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So starting today we are going to hang out in Matthew's version of Jesus' sermon on the mount. Each Monday (or if you aren't listening as they drop, every 5th episode, I'll leave you my most recent message from Calvary's teaching series going through Matthew 6-7...and in between I'll review Matthew 5...or at times given an addendum to Matthew 6-7. So anyway, the whole focus for the next 40-50 episodes well be Jesus' sermon on the mountain.

This episode is all about living different!

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The book of James has some of the most amazing prayer promises and principles of prayer. But more than anything it is all about making our lives a prayer to God. The practical wisdom of James gives us a picture of the life of prayer. In this last episode, I will read through the book with a few comments, encouraging you to listen, learn and more importantly lean in, one last time...with the prayer....

God, make my life a prayer to you!

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In Romans 8 we find that creation groans, (travails) we groan, even the Spirit of God groans in expectancy. See when we dive into the gospel and begin to understand the glory that awaits those who believe in Christ, we can't help but groan for those who don't. The gospel causes us to groan for the redemption of all creation. It causes us to travail for the salvation of all people. It causes to groan for glory to be revealed in our families, on our campus, in our city. So let me ask you, "Are we willing to travail in prayer?

Travailing prayer is not something you just work up. It requires hope, humility and hunger. Which one needs the most work in you; hope, humility or hunger?

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In this episode we are going to talk about a type of prayer that I believe is urgently important in our day. I believe that God is stirring up people globally and locally, a fresh move of God on the way. But I think He is still looking for people who will travail in prayer. I must have 100 books on prayer. Only a few of those written in the last 2-3 decades have even a chapter on travailing prayer. If you want to read about travailing prayer you have to go to the old books birthed in revival. And yet, the Bible is filled with examples of people who wrestled with God, travailed, groaned and cried out in prayer to see God's purposes birthed in their lives and the world around them. So I have to ask us,

Who are the people in our day who will travail in prayer?

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How can I get God's attention? That seems like an important question when it comes to prayer right? If I want to be a person whose prayers produce great results, I think I need to be a person who can get God's attention. This episode will give us a picture of the people whom God goes out of his way to give them His attention.

If you have ever asked the question, "How can I get God's attention?" the answer is "Be a tsaddiqim." What's that? Listen and find out.

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That's my question, well one of my questions in this episode, "Does prayer matter if God doesn't care?" I think most of us listening, believe that God could do what we've prayed for, but we have some problem believing that He would. In other words, we're not sure if God cares. And let's be honest, prayer is just shouting in the darkness if God doesn't care.

But at the risk of giving it away, I'll simply say this, "God cares." In this episode and the next we'll talk abit about what God cares about.

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Are you connected? There are so many things in this world that can cause us to disconnect and isolate. But together is better. Thta's the message of James, over and over and over again. The heart behind his words to the scattered is simply, "Together is better." It is. Together is better. To the scattered, do everything you can to preserve together. Don't get scattered in hard times. Don't suffer alone. Pray with others. Don't let hard times scatter us. If you are going through a difficult time, don't just take it to God, take it to God together.

Because, say it with me one more time, "Together is better!"

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Jon Ortberg tells about the time they moved from southern California to Chicago. They spent a lot of time with their kids, just talking through the difficulties of moving. One night, after several months in Chicago, Jon was tucking his daughter
in. She had been getting into more trouble than usual but he hadn't connected the dots. That night, the dam burst and tears spilt out. "Daddy, it's so hard living here, nobody knows me. I go to a new church, a new school, and everybody already seems to have friends. I don't belong. I don't have anyone I can talk to, nobody wants to have lunch with me. Daddy, I feel like a little mouse that doesn't have a hole."

Maybe you can relate? It's not so much about having a hole as it is having a community. And community is such a major part of our life of prayer. So my question is, "Are you connected?"