Bridge Church Vancouver

Mark 11:15-25 He is on his way to calvary - he has just entered Jerusalem
Jesus teaches his followers of one of the most significant and powerful resources they have - prayer

Most pray to say what they want to to God
or to get God to do something

Jesus provides a strong teaching on what the purpose of prayer is and what place it is to have in our lives

Prayer is about a relationship

" ‘My house will be called
        a house of prayer for all nations'

An essential element of any significant relationship is communication - 2 way communication.  On-going communication.

God longs for humanity to know him and to relate to him.  to know him as we would any other person.  This opportunity is not only for some - but for everyone - everyone who has ever lived, those living today, and those whose days are yet to be.  He longs for us to be in a significant and meaningful relationship. 

the world had infiltrated a holy and sacred place, the place God was to meet with his people
They were buying and selling - just like they would only a few steps away, but a few enterprising merchants had discovered a market and a way to meet the needs of the market.  Make it as close and convenient as possible - move it right into where the people were and where their need was. 
what they didn't realize was that their greatest need was not a 'perfect pigeon' but a right relationship with their God.

His house was to be a place where God's people would meet with Him.  And God's people was to be much more than those of Hebraic descent, but a place for all nations. 

Everyone needs the opportunity to be rightly relating to God.

Today - we meet together as a church, but not in a church.  we meet as people who belong to God who gather together to encourage, help, support, love one another, as God has gifted each of us, it is important that we are together, but the place we meet with God is in His Temple - our heart, the place His Spirit resides.

1 Cor 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

the question today is - how much of the world and its desires have infiltrated our hearts.  At one point when we received Jesus into our lives we gave him freedom to overturn our world, how about since then?  When was the last time Jesus spirit overturned the tables of your life or mine?  how much of the world and its desires have infiltrated our hearts - it will affect your relationship with God and hinder your prayer life.

God desires a close and intimate relationship with us, but he does not want us captivated by the 'merchants' that are always looking to move into our hearts. 

Materialism is rampant in our society and if we think it has not captivated our own hearts in some degree we are fooling no one but ourselves.  I don't care how 'minimalist' you might be, it doesnt mean materialism hasn't taken hold of us.

or image, or friends, or careers, or family or hobbies, or sex, or selfishness, or any number of addictions, anything - and everything - can grab a hold of our attentions, set up a table, we can call it good and justify it being there - even before God and then we have a table in our Temple court. 

What Jesus does is come in and say 'not here' if you want to know God, if you want to know how to respond to God, then nothing is going to coexist with him in his sacred and holy temple.  You and I are to live in the world, but it is not to find it's hope of existence in us.  Nothing can come before Him and our relationship with him, or we cannot hear his voice clearly.

In this way I have 'robbed God' of me, of my heart, of my life as an image bearer of His holiness, love and power.
"...But you have made it ‘a den of robbers"  - do you and I 'rob' God  - we can 'steal' ourselves away and conduct business as we desire

He says our lives are to be a
" ‘My house will be called  -  a house of prayer for all nations'?
Are all kinds of people welcome in my life - are there some I just wont associate with.  Our lives tend towards exclusivity - I hang with the people I want to hang with, all others I tolerate. 

Often those who most need hope, love, and acceptance - are not the ones you or I feel most comfortable with.    Would God say your life is a house of prayer for all peoples?
In Prayer we Clean Things Up

25 "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.'"

forgive others  -  treat them as they are forgiven
when we forgive - we free others
we extend grace

we receive grace
we receive forgiveness

we restore relationships
Our words have power - words can bring life or death; healing or destruction.  By a word Jesus cursed a fig tree and it withers completely
our words matter - the words of our heart - the ones spoken and unspoken - they are still words and they have power.
we can hold a grudge and never say a word - words spoken only in our hearts will hold someone in bondage
we can remain bitter without uttering a syllable - and in our mind rerun a one-sided conversation that feeds that bitterness.

we may think these broken relationships don't matter - they are excluded from other relationships - our relationship with God, but in reality all relationships color other relationships they affect one another, the relationships in our lives are like a network where each intersection is dependent upon other intersections.

like a circulatory system in our bodies, what enters the blood stream affects the whole body, if an artery gets clogged, or hardened, it has significant affects

today we think alot about networks - in a network if you have a relationship go bad, you remove them from your network and nothing happens, from a technical standpoint networks are beautiful because you can have some piece fail on the grid, but you can re-route around the failure and barely miss a beat.    -   we treat people like that

today we have things called 'social networks' - you have people in your network that you want in your network, for whatever reason you want them in your network,
Facebook - i get friend requests  -  people who want to add me to their network - and it has been a wonderful way to reconnect with some friends i havent seen in decades, but there have also been some people that i have 'ignored' I dont want to be friends with them.  and if you get mad at someone - you can remove them from your friend list.

networks are efficient
systems can breakdown much quicker than a network

but our relationships are more like a system than a network

Jesus says "when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.'"
The responsiblilty is on me - you - If I hold something against someone else he says forgive them.

When I am free and rightly relating to God - with nothing standing before - or even next to - God
I can hear him - respond to him - obey him and move in faith.

Perhaps the biggest mountain any of us face is to tear down the moutains that stand between me and someone else - those I have not forgiven

When there is un-forgiveness in my life - you can not accurately hear Gods voice on other things - 1 Pet 3:7

In prayer we begin to hear God's voice =

To hear his heart - his desires - his will

sometimes we pray for things that shouldnt be prayed for because we cant hear his voice, but all the other voices of ourselves and colored by sick relationships.

we pray for things with mixed motives.

James said   James 4:3  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

God wants us to know His heart, what is on His thoughts about our lives - our world.  He has a response
Isa 46:10
I say: My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.

When we seek first Him, His righteousness, His ways, His desires
and allow our own desires, ideas to be changed
then we can pray in faith - in confidence

I find the challenge comes when what God would want is different than what I would want -  What will I do?  pray my desires anyway?
where is God at work in your life? Are you and I turning our lives over to him daily, is my life a constant house of prayer, I am aware of his presence throughout my day -

how do we live this way -
- give him your day - your life - everyday
- spend time with him - hear from his word -
- let him search your heart and cleanse your temple
- worship him as your God
- Listen for his voice with a willingness to obey, not consider

When I get discouraged and want to throw in the towel - go about my life as I think best - because things have gotten hard, or boring, or are not going the way I think they should -
I remember "I didn't choose him, but He chose me and appointed me to go about my life bearing fruit that would last, and then I could ask the Father for anything in the name of Jesus and he would give it to me."  and I hear God's voice ask me "what do you need that you do not have to do what I have set before you"
2 Chron 16:9
God is looking for faithful men and women whose hearts are his
prayer of faithfulness

my life becomes a 'house of prayer'

Now we can Pray in Faith

Mark 11:22        "Have faith in God," Jesus answered.  23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Some may struggle with these words.  Much teaching has been done claiming "if you just say it and believe it will happen"

what would happen if a good 'believing' person prayed that this mountain would be thrown into the sea, because he was tired of it being there, and the next good 'believing' person loved the mountain and prayed that it would double in size?  whose prayer would be answered?

we pray with mixed motives don't we.  we can firmly believe that what we pray for is what is best and surely God should answer my prayer.

people pray for others to be healed, and they die
people pray for children to live rightly and they rebel
people pray for businesses to be profitable and they fail

I thought if I prayed 'believing' things would happen, God would move.

in the book of Mark, and the other gospels, Jesus heals many people - but you know what, none of those people are still alive today to tell us about the experience, they all die.

Just like the fig tree that Jesus cursed because it didnt have figs when he went to it - even though it wasnt the right season - He is God and when he comes he expects fruit to appear - he calmed storms, raised the dead, healed sick, cleansed lepers - expecting a fig tree to produce regardless of the season is not out of the question.  and it didnt respond to him.

when he went to the temple - a place intended for people - all people to meet with God and worship him - and it wasnt what it was intended to be - he became angry and displayed his displeasure.
 
When we do not live our lives bearing spiritual fruit as we are intended to be - regardless of the season of life we find ourselves in - we will dry up spiritually - just like that fig tree.

When we let things of the world creep into our hearts and capture attention, distracting us from our relationship with God - He will become angry and press to cleanse our hearts.

He wants a real - fresh - vital relationship with you and I.

God longs to demonstrate Himself to - and through - our lives.  We must understand and accept how important relationships are to him.  The state of our relationship with him - and others is preeminate to the demonstration of powerful prayers.