Go a little deeper
This message continues a series called Victory by naming prayer as its central practice. Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick recalls earlier weeks: obstacles do not end the story, and victory is an invitation that begins with rest rather than striving. He then reduces the sermon to a single point—pray—and turns to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, where his closest friends fell asleep instead of watching and praying. He treats that scene as a mirror, warning that spiritual sleep can cost people the very power they need.
Pastor Keith discusses Jesus' repeated prayer of surrender in Gethsemane, the angel's help, and Jesus' continuing anguish. He presents prayer as yielding personal desires to God and seeking strength through difficulty. He then explains the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 as a model of relationship with God, emphasizing reverence, God's rule, provision, forgiveness, and resistance to temptation.
Using John 14, Pastor Keith encourages believers to ask Jesus for help and depend on the Holy Spirit as they continue his work. He presents prayer as active participation in that work. His practical encouragements include brief prayer, prayer in any place, silent or spoken prayer, thanksgiving, confession, and recording prayers. He closes by inviting those seeking faith, renewed commitment, help beginning to pray, or prayer for a need to respond.
The conversation,
in their words.
Transcript from the recording’s captions. Select any timestamp to hear the original audio.
Victory you are not meant for defeat you are destined for victory in week number one of the series we learned there are obstacles in this life that will seem like they're stopping us from Victory these are the obstacles that are difficult these are obstacles that are overwhelming these are the obstacles that when you face them it might even seem like God is absent or not working in your life but all we have to do is go into the Bible and see these stories where our God is Not only with us he will never forsake us our God is with us when we go against the Giants the enemies when we're up against a wall or even water we will see
that God Will Make A Way Through the water he will bring down the Walls he will overcome the enemy there's no giant too great that our God can't bring down so the obstacle is not the end of your story the obstacle is just a part of the journey to get to the victory the obstacle is not the end no matter what you're facing then we looked at Victory as an invitation Victory is an invitation the Lord our God is not asking you to muster up the strength to get this Victory God is not asking you to do more to be better or even try harder Victory is an invitation and the key to this Victory is not what we might think the key to this Victory is rest
this invitation is given by Jesus so that we would understand is not what we can do it's what's been done for us by Jesus Christ that when you Embrace who Jesus is he doesn't send you out on your own to figure it out he says learn from me rest is a rhythm and is learned by Jesus because of who Jesus is and what he's done for us and today I want to talk about the secret sauce of victory that every one of us can have today it's the power of Prayer the power of Prayer would you just say that with me the power of Prayer so why don't we just pause for just a moment I don't know if I can preach on prayer
unless we pray and prayer comes in many different forms you can shout prayer you can pray in silence and solitude you can pray corporately you can pray alone so for just a moment we're going to make it awkward in fact for those watching online we want you to join us I just want silence for a moment and I don't want it just to be silenced for silence sake I would like it if in your heart you be still before God invite the Lord to speak to your heart that the Holy Spirit may have a message for you so can we just bring an invitation from our hearts for almighty God to to be with us right now let's pray
foreign Lord I want to make room for you today as you've invited us into a relationship with you we invite you into your house to have your way Holy Spirit would you reveal what you want for us today Enlighten our eyes of our hearts move today Lord I confess that we often even have church here and we can get so busy we
might even miss the moments you have for us so father forgive us and we welcome you to have your way today you are in the business of change life transformation so have your way would you set those who are in bondage free today in Jesus name would you heal any area that needs healing and that includes our hearts our bodies Our Minds we we welcome you to have your way Jesus we thank you for the promise of who you are as the resurrection and the life that there's nothing too great for you so if there's something that needs to be brought back to life we declare in the name of Jesus that you would have your way
I ask that your Living Word would speak to us today as we turn to your word may it go deep into our hearts like a a seed that would bear much fruit Lord I pray for for proper soil of our hearts to receive your word right now may we see many miracles to come because of the promise that's found in your word I want to thank you in advance for what you're going to do and I can't wait to praise you for what you're going to do in Jesus mighty name I pray if you're in agreement would you just shout amen amen amen hey for taking notes which you should always take notes at church because we we have a tendency to have spiritual Amnesia in our life can I just get amen for those of us that struggle with ADD HDD those of us that might might have a hard time focusing in this loud Busy World we
should take notes so that we could put it in our Bibles that when we go to our Bible we can go back to what God said to us so that we can hold on to his promises we can put them into practice we can obey what God has to say so if you're taking those put at the top of your notes the title of today's sermon the power of prayer this is important for you to see that there is power in prayer now I want you to know with this sermon today if I give you five points in five days you will not remember a single point if I give you three points in three hours you might remember one point so I'm going to keep this really simple today I've got one point to this sermon so that you can remember this there's one point I want you to write this down Point number one is today the power of
prayer Point number one is pray just write that down you could write that down you could if you don't have a paper in front of you write it on your hand so you can remember this one point to today's sermon pray that's it unless you think the sermon's over and that was the shortest sermon I've ever preached there's a lot of scripture to support that one point so we're going to turn to those scriptures right now so that we can see what the power of prayer is and how we can put that into practice in our life but now you know the one point and we're going to continue to look at that one
point you ought to what pray all right confession time let's get vulnerable how many of y'all have ever fallen asleep when you were praying all right y'all are relentlessly real today that's good because you're not alone in fact we read in the final hours of Jesus life before he was arrested betrayed tried beaten whipped and crucified he invites some of his closest friends to pray with him I want you to turn if you have your scriptures to Matthew chapter 26 starting with verse 36. says then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane and he said to his disciples sit here
while I go over there and pray and talking with Peter and the two sons of Zebedee that's James and John so he took Peter James and John he began to be sorrowful and troubled then he Jesus said to them my soul is very sorrowful even to death remain here and watch with me notice the invitations of Jesus I want you to do this with me and going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed saying my father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as you will and he came to the disciples and found them sleeping
and he said to Peter so could you not watch with me one hour watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak again for the second time he went away and prayed my father if this cannot pass unless I drink it your will be done and again he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy so leaving them again he went away and
prayed for the third time saying the exact same thing the same words again and then he came to his disciples and said to them sleep and take your rest later on see the hour is at hand and the son of man one of the favorite titles for himself is betrayed into the hands of sinners if you have fallen asleep you are in good company for you're not alone as this story tells Jesus sees us
he sees everything about you you can fool a lot of people a lot of the time you can fool me you can fool your parents you can even fool a spouse you just cannot fool Jesus he sees everything Jesus sees you when you're awake he sees you when you're asleep he sees you when you've been bad or good sounds like someone else but this Jesus is real he's living and he knows everything about you and some of us need to get honest today that if if Peter James and John who are with Jesus they could see Jesus they could touch Jesus they could see him and
they still fell asleep some of you all be like I just can't see Jesus so it's invisible so that's why I fall asleep I can't see him they could see Jesus and they still fell asleep some of us have to get honest in our own hearts and say we are asleep this may not be physical this could be spiritual you may be spiritually asleep and if you are spiritually asleep the problem is you're missing the power of prayer you're missing the very thing that will give you victory in your life and what Jesus wants you to know is that he is not going to come and condemn you because you're asleep he is not going to shame you because you're asleep rather he's going to teach you to wake up
to watch to be vigilant that if you want Victory it requires prayer notice how Jesus calls out Peter and says if you're not praying you will fall into temptation do you all remember what Peter did in the following hours at the very moment that Jesus could use a friend at the very moment he could use some intercessors praying for him at the very moment an hour where Jesus the son of God is being betrayed Peter goes and denies Jesus not once not twice but Thrice sounds better saying Thrice than three times there would have been a person of Prayer
if when someone came to him and said were you with Jesus he would muster up the courage and say absolutely that's my savior that's my king I will serve him I will sacrifice but in that moment in that moment he missed it now lest we condemn Peter ourselves we have a god of Grace it is never too late with God he continually corrects our hearts he continually brings us back to who he is and Jesus will show us through his life what that means for us to exchange our flesh which just simply means your desires for faith in him to see what that looks like for God to work in your life if you want the Lord to work in your life you've got to go to God In Prayer
because what you do is you exchange your will for his will and what Jesus shows us is that can be difficult there comes a moment where you're going through something in your life and you say I actually don't want to go through this Lord but what Jesus teaches us not once not twice but three times he says but not my will but your will be done I don't know why you're letting me go through this I don't know what you're going to do on the other end of this I know this is really difficult but I'm not asking for my will I'm asking for your will to be done and when you pray such powerful prayers what you will discover with the will of God is that God's Will has no regrets there there is no should have or could have with God's will that does not mean God's will will be
easy does not mean you will always understand it it just means that it's God's perfect will for your life and the only way to know God's will Jesus shows us and demonstrates for us it's just with a simple point today if I could have Point number two it's pray you want to know God's will you cannot know God's perfect will for your life without prayer and when Jesus needed his friends the most they were asleep now why were they sleeping well simply put they were tired they needed rest this is the Paradox of the Christian faith the very thing I preached with you for you last week was the key to Victory is rest and yet in this moment when they needed rest the most Jesus is actually
asking them not to rest but to pray because there will come a moment in your life where prayer is even more important than sleep I'm talking about the wrestling moments where you are up all night petitioning heaven for God to do what only God can do and most likely with this type of prayer it comes with great Agony it comes with tears streaming down your face and it comes for you exchanging your life fully surrendered to God in prayer sometimes the only Victory found in your life is when you wrestle in prayer and Luke's account of this same story he tells us in chapter 22 . it's the same story told by a doctor
Luke is a physician and he gives these details and Jesus came out and went as was his custom so this was not a new experience for Jesus to go out to the Garden The Garden of Gethsemane this favorite place of Jesus this was his place this was his space this was this was the secret room this was his prayer closet it was out in the open does anyone love nature do you love going outside this is a place of prayer for Jesus he goes out to the garden not to tend to the weeds but to tend to prayer he goes out to this place as Luke tells us as was accustomed to the Mount of Olives and the disciples followed him he's the rabbi the teacher they're the disciples the students and when he came to the place
he said to them pray that you may not enter into temptation and Jesus withdrew from them about a stone's throw and he knelt down and what did Jesus do prayed saying father if you're willing remove this cup from me nevertheless not my will but yours be done and as he's praying Luke tells us in verse 43 and there appeared to Jesus an angel from heaven strengthening him this is the point where I need to warn you that if you want power in your life is going to happen through prayer that when you need strength it will happen through prayer and when when you need God to do what only God can do it happens through prayer and God will do it he will strengthen you at just the right time
you want God to give you an angel to strengthen you you've got to be a person of prayer and while Jesus is praying he's strengthened by an Angel but Luke doesn't say it gets easier but rather he tells us in verse 44 and being in agony Jesus prayed more earnestly how could he have prayed more earnestly without the strength he just got just a moment ago and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground and when he arose from prayer he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow and he said to them why are you sleeping rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation
today I do not know what you think about Jesus but I want to challenge you to look at the life of Jesus I want you to look at the life of Jesus how he lived his life who he was and what he did with his life this was a guy that we can get behind it is really difficult today to understand could you trust someone even someone that looks like you can trust and you find out later they betray you they have secrets they do something they you didn't expect them to do and I'm not even talking about politics I'm talking about the people in your home I'm just talking about the reality that people will let you down but when you look at the life of Jesus he's so spectacular in that what our god did is he became one of us
the writer of Hebrews puts it this way in the days of his flesh Jesus offered up prayers and supplication with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his reverence something different about Jesus life it was no ordinary life this was a man that was more manly than any man that's ever lived and he was willing to cry men if you have not wept and wailed with tears you've yet to experience the Heart of Jesus it's a challenge to understand the Heart of Jesus he did not give a rip about what anybody else thought of him because his tears were genuine tears of Sorrow
they were not just sadness they were not pity they were not tears because he got caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing they were tears because life was not happening and the reality in the realm that he knew it should happen and he came to display who he was and to show his kingdom and when his kingdom was not the way it should have happened tears came down in his down his face it was a representation of his life and I tell you this because Jesus knows everything you've ever been through he knows your pain he knows your sorrow he knows every single emotion you've ever been through and he gave his life so that you would receive Abundant Life so if there's anything in your life right now that's not the way it should be he actually came and died on the cross so that you would believe in him
and receive the Abundant Life that's found in him that whatever it is stopping you today whatever it is that Grieves the Holy Spirit you would give it to Jesus and there's so much that stops us from Victory there's so much that stops us from God's power so I want to challenge you today to look to Jesus and you will see the way to live do not look to the ways of this world do not look to your heart oh all the bad counsel that's given today oh just trust your heart no Jeremiah says don't trust your heart it's deceitful above all things and he adds it's sick we look around and we want to trust our friends we want to trust the world we want to trust the the Demonic influences
of this world like horoscopes and other areas that tend to be spiritual or want to help you but I'm here to tell you just look to Jesus and see how he lived his life you know if you're looking for an excuse today not to be who you are because many of us are not who we want to be we're not where we want to be you wake up one day and you say how did I get to this place and we're not in the place we want to be and I'll tell you if you're looking for an excuse you will absolutely find one can we just say that politics are just totally messed up I mean I I think the pandemic just proved it it put so much pressure on us and we saw a divisiveness in this nation like we've never seen from the very beginning it was absolutely awful and if you want a reason to be messed up go ahead and blame politics
you can blame it because your person didn't get in because you voted for them or or you could blame any other any other reason but I'll tell you this Jesus came at a time where the political system was so perverse the political system was so corrupt we can look at the time that Jesus came and lived his life if there was ever a Time to Say Hey I can't do this right now because like there's an Empire called the Roman Empire and there's a king that I can't do this it's so corrupt if there was ever a time but you know what Jesus did he made no excuses he showed us that you could actually live his kingdom come and his will be done on Earth even in a corrupt political system that's why we should look to Jesus so that we don't look to Politics as our hope but we look to Jesus as our hope you look at all the things that Jesus
went through I mean you could blame other people for in your life you you could blame all the bad things that are happening you you could look at this world and say we've lost the war this is a dark time this is a dark day you just look always on the news even in Central Oregon there's always something bad happening oh we've lost the war it's not going to get better Jesus came to show us that we actually have Victory the war's been won and guess who's supposed to be the light in the Darkness we are so we actually shouldn't keep looking at the Devil and say oh the devil's winning this war no we have Victory but it all starts and ends with Jesus he's always been Victorious he will always be victorious you go to the last book of the Bible and I'll tell you who wins Jesus he's been there from the beginning he's here right now and some of us are
wondering why is he letting us fight so many battles I can't always explain it nor will I claim to have a wisdom that I don't have but I will tell you this somehow in God's sovereignty he's using it all for his glory he's going to use your life and your journey and your struggles and your mistakes and your sin and he will use it all for his glory so don't you give the devil a foothold and say somehow we're losing this battle we have one and there's a great opportunity to see God do something greater and the Epiphany that I've had more recently that we have victory over every area Jesus even had victory over nature over nature we get confused today the one of the main subjects you will hear in the political camp that we live in in our nation is the state of creation now they won't call it creation they'll
call it something else when I was a kid they called it something different it was global warming now the title is climate change I would just tell you what you see on this Earth in nature doing things that it shouldn't be doing is real if you don't understand what I mean you just go to Genesis Chapter 3 The Curse of sin impacted not just Humanity but also creation so there will be storms that we don't like there will be times and seasons in our lives that you look at the earth and the way the the things that are happening they're not happening the way that it should happen and here's what Jesus came to show us he has all authority even over nature and then he gives us that same Authority
and we don't act in it instead we fight about it we want to fight and divide with people that don't think like us as if we're going to win somebody over through an argument Jesus has all authority when when he saw a storm he could say be still and it was still in our world we see a storm brewing in our life and we just contribute to that storm we ought to be a reflector of God's kingdom not our kingdom not our will be done but the challenge is to look to Jesus and start living more like Jesus I mean I love Jesus he did so many great things he turned water to wine He Walked on Water he healed the sick you were disabled that wasn't too hard for Jesus he even brought the dead back to life there was absolutely nothing too great
for our god there was no job that Jesus could not complete and he chooses you to be a part of this when his disciples were with him they witnessed what Jesus did and of all the things that Jesus did if you were with Jesus for one day and you could ask one question to Jesus what question would it be like maybe you'd be like hey Jesus could you show me how to multiply food because food's getting real expensive right now like if I could just multiply a meal I got three teenagers in my house so like we just need a little help could we take Five Loaves two fish and like maybe even give some to their friends because the Bible says when Jesus multiplied the food the people were satisfied he took a poor kid's happy meal and he he turned it into a meal where people were satisfied that's probably what I would ask Jesus I also love the water I love
outdoors and I would probably ask Jesus hey could you teach me that thing you taught Peter about walking on water that looks pretty cool like I mean I don't want a board I just want to be able to walk out there on the water like could you show me what to do that's probably what I would ask Jesus I don't know there's there's probably a lot of things I would ask Jesus but when it came down to it with his disciples look at Luke chapter 11 verse 1 and 2. now Jesus was praying in a certain place do you notice the theme of Jesus life he's constantly praying he's one with the father filled with the spirit and when Jesus was finished one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to multiply that food help us to show to walk on water nope here's the question Lord teach us to pray as John taught his disciples of all the things that you can ask Jesus to teach you there was something spectacular they watched Jesus pray they learned from
Jesus praying they looked at how he lived his life and the Very question that was asked of his very students was teach us to pray and Jesus did he said to them when you pray there was the positive notion that you're not going to pray sometimes you're going to just pray at church you're going to be a Praying person and when you pray this is how you pray and then what we call next in Jesus teaching we call this The Lord's Prayer Jesus didn't call it the Lord's Prayer we called the Lord's Prayer because the Lord taught us to pray so we call it the Lord's Prayer many people over many centuries have memorized this prayer and there are many people that have recited this prayer with absolutely no power because they've missed what Jesus is trying to teach he's trying to teach us that you have direct access to God and there's power in prayer in fact if we look at this as just a
little more more closely we can see this teaching in Matthew chapter 6 when he went into a great deal of teaching on prayer he says don't be like the Hypocrites When you pray the word hypocrite in the Greek is Hippocrates which is a picture of wearing a mask and then taking off the mask and that you're you're somebody that you're actually not and he says when you pray you don't need to fake it to make it you don't need to act when you pray in fact it'll be most natural when you're around other people that you're going to say things that maybe you'd never say on your own so Jesus says you go into a closet and shut the door and pray alone there's an intimacy with prayer and that's not the only way to pray and Jesus proved a point there he When you pray in public he says you don't need to pray like the Hypocrites you don't need to repeat words you don't need to just memorize prayer and say them when they have no weight and power you need to pray because you're actually wanting to
have a conversation with almighty God so he tells us how not to pray and then he teaches us how to pray and this is what he teaches us to praise it's in Matthew chapter six and I want to start with verse nine he says pray then like this you should pray and when you pray he starts off by saying our father in Heaven this is not the only name for God this is one of a myriad a multitude many infinite names for God but I love how he starts with our he starts with the reality that our father we are not in this alone he's not my father he's not your father he's our father we have a great big family we belong to and when you pray you should remind yourself you're not alone our father
he's our heavenly father he is our father who is perfect you might have an Earthly father but I want you to know this our heavenly father is perfect our heavenly father is all-powerful our heavenly father loves you more than anyone could ever love you when you pray you remind yourself he is our father sometimes we have to remind ourselves in heaven Jesus goes on to say Hallowed Be Your Name coming from the word holy which means set apart there is no other name like yours there's a reverence to God when you pray you're not just talking to an ordinary person you're talking to almighty God you should have a reverence for God the reality that you get to come before God and talk to him Hallowed Be
Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as it is to Heaven oh we see the key here it is right here let your kingdom start happening now we want heaven to start happening now we don't want to wait to get to heaven to start to experience Heaven as my wife likes to say oh Lord would you unleash Heaven to Earth we want to start experience some of this right now if God is love and Heaven's going to be full of love I want to start experiencing that now if there's no sin in heaven I want to start experiencing that now I'll tell you Heaven's going to be a lot bigger than you think there are people that when Journey Church grows they say this church just getting too big for me I need to find a smaller church when I came here was smaller we need to go with smaller Street I want to warn you you get to heaven it's going to be big and you're going to be shocked there are going to
be people you're gonna be like you made it here how'd you make it here because to get into heaven is not what you can do it's what's been done for you in Jesus and when you accept the free gift of Grace by faith in Jesus Christ you get in you don't get in because you've been good enough or born to the right family or went to the right church so we might as well start praying what Jesus taught us right now do you know this prayer was never meant just to be recited line by line it was meant to understand like what Jesus exposed us through the Torah the rules the Commandments the law of God it's not about the rules it's about a relationship with God Jesus exposes the heart of the law Giver he did not give this to you so that you would memorize it and recite it he gave it to you as a model and an understanding that when you pray
you're believing that God can work in your life in real areas in your life at your school in your home in your neighborhood in the city in the state in this nation and Beyond let it happen here as it is in heaven notice the dependency on God in verse 11 give us this day our daily bread and the ancient scriptures the Lord is known as Jehovah Jireh simply said the Lord provide her he's The Giver of all good things I say this all the time at church there's no greater giver than God if you don't recognize that everything you have including the air you breathe is because God allows you to have it if you give food it's because he gave it to you there's a dependency on God don't ever get so prideful that you think I
did this on my own God gave it to you that's why in our home we pray before every meal sometimes we'll start biting and eating the food like oh we've got to pray it doesn't need to be a long prayer a lot of times it's just recognizing God you gave us this food thank you for this food so many times we want to say things like Lord bless this food in my body he's not going to bless the fried chicken all right you can enjoy it but it's still going to have calories that's going to have cholesterol you can thank God for the fried chicken that you're getting closer to heaven but the point is is to remember that God gave you that Daily Bread he gave you that chicken he gave you God is
The Giver of all good things look at verse 12 and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors my friends forgiveness is the common theme of prayer this is not the place of arrival I've prayed for forgiveness I never need to do it again if something slips into your heart most often it's unforgiveness in your heart that's stopping you from the power of God working in your life because you're not giving it to the Lord forgive us our debts as we've forgiven our debtors this is the DNA of God she's the great forgiver of all sins this is what sets us apart from any other religion on the planet it's about what God's done for us forgiveness that we put that into practice every other religion is about what you can do and Christianity it's believing in who Jesus is and what he's done for you see even sex of a a faith that call
themselves Christians is not true Christianity if it's what you can do that's no Christian at all it's about what Christ has done for you help me to forgive the way you've forgiven you have not earned your forgiveness by being good enough you have not earned your forgiveness by going to church or offering a a sacrifice or any other thing the Lord's forgiven you so you forgive others and then look at verse 13 and lead us not to temptation but Deliver Us from Evil My Friends the world would be different if we took this prayer seriously the world is so full of Temptation anybody having Temptation out there come on just raise your hand uh we all do and our temptation is different
some of us are tempted by chocolate some of us some of us are tempted by alcohol some of us are tempted by adultery some of us are tempted by some stronghold or Addiction in our lives that Temptation comes in many form but you're in good company in this place because all of us are going to be tempted I'll tell you why because God loves you and the enemy wants to steal kill and destroy your life Jesus came that you might have life abundantly and so Jesus tells us he taught you how not to give into temptation you want to know how not to pull down your pants in the wrong relationships pray you just ask God should I be going into this house that's not mine pray and God will tell you the answer nope you said yes to somebody else but but if you pray if you pray and you pray and you pray and you pray and you pray and you pray
and you pray it will become like what Luke said of Jesus you're custom so that you want the heart of God because you're asking for forgiveness you're inviting God's kingdom to come in your life and now you're not going to give into temptation you want to know how to overcome Temptation you pray Paul says in First Corinthians 10 13 he says no temptation has seized you has overwhelmed you none I know that Temptation seems great because it is it is huge we live in a spiritual world and there's a demonic Force there's an army that's trying to trick you to deceive you to give into something that's opposite of God's kingdom you don't believe me go read Matthew 4. Jesus was tempted by the Devil Himself he will tempt you and try to trick you the devil will even try to use scripture
to pervert you to do things that are not of God the devil even knows the Bible that's why you got to pray I love that Jesus just simply put a pray that you wouldn't fall into temptation because we saw that Peter gave into temptation if you've ever given into temptation let me tell you you're not alone you want to know who else has given into temptation just look around you your mama and daddy gave in to Temptation could have been how you were born well you never know but God he's able to take your mistakes he's able to restore you he's able to bring you back to who you are and then Jesus comes back don't miss what Jesus says verse 14 and 15. he says for if you forgive the trespasses if you forgive others their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your father forgive your
trespass come on how many you believe there's power in prayer don't miss Jesus words here here's what he's saying if you really pray you will really forgive others but if you're not forgiving others there's a heart and a reality that you're missing the power of Prayer if you're not forgiving others you're missing the victory in your life all the power of Prayer I believe we have a god of Miracles anyone else believe God can do miracles this makes some people feel a little uncomfortable when I start leaning into this at Journey Church some people come to me and say I gotta find a different church that's getting a little charismatic like can I tell you that that actually I don't mean to make fun of that sometimes I make fun of things because you guys
all know that there's always truth and humor even crude humor sometimes you'd be like oh there's a little truth there I shouldn't have laughed at that uh Jesus he would constantly used humor so I don't mean to make fun of people who are leaving our church here's just a reality okay the word Charisma comes from the Greek word it comes from a Greek word Charisma and actually means gifts and the Bible teaches us over and over that we are given gifts and these gifts just to clarify they're of the spirit so you can't see them but it's given by God and they're given by God so that we would actually activate a power within us that we couldn't do on our own are you tracking with me here so that is if we have a miracle working God guess how God wants to actually manifest those miracles in our lives through us he will give you spiritual gifts I really believe that we have a miracle working God and he wants to do miracles in your life sometimes they happen in an
instant and it's absolutely awesome I've seen that even since I've been back the last three weeks here during the church we've seen people healed we've seen people delivered amazing Miracles sometimes it doesn't happen in a moment those are the ones you keep praying and praying oh lord your will be done oh lord your will be done oh I guess you're going to give me the grace to get through this that's what Paul prayed in second Corinthians 12. so I want to turn to Jesus words for just a moment John 14 verse 12 through 14. truly truly I say to you that's a phrase Jesus said often in the Old King James version says verily verily none of us know what that means so they translated it to truly truly it's a phrase it means amen the word amen means that's true I
believe it so when you say Amen it's not the end of a prayer it means I I believe what I just prayed there's an authority when you say Amen the way Paul said it to the Corinthian Church is Jesus is the yes and amen so Jesus says here's the truth here's the amen I say to you whoever believes in me Jesus said will also do the works that I do and greater Works than these will he do because I am going to the father and whatever you ask in my name this I will do that the father may be glorified in the son if you ask me anything in my name I will do you believe that do you perceive it because if I get really honest most of the time I don't believe it I don't believe it because I'm not living out prayer the way Paul said it to the
Thessalonians he says pray without ceasing and I could preach that to you and tell you what pray without ceasing is that means this that you're not going to stop conversating with God you're going to be in communion with God wherever you go you're going to keep turning to God but the reality is my flesh is so weak my spirit is willing but how many know that good intentions aren't good enough somebody says well I really wanted to do this I want the good intentions Aren't Enough if someone says they wanted to do it but they're not doing it that's not enough so to come back to Jesus teaching if we take this seriously Jesus says through his church let me read this again just I'll just read verse 12. whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater Works than these will he do because I'm going to the father in that same chapter Jesus
explained where I'm I'm going is a good thing because I'm going to give you the help of the Holy Spirit so now you're not just going to do this you're not just going to put these gifts into practice in your life God himself the holy spirit is going to help you and when God helps you you can keep coming back to me asking my name asking my name asking my name there's Authority in Jesus name there's no greater name it's the only name that can save it's the name above all names and when we go to Jesus we can do one thing we can ask ask that word is so key in prayer because when you ask what you're doing is you're petitioning God to do what only God can do some of us pray as if God doesn't know what's happening in this world this becomes a part of the church culture you have a friend that gets sick and they go to the hospital and we pray
things like this Lord my friend is sick and she's at Saint Charles Hospital let me tell you what she's sick with and by the way she's in room 412 and we we begin to tell the Lord what he already knows that's not what Jesus is asking to do he's asking you to have the authority that he has and that you would ask him to do what you can't do on your own so the Lord knows that and that sometimes we got to tell things to the Lord because we're children and we have to be childlike that's okay my children tell me things all the time that I already know so if you want to do that with the Lord that's fine but what you really got to do is do what my kids do and you got to ask God for what you don't have meaning this my kids will ask for money because they don't have it
so what we should do is ask Jesus to do what we can't do on our own not just tell him what's happening but to do what's on our own I've got to wrap this up because we have a few other services today but I'm just gonna I'm gonna I'm serious I brought before you today way more than I could preach asking the Holy Spirit to say what God wanted to say today that it wouldn't be my words but God would tell you there's one point that God wants you to do today do you remember that one point I tried to make it simple God has a message for you that you came to church today you came to church today because God wants you to know he wants you to pray Oswald chamber he's since passed away but he wrote many devotions to help you grow in your relationship with God he said this prayer is not preparation for work it is work prayer is not a preparation
for the battle it is the battle prayer is twofold it is definite asking but don't mistake this it's also waiting to receive Spurgeon he's the late Prince of preachers arguably the best preacher that's ever lived since Paul he said this prayer is a blessing now I'll just conclude this you know why prayer is a blessing you have access to almighty God if you're new here today and you're wondering what really is prayer I could tell you it's talking to God I could tell you his conversation with god I could tell you he's trying to hear from God I could tell you it's a time to claim the promises of God but I need you to hear this prayer is access to almighty God Eternal the Ancient of Days prayer is going to the Lord the shepherd Jesus the Savior prayers going to the king of all
Kings you have access to the throne any time prayer is you being able to go ask the god that spoke all things into existence The Rock The Refuge of your life when you're in trouble you run to him you go to God because he'll never leave you nor forsake you you want to know why prayer is a blessing you have a friend in Jesus when you go to God you realize actually he is the light of the world and that light wants to work through you in the dark times that we live in prayer is a blessing because God never sleeps and he never Slumbers he is a God that you could turn to that you can trust in you start to go to the scriptures and you see more significantly who he is it makes you want to pray even more prayer is a blessing because of who he is okay I'll give you a couple quick
applications some of you weren't satisfied with one point so here's the application I'm going to skip to the very end all right here's here's the application very end this is not in the scriptures some of you just need to know I don't know what to do prayer can be quick did you know prayer can be quick when Peter was drowning because he did the miracle of walking on water do you know why he prayed Lord save me your prayers can be quick your prayers can be quick when Nehemiah had to talk to the king we're told in Nehemiah chapter one he just prayed it was one of those quick prayers help me Lord you go in for a job interview you go in to ask a girl out for a date you could pray quickly all right furthermore prayer can happen anywhere I would add on to that it can happen anytime you could pray in your car you could pray in the shower you could pray at your house you could pray with a mouse you could pray in a box or with a fox you could
pray anywhere anytime prayer is not limited listen you're confronted with a great grizzly bear on a run someday or with a mountain like prey you make that prayer quick you prayer Pray anytime anywhere does not have to happen in a sanctuary you can do it in a secret closet like Jesus teaches us you should have a place like Jesus somewhere you go regularly but you've got to continue praying prayer can be silent or out loud sometimes you gotta cry sometimes you got to be still Romans chapter 8 says the the spirit of God God himself will groan with you when you don't have the words to pray and you're going before God and you feel so empty let me tell you God is with you and he'll grow them with you he knows your heart he knows every word before you even say it so don't don't feel like you need to muster up some King James language to move God you don't need to pray something like this Thou Art the god
the maker of heaven and Earth so I beseech thee and bequeath of you to if you don't know what the word is don't pray it get real with God prayer can look like this I'm just going to give you some example it's not limited to this list prayer can be Thanksgiving confession acceptance requests rejoicing seeking finding and so much more so prayer is not limited and I'm just going to ask God no sometimes you just need to thank God thank God for who he is thank God for what he's given you thank God that you're still alive thank God for what he's going to do thank God for for the answer of prayers that you don't have you just just thank God for the suffering you're going through because it's making you depend on him even more thank God that he let you come to church today to remind you that there's one point to this pray Jesus you pray but there's many other things confess there's power and confession the Bible tells us when you confess your
sins the Lord he's faithful and just to forgive her sins but if you don't confess that you're not forgiven bring it before God confess it confess it to one another you'll be healed James says that when you go there's actually healing and confession James says that when you're sick or anyone suffering you should go to the Elders of the church that's the leaders of the church you should ask for prayer they're going to anoint you with oil and you're going to see Power you're going to see in the Physical Realm what's happening the spiritual realm pray here's the last thing I'll say just the application write down your prayers you have spiritual Amnesia you're going to forget what you just prayed you won't think you'll forget but you will forget habakkuk says write these things down start a prayer Journal does not need to be big or the only person that matters with the prayer Journal is between you and God so you can keep coming back there's much more I could say about this with prayer language with praying with people about meeting with people there's
so much we can say talk about the laying of hands with anointing of oil but we're limited we're limited on time but God's not limited God's not limited so the challenge to you today there's one point to this whole sermon if you don't remember anything else I've said the one point is this what is the one point come on sit with me pray you just preached A good sermon pray pray pray pray pray pray pray so I want to invite you to bring the application to your life there's a point with prayer where you don't care about what anybody else thinks of you you just don't care so in just a moment the service is going to be dismissed and I'm going to pray over you and your dismissed to go get your kids you're dismissed to go have lunch for the day you're dismissed to go enjoy this beautiful day but before we do that I really want to talk to four people
that really need to receive prayer today I really hope you did not come to church expecting to leave the same if you did you miss what God wants to do in your life that's not something I can do for you or any other person it's what God Alone can do for you so the first person I'm going to speak to and I'm going to tell you all four people that I'm gonna invite right now to just take a bold step in their faith the first person you've never given your life to Jesus today's the day you surrender it all you just give it all you're saying no more of my own when you do the Bible says if you believe in your heart Jesus died on the cross and you confess with your mouth that he rose from the grave you'll be saved so it takes that step of you believing and confessing so if that's you you can do it and guess what it starts with prayer you just tell God I need you I want you I love you and you receive salvation
from Jesus Christ and when you do it Jesus says God gives you himself the Holy Spirit here's the second person I want to talk to the backslidden Christian what I mean by that is you know who Jesus is but you're not living like it you're living in sin you're living an addiction and you know the solution to that right now is prayer so you're doing things you shouldn't be doing you're saying things you shouldn't be saying you're living in a way you shouldn't be living and the Lord is inviting you right now to come back into the family he's never left you he keeps looking out for you he absolutely loves you with all his heart and you're going to come back home today the third person I want to talk to is you've heard about prayer but you're not praying this is something in your life I want to invite you right now that if you want prayer it's going to start today you're not going to wait for another day a better day or even another hour you're going to start right now
prayer does not need to be complex is coming before the Lord and the fourth person I want to talk to is you need a miracle in your life you need prayer it's a financial need it's it's a physical need it's a something with health is something with family you've got a child you keep praying for I I the list can go on but you if you need a miracle in your life so that's the fourth person and here's what I'm gonna ask in just a moment I'm gonna ask if you find yourself in one of those four categories you want to accept Jesus Christ is the Lord and savior of your life you want to come home to the family because you've wandered from from the faith if if you want to start praying today or if you need a miracle here's what you're going to do in just a moment I'm going to ask everybody to stand up and when I ask everybody stand up if
you're in one of those categories I want you to come right to the front of this room right to the front of the room and we're going to pray for you and when those come to the front of the room you're dismissed to stay in worship and sing you're dismissed to leave for the day you can give your financial offerings you can give your prayers and your praise but that's going to be the end of the church service but it's the beginning of what we're going to do together which is pray we're going to pray so if you're able to would you stand to your feet and if you want to come forward you can come forward I'm going to pray while those who are coming forward just be bold and come forward right now the prayer team is going to come around you and just pray over you Lord I Thank you for this service today that we can come before you Jesus you said you would build your church and the gates of hell would not Prevail we
received that promise today that you're building your church for those that have come home for the first time the for those that are coming home again and again we ask Jesus you would change our hearts and make us more like you that we would be a Praying people that we would see the power of prayer thank you Lord for the opportunity today that we trust in you we love you and we are expecting many miracles that God you're not finished with us yet so we receive it today we pray for Revival In Our Lifetime we pray that this generation would experience the love of God in a way we've never seen before we pray that our nation would turn to you and repent and come before you God and there would be Revival in Jesus mighty name we pray for the upcoming election and say Lord help us to live like you help us a love like you and he like you and speak like you oh I love you Lord Jesus thank you for your kids today bless them pour out your favor upon them and give them Grace
and peace I pray in Jesus mighty name all God's kids said today come on Amen and amen God bless you go have a great day if you need prayer come forward love you
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Jesus calls his disciples to prayerful vigilance
In Matthew 26, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to Gethsemane and repeatedly finds them sleeping. Pastor Keith applies this to spiritual inattentiveness and emphasizes Jesus' call for prayerful vigilance against temptation. He stresses that Jesus teaches rather than shames those who have failed.
Matthew 26:36-45
- Pastor Kirkpatrick notes that the disciples had visible evidence of Jesus and still fell asleep. How does he use that detail to address the excuse that God feels invisible?
- How does Pastor Kirkpatrick connect spiritual wakefulness with prayer, and what does he say Jesus does for those who are spiritually asleep?
- How does Pastor Keith connect prayerful vigilance with resisting temptation?
Prayer as surrender to God's will
Pastor Keith uses Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane to describe surrendering personal desires to God's will. He emphasizes that trust does not ensure ease or full understanding. He discusses the angel's help in Luke 22 and Jesus' emotional prayer in Hebrews 5 as part of seeking strength through difficulty.
Luke 22:39-46 · Hebrews 5:7
- Pastor Kirkpatrick says God's will has no regrets but does not promise ease or full understanding. How does he describe the difference between trust and comfort in prayer?
- What does Pastor Kirkpatrick draw from Jesus praying the same surrender three times in the garden?
- How does Luke's account of the angel strengthening Jesus fit Pastor Kirkpatrick's point about where strength comes from?
Learning the pattern of prayer
Using Luke 11 and Matthew 6, Pastor Keith explains the Lord's Prayer as a model for relationship with God. He emphasizes belonging to God's family, reverence, God's rule, dependence for provision, receiving and extending forgiveness, and resisting temptation.
Luke 11:1-2 · Matthew 6:9-15 · 1 Corinthians 10:13
- Pastor Kirkpatrick insists the Lord's Prayer is a model rather than a script. What does he say happens when people recite it without understanding?
- Pastor Kirkpatrick links forgiveness received with forgiveness extended. How does he describe the effect of unforgiveness on a person's prayer life?
- How does Pastor Kirkpatrick explain the opening address to God as Father, and what does he say it teaches the one praying?
Continual prayer and the Spirit's help
Pastor Keith interprets 1 Thessalonians 5:17 as continuing conversation and relationship with God throughout life. From Romans 8, he emphasizes the Holy Spirit's help when a person cannot find words to pray.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 · Romans 8:26
- How does Pastor Keith explain Paul's call to continuing prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:17?
- What does Pastor Kirkpatrick say about prayer when a person has no words, based on Romans 8?
- Why does Pastor Kirkpatrick say polished or formal religious language is not required to pray?
Answers from this recording
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Why does Pastor Keith say prayer is the key to victory?+
Using Gethsemane in Matthew 26 and Luke 22, Pastor Keith connects prayerful vigilance with resisting temptation and contrasts the disciples' sleep with Jesus' surrender to the Father. He presents prayer as yielding one's desires to God and seeking strength through difficulty. His central encouragement is simply to pray.
What does Pastor Keith mean by spiritual sleep?+
Spiritual sleep is not primarily about physical tiredness, and it does not depend on seeing or feeling Jesus. The disciples could see Jesus, touch him, and still fall asleep, which Pastor Keith uses to head off the excuse that God feels invisible. Spiritual sleep, as he describes it, is going through life and even through church while missing the moments God has for a person. He says the problem with being asleep is missing the power of prayer, but the answer is not condemnation—Jesus teaches people to wake up and become vigilant.
How is the Lord's Prayer supposed to be used, according to this message?+
Pastor Keith treats the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 as a model for relationship with God rather than words to recite without understanding. He explains its emphasis on belonging to God's family, reverence, God's rule in present life, dependence for provision, receiving and extending forgiveness, and resisting temptation.
What practical help does the sermon offer for people who feel unsure how to pray?+
Pastor Keith lowers the barrier in several ways. Based on Peter's brief cry while sinking and Nehemiah's short prayer before speaking to a king, he says prayer can be quick. It can happen anywhere and does not require a sanctuary, and it can be silent or out loud. Drawing on Romans 8, he says the Spirit helps when a person has no words. He also recommends thanksgiving, confession, and asking, and he suggests writing prayers down so a person can remember what they prayed, addressing what he calls spiritual amnesia.
What is Pastor Keith's point about prayer and God's will?+
Pastor Keith says prayer is how a person comes to know God's perfect will, and that the core movement is asking for God's will rather than one's own. Jesus prays this way three times in Gethsemane, which the message treats as evidence that surrender can be repeated and can be agonizing. His claim is not that God's will is easy or always understood; his claim is that it carries no regrets. Prayer, then, is not a way of getting God to endorse a plan but a way of exchanging one's own desires for his.
