Lord, for us to pray that you would fold us into your life and close to you, as we are often prone to wander, as we are so often prone to go wayward, prone to not see sin as folly, but instead to see the pleasures of sin as the pleasures we desire. Father, our prayer is the prayer we just sang, that our lives would be lives that desire you more than we desire the foolishness of sin, that our lives would be the lives that desire you more than we desire the promises that sin makes that it could never actually accomplish. Father, we have, all of us have been drawn away by sin’s lies. We have been drawn away by the belief that something else would be better than being close to you. And, Father, we come back to the realization again and again and again, those of us who are disciples this morning, that you are the only one that can actually achieve for us what we are looking for deep in our hearts. God, that is peace. That is actually intimacy with our maker. That is purpose in life. Father, you are the only one that can do that.
And so we ask you today that you would answer the prayer that we just sang. Father, that you would fold us into your breast, that you would bring us closer to you, Lord, that while this life has last, while this life lasts, that we would actually desire more than anything else in the world to be close to you, to be students of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, and for him to teach us how to live, teach us how to be human, and actually teach us how to live a life that is life to the full. Lord, we love you. We praise you. We thank you for this morning. Thank you for the songs we sang and for the amazing king we worship in. King Jesus. It’s in his name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Hey, good morning, everybody. Welcome. Happy new year. Merry Christmas. Thank you for being here this morning. I know that in about 12 hours, or maybe. Yeah, a little bit more than that, you’ll be shouting happy new year to friends and giving them kisses and all that wonderful stuff. And I will be sleeping because I have three children.
And so there you go. Each of us have a different way of celebrating New Year’s. I pray that whatever you’re choosing to do, that it’s a great celebration for you. Matthew, chapter 21 is where we’re going to be this morning. So if you have a Bible, you can go ahead and turn there. If you don’t have a bible. No worries. Everything that we’re going to be saying, all the scriptures will be up on the screens. A couple of quick housekeeping. Housekeeping things. As you are moving to Matthew, chapter 21. I just wanted to make a comment. We have every year we set a goal in the beginning of the year for something we call the reach offering. Our reach offering is like our offering that we collect to do more than we’re able to do here. It’s to reach more people. It’s to impact more lives. It’s actually sent out to churches in South America and in the Caribbean for their missions work. This year, our goal for collection was just under $300,000. We were a bit short of that. We actually mentioned that to you a couple of weeks ago. And today I can proudly announce that we made our goal, which is so awesome.
So thank you for everybody who participated in that, for all the generosity. I know that the churches that we work with are just going to be overwhelmed by your gift of generosity. Matthew chapter 21 is where we’re going to be. Matthew 21 is a wonderful, instructive portion of scripture, but it comes out of seemingly nowhere. On its face, it’s simply the account of Jesus interacting with a tree. But on a deeper level, it’s a story about what Jesus is looking for from those who choose to follow him. And so it’s incredibly instructive for all of us who have decided to follow Jesus. And similarly, it’s instructive for those who are considering following Jesus. It’s instructive for you. If you said, this year, hey, 2024 is going to be my year of being close to Jesus, this passage is good for you. Maybe you made a new year’s resolution, that you want to come back to church, that you want to reengage, that you want to be wholehearted, that you want to be recommitted. And if that’s your heart today, the passage we’re going to teach on this morning is extraordinarily or will be extraordinarily helpful to you.
And if you’re like, hey, I just want to rekindle my faith. I want to have a better year than I had last year. This passage will also be great for you. This is what Jesus expects from those who choose to follow him. Jesus is going to give us two really important principles. They stand alone, they feel a bit unrelated, but both are critical if we want to make a commitment, a resolution to be followers of Jesus. So let me go ahead and set up the context for you so that when we land in Matthew 21, we know exactly what we’re going to do. Before I tell you where we are, I just want to let you know we took a pause in a series that we’ve been doing. We call it the ministry of Jesus. We’ve been looking in the ministry of Jesus at the ministry of Jesus from the banks of the Jordan, where Jesus is baptized. All the way through the end of his life, we’ve been just following Jesus, learning from him, being changed by him, learning from his example. We’ve been in this series for about two years, and today I can finally announce when we’re going to end the series, which is great news.
May 19. So you still got five more months. We’ll be in this series. It’s going to be awesome. But that is actually the last sermon in the ministry of Jesus series. By the way, I want to commend you for your love of scripture. I’ve spoken to so many of you who just have loved this study as much as I have loved this study. You just love hearing exposition of the Bible. You’re like, don’t give me that fluffy stuff. Just teach the Bible. And I’m like, amen. So I just love this. Hold on. Simmer down. But I get it. Everybody likes different things, but I just commend this group for their love and deep desire to learn and to be convicted by the scripture. Okay. Matthew 21, Jesus has arrived in the city of Jerusalem. In fact, he arrived on the previous Sunday. John, chapter twelve, tells us six days before the Passover, he comes into a town called Bethany. He comes to Bethany having left a town called Jericho. In Jericho healed two blind men. One is a guy by the name of blind Bartimaeus, and he has this amazing interaction with a tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus.
Scripture tells us that he moved from Jericho to Jerusalem. And as he’s approaching Jerusalem, he stops and meets his friends in Bethany. He actually stays in Bethany and sleeps over the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Lazarus, as you remember, he was raised from the dead, and Mary is the one who anointed Jesus’ head and his feet with expensive perfume. Then on Sunday, Jesus comes into Jerusalem riding on a cult. We call it the triumphal entry before the praises of Hosanna. Hosanna. Hosanna. And the palm branches waving and being laid at his feet. That is his coronation day, at least, his earthly coronation. His triumphal entry. That parade begins as he comes into the eastern gate of Jerusalem. And it ends as he gets to the temple. After the conclusion of that march, he goes home, or he goes back to Bethany to spend the night, and then he comes back into Jerusalem the next day, where he goes directly into the temple. And you might know the story. When he goes into the temple, he says, this place is a den of thieves. It should be a house of prayer. That’s the sermon for next week.
But we need to stop and make a point here, because when he comes in on the day he clears the Temple, there’s this little story about Jesus and a fig tree. Mark, chapter eleven, tells us the timeline. Matthew 21 is not concerned about the timeline or is less concerned, and is way more concerned about the principle, the point. And so that’s what our emphasis will be on as well. Today. From the interaction between Jesus and a fig tree, we learn two lessons about this. What does Jesus want from his followers? What does Jesus want? That’s the question we’re going to be answering. I’m going to tell you upfront the answer and then I’ll explain the answer first, fruit that reflects your religiousness. Two, a life of power through prayer. I’ll explain what all of that means in a little bit. This is such a great passage of scripture. Here we go. Matthew, chapter 21, verse 18. You’re with me. You’re very quiet today. Amen. All right, cool. Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, that’s to Jerusalem, he was hungry. Jesus is returning the day after his coronation.
He’s heading back to Jerusalem. And the Bible says that he is hungry. The gospel writers are often trying to remind us of Jesus’humanity. And here we see it again. Jesus our Lord, the messiah, the savior, the one who is God, is hungry. He’s hungry. So what happens? Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. Stop here, because here is where we meet our main character. The main character of this story is a fig tree. You like this picture I made chat GBT make it for me this morning. That’s not even a joke. I said, make me a fig tree on a wayward road in Jerusalem. And it made me this. It’s very scary, honestly. Fig trees. Fig trees are really common in Jerusalem. Fig trees are very common. But this tree is unlike any other fig tree. First, it has leaves on it. Our story takes place around April time. Around the time of April. And in April, they should not have leaves on it. Yet this fig tree is an early bloomer. Now, generally speaking, this would be fine, but there are other details that are important.
By the way, I’m going to tell you a lot about fig trees this morning. I know nothing about fig trees except what I googled to tell you about fig trees. So what I’m doing is just regurgitating information I literally googled. So if any of it is wrong, I apologize, but I tried to do my best. First, some Bible facts about fig trees. Here you go. If you’re ever in a Bible quiz, here’s some Bible facts about fig trees. In Deuteronomy, chapter eight, verse eight, when God talks about the beauty of Israel, do you know what he includes in his description? A description about fig trees. This is deuteronomy, chapter eight, verses seven and eight. It says, for the Lord, your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with brooks and streams and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills, a land with wheat and barley and vine and fig trees. What else do we learn? Well, there’s another little interesting Bible tidbit, Zechariah, chapter three, verse ten. There’s a promise given in the kingdom, and it says this, in the kingdom, everyone will sit under their own fig tree. What does that symbolize?
Well, the fig tree is a symbol throughout the scriptures of comfort, of prosperity, of something good. So you can think about a fig tree like a symbol of general prosperity. It’s a symbol of good things. It’s a symbol of a place that’s good. It’s a symbol of a people that are prosperous. So Jesus comes in and sees this fig tree. It has leaves on it. It’s a display of how awesome and beautiful the land of Israel is. That’s what it’s symbolizing. Here you see this fig tree. It’s magnificent. It’s beautiful. Its people are beautiful. This place is beautiful. This location is magnificent. But notice what the text says. He went up to it but found nothing on it except, sorry, you can go back. Fruit except leaves. Jesus comes hungry, waiting and wanting to see what the tree has to offer him. He’s attracted because it has leaves. Now, fig trees bear fruit twice a year. They bear fruit in May and June around that time, and then one more time in the end of the year, November, December. Now, here’s an important point you have to know. The fruit on a fig tree comes before the leaves.
The fruit on a fig tree comes before the leaves. The fruit comes before the leaves. And so if you see a tree with leaves, you should expect what fruit? So when the Lord saw the tree with leaves, he comes over to it. He comes near to it. Hey. Oh, there’s something that can quench my hunger. He’s anticipating having his hunger met by this wayside tree. And when he gets there, he sees all of its leaves but no fruit at all. It is a fruitless tree and so becomes a profound illustration. End of verse 19. Then he said to it, this is to the tree. Jesus is talking to the tree. May you never bear fruit again. Immediately the tree withered. What lesson is Jesus trying to teach us? Well, here’s a quick review. He comes to the tree, finds only leaves, then declares this curse. Mark, chapter eleven, actually says he curses the tree. To curse is to pronounce judgment and destruction. He says to the tree, tree, you’re dead. To me, die, tree, you’re dead. And then it withers. So what’s the point? Well, the fig tree is cast away because it has the pretense of fruit but no fruit.
It has outward signs that it should have fruit, but it has no fruit. So it’s important to note that there’s like kind of a local point here. And then what? I would say an extended point that you and I can look at for our own lives. First, the localized point. What is Jesus trying to condemn? Well, the fig tree is symbolic of Israel. The leaves are symbolic of Israel’s religious activities. The fruitlessness, then, is equally symbolic of Israel. In Romans chapter ten, verse two, it says they have a zeal for God but have no knowledge. They have a form of God but deny its power. The religiousness is all the leaves, but it has no fruit of righteousness. That’s what the point is. That’s the point for Israel. Don’t want to spend too much time on that, because I think the relevant point for you and me is actually a bit better for us to chew on and spend some time with. So hold on to your seats because this is about to get intense. First, fruit is always the indicator of your spiritual life. Being true fruit is a manifestation of true Christianity. It has been, it will always be.
Matthew, chapter seven simply says this, by their fruit, you will know them. Matthew, chapter 13. In the parable of the four soils, the only soil that’s pronounced as a good soil is the one that bears fruit. John chapter 15, verse five says that every branch who abides in Jesus bears fruit, and everyone that does not abide is cut off and thrown into the fire. Fruit is the manifestation of true Christianity, of true discipleship, of a true follower. Here’s a way to think about this parable. Back to my tree. We are all trees, fig trees, if you would, all of us sitting here are fig trees rooted in some type of cultural Christianity? We grow up and we display our leaves. Here we are waving in the wind. Our leaves are beautiful. How can you tell that we have leaves? Well, we’re sitting in a church service. All of you have a leaf. Maybe some of you will post on instagram that you went to church. That’s a leaf I am attending. I have religiousness in me. I have some type of. Some desire to actually be close to Jesus, whatever that means. Some of us might sing, when we sing songs, some of us might be singing the songs and raising our hands and doing a jig.
Some of us might be giving. Some of us say amen. Some of us don’t, but we think amen. Some of us volunteer. We do things. We’re part of groups. We all have leaves, and it’s on display, and it’s on display for others to see, but it’s on display, really for God to see. And the point that you’re trying to make when you have leaves is that there is righteousness deep in your heart. What you’re saying is, hey, I have righteousness in me. So from a far off way, from a distance, people see and God sees a spiritual person. Ah, I can tell he’s spiritual because he comes to church. Ah, I can tell he’s spiritual because he volunteers at his church. Ah, I can tell he’s spiritual because he gives to the needy. And so Jesus, being desirous, comes up close, and he comes up to your life, and he’s looking at you, you tree, to see whether or not you have any fruit. See, from a distance, everybody who does religious things looks like they have fruit. But when you get to come near, then you decide. Then Jesus gets to decide whether or not you’re the real deal.
And here’s the point. When he comes, he’s looking for one thing. He does not care at all about your wonderful religious activity. He’s looking for one thing. Whether or not he finds fruit in you is the only thing that matters. Does he find fruit or does he not find fruit? That’s all that matters. So your New Year’s resolution can be, I want to come back to church. That’s a good New Year’s resolution. That’s a good start. I want to be an attender. That’s awesome. But what you really should be thinking is, I want to have fruit that shows that I’m becoming more righteous. If you have fruit, then you’re celebrated. You’re honored before God. God comes to you, and he commends you. And he says, you’re amazing, but if you don’t have fruit, you are cast out into the fire. So here’s the next question. What is the fruit? Spiritually speaking, what is the fruit? What is it? Here’s a little bit of a rabbit hole for you. Some have said fruit is helping other people become christians. Let me just clear this up. This is wrong. And this is wrong because it’s incomplete. Fruit can certainly be helping other people find Jesus, but the Bible actually teaches us what the fruit Christ is looking for is.
I don’t have time to explain this to you, but you should really study it out yourself. You can look at Galatians, chapter five, Romans, chapter eight. Romans eight actually tells us that the spirit of God is the spirit of Christ. They use those terms synonymously. So when we say the fruit, what we’re talking about is the fruit of the spirit that God has placed in us. So what is the fruit of the spirit? Well, good thing you ask, because God actually tells us what it is. Are you ready? Here it is. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Okay, so here’s what we’re saying. What we’re saying is this is what’s produced by the spirit in the life of someone who’s a Christian. This is what’s produced by the spirit in the life of someone who is a Christian. What is produced? Well, here’s a list. There’s a list for you. Here’s what this means. If you sit here and you attend church and you sing songs and you attend small groups, that’s a sign that you have leaves. You got a bunch of leaves.
Wow, that’s amazing. So Jesus will come near to you. Jesus will come near to you. And what is he expecting when he comes near to you? Fruit. Okay, where are your fruit? So he comes near, and maybe he’s looking in the tree for something specific. Let’s just take, I don’t know, kindness. He’s looking for some kindness because you should have a manifestation of kindness, right? Because you have all those leaves. But if you have no kindness, which means you’re rude to everybody when you’re driving in the car, you’re honking at people, you’re sitting at a restaurant, and the waiter comes by and they forgot your drink, and you go, I did ask for an iced tea an hour ago. You messed up my order. Or you know what? You sit in judgment of everybody at work because they don’t talk exactly like you. They don’t move exactly like you. You go, well, that person really is in the fires of, like, do you have kindness? Or maybe you’re really nice to everyone else, but you’re cruel to your kids, or you’re arrogant or you’re resentful towards your spouse and you roll your eyes at them.
If that’s you. And Jesus is coming near your tree looking for fruit, looking for the fruit of kindness, and he does not find it, I want to just tell you from right now, you’re in really bad spiritual shape, or you attend, you come, you know, you participate in all the groups. You’re here, you’re figuring it all out, and let’s take self control. And you have no self control. You’re constantly indulging in things you know you shouldn’t be indulging in. You have no self control. Jesus is coming near to your tree looking for fruit. And when he looks for the fruit, if he does not find love or joy or peace or forbearance or kindness or goodness or faithfulness or gentleness or self control, I just want to tell you, you coming to church does not meet the requirement of following Jesus Christ. You attending does not meet it. What meets it is what is produced by the spirit inside of you. And you are at risk of, and Jesus said this, it’s not me condemnation. These things you can’t fake. You can’t put on a mask and pretend to be kind. I mean, you can to like strangers, but you can’t to your spouse, you can’t to your kids.
So all of us are leafy fruit and that’s good. Attend. All that stuff is wonderful. But if you have no fruit, the Bible clearly says you are in dangers of the fire of hell. That’s not my words. That’s Jesus’s words. What’s the point? Don’t be a hypocrite. 2024. Don’t be a hypocrite. That doesn’t sound good, but you can make that your motto for next year. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t be just an attender. Don’t just adorn yourself with a little bit of kindness when it looks like people are watching, but be changed from the inside out. Allow Christ to rule in your mortal body and keep in step with the spirit. Give your whole life to Jesus. Everything else is honestly just a croc. It’s a sham. And you’re not fooling anybody anyway. I mean, maybe you’re fooling me, but you’re not fooling Christ now. You’re going wow. I think I will likely attend a different church next week. And I get it. I get it. Honestly, I get it. I’d rather not tell you these things on New Year’s Eve, but this is the text that was given, so here we go. I’m committed to preaching in order.
Amen. But here’s the silver lining. Are you ready for the silver lining? I want to tell you just how Patient Jesus is. So the Bible says that immediately the tree withers. That’s what it says. And the disciples are in awe, right? It says. So when the disciples saw this, they were amazed at how did this tree, sorry, this fig tree wither so quickly? They asked. They’re in awe by how fast it withered. And they think, wow, it’s fast. And maybe it’s fast for you and me, but here’s another way to look at it. Do you know how long it took from this pronouncement to the destruction of Israel? It’s about 40 years. So it may seem like it’s immediate, but actually it takes a long time. In fact, God proves that he is slow to anger. Luke gives us an interesting picture in Luke 13, verse six. Then he told this parable, a man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. Verse seven. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard for three years. Now, I’ve been coming to look for fig or for fruit on this fig tree for three years, and I haven’t found any.
Cut it down. Why should I use up the soil? Next verse. Verse eight. Sir. The man replied, leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine. If not, then cut it down. What is Jesus saying? That he’s willing to give you time. What a great blessing, right? You have time. You have a little bit more time. You have time for him to work on your heart. You have time for him to change your disposition. You have time for him to restore your heart, to reform it, to change it into who he wants it to be. The guy says, hey, give it a little bit more time. And God says, okay, you know when he still says that? You got a little bit more time? It wasn’t until 70 Ad when the Romans came to sack the city and totally leveled it. 40 years worth of time. Now, I can’t tell you how long you have. I don’t know how much time you have, but here’s what I know. God is patient. He is patient. You need to know today. Some of you need to know that God is slow to anger, that he doesn’t want to just crush you.
Today, God is slow to anger. But others of you need to know that God is slow to anger, that you can’t trifle with him forever. Amen. Why not make your New Year’s resolution? You know what? I want to have true religious religion that keeps in step with who God has called me to be. How does this happen, you might ask? It’s so simple. Fruit comes from private disciplines, not public spectacles, private disciplines. Another way to say this is that fruit comes from the spirit, from the spirit of God. It’s the private stuff. It’s the stuff you do at home. It’s the stuff where you say, you know what? I’m going to read my Bible every day. God will change your heart. He always has. He always will. When you say, you know what? I’m going to get back to getting some one on one discipleship, some help, some mentorship. God will change you. I’m gonna get back to praying every single day, praying that God would change my heart. I promise you. Because Jesus promises you that he can actually change your heart. Okay, that’s part one. What does Jesus want from his followers? Fruit, in keeping with their religiousness. So we turn the corner a little bit, and we get to verse 21. It seems totally out of nowhere, but here’s what it says.
Jesus replied, so they’re amazed at how fast the tree withered. They’re amazed. He says this, truly, I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to the mountains, go, throw yourself into the sea, and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Stop there. Now you say, how does this connect with the lesson of the fig tree? And I would tell you that it doesn’t connect with the lesson of the fig tree. It connects with the response of the disciples about the lesson of the fig tree. The disciples are amazed, and Jesus goes, why are you amazed? You could do this, too. That’s how it works, right? And then he dives into a lesson about prayer and about faith. He says to them, look, if you don’t doubt, you believe. Then you can make mountains move. You can say to a mountain, dump yourself into the sea, and it will be done. Now, what does that mean? What does it mean is the point of this passage that Jesus is giving away the power to move tectonic plates?
No. Does God want you to cause earthquakes? I want to just pause for a second. I want you to imagine what it would be like if God allowed you to actually move mountains. That would be terrible. Like, imagine you could move Mount Trashmore over here. Vista view park. That’s not a powerful thing. That’s kind of a disgusting thing. That’s not a helpful thing. It’s a terrible image to consider God telling you that you can move mountains. So what’s the point? In the Babylonian Talmud, there is actually a teaching about this idea. A rooter up of mountains is actually a metaphor for someone who is a great leader, who handles impossible situations. They call them a rooter of mountains. Here’s a quote. There was no such another rooter up of mountains as Ben Azai. What is he saying? There’s somebody who was a great leader, this Ben guy. He was a rooter of mountains. He did impossible things. He did really challenging things. In other words, to move a mountain is to be able to solve great problems, to deal with great challenges, to have faith in difficult circumstances, to actually overcome when it feels like everything else is going the other direction.
That’s the power that God gives you by way of faith. The power to do something awesome. The power to overcome obstacles. The power to lead in great ways. The power to distinguish between what ought to be and what ought not to be. All of that the Bible saying is available to you. So how does it happen? First, I need to give you a quick clarification. You should pray. Amen. You should pray for everything. I have heard people say, don’t pray for the parking spot. You should pay for the parking spot. You should pray for everything. You should just pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and pray. You should pray to God and praise him for how wonderful he’s been. You should be praying with all of your questions. Lord, I don’t get this. I don’t understand this. You should be praying for all of your requests. God, could you clear up the highway so I get to work on time even though I left late?
Yeah. Pray that prayer. Pray it, pray it, pray it, pray it. You should be praying for healing. God, would you heal that person? God, would you heal my own heart, God, would you heal my loved one? Lord, you should be praying for God’s favor. You should be praying for salvation for the loved one. You should be praying for everything because prayer is a vehicle for intimacy with your maker. So pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. Learn to pray. Love to pray. But Jesus’ promise. That if you pray it will happen is not for all things. I want to explain. He actually makes an important distinction. If you believe and do not doubt, this needs some clarification. He’s talking about faith. And what is faith? Faith is not faith in nothing. Faith is not the law of attraction. Faith is not saying, you know what, Lord, I’m going to send out into the universe the belief that I will get what I want and it will come back to me. That’s not faith. I don’t know what that is, but that’s not faith. Faith is not faith in your ideas, where you go, God, it would be better if this happened.
I’m going to believe it and believe it and believe it and believe it. And you promised that it was going to happen. That’s not what we’re talking about. It’s not faith in your own aspirations or your own dreams or for your own desires. Faith in the scriptures are very clear. Having faith is trusting in God’s character, God’s ways and God’s will. In other words, if you know that something is consistent with God’s wills or God’s will, his ways and his purposes, then you could pray and be guaranteed that it will happen. Does that make sense? Okay, here’s a good example. God, I know that you want everyone to come to the knowledge of you. You want that. You clearly teach that in the scriptures. You want all people to have a chance to know you. So, Lord, please open the door for me to teach the Bible to my children. Open the door. Allow that to happen. Let them teach you about, let me teach them about your love that they might choose you. Remember, God doesn’t guarantee that they will choose him, but he does guarantee that he wants everyone to come to the knowledge of him.
And so you pray that prayer, you pray it faithfully, you pray it persistently, and God promises you it will happen. Here’s a bad example. I am the bad example. I noticed in my prayer life in 2023, I have a prayer journal that I work through. A lot of the prayers in my prayer journal were about God making things easier. I prayed that a lot. Lord, would you help this situation? Because it’s very challenging. Lord, would you solve this? Because I can’t figure out how to make a way through. A lot of my prayers were about God clarifying himself to me. Lord, would you make it clear what you’re trying to do here, because I don’t understand. Let me just tell you, none of those things are promised in scripture. So I should pray them. Prayer is wonderful, but I should not expect that God will answer those prayers. Does that make sense? One more good example is my daughter. If you’re watching right now, I know you’re home. Turn it off. I’m trying to teach my daughter that it’s better to give than to receive. And I’m trying to teach my daughter that life does not consist in the abundance of her possessions.
Trying to teach her to do that, to be better at giving, to be better at giving. And this is a really hard lesson to learn during Christmas. It’s like the worst lesson to learn during Christmas. So I’m trying to teach her. I’m trying to teach her. I’m trying to teach her, and I’m being very cadence. It’s more important to give than to receive. Just pray that prayer. God will help you with your heart or whatever. So she came to me the other day because someone gave her a $10 gift card to five below. And that’s an amazing gift. That was such an incredible thing. And so someone gave her the gift card, and something happened. She came up to me, and I said to her, hey, do you want to get anything? And she said, no, I don’t really want to get anything. Actually. I want to give it to my friends. And I said, wow, cadence. I said, what happened? She said, and these are exact quotes, I think it’s a miracle. And I said, why? And she said, because I prayed that I would have a heart that looks like Jesus. I mean, get out of here.
And Jesus changed her heart. That’s the rooting up of mountains, right? A six year old little girl was willing to give rather than mean. There’s miracles, and then there’s a miracle. That’s a miracle. She prayed, and God changed her heart. And she went to five below, she bought things and she gave things to her friends, and it was awesome. And I think it’s such an incredible thing for you to know that God is willing. You have that power at your disposal. God is actually wanting to do some miraculous things with your life, but you have to make sure that the things you’re asking are actually in line with his will and his way and his character. God’s power is activated by faith in prayer. As we ask in prayer, believing we will receive, not that we would consume our lusts, not that we would have our lusts fulfilled. James chapter four says, if we pray those type of prayers, they’ll never come true, not that it would be our own will. Right? One John, chapter five, verse 14, says that if we ask his will, it will be done. And not in our own name.
Right? We learn from the scriptures in John 14 that it needs to be in the name, meaning in the character of Jesus Christ. But as we ask with consistency, with consistency, a prayer in line with God’s wills and God’s way, we are guaranteed that God will move in a powerful way in our lives or in the lives of those around you. It’s amazing, isn’t it? It’s amazing. I just want to say, I know some of us here are praying for some things that God is actually willing to give you, but you haven’t achieved them or receive them because maybe you haven’t been so persistent. Maybe you’ve stopped after a week. You prayed a prayer today and you’re like, I’m done. But I want to just tell you, if you keep praying, if you keep praying and keep praying, God will bring the things that are in line with his will, his way and his character. Don’t be okay with living a life that’s weak, a christian life that doesn’t actually see anything change. Like, you know what I do? I come to church. It’s like, wow, great. No, be a person that’s actually praying in such a way where you see power in your life.
I’m weary of people who say they’re christians but never see God move powerfully. I’m weary of that. God wants to work powerfully through you. In fact, he expects that he will work powerfully through you in prayer. So here’s a question for you. When was the last time you saw mountains move? I trust that you will examine your own heart in that regard. If you feel like, you know what? I really haven’t felt this or I really haven’t experienced this, I want to invite you to something that’s happening. In two weeks time. We’re going to have a special night of prayer where we’re going to ask God to move mountains. And we’re going to do that. January 11 at 730. It’s a Thursday. We’re going to be here at the building. If you want a breakthrough in your life, I want you to come and borrow the faith of the people around you. What we’re going to do is we’re going to separate into groups. We’re going to say, hey, we’re looking for people who want a breakthrough in a sin that they’re struggling with. Let’s go over there. We’re going to be with people who want a breakthrough in helping a loved one come to the knowledge of Jesus.
We’re going to break into groups and we’re just going to get on our knees and pray for an hour and a half that God would deliver the thing we’re asking for. We’re going to pray that God would move mountains. And after that, if God doesn’t do it immediately, don’t quit. Just keep praying. But I want this to be an introduction to a powerful life of prayer. This is what Jesus is after. If 2024, you have made a resolution that you want to be closer to Jesus. Jesus is after this. He wants to see fruit in your life. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t be a fraud. Be the real deal. Allow the spirit to transform you into the image of Jesus Christ. And the second thing is, have some power in prayer. Learn to pray. Learn to love to pray. I hope this instruction kind of helped you as we bring in the new year. Let’s pray. Father, we are so amazingly impressed by Jesus. Lord, I feel like every time I read the Bible, I’m just in awe again of his teachings, of his way, of the way he cared about his disciples. Father, I just want it so much to be like him.
God, I want to pray two specific prayers here today. What is for the people in this room that have a form of godliness but have not experienced the transformational work of righteousness? God, I want to ask you today two things, Lord. One is that you would identify those who are just being fakers, God, who don’t actually desire any of this, and that you would make it clear to them that it’s actually best for them to find another way, rather than just pretending. God, I pray that you would actually make it clear to them that it’s best to kind of live either hot or cold, not to live lukewarm. God, I pray that you would impress that upon their heart, those who are just, again, not wanting to live the christian life. Lord, give them freedom from their religiousness and give them a chance to just figure out who they actually want to be. Lord, and I also want to pray for those who are here today who have no fruit but desire it. I want to pray that you would be deeply patient with them. Lord. I want to pray that you would be patient with them as they try to come closer to you.
I pray that you would remove the obstacles that stop them from getting near to you. I pray that you would actually give them a moment of clarity, even in this prayer, that they are those people. God. And that they would make a commitment today to read their bibles again, to get individual help for their discipleship again, that they would make a commitment again to pray to you every day, exposing the frailties in their heart, exposing their sin, and actually coming before the throne of grace with gladness and sincerity. And, Lord, I know that if people offer their whole hearts to you, you will not be put to shame. Lord, you will transform their hearts. God, I pray that they’ll believe that and they’ll persevere through the challenges that are truly there as they come closer to you. God, grant them repentance, Lord. God, I want to pray for those who have fruit. I want to pray that they will allow their light to shine, that they will be people that display your glory to the heavens. That, Lord, when people see Christianity, they will think of these men and women. God, when they think about Christianity, they will think about them.
That they will be so in awe of the love and the patience and the faithfulness and the gentleness these people have. God, I know we have so many amazing disciples in this room who are like that. I just pray that they’ll shine in a world of darkness. God and I also want to take time, that we would just be reminded of how important it is to pray for power here. Father, we come to church, we spend an hour and a half here, and sometimes I just wonder whether or not this is the best way for us to get the most out of this time. Father but I want to ask you today, Lord, that you would actually transform the lives of the people in this room, that you would allow them to have power, and it would not just come from one person praying for power for others, but that everyone in this room would pray for power and breakthrough in their own lives. I pray for people today who are struggling with the same sins they have been struggling with for years. God, I pray that they will come before you with belief and that you would grant them true repentance.
God, I pray that they will not stop praying, that they will not stop pleading, that they will not stop being persistent until you have answered that prayer. God, I pray for those who are praying for opportunities to share the gospel with their loved ones. I pray that you will give it to them, God. And I pray again that they will not stop praying until you have given that chance and that some of them might choose you. And we can hear the story in many months to come of the people who have come to faith because of a breakthrough that came by way of prayer. God, I pray mountains will move in the Broward church. I pray extraordinary things will be done, things in line with your character, things in line with your will. Lord, let them be done in our day. Lord God, I just want to say thank you for Jesus, Lord, at the end of service. You know, Lord, we take the bread and the juice, the body and the blood. We take it together as a time for remembrance of the blood that was poured out for us and the body that was shed for us on the cross by your son, Christ. Lord, I pray that as we take it now, that we will actually be thinking about what Jesus was willing to do to follow your will, and that we will follow in the same steps as he. We love you, Lord. We thank you. It’s in Jesus Christ’s name we pray.