Luke 11:5-10
5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.[a]
9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Isaiah 65:24
I will answer them before they even call to me.
While they are still talking about their needs,
I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
John 14:13-14
13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
Transcript
(Transcribed by TurboScribe)
Good morning. What an amazing church this is. I had to go for some tests this morning here at the hospital, and I wasn't sure that I was gonna make it back, and sure what the tests were gonna do.
So late night, I text my brother Jimmy, and I said, Jim, I know this is late night. I'm not feeling all that great, and I don't know about tomorrow. Would you stand in and just be on call if maybe I need you to get up there and preach, and Jimmy said, not a problem.
I'll be there. He made a mistake, though. He said, if you want to, I can take your notes, and I said, Jim, you don't read hieroglyphics.
You won't be able to read that, and Alexander, I just said, Alexander, maybe Jim's gonna be there and take care of this and take care of that, and this morning I said to Scott, Scotty, if I can sit for a little longer, it will be really neat. Can you just do the prayer song, and Scott just did the prayer song, and what an amazing place this is, where people give and give freely of themselves. Thank you, Central.
You've been like that. I've been here 25 years. You've been like that for 25 years.
Our prayers go to David DeVisser's family. David passed away. It's in the bulletin.
The funeral is Friday at 11 o'clock, Thursday evening, 6 to 8. We'll have a visitation here at the church. Please continue to pray for David's family. We're gonna miss him.
He was much loved in this place. As we, in these moments, prepare, Lord, to be in your word and to listen for your word. Thank you that you prepare our hearts.
Thank you, Holy Spirit of God. Not only are you the one who inspired these words, but you are the one who takes them and puts them in our hearts, and then you guide us as we live the word. And this morning again, as we pray, it's always that we want to see Jesus and only Jesus.
In your precious name, we pray, Lord. Amen. The phone rings, and on the other end, you just hear this distraught voice of a friend or a loved one.
And as they continue talking, and you hear the fear and the hurt and the struggle, and you hear the tears, you sit on the other end, and you wonder, what can I do when the challenge that comes to me from someone else is greater than I am? What I want to help but I feel so helpless, so hopeless. Where do I turn? What do I do with this? This is a problem that Dr. Helen Rosevere faced in her fourth year of 20 years that she would work in the Congo, way back, days before cell phones and all these great things. She was a missionary doctor from England working in the Congo at a small orphanage, a little bit of a hospital there as well.
And on this day, in that fourth year of working there, Helen was helping a mother who was giving birth, but it was premature birth, and the mother died during giving birth. She left behind a little prematurely born baby and a two-year-old little girl. She sent one of the teacher midwives to go fetch a warm water bottle, fill it with water, and bring that because they had no incubators.
There's no electricity, none of this stuff to help this little baby. The nurse comes back, and she's crying. She says, doctor, you won't believe it.
When I poured the water into the hot water bottle, it just burst, and that was the only hot water bottle we have. Here's this little baby. What do you do? So, they set up a little team that would sleep with the baby and hold them close and put the blankets all over, and they would just do that through the night to keep this little thing going.
Next day, during lunchtime, all of the kids of the orphanage was there as well, and Helen would always tell them what's going on and pray with them. And this day, she told them about the little two-year-old and about the little baby. And their need.
Because how would they get a warm water bottle there in the middle of nowhere? There's no contact. The only way that would happen is if someone would send a parcel from England. But who's going to send a hot water bottle to someone who lives on the equator, right? So, she tells them, and then they pray.
And then this little girl, and you can go read this. Helen wrote this in a book called Living Faith. She writes, this little girl gets up.
Her name is Ruth. She's 10 years old. They all prayed, but one 10-year-old girl named Ruth took it on herself to take the problem directly to Jesus.
Please, God, she said, send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God. The baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.
And while you're at it, would you please send a doll for the little girl's sister so that she will know that you really love her. Helen said she struggled to say amen after this prayer, because how is this ever going to be possible? Where's this gonna come from? In the four years she's been there, she's never even received a parcel from home. So, how? Went along the day, and she was working, and someone came running up and said, there's someone with a car at your door.
She ran out, got there, car was gone, but there's this huge box, 22 pounds in weight, all beautifully wrapped. So, she thought this must be gifts for the kids. So, she calls the kids.
They open the box. They unwrap it. She opens it up.
Yes, there's supplies, bandages, special wool for the folks with leprosy, some sultanas in a bottle, some raisins in cans, and then, as she calls them, jerseys, sweaters for the kids. And as she's taking them out, her hand feels something, and she's thinking, no, this can't be. And she takes it out, and there's a hot water bottle in the box.
True story, I'm telling you right now. As she takes that out, little Ruth sees this, and she comes flying up to the box, and she says, if there's a hot water bottle, there has to be a doll, too. And she's in the box, and there's this beautiful little doll.
When Ellen looked at the label on the box, it was sent five months earlier from England. It reminded me of this beautiful word in Isaiah chapter 65, and Ted, you have that on the screen. I will answer them before they even call to me.
And while they're still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers. Do I have to preach? Here's your sermon. I will answer them before they even call to me.
While they're still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers. The Lord answered little Ruth's prayer even before she prayed that prayer. As I read that, I not only got emotional about this little girl, but I thought to myself, do I have that kind of faith? A faith that prays so boldly, God, we need a water bottle this afternoon.
Tomorrow's too late, and a little doll while you're at it. Bold. Right there, right before the Lord accepting the challenge that Jesus gave us.
Can you remember the challenge Jesus gave in John 14? It's up there, Ted. Ask anything in my name, and I will do it. Why? To glorify the Father.
Put the rest on there, Ted. Ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. Ruth took God up on that challenge.
What about us? What about us? We all need help, right? We said that in the series. Father, you're good. Last week we said, I need help.
We need help for those moments when that engine light comes on and life breaks down, that God needs to step in, and we ask that. But here's the thing. So do other people, that friend, that neighbour, that loved one that gets on that phone.
And God who is faithful in his word and promises to meet my needs is also the God who promises to meet others' needs. All we have to do is to ask. Father, you are good.
I need help. So do they. And with those words, we intercede for other people.
Asking God to do his miracles in their lives. It's a huge gift to be able to do that, but it's also this awesome responsibility. Father, they need help.
Listen to what Jesus says about this. Here's a scripture passage for the day, Luke 11. Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story.
This is Jesus. Suppose you went to a friend's house at midnight wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, a friend of mine has just arrived for a visit and I have nothing for him to eat.
And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, don't bother me. The door is locked for the night and my family and I are all in bed. I can't help you.
But, here's that biblical but, I tell you this, though he won't do it for friendship's sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. And so I tell you, keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find.
Keep on knocking and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives. Everyone who seeks finds.
And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. See, this is intercessory prayer. In its purest form.
It's a combination of of paucity, that just being succinct, they need help, and audacity. Not tomorrow, Lord. Today, Father, they need help.
I can't help them. But you can. This is the kind of prayer that gets God's attention.
And even that grumpy old neighbour in the end actually got up and opened the door and gave. How much more will my heavenly Father open that door when I knock? The one who never slumbers or sleeps, the one who says my ears are not deaf, that they cannot hear, my hands will always give. How much more will he give when I knock on that door? Father, they need help.
Think of Jesus, his whole life. He never refused any intercessory request. Peter brought his mother-in-law.
The centurion brought his slave. Jairus brought his dead daughter. And one by one by one by one by one, Jesus continued to take those requests and fulfil them.
I'm reading Mark for my own quiet time again, and you read those first three chapters. They just were bringing them to Jesus all the time, and just heal, and just do, and he just did that. He never refuses that.
That is the joy of his heart. He did lose it on the disciples once. Matthew chapter 17.
I don't know if you remember the story. His father brought his son who was struggling with epilepsy, brought him to the disciples, and he said, please help. The disciples couldn't help, so they said, sorry, we can't help you.
Go home. The father didn't give up, and he went to Jesus. He said, they couldn't help me, and that's when Jesus lost it.
Why didn't you bring the boy to me? He said to them. And then he uses a word in verse 20 to explain a little something. He talked about this is unbelief.
Belief is to take it to Jesus and to accept that Jesus can do what I cannot do. Unbelief is to say, well, I'm going to try it on my own, and if I can't do it, sorry, there's nothing I can do for you. His joy is to hear our requests and to take care of those requests, because here's the thing.
The privilege of intercessory prayer is that we are called, 2 Corinthians 5.20, we are called the ambassadors of Christ. It's an interesting word in Greek. Here's your Greek lesson for the day.
Do you know what the Greek word for ambassador is? I still owe you a coffee, Dave, now that I think of it. I'll have to make it two coffees for this one. The Greek word for ambassador is presbyteros, presbyterian.
Same word, same word. Ambassadors. We are the ambassadors for Christ so that we speak for Him.
We speak on behalf of our neighbours. We speak on behalf of our loved ones. We speak on behalf of those who have needs.
You just did it this morning, Scott, and this wasn't written in the sermon, but you just did it this morning. You prayed for people in the church. You prayed for me.
You prayed for David's family. That's what we are, ambassadors for Christ to speak for the needs of others when sometimes they cannot speak for their own needs. Father, He puts that in our hearts.
Father, they need help. I can't help them, but you can. When we come and we intercede like this, we acknowledge that I can do it, my inability, but I also acknowledge God's ability.
I come with my empty hands, but I come with high hopes. Ephesians chapter 3. For He can do so much more than we could ever think or dream or fathom. Philippians 4. And He will provide for us from the fullness of His riches.
All I have to do. Father, they need help. I want to tell you a little story and I'll end with that from my own life where I experienced this and when you experience this gift of God, it's just it's overwhelming.
Back in South Africa, we had this wonderful two people in our church. She was one of the most godly women, Anna Kroenier. Anna and Chris Kroenier.
We would go there every Christmas. She would have this Christmas dinner for a few of us and we would just celebrate the birth of Christ with each other and share a meal. And we would always end with worship and prayer.
This evening was a little sad because the couple that would always come with us couldn't be there because the cancer was so intense in this woman's life. That evening we decided that we were going to pray for her and we were going to lay hands on her. She wasn't there, but we were going to lay hands on her just as we stood there and say, Lord, we're doing this and we all stood in a circle and we lay hands on this woman who was not there and we prayed.
Father, she needs your help. Father, will you bring healing? Two weeks later, she saw the doctor. They couldn't find a single cancerous cell in her body.
Our inability in intercessory prayers, God, it's your ability. I can't do it, but I can pray. I can ask for a hot water bottle in the middle of nowhere and you could do it.
The thing that brings so much joy to Jesus' heart is when we trust him audaciously. With the lives of others, bringing them to Jesus. And the moment I do that, he just opens that pantry door and he says, come on in and come and take as much as you need.
We're never closer to being like Jesus as when we pray for others. So please pray. Pray for those you love.
Pray for those you don't love. And knock. Don't stop knocking.
Father, you are good. I need help. But so do they.
And then bring the biggest shopping basket you have because he's going to fill that basket with so many blessings that you can take to them. Take a few moments of silent prayer. Father, you are good.
They need help. And you know who they are. Thank you that we may pray.
Thank you that we may be bold like little Ruth, Lord. Audaciously bold. Help us.
Help us to remember who you are and what you can do. Thank you. We will pray, Lord.
In Jesus' name.