WEBVTT 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:04.799 This podcast is a ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:08.320 Helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:14.000 For more information about Grant Parkway, visit GrantParquay.org. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:17.199 The Bible tells us that you're the star-naming God. 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:22.640 You're the people-making, pasture-creating, fire-creating God of the universe. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:25.359 The Bible's going to tell us this morning that you're sovereign. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:31.359 It's a big word that just means a little yet consequential truth, that you are in charge of the universe. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:37.920 And so we've what we've said today already that we're just like the dying thief that the thief that died there on the cross beside you. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:39.200 We're just as guilty as him. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:44.479 Regardless of how dressed up we can get on a Sunday, we still by nature are that guilty. 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:49.119 But yet the Bible also says that the same possibility that he had, we have today. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:55.200 And that's to put our faith in you, to stop trusting in ourselves and say, hey, I believe. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:55.920 I believe. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:57.200 I trust you. 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:00.560 And to hear you say to us, hey, today you'll be with me in paradise. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:02.159 And so, Lord, we open up your word. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:05.599 The Bible says of itself that the unfolding of your word brings light. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:10.159 When we open up the Bible, we release a light that's more powerful than a thousand sons. 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:15.599 And so this is a consequential endeavor that we partake in, that we embarked upon this morning. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:17.840 And so lead us into this, Holy Spirit. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:20.400 Say something this morning that has our name on it. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:22.480 We didn't come for a religious whipping. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:27.439 We came to be reminded that there's a God in this world and He speaks a language we understand. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:29.760 And so do exactly that we pray in this time. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:31.200 And we pray in Jesus' name. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:33.120 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:33.920 You can have a seat. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:37.200 If you got a Bible, I ask you to take it and open it up to Acts chapter 4. 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:38.480 To Acts chapter 4. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:44.079 Do me a favor, if you would, if there's if there's room in your on your row, would you kind of scoot in towards the middle if there's room kind of on the sides? 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:46.079 We have some people that arrive late. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.640 They're called elders, but they need a place to sit. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:50.079 It's just a joke. 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:50.719 Come on. 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:53.040 If you're our guest today, we're in Acts chapter 4. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:56.000 We're in a series right now entitled Questions Christians Ask. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:57.519 Questions Christians Ask. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:01:59.599 And somebody asked me, I said, Why are you doing this series? 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:00.879 This is kind of different sounding. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:04.079 One of the reasons is because Christians ask a lot of questions. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:10.000 But also, there's this thought in our culture that says, Well, once you become a Christian, all your questions go away. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:14.080 No, some of your bigger questions you will have after you become a person of faith. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:16.800 And God's not put off by you asking them. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.759 We started off asking, you know, hey, what happens when I die? 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:21.199 And is the Bible reliable? 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:25.520 And today we're going to talk about this simple question: why pray if God already knows? 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:26.400 Why pray? 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:30.800 Because you come to understand that God is all-knowing, that he already knows. 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:46.080 And then if you're not careful, we can allow Christianity to kind of erode into this intellectual fatalism where we kind of back God into the corner with our us-sized logic, and we let ourselves out of the biblical responsibility for doing what the Bible clearly says we are to do. 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:48.400 And in this case, be people of prayer. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:50.560 And so I want to read a passage in Acts. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:56.719 I want to give you the context of because what we're going to read about today is the back end of what started in chapter 3. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:00.560 In chapter 3, two guys named Peter and John were going up to the temple to pray. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:02.400 They're going to church basically to worship. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:03.680 And they were walking in. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:05.599 There's a crippled guy laying there begging. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:08.719 And he walks over and they said, Hey, look at us. 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:09.360 Look at us. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:11.680 Stop just looking for handouts. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:12.319 Look at us. 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:15.680 And they said to him, they said, Hey, silver and gold, we don't have. 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:18.719 But what we have, we give to you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:19.520 Rise and walk. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:23.039 And the Bible says immediately that guy's feet and ankles are strengthened. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.000 He jumped up, walking and leaping and praising God. 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:28.400 And he followed Peter and John into the temple. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:36.000 Well, the religious people of the day freaked out because all of a sudden these men had a relationship with God, were able to do what religious people couldn't do. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:38.879 And so they thought, hey, and everybody started saying, Hey, how'd you do this? 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:40.319 And they said, We didn't do this. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:41.439 This is what God does. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:42.639 God heals people. 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:44.000 You realize that, right? 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:46.000 Hello, God heals people. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:46.719 Okay. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:48.639 Let's just start with that right there. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:55.919 And so the religious people were freaking out because people realize, hey, there's power in relationship that you will never find in religion. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:58.400 Let me say that again. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:02.000 There's power in relationship that you don't find in religion. 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:05.280 And the religious people of the day were freaking out because people were realizing that. 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:08.560 And they were going over and saying, hey, tell us about this God who has the power to heal. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:10.879 And Peter and John were just preaching, and people were coming. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:12.000 And so they got in trouble. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:13.039 They had to go to jail. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:14.719 They spent the night in jail, as a matter of fact. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:16.959 Anybody in this room besides me ever spent a night in jail? 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:17.839 Can I see your hand? 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:19.920 Yes, there's one, there's two, there's others. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:23.680 There's your man down here just hoisting his coffee like let's don't get personal, all right? 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:25.519 Yes, yes, yes. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:26.959 And so they spent the night in jail. 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:32.160 It's what we're seeing, and then the next day they took him and they said, Hey, don't do it anymore. 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:34.160 Like your grandma used to get on to you. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:36.399 Uh, don't do it anymore. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:40.240 They said, Hey, stop preaching the resurrection and stop talking about Jesus. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:42.240 And they scolded him and they let him go. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:45.439 We dropped in the story, Acts chapter 4, verse 23. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:50.560 When they were released, they went to their friends and they reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:05:03.439 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, Why do the nations rage? 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:05.439 And the people plot in vain. 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:11.040 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:24.160 For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:38.800 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed, excuse me, uh, through the name of your holy servant Jesus. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:46.319 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and continue to speak the word of God with boldness. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:51.040 I want to say four things in response to the question, why pray if God already knows? 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:55.920 And number zero, uh uh is simply this, because God knows everything. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:57.279 Because God knows everything. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:05:58.800 You're like, are you kidding me, number zero? 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:01.519 One of our media guys said, Hey, you have number zero in your outline. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:03.759 And I love this church because there's all different kinds of people. 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:05.519 We have quite a few engineers in our church. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:09.680 One of the engineers came up after the first service and he goes, Hey, the engineer in me loves it. 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:10.800 You started with zero. 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:13.040 I was like, put your slide roll back in your pocket, man. 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:13.839 I got it, okay? 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:15.199 Uh here's the thing. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:17.759 Yes, we start with zero because this is foundational. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:19.600 You mean that God knows everything? 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:22.480 It's not, well, if God knows everything, why even pray? 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:24.879 Because God knows everything and you don't. 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:33.759 And God is looking for people who want to live and relate to him on the basis of, hey, yes, the fact that you know doesn't release me from my responsibility to pray. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:37.439 It makes me want to know you more intimately and understand you deeper. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:43.040 It makes me want to understand the Bible and myself and the way this thing is all set up and intended to work. 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:46.639 And God's nature doesn't excuse us from our responsibility. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:47.199 Okay? 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:52.720 And secondly, let me say this: just because God knows something doesn't make him responsible for it. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:57.839 Because what we want to do is we we see things happen and we say, well, hey, God knew that. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:06:59.759 Well, why didn't God, da-da-da. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.560 God is not gonna rescue humanity from the consequences of their own sin all the time. 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:06.000 Otherwise, why repent? 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:14.079 If there's no consequence, if we don't live in a fallen world where the wages of sin is death and where things happen, then we fall in love with this world. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:17.920 God can know about everything and yet not be responsible for it. 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:23.759 Maybe this will help us understand why pray if God knows everything, because God knows everything. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:30.399 Let me say it like this: we relate to people on the basis of what we believe them, uh what we believe they're capable of. 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:31.600 Let me say that again. 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:35.519 We relate to people on the basis of what we believe they're capable of. 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:39.759 For example, how many of y'all have some friends that are not very financially disciplined? 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:41.040 Could I see your hand? 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:41.839 Yes. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:44.000 Do you call them for financial advice? 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:44.959 No. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:49.120 Your husband's got friends right now that you're kind of like, stop listening to that guy. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:50.800 He don't know what he's talking about. 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:57.759 If you got some friend of yours that's been divorced three times and is now in a bad relationship, you're not gonna call him up and go, hey man, me and my wife are in a bad spot. 00:07:57.920 --> 00:07:59.120 You got any advice for me? 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:00.959 He is the last, why? 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:04.639 Because we relate to people on the basis of what we think they're capable of. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:06.319 Let me demonstrate out of my own life. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:15.279 When I graduated college in 1988, uh, in 1989, I got a phone call from my alma mater, and they said, Hey, Neil, this is the Student Foundation Pledge Drive. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:19.680 And as a as a recent alumnus, we just wanted to know, and I answered the phone while I was watching TV. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:20.160 Okay? 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:22.160 1989, I was single. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:25.839 I just did just, you know, just clueless watching TV. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:26.480 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:27.519 I was in the student foundation. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:31.120 I know y'all sitting in that boardroom up there, you're making phone calls, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:36.879 And the girl said, Hey, we've got different levels of pledges, and she said, Can I put you down for 500? 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:38.879 I thought she said five. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:40.240 I didn't hear the last part. 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:42.080 Can I put you down for five? 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:43.759 And I was, I say, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:46.720 Put me down for that, and just send me an envelope and I write you a check. 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:48.879 Okay, click, two weeks later, get an envelope in the mail. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:50.000 I was like, What? 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:51.840 They're extorting me. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:56.399 And then I thought, I don't want to be the guy that calls my alma mater and says, no, no, no, no, no. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:00.559 I know it's a$500 in here, but here's five dollars and be glad to have it. 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:07.279 So I wrote a$500 check to my alma mater and fasted for a month and didn't pay my light bill. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:13.519 Well, here's the thing: because people relate to you on the basis of what they think you're capable of, the next year. 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:14.799 They rang me up again. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:18.080 It was a it was a guy this time, excuse me, it was a guy, it was a girl, I think, this time. 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:19.039 And she's like, Hello, Mr. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:19.600 McClendon. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:25.600 My name's I'm the Student Foundation, East Texas Badge University, and I see that you gave a generous pledge last year. 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:27.039 Well, I had slept since then. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:28.960 I didn't know what a generous pledge was. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:32.080 And she said, Can we put you down for the same plage this year? 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:36.080 And I said, Yeah, yeah, yeah, because I'm watching TV talking on the phone. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:37.759 And I said, Yeah, that'd be good. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:38.879 Just send me all the stuff. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:39.360 That's great. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:41.360 Came in the mail two weeks later. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:42.320 I was indignant. 00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:46.559 I was like, whoa, the man is shaking me down up in here. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:48.559 This cannot be true. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:50.000 But what was I gonna do? 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:54.320 Call him back and say, hey, uh uh, no, uh, I'm not doing this. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:57.759 So I didn't pay the electric bill again and didn't eat for a month. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:01.519 And by the way, every year, every year they call me. 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:02.000 Why? 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:05.200 Because they relate to you on the basis of what they think you're capable of. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:12.080 They called me a couple years ago and they said, Well, you know, you've been out of college for a long time and you're probably in your peak earning years. 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:16.320 I reached for the remote and turned the TV off. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:19.039 Go ahead with your crooked self. 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:19.679 Mm-hmm. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:25.600 Yeah, I'm getting ready to say no, but I want you to read that whole script to me and get to the bottom before I hang up on you. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:26.159 Why? 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:27.600 And I can't be mad at them. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:30.639 They're just relating to me on the basis of what they think I'm capable of. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:33.919 Let me give you one question I want you to think about the rest of this week. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:36.960 When you're driving to work, when you're in the grocery store, whatever. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:38.159 And it's this right here. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:43.279 What would your life be like if you related to God on the basis of what you thought he was capable of? 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:47.919 What would your life be like? 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:55.679 Because I'm going to tell you that the Bible is set up and the Bible teaches all through it that that's what you were created for. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:59.039 You were not created to be some religious, you know, nut job. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:02.080 You're you're created to be in relationship with this God. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:05.279 See, and so the why pray if God already knows? 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:06.879 That's exactly why you pray. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:10.480 Because he knows everything and he's capable of anything. 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:15.519 That's why you have Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these three guys in the thrown into a fiery furnace. 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:24.080 And they said to Nebuchadnezzar the guy that threatened him before he threw him in, he said, Hey, our God's able to save us out of this, but even if he doesn't, we're not going to bow down to your golden idol. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:28.799 See, they they knew that God knows everything. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:30.879 First point, that's point number zero. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:35.600 Point number one is simply this in response to the question, because prayer is where we see the nature of God. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:37.519 Prayer is where you see the nature of God. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:41.039 If you want to see how well someone understands God, listen to them pray. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:42.320 You say, What do you mean? 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:47.120 Now remember I told you these guys healed, God healed this crippled guy back in chapter three. 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:49.120 They had to go to religious jail for the night. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:51.200 I guess if you go to jail, that's a good one to go to. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:52.720 They go to religious jail. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:56.320 Uh, the jail in my little town I grew up in, the sheriff's wife, Mrs. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:57.519 Graves, would cook. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:01.840 And so getting thrown in jail was not always a bad thing because you got a home-cooked meal. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.799 Uh and until one time, me and my buddies were there. 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:07.039 I was not a Christian back then, by the way. 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:12.320 And me and my buddies were there, and the sheriff walked in and said, Hey boy, you want me to call Leon? 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:18.159 That would be my father, who lived about 20 minutes away. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:21.200 No, no, no, sir, we don't need to get personal. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:23.919 He said, You're gonna eat my wife's cooking one more time. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:28.240 And if I see you down here, I'm calling Leon, and you ain't getting nothing. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:30.080 He's gonna serve you the meal. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:34.879 I looked at my friends and said, I will not be coming back to jail ever again. 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:36.480 But these guys have been in jail. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:38.559 That's why the Bible says it starts off in verse 23. 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:40.159 We start reading when they were released. 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:43.519 They went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:52.720 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, By the way, you want to have friends whose natural response to your life circumstances is to lift you up in prayer. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:54.240 You want to have that. 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:55.600 But look at how they prayed. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:13:00.960 This is like when you call on your kids to pray at supper, and you got little kids, and they just pray random, crazy stuff. 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:03.200 Like, hey, hey, Susie, what you bless the food? 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:12.159 Okay, just pray, God, thanks for grandma and trees and oceans and Superman and buttermilk, and you're like nibbling on the fries because they're getting cold. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:19.360 And take even grandpa and his back, and you're just like, eh, and how about the food right in front of us? 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:21.440 Look at the way they prayed. 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:34.159 It says they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:40.240 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:54.000 For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.559 Verse 29, and now. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:13:59.519 Everything turns and pivots on those two little words. 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:00.480 And now. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:01.840 Let me ask you this question. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:06.559 Up to this point, what does this prayer have to do with anything that they're going through? 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:14.480 I mean, it's like calling on your kid and she's praying for your Aunt Hattie's next door neighbor's third cousin's bunion, and you're like, okay. 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:16.240 No, no, no, no, no. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:27.679 They're putting God to remembrance, they're saying to God, hand and plan, hey, we know when they said, oh, sovereign Lord, let me ask you a question because prayers where we see the nature of God. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:30.720 Can you not get your way and God still be sovereign? 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:35.039 Can you have a bad day and God still be good? 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:41.360 You see, I have a friend of mine who went for a job interview not long ago, and I called him the next day and I said, Hey man, how'd you interview God? 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:41.919 I was praying for you. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:43.600 He said, Hey man, God is faithful. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:45.039 I got the job. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:47.840 And I had a little checkup in me, like, ooh. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:50.639 Because here you're like, that's great news. 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:52.480 Why wouldn't you get excited about that? 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:58.159 Well, most people, the nature of God is directly connected to how your fortunes go, how your life goes. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:00.240 And he said, Hey, well, God was faithful. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:06.000 I got the job, and I just said back into the phone, hey, if God, if you didn't get the job, does that mean God's not faithful? 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:07.600 Oh, come on, Neil. 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:08.240 No, no, no. 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:09.279 I'm not trying to be a jerk. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:14.639 I'm just be careful that you don't define the nature of God in terms of how your life is going. 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:20.320 These people just got out of, just got out of jail and they were threatened, and they said, Hey, sovereign Lord. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:25.120 And hey, by the way, we're in a city where your sovereignty is already touched down once before. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:28.080 The fact that you're bigot in charge is set down once before. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:37.519 Because all these people conspired against you and against Jesus, and they thought they were putting him to death, and they just did what your hand and your plan had already determined was going to happen. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:39.600 And then they turn on verse 29. 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:45.279 And now, just like it was then, we're praying that you be just that sovereign now. 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:58.240 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs of wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:00.240 Why pray if God already knows? 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:02.639 Because prayer is where you see the nature of God. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:07.039 You say it's it's the issue is not well, these people fully believed. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:11.840 Fully believed that God had been at work, that he was continuing to work. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:14.159 See, here's what it comes down to. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:19.120 What we should wonder about is who's gonna be the ones to carry out what God already knows? 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:21.519 See, because prayer is where we see the nature of God. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:26.080 Whose life is gonna be the medium through which God's knowledge finds expression? 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:28.240 Does that phrase make sense to anybody? 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:33.120 Whose life is gonna be the medium through which God's life, God's knowledge finds expression? 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:35.360 They said, hey God, we know what you've been like. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:36.720 We know that you're sovereign. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:42.399 We know that these people did what your hand and planned had already determined was going to happen. 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:45.679 And now, do now what you did back then. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:48.320 Act as sovereignly now as you did back then. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:48.799 Why? 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:50.960 Because they understood the nature of God. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:55.039 They understood that their life wasn't willy-nilly, do your best and just hope for the best. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:57.919 They they realize there's a God who's in charge of the world. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:00.720 And I get to talk to him in this thing called prayer. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:03.360 Why would I not avail myself to that? 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:07.039 Third response to the question is simply this. 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:10.319 Because prayer reorients us around the nature of faith. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:13.359 Prayer reorients us around the nature of faith. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:14.559 That's verse 29. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:20.480 He says, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:22.000 Now stop right there. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:24.640 And look back in verse 13, if you will, just for a second. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:26.079 I want to show you something. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:27.440 Verse 13 says this. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:35.440 Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:39.039 Ask yourself this question: what do people recognize about you these days? 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:42.319 These were common, uneducated men. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:48.640 You don't have to be educated, you don't have to have money, you don't have to be popular, you don't have to be skinny or any of this kind of stuff. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:51.440 But you do have to be people that have been with Jesus. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:57.759 Because see, God at heart, at its core, God is about relationship. 00:17:58.480 --> 00:17:59.680 And you say, What do you mean? 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:02.240 Uh we read verse 13, so I can use this one word. 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:08.480 And now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, boldness is what got them into the situation in the first place. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.519 And what do they pay for where do they pray for in verse 29? 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:12.799 Look at verse 29. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:13.680 What do they pray for? 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:14.720 Boldness. 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:16.160 They don't pray for relief. 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:17.599 They don't pray for relief. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:20.160 See, the prayer reorients us around the nature of faith. 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:24.960 In the New Testament, the purpose of faith was the promulgation of the gospel, the spreading of the gospel. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:28.720 In America nowadays, the purpose of faith is just provision. 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:33.440 God, just give me this and keep us this and provide that and this, that, and the other. 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:34.799 Nothing wrong with praying that. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:36.960 But when's the last time you shared the gospel? 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:40.319 When's the last time you just kind of said, hey, you know what? 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.079 This is not about me being safe. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:45.599 You can be safe and inconsequential the rest of your life. 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:54.640 And never be a part, never be the medium plow, which never be the microphone through which the nature of God finds expression into our culture. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:19:04.880 They said to them, hey, God, basically look and see what they want to do to us, and you do in us whatever you got to do so that when they do to us what they want to do, the boldness comes out. 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:07.359 That's what I mean when I say that. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:09.200 Hey, hey, it it this is the nature. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:12.079 Uh prayer is a place where you kind of understand the nature of faith. 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:17.440 It kind of reminds us, hey, this is not about me just going through life, being safe, and getting all I want. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:21.359 It's about me being a part of what God's doing to change the world. 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:24.960 Fourthly, which would be number three, I guess. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:27.039 Why pray if God already knows? 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:29.359 Because prayer moves the heart of God. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:30.720 Prayer moves the heart of God. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:32.400 Verse 31, you still with me? 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:35.920 And when they prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:40.160 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:41.359 There you go. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:43.279 What they asked for, they got. 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:45.279 What do you mean prayer moves the heart of God? 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:46.720 That's exactly. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:49.279 He says the place they were meeting was shaken. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:51.200 You ever been in a place like that? 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:56.559 And don't come up to me afterwards and go, well, what's the chances that the tectonic plates in the Middle East moved? 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:59.440 What's the chances you could shut up sometime soon? 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:02.799 Excuse me, I should say it for 11:30 service. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:05.119 I'll say to y'all, what's the chances you could be quiet? 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:07.680 Stop filling the air with nonsense. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.880 No, the place they were meeting was shaken. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:12.960 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:13.839 And what happened? 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:17.359 They continued to speak the word of God with boldness. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:17.759 Why? 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:19.519 Because prayer moves the heart of God. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:23.039 If you're in Acts, I want to read to you from Exodus chapter 32. 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:25.119 If I come up on the screen or you can turn there. 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:27.440 Genesis Exodus, second book of the Bible. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:29.440 Exodus chapter 32. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:36.160 Because the Bible's full of men and women who had a history of moving the heart of God. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:41.119 Because God's not this robot who's just indifferent to the pleas and the prayers of his people. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:42.000 Don't think that. 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:49.920 He's not like this disinterested deist up there who created the world and spun it into motion and just kind of set over there and says, There you go. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:52.640 Just just I'm watching, but I'm not doing anything. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:55.200 Like Bed Miller says, I'm watching from a distance. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:56.160 Good luck. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:20:57.680 No. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:01.599 I have a friend that's a very brilliant man, and he's a deist. 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:04.960 He believes that there was a creator and he set the thing in motion and backed up. 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:06.640 And I just said, Okay, let me ask this question. 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:08.319 What holds it together? 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:15.200 Well, if you're at our men's breakfast a couple last week, I talked about contextualizing the gospel. 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:17.200 And you talk about the gospel in context. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:19.680 The gospel is all the way from Genesis 1-1 in the beginning. 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:23.039 God created the heavens and the earth all the way to the end of the revelation. 00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:24.559 Even so, Lord Jesus come. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:26.640 And you can't start at the same place every time. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:29.599 Sometimes you gotta start over here, you gotta start over here, you gotta start over here. 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:35.279 Same gospel, but you contextualize it, you drop it into the context that your unbelieving friends think in. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:38.960 My unbelieving, scientific-minded friend is a great guy. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:41.759 He doesn't know Jesus, and he's just like, well, it just doesn't make any sense. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:44.720 You know, I believe he created the world, and I'll give you that. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:46.880 And uh thank you, thank you for giving me that. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:50.319 And now I'm gonna take that and club you over the head with it. 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:52.240 I left that part out. 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:54.720 And I said, So you believe God created and set it into motion? 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:56.799 And he goes, Yeah, and I said, What holds it together? 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.680 Because the Bible teaches that that that God holds it all. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:00.720 Together. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:04.640 And he I could tell he looked at me because I didn't contextualize the gospel. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:06.160 I was talking as a preacher. 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:07.680