The Unlimited Power of Prayer Message 5 of 6: Lord, Teach Us To Pray Sermon Series EPHESIANS 3:20,21 (NIV)

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1 MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 23, 2010 MESSAGE 5 OF 6: LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY SERMON SERIES CHRISTIAN HOPE CHURCH OF CHRIST, PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister The Unlimited Power of Prayer Message 5 of 6: Lord, Teach Us To Pray Sermon Series EPHESIANS 3:20,21 (NIV) This morning as we continue with our Lord, Teach Us to Pray sermon series, I would like to preach a message I have simply entitled: The Unlimited Power of Prayer. Please turn with me in your Bibles to the Book of Ephesians. chapter 3, and let s read verses 20, 21. P R A Y E R ************************** Ephesians 3:20,21 I N T R O D U C T I O N We humans tend to be a very proud and arrogant lot. We think there is nothing we can t do. And yet everyday we see reminders of just how limited we truly are. We can send a MAN TO THE MOON, but we can t even cure the COMMON COLD..Within one week we were able to find the names of all fourteen of TIGER WOOD S mistresses, but yet we still haven t been able to find OSAMA BIN LADEN after 10 years.

2 .We can build tunnels to keep BLACK BEAR from crossing our highways, but we can t figure out a way to keep illegal immigrants from crossing our American borders...we built a bomb that has the capability to wipe out an entire civilization of people, and yet we can t figure out how to get rid of fire ants...we can create a product called Mighty Putty that will stop virtually any leak in seconds, but after four weeks we still haven t figured out a way to stop an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Hey, are you thinking what I m thinking? Maybe BP ought to get a giant ball of Mighty Putty or perhaps a giant Swiffer. You see, no matter how intelligent man thinks he is no matter how technologically advanced we become.man IS STILL VERY LIMITED IN WHAT HE CAN DO. *There are PLACES we still can t go. *There are DISEASES we still can t cure. *There are PROBLEMS we still can t solve. *There are CONFLICTS we still can t resolve. *There are QUESTIONS we still can t answer. *There are HUMAN BEHAVIORS we still can t change. Man is a prisoner of his own human limitations! But God knows no limits! Let me say that again, GOD KNOWS NO LIMITS!!!!

3 One of the most critical aspects to PRAYING POWERFUL PRAYERS is understanding just HOW BIG, HOW GREAT and HOW AWESOME our Heavenly Father truly is. In our scripture text this morning, the apostle Paul gives us a MAGNIFIED picture of GOD. In fact, Paul intensifies this MAGNIFIED picture of GOD three times. First of all, Paul gives us. I. The Big Picture of God: GOD IS ABLE vs. 20a v. 20a Now to Him who is able 1. You notice Paul words this in the present tense. Now to Him who IS able. GOD IS ABLE. GOD HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABLE. GOD WILL ALWAYS BE ABLE. 2. But just WHAT is GOD ABLE to do? For one thing.. (A) God is able to do the IMPOSSIBLE. That truth is stated for us in the very first verse of the Bible. GENESIS 1:1 In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth. Do you know if that were the only verse of scripture we had, that one verse would tell us GOD is able to do the IMPOSSIBLE.

4 Do we have anyone here this morning who has created a STAR, a MOON or a SUN? Do we have anyone here today who has ever created a RAIN CLOUD or a PLANET or an EARTH? No! These things are impossible to us. But what is impossible with men is possible with GOD. GOD IS ABLE TO DO WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO US. * When ABRAHAM and SARAH got married they wanted to have children, but they were unable to do so because Sarah was barren. As they got older and grew beyond the normal child-bearing years, Abraham and Sarah lost all hope of ever becoming parents. But when ABRAHAM was 100 and SARAH was 90, Sarah had her very first baby and they named him, Isaac? Now how could that be? That s not humanly possible! That s right! But you see, what is impossible with men is possible with GOD! GOD IS ABLE TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE! * When the Israelites made their exodus from Egypt they came to the RED SEA. With the RED SEA in front of them the EGYPTIAN ARMY in hot pursuit behind them..the dangerous PHILISTINE country to their left and a barren, desolate desert to their right..the Israelites found themselves hemmed in all sides. It was then Moses stood at the edge of the Red Sea and held out Aaron s rod. Soon the waters of the Red Sea parted and the Israelites crossed over on dry ground. Now how did that happen? That isn t humanly possible! That s right! But what is impossible with men is possible with GOD. GOD IS ABLE TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE!

5 But not only is GOD able to do the IMPOSSIBLE. (B) God is ABLE to do the INCREDIBLE. -In II Kings chapter 6 we read where the prophet ELISHA and his servant were surrounded by the army of the King of Aram. When Elisha s servant saw all those soldiers coming toward them with horses and chariots, he panicked. Elisha calmed his servant with these words, Don t be afraid.those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Then Elisha prayed for his servant, he prayed, O Lord, open his eyes so he may see. And when the Lord opened the servant s eyes, he looked around and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. GOD IS ABLE TO DO THE INCREDIBLE! - In Acts 12 we read about Peter being thrown into prison and being chained to two guards, with more guards protecting the entrance so Peter couldn t escape. In the meantime, the Church in Jerusalem was praying for Peter s escape. That very night an angel of the Lord went into the prison.awakened Peter.and the chains fell off. Then the angel led Peter right past every guard and out of the prison to his freedom. Now how did that happen? That is so incredible its almost hard to believe! EXACTLY! You see, OUR GOD IS ABLE TO DO THE INCREDIBLE. So there s the BIG PICTURE of GOD: God is ABLE!

6 Now Paul magnifies the picture even more II. The Bigger Picture of God: GOD is ABLE to do IMMEASURABLY more! vs. 20a,b 1. The Bible is just the written record of some of the impossible and incredible things GOD has done.but BY NO MEANS is this the LIMIT of what God can do. God is ABLE to do IMMEASURABLY more! 2. Now I don t expect you to remember or spell this Greek word that I am about to give you. The Greek word Paul uses here for immeasurable is the word..huper----ek-----perisso. HUPER-EK-PERISSO is actually a combination of three words: HUPER means, above. EK means, a standard or measure And PERISSO, means over and above. 3. So when Paul tells us GOD is able to do IMMEASURABLY MORE.he is telling us GOD IS ABLE TO DO OVER AND ABOVE ANY STANDARD OR MEASURE WE HUMANS CAN COME UP WITH. (A) God s POWER is immeasurable. If you were to combine all the nuclear power, all the machine power, all the horsepower, all the electric power and all the petroleum power on earth, it wouldn t even come close to the immeasurable power of GOD!

7 (B) God s WISDOM is immeasurable. If you were to bring together every great mind in the world every teacher.every professor.. every scientist.every chemist.every author..every designer.and every builder. and pooled all of their wisdom together, it wouldn t even begin to scratch the surface of GOD S IMMEASURABLE WISDOM. (C) God s RESOURCES are immeasurable. If you pooled together the resources of every nation on earth.all the money, all the gold, all the silver, all the diamonds, all the oil, and all the material assets and you put all those resources on one side of scale and all the resources that belong to GOD on the other side of the scale.which way do you believe the scales would tip? GOD S RESOURCES ARE IMMEASURABLE. First Paul gave us the BIG PICTURE of GOD: GOD is ABLE! Then Paul gave us the BIGGER PICTURE of GOD: GOD is ABLE to do IMMEASURABLY more! Now Paul gives us

8 III. The Biggest Picture of God: GOD is ABLE to do IMMEASURABLY more than all we ASK or IMAGINE vs This is where PRAYER comes into the picture. 2. Listen very closely to what I am about to tell you: The BIGGER your GOD is, the BIGGER your PRAYERS will be! (Let me repeat that!) And so the question I want to ask you this morning is this: How BIG is your GOD? The power of your prayers is only limited by the size of your GOD. 3. IF GOD IS ABLE TO DO IMMEASURABLY MORE THAN ALL WE ASK OR IMAGINE...Then tell me, what SITUATION in your life is so HOPELESS that not even GOD HIMSELF can change it? And what PROBLEM in your life is so COMPLEX that not even GOD HIMSELF can solve it?.. And what OBSTACLE in your life is so HUGE that not even GOD HIMSELF can move it out of the way? And what NEED in your life is so GREAT that GOD HIMSELF doesn t even have the resources to supply it?

9 4. Brothers and sisters, you and I haven t even begun to scratch the surface when it comes to PRAYER. You and I have never PRAYED a PRAYER so BIG that GOD can t answer it! 5. Your PRAYERS can make a difference in the life of a relative or friend thousands of miles away. Your PRAYERS can bring GOD S PROTECTION to a SOLDIER half way around the world. Your PRAYERS can open doors for a MISSIONARY to save lost souls in Africa or India or Haiti. Your PRAYERS can bring GOD S HEALING to someone in a hospital clear on the other side of the country. Your PRAYERS can bring about GOD S HEALING and RESTORATION of this Nation that is currently on the path to her own self-destruction. You can talk to a PRODIGAL SON or DAUGHTER until you are blue in the face and get no where, but when you pray for them GOD works in their mind, their heart and their spirit in a way nothing else can. ILLUSTRATION A woman once approached the famous preacher, G. CAMPBELL MORGAN after he spoke and asked, Do you think we should pray for the little things in our lives or just the BIG things? In his distinguished British accent, Bro. Morgan responded, Madam, can you think of anything in life that is BIG to GOD? 6. The only thing that can limit God s power is our failure to pray.

10 CONCLUSION When I was a young boy we used to sing a song in Church called, GOD CAN DO ANYTHING BUT FAIL. The words went like this.. God can do anything, anything, anything God can do anything but fail God can do anything, anything, anything God can do anything but fail Chorus: He's the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul God can do anything, anything, anything God can do anything but fail He can save, He can cleanse He can keep, and He will God can do anything but fail He can save, He can cleanse He can keep, and He will God can do anything but fail How many of you truly believe GOD CAN DO ANYTHING, ANYTHING, ANYTHING BUT FAIL? As we close this morning, let me share three practical ways you and I can apply what we have learned to our every day lives. First, don t be guilty of NOT having because you don t ASK. JAMES 4:2 You do not have, because you do not ask God. If there is something lacking in your life it is likely because of one of two reasons, either YOU HAVEN T ASKED GOD or you STOPPED ASKING GOD. Keep ASKING..Keep SEEKING and Keep KNOCKING!

11 Secondly, don t be guilty of NOT having because you DOUBT GOD S ABILITY. Nothing will drain our prayers of P-O-W-E-R faster than DOUBT and LACK OF FAITH. After what we have learned this morning, how could you or I possibly pray with any doubt whatsoever that OUR GOD IS ABLE TO DO IMMEASURABLY MORE THAN ALL WE ASK OR IMAGINE? And thirdly, don t be guilty of praying SMALL PRAYERS. It is impossible for you or I to ask GOD to do something so BIG, so HARD, so DIFFICULT, or so IMPOSSIBLE He can t answer our prayer, provided what we are praying for is within the will of GOD. If you truly believe in a BIG GOD then pray BIG PRAYERS. It is my prayer that the Lord will use this message this morning to encourage all of us to BOLDLY PRAY PRAYERS WE HAVE NEVER PRAYED BEFORE! Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work in us, to HIM be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever, AMEN!

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