How God Meets Our Deepest Needs X, Getting Through to God

Just the lyric of that, you know, it was in a moment. I just feel constrained. I didn't feel this nudge in the first service, but we oftentimes think that it's gonna take a long time for things to turn around, and I've discovered that's true in some cases. In other cases, I have seen, I have personally seen people change right now, when the power of God comes over them, right now. Jack's testimony was one of a transforming process, but there's also a moment when that begins, and for some of you that might be today. So I want us to take our outlines out of the notes right now, and we're gonna look, just have an abbreviated message this morning, for which some of you might want to give praise, but it's an important one, because it's about how to get through to God, how to get through to God. Friday evening, I was watching the late edition of CBN, flipping back and forth from SportsCenter, to be honest, and there was an interview with Zig Ziglar, who I've heard is a motivational speaker, a world-renowned author and motivational speaker, and he was describing how he had learned to cope with the premature death of his daughter Susan, and who died at about age 30, just recently, I gathered. And he talked about, on the day of the funeral, or following the funeral, he was unable to sleep, and he was exhausted, and felt that he should just fall, but he wasn't able to do that, and at 11 o'clock, he was awake at 1 a.m., at 3 a.m., he prayed, but he couldn't fall asleep. He finally turned on a worship tape, and went down, and just kind of wept his way to sleep, and then at 5 o'clock, woke up, climbed up to bed, slept for a couple of hours, and said he got up at 7 o'clock, and took a walk, and he took a morning walk with the Lord, and he said, you know, God, how am I gonna get through this? How am I gonna make it through this? Someone I love so much. And he said to the interviewer, he said, you know, usually God speaks to me through scripture, but I heard him speak to my heart. He said, almost like an audible voice, he said, just like you're making it right now, one step at a time. That's how you're gonna make it, the Lord said to him. And he said, by the way, I want you to write a book about it. And Zig wrote a book called, The Confessions of a Grieving Christian, and he told the story in the book of how God transformed him from that moment, from the unbearable weight of the sorrow he was feeling, to a sense of acceptance, and that acceptance eventually to joy and confidence that his daughter was with the Lord, and that things were gonna work together for good. And I must say, he exuded in that interview a certain peace that was distinguishable in his countenance. Zig Ziglar had discovered the secret of getting through to God. I mean, how do you connect with God when you really need to know? How do you get through when you have to have your prayers answered? You know, in the world today, when we really want to get someone's attention, we have FedEx, you know? I sent a letter to a guy out, and I wanted him to know that something important was about to happen, and this was the only way to get it there the next day and get his attention. FedEx. So we have a version of that. These are available in the bookstore. Don't you wish there were something like that, though? That you could put a prayer request in, and you knew God would at least get it? I mean, whether or not he'd answer it, he'd get it, right? But we don't have anything like that. But we do have something better. If you look at the top of your outline, look at this. Here are the words of Jesus in the New Living Translation. He says, If you stay joined in me, and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted. Staying connected with God is the key to having your prayers answered, and it's one of the deepest needs that we have. We need to know that we're getting through to God, don't we? I mean, we need to know that in our hearts. I mean, all over the world, people are hungry to know that they're getting through to God. I've had the privilege over the years of traveling around the world in different places. I remember in Singapore, I traveled with Pastor Jeff and another member of our church, and well, we have a couple of shots taken. There we are in front of this temple, this Buddhist temple, where inside people were going through all these different machinations. You can see, here's one of the altars and all the incense things that they were burning, and there was this big gong behind there that people would get. Every once in a while, they'd go hit the gong just to just to awaken the Buddha, you know, because he's a heavy-duty guy, and he sleeps kind of a lot, and I mean, and there's all these Eastern religions with all these different kinds of things. You've seen them. I mean, people bow down certain times of the day, and try to do this, and try to do that, and to get God's attention, to try to know they're connecting. Now, we don't do any weird things like that here in America, do we? I mean, you don't know anybody that has any kind of weird religious practices that they do to try to know that they're connecting, do you? Do I need to talk about any of them? No, but we do have them, don't we? There are a whole lot of them, actually, and some of them are even things that we do here, and you know, and the church that we think is great. I mean, I remember when I was really serious, I want to get through to God, I remember the first night I went to an all-night prayer meeting. I said, if I'm serious about getting through to God, then I'm willing to pray all night. I was a college student, my senior year in college, and a small group of guys said, let's get serious with God. So we went to pray all night, and you know, we got going. There wasn't that many of us, and went around, and it became my turn, and I prayed for the campus, and you know, I prayed for my friends, and I prayed for my fraternity brothers who were really pagans, and I prayed for my family back home, and all the rest, and I prayed for the president for the country, and I prayed, and I prayed, and I looked at my watch, it'd be about 19 minutes. I said, man, this is gonna be a long night. How are we ever gonna do this? Well, how about fasting? I remember, you know, the Bible says, if you really want to get God's attention, you gotta fast, and I remember the first time I fasted, you know, and well, breakfast was no big deal. I kind of got through breakfast until about 1030 or so, and I started getting those hunger pangs, and I can make it, and got through lunch, and right about two o'clock, I get this fierce headache. How many of you want to talk about that fasting headache that says, oh, if I don't eat something, I'm gonna die right now. You at least believe that. Now, are those things wrong? No. In fact, over the years, I've learned, in fact, we have times in this church when we have all-night prayer, and I've done that numerous times, and I've been on hundreds of fasts over the years, but I've learned that there's really a way that you can take a posture of grace. Now listen, this is what's important, a Bible said here, you stay joined to Jesus in a way that you open to the possibility of your prayers being answered on a regular basis. You see, the second part of that verse says, and my words remain in you. I understand that part, don't you? What does it mean when it says my words remain in you? The Bible. If the Bible stays on your spirit, it's the other part. It's how do I remain in Jesus that I want to talk about for just a couple minutes. Just three things. Number one, you might want to fill in this blank, you need to learn to be still. Be still. Now, if ever something sounded simple, but it's become very complicated in our world, it's this. Be still and know that I am God. Look at Psalm 46.10. I looked up the word still in the Hebrew yesterday, it's the word rafa. The word still in Hebrew means be still. It means to abate, cease from activity, ease off, or be idle. Something that I find very difficult to do. How about you? I mean, we live in a world of fast, not still. Fast modems, fast cars, fast microwaves, fast computers, and fast everything. Being still is not something that normally goes across my radar screen, but it's imperative that every one of us consider how we can make time to be still in our lives. Look at the next two verses. They bring great conviction to my life. Look at them. It says, the next morning Jesus awoke long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray. Now, here's Jesus, who at this point in his ministry is being pursued by people. I mean, he's come out, he is now being identified as the possible Messiah, and people are looking for him. But he makes time to be alone. And it says the same thing in Luke 5, 16. But Jesus often, circle the word often, I don't know, that may mean every day, withdrew to the wilderness for prayer. And I have to say, if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, needed that time to recenter and refocus, I have to say, I, as a simple, simple, mere human being, needed to. How about you? Now, I have an Easter challenge for you today. This being the Easter season, this is the latest Easter I can ever remember. We might not even have snow. It's awesome. It's really late, April 23rd. But I have a challenge for the next two weeks. Here's a challenge for you. To set aside 15 minutes a day to be still. 15 minutes a day. That's all I'm asking. Find 15 minutes when it works for you. For most people, it would be the morning, morning or evening, when you can be still, when you can focus on the Lord, when you can center in on Jesus. Turn off the television and all other distractions, the computer, no noise, no conversations, just you, maybe your Bible, a pad and a pen. And maybe if it helps you, a worship tape, just to quiet your spirits just a little bit. And now some people say, you know what, I just have, there's no place that I can go to be really quiet in my house. There's a couple of you that maybe you need to walk, like Zig Ziglar did. Maybe you just need to go find a place to walk where it's quiet and free of distraction. But you just know that you still and you quiet your soul, as Psalm 131 says, verse 2. Now, a couple of people are thinking, you know, I'm here for the meat, Pastor Jay. This isn't much. I mean, 15 minutes is a big deal. I just have a, I don't want, don't raise your hand right now, but how many of you in the last week, if you were honest, have met that challenge? Probably fewer of us than would really like to admit it. It's not that easy in our culture. Yesterday I was looking for that book, Confessions of a Grieving Christian at one of the local bookstores. They didn't happen to have that book, but I also just flipped over on the devotional side and I found a book called 15 Minutes with God, Devotions for Men by a guy named Bob Barnes. I said, well, that's interesting. Here's a guy, we're thinking the same way, 15 Minutes with God. So that's kind of cool. I almost bought the book. I looked down a couple of books on farther on the shelf, and there was a book called The One Minute Meditation by Bob Barnes. I asked, what's up with this? I opened up the forward of the book, and here he, and the same author said, I had lots of affirmation on my book, 15 Minutes with God, but many people said they didn't have that much time. They needed a shorter version. What's next? Snap your fingers and encounter with God. I don't know, but it's kind of weird. The point of it is, we find it difficult in our culture to give God any time at all. And so I'm just going to challenge you, 15 minutes a day for two weeks, so that Easter Sunday, you can say, Lord, I have stilled and quieted my soul. Maybe if you're more mature, you can give God half an hour a day. Maybe over the weekend, you can give him a full hour. Wow. God, I just want you to know, you're really blessed today. I'm going to give you a full hour of my time. Friends, we need to learn this. It's the posture of staying joined to Jesus. I want to say to our cell group leaders and our beta group leaders, encourage your people to be still, to be still. Because without it, as I've said many times, I don't believe God pays much attention to hurried Christians. Number two, write it down. Be sincere. Be sincere. Be totally real. I appreciated the testimony today, didn't you? I mean, Jack shared with us how important it was for him to get honest with God and with himself, that he was pretending. I don't even know if God sees right through our cons. He is so perceptive. And it's really difficult when you're not sincere. Some, quite a few years ago, when I lived over in Schaylor Township, I was asked by the township to go have a dedication prayer for a playground area. I said, well, you know, I guess I'll just be a good citizen. And I showed up, and I thought, the way they described it was like a park and a playground and all this stuff. Well, I showed up and all it was, was this little swing set and a jungle gym. And I said, well, the reverend's here to pray the prayer. You know, what do you pray for, like a, you know, a sliding board, it was actually, and a jungle gym. You know, like, God anoint this sliding board and let your power fall on this jungle gym. You know, I just, I didn't have much in me, and I just kind of rolled something out, and that was it. And wasn't very sincere. And of course, it got printed in North Hills News Record. That wasn't real good either. But the fact of the matter is, without honesty, I don't think we get through to God. I don't think God pays much attention. We're much better off, listen, the moment you begin to get closer to God is the moment you get honest with Him. And that goes all the way to the very back row here today. If you're here just kind of wondering, well, I'm putting in my time, but I'm not getting anything out of it. You know you need to tell God that. Or you might say, I'm confused about all this, or I'm angry about what happened in my life, or I'm lost, or I'm afraid. Jesus had the harshest words in all of His ministry for the spiritual pretenders, the pros of insincerity called the Pharisees. Listen to what He said in Matthew 23. He said to them, everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with scripture verses inside, and they wear extra long tassels on their robes, and how they love to sit at the head of the table at banquets and in the most prominent seats in the synagogue. Woe to them, Jesus said. Woe to the Pharisees. On the other hand, He said, if you want to be heard by God, look up here on the screen, here's what He said. If you want to be heard in prayer, He said this, when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I assure you that's all the reward they'll ever get, but when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly, and then your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you. Dear ones, be sincere, be honest with God. It's a very important step. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me with all your heart, Jeremiah 29 13 says. Two of the biggest barriers to getting through to God are these. Number one, it's trying to get the approval of others when we're praying and seeking Him. I mean, and this is hard for us, and I want to say this kind of openly here, let's just sort of be family for a moment. A lot of us are in groups, and you know, when we sit down in a group, have you ever been in a prayer circle in your cell group or small group, and you're praying about something, and you know, you're the last one, and all the good prayers have been taken? You know, I mean, all the really powerful parts of the thing, and you know, and it gets to you, and all this stuff. Well, you know, I guess, you know, I pray for my mom and dad, or something like that, but, and we wonder how people are going to perceive our spirituality. Well, that's an obstacle to getting through. You see, that's just, you know, it's just like playing a game. That doesn't impress God. Another barrier that I see is, you know, not just the approval of people, but it's just like this, this sort of like, I'm going to show God that I really am more spiritual than I am kind of stuff, and we pick up, you know, these phrases, and we call God these names that we hear other people call Him, and we call out to, you know, oh great omnipotent, all-glorious God of the supreme ruling universe, and, you know, and we just get on these kind of prayers that are, or we use cliches like, you know, God, lead God and direct, or bless the giver in the gift, or, you know, Lord, thank you for the food of which we're about to partake. Now, when is the last time you said, I'm going to partake of some food now, honey? That's not real language for me. How about you? I mean, I, and another thing we do is we use filler words when we pray, and I think these are, this just bogs down reality, you know. One of the filler words I hear a lot of people's prayers just, you know, Lord, just, just be with us now as we come before you, and, you know, just thank you for all the things that you're just about ready to do, and I just want you to know that it's just great to be here. Just stop that, all right? No more of that. Don't need to fill in all the, but it's okay to have little gaps of silence when you don't know what to say. It's kind of like real. You know, another thing people, they use the name of God all the time when they pray. I've been, and they'll say, well, Father, I thank you, Lord, that, you know, you're in control of everything with God, and Lord, you're, you know, you're, you're with us, and Father, thank you that, that your purpose is, and, and Lord, that everything that you're going to do, Father, is right, and Lord, and they go on like that, you know, just everything's Father, Lord Jesus, and on, on they go, and imagine if you talk like that. Imagine if I said, now, Bob, I'm coming into your house now, Bob, and I'm gonna bring some potato chips with me, Bob, and Bob, I'm gonna bring some steak along with me, Bob, so that we can have shish kebab, Bob, and, and, you know, if you just get going like that, it sounds nutsy, doesn't it? I mean, it doesn't, I wouldn't talk to you like that, so don't talk to God like that. Just be real with him. This spirituality that isn't real, I am all for humility of heart, and all for, but you see, sometimes it's better just to be quiet, and be sincere, and be real. That's what I'm saying. Be yourself in prayer, and talk to God honestly. That's what a personal relationship with him is all about. Now, if you need a little help as to what to pray, may I recommend the Lord's Prayer? You say, well, I was hoping you'd say that. In fact, I've been wanting you to know that I'm really disappointed. All the years I've been northward, I've never heard you pray the Lord's Prayer from up here. Do you know the Lord's Prayer, Pastor Jack? I always get fouled up on the debts or trespasses part, though, and I never know what to say, because I know that. Here's what I would recommend. The Lord's Prayer is a wonderful, and I believe Jesus gave it as a pattern for prayer. There's six basic categories of prayer there, and Larry Lee, 12 years ago or more, did a wonderful teaching on this, and we adapted that, and there's a tape series out there, if you'd like to look it up, in our tape library on the Lord's Prayer. You know, the Our Father who art in heaven is the worship part of the Lord's Prayer. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. When you call, the kingdom of God is the rule of God, and that's when you call God's rulership into your life, and into your family, and into your church, and your church leaders, and then into your community, and into your nation, and then you say, give us this day our daily bread, and you pray for God's provision very systematically. You just simply pray for God to meet your needs, and the needs of those that you love and care about, and the needs of your church, and the needs of the missions that you support, and so on. Forgive us our debts. As Jack said, boy, what an important thing to learn, how to pray forgiveness in your life and for others, and then lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Protect us, God, from all the evil in the world. Put on the whole armor of God, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Lord, you are worthy of our praise. You see, now, if I've been praying that essential prayer for 15 years, simple pattern, and when I get myself, set myself to do this, it can take me an hour to pray through that. It's a wonderful, simple, honest way to pray. Thirdly, if you want to get through to God, be spiritually minded. Be spiritually minded. What I mean by this is that we too easily segment prayer into a little box in our lives. It's kind of like a workout. I go do my physical workout, and then I go to work. Oftentimes, we pray, and then we just walk away from our prayer time, and it's over, and I want to say, when you pray, it should be like breathing. You just keep on doing it. You keep on going with it. It's got to have more than this just start and stop mentality. So many people think, well, I know, I got to pray, and then I'll just go get it done, because God helps those who help themselves, like it says in the Bible. What is the reference of that? No, it's not in the Bible, you see. To be spiritually minded means to go through your day expecting God is going to answer your prayer. I don't want to bring up a touchy subject, but how many of you have already taken care of your taxes? Taxes are all done. You're sitting there, hey, man, I'm cool. I have a hard time with you people. I don't know why you hurry those things, but for those of us who haven't quit, you know, if you sent your stuff off to your tax preparer, and you're expecting him to send it back, and you're expecting a refund, you're kind of looking forward to getting this stuff back, so you can send it into the government and get your refund. In fact, if you're getting a refund, you probably already took care of it, but if you're gonna be paying, it's likely that you're gonna wait till the very last minute. Is that all right? In fact, you don't even want to look at the mailbox, and see, that's sort of the mentality. We don't expect God, so we don't look to God, and so we're not anticipating anything from God, and we cut off the blessing of God, and this is particularly true when it comes to giving. I want to say this very clearly, maybe just put a little parenthesis here. When you put your offering in the basket here in just a little while, if you're part of SOAR, I want you to know something. You're planting a seed in the soil of God's kingdom, and I am absolutely on solid scriptural ground when I tell you, when you plant the seed in there, expect God to raise up a harvest. Why? So you can get wealthy, maybe, but the real purpose is so you can give more to the kingdom of God. God is looking for people that He can trust with resources, because so many people need to hear. So many people need help. So many people need homes, and medical supplies, and churches, and they need love, but so many of us, well, you know, it's my duty, and then we walk away from it. Plant your seed, and then look to God. Plant your seed of prayer, and then look to God. Look at James, chapter 1, verse 6 and 8. But when he asked, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord. He's a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. Listen, getting through to God requires two things, and I'll close with this. God's grace and your faith. That's all it takes. God's grace, and how many of you know you can count on that? God's grace is available to you today, and your faith. You're looking to God with expectation. Look at that next verse. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, circle the word with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Please don't put your hand up, but how many of you today are in a time of need? And if you are, you can come with confidence here. We're going to receive the Lord's table in just a moment, the bread and the cup, and you can come with confidence before him and say, Lord, I'm anticipating that you're going to answer my need, that I'm going to get through to you. Why? Because God has made a way through his Son Jesus, and that's the closing thought today. You see, all this is based on the fact that God wants to have a relationship with you. Many of you have been in a church for many years of your life, and you think you understand religion, but you've never had a relationship. Maybe like Jack, you were going through the motions, but it wasn't real to you. I want to ask you, as we prepare to have communion in just a moment, Jesus said, this is my body broken for you. This is my blood shed for you. Do you know him? You say, well, I don't know. I think I do. Well, then I want to ask you to do something. Do what Dick Holden suggested. Just pray a simple prayer and say, Lord, if you're real, I give myself to you. Meet me where I am. I call it the ABCs. A, acknowledge that you're like me. You're a sinner. You're a person that's fallen short of God's perfect plan. B, believe that God sent Jesus to be your sin substitute, to pay the price for your sin. Just believe that. And C, commit yourself to walking with him just for today and then just for tomorrow. ABC. Admit, believe, and commit. And if you do that, friends, as Dick said so clearly, God will make the transformation. He'll do the work of changing your heart. Would you stand with me? Let's have a word of prayer.