Sermons | FBC Boerne
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Sermons | FBC Boerne
Sunday Sermon | Prayer: Praying God's Will
Prayer transcends mere physical posture—it's a disposition of the heart, a learned desperation that connects us with eternity. When our anxious thoughts threaten to overwhelm us, God offers not just comfort, but a complete prescription for peace through His Word.
Pastor Jason Smith delivers a powerful and practical guide to praying through anxiety using Philippians 4:4-9 as a divine roadmap. Rather than simply commanding us to "stop worrying," Scripture provides a step-by-step process: rejoice in the Lord always, acknowledge your anxious thoughts honestly, bring your requests to God with thanksgiving, receive His peace that surpasses understanding, and commit to focusing on what is true and good.
So let's talk about prayer. You see, all earthly things will fade away, but prayer grasps at eternity. I'm convinced that God not only hears desperate prayer, god also hears every prayer. But you see, prayer it's not just a position on your knees. Prayer is a disposition of your heart. Prayer is so much more than a discipline. It is a learned desperation.
Speaker 2:If you're a guest with us, welcome. My name is Jason Smith. I'm the pastor here at First Baptist Bernie, and it is an honor to have you with us Church. I'm going to start a little different this morning. Given the horrific events of a couple weeks ago with the assassination of Charlie Kirk, it was my intention at the conclusion of last week's service to have some time set aside to make a few remarks and to lead us into a time of prayer. We had a presentation at the end of last week and, truthfully, we ran out of time and in the chaos I forgot to lead us in that time. So for that, forgive me, and I'm gonna address a few things now. So, undoubtedly in this room, in our church, there are a wide array of opinions in our church over Charlie Kirk, from those who found him brazen to those who loved him. I will say to you, regardless of your politics, charlie Kirk loved Jesus Christ and clearly articulated the gospel on a consistent basis to hundreds of thousands of college students, and we need to be in prayer for his family. As your pastor, I never take lightly standing before you in addressing issues like this. I want to I've prayed considerably about this lead us really in two statements real quick. One is a charge for us and the second is a warning. The first, the charge Our culture desperately needs Christians who articulate moral clarity of biblical truth and are not afraid to stand up against the political right or left, to articulate this is what God's word has said who do not fear men because they know that this world is not their home and to live as Christ and to die is gain. So the first is a charge for each of us, regardless of your political stance. Right To articulate biblical truth and to press against the far fringes of everything with just this is what God's word says. Everything with just this is what God's word says. Secondly, a warning to each of us. James 1.20 says the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. You and I need to be very weary of allowing the current anger and culture of producing a venom inside of us that is of the flesh and is not of God. Your savior laid down his life praying for his enemies. Christian, we do not war according to the flesh, but instead we are called to destroy every lie that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and our vengeance is when revival breaks out in our country. The reality is is there are a few moments in the life of a nation that are like the one that we are in. Our nation has been spiritually stirred. Spiritually stirred. Many of you are visiting today because you have been stirred. Listen to me, you are welcome. We are glad that you are here. There is no hope like Jesus Christ. There is no love like Jesus Christ. There is no one who can reach into the depths of your heart and your soul and heal the brokenness like Jesus Christ. So, with that church family, let's enter into a time of prayer for our nation.
Speaker 2:Heavenly Father, we come before your throne in the mighty name of Jesus. Jesus, you are our savior, you are our king. Jesus, we pray that you would equip us for this moment, at this time, that, as your disciples, you would equip us to be able to call evil evil, to call what you call good good and what you call wrong wrong. Father, we need your courage and strength to be able to do that, to be able to discern right from wrong. Father, I also pray, according to your word, that you will allow us to hear those that disagree with us. Your word says that we should be quick to hear and slow to speak. Your word says blessed are the peacemakers, not because we compromise, but because we have a wisdom that comes from you that transcends and actually changes our culture. Father, help us to shine your light around us. And, father, we pray in Jesus' name that you would revive us, that you would save, that there would be a revival, that there would be a movement of people turning to King Jesus and getting saved, and, father, that you would heal our land. As we look to you, we pray all of this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, this morning is going to look considerably different.
Speaker 2:There's one other kind of house cleaning thing that I wanted to touch base on. In our series on prayer, I've been listing out practical things to do about prayer before we jump into whatever we're doing that day. The first one was to journal your prayers. The second one was to walk while you pray, and then last week was on praying the promises of God. After last week's sermon, I had a number of people reach out and just ask a candid question right, Pastor, do you have a resource that points to the promises of God so that I can do what you asked and pray the promises of God. So, yes, there are lots of books just like this one. Okay, that has it's a complete. These are much larger than what I'm about to show you, but you can go on Amazon and usually for like seven, eight bucks, get a book like this that has promises of God that are categorized. But also, during the week, I worked on a one-page sheet, front and back. Okay, that has the promises of God. Okay, practical promises of God for you. Okay, if you scan the QR code in the PUBAC, one of the first things is going to be this okay, additionally, if you're like pastor I don't do that, all that tech savvy stuff okay, we printed like 300 of these out. On your way out to the left, there's a large table. Pick one of these up, okay, so that you can have just a simple, practical tool on praying the promises of God. Okay, we good, all right, all right.
Speaker 2:I need to get honest with you. As we have, oh, as we have during our prayer series, and that is the fact, there are many times when I have been praying, or even had seasons of prayer, and I have felt completely ineffective, okay, like I didn't know what to say, and it felt like all I did is pray the same prayers over and over again. So is that you ever? Do? You ever feel like you lack inspiration in prayer, like you lack power, like you're praying the same old prayers? So one of the answers that I want to give us is today, and that is for us to pray God's word. Okay, I'm going to walk us through what it looks like to pray God's word, or how about this? Have you ever heard someone say when I pray, I feel like I'm doing all the talking and I'm not doing any listening to God? And then you would say well, how am I supposed to listen to God? Well, through his word, allow God to speak his word and then pray what the spirit has showed you or prompted you in this word.
Speaker 2:Okay, so this morning is going to look very different, very different. When you walked in, you should have received one of these. Okay, this is going to be a worksheet that we are gonna walk through together. If you do not have one of these and you want one, okay, lift up your hands. We've got some deacons who are gonna pop by real quick. Make sure that you have access to this.
Speaker 2:Okay, because what I'm going to show us this morning very practically what it looks like to take a scripture passage and to pray according to God's word. The scripture passage that I'm going to show you is incredibly helpful, very important for you and I to work through our anxious thoughts and what we do with them. But there are lots of other passages that you could do this with, primarily in the Psalms. You can walk through the Psalms and pray those things, okay? So I'm going to give quick explanation. I'm going to walk through the text as fast as I can and make it intelligible and then reserve like 10, maybe 15 minutes at the end for us to enter into a time of prayer and for you to go through this worksheet on your own right there in a pew. But we will be together doing that. Okay, again, it looks completely different. The Lord pressed this upon my heart and I think it's gonna be very powerful for us.
Speaker 2:So let me read our passage Philippians, chapter four, verses four through nine. Okay, philippians, chapter four, verses four through nine. Paul writes he says rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things, the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you, will be with you. All right. So here's what I want you to notice up front with this text. Okay, again, I'm giving us handles to comprehend the text so that we can enter into a special time of prayer. Here's what I want you to notice this text is going to be a prescription that Paul gives us for how to deal with our anxious thoughts. Okay, now, every one of us knows we all have anxious thoughts. So that is where this text is going. Before we ever get to dealing with our anxious thoughts.
Speaker 2:First, christians are called to rejoice. A Christian is called to rejoice in the Lord regardless of circumstances. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Now, I know you say but that's not possible, it's not in me. How does God expect me to rejoice in these circumstances?
Speaker 2:Believer Paul wrote this from jail after having numerous attempts upon his life by evil men Beloved. The reason that this is possible is not because God expects you to put on a front or smile whenever you can't muster up the strength inside of you to do so. Please hear me. God himself is full of joy. When scripture describes what is it like to be in God's presence, it says that he is the fullness of joy that he has in his right hand pleasures forevermore more. So listen, believer, regardless of your circumstances. You have him and he is near, and he is your father and he delights in you. He has given his son for you and he loves to give good gifts to you, and the ultimate of all of those gifts is himself, his presence, and he will not withhold his presence from you.
Speaker 2:You see, paul is teaching us exactly what he practiced in Acts, chapter 16, what he practiced in Acts, chapter 16, when him and Silas were in a Roman dungeon, shackled. And the scripture says about midnight, paul and Silas began to pray and they began to sing praises to God. Now, how could they do so in such a dire moment, it's nothing but the presence of God himself. And so the charge is will we, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, will we have faith to praise him and to rejoice? Now you can go read the rest of Acts, chapter 16, to find out what happens whenever you approach God with that sort of faith.
Speaker 2:But, believer, no matter our circumstances, the scripture calls us rejoice in Jesus, verse six okay, be anxious for nothing. Okay, be anxious for nothing. Now, do not be discouraged that the scripture commands you, believer, not to be anxious for anything. Don't be discouraged because, listen, paul knows that we struggle here. This is not a condemnation. This is the scripture. This is Paul pressing into areas that he knows every one of us struggle, and he's going to give us instruction of what to do. Okay, because God does not want to leave you in your anxiety. He doesn't want to leave you there, he wants to call you forward. So what is the first step? To acknowledge whatever it is that we are anxious about, and listen to me to put your finger in your heart, to put your finger on what the issue is. That is an incredible work of the Holy Spirit. There are so many times in your life when you are operating out of anxiousness and you are operating on the surface and you don't even yourself realize what the issues of your heart are. Okay, so we're begging the spirit of God to show us what it is that we are anxious about. So let me ask you, friend, what are you anxious about?
Speaker 2:Thoughts of worry become sinful when they grow in excess and they become obsessive. Do you try and overly control because you fear the future? Does your worry grow and grow and grow until you ultimately just fear the worst? Maybe you're the type that distracts and numbs in order to escape your thoughts. Turn to God with your stress. Others obsessively check their financial portfolios. Maybe you watch endless cable news or social media. You do realize that our culture sells fear. Our culture wants you anxious and afraid because it keeps you coming back to that source of information. They wanna turn up that volume.
Speaker 2:Another source of fear is when we fear what others think more than God. We overvalue the influence of others and the harm that they might cause us, and we undervalue ourselves in God's eyes. At its core, sinful anxiety arises from unbelief, a distrust in God, or, to put it simply, your fear has outgrown your God. You see, your god and his promises and his protection are too small. Your fear has overgrown it. Israel wanted to go back to the security of egypt because they did not trust god in the wilderness. Very often we turn to something that that we think gives us security, like our money or other people or our own strength and ability, and then our fear is exposed when those things can't hold the situation.
Speaker 2:But the scripture teaches us Paul is teaching us here right, pray that the Holy Spirit would search our hearts, exposing any sinful fear, allowing us to confess it to God. Next part of that verse, verse six, says be anxious for nothing, but in everything. This is what you're supposed to do instead. In everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So, by prayer and supplication, paul is just going from a broad term to a narrow term, and the word supplication means to humbly ask.
Speaker 2:So then, now that we've acknowledged our anxious thoughts, with the help of the spirit, what does Paul teach us to do next? Feel free to ask your heavenly father to move on your behalf. Ask him to move. You have anxious thoughts, you've exposed them. Now ask him to move. But when you do do so with a thankful heart. Lead your heart into thanksgiving.
Speaker 2:Did you know that gratitude and fear, although they're not in the same part of the brain, they're different parts of the brain. Gratitude and fear run on the same highway in your brain and when you are thankful, when you are full of gratitude, it is impossible for you to have the same neural path as fear at the same time. Think about that. Neuroscience is catching up to the Bible, which was 2000 years ago. It was like, hey, are you anxious? All right, lead your heart into thanksgiving. Okay, you say what do I have to be thankful for?
Speaker 2:Listen, you pause and you consider that, even in the current situation, god has already moved, he has already supplied. In the current situation, god gave you that job that you're struggling with your coworker okay, thank him. God provided that relationship. He provided for you financially. He has sustained you up until this point in the past, okay, and he is sustaining you even now. Acknowledge him and then, after you've made your request again, feel free to make your request. After you've made your request, thank God that he is your father, your provider, your protector. Tell him that you trust him. However he chooses to answer your request you trust him and lead your heart into thanksgiving.
Speaker 2:And now I want you to look. What does it say that God promises you? If you come to him with your anxious thoughts, and you do so with thanksgiving, look at what God has promised, and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. First, I want you to notice what God is not promising. God is not promising, he is not promising to change your circumstances, but he is promising his own peace. The peace of God himself, which surpasses all comprehension, is greater than you could ever understand and is greater than your circumstances. You see, he does not promise to change your circumstances, but he promises to give you a peace that is greater, to elevate you above your circumstances. And then he says and that peace will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2:The imagery here is of a military unit that has a special operation against the attacks of the enemy. That God's peace surrounds you and while the enemy would love to continue to fire fiery darts that attack you and cause you to worry and worry and worry, this scripture says God's peace will stand guard and will deflect every fiery dart that begins to come against you. Listen to me, that is God's promise, not mine. That if we will come to him with thanksgiving, come to him with thanksgiving. His part is he promises a peace, his peace, that overcomes the fiery darts of the enemy. And finally, what is our commitment in this prayer? Your commitment is verse eight says finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. So, after, after you've laid laid your anxious thoughts at the foot of the cross, okay, don't pick them back up again. Trust God. This is God's problem. Now, right, you've laid it at his feet. Your commitment is I am going to control my thought, life next, and God's promises are going to protect me from the enemy's fiery darts. So, therefore, I will focus on the Lord's goodness and his promises towards me. That's the commitment I'm going to make.
Speaker 2:Walking out of here Now we're going to enter into a time of prayer. We're going to do this. You are free to function at your own pace, but I'm going to try and lead us step by step. Okay, david's going to come up and just play a little background music on the piano. Some of you grab a pen in the pew back in front of you, others of you you're not going to write it down. I understand that's you, you be you, but we're going to walk through this together because I want you to pray God's word, okay, and I want you, I want you to, I want you to experience the legitimate power of praying God's word, okay. So let us begin by rejoicing always. Will you lead your heart to rejoice in God? Will you praise his name for who he is, meditate on his character, on his attributes, on his attributes?
Speaker 2:He is holy, he is eternal, he is sovereign, he is the king who reigns above it all, and you call him father, and he's loving, and he's patient and he's kind and he delights in you. Church, I want you to bring your anxious thoughts to God. I want you to be vulnerable enough to say Holy Spirit, search my heart. I give you the freedom to go in every corner of every room. Search me. What are you fearful about? What do you obsessively think about that is beyond your control? Would you right now trust the Spirit of God with those things? Would you state them clearly in your heart to him? Once you've acknowledged those things, the Spirit of God invites you to make your request. Make your request to your Father. Again, he delights in you, but when you do so, lead your heart into thanksgiving. You know the circumstances, you know your situation. Lead your heart to be thankful. How has God already moved? Thank Him, acknowledge Him and, as you make your request, will you also tell him that you trust him, that he is a good father that you trust. However, he will answer you because he is your provider and he is your protector. Lead your heart to be thankful.
Speaker 2:Now, church, I want to read to you again God's promise back to you. This is what God's word says God's promise and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds. In Christ Jesus, your Father loves for you to have faith in what he has promised and said to you. In what he has promised and said to you, will you tell him that you believe that his peace is real and near? Will you tell him that you are depending upon his peace? And, finally, will you make a commitment that, as we leave here, that you're not going to pick that thing back up, that you're going to leave it with your father, that you're going to leave it with your Father, you're going to leave it there with Him and you are going to focus on the promises of God and the goodness of God.
Speaker 2:Ask the Spirit to help you that you are going to focus on whatever is true and honorable and right. Heavenly Father, I know all across this room that your sons and daughters have done business with you and that your Holy Spirit has searched our hearts and exposed our anxious thoughts. And, father, as we have laid them at your feet, we pray your peace, your peace will guard us. We trust that your peace will guard us. Help us to walk out in newness of life. Help us, father, in our thought life to focus on your promises and your goodness and all that you want for us, god, to walk out in newness of life.