======================================================================== PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE BECAUSE GOD HEARS YOU by Mack Tomlinson ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the power and importance of prayer within the church community, focusing on the confidence believers have in God's attentive ear and His willingness to answer prayers according to His will. It highlights the assurance that God hears every prayer, the significance of individual prayers to God, and the need for believers to pray with boldness and specificity, knowing that God is listening. The sermon also provides practical guidance on how to conduct effective prayer meetings within the church, encouraging brevity, clarity, and unity in prayer. Duration: 6:05 Topics: "Power of Prayer", "Unity in Prayer" Scripture References: 1 John 5:14, Psalm 34:17, Hebrews 4:16, Exodus 3:7, James 5:16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the power and importance of prayer within the church community, focusing on the confidence believers have in God's attentive ear and His willingness to answer prayers according to His will. It highlights the assurance that God hears every prayer, the significance of individual prayers to God, and the need for believers to pray with boldness and specificity, knowing that God is listening. The sermon also provides practical guidance on how to conduct effective prayer meetings within the church, encouraging brevity, clarity, and unity in prayer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The greatest event in the earth ever is the church prayer meeting, and we're going to truly seek to pray. Just a couple of verses in 1 John 5, if you'd turn there. Some of you have not been here before, so my closing remarks, I'll share with you kind of how we pray in our prayer meetings and to make the time most profitable. 1 John 5, 14 and 15, and this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He is hearing us. And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. So, brothers and sisters, this morning, we have this confidence. As a believer, you have this confidence. It's a sure, certain, promised confidence. What is the confidence John's talking about? That God hears us. He always hears every cry of every Christian. Now, we don't know how He's always going to answer. That's His business. But every time we pray through Christ with a desire toward God, every prayer He is hearing. And He's hearing you this morning. Whether you pray silently from your heart, whether you stand and pray in a few minutes, He hears us. This is a persuasion. It's an assurance that gives confidence, boldness even, not brash boldness, we know that, but true, clear, unhindered confidence in prayer. That when we open our mouths, we're addressing our Father, who has invited us to pray, who loves us. He's all ears, He said. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers. So, I was reminded of a verse earlier this week in Exodus 3, and you don't have to turn to it, but remember when the Lord is going to initiate Moses in the Exodus. Here's what God said. Now, therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me. The cry has come to Me. Your cries always come to Him. Your prayers individually are important to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our cries come to Him, and then it says, and I have also seen the oppression. So, our cries come before Him because our God has seen what we're praying about. He knows. So, this morning, we're to pray with real confidence. We have an audience of one. We're not praying, thinking of others, what they're going to think about our praying. So, here's how we do our prayer meetings. Don't have your morning devotions here where you pray 15 minutes or 30. No. Pray. If you're going to pray, stand up and lift up your voice so the brethren can hear and agree with you. If you don't stand up, I might ask you to because it's important for the brethren to hear and agree. So, stand up. Be heard. Pray briefly. Think about this. Pray briefly so that others will have time to pray. Pray specifically what one need, one desire, or one burden have you come to this time with this morning. It may be the conference. It may be a child of yours. It may be something else. One need, one burden, one desire. Bring that before the Lord in prayer. And pray with the reality in your mind, my Father's hearing me as I pray. So, brethren, I'm going to ask Nathan Rages in a moment to start. And when there's an opening, someone stand and pray. Let's not waste any time. And then I'll close the time in prayer. So, let's, you know, I love Hebrews 4. It's so awesome that because we have this merciful and faithful high priest, we can come to the throne of grace with confidence and obtain grace and mercy in time of need. Let's pray. Nathan, begin. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/NAXdu_kbr2E.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/mack-tomlinson/pray-with-confidence-because-god-hears-you/ ========================================================================