Practical Living

Dale O'Shields: Thank you for joining us for today's Practical Living broadcast. I pray that through this message, you will learn how to apply God's word and truths to any situation in your life. Stay with us as we discover God's truths that will transform us.

I continue today in the series entitled "Let Us Pray." I want to talk to you in part one about how to pray. For the next several weeks, we will be looking at this practical aspect of actually how we engage in prayer. Prayer really is one of the most important activities for your spiritual growth. If you don't learn how to pray well, how to pray effectively, and how to pray consistently, you are never going to grow in your spiritual life. It is vital to your spiritual journey.

Because it really is the way that you and I connect with and communicate with God. There is no connection or communication with God apart from prayer. It is the way that we talk to him. Obviously, through his word, he speaks to us, but we speak to him and relate to him and fellowship with him through prayer, and of course, as a part of prayer, our worship.

In fact, it is your effective prayer life that will lead you to your spiritual destiny. It will lead you to secure all the blessings, favor, and help of God in your life. Prayer was a very significant and a very common part of Jesus' life and ministry. When you study the life and ministry of Jesus, you see that although he indeed was the very Son of God, he spent time talking to his Father. He prayed often.

He prayed in ways that the disciples around him saw answers. This is evidenced by the fact that one of his disciples, or perhaps several of them, came to him one day and said, "Lord, teach us to pray. We want to pray like you pray. We see that you pray and there are answers. We see that you fellowship with your Father. Would you teach us how to pray the way you pray?"

John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray. Teach us to pray. In response to that request, "Lord, teach us to pray," we have one of the most familiar passages in the entire Bible that I am sure many of you, if not all of you, can quote the entirety of, or perhaps a portion thereof. It is called the Lord's Prayer.

It is found in several places in the Bible in the gospel accounts, but today's version, I want to take you to Matthew chapter six and we will begin in verse number nine. I am going to intentionally have you read this with me this morning from a different translation, from the New Living Translation, just to shake it up a little bit for you so that you are attentive to the words. I will come back to the original that you are perhaps more familiar with in just a moment.

Let's all read together Matthew chapter six beginning in verse number nine down through verse 13 from the New Living Translation. Read it with me aloud and loudly. Here we go. "Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one."

Perhaps you know it better with these words: "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Then in many translations, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen." Jesus said, "You have asked me to teach you how to pray. Pray like this."

This is how you are to pray. Start out with "Our Father which art in heaven." That one little phrase deserves an entire series in and of itself, and perhaps one day I will give you a series on that one little phrase, "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be your name."

Suffice it to say this morning that that phrase represents the fact that we need a relationship with God to pray well. We need to know him as our Father. If you do not know God as your Father, you cannot appeal to him as a child. You cannot come to him with a confident relationship. We are to come to honor and hallow his name. There are many names of God in the Bible that represent the nature and the character of God that you and I need to be aware of.

We move on from that phrase, as important as it is and as worthy of discussion and teaching as it is. Let's move on to the first principle or petition of prayer that Jesus gives us. After saying "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be your name," the next statement or the next petition, Jesus said, "Pray like this: your kingdom come, your will be done where? On earth, as it is in heaven."

So after calling us to fix our attention on our Father, Jesus instructed us to pray that we might live in the Kingdom of God and the will of God. The rule of God and the will of God. I would like to take a few moments this morning and to unpack for you what I believe this little phrase we find that Jesus gives us here is all about. There are many things we could talk about. I am only going to give you four today that I think will be helpful for you in your prayer journey.

Number one, I believe that Jesus was teaching us, reminding us that heaven is a real place with real resources. "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Jesus is treating heaven as indeed it is according to scripture that we see from the pages of the Bible all the way through, from Genesis to Revelation, a real place.

It is the place of God's abode, the place of God's presence. We don't know exactly where heaven is, but heaven is where God is. Heaven is where God exists in his purity, in his power, without there being any dilution of who God is. It is where the rule of God and the will of God is perfectly done. Jesus says, "I want you to begin your prayers by drawing your attention away from earth and to place your attention on heaven."

Get away from the inadequacies of the world around you and the insufficiencies of the earth in which you live. I want you to begin to think about who is in heaven and the riches that are there for you, the resources that are available for you in heaven. Prayer is designed to move you from earth to heaven. That is what prayer does, and that is why prayer is so important. It moves you out of the earth realm into the heavenly realm so that we are giving attention to what really does matter.

Now what kind of place is heaven? Heaven is a place where, as I have already mentioned, the clear and clean and pure unadulterated presence of God exists. Along with that, listen closely: all the resources necessary for your life are found in heaven. Whatever you are going through right now, heaven has a solution to your problem.

Whatever you are facing right now in your life and have need of in your life, heaven has the supply for whatever you have need of in your life right now. There are warehouses in heaven that never run dry. There are resources in heaven that never wear out. There will never be a time when there will be a last product on the shelf in heaven because heaven is plentiful. Heaven has everything that you have need of.

Jesus says, "When you pray, I want you to move from earth to heaven to realize that heaven is a real place. It is where God exists and all the resources associated with God are available for you and me." So when we pray, we are requesting the resources of heaven. "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Now I need to take a moment and help us understand two key words here: kingdom and will.

This is the petition. "Your kingdom come and your will be done." So what are those words all about? The word kingdom, as it is used here in the scripture reference to it, Kingdom of God, is often referred to in scripture. You will also see the phrase Kingdom of Heaven. These are synonymous phrases. They mean the same thing. Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven. A kingdom is where the king rules. That's all it is.

That is what it means when you say a kingdom. A kingdom is where the king, whoever the king is, actually has established his sovereign rule. He gets to make the choices, the decisions. He dictates what needs to happen. He is in charge. He is recognized and fully submitted to as the sovereign.

So when we talk about the Kingdom of God, we are talking about any realm where God rules. At any place, in any dimension of life where God rules, the Kingdom of God is where God rules, where God is in charge. It is not just a geographic location. It has to do with where God is in charge of any realm, any person, any dimension of life where God rules. There is the Kingdom of God when he is the sovereign king there.

The will of God represents the desires of God, what God wants in his infinite, omniscient wisdom. What he desires and knows to be right for us and his plan for us, that is his will. May his kingdom come and his will be done. You see, in heaven, in the realm where God exists, all things, all beings freely submit to him. This is exactly what we are praying when we say, "God, would you send your kingdom to me and let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven?"

Second point that I'd like to share with you this morning: what is this prayer all about? I believe that Jesus was also teaching us, reminding us that God wants his heaven to come to our earth. This is so beautiful. Why would Jesus say pray "your kingdom come and your will be done," notice this, "on earth as it is in heaven"?

It is because God wants, listen closely, God wants his kingdom, his rule, and his will to show up in your earth. That deserves a hallelujah right there. It is the desire of God. Let me say it a different way. It is the desire of God to bring heaven into your world. You see, heaven is not meant to stay abstract from us or distant from us.

God wants you not simply to experience heaven when you go to heaven when you pass from this life. God wants you to experience some heaven down here in this earth. That as you are going through whatever you may go through in life, in your relationships, in your business, in whatever realm of life that you find yourself in, God wants to invade every realm of your life with some of heaven.

That is why he told us to pray that the Kingdom of God would come and the will of God would be done on earth. Not just in some distant manner or some ethereal manner, but really truly in our lives, that you and I would have more of heaven in our earth. Can I ask you this morning, do any of you desire, could any of you stand a bit more heaven in your earth? Jesus gave us the way to pray regarding this. He desires this for us.

Now why is this so important? I will tell you, give you five reasons why it is so important for heaven to come into our earth. Number one, because God is the only one that can see the end from the beginning. You need a God at work in your life that sees beyond what you can see. God is able to see the end from the beginning in your life.

He sees it all. You and I see a little small portion. We try to interpret our lives through the little bit that we can see. God says, "You can trust me because I see the end from the beginning. I know all that is happening in your life." So we need heaven to come to us because we need God who sees all things to be in charge of our lives.

Second of all, he is able to guide us to the fulfillment of our highest potential and purpose. When heaven comes into your world, you are guided into everything God created you to be. God made you for a purpose and for a reason. When you and I experience heaven on earth, God begins to work out his potential and work out his possibilities for our life and the purpose for which he created us.

This third one is very important as well. We need heaven to come to earth because when God comes and rules and reigns in our lives, he is able to remove from us the impurities and the influences that are hurting and hindering us. Only God can purify a heart. You cannot purify your own heart. There are things in all of our hearts that are hindering us from being all that God wants us to be.

Only God can come by his kingdom rule and power and his will at work in us to remove those things from us that would get in the way of us being all that God made us to be. Then fourthly, why do we need heaven to come to earth? Because it keeps us from decisions and situations that diminish our potential. God steps in by his kingdom rule and power and he keeps you from things that can destroy you.

Many of us can look at our lives right now and know that there were moments that we were about to make some ridiculously foolish decision. God stepped in and superseded the very thing that we were about to do, and God saved us from ourselves. Aren't you glad that God has saved you from you sometimes and saved you from the stupid things that you were about to do and the things you were about to step into?

God says, "When my kingdom rule comes, I step into your world and I keep you from decisions and situations that can rob you, keep you, diminish you from the potential that I created for you." Then fifthly, why do we need heaven to come to earth? Because in so doing, it releases supernatural resources to each one of us that will enable us to live life at a heavenly level.

There is power and strength, and I'll come back to that in a moment, that will come to you when you experience God at work in your life by his rule and by his will. Paul describes it this way in Romans chapter 14 verse 17. There was a lot of debate with the Romans, many of the folks of the early church as to what the Kingdom of God was all about.

Paul gives a definition to it in Romans 14:17. He says, "For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." Paul says, "You want to know what the Kingdom of God is all about? How do you know when the Kingdom of God is showing up in your life? What does it do for you?"

It produces righteousness in you. You begin to live the right way and follow God's right paths. It produces peace in you. Not a peace the world gives, but a peace that goes beyond anything the world can give. It provides for you a joy in living that you can find no other way. How do you know the Kingdom of God is at work in you? Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Can I remind you again today, Jesus said pray this way: "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Why? Because God wants his heaven to come to your earth.

The third lesson for us today, I believe Jesus was teaching us that experiencing heaven on earth requires not only our prayers, but also our cooperation. I want you to listen very closely to this section because I want you to fully understand what I want to communicate to you today about this. Although there are many benefits to living under the rule of God and the will of God, these are very clear in scripture. Not everybody and not all of us all the time will live under God's rule and according to God's will.

Because we have a will. There are things that actually oppose God's kingdom and oppose God's will working in your life. To pray that is not enough. You have to cooperate with God in a process because there are active forces, evil forces, and I'll describe them for you, we will read about them in a moment, that are doing everything possible to keep you from living in the Kingdom of God and from living according to God's will.

It is vital for us to understand and identify these enemies. John chapter 10 verse 10, Jesus identifies one of these enemies. He gives us these words. He says, "The thief's purpose," he's describing a thief here, "his purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose," Jesus says, "is to give life in all of its fullness." Jesus said, "You need to be aware that as surely as I'm here wanting to give you an abundance of life, there is a thief who's doing everything possible to steal from you, kill you, and destroy you."

Opposing forces. God has a kingdom and God has a will, but there is another force over here coming against us, working against us, and it's called the thief. Obviously, this is a reference to Satan, the serpent, the one who wants to step into our world and draw us into his agenda rather than God's agenda. His rule rather than God's will, his desires for us rather than God's desires for us. There's an opposing force that we must learn to fight against.

But that's not the only force. John the apostle describes some other forces that oppose the will of God in our lives in First John chapter two, verses 15 through 17. He says, "Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you. For when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father; they're from this evil world. And this world is fading away along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever."

So he's juxtaposing doing the will of God, living in the will of God, with the opposite of that being living, yes, according to the thief, the serpent, Satan's agenda and the agenda of the world around us. Because there is an influence in the world that would draw you away from the rule of God and the will of God. There's an influence inside of you called your own flesh that would seek to pull you away from the rule of God and the will of God.

Paul talks about this in Galatians 5:17. He says, "The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite of what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other." Do I live under God's will and God's rule, or do I live under the rule of Satan or the rule of the world around me and the agenda and the values of the world system or my own flesh?

Which one do I choose? There's this war that goes on, constantly fighting in our lives. The Bible says these two forces are constantly fighting each other and your choices are never free from this conflict. The Bible very clearly identifies three opposing forces: the world trying to pull you away from God, there's a worldly influence that will seek to pull you away from God's rule and God's will, your own flesh, your own evil sinful desires that are working against you every day trying to get you to do something opposite of God's rule and God's will.

And the one that Jesus identified as the thief, the devil himself, who's at work to do the very same thing: pulling us away from the will of God and the purpose of God in our lives. If you're going to live under God's rule and according to God's will, you have to pray for it, but you also have to fight for it.

Let me say that again. If you're going to live according to God's rule, and there is a rule of God where God is in charge, that is what it means, that God is in charge of your life. If God is going to consistently be in charge of your life and if the will of God is going to be consistently done in your life, you have to pray for it, but you also have to fight for it. There is a fighting for it.

You aggressively, you can't be passive in your spiritual journey. This is exactly why so many Christians are powerless. They don't have the power to withstand the onslaughts of the temptations of the evil one. They don't seem to have the power to resist the pull of the world around them. They don't seem to have the power to say no to their flesh.

Why? Because they're powerless and they're powerless because they're prayerless. Did you hear what I just said? They're powerless because they're prayerless. Or they pray superficial prayers, or they pray only when they want something from God, or they pray only when they are in trouble. They pray just in the convenient or the difficult moments of life. Prayer is not a part of their absolute umbilical cord with God.

That I have to connect with God through prayer, it's essential to my life. I only receive power when I'm connected with him. Let me give you this illustration. If I had an electric drill in my hand this morning here, and let's just for the sake of analogy, let's talk about an electric drill with an electrical cord on it, not the battery-powered one, but one with a cord on it.

That electric drill has a lot of potential, does it not? You can drill through steel with the right bit with a good electric drill. I mean, you have great power in that little piece of equipment. Great potential, I should say, in that little piece of equipment. But that piece of equipment is absolutely useless until you plug it into a power source.

You can carry it around with you all day; it will do nothing. It has no impact on anything. You can brag about it. "Oh, look at my drill. Isn't it beautiful? It's amazing what it can do." "Have you ever used it?" "No, but I hear it's good." There are a lot of Christians who say, "Oh, I'm a Christian, yeah." "Are you living for God?" "Well, I'm not sure about that part of it or not."

And they live a powerless life because they don't plug into the power source. That's why every morning when you wake up and as you go through your days, there are those times when you need to hit your knees before God and come to God and say, "God, I just need to plug into you today. I need your power to do your will. I need your power to resist the temptations that will come my way."

Pray that you don't enter into temptation, we find in scripture. I need the power to resist the pressure, the onslaught of the world around me trying to suck me in and pressure me into its mold, to allow me to be like those that are in the world around me pursuing a life apart from God. I need your power, God.

Lord, I need your power to help me to say no to this evil flesh that would try to pull me outside of your rule and outside of your will. God, I'm on my knees. I'm pursuing you, I'm pressing in, and I'm fighting the good fight of faith. I need to connect with you for the power necessary for your kingdom to come and your will to be done in me. Prayer is not something that is optional.

It's not something that's optional. It's not something like a buffet you can walk by and say, "Well, I'll take that, but I won't do the prayer thing." No, if you're going to live for God, you have to learn how to pray. I will say this as well. This is not in my notes, but let me say it anyway. I've been away two weeks, so I've got a lot of things to say.

No one else can do your praying for you. Are you hearing me? Now I'm all in favor, and we believe in it here, and we ask for prayer requests, and we pray for people, and I believe in the power of corporate prayer. It's vital that we pray for one another. It was one of the points of the message last week, that we pray for each other. It's vital to do that.

But there are certain things that you have to pray your way through in your life. If you don't pray your way through them, you'll be consumed by things that God never intended for you to be consumed by because you haven't pressed in and fought your own battles. Paul, as he comes to the end of his life, he says this: "I have fought a good fight. I have kept the faith. I have finished the race."

He described the fact that there was a fight he had to fight for himself. So I would remind you today, if you're going to live in the will of God, you've got to bring some fight to the table. You've got to plug into the power source. It's got to be something that becomes a real part of your life. Not just a recitation or ritual that you do from time to time or something you do when you're in trouble, but needs to become the pattern, the dependency of your very life. I need you, God. Oh, I need you. Every hour I need you. Amen?

The last point I want to share with you today is to understand that Jesus, I believe, was teaching us here when he said pray "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." What was he saying? He was teaching us that prayer actually releases heaven's resources and guides us into God's will.

That when you pray, what's actually happening is there's an impartation from heaven to you. It releases to you what you have need of in your life in any given moment. It's not just knowing about prayer; it's putting it into practice and doing it in a practical, meaningful way. So I'm going to walk you through some practical steps that you need to take if you're going to pray this Jesus way.

Five things I will give you here. Number one, you've got to want God's kingdom to come and you've got to want God's will to be done. You can't pray "your kingdom come and your will be done" if you really don't want God to rule you and you don't want his will to be done in your life. So I would ask you today as I ask myself, it's not a one-time question; it's an everyday question.

But let me ask you today as you are being reminded of it here in this message: do you really want God to rule you? Do you really want God to be in charge of your life? Do you really want it? I mean, do you really want God to be in charge? Now don't just give me a quick amen. I'm asking you to think about it. Do you really want to be, God to be in charge? Do you want to move out of the driver's seat and turn it all over to God? Are you willing to do that?

Because you can't pray "your kingdom come, your will be done" if you want to sit in the driver's seat while you pray it. That's called a hypocritical prayer. So if you're going to say "your kingdom come and your will be done," you've got to really want God to be in charge. You've got to really want his will to be done in your life. That means that you're not in charge anymore, and it means this: it means your will doesn't matter anymore.

What you want for your life doesn't matter anymore. What is vital to you from that point forward, when you really pray this prayer, is, "God, what I'm saying to you is that what matters to me doesn't matter anymore. What matters to me is what matters to you." So whatever matters to you now begins to matter for me. So do you really want that?

Because God's going to require some things of you. If you say, "I want you to rule my life and I want your will to be done," there are going to be some things he'll require of you. It's always worth it, but there's always a price you're going to pay accordingly. But you've got to want this before it'll become reality for you. Number two, the second thing, you've got to resist anything that opposes God's rule and will.

If it's opposed to God, it's opposed to you. If God doesn't agree with it, you don't agree with it. That whatever God says about it, you're going to say about it. That whatever his word and will is, now you're in agreement with it. You'll resist and oppose anything and everything that is opposite of the rule and will of God. Number three, that you actually begin to invite God into all relationships, all responsibilities, and all the circumstances of your life.

God, now that you're in charge, I'm inviting you into every relationship of my life. God, I'm inviting you into my marriage to tell me how to do marriage because you're in charge now, I'm not. I don't get to go by my feelings anymore; I get to go by your word now. Whatever you say is now what's ruling me. So I'm inviting you into my marriage. I'm inviting you, Lord, into my friendships. I'm inviting you into my business relationships, into my interactions with my neighbors.

I'm inviting you into every relationship of my life. I'm inviting you into my responsibilities. I'm inviting you to all, into all the circumstances of my life. You're invited in. There are no closed doors to you, God. No closed doors. The next thing: you have to turn away from any known area of disobedience to God's will.

God, whatever you show me about my life that is inconsistent with your will, my response will be, "God, I'm sorry, forgive me, I repent of it, and I turn from it." I'm not going to argue with God about what I think is right or wrong; I'm going to accept what he says is right and wrong. When he convicts me of sin in some area of my life, I'm going to agree with him and come to him with repentance, come to him with a heart that wants to change and be transformed by his grace and mercy. I'm going to allow him to work to change me on the inside. To do that work of purifying my life to be all that he wants me to be. It's a process, but it requires our cooperation.

Now this fifth thing here is a consequence of the other four. Let me review this with you for a moment. If you really want God's kingdom to come and his will to be done in your life and you're praying accordingly, and you're willing to resist any and everything that opposes God's rule and God's will, and if you're inviting him into all your relationships, all your responsibilities, all your circumstances, and any time he shows you something that is opposite of his will, his rule, you're going to turn away from it with repentance, then number five, here it is: you can expect the release of God's kingdom benefits and blessings in your life.

When you've met the conditions, you can expect the results. Expect to experience God's kingdom. What is his kingdom? Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Now I'm going to conclude today with one final story in the Bible. The story I'm going to give to you can be described in a variety of levels, layers we might say, lots of different applications to it.

In the case of Paul and Silas that we'll look at here in just a moment, it was a physical situation. For all of us, it can be a variety of different things that can happen in our lives. But I want you to see what happens when the Kingdom of God and the rule of God comes on earth. Let me give you a bit of background for the story I'm going to read in just a moment in Acts chapter 16.

In Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas, his companion in the gospel, had gone to preach in a territory called Macedonia. They'd been called there in a very miraculous way by a vision, and they end up in the city called Philippi to preach the gospel. You'll know Philippi because there's a book in the Bible called the Book of Philippians. This is where Paul goes to preach the gospel.

As he preaches there, he finds some ladies by the riverside who are praying there. They accept Christ. He begins his ministry in that area, and then he encounters a demonically oppressed young lady, drives a demon out of her, and that creates a stir in the city and there's sort of a riot that goes on and people are wanting Paul arrested. Let's pick up the story now in Acts chapter 16 beginning in verse 22.

Again, the whole idea of this story that I want you to see today is what happens when the Kingdom of God comes on the earth. A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape, so he took no chances but put them in the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in stocks.

Stop there for a moment. This persecution against Paul and Silas was so severe that actually the city officials there in Philippi had them beaten with wooden rods to inches of their death, arrested, put in jail. Not just in any jail cell, but they're in the inner dungeon in stocks, bleeding, desperately probably within just a matter of a bit of losing their very lives.

Notice verse 25. "Around midnight, Paul and Silas were complaining." Is that what it says? No, that's what it would read if it was us, right? Around midnight, Paul and Silas, what were they doing? Praying. Sing hymns to God. And not just singing; they weren't singing the top 10 of the day. They were singing hymns to God. Their prayers, something was happening in that jail inner dungeon. The Kingdom of God was showing up. Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit was in that jail cell at that moment.

So they're praying and they're singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening. I'm sure they were; they'd never heard anything like this before. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors flew open and the chains of every prisoner fell off.

The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted to him, "Don't do it! We're all here!" Stop there for a moment. Here is Paul and Silas in the midst of this terrible set of circumstances, but instead of yielding to the circumstances, what are they doing? They're praying and they're worshipping and they're singing to God in the midst of a very difficult environment.

But they're inviting "your kingdom come, your will be done" in this little dungeon that we're in, beaten and bleeding. God, we're asking you to come and rule and reign in this place. God said, "I heard you. I'm responding. I'm going to send my kingdom on earth as it is in heaven." And God began to shake that very jail cell and the doors flew open and there is this moment where the chains began to come off, not just for Paul and Silas, but for all of the other prisoners that were there.

And there in that moment, God showed up. His kingdom came and his will was done on earth, just like it was in heaven. God did a work. Why? Because they prayed. The jailer says, "I'm in trouble. They're going to kill me. I'm going to lose these prisoners." What's always amazed me about this story is that Paul's still around. I mean, had it been me, I would have been out of there quick.

But Paul's still hanging around. Paul shouted to him, "Don't do it! Don't kill yourself. We're all here." Trembling with fear, the jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down before Paul and Silas. He brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" See, the kingdom is there. Are you hearing me today? The kingdom is there.

There's something supernatural there. The will of God is there, the kingdom is there. "What must I do to be saved?" They replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with your entire household." Then they shared the word of the Lord with him and all who lived in his household. That same hour, the jailer washed their wounds, and he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. I call that heaven coming to earth. How about you?

I want to conclude today just reminding you that the same God that showed up for Paul and Silas can show up for you. It may not look exactly like it did for Paul and Silas. It doesn't have to because your circumstances, you're different, and Paul and Silas were different, lived in a different age and a different time. What I can assure you is that when you sincerely pray "your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," God will show up and if he's necessary, he'll shake your prison doors as well. He'll break your chains as well. He'll do things for you that only he can do when heaven comes to your earth.

Would you bow your heads with me as we pray this morning? Father, we thank you for your word. We're so very grateful for the privilege of prayer. Lord, we often take it for granted. We don't give it the time that we should or the attention that we should so often in our lives. We're prayerless, and because of that, we're powerless, Lord. We miss moments that you can do incredible things but we haven't plugged in.

We just haven't plugged into your power, and I pray that today that something would challenge us and inspire us, Lord, to become people of prayer. Lord, there are families in this room that are waiting to be changed because someone will get on their knees and pray. There are marriages in this room right now on our Frederick campus, those watching online, their families are just waiting to be changed, waiting for someone to get on their knees and pray.

There are businesses that are waiting to be changed because someone gets on their knees and they give their business to you, God. Lord, there are breakthroughs in so many realms of life that are just waiting for resources from heaven to be brought to our earth, but the question is will we pray?

So I ask, Lord, today that you would help us to respond to this call, not by becoming ritualistic prayers or just doing something out of duty, but we will realize this is our power source. You've made us new creations in you and you've called us into your kingdom and you have a plan for us, but Lord, we need the power from you. So help us to become praying believers and let us see incredible miracles happen as we pray. We thank you for it in Jesus' name.

I would like to close today by giving you an opportunity to ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me right now? Right where you are, just simply bow your head with me and I'm going to give you a prayer to pray and you can simply speak this prayer out, whisper this prayer out, and from the sincerity of your heart call upon God. I promise you that he will hear and answer you.

So let's pray together. Start by simply whispering the name Jesus. Let there come from your heart just the declaration of his name. Say, "Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, that I have fallen short with you. I'm sorry for all of my sins. Jesus, I believe in you. I believe that you are God's Son. I believe that you are the Savior of the world. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and I believe that you rose from the grave, that you are alive today."

Now pray these words: "Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Come into my life. Forgive me of my sins. Give me a new start in you. I commit my life to you in Jesus' name. Amen."

Now if you prayed that prayer with me, I want to encourage you with a promise from God's word that says that when we call upon God's name, we call upon the Son of God, there is salvation that comes to our lives. He changes us from the inside out and you become a new creation. Old things pass away, all things become new, and that's exactly what has happened to you today.

Your next step really is to make sure that you get into a good bible-believing church and you begin to study God's word. Get God's word in you and to make sure that you get a copy of the Bible if you don't have one and begin to read it. Spend some time every day in prayer. I would encourage you also to check out the resources on our website that will help you to get going in your relationship with Jesus.

You can find them at church-redeemer.org. Get those into your hands, get started in your new life with Jesus Christ. Thanks again for joining us today. May God bless you and we look forward to seeing you next time.