Josh Howerton - The Power of United Prayer (01/12/2026)
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Summary:
Pastor Josh kicks off the new year and the «There Is More» series by preaching through Acts, emphasizing that the explosive power of the Holy Spirit seen in the early church is still available today, not limited to biblical times. Drawing from Acts 1, he highlights Jesus' command to wait in united prayer for the Spirit’s power before going out as witnesses, contrasting natural efforts with supernatural dynamite-like power. He concludes that united prayer among a diverse but oneness-focused church unleashes God’s power, urging the congregation to gather for a church-wide prayer night to seek a fresh outpouring.
Happy New Year and Celebrating 2023
LakePointe family, Happy New Year! It is good to see you guys for the first time this year. I piled my way out of three feet of snow in Washington State to get back to the land of supposedly warm Texas, and the state is failing me right now. But you got here; let’s go and do this! You’ve got your Bibles? Head over to Acts chapter one, that’s where we’ll be today.
And hey, while you’re turning there, I have this deep belief that our job is to always celebrate anything that we want to cultivate. I really believe that when we stop giving glory to God for what He’s done, we start forfeiting what He might do.
So I just want to do this: I want to celebrate some things, looking back on 2023 as a year. Now, as I do this, heads up, just to save us all a little time here, if you can hang tight, we’ll all celebrate together at the end, okay? Other services were disobedient, so here we go. Number one: our Christmas attendance ended up at 42,376 people! We had over 66,000, okay? In the booth, wait until I point to the next one to bring it up. We had over 66,000 people join with us, including online, which is unbelievable!
2023 Highlights and New Campus
Last year, we had 6,663 people serving in the house of God on serve teams. Absolutely amazing! We also, last year, gave over $7 million to global missions, serving the lost, the least, and the lonely all over the globe. You’ll see this right here: we planted nine new churches in 2023, which brings us to a total of 66 so far, in some of the least reached cities in North America. And y’all, the last one, but most important: this is why we do everything that we do. In one year, last year, we saw 2,257 baptisms! Come on, somebody! There we go, that’s why we do what we do. Just incredible! I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’m going to talk about that a little today.
I also need to do this: give me this camera right here and don’t do the pan of the crowd shot; stay with me right here. We also today are officially welcoming, for the very first time, our campus having its grand opening today. Help me welcome our brand new East Dallas campus! Come on, man! Yeah! Hey East Dallas, we love you guys! Welcome to the family and welcome to the one big dysfunctional family. It’s going to be awesome in Jesus' name!
Launching the «There Is More» Series
Well, LakePointe family, we are taking a one-week break from the regret-proof your life series because there’s something that’s deep in my heart this year. I have two things in my heart this year: I want to build families; I want to preach deeper! So this year, what we’re going to do is throughout the year, interspersed throughout our other series, I felt led by the Spirit — I’m excited to do it — to preach sequentially, chapter by chapter, through the book of Acts, and it’s going to be awesome! I’m really excited! The title of the series is we’re just calling it «There is More.» There is more!
Now, heads up, I’ll just be a little vulnerable: anytime there’s something that feels like the Lord uniquely put this in my spirit, I have a little bit of a weight to it; it’s almost like the anxiety of expectation. I was telling Jan about this; Jan tried to encourage me one time with a text message that said, «Don’t try to be witty, funny, or intelligent; just be you.» That’s what she said. So I’m going to do my best.
Why Preach Through Acts
Now, the title of this series: I want to explain this. Here’s why I feel led to preach through the book of Acts. Number one, the story of Acts is about an explosion of the power of the Holy Spirit in the church; this is what the book of Acts is about. Here’s why I say that: the title of the series is not «There Was More»; the title of the series is «There Is More.» Why is that? Because there is nothing in the Bible that would tell us that anything we see in the book of Acts was relegated to 2,000 years ago, and we should not expect it today. In fact, the power in the church that we see in the book of Acts is the great need of the hour for the church before the watching world right now.
The power, the preaching, the prayer, the miracles, the signs, the wonders, and the boldness to witness — it is needed for today, and God intends it for today. A scared world needs a fearless church; a divided world needs a united church; and a confused world needs a clear church with apostolic boldness and clarity. So number one is this book: it’s like a roadmap for what is a church supposed to do when there’s a unique outpouring of the Spirit on the church? And LakePointe, I just want to be honest: in the last 18 months or so, that’s how we’ve felt. We just felt, man, there’s a unique presence and power of the Spirit in our midst. So I want to go like, okay, when the Spirit of God comes, I want to cling to the Word of God for guardrails.
So let’s do that. Now, number two, I feel led to preach this because this book tells a story about an explosively growing church. As you’ll see in about 30 seconds in Acts 1, there are 120 Christians in this church, and within two chapters, it explodes — the church grows to 3,000. By Acts 5, the church has grown to 5,000. For the rest of the book, they’re planting churches — these 12 little churches all over the continent. Now, does any of that sound familiar? I’ll just point this out: just a few years ago, there were 10 or 11 thousand of us worshipping. It’s like I blinked, and in January this year, there are 20,000 of us worshipping in person! Right now, as a church, we are seeing God save and draw people to himself in a way that, honestly, I’ve never seen before in my life, and we’re trying to follow this Acts example. Just like them, we’re planting churches, 66 of them all over North America. So we’re just going, okay, what do we do?
Stewarding Growth and United Prayer
And hey LakePointe family, can I just say something? With a little heaviness: to whom much is given, much will be required. See, our job is to steward what God is giving in this moment to our church according to the heart and the purposes of God. So here’s where I want to start: the title of the sermon today is «The Power of United Prayer.» The power of united prayer! Here’s why: the whole book starts with a prayer meeting that results in an outpouring of the power of God. That’s what we’re going to see this week in our church.
So let me just dive right in. Here we go. Pick up with me in verse four of Acts 1. It says, «On one occasion, while he (Jesus) was eating with them, he gave them this command.» Now, I just want to point this out: if you’re paying attention to your Bibles, this will be confusing. He says, «Don’t leave Jerusalem.» Interesting! «But wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.» Then they gathered around him and asked, «Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?» He said to them, «It’s not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.»
Wait for Power Before Going
Now, if you’re paying attention, when Jesus says to them, «Don’t leave Jerusalem, » then you Bible scholars are going, «Huh?» Here’s why: because Jesus’ last word in the Gospels was «Go into all the world.» But then His first word in Acts is «Don’t go anywhere.» Why is He doing this? Here’s why: He’s saying, «Because if you go out before you stay in, you don’t have any power to go out with. And if you try to accomplish the ministry of the Spirit in the power of the flesh, it will go nowhere, and it will do nothing.»
Hey LakePointe Church, before we go out, this is why we do our prayer meeting at the beginning of the year. Because before we go out, we’ve got to stay in to receive power. We don’t want to try to accomplish the ministry of the Spirit in the power of the flesh. This power is so significant. The Greek word for power in the book of Acts is the word «dunamis»—that’s where we get the English word «dynamite.» God is promising that for His people who pray and ask, He’ll pour out a power that, like dynamite, is massively disproportionate to your own power, giftedness, or size.
The Superior Power of the Spirit
So significant is this power. Think about this: in John 16, it talks about the power of the Holy Spirit. In John 16, Jesus says to His disciples, «Hey, it’s actually going to be better for you if I go, because if I go, I’ll be able to send the helper, the Holy Spirit, who will come to you.» Now, if you ever actually thought about how significant it is that Jesus would say, «It’s better for you if I go, » can you imagine literally walking with Jesus by your side for three years? Like, think about it, man — you’ve got any hard theological question? Boom! Jesus answers it. You’re at a party; they run out of buffalo wings? Bam! He multiplies them, and everybody’s got enough! Your dog dies, and Jesus resurrects it. Your cat dies, and Jesus helps you dig a hole to bury the body. You know, that kind of thing. I got to get that in there.
But let me just ask this question: if Jesus was so powerful, why does He say, «It’s better for you if I go because I can send the Holy Spirit»? Well, here’s why: because when Jesus was on Earth, He could be with one person at one time, empowering one thing. But now His Holy Spirit can fill every Christian everywhere, empowering everything. I’m preaching 100% better than you’re responding! We need this power of the Holy Spirit! In fact, this is the great need of the hour in the church: it is for the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
Personal Story of Spirit’s Power
I’ll give you an example of this. I’ve never been a part of a church where I’ve seen anything like what we’ve experienced in our church in the last year or so, except for one other time in my ministry. When I was 27 years old, I was pastoring a 175-person church in Nashville, Tennessee. Y’all, we had nothing— including a talented pastor—we didn’t have any of it. We didn’t have any of those things! It was 175 people. We were in this little renovated warehouse space; we didn’t have any money to do anything. So, like, the men of the church literally built this little ghetto-rigged warehouse thing that we worshipped in. And we didn’t even have a sound system. We waited for a company in town to throw away a company sound system and then literally pulled it out of their dumpster. That was our sound system!
We had nothing, but God poured out His Spirit in an unparalleled way on us for a period of about 18 months. For 18 months, there was a presence that rested on the church. Mass salvation—we saw some miraculous things happen in our midst. Our church doubled and tripled in size immediately. So what happened is, for the first time, I’m 27, and these pastors started reaching out and going like, «Hey, could I come to Nashville and ask you about your ministry?» I’m like, «Okay.» So this one dude comes; I’m going to call him Ryan. We go to this coffee shop downtown Franklin, and he gets there, and here are the questions he starts asking me:
He starts going, «Hey man, tell me about your assimilation process. What do you do to move people from street to seat, from fringe to… what’s your assimilation process?» Or he would ask, «Hey bro, tell me about your service flow. What’s your secret? You guys have, like, three songs up front, one song in the back. Where do you do announcements? Where do you do giving? How do you flow everything so it feels really good?» Or like, «Hey man, how are you planning your annual calendar so that there’s a momentum succession? Like, what comes after what when you do what in the year?» And he kept—here was his question: «What’s your secret? What’s your secret?»
But I’m strategic; I like thinking strategically, so I like those questions. But there was something missing, and it welled up in me. So what I did—some of y’all are going to think this is morbid—I took him to a cemetery that was about a mile away from the coffee shop. I have this weird thing where about once a year, I just go and walk around cemeteries so I need to be reminded that my days are numbered. Y’all may think it’s really good for me! So I just take him to the cemetery. I’m sure he was like, «What are we doing, bro?» So we walk into the cemetery, we stand in front of this grave, and I just said, «Ryan, is there any assimilation process we could use that would make that dead person live again?» I was like, «Hey man, you were asking me about my secret. Is there a service flow that could resurrect all these dead bodies? Is there an annual calendar, domino sequencing that could bring all of these people back to life?»
And here was my point: if we try to accomplish supernatural ministry by natural power, it will go nowhere and it will do nothing! What’s the secret? It’s the power of the Holy Spirit on a church! It is the only thing that is sufficient for what we are facing in the world. Remember, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, and spiritual forces in high places. Nothing besides this power is adequate to what we are facing. If I look out in the world today, the church in the United States, we’ve got more systems, more conferences, more resources, more seminaries, more books, more commentaries, but less power! And this is what we need!
Quote on Power vs. Machinery
I’ll just quote this from a book that I read a couple of years ago. The guy’s name is Samuel Chadwick. He said this: «The church that multiplies committees and neglects prayer may be fussy, noisy, enterprising, but it labors in vain and spends its strength for naught. It is possible to excel in mechanics but fail in dynamics. There is an abundance of machinery, but what is lacking is power.» Is this making sense? This is the thing that we need right now!
Now I just want to point this out: okay? These guys thought that Jesus was talking about military power. Remember, here’s what they ask him: they say, «Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?» They asked that because the Jewish people were under Roman occupation. They thought Jesus was going to, like, roll up with a military force, conquer Rome, put himself in that physical king seat, and then restore, quote, «the power to Israel.» Now what Jesus says is, «Hey, someday I am going to do that.» But what he says to them is, «Hey, yes, we are waging war. Yes, you will need power, but it’s not that kind of war, and I’m not talking about that kind of power now.»
Call to Men: Prayer as Warfare
Right now, let me just lean in, and I want to make a specific application and move on, let me talk to the guys in the room, like my fellow dudes, okay? You just need to know when it comes to prayer and worship, which is a form of prayer, the ladies are kicking our butts. I just need to say it. Like, we’re getting dusted! Okay? So let me just talk to our dudes real quick. Where are all my dudes? All of our campuses, where you at? Just go ahead and do it real quick; make me feel good! Come on! Come on! Let me see you! See, you do know how to raise your hand in church! I just saw it right there! You did! You did great!
Okay, now hang tight. Okay, the reason a lot of dudes struggle with prayer and with worship is they misunderstand what’s happening. We are waging war—that’s what’s happening! But dudes will misunderstand it because they’ll just see, like, people—it just looks like feminine emoting, you know? It’s like lots of tears, and you know, it just feels weird. It’s like… can I just point something out to you? Okay? Jesus says what we’re doing when we pray is waging war and gaining power. So, like, check this out: prayer and worship is not this, «Aw…» No! It’s this! It’s like, «Bro, let’s go! We are waging war in spiritual places!» Prayer and worship—it’s not this! Okay? No, no! It’s this! It’s like that dude looks awesome by the way! I want that guy to be my next-door neighbor! Is what I want!
This Wednesday when thousands of people gather at a prayer meeting on Earth, we’ll see this in heaven. It looks like that right there! Like, «Bro, let’s go! Let’s go!» So I just need to say it! Let me just say something in a straightforward way: our culture right now wants to break down men, and that is the language. Can I just say this? Strong men are not the problem; strong, godly men are the solution! Godly masculinity is not toxic; it is the war on godly masculinity that is toxic!
So men, God did not design you when it comes to prayer and worship to be the quote, «strong silent type.» He wants you to be the stronger worshipping type! The Bible says, «I command men everywhere to lift holy hands in prayer.» There is nothing more dangerous to Hell than a church full of men who know how to pray and know how to worship! Nothing more dangerous to Hell!
United Prayer in Acts
So let’s lean in! Now, here’s the question: how do you receive that power? How do you receive that power? Well in the Bible, God gives hundreds of promises, but every promise has a premise. If you do this, then I’ll do that. The premise of the promise for the outpouring of the Spirit is you’ve got to pray and ask.
Now, check this out; let me read it: «Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olives, which is near Jerusalem—a Sabbath Day’s journey away.» I don’t have time to talk about this; it was about three-quarters of a mile. It was the distance in the Old Testament when they were traveling through the wilderness from the edge of the camp to the middle of the camp, where the tabernacle dwelt. They had to be able to walk that far on a Sabbath so they could worship; so that’s a Sabbath Day’s journey, which is about three-quarters of a mile. «And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot—that’s important—and Judas the son of James.»
All these, with quote, «One accord, » were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. Now, I just need to—did you notice it said, «With one accord»? This was a united church! They felt it! This reminds me of a story: there’s a comedian who tells this story. He says it goes like this: «This has a point. Once, I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, ‘Don’t do it! ’ He said, ‘Nobody loves me.’ I said, ‘God loves you; do you believe in God? ’ He said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Are you a Christian or a Jew? ’ He said, ‘A Christian.’ I said, ‘Me too. Protestant or Catholic? ’ He said, ‘Protestant.’ I said, ‘Me too. What denomination? ’ He said, ‘Baptist.’ I said, ‘Me too. Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist? ’ He said, ‘Northern Baptist.’ I said, ‘Me too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist? ’ He said, ‘Northern Conservative Baptist.’ I said, ‘Me too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes region or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern region? ’ He said, ‘Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes region.’ I said, ‘Me too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes region Council of 1879 or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes region Council of 1912? ’ He said, ‘Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes region Council of 1912! ’ I said, ‘Die, heretic! ’ and I pushed him over.»
Now we laugh, but the Spirit of God will never fill a divided church! It was not until they prayed with quote, «One accord, » that the power of the Spirit fell. The word in the Greek is «homothumadon, » two words: «H» meaning same, and «thumadon» meaning thermometer. It meant they had the same spiritual temperature; the same passion united them. Acts 4:31–32 uses the same word; it said all the believers were in one heart and mind. One heart! They had different backgrounds, different income levels, different skin colors, different political opinions—one heart! Did they have different views? Unquestionably! They had different views! I read it to you earlier; it says among their group was a guy named Simon the Zealot. That was a political denomination, meaning that he was a part of a violently anti-big government group. It was like the «don’t tread on me» bros of ancient Rome. Some of them were actually assassins, and I’m sure when Jesus first invited him into the disciples, the other guys slept with an eye open for a few months.
Okay, then you also had Matthew the tax collector, who worked collecting taxes for the big government. So did they have different viewpoints? Unquestionably! But they all had the same temperature—the same passion. Can I say this? That is the key to any church experiencing a move of God. What has sustained a move of God at LakePointe for 45 years? One word: Unity! Notice I did not say unanimity—I said unity! I did not say uniformity; it doesn’t mean everybody thinks the same. I didn’t say everybody looks the same! The gospel calls us to oneness, not sameness!
Unity in Diversity at LakePointe
I’ll give an example of this because I want to make it visual to you. This is my family right here. Let me show you that. This is my family. Now just soak this in. If you’re new to the church, this is my family. Soak this in. You may notice we don’t all look the same in my family. We have three precious adopted children. Now, if you look at my family, take this in—our family doesn’t all look the same. Eliana is a little lighter than Felicity; Hudson is a little lighter than Eliana; I am a little lighter than Hudson. Poor Jan’s a redhead; she doesn’t show up in pictures if it’s sunny outside. I just say that, by the way, I got to be careful with redhead jokes! Do y’all know the difference between a redhead and a terrorist? You can negotiate with a terrorist! There’s the joke! Just say that!
Now look at my family; got to get that in there. Are we all the same? No! Are we all one? Yes! That is just like LakePointe Church. We have been adopted by one Heavenly Father. LakePointe, listen: at this church, we got black folks who know how to have church; my favorite people to preach to, come on, man! We got Hispanic folks who, listen, y’all, they know how to pray, and they know how to cook in Jesus’ name! In Jesus’ name, come on, somebody! We got blue-collar folks; we got white-collar folks; we got young adults; we got senior saints. Let me just say this: senior saints, we need you!
We need you, senior saints! We need you to be spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers for the young families and young people we’re reaching! We need you to show us the way! You may be going, «What do you mean? I’m not perfect.» You don’t have to be perfect; you just got to be better than us in Jesus' name—that’s all you got to be! We’ll take your Lou’s discount too; thank you very much, we’ll take all of them! Man, this is what we got in this church.
Now, we will— even in this church, we got Texas fans, we got A&M fans in this church! Cal, calm down, calm down! We will even let in Houston Astros fans into this church! Now listen, are we all the same? No! Have we all been made one in Christ Jesus? Yes! Yes, we have! Listen, I said earlier that a scared world needs a fearless church, a confused world needs a clear church, but a divided world needs to see a united church!
And the Bible says that when a church is united with the same spiritual passion in prayer, that is when the Holy Spirit decides to fall on a church. Because the Holy Spirit loves unity, and unholy spirits love disunity. If we want to experience supernatural power, we have to demonstrate supernatural unity! And can I just say this? It only happens in prayer! You will see it this Wednesday! People from every imaginable background, every imaginable viewpoint, we will gather in this room, we will assault the throne of heaven, and everything that is different about us will recede, and one spiritual temperature for the glory of God— the salvation of the nations, the restoration of marriages, the healing of bodies, all of those things—that Christ would be… that will come to the forefront.
Unity Among Diversity is Strength
Let me just say something like this because every now and then I’ve got to say something that’s like not politically correct, but it is biblically correct. This is one of those moments: you will hear this phrase out in our culture very often: «Diversity is our strength.» That is not true! Unity among diversity—that’s a strength! That’s a strength! When we are also united around Jesus, that’s when everything Hell will be diverse. That doesn’t make it better! But when we have unity around Jesus, and that unity among diversity, the Holy Spirit decides to fall from heaven and baptize that.
LakePointe, I just need to say this. As we head into 2024, I want to remind you—your calling as disciples of Jesus is to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. When you are in life groups, when you’re with other church members, your job is to make sure that love covers our different preferences and to make sure that it does not become critical! If somebody in your life group says something negative about another church member or the church or a leader, here’s what you can do: you don’t even have to rebuke them. Here’s what you do: you just say something positive right after the negative thing they said!
«Well, that person has really been a blessing to me.» It is the ultimate mood killer of the moment when you do that! Do that! God has really used that person; I just love their noble spirit! You just say that! And it’s going to happen! If we do that, when they were of one heart, this is when the power fell!
Past Prayer Meetings and Breakthroughs
Can I just point this out to you? In 2021, it was the first time we ever gathered for a church-wide prayer worship night. That was when we were trying to regather from COVID. Y’all, we had tried everything to try and get everybody back from COVID; it was like we got about 10,000 of our church back, and then we could not get the rest of y’all back! It was like no matter what we tried! So what we did is we became convinced that we needed to wage war in the spiritual before we fought it in the physical. We called the entire church together for prayer, and we cried out to the God of heaven that day! Y’all, I kid you not, literally the next weekend after we prayed, after the prayer and worship night, attendance jumped 3,000 people! It kept jumping like a thousand a week for the weeks after that, and it never went back! Why? Because we had called—it was a spiritual problem, spiritual solution!
I’ll give you last year: we did the second prayer and worship night; 10,000 people gathered for a prayer meeting! It was insane! For those of you guys who were there, do you remember there was a moment where we were just prompted by the Spirit? It was a little spontaneous; we called every student in the room up on stage. Do y’all remember this? And we just—something broke in our spirit. We just started praying for a move of God to happen in the hearts of the young people in our church, of the next generation. And if you were here, something happened in that moment! I mean, it was like something broke in the spirits of our people, and when that happened, something broke in the floor of heaven, and something shifted! It changed!
Now I just listen: prayer…it works! So think about this: before this year, the most people LakePointe had ever baptized was about 250. We had the prayer and worship night for a move of God among our students in January last year; we baptized more than 600 students who gave their lives to Christ—more than double any previous year! It was just insane! So this is what we see: if His people will pray, then He will pour out this power!
Overcoming Condemnation to Pray
Now let me end it right here. What is going to keep some of you from leaning into prayer, especially at our prayer meeting this week, is what the Bible calls condemnation. Here’s what it sounds like: here’s where some of you are right now. You’re like, «Oh man, you know prayer, but Josh, what you’re thinking is, I’ve just been doing so bad spiritually. I’m out of all of my I’ve been reading my Bible— I’ve been praying. I haven’t been a good Christian; I’ve been having a good year. In fact, I’ve had this moral failure. I’m struggling with this thing that I’m looking at, and I got all this stuff in my life.» And what you’re thinking is, «Man, who are you? You think God’s saying that? Who are you think with what you’re doing just walk into a prayer meeting? You think that I’m going to hear from somebody like you? You crazy!»
That’s what the Bible calls condemnation! Condemnation is a builder’s term meaning unfit for use. That’s what the enemy wants you to believe! The enemy wants you to believe that what you did is who you are. The enemy wants you to believe—watch this—that your proximity is determined by your performance. That if you have level five spiritual performance, then you have level five proximity to the Father. If you have level seven spiritual performance, you have level seven proximity access to the Father. But check this out, y’all—I love this so much! God showed me this in message prep this week!
When they list the people at the prayer meeting, I got on the LED because I want to point it out to you. They list the people at the prayer meeting in Acts one: «And when they had entered, they went to the upper room, » you’re going to say this bolded word for me, «where they were staying.» What is it? «Peter!» Peter and John and James… Here’s why this is important: in Greek, whoever is first in the sentence is first in priority; they’re the first in leadership! Now for you Bible scholars, what was Peter doing just 53 days before this prayer meeting? Denying Jesus! He denied Christ, cursed Jesus, wishing that he were dead with his words, and he committed apostasy! And 53 days later, the gracious outstretched hand of the living God goes, «You come on back, Peter! You’re the one that’s going to lead this prayer meeting, and your prayers are going to result in the throne of heaven spilling out!»
Why? Check this out! I need y’all to get this! Check this out! Proximity—I need y’all to hear this! Performance does determine your proximity to the Father—just not yours. It was the perfect performance of Jesus Christ, the righteous Son of God, who lived a perfect life and died a perfect death for you! And now, your proximity to the Father is determined by His performance—not yours! God loves you!
Listen! God does not love you to the degree that you are like Christ; He loves you to the degree that you are in Christ, and that’s always a ten! So now what God says is you’re my son; you’re my daughter! Come and run up to the throne! Boldly approach the throne of grace where you will find mercy and grace in time of need because you’re my son or daughter!
Father’s Encouragement and Invitation
Now let me finish the sermon like this because I need you to get this deep in your soul so that we pray like children of the Father this Wednesday, alright? So, like one of my kids, Felicity, my youngest daughter—I got her permission to tell this story, alright? Felicity, when she was a kid, when she was born, she got to about age two, and they do it—it’s like the 2-year-old NFL combine where they measure all your measurements and stuff. And they measured her head, and they measured her body, and her head was in the 100th percentile size range for cranium circumference; her body was in the third percentile size! So we were like, «Did we adopt a candy apple? Is that what just happened?» You know, we were like, «What happened here?»
So when Felicity was learning to walk, y’all, this is a real thing—Felicia learning to walk! When she was crawling, she had this big old lollipop head, and just everywhere she crawled, it was like… You know? Now y’all know! So she’s doing all this thing, and you know how like when kids get about one or two? They start doing this thing where they become little mountain climbers—everything! Little ankle biters become little furniture grabbers! You know, and they start grabbing all this stuff, and they just, like, pull! Well, Felicity, like what she’s got to do is she’s got to lug that big old head, bobbing around, you know? So she starts pulling up, and then she pulls up, and she falls down! You know? And then she like lugs that big old head up, and she falls down! You know, it just becomes too much!
And then finally, there came a day where she pulled that big old lemon head up, and then y’all remember—there comes a day where your kids get past pulling up, and then it’s like they get this little gleam in their eye: I’m going to do it! And then they look down at their feet, and then they look at you. They look down at their feet, look at you, back to the feet. And then there came this moment where Felicity just went… and then one more… and then she fell!
Now listen, when she took her first steps, do you know what I did not do? When she fell, do you know what I didn’t do? I didn’t say, «Idiot! One step? Calm down, you Usain Bolt!» You know, it’s like—that’s not what I said! No, no! Me and Jana—we got it on video! When she just took this one little shuffle, watch: because she’s my daughter and I’m her dad. When she did that, Jana and I just started screaming, «She’s doing it! She’s doing it!»
Now listen: you are a son or a daughter of the living God, and you’ve been adopted by your heavenly Father! Some of you, for the first time this year, what you’re doing is, for the first time this year, you read your Bible two times this week for the first time in your whole life! Do you know what God didn’t do? He didn’t go, «Idiot! Two out of seven!» No! No! He’s your Father! What He did is He went, «She’s doing it! He’s doing it!»
Some of you, when you come into the prayer meeting this Wednesday, you’re going to be walking in under the weight of sin and shame, failure, and guilt! You’re walking in needing healing, needing restoration, needing fresh power, and you’re bringing all that into the room. Do you know what God’s doing? He’s not going, «Are you crazy?» He’s going, «They’re doing it! Come on!» And your heavenly Father is going to be more eager to receive you than you are to be received! He’s going to be so eager to pour out mercy and grace on you in time of need! He’s going to look down at you—“Peter, you’re walking back into the room after failure!» The more you failed, the more you need to be here! And he’s going to see your prayer, and that will be the reason He will pour out fresh power on your life!
Call to the Prayer Meeting
So I’m just saying it! Here it is: the whole sermon leads to this, LakePointe Church! Before we step foot into 2024, let’s win the war in the spiritual before we wage it in the physical! This Wednesday, everybody in our church gathers for our prayer and worship night at 7 PM! Like, I’m just going to tell you, like we’re just going to ask God to do the stuff! He doesn’t ask! We’re going to ask for Him to heal, to save, to restore, to redeem! We’re going to ask for prodigal children to come home! We’re going to ask for marriages to be restored! Our elders are going to be here doing James 5, anointing people with oil, praying for healing in the name of the Lord!
Listen! I’m not a faith healer, but I am a Bible believer, and the Bible says to do that! And so we’re going to do it! We’re going to do all the things! And I’m asking us as a church to gather as one man, like the Bible says, to assault the throne of heaven for a fresh outpouring of grace and power! Will you all do that with me? Let’s do it, man! Let’s go! Come on, man! Let’s go!
So here: let’s right now go ahead and pray! Let’s go and pray for the prayer meeting! So, Heavenly Father, we are here, your kids! We need fresh power from on high! And so God, would you pour out your spirit in a new and fresh way? God, I pray that even in the next three days, our people would be waking up with a newfound hunger, a new thirst for a genuine encounter with the living God that changes them forever! God, I pray that all of the things that we’re—God, I’m in this mess, and I totally can’t fix it. I pray that we would begin to turn our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and that fresh faith would start to arise in our hearts!
And we would begin to believe with conviction that God can, that He is willing, and that He is able! And that we would pray with the fervor of people who believe! So God, pour out your Spirit! We want more! We want to see revival in our church, and our city, and our nation! I pray for all these things that we would see with our living eyes! In Jesus' name, amen and amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!