Video
Do You Really Want It? – Mike Underhill
Sermon Preached on January 19, 2014
Notes & Scriptures
Introduction
- Today is Seahawks vs. 49ers! Is it going to happen again!?
- This year we hope that the 49ers REALLY want it!
- Do we really want it?
- Or do you want to catch up?
James 5:17-18
- What does “earnest” mean?
- Devout, heartfelt, urgent, sincere
- Opposites: frivolous, apathetic, half-hearted
- When you pray halfheartedly, you can be sure – it won’t come true
- Someone who really wants it will have the earnest prayer life of Elijah
- Elijah meant business when it came to his prayer life!
1 Kings 18:40-46
- An earnest prayer warrior looks foolish in faith
- What is your earnest prayer that might look foolish to some people?
- Do you care – or do you not care because God is with you!
- 14/14/14, sharing at Sizzler!
- Elijah had the foolish faithful heart of a humble and powerful man of God
- Elijah puts his head between his needs and prays for the rain
- Some of us pray 1 time, go and look, and give up
- Some of us pray twice, go and look, and give up
- But, Elijah was a man just like ME!
- He prayed and it RAINED
- What stops me from seeing the miracles God has in store?
- Some of us don’t want it bad enough deep in our heart
- I don’t fight against an apathetic enemy
- I can’t describe Satan as lukewarm
- He is deeply committed, ferocious, and intense
- By the time it’s too late – we’ll realize what we should have done
- GIVE IT ALL OF YOUR HEART
- Elijah prays and the impossible happens
- Am I desperate in my prayer life?
- The difference between prayer warrior and apathetic is desperation
- The strong in the world are the weak in the Kingdom
- The weak in the world are the strong in the Kingdom
Matthew 15:21-28
- Traveled 60 miles on foot to see Jesus!
- Our PRIDE keeps us from getting our prayers answered
- Doesn’t God know who I am?
- Doesn’t God know how much I sacrificed?
- We think it’s God’s fault
- Really: It’s our sinful heart
- Here we see the difference between a humble and faithful person and a faithless and prideful person
- When you want something – you are humble
- “When you really want something, you get it. When you don’t, you make excuses.”
- Sometimes, I look and blame other people for things that I’m not getting
- That means you don’t really want it
- When I found out I was the problem, I was fired up
- Why? Because it means I’m the solution, too
- Elijah knew that he was the solution to the problem
- The Canaanite woman really wanted it
- Jesus made it clear to everyone through that interaction
- This is what humility, faith, and earnestness looks like
- When God sees it go as far it can – then he knows you really want it
Matthew 20:29-34
- The blind men are rebuked, and told to be quiet, by DISCIPLES
- Did they stop? No! They got louder
- When you are hit with resistance calling out for Jesus, or cranking for God – GET LOUDER
- The harder it gets, the more resistance you feel, the LOUDER you need to get
- Eventually, when it’s clear that you are earnest – Jesus will stop.
- The blind men had a simple prayer from the bottom of their heart, “We want our sight.”
- Simple and desperate
- Prayer is not saying it 80 different ways in a faithless and halfhearted way
- Prayer is saying it once, with all of your heart, desperately
- Get to the point where you are deperate
- If you would just KEEP GOING, you would have the heart of the blind man
- Prayer does not mean that you are praying FOR REAL
- Where are you at? How much are you willing to pray to get your heart where it needs to be?
- You can be in the dark as a disciple because you don’t rely on God throughout the day
- Your hollow inside and empty
Matthew 8:5-13
- Some of us are so talented in the world
- God allows us to get to a point where we no longer can attain what you need
- Your goal seems to far?
- Your goal seems unattainable?
- If God says Yes, no one can argue it
- Your whole goal and job as a human being is to get God to say Yes to something
- Now let’s see if he’ll really pray… Says God about us at times
2 Kings 5:1
- Why wasn’t Naaman desperate?
- Naaman was consumed by himself
- Are you easily offended?
- Are you easily angered?
- What if Elijah called Naaman a dog?
- When you get angry, you are not humble and you’re not desperate for God to do awesome things
- Being easily offended means you have a lot to work on in your heart
Luke 22:39-46
- Jesus’ greatest achievement started right here with a desperate prayer
- I would not be here without this prayer
- Who am I not saving because of my prayer life?
- Jesus did not go through this for himself
- Jesus went to the cross for me
- Imagine your roommate comes home bloody
- Jesus was the only person ever recorded to prayer until the point of death
- “I want to pray until I sweat blood”
- If I am following Jesus, I need to pray just like Jesus
Do I really want it?
Do the 49ers really want it?
Do the 49ers really want it?
Close
- How bad do you want BYND to crank?
- Imagine the back of room 28 being filled
- Do you really want it?
- If we do it, and we really want it, it will crank
- It just matters how much you want it
- Pray about this sermon
- Find a prayer spot
- Pray for awhile
