WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.150 --> 00:00:03.049 When I'm locked in to a pattern of thinking, a 2 00:00:03.609 --> 00:00:07.259 way of living, an attitude, when I'm stuck in a 3 00:00:07.299 --> 00:00:10.759 relationship I can't get into, I can't get on with, 4 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.240 and I can't get out of, and I'm just stuck, 5 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:16.679 then I need to pray. Because with prayer, we can 6 00:00:16.899 --> 00:00:19.769 recover our vision. And then we can see things we 7 00:00:19.789 --> 00:00:23.269 never could see before. This morning at 2 a.m., the 8 00:00:23.309 --> 00:00:24.929 Lord woke me up, and I got up and I 9 00:00:24.969 --> 00:00:27.670 looked up some scriptures, and God gave me a message 10 00:00:27.730 --> 00:00:33.299 specifically for you today. And what I want to title this, 11 00:00:34.350 --> 00:00:36.789 regardless of how much I get through it, is this. 12 00:00:37.450 --> 00:00:43.570 There is no recovery without prayer. There is no recovery 13 00:00:43.850 --> 00:00:48.299 without prayer. No lasting recovery for certain. What I want 14 00:00:48.340 --> 00:00:52.219 to do right now is take you through scriptures and 15 00:00:52.299 --> 00:00:58.119 give you some examples of what happens when you add 16 00:00:58.229 --> 00:01:03.479 prayer into the recovery process. and why without prayer in 17 00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:08.340 the recovery process, it isn't gonna work. Now I don't 18 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:10.049 have any notes for this, so you're just gonna have 19 00:01:10.090 --> 00:01:13.549 to write it down. I'm gonna put the scriptures on 20 00:01:13.650 --> 00:01:17.269 the screen, and I wanna give you some examples, and 21 00:01:17.290 --> 00:01:20.750 then draw a point. I'm not gonna preach the whole sermon, 22 00:01:20.790 --> 00:01:23.209 as I said, I'm not feeling that well, but I 23 00:01:23.269 --> 00:01:25.329 do want to give this to you, because I felt 24 00:01:25.370 --> 00:01:27.870 like the Lord gave it to me early this morning. 25 00:01:29.250 --> 00:01:32.299 So let me give you some examples of why there 26 00:01:32.379 --> 00:01:38.200 is no recovery without prayer. A first example would be 27 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:41.359 back in the Old Testament, and that is when the 28 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:46.250 Israelites got impatient with God when they were leaving Egypt, 29 00:01:46.370 --> 00:01:48.549 and in the 40 years they were waiting to get 30 00:01:48.629 --> 00:01:51.909 into the Promised Land, and the 40-year delay was their 31 00:01:51.950 --> 00:01:57.469 own fault. You know, God gave them seven tests to see, 32 00:01:57.689 --> 00:02:00.329 are you ready to go into the Promised Land? And 33 00:02:00.510 --> 00:02:02.810 in each of those seven tests, they'd fail, and so 34 00:02:02.829 --> 00:02:07.150 God would say, okay, another lap around the desert. And 35 00:02:07.349 --> 00:02:11.009 it took 40 years to get to a place that 36 00:02:11.810 --> 00:02:14.770 should have just taken them a few weeks or months 37 00:02:15.189 --> 00:02:20.509 at the most. Sounds like a lot of us. It 38 00:02:20.569 --> 00:02:22.979 takes us 40 years to get to a place that 39 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:26.379 should have just taken us a few months at the most. 40 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:32.039 But in one part, the Israelites get impatient because things 41 00:02:32.099 --> 00:02:35.699 aren't going as fast, and it's their own fault. But 42 00:02:35.740 --> 00:02:39.770 they got impatient, and they started grumbling, and they started murmuring, 43 00:02:39.810 --> 00:02:43.090 and they started rebelling against God and against Moses, and 44 00:02:43.129 --> 00:02:45.789 God had to punish them for it. And they never 45 00:02:45.810 --> 00:02:47.389 would have recovered. They would have all died in the 46 00:02:47.430 --> 00:02:48.969 desert if it hadn't been for prayer. Let me give 47 00:02:48.990 --> 00:02:52.199 you an example. On the screen, Numbers chapter 21 says this. 48 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:57.819 Then the people grew impatient on the way. Have you 49 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:02.270 ever grown impatient on the way? Lord, it's just taking 50 00:03:02.330 --> 00:03:06.389 too long. I should be further along now. I should 51 00:03:06.430 --> 00:03:08.949 be further down the track. I'm this many years old 52 00:03:09.250 --> 00:03:11.389 and I'm not where I expected to be at this 53 00:03:11.409 --> 00:03:14.740 stage in my journey. They grew impatient on the way 54 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:18.379 and they began to murmur and complain against God and Moses. 55 00:03:18.939 --> 00:03:22.500 Why'd you leave us here? We hate where we are 56 00:03:22.539 --> 00:03:27.509 and we hate the food. Had to throw that in there. 57 00:03:27.530 --> 00:03:35.469 This stinking manna. What are you having for breakfast? Manna oatmeal. 58 00:03:36.770 --> 00:03:46.979 What's for lunch? Manna toast. What's for dinner? Manna cotti. Manna, manna, manna. 59 00:03:47.060 --> 00:03:50.800 Come on. Why did you lead us here? Have you 60 00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:54.960 ever asked God that? Why'd you leave me here, Lord? 61 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:59.439 We hate where we are. Well, that's okay. That's okay 62 00:03:59.460 --> 00:04:01.300 to hate where you are because it makes you want 63 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:06.789 to be where you need to be. And we hate food. So, 64 00:04:07.750 --> 00:04:11.810 God had to punish them. God sent poisonous snakes. Don't 65 00:04:11.830 --> 00:04:16.810 you just love snakes? Okay, God sent poisonous snakes to 66 00:04:16.910 --> 00:04:20.959 punish them and many became sick and died from the bites. 67 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:25.230 So they're all dying now in the desert because of 68 00:04:25.259 --> 00:04:29.170 their own complaining and murmuring and rebellion. Then the people confessed, 69 00:04:29.370 --> 00:04:32.810 we have sinned. And here's the key, pray for us. 70 00:04:34.050 --> 00:04:37.290 Pray for us. They know the solution to their problem 71 00:04:37.629 --> 00:04:43.370 is pray for us. So Moses prayed for them. Then 72 00:04:43.709 --> 00:04:46.889 God told Moses to make a bronze staff and all 73 00:04:46.949 --> 00:04:51.689 those who'd been bitten who looked in faith to Moses' 74 00:04:51.709 --> 00:04:59.209 staff They recovered. Okay? Now, there's lots of recoveries in 75 00:04:59.230 --> 00:05:03.810 the Bible. The Bible tells us many, many examples of 76 00:05:03.870 --> 00:05:06.529 different kinds of recovery. The Bible tells us, for instance, 77 00:05:07.089 --> 00:05:13.730 that Joseph recovered from his grief, or from his shock, 78 00:05:13.810 --> 00:05:18.560 and Judah recovered from his grief, and David recovered from 79 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:21.529 all the things that were stolen from him. But this 80 00:05:21.629 --> 00:05:24.310 is one of the first examples of recovery in the Bible. 81 00:05:24.629 --> 00:05:29.290 It says, when Moses prayed. Now, here's point number one. 82 00:05:29.310 --> 00:05:31.170 I want you to write these down. Just six points, 83 00:05:31.209 --> 00:05:36.350 write these down. With prayer, we can recover from problems 84 00:05:36.389 --> 00:05:41.100 we caused by our own impatience. That's what that verse teaches. 85 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:48.439 With prayer, we can recover from problems that we caused 86 00:05:48.459 --> 00:05:54.899 by By our own impatience. Most of the problems in 87 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:58.199 our culture and in your life and in your relationship 88 00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:04.269 is from our inability to wait. The biggest problem in 89 00:06:04.329 --> 00:06:08.199 America is delayed gratification. We don't know how to do it. 90 00:06:08.709 --> 00:06:10.449 I want it and I want it now and I 91 00:06:10.490 --> 00:06:13.389 want it now even if I can't afford it. So 92 00:06:13.410 --> 00:06:16.029 we buy things we don't need with money we don't 93 00:06:16.089 --> 00:06:21.790 have to impress people we don't even like. And I 94 00:06:21.850 --> 00:06:23.949 want it now even after I put it on credit. 95 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:26.649 And people are in debt because they don't know how 96 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:32.259 to delay gratification. People get into all kinds of relationships 97 00:06:32.500 --> 00:06:36.399 because they don't know how to delay gratification. And I 98 00:06:36.420 --> 00:06:38.620 want sex now, and I want it now, and I 99 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:41.769 don't wanna wait. And it causes all kinds of problems. 100 00:06:41.790 --> 00:06:46.470 Anytime you get in a hurry, anytime you take a shortcut, 101 00:06:46.569 --> 00:06:51.839 it's usually gonna be a temptation. God is never in 102 00:06:51.860 --> 00:06:57.019 a hurry. We don't have any example of Jesus running anywhere. 103 00:07:01.149 --> 00:07:03.949 One time his best friend died. He was a mile 104 00:07:03.990 --> 00:07:05.689 and a half away and it took him three days 105 00:07:05.750 --> 00:07:11.069 to get there. Come on. Then he had a bigger plan. 106 00:07:11.089 --> 00:07:13.889 He didn't want to heal Lazarus. He wanted to raise 107 00:07:13.930 --> 00:07:16.939 him from the dead. Come on, Lord, you're a mile 108 00:07:16.980 --> 00:07:20.459 and a half away. And it takes you three days 109 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:24.220 to get here? He wasn't in a hurry. God is 110 00:07:24.339 --> 00:07:31.379 not in a hurry with your growth. So just chill out. Relax. 111 00:07:32.779 --> 00:07:36.240 But when the Israelites got impatient, got rebellious, they brought 112 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:39.949 problems on themselves. They realized the solution was pray for us. 113 00:07:39.990 --> 00:07:44.610 They prayed. Moses prayed. And it says they recovered. So 114 00:07:44.649 --> 00:07:47.649 here's the first point. With prayer, we can recover from 115 00:07:47.709 --> 00:07:50.230 problems we cause ourselves. By our own impatience. Let me 116 00:07:50.259 --> 00:07:54.310 give you a second example of prayer causing recovery. It's 117 00:07:54.329 --> 00:07:59.949 with a guy named King Jeroboam. And King Jeroboam did 118 00:07:59.990 --> 00:08:03.410 not want to hear the bad news. Has that ever 119 00:08:03.430 --> 00:08:07.029 been true of you? You didn't want to hear the truth? 120 00:08:08.230 --> 00:08:12.310 The truth about you? The truth about your problems? The 121 00:08:12.350 --> 00:08:14.899 truth about the problems that you were creating because of 122 00:08:14.939 --> 00:08:17.379 what you were doing? We don't ever like that kind 123 00:08:17.420 --> 00:08:20.930 of problem. King Jeroboam did not want to hear the truth. 124 00:08:20.990 --> 00:08:22.550 And God sent a man of God to him and said, 125 00:08:22.589 --> 00:08:25.170 here's the truth. And you're not going to like it, 126 00:08:25.189 --> 00:08:28.069 but here's the truth. And he got so mad, he 127 00:08:28.129 --> 00:08:32.100 flew into a rage. And he's just emotionally involved. He's 128 00:08:32.139 --> 00:08:36.799 like frothing at the mouth. And he's so mad because 129 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:41.440 he doesn't want to hear the hard truth about himself. 130 00:08:42.570 --> 00:08:46.309 And in 1 Kings chapter 13, it says this. So 131 00:08:46.389 --> 00:08:50.970 King Jeroboam stretched out his hand in anger against the 132 00:08:51.049 --> 00:08:56.240 man of God who had told him the truth. And notice, 133 00:08:56.600 --> 00:09:03.580 it instantly became what? This guy's emotionally bound up. His 134 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:07.700 hand became paralyzed. He couldn't even put it down. He said, 135 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:16.700 you dirty, rotten... And his hand's paralyzed. Paralyzed. Can't do 136 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:23.990 anything about it. And the king cries out, pray for me. Pray, 137 00:09:24.309 --> 00:09:29.129 pray for me. So the man of God, the Bible says, 138 00:09:29.570 --> 00:09:33.549 prayed to the Lord. And here's the second recovery. The 139 00:09:33.610 --> 00:09:39.649 king recovered the normal use of his hand. Why is 140 00:09:39.669 --> 00:09:46.820 that story in the Bible? Write this down. Prayer helps 141 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:55.409 us recover when we're paralyzed by our emotions. It not 142 00:09:55.470 --> 00:09:58.029 only helps us recover from problems we cause by our 143 00:09:58.049 --> 00:10:04.710 own impatience. Prayer helps us recover when we are paralyzed 144 00:10:05.009 --> 00:10:10.470 by our emotions. Ever been paralyzed by grief? I have. 145 00:10:12.250 --> 00:10:17.159 Ever been paralyzed by anger? Paralyzed by lust? Paralyzed by fear? 146 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:22.740 Paralyzed by guilt? Paralyzed by shame? Prayer helps us recover 147 00:10:24.909 --> 00:10:27.580 when we're paralyzed by our emotions. He said, pray for me. 148 00:10:27.860 --> 00:10:29.620 So the man of God prayed the Lord, and the 149 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:33.159 king recovered the normal use of his hand. And you 150 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:37.240 can recover the normal use of your emotions. There is 151 00:10:37.299 --> 00:10:40.250 no recovery without prayer. Let me give you a third example. 152 00:10:41.029 --> 00:10:45.350 There's another king. This king's name, Hezekiah. Hezekiah's a pretty 153 00:10:45.370 --> 00:10:49.950 good guy. Most of his life, he did the right thing. 154 00:10:49.990 --> 00:10:51.669 In fact, when he first started, he was a king 155 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:54.129 at 25. First thing he did is he cleared out 156 00:10:54.169 --> 00:10:57.809 all the idols, cleansed the temple, did everything right. He 157 00:10:58.049 --> 00:11:03.049 was a pretty good guy. But up in years, he 158 00:11:03.090 --> 00:11:07.669 got a terminal disease, and he's going to die. And 159 00:11:07.700 --> 00:11:09.940 we pick up the story in 2 Kings chapter 20, 160 00:11:09.940 --> 00:11:14.679 and it says this, verse 1 to 7. In those days, 161 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:20.080 King Hezekiah became ill, and he was at the point 162 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:24.379 of death. Now Isaiah, the prophet, went to him and said, 163 00:11:25.379 --> 00:11:28.639 the Lord says, put your house in order because you're 164 00:11:28.659 --> 00:11:32.269 gonna die. How'd you like to have a prophet come 165 00:11:32.309 --> 00:11:36.789 tell you that? Not exactly the power of positive thinking. 166 00:11:38.509 --> 00:11:41.289 I can't imagine certain TV preachers saying this one, put 167 00:11:41.330 --> 00:11:45.440 your house in order because you're gonna die. That's not 168 00:11:45.500 --> 00:11:53.230 exactly a popular phrase. So the Lord said, Told Isaiah, say, 169 00:11:53.470 --> 00:11:55.269 put your house in order because you're going to die. 170 00:11:55.610 --> 00:12:04.570 You are not going to recover. Whoa. But, notice the 171 00:12:04.610 --> 00:12:07.870 rest of the story. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall. 172 00:12:09.330 --> 00:12:12.669 And he what? He prayed. Here's the third example of 173 00:12:12.710 --> 00:12:16.250 prayer and recovery. And he prayed, pleading to the Lord. 174 00:12:17.370 --> 00:12:21.629 Here's what he prayed. Remember, Lord... I've walked before you 175 00:12:21.690 --> 00:12:27.129 faithfully with wholehearted devotion and I've done what's good in 176 00:12:27.169 --> 00:12:32.110 your eyes. And Hezekiah wept loudly as he prayed. This 177 00:12:32.169 --> 00:12:36.200 is not so, God, I'd like to live. If you 178 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:38.899 get the time, I'd really like to live. No, he 179 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:43.700 is beating on heaven's door. He is passionate. He is pleading. 180 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:47.720 I'd rather have three minutes of passionate pleading and prayer 181 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:52.759 than 30 minutes of preaching and prayer. When you listen 182 00:12:52.779 --> 00:12:55.370 to a lot of people pray, it's like they're preaching 183 00:12:55.409 --> 00:13:01.429 to you. He's pleading. And he wept loudly as he prayed. 184 00:13:02.250 --> 00:13:06.929 Now notice what happens. Then, before Isaiah had even left 185 00:13:07.110 --> 00:13:11.950 the king's court, God's word came to him again. Go 186 00:13:11.990 --> 00:13:17.549 back and tell Hezekiah, I've heard your prayer. I've seen 187 00:13:17.570 --> 00:13:22.210 your tears. You will recover. You will recover. And I 188 00:13:22.309 --> 00:13:27.929 will heal you. And I'm going to add 15 years 189 00:13:28.009 --> 00:13:33.480 to your life. Also, he says, I'm going to deliver you. 190 00:13:33.500 --> 00:13:35.799 I'm going to throw this in for good. I'm going 191 00:13:35.820 --> 00:13:41.799 to deliver you in this city from Assyria's domination. So Hezekiah, 192 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:47.610 read it with me, recovered. That's the power of prayer. 193 00:13:48.929 --> 00:13:51.759 That's the power of prayer. Now notice one more verse. 194 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:55.259 Put this up. In Isaiah 38, Isaiah adds this to 195 00:13:55.299 --> 00:14:01.710 the story. After Hezekiah's recovery, there's that word, recovery, he 196 00:14:01.750 --> 00:14:04.429 wrote a prayer of praise. I'm not going to read 197 00:14:04.450 --> 00:14:07.269 the whole thing, but he says this. You restored my health, 198 00:14:08.509 --> 00:14:13.230 and I'm fully recovered with a fresh infusion of life. 199 00:14:14.350 --> 00:14:18.269 I love that in the message. Translation. I'm fully recovered 200 00:14:18.509 --> 00:14:21.549 with a fresh infusion of life. But, he says, it 201 00:14:21.620 --> 00:14:23.940 was good for me to go through all those troubles 202 00:14:25.639 --> 00:14:30.759 because throughout them all, you held tight to my lifeline. 203 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:37.370 Anybody want to give a testimony on that one? It 204 00:14:37.409 --> 00:14:39.190 was good for me to go through all that pain 205 00:14:40.409 --> 00:14:42.870 because even then, you were holding on to the lifeline. 206 00:14:44.309 --> 00:14:48.389 You weren't letting me go. You never let go. Notice 207 00:14:48.409 --> 00:14:51.769 the rest. You never let me tumble over the edge 208 00:14:51.929 --> 00:14:54.529 into nothing. He said, you didn't let go of me. 209 00:14:54.570 --> 00:14:56.529 The whole time I was really screwing up. I was 210 00:14:56.570 --> 00:14:59.490 really messing up. You did not let go of me. But, 211 00:14:59.669 --> 00:15:03.820 he said, my sins you did let go of. And 212 00:15:03.860 --> 00:15:14.809 you threw them behind your back. Hallelujah. Now here's The 213 00:15:14.830 --> 00:15:16.450 third thing I want you to write down. I told 214 00:15:16.490 --> 00:15:20.250 you that with prayer, we can recover from problems we 215 00:15:20.289 --> 00:15:23.009 cause by our own impatience. And with prayer, we can 216 00:15:23.049 --> 00:15:25.970 recover when we're paralyzed by our emotions. This one is, 217 00:15:26.330 --> 00:15:30.120 with prayer, we can recover even when other people tell 218 00:15:30.179 --> 00:15:37.519 us it'll never happen. And it wasn't just some stooge 219 00:15:37.580 --> 00:15:39.879 coming and saying, oh, you're never gonna get well. You're 220 00:15:39.940 --> 00:15:43.179 never gonna recover. You're never gonna change. How many people 221 00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:49.909 have told you that? A man of God told this. Hezekiah, 222 00:15:50.210 --> 00:15:53.190 you're not gonna recover. In fact, God told me you're 223 00:15:53.210 --> 00:16:00.039 not gonna recover. That's pretty final. Hezekiah goes, I'd like 224 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:08.059 a second opinion. God, you told Isaiah, your man, that 225 00:16:08.100 --> 00:16:13.980 I'm not gonna recover. Come on. You know, I wanna 226 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:17.409 serve you. And he pleads and he prays and he 227 00:16:17.470 --> 00:16:21.070 weeps and he's passionate and he's authentic and he's gutsy 228 00:16:21.090 --> 00:16:23.730 with God and God says, okay, I'm gonna give you 229 00:16:23.730 --> 00:16:28.690 15 more years. You will recover and not only that, 230 00:16:28.809 --> 00:16:32.740 I'm gonna do all these other things too. Point number three, 231 00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:36.379 with prayer we can recover even when other people tell 232 00:16:36.419 --> 00:16:40.320 us it'll never happen. That should encourage some of you. 233 00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:44.820 Stop listening to what other people say and start praying. 234 00:16:46.259 --> 00:16:48.460 People say, you can't change? Say, well, you don't know 235 00:16:48.500 --> 00:16:56.779 the God I know. He specializes in change. Let me 236 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:00.029 give you a few more. Fourth example, in the New Testament, 237 00:17:02.070 --> 00:17:04.089 Jesus is walking down the street one day, and there 238 00:17:04.109 --> 00:17:06.089 are two blind people sitting on the side of the road, 239 00:17:06.130 --> 00:17:09.430 two guys, and they hear Jesus is walking by, and 240 00:17:09.490 --> 00:17:13.799 so they cry out. They want recovery. They want recovery 241 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:19.200 of their vision, of their sight. They're blind. And the 242 00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:23.880 Bible tells us this story in Matthew 20. Two blind 243 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:27.140 men were sitting by the roadside when they heard that 244 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:29.970 Jesus was passing by. So they cried out. This is 245 00:17:30.009 --> 00:17:34.690 like Hezekiah. This is passionate prayer. They cried out. They're praying. 246 00:17:35.250 --> 00:17:36.910 That's what they're doing here. They're praying. When you're talking 247 00:17:36.930 --> 00:17:40.950 to Jesus, you're praying. They cried out, Lord, have mercy 248 00:17:41.049 --> 00:17:46.009 on us. The crowd rebuked them, telling them to shut up. 249 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:52.680 Be silent, calm down. But they prayed even louder. Lord, 250 00:17:52.880 --> 00:18:02.269 have mercy on us. Jesus stopped and he said, what 251 00:18:02.289 --> 00:18:03.650 do you want to give me? What do you want 252 00:18:03.670 --> 00:18:07.549 me to do for you? I love that. You should 253 00:18:07.589 --> 00:18:09.289 study how many times Jesus said that. What do you 254 00:18:09.309 --> 00:18:11.369 want me to do for you? I'm gonna let you 255 00:18:11.410 --> 00:18:15.089 set the agenda. I'm gonna let you, tell me what 256 00:18:15.130 --> 00:18:17.759 you want. And then they said, we don't wanna be 257 00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:24.769 blind anymore. Give us sight. Every line here could be 258 00:18:24.809 --> 00:18:34.069 a sermon. With deep compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. And immediately, 259 00:18:34.390 --> 00:18:39.609 they recovered their sight. What did they do after recovery? 260 00:18:39.950 --> 00:18:44.309 They followed him. That sound like a good pattern, friends? 261 00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:49.799 Once you've recovered, what do you do? You follow him. Okay? 262 00:18:51.079 --> 00:18:56.890 All right. Two guys, they cry out. What's the point here? 263 00:18:57.130 --> 00:19:01.910 Write this down. Point number four. With prayer, we can 264 00:19:01.950 --> 00:19:06.250 recover our vision and see things we've never seen before. 265 00:19:08.970 --> 00:19:14.880 That will not happen in your life without prayer. With prayer, 266 00:19:15.220 --> 00:19:20.759 we can recover our vision, our perspective, our sight. When 267 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:24.599 I'm locked in to a habit, her to hang up, 268 00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:27.900 when I'm locked in to a pattern of thinking, a 269 00:19:28.440 --> 00:19:32.089 way of living, an attitude, when I'm stuck in a 270 00:19:32.130 --> 00:19:36.390 relationship I can't get into, I can't get on with, 271 00:19:36.450 --> 00:19:38.869 and I can't get out of, and I'm just stuck, 272 00:19:39.269 --> 00:19:42.410 then I need to pray. Because with prayer, we can... 273 00:19:43.819 --> 00:19:46.670 recover our vision, and then we can see things we 274 00:19:46.710 --> 00:19:49.970 never could see before. We see things about ourselves. we 275 00:19:50.009 --> 00:19:53.339 never saw before. We see things about our partner that 276 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:57.099 we never saw before. We see things about the world, 277 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:01.279 about God, about Satan, about life, about death, about what's 278 00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:05.180 important in life. We see things we never saw before. 279 00:20:05.559 --> 00:20:10.920 It only comes through prayer. You're not gonna get this 280 00:20:10.980 --> 00:20:15.559 in a secular recovery program. You're not gonna get these 281 00:20:15.660 --> 00:20:21.789 benefits in a secular recovery program. Because in those programs, 282 00:20:22.069 --> 00:20:26.170 they're not talking about prayer. They're not talking about prayer 283 00:20:26.190 --> 00:20:33.750 at all. Let me give you another. This one had 284 00:20:33.789 --> 00:20:38.150 to do with Peter and his massive personal and yet 285 00:20:38.250 --> 00:20:44.099 very public failure Peter was Mr. Foot and Mouth Disease. 286 00:20:47.940 --> 00:20:50.740 I like Peter, because he reminds me of myself. He's 287 00:20:50.759 --> 00:20:56.109 so impulsive, he's so impetuous. You know, it's like, he 288 00:20:56.140 --> 00:20:59.170 sees the Lord walking on water. I'm coming! And he just, 289 00:20:59.410 --> 00:21:02.730 he's not even thinking about it. This is dumb. Walking 290 00:21:02.809 --> 00:21:06.029 on water. He just starts, and he goes, oops, and 291 00:21:06.089 --> 00:21:09.730 starts to sink. You know? I love Peter. I love Peter. 292 00:21:11.089 --> 00:21:14.750 Peter's up on the mountaintop with Jesus and the transfiguration 293 00:21:14.789 --> 00:21:18.799 and the three great leaders in the Old Testament. He goes, hey, 294 00:21:19.019 --> 00:21:21.519 let's just build tents up here and have a party. 295 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:33.119 I might have said that. They come to arrest Jesus. 296 00:21:33.180 --> 00:21:35.839 Peter pulls out his sword, knocks the guy's ear off. 297 00:21:37.299 --> 00:21:46.829 He's just, act before you think And at the Lord's Supper, 298 00:21:46.849 --> 00:21:50.910 Jesus says, one of you's gonna betray me. By the way, 299 00:21:50.950 --> 00:21:53.390 I was in Ireland on vacation a week ago. Can 300 00:21:53.650 --> 00:21:57.809 I tell you a good Irish joke? This fits, it fit, 301 00:21:57.910 --> 00:22:02.000 it really does. I wasn't planning on sharing this, but 302 00:22:02.039 --> 00:22:05.900 it does fit. There's this Irish priest. You know, the 303 00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:08.180 Irish really didn't like the English because they dominated them 304 00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:11.720 for 800 years. And so this Irish priest was always 305 00:22:11.829 --> 00:22:15.509 preaching the same sermon against the English. The English are bad. 306 00:22:15.809 --> 00:22:17.950 And his bishop comes and goes, buddy, you gotta preach 307 00:22:17.990 --> 00:22:21.369 about Jesus. Okay, you gotta share the gospel. You can't 308 00:22:21.410 --> 00:22:26.069 just preach against the English every week. So he promises, 309 00:22:26.430 --> 00:22:30.799 next week I'll preach on the Lord's Supper. And he says, 310 00:22:30.839 --> 00:22:34.900 today I'm going to speak on the Lord's Supper. And 311 00:22:34.940 --> 00:22:38.400 the Lord said to the disciples, one of you will 312 00:22:38.420 --> 00:22:43.329 betray me. And the blessed Saint Peter said, is it I, Lord, 313 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:47.329 will I betray you? And the Lord said, no, it 314 00:22:47.380 --> 00:22:51.430 isn't you, Peter. And the blessed Saint Thomas said, well then, 315 00:22:51.829 --> 00:22:54.549 is it I, Lord? Am I the one who will 316 00:22:54.589 --> 00:22:57.730 betray you? And the Lord said, no, it isn't you, Tommy. 317 00:22:59.589 --> 00:23:04.490 And the blessed Saint Matthew said, is it I, Lord? 318 00:23:04.769 --> 00:23:08.019 Am I the one to betray you? And he said, no, 319 00:23:08.059 --> 00:23:12.059 it isn't you, Matthew. And then Judas said, well, blimey, 320 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:27.619 it must be me, mate. There's always a way. If 321 00:23:27.660 --> 00:23:32.539 you really want to, there's always a way. So it's 322 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:35.309 at this event, and Jesus has just said, one of 323 00:23:35.349 --> 00:23:37.849 you is gonna betray you, and Peter goes, man, I, 324 00:23:37.970 --> 00:23:42.950 you know, come on, I'd die for you, Lord. He's Mr. Bluster. 325 00:23:44.329 --> 00:23:46.109 You know, don't, not me, man. And in Luke 22, 326 00:23:46.099 --> 00:23:59.160 verse 31 and 32, Predicting Peter's fall, Jesus says this. Simon, Simon, 327 00:24:00.589 --> 00:24:05.970 Satan has asked to sift you just as wheat is sifted. 328 00:24:05.990 --> 00:24:09.410 You know, farmers sift the wheat to get the chaff, 329 00:24:09.430 --> 00:24:14.329 the chaff away from the wheat. Satan has desired to 330 00:24:14.390 --> 00:24:18.829 sift you just as wheat is sifted. But, Jesus, I 331 00:24:19.210 --> 00:24:24.289 have prayed for you, Simon, Simon. so that your faith 332 00:24:24.369 --> 00:24:30.750 may not fail. And when you have recovered, notice, I 333 00:24:30.789 --> 00:24:36.269 wish this was written out, because it doesn't say if. When. 334 00:24:37.049 --> 00:24:41.970 When you have recovered. Jesus knew before Peter's fall, he'd recover. 335 00:24:43.069 --> 00:24:51.950 Jesus knew before your mess ups, you'd recover. And when, 336 00:24:52.450 --> 00:24:55.990 not if, I've prayed for you. So if I've prayed 337 00:24:56.029 --> 00:25:00.269 for you, it's not if. You know what Jesus is 338 00:25:00.289 --> 00:25:03.009 doing for you in heaven right now? He's praying for you. 339 00:25:05.490 --> 00:25:09.829 He's praying for you. If there was something more important 340 00:25:09.849 --> 00:25:11.569 for Jesus to be doing, don't you think he'd be 341 00:25:11.609 --> 00:25:16.869 doing it? That's how important prayer is. It's not like 342 00:25:16.910 --> 00:25:21.559 the last resort. It's the first choice. And a lot 343 00:25:21.660 --> 00:25:23.980 of times in prayer we go, well, all we can 344 00:25:24.019 --> 00:25:30.619 do now is pray. Like that's the last thing. All 345 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:32.569 we can do now is pray. And everybody goes, has 346 00:25:32.609 --> 00:25:42.750 it come to that? Prayer is the first choice, not 347 00:25:42.789 --> 00:25:50.589 the last resort. Peter, I've prayed for you. I know 348 00:25:50.609 --> 00:25:53.289 you're gonna mess up. I know you're gonna deny me. 349 00:25:56.529 --> 00:26:00.049 But when you have recovered, put that back up there, 350 00:26:01.269 --> 00:26:05.809 it will be your job to strengthen your brothers. I 351 00:26:05.869 --> 00:26:08.579 commission you in the name of Jesus Christ to go 352 00:26:09.650 --> 00:26:13.400 commission others and to do it yourself to encourage your 353 00:26:13.420 --> 00:26:18.430 brothers and sisters. So Peter has this massive public failure, 354 00:26:18.470 --> 00:26:20.170 but you don't need to worry about it because Jesus 355 00:26:20.230 --> 00:26:21.970 prayed for him. And so he says, when you recover, 356 00:26:22.509 --> 00:26:28.019 now your job is to strengthen your brothers. Here's point 357 00:26:28.039 --> 00:26:34.160 number five. Write this down. With prayer, we can fully 358 00:26:34.259 --> 00:26:41.180 recover and even use our failures to help others. I 359 00:26:41.220 --> 00:26:49.059 like that. With prayer we can fully recover. Doesn't matter 360 00:26:49.099 --> 00:26:53.559 what's happened in your life, we can fully recover and 361 00:26:53.799 --> 00:27:00.440 even use our failures to help others. All right, now 362 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:03.799 let's review. The Israelites teach us that with prayer we 363 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:07.559 can recover from problems that we caused by our own impatience. 364 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:11.359 And we cause most of our problems by getting in 365 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:15.670 a hurry. And Jeroboam teaches us with prayer we can 366 00:27:15.710 --> 00:27:21.660 recover even when we're paralyzed by our emotions. And Hezekiah 367 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:24.700 teaches us with prayer we can recover even when other 368 00:27:24.740 --> 00:27:28.700 people tell us you're not gonna recover. You're never gonna change. 369 00:27:31.640 --> 00:27:33.539 And the two blind men who cried out to Jesus 370 00:27:33.579 --> 00:27:36.599 teach us that when prayer, when we pray we can 371 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:39.119 recover our vision and see things we've never seen before. 372 00:27:40.650 --> 00:27:42.990 Peter teaches us that with prayer we can fully recover 373 00:27:43.380 --> 00:27:46.500 and even use our failures to help others. That's the plan. 374 00:27:47.380 --> 00:27:53.980 That's the last step. Now let's look at Job. Nobody 375 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:59.960 had to recover more than Job. There is no one 376 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.640 in this room who had to recover more than Job. 377 00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:10.769 So he's the greatest testimonian. We should pull him out 378 00:28:10.809 --> 00:28:16.089 at CR every week. Hi, I'm Job. Let me tell 379 00:28:16.130 --> 00:28:22.980 you my testimony of recovery. Now Job had three friends. 380 00:28:25.019 --> 00:28:27.779 And his friends literally, they did some good things, they 381 00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:30.359 did some bad things. The Bible tells us that when 382 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:33.269 Job lost everything, all his family and all of his 383 00:28:33.329 --> 00:28:36.549 money and all of his health, he lost literally everything 384 00:28:36.630 --> 00:28:41.490 except his wife and she nagged him. And she came 385 00:28:41.549 --> 00:28:43.190 and says, look, honey, why don't you just curse God 386 00:28:43.210 --> 00:28:47.400 and die? Oh, thank you, honey. That's very helpful. Very, 387 00:28:47.460 --> 00:28:53.240 very supportive. Curse God and die. I'll file that. And 388 00:28:55.450 --> 00:28:57.930 he loses everything except the wife who says, go ahead 389 00:28:57.950 --> 00:29:07.779 and die. Thank you, God. But he does have three 390 00:29:07.819 --> 00:29:09.980 friends and his friends show up and the Bible says 391 00:29:10.019 --> 00:29:11.680 they sit down with him for a week, they sat 392 00:29:11.700 --> 00:29:16.940 there and said nothing. That's smart. His friends were real 393 00:29:16.980 --> 00:29:24.869 friends until they opened their mouths. The deeper the pain, 394 00:29:24.910 --> 00:29:29.069 the fewer words you use. You need to remember that, 395 00:29:29.089 --> 00:29:32.450 write that down. The deeper the pain, the fewer words 396 00:29:32.609 --> 00:29:36.670 you use. If somebody's having a bad hair day, you 397 00:29:36.690 --> 00:29:41.539 can talk to them for 30 minutes. If they've just 398 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:47.779 lost a loved one, or they've gone bankrupt, or something serious, 399 00:29:48.740 --> 00:29:54.329 show up and shut up. It is the ministry of presence. 400 00:29:54.589 --> 00:29:56.890 People say, I didn't come because I didn't know what 401 00:29:56.910 --> 00:30:01.289