Do not evaluate your prayer life by your answers. Be edifies in the relationship with the Father, our Father. In everything, let your requests be known. Stir yourself this week. Can you give God an hour a day? Learn prayer all over again. Remember the way Mom taught this. Imagine what would happen if we taught children to pray. (James 5:16; Psalm 16:8; Luke 11:1)

Speaker(s): Pastor Thomas Schaller, Pastor Renaldo Brown
Sermon 11884
6:30 PM on 5/10/2020

P. Schaller –

We have a beautiful service planned out tonight. We had a beautiful morning today. Wed. night our drive-
in we’ve never done before. Tonight I’m thinking to speak about prayer. I asked P. Renaldo
Brown to share some thoughts on it. Mother’s Day we had a blessed day, my family, my wife
and daughters and sons and grandkids. It was precious. Saturday I was with P. Ralph Rowe and
we were riding to outreach. We met here in the parking lot Saturday morning and welcome you
if you want to come out. Meet in the parking lot and we’ll have some fellowship and go on
outreach. That’s Saturday morning.

One thing he said to me that got my attention was what if prayer is so powerful and so effective and what if the devil knows that and he knows how powerful prayer is, and he would do anything he can to keep us from it, that we would not pray. I thought about that and it stirred my heart when I thought maybe prayer is a lot more
powerful than we realize. Maybe prayers are like heard and answered and heard and answered
in our lifetimes in an incredible way. The devil doesn’t want us to know that. The natural man
can’t comprehend it. He’s reasoning about it and doesn’t realize the power that is there and of
course the world doesn’t know about it at all. Even in my heart, I might not know what I really
have in my heart. I want to share some things about it tonight and challenge the Body everyone
of us in life to think about this and what if in this time we are living which is very unusual for us,
we have more of an opportunity for prayer than maybe we’ve ever had for the quietness and
the focus.

The other day I was a little restless and went for a run. I don’t really run that much
anymore. I went to a track and ran around it, 3.7 miles. I felt good about it. I know sometimes I
got some energy and maybe some people go for a drive or a walk in the woods or the streets.
We are kind of funny people. We have body, soul, and spirit. For me to figure out how to live so
I don’t live foolishly, and I don’t live in an undisciplined way, but I learn how to live. I’m able to
have some concentration and focus.

Jesus Christ is the one that says set me before your face, Psalm 16:8. Set me before your face. We’ll have a good time tonight. Welcome Pastor Renaldo Brown. Also, after the service we have Ryan and Krysta Reagan and a team. We’ll have a beautiful rap session. Thank you for your edification regarding the morning devotions and the
raps that are here after service have been excellent, excellent time getting to know Body
members.

P. Renaldo –

Good evening. Happy Mother’s Day. I think today is an interesting Mother’s Day.
You can’t take mom out for dinner, and it doesn’t feel quite the same going to get takeout and
bringing it home. Interesting Mother’s Day. You can’t bring home takeout for Mother’s Day! My
mother vetoed takeout! Luke 11:1, we tend to think backward and not forward. We reflect on
the value of our mothers. We reflect on their impact. It’s shocking how influential they have
been in our lives. Sometimes we catch ourselves saying things that they said. Unfortunately,
many times there were lessons that they taught us we didn’t listen to, but now that we are
parents we find ourselves, oh that’s what she meant. I see why that works. I still don’t
understand why this works.

As an adult, you go back and ask you mother questions that she
explained when you were a child. You learn to value the impact of your mother in your life. I was thinking of my mom and the lessons she taught me, some of them instructional,
educational, practical. I thank God the most for the spiritual lessons she taught me. They
weren’t many but foundational. Like church attendance, she taught me that. God
consciousness, she taught me that. And prayer she taught me. Prayer is one of those things that
parents teach children before they even recognize a building. It’s always connected to key parts
of your day and key parts of your life. Pray for your food. Pray before you sleep. Pray when you
are in trouble.

It becomes a “go to” lesson. You really didn’t understand all the dynamics of it or
how powerful the prayer was, but it was a spiritual lesson she imparted to us. When we came
into the church, very few of us when they said “let’s pray” it wasn’t foreign word to us. Why?
Why wasn’t the word “prayer” foreign to us? Because a mother put that in your heart. She
taught you the value of prayer, a habit of prayer. Luke 11 he’s talking about habit not
methodology. He doesn’t say teach us how to pray the way that John taught his disciples to
pray, to say certain words or phraseology. He’s talking about the habit. Teach us the habit the
same way John taught his disciples the habit.

In the Gospels, 25 times Christ is pictured praying. Imagine you’re a disciple and you’re following Christ like we would follow our mother, and you see him praying again and again. You see the value of prayer. She didn’t just tell us to pray. We saw her praying. The disciples are asking for a lesson because that’s what they saw in Christ’s
life. His life was teaching them about the value of prayer. Prayer is a learned spiritual response.
You don’t wake up being born and say, okay, prayer. It’s something we’re taught. It’s a learned,
spiritual responsibility. The Bible school used to have a slogan a few years ago, “Learn it all over
again.” Maybe in this season when we have more time than we imagined, maybe God wants us
to learn it all over again, to get back the mystery of God. Prayer brings in the mystery of God in
my life. I’m not mechanical anymore. The mystery of God. Will he speak? Will he not speak?
What will he speak? When will he speak? Prayer. The lesson that becomes a lifestyle. Mama
taught us that. Maybe in this season, we can get it again.

Amen.

P. Schaller –

In your home or where you are listening to this, have a few words with whoever
you are with on that subject. If you’re by yourself, have a minute of prayer and ask God to teach
you. I’d like to learn it all over again. I’d like to know the power of it. I want to get beyond a
system, beyond a program, beyond a human habit. I want to get beyond the letter of the law. I
want to have communion and wait on God and worship him and hear from him in quietness. I’d
like him to motivate me into this kind of focus and concentration which is called prayer. James
5, in a few minutes of focus as you are listening. This is an incredible verse. I wonder if God
could show us how much authority we have in our lives. Do not evaluate your prayer life by the
answers.

Do not evaluate your prayer life by how you feel. James 5:16, I want you to know the
fervent prayer of a righteous man – pray one for another. I think many of you are listening and
very careful to hear and you are hearing a voice behind you. You’re being led by the Spirit and
taught by the Spirit. Maybe you have failed personally by some kind of evaluation you have in
your life about yourself. Get over it. Get grace centered. Know God is the God of all grace and
hear what God has to say to you tonight. Push the reset button and say I am God and I can give
you a fervent prayer. Prayer. I, God can get you laser focused in prayer. We are praying for our country. Not that everybody in the country could turn to Christ but some. Not that every church
would be on fire but some.

We don’t know about every pastor in the country but some. Ravi Zacharias is battling cancer and we have so much respect for him and his family. We are praying for him, God’s ways, and God’s plan. Vs. 16 says that the fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man avails much. I want to challenge us. Maybe this week every day during the week can you carve an hour out of your schedule and just wait on God. Can you take an hour of time. I want
to challenge all of us can I take an hour or half hour or fifteen minutes – if for 15 minutes can
control you mind. If you can’t – you can, you can, but there is a time for that. Have God touch
your heart. Something you read, a message that you heard, a brother that you talked to and stir
your heart and get in a place, bring every thought into obedience, every thought, as much as
you can.

The best focus is right here on these chapters. Read a little bit and keep your mind
focus on it. Set God before you and worship him. Have time. Bring before God any burden, any
care, any concern and have him. I’m asking you to pray for me in this regard, too. I believe there
is some mystery, something amazing about prayer. I believe the devil doesn’t want us to
discover it. I believe God can show it to us. Because too many times Jesus in our Bible says
things about it. P. Renaldo read Luke 11. That’s a chapter full on the subject. Luke 18 is another
one. There are too many stories and parables. Jesus Christ is saying to us, “men ought always to
pray and not to faint.”

This is good. We are very Body member oriented. In a good way, we are
spiritually social. We are very good at discerning and recognizing the gifts in the Body. We are
used to be edified by being together. But now we need to be edified in this way. We have a
church online and this is enough. We want more of course in the Body. Then we have prayer.
Jesus in Luke 6:12 would go off at night in the early morning or all night in Luke 6:12 and he
prayed. He is Christ. He is not asking for things. He’s enjoying God’s presence. He’s enjoying his
Father. He has the mind of his Father. He’s enjoying it.

He’s addicted to it. He loves it. He enjoys it. There’s no disturbance. He’s there with the Father through the night. This is remarkable. We know we have the same Holy Spirit in us. We have the Holy Spirit in us that is yearning and
groaning in prayer in Romans 8:27. We have a prayer life. We read about these saints of God like
Praying Hyde. I believe he was a Canadian missionary who lived in India. He prayed for days for
local preachers and missionary pastors and his prayers were heard. Things happened in areas
where he was. He would travel by train and be in an area in a hotel or some home and pray for
days. God would move and work. Of course, George Mueller and his 14 million dollars he raised
in the 19 th century with all his orphanages. It’s a huge amount today. How much more was it
then.

He didn’t ask one person for one dollar but went to God in prayer. Elijah prayed and it
didn’t rain for a year and a half. The Elijah #2 [Elisha] prayed, and it didn’t rain for three years I
believe. Luke 11 says if we pray and we ask, we will receive. If we knock, it will be open.
Knocking. If we ask, thank you, Father. Yes, you have answered. You have done it. You have
done it. Thank you, God. You’ve answered our prayers many times. There is a secret in this. Mt.
6 says if you go into your closet and shut the door and nobody knows but your Father hears you
and answers you publicly. He hears you privately and you don’t have to talk about it. He hears
us and answers. This is a time of prayer for us. It’s a time when we learn to get alone with our Bible and read it and reread it.

I’m trying to say in the introduction, I went for a run and I try to
say we are normal people. I can’t be in a room doing that alone. I might be hyper-spiritual or
condemn myself or get guilty or in a weird way focus with something I need to do, but this isn’t
like that. This is like a lifestyle of faith. You have a lot of joy and thanksgiving. I’m thankful for
everything. A lot of people take the coronavirus thing and turn it negative. I see it as a blessing.
This is a gift. Thank you, Lord. I see it as something God is doing. I see it as something good for
us. I see it as good for me. He gave us time for prayer, to meet God in prayer and learn how to
walk with him in a situation. What would happen if we went to prison one day or in a nursing
home someday.

I have to learn to walk with God and 1 Thessalonians 5 that in everything give
thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. In everything. We have new conversations, new
relationships, new opportunities, world missions. Maybe introduce this with your children.
Have a good time with your kids. Throw them in the car and go for a drive. Talk about nature.
Change it up. Do something different. Enjoy your time. Approach life vigorously with
concentration. The sinful nature of man always slides into the mud. Let him alone and weeds
will grow in the garden. Leave the natural man to himself and he will always turn a blessing into
a curse. He won’t see good when it comes.

Jeremiah 17, good has come and I can see it. That’s a great blessing. I’m not like this but Jesus has made us like this in everything. He also said be careful with your mind. Be anxious for nothing. In everything let your requests be made known unto God. And say to God regarding your children and give them time. See what the Spirit will
do in a year or two or five or ten. God is not done as long as we are breathing. God is not done
with any of us. God can cast out a demon. God can change a family. God can root out an
addiction. God can set a captive free. God can take away a cigarette addiction, cocaine
addiction, heroin addiction. God can take away a bad habit. God can take away pornography
that is on the increase. Why is it on the increase today? With these websites.

Man left to himself will slide and live in his depravity and do strange things, weird things, perverted things,
wrong things that will destroy his soul. This is our gift. We have the Spirit of God and he’s
teaching us tonight to say to us tonight you have not because you ask not. You’re not focused.
You’re not responding to me. You’re indifferent. You’re not believing me. You’re not thankful
for everything I gave you. For the trees blooming and blossoming. For the animals scooting
around and skirting through the woods. For the fresh water that falls from heaven. For the
blessings on every table and every refrigerator.

You have not seen my hand of goodness that is all over the place here. I give you long life. I give you health in your body. And if you’re not that healthy, whatever health you got God gave it to you and you got it and got some capability before God and you can be a worshiper and a person that fellowships with him. This week
let’s turn on the juice. Turn on the gas. Let’s get stirred up. None that stirs up himself to take
ahold of me, Isaiah 64:7. Years ago, Dr. Stevens taught that to us more than 40 years ago. When I
heard that, it became a life verse to me. There’s none that stirs up himself to take ahold of me. I
thought of an illustration of a young man that falls in love with a girl and she lives on 23 Oak
Street. He buys flowers and puts them behind his back and rings the doorbell. The mother
comes to the door. Is Elizabeth home? Yes. I’m here to visit her. She turns around, Elizabeth?

Someone is here. Who is it? It’s Tom. Tell him I’m busy. Not interested. I could care less. God
has come to us with arms stretched out and we could care less. That’s the way it is. It’s another
thing when I can come to the door and say I’ve been thinking about you and brought these for
you. You get the idea. Change the names. I’m married to Lisa. I don’t know if I should use my
name! You know! Receiving, responding, relating. Help me God to get it. Help me to respond to
you every day of my life. Help me when I get up in the morning. Say, oh God, who are you? Let
me see you. Blessed are the pure in heart. They shall see God. Help me, show me. I’m
responding to you.

Stir me up. I want to know you. It would be amazing if I could learn every page of this book. Can you as my teacher say something to me? God in heaven says, I love to talk to you. Look how many things I have to say to you. In the narrow neck bottle, I can’t dump it all. It’s got to go in. To whom shall I teach doctrine? Whom shall I make to understand. It will be little by little, here a little there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept. I got to say to
those that have wavered in your faith, maybe you never got the precept from God. I got to say
to the brothers and sisters all over the world when you waiver in faith and came to a crisis in
your heart, you don’t have the precept imparted from God to get through that trial. Or you
could continue in your faith. It’s happened to me many times.

I’m preaching in another country and before the sermon, I’m in my room and I realize I don’t like what I’m doing or don’t believe so much in what I’m saying. I realize I could go away from this whole thing, but I never could do
that. It’s so clear to me. Where will I go ? You have the words of eternal life. What could be
greater than a resurrected Christ and an empty tomb. What could be better than the Jewish
prophets? What could be better than the institutions established by God in the Bible. Jews
came out of Egypt by the high and mighty hand of God. What could be better than declare the
message of eternal life, the forgiveness of sins and the new birth. It didn’t matter what I was
thinking. What mattered was what God is thinking.

What God was thinking was imparted. It’s there. It’s imparted to us. It has to get inside. I’ve seen people turn away. I have to ask the question in my heart, how could they turn away? It’s so obvious. It’s so true. This living,
Almighty God is the only thing makes sense in this world. Everything else is foolish and vain.
Where is the answer? Where can I go? Who knows the way? You take a hundred men all talk
and it all rings hollow. You have Jesus says verily, verily I say unto you and it resonates it the
spirit. You have something going on and this relationship and you give the flowers and the girl
responds. I’ll be back the day after tomorrow and it goes like this. This is a relationship you have
with your heavenly Father.

He loves you so much. It’s very clear to me that there is some secret
in terms of prayer. There is something about us living in this world. Every religion in the world is
fatalistic. Let me explain this. A billiard table has billiard balls on it, and you hit a billiard ball and
it bounced by physics. It all happens mechanically by force, the shape of the ball, the cushions.
It’s all law. It’s law of gravity, physics, motion, momentum, acceleration force and so on. All of
that is physics. That’s how people think about this world. That’s why they don’t pray. They don’t
pray because it will be up to God. It is the will of Allah they say in Islam. It’s up to God. You can’t
do anything about it. Whatever God’s will is God’s will. God has said something to us. He’s
saying you decide. You tell me. When man gave names to the animals, it says, God called the

animal by that name. If Adam said “elephant,” then God said “elephant.” What does it mean?
We are an instrument of God in this world to determine the future, to determine history. We
are an instrument of God in this world to determine how events go. To have an impact. Ask me
and I will answer you. All the religion in the world is fatalistic. I can’t change anything. I can’t
even change my religion. I have no choice. I have no influence. I can’t do anything about it.
Then comes Jesus Christ. He speaks to us. He says these things. You guys, you pray. You ask the
Father. You say, “our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name.” You ask in my name and
it shall be done.

John 14:14. This will be like the billiard ball being hit not by the force of another
ball, but the billiard ball stops and rises up and says, I’m changing things. It’s not going to be
that way. I’m not going to respond to that force that way. I have a free will. I can determine the
future. I have a God in charge of this table. This table is not based on the laws of nature. This
table is based on something better, more beautiful, mystical. It’s a relationship between me
and God. I have a fervent prayer and it avails much. I can stop the rain. I can heal a virus or a
pestilence or stop a war. I can change a child’s life by my prayer or an adult. I can see a revival
sweep through a country. I can have an impact in this world.

This is what it means. God takes a child and puts them in his arms and says I want this child to be like me. I want him to decide. I want him to have the freedom and know me in my heart. I’ll put my Spirit in him. I’m going to
listen to his spirit. I’ll listen to Moses because I’m in Moses. I’ll listen to Elijah because I’m in
Elijah. I’ll listen to those folks in Baltimore because I am in them. I’m going to answer prayer.
I’m going to move mountains and the devil wants us to be fatalistic and slide into the swamp
and live in our sin and beat up ourselves and be condemned for our behavior and thoughts.
God says, no. God says do not. Walk with me. I will lead you; I will answer the prayer. I will
change things.

I am God. I am with you to the end, even the end of this world. Go into all the
world and teach them what I say to you. Baptize them in my name. I will hear their prayers. Do
you know, if you could teach a child to pray, that prayer might change that child’s life. It may
deliver them from death, a disease, from a thief or robber or a terrible thing. If we teach a child
to prayer, maybe they won’t sin as much. Maybe they get saved. Like little Samuel maybe it will
change the whole country. We don’t not know but we know we can do it. We can teach them
to pray.

Thank you Jesus, Amen.

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.