No, it's his will that they see again, it's His will

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that they'd not have ever been blind to begin with.

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You have to have the right theology

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and a sense of boldness.

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The second thing, the second thing you have to have

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is you have to be on guard against your orphan heart.

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All of us have orphan hearts.

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The Bible says that we are --

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We are we are adopted into the family of God.

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He gives us the right to become children of God.

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Now I know we're in the Luke series

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and we're going to get just a moment into the parable

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that we're going to have that's around prayer,

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but before I do this parable, I just need to make sure

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you have some of the basic ground rules for prayer

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before we get into it.

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Orphan heart means that we naturally feel

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separate from God

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and we feel like God's holding out on us.

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This is naturally that happens,

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which is like some people are naturally blind

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or naturally deaf.

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We naturally feel like God is distant from us.

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We feel like He's holding out from us.

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It's why we're all into fairsies in our culture.

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You have that. I have to have that.

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I have that. You have to have that.

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It's why you might have a lung disease right now

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and maybe someone prayed for you

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and God has not healed it.

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And you might be upset, like,

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"Does God not care for me?

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Why doesn't God care for me?

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I didn't get my healing."

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Or this person died and God didn't stop them from dying.

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So therefore, my orphan heart causes me

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to be mad at God and disbelieve in God

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because I'm bitter or causes me to feel guilty

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that I haven't gotten that

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or more prideful that I have

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that we have to guard against this.

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This is a thing between us and God

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and we never know what God's going to do,

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when He's going to do it and why and how.

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The third thing that happens is we take initiative.

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You've got to take initiative.

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When I get down to pray, I'm doing something.

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I kind of wish the church that I pastor,

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Crossroads where we have buildings,

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it kind of was -- it'd kind of be cool

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if you ever came to one of the buildings that I pastor,

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if there was he kneelers.

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I used to go to a church, an Episcopal church,

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where we knelt and it was like --

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just like you're taking initiative, like time to pray,

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like, "Okay, I'm getting on it. Time to pray.

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I'm getting --" I like that.

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You have to take initiative.

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I read through the books

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of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,

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the four biographies of Jesus.

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And I just -- I just counted up all

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the different times when Jesus did miracles.

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And there's 41 of them, by the way.

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Let me let me read one for you

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out of the Book of Luke, chapter 18.

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Here's what it says:

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41 different instances of healings, miracles.

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34 of the 41, somebody takes the initiative.

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This guy's got to say what he wants.

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Somebody else, of the remaining 7, at least 5 of them,

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Jesus still tells the person to take initiative?

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Go show yourself the priest.

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Go down to wash off in the pool of Siloam.

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34 of 41 times, the first step is taken by the person

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or a friend of theirs.

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Friends who bring a paralyzed guy, as an example,

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or a master who's coming to intercede for a servant.

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Just wants to see initiative.

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There are things that are going to happen in your life,

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whether you pray or not, because God is good,

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He's gracious, He's faithful, He's generous.

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And there's certain things, for whatever reason,

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you don't get until you take initiative.

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This is really cool.

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It says there could be amazing things

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that could break in your life

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if you simply take the initiative and ask.

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Why don't we ask? Why don't we take the initiative?

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Four, you have to believe. Believe.

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You have to have the faith that what you're asking

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you're going to get,

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what you're asking God is going to say yes to.

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How much belief? How much faith?

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Well, according to Jesus in Luke 17:6, Jesus says,

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How much faith? How much belief?

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A mustard seed. Just -- Just a little.

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Just a little bit. A mustard seed.

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Every time I pray for something that's big,

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or even small, I have a percentage of myself

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that doesn't believe,

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a percentage that is struggling with it.

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One time a guy comes to Jesus and says,

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"I believe, help me in my unbelief."

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Wait a minute, you believe or you don't believe?

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It's always a percentage of both.

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When that guy came to me for me

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to pray for him for his lung disease,

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I was probably, oh, I might have been 20% sure

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that day that God would heal that man. Maybe 20%.

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Sometimes I pray for things and it's like I'm 5% sure.

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Sometimes I pray for things and I'm 90% sure.

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The 90% sure things don't always come to pass

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and sometimes the 5% things come to pass.

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I can't explain why this is,

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it's just one of the variables.

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But you have to have enough belief to ask,

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to talk to God.

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Do you want more?

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Do you want something from God that your pocketbook,

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that your personality, that your drive can't pull off?

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That is why you'd pray.

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- Hey, quick interruption.

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the very first time, you can go to Crossroads.net/give.

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Now let's head back to Brian.

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- We've got to recognize and have the belief

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that God answers every prayer.

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He does. He either answers with yes, no, or wait.

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Every prayer gets answered.

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And we don't know why He says yes to some things,

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no to other things. wait on other things.

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We don't know why, but here's what we know:

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When we pray, we can pray more than one time.

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I find this incredibly encouraging.

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Jesus tells a parable, this is all to setup the parable.

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It's a parable about the fifth mark

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of how to increase your yeses

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is when you are persistent.

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One time Jesus was praying for a guy, he's blind.

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And then he, after he prays, says,

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"How are things going? Does this work?'

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And the guy goes,

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"Oh, I see images moving around like trees."

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He doesn't know what people and trees,

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the difference because he'd never actually seen them,

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he's felt them.

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Jesus goes, "Oh, OK, well, it's a little progress,

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but we're not there yet."

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So he prays again and then he's fully healed.

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I find it incredibly encouraging

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that Jesus had to pray more than once to get a yes.

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So if He is way more, 10 times, 100 times,

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1000 times a better prayer person than I am

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and more worthy than I am, and more what--

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understands the spiritual more than I am,

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then I shouldn't be upset when I'm praying

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for something 20 times or 200 times. Persistence.

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This is why Jesus tells this story, this parable,

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we're now going to get to in Luke 18:1

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that is about why we need to be persistently praying

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and not giving up, to keep asking,

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even for the same thing.

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Again, your orphan heart may tell you,

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"I asked once and I'm done

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because God is going to upset at me."

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God's not upset with with us when we keep asking.

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I'm not upset with my my kids when they keep asking.

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I get a little annoyed after the 5th or 10th time,

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but that's also because they're really not hearing me.

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It's not because I want them to stop asking for something.

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God has never tired of hearing your voice.

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He wants you to ask,

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and that's why Jesus tells this parable.

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- Then Jesus told his disciples a parable

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to show them that they should always pray

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and not give up.

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A judge lacking compassion,

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who neither feared God nor cared what people thought,

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governed over a town.

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In the same town there was a widow,

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tenacious and steadfast,

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who sought justice against her adversary.

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Repeatedly she came before the judge pleading,

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"Grant me justice against my adversary."

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Unmoved, he sent her away.

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She returned over and over and over and over and over,

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pleading, "Grant me justice against my adversary."

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For some time he refused, but eventually

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he said to himself, "Even though I don't fear God

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or care what people think,

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yet because this widow keeps bothering me,

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I will see that she gets justice

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so she will not beat me down with her continual coming."

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And the Lord said:

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- We have an unjust judge

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who's not doing the right thing.

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The woman keeps asking and asking, keeps coming,

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like, "Please, please, would you give me justice?

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Hello? I still need an answer today.

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There's been injustice.

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Would you come please meet my needs?"

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No response, no response, no response.

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And she keeps coming.

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She keeps knocking.

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And Jesus is saying, eventually this guy's worn down,

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who's not a good guy, not a good guy at all.

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He has no fear of God, no fear of men.

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He's just -- he's just a slime ball.

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That's what Jesus is saying he's a slime ball judge.

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Are all judges are slime balls?

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God loves judges and attorneys,

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especially if you're one. Really.

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But this guy doesn't have anything about him

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that would do the right thing.

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Jesus says because she's persistent, he takes action.

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And what Jesus is doing is saying,

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"Hey, we've got a heavenly judge who's good

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and who's loving and who's wonderful and great.

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He's going to be prone to follow through

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when we persevere."

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Now, we might ask, "Well, why?

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Why would it be that he would persevere one time? Why?

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If God wants to do it,

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why wouldn't he answer the first time?"

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Don't know.

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There's a lot of things about prayer we don't know,

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a lot of things about how the heavenly realms operate

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that we don't know.

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But I'm telling you, there are things for you in heaven

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that you don't have because you haven't asked.

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And there are things that are in heaven that are for you

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that you don't have because you haven't asked enough.

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Persevere. Persevere. Keep asking.

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Keep going to God over what it is.

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Your justice, your healing, your loneliness,

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your financial difficulty you're in,

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your mental illness, your kid's affliction,

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your kid's loneliness, whatever it is, keep going.

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This woman, while she is doing, while she's knocking,

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you get the sense that it is [knocking loudly].

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It's not, [softly] "Hello. Hello.

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I'm just here to bother you again today. Hello."

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No. You get this [knocking loudly], this kind of thing.

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She's knocking with conviction.

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She's talking with conviction.

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Jesus is trying to say this to us:

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Pray with conviction.

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Someone once said, "If your prayers don't move you,

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why would they move God?

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I'm actually offended.

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I'm bothered when I go and I hear somebody

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present something and they just read off a script

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and they don't have any enthusiasm or conviction.

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I am, I'm offended.

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I'm like, I would have just rather read your script.

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I want to hear that.

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I think God is similar to that.

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God is okay with pre-rehearsed prayers.

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He's okay with prayers that have been written down.

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But man, when you read them or you tell them,

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you've got to mean it.

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You've got to talk to Him.

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You've got to put some life into it,

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not just to keep His attention,

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but because you have conviction.

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Do you really want it?

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Remember back to the initiative, we've got to step up.

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There's there's a responsiveness that God has to that.

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Now, again, I can't explain this all

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to you all the full way, but, you know

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if you've got some massive affliction that comes to you,

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like your ear lobes keep dropping off

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and you only have one left

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and one's just dropped off and they told you

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the other ear lobe is going to drop off, like that.

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We all heard that of that or cancer or something like that.

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What do you want?

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Do you want a prayer when someone comes and goes,

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"Okay, Lord. If it's Your will, I pray that

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You would make this person have

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whatever you want them to have happen.

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But we don't want to force ourselves upon You

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and we're only going to ask you once. Amen."

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That's sort of who I went to seminary with.

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God's decided what He's going to do,

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and I just have to get on that plan.

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But there's an X factor of there are certain things

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that God will not do unless we pray.

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I don't know why. It's just the way it is.

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That's why Jesus tells us to pray.

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Do you want someone in your hour of need

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praying that kind of prayer, or do you --

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which might have been from the Presbyterian Church,

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which is I was ordained in the Presbyterian Church,

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something like that.

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Or do you want someone coming to you from

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the Holy Fire First Pentecostal Baptism

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Touch of the Holy Spirit Healing Church?

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Yeah, you want those folks.

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When you're -- when the chips are down,

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you want people like going, "I believe it.

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I'm going to put --" bamm.

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They're putting hands on, going, "God, we pray

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that You would bring your angels down right now,

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for healing, we pray.

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We pray a wiping out elimination of everything

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that is wrong in the bloodstream."

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And you want that? You do.

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Why do we want that?

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Maybe it's because we're in touch with who God is.

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Jesus one time talks about moving mountains.

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In Mark 11:22:

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We already dealt with the belief part here.

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We already dealt with that.

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But here He says, "Taken up and cast into the sea."

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There's energy there. There's conviction that's there.

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Taken up a cast in the sea.

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It's not. "Lord, I pray that You just gradually,

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over eons of time, erode all the elements

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of the mountain into the sea."

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No, there's a there's an energy to it

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and there's a specificity to it.

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That's the last thing I would say.

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When I pray for things,

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I'm thinking about things on the molecular level.

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I'm thinking for a lung disease,

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I'm imagining lung tissue, I'm seeing veins.

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I'm asking God to re-knit that person together.

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I'll quote scripture like in the book of Psalm, it says,

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God knits us together in our mother's womb,

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which is why I believe that life is in the womb,

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because God's placed life there in that womb.

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And so as He's knit together that life in the womb,

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He also can re-knit together.

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So I'm seeing God come in and move His hands.

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I'm praying for somebody who has seizures,

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as I'm praying right now for friends who --

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friends a couple of month old baby

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that's having epileptic seizures.

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I've prayed for them twice, been with them twice,

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praying more often during the day.

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But I'm imagining neurochemicals switching

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through the brain and them going in harmony.

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I'm imagining synaptic connections

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and having them wired perfectly.

00:20:37

I'm imagining a dead spot on the brain coming to life.

00:20:40

I'm being specific with it.

00:20:43

Sometimes I think I'm being specific

00:20:44

just because it keeps me motivated,

00:20:46

it keeps me aware of what's happening.

00:20:49

Be specific.

00:20:51

I'll tell you what, if you do any one of these 7 things,

00:20:54

any one of these things, and you knock,

00:20:57

you knock on the door of God's heart's in prayer,

00:21:02

you're going to have a more meaningful prayer experience,

00:21:05

a more meaningful prayer life.

00:21:06

And you just might get something

00:21:11

that's stored up in heaven

00:21:13

that you wouldn't have had if you didn't ask.

00:21:16

That's why Jesus gives us this parable.

00:21:20

I want to actually pray for you right now.

00:21:22

I wish I knew your specific things

00:21:24

that I could pray for, but I just want to pray

00:21:27

a general prayer for you for your prayer life.

00:21:30

Let me pray for you.

00:21:31

God, I thank you for giving people the attention span

00:21:34

to hang in there this entire time.

00:21:37

And I thank you, God, for being a God

00:21:39

who wants to listen and wants to respond.

00:21:41

Lord, we know that there are significant issues

00:21:44

that many of us face,

00:21:45

or just significant things that we want,

00:21:47

things that we'd like to see added to our life.

00:21:50

God, would you here this prayer of ours right now,

00:21:52

as I say this, folks, just say in one sentence

00:21:56

very clearly what you want.

00:21:58

Hear these prayers as these people say...

00:22:03

We trust you, God, and we ask You,

00:22:06

we want to persistently ask You to make this happen.

00:22:10

And I pray these things according to

00:22:11

the character and identity of Jesus. Amen.

00:24:40

- Well, we hope that message impacted you, and

00:24:42

if it did, you can support messages

00:24:44

just like this one and spreading them

00:24:46

all over the world by giving a crossroads.net/give.

00:24:50

- That's all we have for you today.

00:24:51

We'll see you next time on Crossroads

00:24:53

when we'll be starting a brand new series.

00:24:56

- Whether it's your Feel Good Summer Spotify playlist

00:25:00

or your parents, Can I Kick It House Party Mixed CD,

00:25:03

a great collection of songs

00:25:05

can make you feel all the feels.

00:25:08

One of the greatest playlists ever made is from the Bible.

00:25:11

That's right, the Bible.

00:25:13

Written mostly by the notorious king and poet David,

00:25:17

the Book of Psalms has been helping people

00:25:18

feel all the feels for 3000 years.

00:25:24

The Psalms are filled with anger, heartache,

00:25:26

joy, victory, suffering. It's got it all.

00:25:31

Whatever you're feeling, God can handle it.

00:25:33

Join us this summer as we experience

00:25:36

all the feels through the Book of Psalms.

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