A (5:28)
And that is how much we love you. Welcome to week two of. Can we talk? You know, last week we started off the series and we talked about how to be confident in our prayer life and that God actually wants us to come talk to him about everything all the time. And he wants us to be extremely confident when we do so. In fact, he said, when you come into my throne room of grace, step into it with some confidence so that I can help you with grace and mercy in your time of need. And so we're going to take that idea but to a whole new level today. I remember right after I got saved, I was at this church. I was 24, I was just a suicidal, drug abusing disaster. Like I raised my hand in a church with drugs in my pocket and experienced the presence of God. And I'm telling you, when you experience the presence of God, it changes you for the rest of your life. And that's going to happen to some of you, I believe today. But as soon as that happened, people started giving me all kinds of advice. They're like, hey man, you ought to start reading the Bible. And hey man, you ought to start praying. And in fact, and I. And depending on how long you've been in church, maybe you've heard this terminology. And in fact, one person was like, you know what, you're going to be a prayer warrior. And I was like, well, that sounds like a lot of pressure. Like I don't even know how to pray. And now I'm going to be a warrior. And I didn't believe it. But I want to tell you today, the same thing that somebody told me is, yes, it's true. You may not believe it. You can not only do this, but you're called to do this. You can be a prayer warrior, every single one of you. In fact, that's the title of today's talk. You can be a prayer warrior. Now I thought because, you know, every now and then someone in the church would be like, oh, if you need some help, go to her because she's a prayer warrior, right? And I'm like, oh, okay. And so I thought, as I was catching on, I was like, oh, being a prayer warrior means like you pray longer than you need to about one subject and, and you Quote, six, seven verses in your prayer, and you're super eloquent, and you can go on for hours. And what I learned pretty quick was no prayer warrior is. Is what we're all supposed to be. It's just normal people like us who just decide, I'm going to battle for somebody else in prayer. I'm going to battle for my life. I'm going to battle for my family's life. I'm going to battle for this church's family. I'm a battle for the people in my neighborhood. And I'll go to God with confidence, and I'm not afraid to talk to him about anything, because I just understand that prayer is powerful, and I refuse to give up. That's all it takes. And every single one of us, we can do that, and we're called to be that. So I got an announcement for you. You can be a prayer warrior. Jimmy Rollins. I heard it. Come on, somebody. I got all fired up. I was like, that's it. I'm gonna be a prayer warrior. Well, the pastor's wife was like, hey, a bunch of people get together and pray every morning at the church. Why don't you come join? I'm, like, done. So I'm. I'm getting. I'm, like, talking it up in my head, and I'm. I'm. There's some testosterone or something that's starting to happen, and I'm like, I'm gonna be a prayer warrior. Like, game time. And I go into the sanctuary of this church, and everybody's kind of separated out, and I'm looking around, and I'm like, all right, prayer warrior. And then I was looking. I was like, okay, sitting, standing, kneeling, walking. Oh, boy, what do I do? And I was like, I don't know. Hands this, hands this. Look up, look down. Eyes open, eyes closed. I feel like I'm seeing too much. I don't know what to do. And I remember the first time, I was like, okay, here we go. I can do this. I can do this. I'm a prayer warrior. I was like, hey, God, Father Jesus. Hey, guys. Man, I could use some help with some stuff, I guess. Give you some money or something. And I don't know if you got, like, a hot Christian girl set aside or anything. Send one of those my way. All right, cool. Then I was like, oh, well, amen. I did not feel like a prayer warrior. I had no clue what to do, no clue where to start, no clue what to say. And it's funny, because as I was getting ready for this message, I thought I had this almost exact same feeling about a week ago in the gym. Now, I usually don't get super insecure in the gym because I go in with a plan. So I don't usually stand around going, I don't know what to do. I usually know what I'm going to do before I ever get there. Well, some friends called us last week and said, hey, would you and Jill like to run a Spartan warrior race with us? And I went, me and Jill, like, yeah, we love you guys. Sure, yeah, whatever. And then we were like, what's a Spartan race? And I googled it. Oh, you don't want any piece of this. Its name comes from the ancient warriors from Sparta. And I Google it. And the first thing, the sentence I see on the website is the. The hardest obstacle course race on the planet. And me and Jill are like, what? Silence your phones? And we're just like, oh, oh my. And Jill looks at me and she goes, babe, do I look like a Spartan? I'm like, I don't even think you could pick up the rock we gotta carry during part of this race. And I'm like, babe, do I look like a Spartan? Like, I've had 15 shoulder surgeries, three ACL surgeries. I literally had an MRI last month. Right now I have a torn labrum in my hip. I didn't even know you had a labrum in your hip. I tore it doing strength and conditioning for boxing. Like, I'm a mess. And I told my friend, I'm like, bro, I love you, but, like, I don't think my body will allow me to do this. This thing. And, and what I didn't tell anybody though, is in the back of my mind, I went, oh, I'mma do this. I'm. And I might be on crutches. I don't know. I don't know if I'm having a surgery. I don't know what's happening. And so I went to my local gym and I walked in and I was like, I remember seeing the. The website. Like, It's. It's a 10k plus 25 obstacles. It's. It's things like this, like. Like a rope just in the middle of the run, just climb a rope and then the next one is just grab a hundred pound boulder and carry that around for a while. And she doesn't look like she's enjoying herself. And then there was a. Oh, just go through the mud under some barbed wire. And so I go into the gym and I go, I'm Going to be a warrior. Spartan warrior. Here we go. And I get up in the gym and I'm like, I took some pre workout. I'm all jacked up, skin's tingling. I'm fired up, ready to roll, eyes are red. I'm like, who wants a piece? I'm a Spartan warrior. And I get in and then I go. I start looking at all the equipment, like, what machine is gonna help me climb a rope in this place? There's no ropes, no boulders, no barbed wire. I literally stood in the middle of the gym, and I was like, I don't. I want to be a warrior. I don't even know how to start. Like, what do I do to practice crawling under barbed wire? You know what I did? I went back to the website. You know, I found out the guy who created the whole deal put a workout plan on the website. He said, I don't want you to have to go to the gym trying to be a warrior and not have a clue what to do. He here's a workout plan. So I took the workout plan back into the gym. I did day one, Boom. I went back, did day two, half of it in full disclosure. I went back yesterday and did day two again. Three fourths of it. Here's the deal, though. I'm way more confident right now walking into the gym. Thank you. Than I was on day one. Cause the dude who created the whole deal said, I got a plan for you. And I thought, wait a second. That's how I felt in prayer, often. Trying to be a warrior and no clue where to start. And Jesus goes, I got you. Cause I'm the guy who created the whole deal, and I got a plan for you. And you can walk into prayer with some confidence. He said this in Matthew 6. This, then, is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. If you missed last week, you got to get caught up because these go together. But we talked about this last week. Prayer doesn't start with what I need. It starts with who God is. Jesus said, you got to understand that you're talking to your Father, and this Father's different. Go ahead and put that recap up from last week. This Father's different. This Father knows everything about you and he still loves you. Says, you couldn't lose my love if you tried. This Father really wants to talk to you. This Father is with you right there in that space where you're talking and he's listening. And there's nothing in this world that he can't handle. You could take your anxiety to him, your depression to him, your marriage to him, your. Your insecurities to him, your fears to him, your diagnosis to him. He says, there's nothing I can't handle. Come talk to me as a father. Jesus said, you want to go to God with some confidence, Just remind yourself before you say a word. He's my father and he loves me, wants to talk with me, listening, and can handle it all. That's all we got through last week, one verse. We're going to read the rest of the plan today. You ready? You're not ready? Are you ready? All right, all right, all right. This, then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God, would you give us today our daily bread? Would you forgive us of our sins, forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors? And would you lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil? And as we started as a staff, breaking down this game plan that Jesus says, and you know, you would have had to been here last week because the whole thing last week we talked about you could go to God anytime, anywhere, about anything. Jesus isn't saying these are the only things you can pray about, but he is saying, when you pray, you ought to highly consider these things. You wanna talk about some confidence? Just knowing I'm talking to God about exactly what Jesus told me to talk to God about. Yeah, I got a little confidence today. So would you put that slide up? We started going through this and we're like, well, we see these five things really clearly in this game plan that Jesus gives us for prayer. He says, start out by praising and thanking God and make sure you spend some time repenting and confessing your sins. He says, man, you're his child. Ask for what you want, what you need. He says, make sure part of your prayer life is God. I want to have your will happen in my life, not just my will. And he says, and then lead me, he says, show me. Show me where to go and where not to go. Cause I got big decisions on the horizon, and I'm trying to decide some things. And God, would you show me what to do and what not to do? And we started talking about this, to be honest, years ago as a staff, and we were like, man, this is it. This is what we're gonna start praying often. This is what we're gonna start trying to encourage people to start praying. But my problem was, is, like, real talk. I don't Remember what I had for lunch yesterday? I'm like, how am I gonna remember these things? And we felt like God just gave us a gift. He's like, you're staring at it, it's already there. I got a memory trick for you. Go ahead and put that up. Take a screenshot of that. That's it. Praise, repent, ask your will and show me. And I just think of it like this. A follower of Jesus prays. A prayer warrior prays. And I'm telling you, I've been using this for years. It doesn't matter if you're starting to pray this week for the first time or you've been praying your whole life. This will help you change the game. This will also help you as you try to help somebody else. Because, you know, we're not called just to reach lost people. We're called to make disciples. And so hopefully that's what doing we're all trying to do. And so there'll be a time when you're going to try to help walk somebody through starting their journey to become a prayer warrior. And you're going to go, I got you. Praise P R A Y S. It's exactly what Jesus told us to talk about. And when you start doing this, you'll have some confidence. All right, let's go through these P praise. This then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. That word hallowed means holy. Perfect. Jesus said, you've already realized I'm talking to my Father. But make sure you understand you have a holy Father, hallowed. To be prayed, to be praised. Excuse me, to be thanked, to be in awe of, to be worshiped. That's who your God is. Start your prayer time with just praising and worshiping and thanking your God that you are in awe of. And Jesus wasn't like just coming up with this for the first time or even downloading it to God fearing people for the first time way before Jesus was born. Psalm 100:4. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. So for me, and I'm telling you, I still use this to this day, probably two, three times a week at least. I'll go, man, I just want to spend some time building this relationship with my Father. And I kind of already threw out the things that were on my heart. And I just want to talk to you, God. And so I'll just go through this mentally and I'll go praise for me. Sometimes I'll just put on a song and I'M a Christian, so it's obviously a Red Rocks worship song, you know what I'm saying? Hey, can we make some noise for the Red Rocks Worship at every single location? Man, we are spoiled. So for me, I just put on a song sometimes and just worship. Or I'll just make a list. I have a running list on my phone of just things I'm thankful for. And that's how I'll just start off the whole thing. Father, I just want to tell you, man, you are amazing and I am so thankful. And I just start telling him, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And according to Jesus, this is a beautiful way to start our prayer time. This is a beautiful way to go. Yeah, I'm not going to mess around. I'm not going to play games. I'm going to be who I'm called to be. And that is a prayer warrior. And I'm going to start with some praise and some Thanksgiving. Here's a little fun thing. I just heard someone else talk about it and I stole it. And so I just started doing this. In fact, this week I started a new note on my phone and I just put every letter of the Alphabet. I'm like, I'm gonna make a thank you list that starts with every single letter of the Alphabet and I'm gonna start my prayers out with that. And so this week, literally, it was like, A, thank you for Ashton and Austin. B, thank you for the blessings in my life that I've never earned or deserved. C, thank you for Christ Jesus, who died on a cross to pay the price for my sins. D, thank you for the grades that got me through college. E, thank you for my son Ethan. Like, I just went, you could do that too. We start out our prayer with praise and thanksgiving. Jesus said, right after that, spend some time confessing. Repent. Repent of your sins. Matthew 6:12. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors first. John 1:9 says this. If we confess our sins, some of you need to get this in your heart, not just in your head today. If we confess our sins, he's faithful every time and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Talked to a guy last week in the gym. He didn't know he was talking to a Spartan, but he said, hey, man, I go to the church, just wanna say hey. I said, what's up? He said, man, if you just pray for me, I've just been struggling. Like, I just don't feel like God would want me. I don't feel like he would love me or could use me. And I said, well, why? He's like, I've made so many mistakes, man, and promised God I wouldn't do that. And I did that, and I was going to change that, and I didn't change that. And I said, bro, you put your faith in Jesus, right? He said, yeah. I said, you asked him to forgive you of your sins, right? He said, yeah. I said, you're forgiven. You are perfect in his sight. He said, I know. I just don't feel it. I said, you're not forgiven because you feel it. You're forgiven because God's word said it. And God's word trumps our feelings every single day. Go to your God with some confidence. And when I do that and I just repent for anything I can think of, it kind of clears the air. It helps me communicate better for me personally, but it just is a huge reminder to me every time. No, God loves me and God wants me, and God can use me, and I'm perfect in his sight because of what Jesus did on the cross. So we praise and say thank you. We repent. A we ask Matthew 6:11. Give us today our daily bread. Little caveat. I love that right there in the middle of the game plan that Jesus gives us. He said, you do understand this is a daily thing. Prayer does not have to be just the 911. It doesn't have to be just the Hail Mary, because I got no options left. Jesus said, no, it isn't about what you can get from God. It's about the relationship you're building with God. And so make sure this is a daily thing. Praise, repent. And then he said, ask. You're my son. You're my daughter. Ask away. I love to give good gifts to my kids and sometimes have to say no because he asked for dumb things. My son, when he was 7, Austin, he started playing baseball. And go ahead and put that picture up now. When they were little and I would tell stories about him, they charged me five bucks a story. I talked about him last week, and I got home, no kidding. Last week. He's like, yo, give me my five, son. I'm on the hook for 10 now. Okay? So I'm not trying to brag, but I was the assistant coach of the Flyers, and I think most of us know, like, leadership rises and falls on the assistant coach. And so I'm coaching Austin baseball. And I grew up playing baseball. I was a catcher and a Pitcher and a first baseman. Show that next picture. Wouldn't you know it, Austin, chip off the old block. Little Spartan junior there starts playing first baseball. So I'm coaching him up because that's what I do. And I'm teaching him to stretch. And, you know, we're not taking one hoppers from the shortstop. We're not coming back. We're attacking that thing. But keep your foot on the bag. And I'm walking him through some things. No big deal, Just assistant coach kind of stuff. Okay, sure enough, we're in a game. Other team hits a ball to shortstop, shortstop fields it. Bop doesn't have the arm, one hops it. That's okay, I'm thinking, because I taught my son how to attack that one hopper. One hop over first base, out into the parking lot. My son's not even there. I'm like, the heck? I'm looking around like, where's Austin? He was just on first base. Like, 30 seconds later, he comes walking out of the parking lot, throwing his mitt up in there like this. I said, son, what are you doing? He's like, what do you mean? I said, you're playing first base. You weren't even there. He goes, had to pee. I said, not in the middle of an inning. Go, go, go back to first base. Well, so, true story. He sits me down a couple days after this, and he goes, hey, dad, baseball's getting pretty serious. A lot of pressures, a lot of stress. He goes, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking I quit school and focus on baseball. True story. I said, go to your room. Jail. Austin wants to talk to you now. I want to get serious for a second. Wouldn't it be tragic? He was 7 then, he's 20 now. Wouldn't it be tragic if at 7, he went, I asked my father for something. He didn't do it. And then Satan gets up in his head and goes, hey, brother, prayer doesn't always work, man. You're wasting your time. Stop talking to the Father. Stop asking the Father for stuff. Stop putting so much faith in him. In fact, you ought to walk away from the whole deal because, I mean, you asked him for something and it was really important to you, and it didn't happen the way you want. You can't trust him. And what if at 7, he decided because I asked the father for something and it didn't happen the way I wanted, that my father must not be trustworthy, and he missed out on 13 years of life, Life with the biggest cheerleader he's ever seen in his corner. See, I say that because tragically, that's what happens. Some of you have felt it, some of you have thought it. Some of you have been tempted to do it. Some of you know people who have. And I have no judgment. I'm with you. I get it. 100. Right after I got saved, my aunt was dying of lung cancer. And I was like, well, that's no problem, because I'm a new Christian. And. And I got the king of the universe on my side. And I explained to God why this would be such an amazing miracle for him to do and how he would get so much credit and people would get saved because of it. He didn't heal. My aunt on this side of eternity, she's really, really good today. But I was hurt, man. I was mad. I thought you said I could be a prayer warrior, bro. I asked God for something that he should have wanted to do. They didn't do it. I guess this prayer thing didn't work. Is that how it is? Well, my son Ethan was in the ICU for five days, and doctors told us he was dying of a disease of something that he picked up in Africa. And they couldn't find it. And a friend from the church came in and prayed. And I'm telling you, an hour later, doctors ran in. The doctors at the hospital were like, it's a miracle. We found that he's going to make it. I'm like, well, why didn't you heal my aunt? But you heal my son. My friend Scott, who let us start Red Rocks Church with him six years ago, just started having headaches. One doctor's appointment, found out he had a brain tumor. They operated, couldn't get all of it. He now lives in Missouri. Can't even be here and work with us anymore because of it. We've been praying for a miracle for six years. I've been praying for three years that God would heal. A diagnosis that I got three years ago in my brain hadn't happened yet. So what do we do? Because Jesus says we should ask God. In fact, God's word says you don't have because you don't ask. And Satan will mess with that, too. He'll go, you don't need to ask God for anything. Why would you need to ask God for anything if he already knows? That doesn't make any sense. Because of what we talked about last week. Because prayer is not just about what I can get from God and getting him to do my will. Prayer is getting to know God and helping him have him help me do his will. And so God says, yeah, I already know what you want, because I know everything. But I'm not nearly as concerned with what you want as I am with a relationship with you. So I get to choose the same system. And the system I chose is you come talk to me about what you want. Because I just want to have a relationship with you. I love you that much. But we will find ourselves at this crossroad. And I'm telling you, Satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy everything that God wants to do in your life. God wants to bring you peace and joy and purpose and victory. He's got a plan. He's got a calling. There's nothing he can't handle. Satan wants you to miss out on every bit of that and you. And if he can get up in here and go, hey, you gotta. You should walk away from the whole thing. Stop asking him for stuff. Cause you did that one time, and it didn't work. Can I tell you, church prayer always works. Even when we don't get exactly what we're asking for in the timeframe that we're asking for. Because every single time, we get grace, we get mercy. Philippians 4 tells us we get peace. That doesn't even make sense. And we get closer to him every single time we talk to him. So even when we don't get exactly what we want, prayer always works. So what do we do with that hurt? When it comes to can I risk asking again? And if I took this mic around every campus, a whole bunch of us would have stories like, what about this? And what about this? And why didn't you do that? And my honest answer to you is, I don't know. I don't know. Here's what I know. I know that he's God and I'm not. I know that his ways are higher than my ways and his thoughts are higher than my thoughts. And he has an eternal perspective and plans that I can't understand. Doesn't make the pain go away. I know that he's good. I know that he loves me. I know he loves me so much that he let his son die for me. And I know he wants me to have peace. And he says he'll be with me, and he'll ride with me through any storm. And he'll carry me when I can't walk on my own. And he'll never leave me or forsake me. And so my choice and my prayer this week has been that some of you make this choice today. My choice is to go God. I don't like that. I don't get that. But I've already decided. See, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And I'm with you. No matter what the outcome, we can choose to say like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did in the Old Testament. They're in a situation that made no sense. And they said, I know my God is able to get me through this, but even if he didn't, even if he doesn't, you can't have my worship. What if we were a church where thousands and thousands and thousands of us got so confident talking to our Father and even asking him for the things we want that all over the place, we prayed even if he doesn't. You can't take my worship. You can't take my prayer. I'm gonna keep trusting him. I'm gonna keep battling for lost people. I'm gonna keep battling for my family. I'm gonna keep battling for my freedom. Cause I'm a prayer warrior dog, and I'm not going anywhere. That's my prayer for us. We can do that. So my challenge is allow yourself to get past some things that don't make sense so that you can experience what God has for you today and for the rest of your life. That's my challenge. Let's keep asking P R A Y your will. Oh, this one will change the game, guys. That's what Jesus said. He said, you, kingdom come, your will be done, earth as it is in heaven. And he didn't just talk to us about doing this one. He showed us what this one looks like. If you've been around church for a while, you'll be familiar with this. But the night he was arrested, to go be taken to the whipping post and then to the cross to be crucified and die the most excruciating death known to man. To pay the price for our sins, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane with some of his friends, and he said, guys, you stop here and. And I'm gonna go pray over here. And he said, please pray for me because I'm hurting. Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground. I mean, talk about desperation. By the way, Jesus knows what it's like to say, God, here's what I'd really like to happen. And it not, Father, here's what I'd like. If it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. I know what I'm about to go through. I know that I'M going to the whipping post. I know that. I'm going to the cross. I know what I'm about to go through. Is there any way we could do something different? And then he finishes it by showing us what it looks like to pray. What? He said, to pray. Yet not as I will, but as you will. What's your will for my life? You want to start to grow spiritually. You want to start to deepen your relationship, deepen your faith. I dare you. In fact, I don't even dare you. Jesus dares you to have the courage to say, God, I'm not just talking to you today because I want to get you to do what I want. I'm talking to you today because I'm telling you that I want to do what you want. I'm not just going to try to manipulate you with my prayers. I'm saying, God, you do in my life whatever you want because of my prayers. What I want is this. But what I want even more than that is what you want for my life. God, would your will be done and s. Show me band. You can come up Matthew 6:13 and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Jesus said, go to God and ask for help. When you're trying to make big decisions and you're trying to figure out, do I go here or not? Do I do this or not? James 1:5 says, if any of you lacks wisdom, well, you should ask God. Go to him with some confidence as your father, because he gives wisdom generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. In my notes, I put three stories. I was like, I just. I'm just gonna share some things where. Where I've prayed for big things, and God has given me and my wife and my family direction because we went and asked him for it. But we don't have time because they're. You know, I tell long stories, but I can tell you this, just give you the Cliff Notes. I remember exactly where I was standing the first time I prayed. God, how about your will in my life when it comes to girls from now on? Because I've been messing this deal up. And I prayed about going out with this particular girl. And I know that. I know that. I know I stood back and I just went, I'm just trying to listen, God, if you want to speak. And I had this thought so clear in my head. He said, you don't need a girl right now. You just need me. And because of that, I ended up meeting the woman of my Dreams later. And We've been married 26 years. He speaks, he shows us when we ask for guidance. I'm a pastor because of a prayer like that. Me and Jill are a part of Red Rocks Church and we live in Denver, Colorado because we went to God in prayer and fasting and said, God, show us where to go. And he spoke and he led us and. But here's the thing. I'm not too concerned with sharing my stories cuz God wants you to have your stories. But the only way you get those is by taking those steps of faith, faith and going, okay, God, this is nerve wracking and I'm scared and I don't know exactly how this works but you created communication and you said if I would ask for you to show me what to do next, that you'd talk. So whether you speak to me through your word or through some people or, or through a thought or, or, or through a situa, whatever it is, God, would you show me? He said, I will. Red Rocks Church. You want to talk about going to our God with some confidence and becoming the prayer warriors that we're called to be? Jesus said, I got a plan for you to do that. You talk to God about anything, anytime, and you should. But he said, you got to know this. Can you put up those Cliff Notes from last week? Remind yourself before you do that. You're just going to talk to your father. And this father loves you with a love you couldn't lose on your worst day. This father really wants to talk to you. And he's with you right in this moment whenever you decide to talk to him. Wherever you're at, he said, I'll be right there with you. And this father is listening. Can't wait to hear what's on your heart. Can't wait to hear what's on your mind. And there's nothing he can't handle. Let your confidence start to rise. And Jesus said, listen, you can talk about anything anywhere. But if you want a little structure, if you want a plan, if you want to have that feeling of like I don't have to worry what I'm going to talk about today, he says, start with this praise. Just going to praise and thank you God, because I just want to be with you. Thank you. And I got some things I want to repent for, God and dad, would you mind helping me out with? But more than that, what's your will for my life and my family and my future and God, will you show me and my loved ones what our next step is? Jesus himself said, you come talk to the Father like this. And he didn't say if you pray, read Luke 11. He's talking to his best friends. He said, when you pray, because you got to start, because if you do, it's going to change the game. Pray long, pray short, pray loud, pray silent, pray the Lord's prayer from the words of Jesus. Pray whatever's on your heart. Red rocks Church. Just pray. Can you imagine church like the thousands and thousands and thousands of us that are getting together just this weekend to do church? What if this week we all decided I'm called to be a prayer warrior and I'm gonna go talk to my father with some confidence and God, would your will that is in heaven happen on earth? Do you understand the kind of world changing we could experience and see and get to be a part of God's promise? He said, hey, when you come looking for me, you're gonna find me. When you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed. God's decree, I'll turn things around for you. And that's what I've been praying for every single one of you this week, that God's going to turn things around for you in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Church, would you stand up? Let's pray. God, I thank you for your son Jesus, that he died on the cross to pay the price for our sins so that we could be forgiven today, that we could experience your spirit in our lives in the here and now and we could get heaven forever. We've never earned or deserved that, but we're so thankful. And God, I thank you for this amazing invitation that you've given every single one of us that we can come and step into your presence with confidence and talk to you as our father about everything. And I pray God that we would start doing that this week on an individual basis, on a whole new level. And our lives would be different. Our, our families would be different, our present would be different, our future would be different. In Jesus name, with everyone's eyes closed, I want to ask two questions. First one is this. You say, hey man, we're talking about prayer. And this father that cares and loves us and will never leave us and can handle anything. Either me or someone I really care about is going through some hard things right now. Would you pray for me? If that's you, raise your hand and we're going to pray together. Yeah, a whole bunch of us. Second question is this. I've Been talking about what it would be like to be in this real, authentic relationship with Jesus. And while I've been talking, you could feel something's going on. Like you can feel it in your heart. Like you don't know exactly what it is. It's the creator of the universe trying to get your attention, saying, hey, you didn't tune into this by accident. I have you here for a reason. I'm trying to change your whole life. I'm trying to change your here and now. I'm trying to change your eternity. This is your moment. Put your faith in Jesus, Let me forgive your sins, give you my spirit, and give you heaven forever. And if that's you and you go, that's me, man, and I just know it. This is my moment. I want to say yes to Jesus right now. Raise your hand and I'm gonna say a prayer for you. Keep him up. Praise God. Praise God. Yes. Yes. I see you. I see you. I see you. Yeah, I see you right there. I see you. I see you both right there. Amen. I see you down front. God, I thank you for everything that you're doing right now in and through our lives. I thank you for the eternal lives that are being changed right now in Jesus name. God, you know every single person and every single story and everything that we're going through. And I pray right now that you would get involved in miraculous ways and do things that we could never do on our own. And God, as we now worship you and praise you and say thank you, I pray that we would experience your presence in a real and authentic way. God, we love you. We thank you for your son in Jesus name and Red Rocks church said, Red Rocks, let's worship.
