Ours for the Asking

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. When you begin to crave God because you realize how desperate you are without him and how willing he is, then prayer becomes instinctive and it becomes natural to you. So what I'm going to share with you today is the connection between prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit. And I want to try to show you that he really is ours for the asking. Well, welcome to another week of solid biblical teaching here on Summit Life with pastor, author, and theologian, J.D.

Greer. And as always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. For the past couple weeks, we've been in a series on the Holy Spirit called Rushing Wind. We've learned who the Holy Spirit is and why we need him in our lives.

If you missed any of those messages, you can always catch up online at jdgreer.com. But right now keep listening because today pastor J.D. explains how to experience the Holy Spirit. We're learning how we connect to the Spirit's power so we can do God's work in the world. So if you're ready to plug in your spiritual power cord, let's get started.

J.D. titled this message ours for the asking. What I'm going to share with you today as our fourth of the messages in our Rushing Wind series on the Holy Spirit is a subject honestly that I have had to learn over and over and over and over and over again. I feel like there are some lessons you learn in Christianity that you learn it once and then you move on from it. This is one that I frequently seem to forget.

It's like I learn it and then I promptly forget it. If you have a Bible, I want you to open it to Luke. This is a familiar passage to us now. This is going to be unusual.

Let me just say this at the front. I typically you know what I like to do is I like to take one passage and kind of camp down on it and really you know because then I don't feel like I don't mix in a bunch of my own thoughts and pollute it that way. But in this case, what I want to do is give you sort of a larger biblical picture. So I've got two kind of key passages. One is Luke 11, 11 through 13 and the other one is going to be Habakkuk 3, 2 which we'll go to in a second. I'm just going to try to flesh this out from the full picture of the Bible. But Luke 11 says this.

Now again, very familiar to you. What father among you if his son asked for a fish will instead of a fish give him a serpent or if he asked for an egg will give him a scorpion? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? I want that verse to be burned into your consciousness at the end of this series.

Notice the position that Jesus puts us in in this passage. We are in the position of a child and not like a teenage child that can you know fend for themselves that you can you know draft into the Hunger Games and they can survive on their own. Not that kind of child.

All right. We're talking about like a toddler, an adolescent. My kids are at the age now, they're 8, 6, 4 and 2 that if I don't give them food they don't eat. They don't have another alternative.

That's their age. That is the relationship that you and I have to the heavenly father in relation to the power of the Holy Spirit. We are dependent children who cannot survive on their own. We have to ask for the provision that we need.

Right. But God in this story is the ever watching merciful father who loves to give the Holy Spirit when we ask. Here is the lesson that I have such a hard time learning. How dependent I am on the power of the Holy Spirit and how willing he is to give it. How dependent I am on the Holy Spirit. John 15 5. Apart from me Jesus said you can do, you can do what? Nothing. Nothing. Now I've told you before that nothing in that verse does not literally mean nothing because there's a lot of things we can do apart from the power of Jesus. Right.

I mean there's a lot of people who aren't connected to Jesus at all who do things. Sometimes good things. They get married. They have children.

They you know have a career. Have friendships. What he means by nothing is nothing with life or nothing with eternal value in it. How desperate we are for the power of the Holy Spirit to have true eternal life in anything that we're doing. The other side of this lesson is how willing God is to give it. I will tell you that when you have learned those lessons or that lesson how desperate you are and how willing he is prayer starts to become instinctive to you. You don't have to be goaded into prayer. You don't have to you know develop a regimen for prayer. It comes as naturally to you as breathing. You know I would say that in our congregation as in most Christian congregations I would say if I were to identify one of the two or three things that most of you struggle with the most in the Christian life it's having a robust and meaningful prayer life and a lot of times we treat prayerlessness like it is a self-discipline problem and I'm sure you need to work on your self-discipline.

I'm not taken away from that but at its core prayerlessness is a gospel problem because the reason you don't pray naturally or instinctively is because you're not really that convinced of your desperation on his power or you're not convinced how willing he is to give it because when you understand those things it just comes naturally right again like breathing even the least disciplined of you in this room doesn't forget to breathe. None of you got up this morning and three hours later we're like oh doggone it I've forgotten to breathe all day. I've really got to get better at that.

I'm going to have an accountability partner. I need to set an alarm on my phone that reminds me you don't do that right it just comes naturally because your body craves air. When you begin to crave God because you realize how desperate you are without him and how willing he is then prayer becomes instinctive and it becomes natural to you. All right so these are gospel problems. The reason I struggle to pray is because of my pride and my unbelief and those are core gospel issues.

Does that make sense? So what I'm going to share with you today is the connection between prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit and I want to try to show you that he really is ours for the asking. There is a verse that I want us to pray together this week it is Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 2. Listen to this or other key passage here. Oh Lord says Habakkuk I have heard the report of you and your work oh Lord do I fear. In other words I'm familiar with the ways God that you move.

I'm familiar in theory with the power that you have. Look at the next phrase. In the midst of the years my years revive it.

In the midst of my years make it known. That word known there by the way is a Hebrew word that implies familiarity. It means I don't want to just hear the report about it. I want to know it. I want to know it in my family. I want to know it in my life. I want to know it in our church, in our generation. So in wrath, wrath is what we deserve. In wrath remember mercy.

Let us have familiarity with it. There are three primary things I'm going to try to show you about that verse. Number one that I'm going to try to show you number one that every major spiritual awakening in the Bible was connected to an intense time of prayer.

Every major spiritual awakening in the Bible whether we're talking about you know that awakening of a lot of people or whether we're talking about the awakening of one individual was always connected to intense times of prayer. Then number two I'm going to show you five things that the Holy Spirit does when he comes. I'm going to show you five dimensions of a spiritual awakening again whether it's personal to you your family or we're talking about the church at large or a whole community. Then number three I'm going to give you a couple of examples of what this looks like in the Bible.

All right again some of this will apply to you individually some of it to us as a church but that's what we're going to do. Here we go number one number one the connection between prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit. The connection between prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit. Every major spiritual awakening in the Bible was connected to an intense time of prayer. I have more up here in my hands than I could share with you in 10 sermons so let me summarize.

Okay I knew you like that's never stopped you before but whatever okay. Let me summarize this. I went through and I studied every single awakening in the Old Testament and there is this one common theme right intense times of prayer. Joshua 24 that was a time when Israel was reawakened and renewed in the covenant and it starts out Joshua 24 one saying that they all stood before God. The book of Judges has a number of spiritual awakenings of Israel and they always go like this Israel wanders from God they grow cold they grow apathetic they get in a lot of trouble and so they cry out to God in desperation and God raises up a champion. All right you've got you've got the dedication of the temple which was another high point for Israel that begins with this heart rending prayer by Solomon and at the end of Solomon's prayer it says the heavens open up and the glory of God like fire comes in and fills the temple and the people worship and then Solomon knowing that the people are hard-hearted and will wander away from God into pride and unbelief makes this statement a verse that probably some of you are familiar with 2nd chronicle 7 14 and 15 if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land my eyes will be open and my ears will be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place now he's talking about the temple at that point right and that's why Jewish people would turn and face the temple whenever they prayed you say well is that what we're supposed to do no Jesus is the greater temple so Jesus would listen to prayers made in that temple for awakening how much more will he listens to the ones that are made in Jesus name when does God show up when did he promise to show up for the people of Israel when they humbled themselves and they prayed and they forsook their pride and they engaged the willingness of God and first kings Israel was in just such a place where they are half divided between worshiping God and worshiping Baal and they can't figure out which one is God even though one of them's named God and the other one's named Baal which one is God and so Elijah sets up an altar you know the story sets up an altar and the way that he's going to bring revival to the people of Israel is the God that answers prayer and as he is praying the fire falls and the people fall on their face and say the Lord he is God the fire fell in the midst of a time of prayer Nehemiah when he awakened the people of Israel Nehemiah 8 10 says that the people stood before God they listened to his word they humbled themselves and they cried out to God that's Old Testament New Testament that shows you over the last several weeks that Luke the author of the Gospel of Luke seems to go out of his way to show you that the Holy Spirit's power comes in the midst of prayer even with Jesus when the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus it says Luke 3 21 that after he was baptized he stood praying he stood praying and that's when the Holy Spirit came Acts chapter 2 when the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples at Pentecost and that early church Luke goes out of his way to make sure you understand what they're doing Acts 1 14 they were all in the upper room and they were praying devoting themselves to prayer they stayed in that place and prayed for 10 days then the Holy Spirit came Acts chapter 4 right at this point they're dealing with some pretty intense opposition their courage is starting to flag a little bit so what do they do they get it back together in that upper room and they pray and it says that's 4 31 when they had prayed then the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continue to speak the word of God with boldness last night there was a huge thunderstorm and as I was reading that verse there was mighty thunder that was going on and it was an awesome effect okay but I cannot replicate that this this morning okay but just imagine thunder going on we're shaking a little bit all right but that's when it came the Holy Spirit's power came and they were praying so again I repeat to you very simply every major spiritual awakening all of them in the bible are connected to intense times of prayer in fact church it's not really hard to predict when one happens when you have one you have the other and if you don't have one you're not going to have the other yeah I grew up in a church that had yearly revivals in fact twice a year revivals anybody grow up in a church like that every year is put on the counter we had one the spring we had one the fall which essentially meant that our pastor invited in one of his buddies to come in who preached his favorite sermons all I remember about them as a kid is that his favorite sermon seemed to last an hour and a half I know it probably is not very spiritual but I did not like the season of revival that we had but here's the thing that's kind of I mean honestly kind of silly about that is you can't schedule a revival and put it on the calendar you know God didn't like I really like this week in October and I love this week in March and that's when I'm going to show up a revival is not based on a calendar or a revival is based on conditions when you meet the conditions that's when revival comes that's what you see here through scripture B. Martin Lloyd Jones a man that I've referred to a lot during the series said this quote the inevitable and the constant preliminary to revival has always been a thirst for God a thirst a living thirst for the knowledge of the living God and a longing and a burning desire to see him acting manifesting himself and his power rising and scattering his enemies our problem Lloyd Jones said is getting to a place where we realize how absolutely impotent we are because at first at first he says we persist in thinking that we can set the situation right we think if we can just write a new book preach some better sermons start some new mission works adopt a new program this will stem the tide of the enemy but then we come at long last to realize that it's just not working at least not effectively to stem the tide to save our children or our community and then he says we remember the promise that when the enemy comes in like a flood it is the Lord who will raise up a standard against him by the way just so you don't miss that metaphor that's a quote from Isaiah 59 15 Isaiah says when the when the enemy comes in like a flood the spirit of God will raise up a standard against him you got to think in terms of old armies okay you got a huge army that is attacking a land and they're coming in and they're moving through this land you've got soldiers of the defending army trying to you know ward off this attack the sign that the the defending armies were were now repelling the opposing army and no longer were they just defending ground but they were now pushing back is that a standard a king would raise up a flag a flag that meant we are now on the offensive and what he is is pulling out there is that the spirit of God is the one that not only keeps us saving our own church but advancing into the enemy's territory he says that's the spirit of God promises to do that that's not something we can do and so within we throw ourselves upon the mercy of God it's not so much an organized prayer emphasis as it is an act of desperation and then and only then does the power of the Holy Spirit come flooding upon us and into us and he does listen to this in a moment Lloyd-Jones says in a moment what incremental organization could hardly accomplish in half a century he does in a moment what these little battles that we've been fighting these new books we've been writing these better sermons these these new mission works he does in a moment what all that stuff could hardly accomplish in half a century so here's my question for you are you at this place yet are you at this place in your marriage where you realize that what you need is not another parenting or not another marriage book we don't just need another another session of counseling don't seem those things are bad I mean of course they're good are you at this place as a parent where you say I don't need another book on parenting I don't need a new strategy what I need is the Spirit of God to come in because I feel like I'm winning these little battles but I just need the Spirit of God to flood in and take over are we at this place as a church are we at this place in our community where we finally realize that we don't need better strategies and better programs and better sermons we don't need just better versions of those things we don't need another scholar who's now smarter than all the professors at Chapel Hill and he can stand up and shut everybody up we don't need another athlete you know another athlete again I hope all the athletes could say we don't need another one who's going to be a superstar that is going to testify to Jesus women that's not what we need all those things are good but see we need something more something much more what we need what we hunger for in our lives and in our church and in our ministries is the mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God that can accomplish in your children's lives that can accomplish in our church and that can accomplish in our community in a moment what we could accomplish in a half a century when the enemy comes in like a flood right you keep your little battles but it's the Lord's Spirit that raises up the standard that turns the direction the other way all right what our country needs is not better churches they need the Spirit of God so here's number two five things that the Holy Spirit does when he's present things that only he can do five things that the Spirit of God does when he's present that only he can do number one number one he convicts he convicts john 1689 jesus said when he the Holy Spirit comes he will convict the world concerning sin concerning righteousness and concerning judgment all right so what does that mean what that means is that he takes those things sin righteousness and judgment and he makes them real he makes sin seem disgusting he makes jesus and his righteousness become beautiful he makes judgment seem imminent before there might be a knowledge of those things but there's kind of a separation from them you know about them theoretically but suddenly they become real and overwhelming to you i remember that before i came to Christ i heard all kinds of sermons and all kinds of appeals to come to Christ and honestly none of them really moved me i mean sometimes i get scared you know sometimes i gotta get up there and talk about hell and i get scared and that lasts for about a night sometimes i'd feel guilty about what i was doing and that would correct my behavior for a few hours but none of it ever stuck none of it ever stuck until God finally opened my eyes and i remember when that happened and it was like after he opened my eyes i couldn't come to Christ fast enough i didn't need an eloquent sermon i didn't need the right opportunity i didn't need the 18th stanza of just as i am you know and i you couldn't stop it at that point because everything in my mind it changed repentance is a change of mind about our sin right that's what it literally means sometimes we think we change our mind about our sin no God's spirit changes our mind about our sin and everything looks different you couldn't have stopped me from coming to Christ it's like i'd woken up out of a dream you know i hope you remember this or at least remember the process of this happening you again think of the image of a dream there i mean imagine you know you're in your bed asleep and you're you're having what you think is a nice peaceful dream and you're like oh i'm standing around a campfire and i'm being warmed by the campfire and it just takes me back to when i was a kid with my parents and all these good memories of us camping out then you wake up and realize that's not a dream your house was on fire right everything that seemed like it was fake and pleasant suddenly becomes real and pressing that's what happened to me when God suddenly opened my eyes to the reality it's like what was a dream suddenly became real that's called the conviction of the holy spirit God became real judgment became real sin became stupid honestly it's just like really that's what i was giving my life for that's what i was chasing Jesus became beautiful after you're saved by the way that keeps happening the sign that you're filled with the spirit is that sin continues to grow distasteful eternity seems close Jesus becomes even more beautiful John Piper says that the sign of the fullness of the spirit is quick and frequent conviction over sin the sign that you're filled with the spirit is quick and frequent conviction of your sin because Jesus said when they said when the spirit comes he convicts of sin righteousness and judgment here's number two number two he creates awe he creates a sense of awe among the people you see in acts two acts 243 when the spirit of God came into the church a great sense of fear and awe came upon every soul by the way every soul means people inside the church and outside the church before the holy spirit comes there might be a knowledge of doctrines there might be external conformity to Christian ways but when the spirit of God comes those things are engulfed in a sense of awe and worship that gives you a holy hush before God that makes it all together different I learned something this week in the old testament there is a phrase that gets repeated over and over and over again that is core to somebody really knowing God and that is this phrase the fear of the Lord proverbs 1 7 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom psalm 103 verse 17 the Lord's eyes are upon those who fear him and on those who keep his covenant fear it's just it's just dominant throughout the old testament here's the odd thing in the new testament you hardly ever see that phrase you can find it every once in a while but it's not nearly the dominant place it is in the old testament why why would new testament writers adopt the simple thing of the old testament or fail to adopt it old testament scholar john murray says because that phrase is interchangeable with the fullness of the spirit so that's the phrase you see repeated in the new testament because to be filled with the spirit is to be filled with a sense of awe in the presence of God the holy spirit convicts and he creates all do you sense these two things in your life today we pray that you do and if you have questions about what any of this means give us a call at 866-335-5220 you're listening to summit life the bible teaching ministry of jd greer today's message is titled ours for the asking and don't miss tomorrow when pastor jd gives us three more things that only the holy spirit can do if you happen to join us late you can listen again online at jdgrier.com while you're there you can also download sermon transcripts browse pastor jd's blog and subscribe to receive future blog posts in your email all of these study resources are available free of charge at jdgrier.com we are passionate about bringing you gospel-centered bible teaching on the radio every single day but the truth is that it's only possible thanks to supporters like you when you donate you're really giving to your fellow listeners you're helping them dive deeper into the gospel through these daily messages and free online resources we're so grateful for your partnership and to say thanks for your donation at the suggested level of 25 or as a personal gift when you become a monthly gospel partner we'll send you a brand new devotional by pastor jd it's titled rushing wind understanding the holy spirit this resource goes side by side with our current teaching series so get it today this study looks at the often neglected member of the trinity the holy spirit and the abundant life that he brings to the lives of believers many christians focus on the holy spirit above everything else while others treat him more like a theory than a person for both groups god wants to show us that the spirit-filled life has more in store for us than we can even imagine ask for your copy of the 20-day devotional called rushing wind when you give by calling 866-335-5220 that's 866-335-5220 or it might be easier to donate and request the book online at jdgrier.com that's j-d-g-r-e-e-a-r.com if you'd rather mail in your donation our address is jd grier ministries po box 122 93 durham north carolina 27709 i'm molly vinovich inviting you to join us again tuesday as we continue to ask for the holy spirit to show his presence in our lives right here on summit life with jd greer today's program was produced and sponsored by jd greer ministries