The Year Of Deepening Devotion V, Hi-Impact Prayerobics, Mountain Moving Prayer

Shall we stand together and let's exalt the name of the Lord who has given us an interest in the Savior's love. How many Methodists do we have here at one time or another? It's all right? One of your forefathers wrote this song, And Can It Be That I Should Gain. Let's sing it together. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's love? Dying for me, the Lord is came for me who live to death pursue. Shall we put up the third verse, please, in the overhead? Look at the words here, and as we sing the words, let's believe God to teach us something new about the freedom that he wants us to enjoy in Christ. So that when you sing, say yourself, how many of you would like to be a preacher one day? No hands are going up? That's right. Well, as you sing, you're really proclaiming the word of the Lord. And I believe the more we put ourselves into that proclamation, the more power it has as we minister one to another. Let's sing it together. Along My Imprisoned Spirit Along my imprisoned spirit lay A child in sin and nature's night Thine I did use, the quickening ray I woke, the darkness came with light I changed her all, my heart was free I rose, and was, and followed Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art That Thou, my God, should die for me No condemnation, Thou, my God Jesus, and all in Him is mine All I need is my living hand And all in Christ is well divine The Lord I adore, the Eternal Star Sing it all your heart Welcome to His presence With thanksgiving in your heart You won't dismay To His glory and honor And tower not to fear For Jesus is the name above all names Welcome to His presence With thanksgiving in your heart Sing it all your heart Welcome to His presence With thanksgiving in your heart You won't dismay To His glory and honor And tower not to fear For Jesus is the name above all names Once more everyone, come Welcome to His presence With thanksgiving in your heart And give Him praise And give Him praise Welcome to His presence With thanksgiving in your heart You won't dismay To His glory and honor And tower not to fear For Jesus is the name above all names In glory In glory and honor And tower not to fear Jesus The name above all Jesus The name above all Jesus The name above all Names Go ahead everyone Let's give the Lord a great applause You can decide if it's you or not actually And it's great to see Just a little bit of an inkling of movement You know When first the hands start And then the neck loosens up a little bit There are a few people who can stand there and go like this You know it's ok We understand here As we gather together Especially this service And many people come to our church Who have never been in a place Where folks are happy about going to church And we're happy here Because we've come to realize We've received a great gift It's a gift of love If you're new to praise and worship And you're wondering Well this is a strange place It's only strange when it's brand new Kind of like the first time you got in a brand new car It felt strange But boy once you understood it It was great That's where we're headed together We're learning to grow together In the things of the Lord I want you to do something very affirming and positive I want you to tell We just sang Jesus the name above all names Well God's given you a name because you're special And I want you to turn and tell two people Your name And welcome them here to worship with us Don't be seated but turn and greet somebody Let's remain standing as we sing together Remain standing We're going to exalt his name How many of you have met two people you've never met before? Isn't that exciting? There's all these people And we hardly know any of them We're going to exalt his name together Because it's the name under which we gather Let's sing it together Exalt his name together The name of Jesus Lord And magnified as Savior The matchless Son of God As landing devils tremble And earthen in them fall So praise the name of Jesus The name high over all Thou low and dune of heavens Is Jesus glorified Who took our sins to Calvary And in our place He died Sinful and lusty We will again Admit the fruit Stand even a little more clearly today Of the magnificence Of your victory Your majesty and your dominion Lord I know today That you're going to be here That you already have made your presence known Amidst this worshiping congregation today And Lord those who've come Suffering And hurting Lord Will find peace in Jesus name Those who've come today Searching for truth and understanding And coming to terms with who God is Will find truth and wisdom In Jesus name And I pray that every one of us Would take our next step of obedience To fulfill our role Our destiny, our victory I ask it in Jesus great name That everyone say Amen You may be seated church as Pastor Scott comes I have to sing in this microphone so Good morning everyone Paul Told the church Continually to greet one another with a holy Kiss So I'd like everyone to turn No I would like to welcome our visitors this morning We won't do that to you But we would like to greet you And we've prepared some special Information for you if you're visiting with us Here at North Way We pray that God will send us People to care for And people to build This ministry in God's kingdom Larger and stronger So if you're visiting with us this morning I'd just like to ask you to stand So that we can get one of these to you Just stand for about ten seconds And we'd like to give you a North Way welcome Go ahead and stand all across the room Go ahead and stand Get one of these packets Welcome Go ahead greet them everyone Thank you You can be seated Now folks you can turn to those folks that are visiting And give them a holy kiss No don't do it Inside that packet is a 3x5 card That I'd like to ask you to take out of that Envelope and there's a pen For your convenience to put your name And any information on there That you think might help us Help you We're here to help you And to encourage you in any way we can And we mean that sincerely In fact the people that are sitting nearby you Go ahead and wave They will invite you to go back to the video presentation That we have right after the worship service Right behind that wall I really am looking at something over there Right behind that wall If you'll go down the hallway and to your right Is a video It's about a 15 minute video There will be a light Some light refreshments there Probably enough from what I've seen For lunch for many of you And we'd like to ask you to join us for that Short time if you can It's It's all we can do To welcome you And to let you know that we want For you to be here And if there's any way we can Communicate with you Or communicate any information That might help you make a decision About your church Or about your future We've got some fantastic folks That are going to be there We'd like to meet with you Very quickly Just a few announcements I'd like to share with the rest of the body Pastor Tom is You get up here Pastor Tom You need to do this Pastor Tom is going to share About a couple of opportunities I do want to mention that right now Believers Basics Believers Basics Is beginning right back through that door For those who are new in Christ You can go today at 11 o'clock In fact you can get up and leave right now If you'd like or go next week Pastor Tom We do have a couple things That we'd like to share with you It is finally in Baltimore We do want to make some Just to make some emphasis on it If you are a parent of a teenager today Or you think you might be someday We would encourage you to come to the family room We're going to be sharing with you The vision for 1989 What we believe God is desiring to do Within the young people of our church And I believe with all my heart That God wants to do something great In the young lives of North Way kids As well as the young lives of the North Hills And we need you to be a part of that And for you to share that vision with us So if you can be there immediately after this service In the family room The other thing that I would make Make note of is Senior Hires Focus has been moved for tonight To Memorial Park Church We'll be uniting with that church There's an outstanding professional basketball player That will be ministering Tonight And we're going to be challenged And excited about the work of God Those couple things and the rest Read the bulletin I will be getting there right on time To share that tonight Ok Don't be late You know It's probably not a secret To many of you That several of us were gone last week And someone said to me I really missed you Now that's a common statement But you know That is real significant It's great to be missed Wouldn't it be terrible To not be somewhere you're supposed to be And no one knows One thing I love about our church Is that every person That the Lord brings here is important A lot of you are mature enough to know That when there's new people As you see here all the time It's easy for you to come for a while And then maybe not show up And not be missed And you say well no one there really cares about me Believe me We care and we have lots of tearful times In our staff and with our elders And our home group leaders About the people that we miss And don't even know it for a while And so I'm just thankful today That our commitment in the future Is to care for everyone that the Lord sends us And so that when you miss You're missed When you can't be here Someone knows about it When something's happening in your life And you need care and concern and support There's somebody there That's really what our home group ministry And all of our other ministries are about Is providing for you I'm just thankful that we're part of a church Where you're not a number But you're a person of importance and significance To us and that's how I feel about it What are you thankful for today You know I read Colossians 3 And we don't often take time out In this service to share But without praying together I do want to ask you to do one thing One of the greatest Judgements I believe upon America Is that we have become an ungrateful people You know We have a spirit of unthankfulness When President Bush Talked about America becoming A kinder and gentler nation I think he should add to that A more appreciative people And I know that in our church If we need to cultivate anything It's a spirit of appreciation for what we have I had a sister say after the first service I was gone for two months to Florida I love the weather But boy I miss And I so appreciate what the Lord is doing here I know today you have something That you're thankful for And I think it's wisdom to us To take just two minutes now And say well here's something I'm thankful for The Bible says Colossians 3 The next verse that I was going to read for you Whatever you do Whether in word or deed Do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Giving thanks to God the Father through him How many of you can think of one thing That you're thankful for today Would you honor the Lord by telling someone else Just go ahead and turn around And tell someone I'm thankful for this today It could be just that you're alive That you're not sick That you have a wife or a husband That you have a job Whatever it is Turn and tell someone I'm thankful today for this particular thing Go ahead and do it Now the good news is That we are privileged of God To continue to praise him Forever Let's be ministered to And encouraged as Praise Team sings for us Forever Sunsets and seasons And streams Like our dreams Come and go But he is the peace In our lives That survives For we know He is forever And ever And ever will be He is the Lord Of peace He is forever And ever And ever will be He is forever And ever And ever will be Tins may crumble and fall After all What are they But he is the joy That endures We are sure He will stay He is forever And ever For time can't destroy He is the soul Of joy He is forever And ever And time can't destroy A never ending Heaven The never ending heaven Has been born Praise the Lord He will never be Praise the Lord He is joy And peace Castles of sand Now we stand, soon we're gone But He is the love that remains Though we change, He goes on He is forever and ever a part of us He is the heart of us He is forever and ever a part of us A never-ending love That's the never-ending love Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Father! Praise the Lord! For He brings us love! Praise the Lord! For He brings us love! Praise the Lord! For the Lord is love! Is love! Now, this morning, we're going to be looking at how to get our prayers answered before the Lord. And I'm not talking about just Lord, the bless me prayer, but I'm talking about the things that are the deep desires of our hearts. Lots of things the Bible has to say about that, but one thing seems to emerge again and again, it's seeing the greatness of God as contrasted to the feebleness of our needs and our problems. How many of you believe God is great enough to handle anything that we bring to Him? I want us to learn a new song that just extols that character quality about God, His greatness, as we praise His mighty name together. Stand with me and let's learn this song. If you know it, sing with us. If not, just listen one time through. I sing praises to your name, oh God. Here's how it goes. I sing praises to your name, oh Lord. Praises to your name. I sing praises to your name, oh God. Praises to your name. I sing praises to your name, oh God. Praises to your name. Praises to your name. I sing praises to your name, oh God. Praises to your name. I sing praises to your name, oh God. Praises to your name. I sing praises to your name, oh God. Praises to your name. I sing praises to your name, oh God. Praises to your name. I sing praises to your name, oh God. Praises to your name. I sing praises to your name, oh God. Praises to your name. I sing praises to your name, oh God. Praises to your name. I sing praises to your name, oh God. Praises to your name. We prayed for Frank and Beth a couple of Wednesday nights ago. There's a little reception for them following the service today. And Frank really is an embodiment of what I'm going to preach about next week. Decisions and destiny. How to know God's will for your life and walk in it. And here's a man that's living it out at age 25, brother. Oh, 35. I'm going to pray for you. You know, stepping out and leaving securities and moving into a place of newness. Moving away from where he really would like to be in the natural, but believing the Lord's opened doors for him. And next week we're going to look at that. But, you know, you're leaving us as just a further illustration. We believe here in our church God gives and God sends. Some are here for a long time. This becomes your base. For others, it's just a place to get on track. And then God sends you out. And, you know, I'm real open about that. We don't need to hold on to things. God will give and God will take and send off. And that's what we want. Young people, that's for you, too. We believe that because God has told us that we would be a church like the church at Antioch that would be sending out all the time. Now turn with me, please, to Matthew. And I'm going to read very directly from Matthew chapter 8. I'm enjoying this morning so much in the singing that my cords are starting to stretch here. So you can keep me in prayer. Matthew 8. You may have seen the sign today. When God says, Wow, it's the title of this message. Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help. Lord, he said, My servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering. And Jesus said to him, I will go and heal him. Then the centurion replied, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I tell this one, Go. And he goes. And that one, Come. And he comes. And I say to my servant, Do this. And he does it. And when Jesus heard this, he said, Wow. Well, it does say he was astonished, right? And said to those following him, I tell you the truth. I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then Jesus said to the centurion, Go. It will be done just as you believed it would. And his servant was healed at that very hour. Now yesterday I was sharing in fellowship with a man whose wife has been going through several weeks of anguishing pain because of a major tooth infection and problem that she's had, though not fatal, bringing her under a great deal of discomfort and serious pain. And we were talking about where's the Lord in these things when you pray and it doesn't seem to happen. And then I talked to a woman also whose marriage really is dissolving or at least at a place of such uncertainty that it's causing her great pain of the heart. Then I had a phone call on Friday with a woman who went in to have surgery to have her hip replaced and in the midst of the surgery her lungs collapsed and the doctors had to sew her up without a hip. They took one out and couldn't put the other one in because her lungs had collapsed. You know folks, if you hang around this church very long you're going to find people with all kinds of mountains. And I'm talking about problems that seem too big to figure out, too big to have simple little pat answers, little Bible verse answers for. Today I wonder what your mountain is. Is it something to do with your career or maybe something to do with a decision you face? Maybe it has to do with finances. Many people in our church still struggle with finances, can't seem to get out from underneath at all. Some of you are here with kids who could care less about God or you and that's your area of need, that's your mountain. I get letters all the time from people just describing the anguish of heartbreak and relationship that so many people face, mountains that they don't have any answer for. But my message today is for those of you who number one have been standing in front of a mountain and have not seen it move and you're saying, God, what should I do now? It's for personal believers but it's also for the corporate life of our church. I want to say a word today to the whole church about our call to be a praying church. Now one thing I'm beginning to be concerned about is the more we grow and by God's grace we're growing, the more I know I hear the Holy Spirit in the back of my head saying, don't forget I've called you to pray. I've called you to pray. Any impact that we are having in this city is because we are praying for it. And I appeal to you, the new ones of you, hundreds of you in this service who are new within the last year or so, that have never once come to a prayer meeting. The reason why you're probably in this church is because of those prayer meetings and what God is doing as a result. And we need you to take a little bit of space right up here with us and call upon God. I tell the elders and the staff frequently, I say, you know if the Lord would choose to wipe me out and take me home tonight, I know anything else I've done right in this life and ministry except that I've learned to pray and to lead this church in prayer. Now, you know, really, you say, well, gee, I thought you'd talk about preaching. No, I mean, God probably, He hears better preachers than me, I'm pretty sure. And there's probably better prayers too, but I want you to know something. The mountains we're seeing, the mountains that are out there in your life and in the life facing our church will only be cast into the sea as we learn to pray the way Jesus taught us to pray. This last message in this series is meant to encourage those of you who just maybe are feeling like, well, it's all a lot of talk, but I never see it happen. I want you to leave today convinced that prayer never fails. That's quite a statement. Prayer never fails. It's never just like taking an arrow and a bow and shooting it up into heaven. You ever feel like that with God sometimes? Well, here's another one, Lord, you know. Maybe I'll hit the target and maybe I'll miss it by a mile. How many of you want to believe that every time you shoot a prayer arrow, it's going right into the target? I believe that's what God wants us to know, and I'm going to hopefully share with you today how that can happen in our lives. Prayer that moves mountains. And I'm going to make this simple. I'll tell you why. I hear lots of teaching from time to time, and I appreciate the people who say, that was deep or that was heavy. And the next thing I hear is, I don't remember it. What good is it if it's deep and heavy and I don't understand and I don't remember it? I know I've been accused. I really kind of caught me and said, people say, a junior higher can understand your teaching. I say, great. Because I think most of us are really at a junior high level of experience for the most part. And so if I can just encourage you to go on maybe into the ninth grade today, in your prayer life, I'll be real happy. In fact, you know this centurion we just read about here today was not even a believer? And yet he had faith to see a miracle? How many think, well, maybe there's room for you then? I know that I feel that way. The Lord gave me three words to share with you here as I study these and other passages. Simple words, you may want to write them down, about how to get your mountains moved in prayer. The first one is the word focus. Focus. Very often I find that when people face a mountain, what they focus on is the mountain and not the mountain mover. And the reason I had to sing that little chorus before we started the message is I want us to see, dear ones, we'll never see our mountains, our healing, our deliverance, our wisdom, our relationship, we'll never see it happen until we see the mountain mover, who is bigger than our mountain. I want to tell you a story today that will illustrate this point. I think it's very important that we all attach certain experiences to principles that we learn. I had someone who called me two weeks ago today with what I would call a mountain. I was at home after the service two weeks ago. I had just preached a message on God answering prayer, you know, the mystery of... This person called and in effect said, oh, yeah? They said, here's what happened. They said, we're watching a little dog for a friend of ours, a good friend. And the dog got away, ran out. Now, they were very kind. They said sort of apologetically. They said, Pastor, we know you have lots of important things to do. You could care less about this little dog. But you don't understand. If these people come back from their weekend trip and the little dog's gone, I'm moving away. It's all over. I'm out of here. And they were in desperate straits. Well, I took a moment. I prayed over the phone. I said, you know, the Lord knows where the dog is. He sees everything. You know, I'm halfway, like, you know, okay. They believe this. But I'm a dog lover, and I also have a dog that gets away now and then. So I kind of fell with it. I got up and went out. We were shooting some baskets out back with my son. And I couldn't shake the idea that somehow I was supposed to do more than just pray about this dog. I said, Lord, is that you really? I mean, you know, it's starting to get near dusk, and, you know, I'm tired. I couldn't get. And I had this image in my mind of seeing this little dog. And we're talking here dachshund size, okay, this high, brown, you know, that long, walk side to side. And I really don't know why, but I got in my wife's car and took my son. I said, oh, we're going on an adventure. You know, I was trying to get him. I had this great time. Look for this little dog. So I go over to the neighborhood where the dog had run away. No one's home in the house. They're all out looking for the dog. And, you know, I see him. We're going to drive by this driveway, and there's a little dog. It's going to be there. You know, we're going to be the heroes. But we looked and walked around, and there's no dog. So finally after a half hour, I said, well, Lord, I've done my duty. And I go back to the house. Well, the family that was watching the dog is there, and they're all, oh, it looked like awake. You know, oh, God. And the people are going to return home in about an hour, and there's no dog. I found out that the dog, they had seen it walking across Route 19, all four lanes. And off into the woods, and they felt, I mean, it's history time. Plus, it's raining. Plus, it's dark. Plus, the dog has no idea where it is. Plus, it has no tags on. I mean, we're talking mountain size problem here. So I go home, and I said, well, you know, Lord, you know where it is, but I sure don't. So that's that. Next morning, I get the call from the people who had come home. And there's a hint of remorse in their hearts, and they're saying, well, and, you know, we know if it's God's will that I can accept it, but I just don't want to see it squashed on the side of the road, you know. This is getting really hot. I couldn't shake it, though. I came back to church for something in the morning, and Carol and I had a little bit of time before lunch. So we get back in the car. I said, honey, would you, you know, is it really weird if I go one more time over this thing? And I'm saying, Lord, why do I see this? We drive down where the dog had crossed the street, up in this neighborhood, and I hear Carol say, there he is, walking across the driveway. Pull the car over. She gets out. She walks over to the dog, kneels down to it like this, and reaches out her hand, and the dog runs away. I pick up my bat, head to my wife. How could you let him get away, you know? So we chase the dog around back behind the house. In the meantime, the neighbors are all, you know, looking out the window. And the dog's name is Dr. Twinkie. So here we are. You know, these neighbors are watching us. Here, Dr. Twinkie. Here, Dr. Twinkie. I can see police and ambulances coming. There's Looney Tunes out here, Dr. Twinkie. Well, by the grace of God and my wife's sweet voice, the dog finally gave up, came over, and we picked it up. And we got in the car, and the neighbors, it turns out, they had all been alerted, and there was news bulletins and everything about this dog. And they said, oh, we know who owns it. I said, I know who owns the dog. We drive right up the road, just about a few hundred yards from the gas station, and here's the wife and the lady who lost the dog. They're there, and they look like they've been out all night in the mud, and they're crying. And Carol goes, looking for this? And here's Dr. Twinkie. Well, I mean, you talk about, in a moment, jaws that drop six inches. And, you know, it's like the prodigal returned home, and everything was wonderful. Now, I have to tell you, I delayed, and I didn't know if I should tell you this story, because it seems, in the eternal scope of the suffering of mankind, to talk about a little dog being lost, and God answering a prayer like that, seems absolutely, almost inconceivably unimportant. Except that Jesus said that the Father keeps His eyes on every sparrow, and He knows when they fall. And He says, are you not much more valuable than they? Are you not much more valuable than Dr. Twinkie? Does God not much more know what's going on in your life, and the struggles you face, and the pains you feel, and the mountains you're looking at? Does God not understand that much more than He even cares about a little animal? The answer, of course, is yes. Seeing your mountain moved is realizing that God loves you, and He is able to move any mountain out of the way as you believe in Him. So the first thing you've got to do is focus on Him, His love for you, His plan for your life. The fact that He knows you better than you know yourself, and He loves you, it's the same. And if He'll help us find a little dog, He'll certainly help you find your calling in life, or your need for healing, or whatever it might be, because that's the God that we love and that we serve. He'll take our impossibilities, as we sang earlier, and make them possibilities. Remember when Peter stepped out of the boat in Matthew 14? The Bible says that he looked at Jesus, Jesus had come, and he stepped out. And he had his eyes on Jesus, and then what does it say? He looked and saw the wind and the waves, and these were big winds, it was in a storm. And when he looked and saw the wind and the waves, the Bible says he began to sink. Now I've always wondered how you begin to sink. Now when I sink, I sink. How about you? I mean, I just look down to my knees and then my hips, I go, phew! Well, I have, and that literally is the Greek there, I've looked at it. What that is saying to me is, faith was leaving him as he put his eyes on the circumstance and off of Jesus. And Jesus looked at him and said, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Well, he doubted because he saw the circumstances. We doubt when we take our eyes off the mountain mover and put them back on the mountain. So that's the first way to get your prayer answered. Number two, you've got to have faith. And you know, it's almost a truism to say faith is necessary for prayers to be answered. But you know, church, I've discovered that people lose sight of what this all means. And we make it so complicated. I have to tell you, I don't think it's that complicated. It only gets complicated when we try to play God in it and understand His role. Let's just do what we're supposed to do. And let God be God, and He'll take care of those things. Jesus said, if you ask anything in my name, and you believe that you've received it, it'll be yours. Now, I've done a whole series, and others have taught on this subject as well. There's tapes in the tape library, 518 through 526 on this subject. I have four little things on faith. Just one, two, three, four. Here they are. Number one, for faith to be powerful, it has to be specific. Please get out of the habit of just saying, general, bless me, take care of me, you know, lead me, all this. Get down and say, God, these are the things I need to see happen. The centurion said, my servant is sick. If you'll just speak the word, he'll be healed. And he just didn't say, oh God, you know, do you have some good news for me? He was specific about it. One reason we're in this building that you're in now, and brimming over in it, is because the Lord gave us a vision that we would be worshiping in a facility in Wexford Flats. And we have held fast to that vision, and held firm to it. That was what God had planned for us. Now we're praying for the next phase of that vision. And I have to tell you, elders, we need to be specific. And say, God, what is the next specific step so that we can have faith and believe for it? Number two, faith needs to be, and often is, something that we seek. I love the people who have the gift of faith. Oh, I wish I had more faith. Paul Yonggi Cho in Korea has the gift of faith. And so he just, you know, God just imparts that to him. And I know people here in our church like that. But I want to say to you, if you don't have the gift, if it doesn't just come, there are ways to grow in faith. Be in the word of God. Have you ever found yourself reading something and the Bible jumped out at you? You say, wow. Well, that's the Lord saying, that's for you. Put faith onto that. Another way to grow in faith as you seek the Lord is to partner with somebody. I want you to know, when I can't believe, I find someone who can add their faith to mine. Jesus said, if two or more of you agree, and earth is touching anything you ask, it will be given to you. The Bible says you can put, one can put a thousand to flight. Two can put how many? Now, you know, I've lost most of my calculus and algebra and geometry and all. But I think that's a geometric progression, which means if two can put ten thousand, how many could a thousand put to flight? Yeah. Someone said exactly the right answer. A lot. Probably more demons and more devils and everything else than there is in all the universe. You know what our problem is? We don't agree. Because you're back there, and you have this vision, and you're ov