A (3:50)
Lunch completely made me personally a little gaslight. Okay. You feel gaslit? I'm drippy from lunch. Is that too much or not enough or just the right amount? You know what I mean? If you're new around here, I feel like I owe you an explanation. At Red Rocks Church, we take a few things very serious. Building the church as kingdom builders, Helping people to know God and live on purpose, and changing the world and making heaven more crowded. That's what we're all about. And. And in the process, we like to have a little bit of fun. So if that sounds like your cup of tea, then you found the right church. And if not, at least you found out now you know. Anyways, the title of this message is really more of a thought that has been in my heart over the last couple weeks. And it's this. All prayer is good, but some prayer is better. All prayer is good. And some prayers are better. So let's start from the beginning. All prayer is good, let's say in church right now. Your phone buzzed with the text message. I know none of you would ever be distracted by your phones in church because you're all taking diligent notes, but let's just say it happened. And the text message read, can we talk now? How does that make you feel? Just in your gut, can we talk? A little nervous? Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. You want to throw open your mouth just a little bit. Mom, spaghetti. Can we talk? Uh, oh, that's like, ugh. Can we. You start just kind of running through every scenario in your head. Did I. Did I. Did I say something? Did I make them mad? Did I. Did I forget their birthday? Are they one of those adults that makes a really big deal out of their birthday month and I forgot the whole month? Worst case scenario, do they need help moving? Oh, you'll get me pizza. Deal. Can we talk? Can we talk? Usually it's not good to get that text message. It makes you feel something in your gut, and I think that's how a lot of us feel when we hear that God wants to talk. This is what David writes in Psalm 27, verse 8, My heart has heard from you. Come and talk with me. And my heart responds, this is David. Lord, I am coming. The question is, how does your heart respond to God's invitation? Come and talk with me. Because the original design of the Garden of Eden was just for God to be in relationship with Adam and Eve. That's all he wanted, was to go on long walks and have long talks with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. Until that one fateful day when they ate the fruit. And everything all the sudden change. All of a sudden, Adam and Eve realize they're naked. And the Bible says they go and make underwear out of fig leaves to cover themselves up. First of all, how chafing is that? But second, what they're really doing is attempting to hide from God. This is what Genesis 3, 8 and 9 says. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God who walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. And then the Lord God called to the man, where are you? Translation can we talk? Here's a really important question. What tone do you hear in your head when you read that? Because that might be a great test as to how much you understand grace in the aftermath of sin. Especially when God says, can we talk about. Do you hear the sharpened voice of disappointment? Where are you, Adam? You and me need to talk right now, Eve. Or do you hear the more gentle concern tone of a loving father? Hey, guys, what's going on? Let's let's talk. When God says, can we talk? It is never to condemn you. It is always to connect with you. And I believe there are three things that keep us from walking and talking with God about anything and everything. And the first one is this inferiority. Inferiority will keep you from talking to God all the time. Shame and condemnation give you the feelings of inferiority, and they keep you from prayer. If you think about it, when you mess up, when you sin, when you fall short. And now you know better. And last time you swore, I'll never do this again. And yet here you are. Well, in that moment, condemnation begins to lie to you. God doesn't want to talk to you right now, so maybe you better steer clear and give him a week or two weeks, depending on what you did, to calm down, and then you and him can talk some more. But if you go read the Gospels, Jesus has conversations all the time with imperfect and broken people, as if there are any other kinds of people. And he loves those conversations. Jesus talked to Zacchaeus, the wee little man. That's a bummer way for history to remember you. He was a tax collector, the equivalent of a modern day mobster. And Jesus said, I'm coming over to your house tonight, Zacchaeus, for dinner and some good conversation. Your sin does not keep God from you. Jesus made sure of that on the cross. But your shame will keep you from talking to him all the time. Do not let the feeling of inferiority keep you from what might just be the best part of your relationship with God, which is prayer. Everything about relationships is enriched by communication. I've heard it said this way. A relationship without communication is really just two people. And you need to believe that God wants to talk with you and he's not demanding it like the angry principal who's calling you into his office. Can we talk? He's more like the dad who shows up at your school and calls you out of class early to spend the rest of the afternoon with you. That is the heart of God. Because I don't know if anybody in here would say, I know, I just, I pray way too much. Like, been feeling convicted about it. Like I'm just talking to God all the time. It's like, this is too much, you know, I don't think any of us would say that. I wouldn't say that. And that's why messages about prayer are. Are so tricky, because we all know that we should be praying more, including me. But if that, if you know, like the classic message about prayer, that feels more Like a sleeper hold of guilt. You need to pray more. Like, if that message was gonna work, then it would have already worked. Guilt does not get you to pray more. You know what I think? I think when you're in love, you'll pray. And the more you get to know God, the more you will want to talk to him, the more you'll fall in love, and the more you'll want to spend time with them, and the more it'll begin to change your entire life. And can I just tell you. He can't wait. He can't wait. Do not let inferiority keep you from prayer. And number two, do not let intimidation keep you from talking to God either. So come with me on a little bit of a. Of a theological journey. James 5:16 Is this really epic verse that says the earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Now, that verse is awesome, but if you're anything like me, it was awesome until you got to that part about the righteous person and you thought, oh. Cause I know me and I know what I did last summer. And I actually relate way more to verses like Romans chapter 3, verse 10, that says the Scriptures say nobody is righteous. This is really more my cup of tea. Not even one. But hold on just a second. If we're going to talk about you talking to God, then we need to talk about your standing with God, which we see just 12 verses later in Romans 3:22. We are made right righteous with God, not by our behavior, but by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And who's this for? This is true for everybody who believes, no matter who we are. If you believe Jesus is Lord and you have made him your Lord and Savior, then this verse applies to you. So do amazing verses like Romans 8:15, where it gets even better. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful. Slaves, where are you? Adam, we need to talk. Eve, instead, you have received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children. And now we get to call him Abba. Father, that is so good. It makes me think about that moment when Jesus was baptized by his cousin John in the Jordan river when Jesus comes up out of that water. The Father's voice from the heavens is booming, and. And God says, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. Reminds me of that moment in Lion King where Mufasa talks to Simba from the clouds. Like, where do you think Disney got it? Matthew 3:17. A voice from heaven said, this is my dearly loved son. Son, remember who you are. You bring me great joy. He brings me great joy. And this was before Jesus did any miracles. This was before Jesus walked on water. This was before Jesus went to the cross and the Father was already pleased with him. Why? Because that's how it works when you're a kid. It's not about worth, it's about birth. You're not loved for what you can do. You are simply loved for who you are. And that is the foundation. Foundation. That is the starting point of what it means to be loved by God, of understanding the gospel. My four year old daughter, Kinsley, she doesn't do a lot around the house to earn my love. You could argue she's not done anything around the house to earn my love, but she knows she has it. A few days ago we were going to the park and she wanted to ride her scooter and she insisted on wearing her brand new cheetah print dress shoes. And I told her, I said, these are not for scootering. These are not for playing at the park or running. Your toes are gonna get sore and I am not gonna carry your scooter. When that inevitably happens. She says, I know, Daddy. And I said, but do you though? Because this has happened before like a week ago and it's like you already forgot. Do you understand? She says, I understand. Thirty minutes later, I'm walking home from the park, I've got a scooter in my right hand, I've got cheetah print dress shoes in my left hand, and I've got a four year old girl with sore toes on my shoulders who could not be less concerned. It's like she has amnesia, she doesn't like pull her own weight and she don't weigh a lot to begin with. I mean, there's a little bit of audacity to that kind of confidence. She just knows dad loves me. And what you need to get and I need to get is that if you have put your faith in the grace of Jesus, then that means that you are now robed in the righteousness of Jesus. And that means you've been adopted into the family as a son or as a daughter. And you get to call on him as Abba Father. And it means your prayers are powerful and they produce wonderful results in your, in your life. Need a little bit of that. Kinsley Confidence for two reasons. When you go to God. Number one, because communication makes relationships better. And number two, because your prayers change things. Through prayer, God has, for whatever reason, decided to give you and me a say in the universe that is profound. The prayers not of perfect people, but of imperfect people, just like you and me, who have been made righteous by a perfect God. Those prayers change the world. Do not let inferiority keep you from talking to God. Do not let intimidation keep you from talking to God. And finally, do not let insignificance keep you from talking to God either. You ever said this? I'm guilty of this. When somebody asks you, have you prayed about it? Have you ever said, I don't want to bother God with that? Big man upstairs got a lot on his plate. You know what I mean? Okay, so, with all due respect, no, I don't. I mean, he got a lot on his plate. The world's pretty messed up, I'll give you that. But you are implying that his plate is finite. And. And Paul says in. In Philippians, in all things, by prayer and by petition, present your request to God. Do not. Do not minimize his power by thinking he has to, for some reason, choose between helping you with your promotion or feeding kids in Africa. His capacity is not limited, like you or me. He's not like us, you guys. His ways and thoughts are beyond ours, as high as the heavens are above the earth. He knows every star in the sky, and. And he knows every hair on your head at the same time. What does that mean? It means he's infinite in every way, and he intimately knows your name. And what maybe you just called insignificant on the brink of prayer, he actually wants to call important. So your pet. That's sick. Your kids, soccer tryouts, the wallet that you lost again, anything and everything. If it matters to you, it matters to God. And he wants to talk to you about all of it. The feeling of insignificance in God's sight is such a lie. And I'll just open up for a few minutes. If you're anything like me, the reason that you don't pray as much as you know you should is because you think at the end of the day, God is going to do what God is going to do regardless of you. And the only reason you pray a little bit is because you. You feel like you. You should. But because of this, you feel insignificant in your relationship with him. And your prayer life feels uninspired and certainly unchallenged. And you make up for that lack of prayer by upping your Christian podcast intake or worrying and calling it prayer. And what you and I need to hear today is James, chapter four, verse two, that says, you do not have. If we could just get this. You do not have because you do not ask God now, the best way to know what that verse means is to first establish what it doesn't mean. That verse does not mean that you know what you're going to have, even if you don't ask, because God's got a sovereign plan and he's going to do it regardless of you. That's not what that means. That is not a trick verse. It's not even a layered verse. It means exactly what you. What it says you don't have because you don't ask. Which means there are some things that. That are good that have happened in your life up until this point, and the only reason they've happened is because you or somebody else has prayed for it to happen. And the flip side of that, there are some things that have not happened, but they could. And the only reason they haven't is because you have not asked. You do not have, because you do not ask. Our word for the year is what more. I believe this with all my heart. The more you pray, the more God will do. All prayer is good. Do not let your prayer life be bullied by inferiority, intimidation, or insignificance. Like, you ever hear that, that, like, super Christian pray so profoundly you want to, like, take your shoes off because it's holy ground. And they're praying in the King James Version and these and thou's and dropping every Hebrew name for God. And you're like, wow, God is definitely answering that. But then you try praying and you're like, God, I mean, sir, dad, sorry about all the things I've done. I don't know. And, like, you think that just because you can't go straight to the spiritual deep end, that God doesn't want to hear from you and what you need to hear? Like, do you have any idea how much he loves when his kids wrestle through the process of figuring out how to talk to him and how to. How to communicate with him? Like, Kinsley, she there, there. There's a few words that she messes up. One of them is yellow. She pronounces it Lelo with an L. And, oh, it is the cutest thing. I'm like, always do this. I want you to be a grown woman at job interviews saying lelo just. And our bedtime routine, I snuggle her in bed. And she always wants to do trivia questions, Bible trivia for some reason, space trivia, and then Disney princess trivia. And so I always lead her in the question so that she has to say, lelo, what color was Belle's dress when she danced with the beast. Lelo, what color was the candlestick guy from that movie? Lelo. Very good. What colors? The sun, dad. You know what? I don't care what it. What color's the sun? Lelo? Very good. By the way, you're not supposed to look at the sun. Like, you think God cares that you get words wrong? You think God as a father cares that you fumble through trying to talk to him and pray to him? And it's not flawless. I mean, guys, this isn't seminary. You're not being graded. This is a relationship. Just talk to him and let it be gritty and let it be flawed. One of the most powerful prayers, I think, in the New Testament was two words from the apostle Peter while he was walking on water, but then he started drowning. He goes, jesus, help. There's nothing immaculate about that prayer, but it was real and it was authentic, and God loved it. Zero eloquence. The prayers of a righteous person, not the prayers of an articulate person. The prayers of somebody who has been saved by the grace of Jesus, adopted into the family, calling God Abba. Father. Those prayers are backed by the power of God. Those prayers produce wonderful results. All prayer is good. Amen. With that said, some prayers are better. And this just makes complete sense, because in relationships, everything rises and falls based on communication. My wife and I have been in relationship for 15 years. We've communicated the whole time, but we're a lot better at it now than we used to be. I'm a lot better at talking to women than I was when we got married 10 years ago. I used to say stuff like this to Sam. I'd say, we're talking at the end of the day, and I'd go, oh. And she's bothered, you know, by something. I used to say. Babe, you need to calm down. The thing that the girl said to you at the party with the tone, and it rubbed you the wrong, that shouldn't bother you. I'll fix it for you next time. Just do it this way, and then you won't have this problem. I used to say this stuff, and there's some young guys in here like, what's the problem? It's gonna be a long journey for you, buddy. A long journey for you, okay? We put a lot of work in over the years to get better at communicating. Because everything about relationships rises and falls based on communication. And all prayer is good, but some prayers are better. I want you to look at Luke 11, verse 1. Once Jesus was in a certain place, praying as he finished one of his Disciples came to him and said, lord, teach us to pray. Just as John taught his disciples. Here's what's interesting about this. They already prayed, but they wanted to get better at it. Because the better we get at talking to God, the more we begin to experience everything God has for us. And we get better at him just by talking to him, just by trying. All prayer is good. But what kinds of prayers are better? I'm so glad you asked. First category. All prayer is good. Some prayers, though, are more mature. And we know from Ephesians 3:20 that we have a God who can do immeasurably say it more than all we could ever ask or imagine. But here's the thing. Here's the catch, if you will. More in your life requires maturity. So First Corinthians 13:11. Paul says, When I was a child, I spoke and thought and I reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. God is never the limiting factor in our lives. We are. And sometimes our prayers are, too. So let me just give you a few examples of an immature prayer. And when I say immature, I don't mean that as a slight. I mean that as a fact. Kinsley is immature in a lot of ways because she's brand new to this whole life thing. Some of us are brand new to this whole faith thing. And all prayer is good. But some mindsets about prayer might be limiting the more that God wants to do in your life. So here's an example. Here's a. Here's an example of an immature prayer template, if you will. God, help me to not reap what I've been sowing. We see that and we laugh at it. But we're all about to be called out, because when you fill in real life to this template, we're all guilty. Including me. God, help me to pass this test, even though I've been playing video games and not studying. Just sort of zap it into my brain. God, would you bless my finances? Even though there's an Amazon truck outside my apartment every day? God, please help my girlfriend to not be pregnant. Oh, we can't talk real life in here. God, help me to not reap what I've been sowing? God, would you. Would you help me to. Would you give me peace? Even though I stay up late every night scrolling and binging another episode and I say yes to everything, can you still somehow make my life peaceful? Help me to not reap what I've been. And here's the thing, guys. Desperate prayers are beautiful. Desperate Prayers are beautiful, but you know what I'm talking about. These are the sort of I only pray them as a last resort every time God, would you bail me out of my own decisions? Sort of, sort of desperate prayers. And there's one thing you need to know about God, and I love you enough to say this to you because it's the truth. God is way more interested in changing you than he is in changing your situation or your circumstance. Now that does not mean he doesn't care about it. However, it should be noted your transformation is his priority. And as he changes you, then you and him get around to changing the situation. So here's a more mature prayer template. God, change me so I sow better seeds because Galatians tells us I will reap what I sow. So change me so I sow better seeds. Make me more disciplined and patient so I can save the money I want to spend. God make me a better steward of my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit sexually and daily habits so that I cultivate more clarity and energy to better serve you. God make me more like you. So when people look at me, they see somebody who knows Jesus. Man, those are dangerous prayers, but they're powerful and they produce wonderful results. One more Imagine for a second that you are in the the gym of life. Welcome to my fantastical imagination. And you have on your back the squat bar, the heavy squat bar of your circumstance. Now the easy prayer is this God make the weight lighter. And I get that. The more mature prayer is this God make me stronger. Oh, you have any idea how much God loves that prayer? God make me stronger. I could list examples for an hour, but I'll just do it for one minute. Easy prayer God make my spouse less annoying and better at being my spouse. Mature prayer God, search my heart, give me more patience, humility and love. Make me a better spouse. Easy prayer God, make my kids behave before I lose my mind. Mature prayer God, give me the wisdom, consistency and grace to raise them well and make them behave before I lose my mind in Jesus name Easy prayer God, get me a new marriage. Mature prayer God, give me a new vision of a new marriage with the same person. Easy prayer God, drop 1100 miraculously into my bank account for rent again this month. Mature prayer God, give me the courage to take FPU this year. Give me the grit to pay off debt. Give me kingdom builder mindsets and habits so one day I I've got so much financial peace I'm paying for other people's rent. Easy prayer God, I Hate my boss. Kill him. Amen. Mature prayer. God, help me not waste this season. Use it to make me stronger, better, and more mature. So one day when you put me in charge, my employees will have a good boss who leads them. Well, all prayer is good, but some prayers are more mature. And what I mean by that is they are more aligned with God's word, God's kingdom, and God's heart. And you can see that in John 15:7. By the way, the first half of this verse is way more important than the second. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted. The more you know God, the more you'll trust him with the answer. Whether that answer is is yes or whether it's no. At the end of the day, obedience is on us to pray. And the outcome is is his. And I don't always know why. God says yes and God says no. Sometimes he says yes and so much more. Thanks for asking. What took you so long? Sometimes he says no, and it's because he loves you too much to say yes to what you asked him for, because he sees the end from the beginning. And one day you'll be able to see from his vantage point and you'll be so grateful he said no. But sometimes he says no, and there's like, no. It's, like, impossible to know why. I pray with couples in our church all the time who are journeying through infertility and want so bad to have a child, and it hasn't happened. And that prayer is at the very top of my prayer list. I am praying for you. I. My best pastoral answer as to why has that not happened? I don't know. I know that God is good. I know we live in a fallen world where we will have trouble. I know that he draws near to the brokenhearted and he keeps all your tears. But I don't always know. Like, I have prayed for people who have chronic pain, and I've seen them healed miraculously. Why hasn't he healed mine? I don't always. I don't always know. I. If I'll be honest with you, I've prayed less over the last three months, less than you'd think. I probably would be praying as one of your pastors. And the reason is because a few things I really thought was going to happen ended up not happening. And I. I kind of fell back into that rut mindset of God. You're just going to do what you're going to do regardless of my prayers. And this prayer series has reawakened something in my heart. And my mindset has shifted from God, as soon as possible, please. To as long as it takes. God, as soon as possible. That's a good prayer. It really is. But this prayer, as long as it takes, I won't stop praying. I'm gonna pray through. I'm not gonna stop on the sixth lap when the miracle might be coming on lap number seven. As long as it takes. And that's why prayer, prayer is first and foremost. Foremost not about getting answers, but about seeking God. Sean said this years ago. He said, the process of prayer will change you in ways that quick answers to your prayers never could. And I pray for so many quick answered prayers. But you and me both know the process of prayer and pursuing God and getting into his presence, that journey will change you and transform you in ways that an answered prayer just never could. That's why God says, seek me and not my plans. You know Jeremiah 29:11, that I have good plans for you. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you good hope and a future. That's a beautiful promise. But God says, seek the planner, not the plans. That way, even if you don't get all the plans, or you do get the plans, but maybe the plans take longer than you want the plans to take, well, then you will still trust the planner. The prize at the end of the day is the person named Jesus. And the more that you know him, the more that you will want to talk to him. And the more that you talk to him, the more that you will start to trust him, the more you will fall in love with him. Him. And the more your relationship with him will slowly but surely start to change everything about your life. All prayer is good. Last one. Some prayers are bigger, bolder, and more specific. And worship team. You can come back up. You ever shined a flashlight against a wall in a dark room? Because I have. You're like, you need a hobby, dude. I know. Well, I'll tell you what happens. You can imagine it when you're close to the wall. The circle the flashlight makes on the wall is small, and you start to back up and that circle gets bigger. What's happening? The wall is not getting bigger. You can now just see more of it. You're realizing it's bigger than you thought it was. It's called a perspective change. The same thing happens the more that you get to know God. He's not getting bigger and better. He stays the same through the ages. He has always been and will always be. He's not getting bigger and better. You're just getting to know him more. And you're realizing he's bigger and better than you thought he was all along. Your perception of God does not change God, it changes you. And as your God perspective gets bigger, a few things will start to happen in your life. You will begin to live better, you will sleep deeper, and you will start to pray bigger, bolder and more specific. And nobody had a bigger God perspective than David, who prayed this in Psalm 33, verses 6 and 9. Picture David as a shepherd around a dying fire, singing this, writing this psalm, staring up at the Milky Way. The Lord merely spoke and the heavens were created. He breathed the Word and all the stars were born. He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs. Let the whole world fear the Lord and let everyone stand in awe of him. For when he spoke, the world began. It appeared at his command. David staring up at the Milky Way as if to say, God, when I consider the heavens, who is man that you are even mindful of me? And he doesn't even have the luxury of knowing what you and me know about the universe. Universe that out there beyond our Milky way, David, is 80 billion plus more galaxies just like it. Which by the way, is enough galaxies in the universe for every person on this planet to right now have at least 10 of their own. And David is going, are you serious? You breathe and galaxies fly out of your mouth. You spoke, let there be light. And the universe exploded in every direction at the speed of light. You hang constellations across the night sky like you and me would hang ornaments on a Christmas tree. Who am I that you are mindful of? Me. And you know everything about me. You put, you put the, the Mariana's Trench, the waters of the depths of the Pacific Ocean. You store them in Mason jars on shelves in your pantry. The ocean is no mystery to him. It does what he says because he made it. The mountains tremble before him. The stars obey him, the stars praise him. The stars are worshiping him right now because he is the maker of the heavens and the earth. And the bigger your perspective of God gets, the bigger and bold, bolder and more specific you will begin to pray. Nobody in your life ever benefited from you playing small with your God given talents and gifts. And nobody will ever benefit from you praying small with your God given spirit. And sometimes we, we think God appreciates smaller prayers because we don't want to seem too needy or we think he appreciates my Vague prayers so I can give him an out just in case he doesn't do it this way. As if he needs you or me to be his defense attorney to the world when he decides to answer a prayer this way and not that he does not. And here's Mark Batterson with the mic drop quote. Bold prayers honor God, and because of that, God honors bold prayers. God is not offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers. He's offended by anything less. If your prayers aren't impossible to you, they are insulting to God. Think of the history that has been changed by bold prayers. Moses parted the Red Sea with the bold prayer. Joshua leading an army of Israelites in battle. The sun was setting and they needed more time. So Joshua asked God if he would make the sun stand still in the sky. And God answered his prayer by literally stopping the rotation of the earth. You guys, Jesus prayed big and bold prayers and saw big and bold things happen. And before you say, well, that was Jesus, bear in mind that Jesus said you and me would see even greater things than what he saw. Prayer changes things. More history has been made for the prayer closets than political buildings. My dad was a bit of a baseball stud back in the day. And after college, he got an invite to try out for the Cincinnati Reds. And he wanted 7 million. They only wanted to give him 4 million, so that's why it didn't work out. I told him I'd say that and. But he's just a baseball stud. And we used to play every single afternoon and evening. When me and my brother Ryan got home from school, dad got home from work out in the cul de sac in front of the house. He would throw us BP batting practice and, you know, that classic. Until mom called us in for dinner. Picture that, like, until the. The street lights came on and it was too dark to see. And one. There was one evil evening when we were cleaning everything up. And a home run was when you hit the tennis ball from this side of the cul de sac, over the cul de sac into our front yard. And we're walking in and I. I remember saying. I remember this like it was yesterday. I said, dad, how far can you hit it? I said, can you hit it over the house? And now I see it from his perspective, like, that's a hundred feet. Yeah, I can hit it farther than that. But he played it cool. Like, I don't know, let me see that thing. And he picked up the bat and he picked up the tennis ball. And I still see this through the vantage Point of a seven year old kid. I've never seen somebody swing a baseball bat with that much power. And that tennis ball went miles over the house, over our backyard, into the woods behind our backyard. Probably still there. Maybe one day I'll go get it, make my dad sign it, wrap it and give it to myself for my birthday. Bold prayers are essentially us saying, God, how far can you hit this thing? Can you hit it over the house? And how fun it must be for God to play it cool and know I can do immeasurably more than the biggest prayer that you could ever pray. So let's, let's find out. God, can you hit it over the house? Can you show up with some power in my life? Can you show me right now how much bigger you are than the mountain that's standing in front of me? Can you show me right now how much greater your grace is than my. Than my past mistakes? Because Red Rocks Church, you and me are children of the most powerful being in existence. And the Bible that you read from COVID to cover is the story of an almighty God who right now is in the heavens. And he does whatever he wants, whenever he wants. And there's not a person, there's not a leader, there's not a government or a nation on this planet that can shake their fist at him if we're unhappy with how he's choosing to run the universe that he spoke into existence. He is almighty in every way. His love is deeper. His grace goes farther. He is infinite in more ways than you could imagine. He is the God who cannot be exaggerated. And I just think the size of our prayers should reflect the size of our God. And I just think it looks a little silly when that's our dad. And we pray small because we're not trying to seem needy, or we. We pray vague because we're worried he might do it a different way. And praying small helped nobody, ever. All prayer is good, but God really loves big, bold and specific prayers. How far can you hit this? The more you pray, the more he will do for the prayers of an imperfect person like me and you who has been made righteous by the grace of God. Those prayers are powerful and those prayers yield wonderful results. Amen. So at every one of our locations, with every head bound and every eye closed, if you have never made that decision to put your faith in the grace of Jesus, I want to give you that opportunity right now. The Bible says today is the day for salvation. And I believe God has had this moment on your calendar before he even Formed you in your mother's womb. He's been looking forward to this. This is not religion, it's a relationship. And you simply say, yes, Lord, I repent. I've done it this way way long enough. Let's do it your way. Would what Jesus did on the cross count for me as well? Can I give you my sin? And can I have in exchange your righteousness? And if you want to make that decision right now, I'm going to invite you on the count of three to raise your hand. It's not a magical hand raise that saves you. It's just that hand raise seems to solidify a spiritual decision you're already making right now in your soul. So, one. Today is the day for salvation. Don't wait until now, next week. 2. It's just you and God. There's nobody else in here. It's just you and him. 3. There's already hands all over the place. 3. Raise your hand at every location with boldness. Yes, Jesus. Yes, Jesus. I receive your righteousness. Take from me my sin. I repent. I make you my Lord and Savior. Raise your hand with confidence about who your God is and boldness about what he believes about you. There's people being adopted into the family as we speak. Heaven is getting more crowded. I think we can do a little bit better than that and lift up a holy sound in this place. Congratulations on the greatest decision that you will ever make. That will never get old. We're going to go right now into a responsive moment of worship and prayer. And you can sit, you can stand, you can sing, you can pray, you can approach the throne with confidence. A little bit of audacity in that confidence. And what you're going to find in the presence of God, if you go there and he can't wait, if you go there, you will find mercy and you will find grace. And mercy is not getting what you deserve. And grace is you also do get the life you don't deserve. For that is what you will find in the presence of God. Amen. So for the next few moments, let's pray, let's worship. This is your time with him. May we be a house of prayer in Jesus name. And everybody said amen. Let's worship. Let's pray. Red rocks. Love you.
