(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen, so we're finishing up John chapter number four. We've been in John four for three weeks so far. This is the fourth week. Of course John chapter four is most famous for the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman at the well. The whole context of the story, remember, is Jesus is traveling to Galilee. In order to get to Galilee, you have to go through Samaria so he meets this Samaritan woman and we get this very famous story in the Bible. Last week we talked about Jesus' comments from verse 34 to verse 38 where he talks about some will sow, some will reap and we related that to ourselves, how we will sow sometimes, we will reap sometimes, but if we sow we know we will reap and we just did a study through that. It's interesting though because if you look at verse 39, we actually see a perfect example of exactly what Jesus is talking about in the previous verses of sowing and reaping because the Samaritan woman, she actually goes to town and she tells people about Jesus, she tells people that she's found the Messiah and some people believe right away. So she sows and she reaps at the same time, but some people didn't believe until Jesus stayed and talked himself. If you look at verse number 40, it says they, so some people didn't believe so what was she doing? She was just sowing in that case. That's somebody that you give the gospel to and they're still thinking about it. You've got them thinking about things, they're seeking, but they just need to hear more. Maybe they need to hear from somebody else, they need to hear it again, whatever, we'll talk about that in a few minutes too. But look at verse number 41, verse number 40, it says they wanted him to stay. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode there two days. So Jesus stays there two days and speaks to all these people that came from town and then look at verse 41, it says that many more believed because of his own word and said unto the woman, now we believe, not because of thy saying, but for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. So some people needed to hear some more. So some people, you know, the woman at the well, she went to town and she told people and she did sowing and reaping right there. Many people believed on him, just on her word, but then Jesus had to come and do the reaping for a lot of people, she sowed. So she got them to come and it's a perfect example of what Jesus is talking about. To the disciples. So basically, Jesus entered into the labor of that woman in this case, when you look at the soul winners and how things go as far as sowing and reaping. But really, we're going to pick up things in verse number 43, not to re-preach last week's sermon. We're going to look at a couple things that not only Jesus says, but things that happen at the end of this chapter. And I know we've been in this chapter for several weeks, but there's just a lot of things that go on here and I don't want to leave anything behind. So look at verse number 43 of John chapter 4. The Bible says, now after two days, he debarred a dance and went into Galilee. So now Jesus finally leaves and he heads on his way into Galilee, which is where he's from by the way. This is Nazareth is in Galilee. So Jesus is kind of going to his home country. All right. And then look at verse 44. It says, for Jesus himself testified that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. Now in John chapter 4, the Bible doesn't really elaborate on this comment that he makes. So this is one of the nice things where we have other gospels. We can go and we can look at where Jesus says this again and kind of see what he's talking about in a little bit more detail. Turn to Mark chapter 6. So the first thing I want to point out this evening is I want to kind of cut up what Jesus is talking about in this verse, where he said that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. What is Jesus talking about and how does that apply to us? Look at Mark chapter 6 and verse number 1. We get a little bit more context on what Jesus was talking about with this statement in John chapter 4. Look at verse number 6. By the way, that's why there's four gospels. We just see, you know, different angles. We see different details on all these different situations. That's why God gave us four different looks. None of the gospels contradict each other. They actually fill in gaps for each other. They just give us more clarity on the life and ministry of Jesus. Look at verse number 1, Mark chapter 6. We're looking at this comment that Jesus made in verse number 44 of John 4. And he went out from thence and came into his own country. Again, he went into Galilee. All right? He's in Galilee and his disciples follow him. And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is this not? Look at verse number 3. So they're astonished that this is happening. And then look at what they say. Remember, these are people that know who Jesus was when he was growing up. Jesus didn't start his ministry until he was 33 years old. He was, I'll tell you he was 30 years old, sorry. He lived for 30 years before he started anything in his ministry. If you remember John chapter 2, right before he turns the water into wine, his mother comes up to him and says they have no wine. And what does he say to her? He says, My hour has not yet come. He's like, he hasn't started his ministry yet. You know, he's not ready to start doing miracles. Of course, he did miracles right after that. But he was telling her like, look, this is not the time just yet. All right? These people knew who Jesus was, they knew who his family was. This is the point I'm trying to get across. Look at verse number 3. It says, Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses, and of Judah and of Simon? So I mean, well, first of all, I didn't have this in the notes, but I mean, like, did Mary have other children? I don't know. I mean, the Bible says she does. So Jesus had many brothers and sisters. And Jesus was, it doesn't say he was the son of the carpenter, he was a carpenter. He's 30 years old. I mean, he's been an adult for a decade or more. He's been working, he's been living his life without sin, but he's not started his ministry from the time he was, you know, zero to 30. All right? So they knew who he was. And his sisters are not here with us. And they were offended at him. So here's this guy doing all these miracles all of a sudden, they're like, this is Joseph's apprentice. What's going on here? And they're just, they were offended. They're like, who does this guy think he is? This is exactly what Jesus was talking about in verse number 44 of John chapter four. But Jesus said unto them, look at this, a prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. Notice this. So notice how we get more detail in this verse number four of Matthew chapter six. So Jesus says his own country in chapter four, verse 44, but now he says, among his own kin, that means relatives, and then amongst his own house, meaning Jesus is saying, as people are closer to you, this theory of mine that I'm, this comment that I'm making is going to get worse. He's saying that a prophet will be of less honor of the closer people are to him. He's saying, what Jesus's case? He says it because, you know, I mean, well, Jesus had no sin, and he's having problems with this. Right? Look at verse number five. It says that there he could do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands on upon a few sick folk and healed them, which is exactly what we see in John chapter four, by the way. We don't see him going and doing some mighty work, but he does heal someone who was sick in John chapter four. So notice how they just, the Gospels just fit together just perfectly. All right? But we get much more detail about what Jesus was talking about in Mark chapter six. And finally, in verse number six, it says that he marveled because of their unbelief, and he went round about the villages teaching. So that's the first thing I want to talk about this evening is that this is just, this is just a truth that Jesus is putting across, putting out to us that a prophet is not without honor. It's saying, what he's saying is a prophet has honor everywhere except his hometown, or everywhere except where he came from. All right? This is a universal Christian truth right here. And this is, you will, look, if you're saved, you will see this in your life, especially if you have gotten saved later in life, this will be more of a contrast for you. This will be more of a truth for you. I mean, you get saved, you know, people get saved, they come to church, and what's the first thing that they do? They get saved, I mean, when you got saved, were you excited to be saved? You get saved, you're excited to be saved, and the first thing that you want, you know, you come from some sort of background that you did not come from a fundamental Baptist church if you weren't saved when you were 30 years old, and you get saved, and you realize that you've been wrong, and the first thing that you want to do is go to those people that you love the most that were closest to you, and you want to get them saved too. And look, there's varying levels of success here. Some people have little to no success. Some people have a lot of success. I mean, that's not the point of this, but the point is, is that many times, many times when you are not successful especially, people will just not listen to you because they're from your own house, because they're from your own town, because they'll be like, who's this guy? I've been going to school with you for 20 years. What happened to you yesterday? You know, they're going to just, they're going to have the same attitude towards you that they had towards Jesus. Look, and it's worse for you because you're not sinless like Jesus was. So they're going to look at you, and especially if you're actually making changes in your life, they're going to look at you, and they're going to be like, hey, you know, who do you think you are? You clean up your life a little bit, and now you think you can tell me about the Bible? I mean, you're going to have difficulty. It will have, Jesus is telling this. Jesus grew up. He shifts into the ministry, and he has trouble with this. Even though, even before he was in the ministry, he was without sin. He didn't even have a foolish thought, and he had problems with this. So this is another thing that Jesus is just preparing us for, so we're not offended. I'm really glad that Jesus and the Bible and the Word of God puts these types of things in the Bible just so we can, I mean, these are things that are proofs to us. I'm not happy when these things happen, but it is a proof that the Bible says these things. You're like, wow, the Bible's a miracle. Wow, the Bible, how did the Bible know that would happen to me? How did the Bible know that I was going to deal with this? So there's two points that I want to make to you on just this point on why Jesus brings this up. Why does Jesus say this for us? The first thing is this, it's hard to be without honor. It's not an easy thing to go through. You say, I don't care about what people think about me. Everybody says that. Nobody really feels that way, myself included. I mean, everybody feels that way, either, you know, especially amongst people that you have known for years, yea, sometimes decades of your life, the majority of your life, in the case of getting saved later in life, you got saved in your mid-30s or whatever, like I did. I mean, it's going to bother you. It's going to bother you that you are without honor to people that you have known for your entire life, because guess what? Most people care what other people think. It's a natural thing. It's a natural thing. Well, I mean, many people say they don't, but most people do. That's really what it comes down to. The people you knew from before are going to have many times a hard time listening to you. This is what Jesus is saying. All right? And you say, why is that? You say, why is that? Well, I think it's because people just have a difficult time changing. People just have a difficult time changing their mindsets. People have a hard time forgetting things. People have, you know, and I don't want to preach sermons that I'm going to preach in a few weeks, but people kind of have set ideas, and it's hard for people to get out of their set ideas. So the first thing is that it's hard to be without honor, and Jesus is kind of warning us here. Jesus is saying, look, you know, they hate you because they hated me. It's the same type of theory. He's telling us this so we won't be offended. He's like, this is going to happen to you. I'm without sin. It happened to me. Don't be surprised when it happens to you because, you know, you're not without sin. All right? So people might actually have reasons to look at you and say, oh, you think you're some Christian now? I knew you back when you were, you know, you were doing whatever, you know? I mean, so look, it's a hard thing, but the next point I want to make, and another reason I believe Jesus tells us this is because it is hard for you to testify, to spread the Gospel, to be that witness to people from your own country because that's difficult. Your testimony is so important going forward. And that's really what, you know, I want to drive home to you this evening is that your testimony is so important as you leave the old country and you go into the new country. Your testimony matters, folks. So look, start building, you know, once you get saved, you need to start building that new country, that next country, that country that's outside your own country. Where what? Where you do have honor. Where you do, where people do need, you know, people do know you as different in that next country. And look, you not only need to build that, you know, build that testimony in that outside country, but you need to hang on to it. It's super important. This is a problem, this is a problem with people that want to be two different types of people. They want to be church people and then during the week they want to be in the world people. This is a problem because they want to act a certain way at church. They want to act like the Christian at church and then throughout the week they want people to just think they're just like them. This is the type of person that goes to work or goes to, you know, groups that they're in outside the church or whatever, you know, and wants to, doesn't want to look like they stick out, doesn't want to look like they're separate from those people even though the Bible tells us that we should be separate. But then you want the church to think I'm like them and you want the world to think I'm like them. It's never going to work. First of all, situational ethics are nowhere in the Bible. You know this is like the person that thinks oh I can dress like a certain way at the beach but they don't think that it would be appropriate to wear that to Walmart. Walmart's a bad example like the mall or something because what people wear to Walmart is not appropriate anywhere. But the point is is that if it's wrong there it's wrong here. If it's wrong here it's wrong there. This is the type of people that think, you know, kids can't watch this unless they're past 17 years old. You know R-rated movies or whatever, you know, you got to be 17 to watch, that's nowhere in the Bible. If it's wrong for an adult it's wrong for a child. If it's wrong for a child it's wrong for an adult. Morality in the Bible and God's rules in the Bible if it's, you know, if it's wrong for them it's wrong for you. That's what the Bible says but you know we're just taught all these situational ethics today to be this person there and this person there. That is nowhere in the Bible. We must protect our testimony because the problem is if you're trying to be a certain person here and a certain person here eventually you will mix them up. If you're trying to be a Christian at church and then you're trying to be, you know, like the world at work or wherever else you are you're going to slip up at some point. I mean there's some people out there that literally this is like the ultimate fake person, right? They're just trying to be everything to everybody. I mean they're like a chameleon. Whatever group that they're in, I mean there's Christians like this, it's pitiful. Whatever group that they're in they try to just fit in with that group whether they're in the world, over here, in the world, over there, at church, over here, whatever. But the point is this, you will lose credibility on both sides as a Christian. If you do not protect your testimony as a Christian you will have honor nowhere because the Christians will think you're a joke. The Christians will think you're fake and the worldly people will think your Christianity is a joke. This is the person that gets saved and has principles on Tuesday through, you know, Tuesday of the next month and then, you know, goes and is worldly and all you're doing, you think you're appeasing the world in that case, Christian, what you're doing is you're making, you know, you're trodden Jesus Christ underfoot in front of everybody else. You are literally making your religion as a joke and you know what? Those people that might take you seriously if they see your testimony played out for year after year after year and be like, oh, man, this isn't a fad, you know, he is serious about this. Look, it takes time. It takes time and it takes consistency. That is the best opportunity many of these people that are close to you are gonna have to finally realize that maybe there is something to this. But that takes time. That takes time. And look, overall, many of the people close to you just may never show honor but at least keep the honor in the next country that you go to. Protect your testimony. The Bible says in Proverbs 22, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. Guard those riches. You know, they're important. Once they're lost, really hard to get them back. Guard your testimony because you may have no honor in your own country but at least you'll have honor in the country that you're going to. If you're fake and you're trying to play both sides, you'll have no honor anywhere. Protect your testimony. And then you'll have honor everywhere going forward. That's the nice thing about it. And guess what? This idea is much easier for the second generation. It is much harder for the people that leave the old country but guess what? For our children, for the next generation, they're gonna have honor in our country, in the country they go to, they're gonna have honor there. I mean, it's hard. It's hard to go through that but Jesus is telling us, hey, even I went through it. Turn back to John chapter 4. Turn back to John chapter 4. I mean the old country, and here's another thing, don't look back on the old country and lament it. And look, I catch myself doing this. Don't look back on the old country and lament it. And lament that you don't have that honor back there. We're supposed to look forward and move forward in this Christian life. Look at John chapter 4 and verse number 45. Now we see a story where Jesus does a miracle here and I want to show you some things that will help us to pray better and more effectively this evening. Look at verse number 45. It says when he was coming to Galilee, the Galileans received him having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast for they also went unto the feast. So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee where he made the water wine and there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judah into Galilee, he went unto him and besought him that he would come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death. So his son didn't have a flu or a cold, his son was about to die. Look at verse number 48 though. I have verse number 48 like circled in my Bible because this is kind of a prophecy right here. Alright in verse number 48. I mean it's a prophecy that is quickly fulfilled but look at verse 48 where it says then Jesus said unto him except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe. I mean if you just read through this real quick you kind of missed this but look at verse 48 where Jesus tells this man unless ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe. So what does he mean by believe there? I'm going to explain that to you. Look at verse 49. The nobleman saith unto him sir come down ere my child die. He's asking him come save my child. Verse 40 or verse 50. Jesus saith unto him go thy way thy son liveth and the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him and went his way. So you have this man saying come to my house and heal my son and Jesus says you have to understand what's happening here. Jesus says your son's healed. Like nobody's at the house. Nobody is at Jesus or this nobleman's house. Jesus just says it's done. And notice in verse number 51 no I'm sorry in verse number 50 it says and the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him. Does that say the man believed on Jesus as the Messiah? No it says he believed that his son was healed. So that's a super important point here because Jesus in verse 48 he says except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe. What is Jesus talking about there? He's talking about believing on him as the Messiah. And what did this man need to see? He needed to see signs and wonders. But in verse number 50 it says he believed that his son was healed. It does not say that he believed on Jesus as the Christ. And I'm going to prove that to you in a couple of verses. Look at verse 51. And as he was going down his servants met him and told him saying thy son liveth. Look at verse 52. Then inquired he of them the hour which he began to amend. And they said unto him yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So they tell him he got better at one o'clock yesterday. And then this man in his head he was like what time did I talk to Jesus and it was at that exact same hour. Look at verse 53. And so the father knew that it was the same hour. So are you seeing the picture here? Jesus says your son is healed and the man starts going home. And the servants meet him and they say your son is healed. Your son is healed. And he said what time was he healed? And he said I mean it must have been a decent you know a days travel or whatever to his house. And they said he was healed yesterday at one o'clock which is exactly the same time that Jesus said your son is healed. So then he knew that it was Jesus for sure. And then look what it says. It says in that he knew it was that same hour and that Jesus said unto him thy son liveth and look at this and himself believed and his whole house believed what? Now they believed on Jesus Christ. You see that? That's the prediction from verse number 48. Jesus says you won't believe on me until you see signs and wonders. So what does he do? He does signs and wonders and he believes on them. So Jesus basically calls it in verse number 48 I mean that's a great proof that you know Jesus is God again. But he calls that this man would not believe on him until he did this miracle. It's very similar to the Samaritan woman where some people just believe right away but you know what? Some people needed to hear from themselves. Look it's better to believe right away. But I guess it's better it's best if you eventually just believe and this is the second miracle that Jesus did when he has come out of Judea into Galilee. Turn to Luke chapter 5. I want to give you some common denominators here on the miracles of Jesus. I want to give you two. One main common denominator that we see here in John chapter 4. But first thing you have to see is that his son was healed and the man believed Jesus that he healed his son. So the man believed that Jesus could heal his son. But he needed to see that before he believed on Jesus. So there's two types of belief at the end of John chapter 4. Okay so every time we say believe in the Bible it's kind of like every time the word saved comes up in the Bible it's not talking about being spiritually saved. Matthew 24 is talking about being saved from being killed like physically. So every time it says believed in the Bible or unbelief in the Bible it's not necessarily talking about just salvation or damnation. It's look you know you as a saved believer tonight you can have unbelief in your life. Now that's what I'm going to explain to you this evening. And you should not pray I don't want to give away the answer but you should not be praying in unbelief. What do you mean unbelief that Jesus is the Christ no you're never going to have that unbelief. What if I stop believing? You're never going to stop believing. If you're saved and you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ you're sealed by the Holy Spirit you're never going to stop believing that Jesus died for your sins and that you're saved. You're never going to stop believing that. Why would you? It's like you can't forget that fire is hot if you've ever touched something that's hot. It's the same type of thing. But you can have unbelief. You can have unbelief that God can do something for you. You can pray and you can pray and you can say the words as you pray not believing that God's really going to do anything to help you. But let's look at some of the common things that all people that Jesus healed and I mean look we can't look at all of them. Look at Luke chapter 5. Look at verse number 18. Behold the man brought in a bed which a man was taken with a palsy and they saw it means to bring him in and to lay him before him when they could not find what way they might bring him in because of the multitude that began. They went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And look at this. And when he saw their faith he said unto him man thy sins are forgiven thee. Turn to Luke chapter 7. So what did they have? They had faith. They had faith that Jesus could heal them. And look we don't know if that faith right there meant they believed Jesus was the Messiah but even if they had the faith that he was the Messiah they definitely had the faith that Jesus could heal him. Look at verse number 1 of Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. And when he ended all his sayings in the audience of the people he entered into Capernaum and a certain centurion servant this is a Roman who was dear unto him was sick and ready to die and when he heard of Jesus he sent him unto the elders of the Jews beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant and when they came to Jesus they besought him saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this for he loved our nation and he hath built us a synagogue. So this is a Roman but he seems to be a good man. The Jews are advocating for this person. Look at verse 6. Then Jesus went with them and when he was not too far from the house the centurion sent friends to him saying unto him Lord trouble not thyself for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter unto my roof. Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee but say in a word and my servant shall be healed. So at first if you just glance over this you could say okay the guy wants Jesus to heal his servant and he won't even go out and personally talk to Jesus he won't even go but no the man was being sincere the man was literally I mean he was sincere he's like I am not worthy to stand in front of you I'm not worthy for you to come visit me he's saying just say it in a word and my servant shall be healed. So he wasn't looking for the easy way he literally just had the faith that Jesus could speak it into happening. Look at verse 8. For I also am a man set under authority having under me soldiers and I say unto one go and he goeth and another come and he cometh and to my servant do this and he doeth it. So he's basically saying I know you have you know the power to command this servant to be healed. And look what Jesus says Jesus recognizes this and he says Jesus heard these things he marveled at him and he turned him about and said unto the people that followed him I say unto you I have not found so great faith no not in Israel. He's saying I see I see such greater belief in this man than I do in the Jews in Israel. Look at Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9 look at verse number 19. So what is the common thing that we see with all of these miracles is that these people at the very least all of these people at the very least had faith that Jesus could heal them had faith that he could do it. Look at verse 19. And Jesus arose and followed him and so did his disciples and behold a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood 12 years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment for she said within herself if I may but touch his garment I shall be whole. What does that show? That shows that she had absolute faith that all she had to do was touch Jesus and he could heal her. Jesus turned him about and when he saw her he said daughter be of good comfort what has made you whole? Thy faith has made thee whole and the woman was made whole from that very hour. Turn to Matthew chapter 17. So look folks I'm going to give you two keys to prayer tonight and the first one is faith. The first one is belief. Look at Matthew chapter 17 and verse number 14. Jesus actually says though that there's two and I'm going to show you what those two are. Look at Matthew chapter 17 verse number 14. Every single time Jesus healed somebody the person that he healed had faith that he could do it. And in the case of John chapter 4 the guy had faith that he could do it and then he had faith on Jesus Christ. He had faith on him as the Messiah. Look at verse 14. When they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying Lord have mercy on my son. This is somebody the disciples couldn't handle and Jesus said to come do it himself and he tells this is such a great story because he tells the disciples why they were not able to do it. So you ever wonder like if you ever wondering like why isn't God answering my prayers? Why am I not able to get God to listen to me? Pay attention here. Look at this. Verse 15. Lord have mercy on my son. He's a lunatic and sorvexed for oft times he falleth into the fire and oft into the water and I brought him to my and I brought him to my disciples they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said oh faithless and perverse generation how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. So this guy brought him to the disciples they couldn't do anything to help him and Jesus rebuked. So I mean what did we see the problem in verse 18. He was not just a lunatic I mean he was possessed by a demon. Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus apart and said why could we not cast him out? And Jesus said what? Because of your unbelief. Verily I say unto you if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed ye shall say unto this mountain remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you. It's interesting because this is a hard thing to do. You say oh this is easy all I have to do is just believe that Jesus can do anything. It's a hard thing to do because tell me that you don't say prayers in unbelief. Tell me that when you say a prayer there's not you know when you're asking for something even if it's something that's good that you think God would want tell me that there's not a part of you sometimes that says man is God really going to do this for me? Can God really do this for me? This is exactly what the disciples were dealing with and then look at verse 21 he says how be it this kind go out but by prayer and fasting but they were praying in unbelief. So if you look at verse 50 of John chapter 4 the first belief the guy had was the belief that God could heal his son. Jesus said unto him verse 50 go thy way thy son liveth and the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him. What word that thy son liveth and he went his way. He just believed that Jesus could do it and then he believed that Jesus is the Messiah. So I guess the first question is do you believe God can answer your prayers when you pray or are you praying in unbelief? Don't pray in unbelief. Pray believing that God can answer your prayers. Look you got to just look at it this way God may not answer all your prayers the way you want them answered but he can answer all your prayers. God can do anything that he wants to do so it makes no sense even though our flesh and our view of this world has corrupted us just like it corrupted the disciples but don't pray in unbelief. Pray in belief. That's the first thing pray in belief and the third one or the second one is this he says there's two things prayer and fasting but what is he talking about with fasting? So look at verse number 21 it says how be it I'm sorry I'm still in Matthew 17 he says how be it this kind go out but by prayer and fasting so by prayer where he's assuming that you can believe by praying you believe that God can do it and fasting what does that mean? Fasting is sacrifice. Fasting is showing sacrifice. Fasting is showing obedience to God. So you need to pray you need to pray in belief and in obedience to God. I mean fasting is just one way to show sacrifice and obedience. So the second key to prayer is obedience so basically ask in faith all your prayers and ask in obedience all your prayers ask in faith believing that's what that means believing God can answer your prayer don't just be this taker what does obedience have to do with it because I'm going to be this guy that just lives however I want to live and then when I need to dial 911 to God I'm going to call him up and look that's not fasting that's not obedience and look I have a hard time believing that somebody who's not obedient to the Lord is going to is going to be praying in belief to the Lord but if you pray in belief and in obedience this is how Jesus wants you to pray this was the problem with why they could cast out this devil because they didn't believe that he could do it don't just be this taker in your life don't just be this person that's going to take your salvation and think that you're just going to call up God whenever you want in any kind of emergency you're never going to talk to God unless you need something first of all it's kind of like you know the person that never calls you know his relatives or whatever never calls his parents unless he needs money don't be that person with God that's not an obedience that's not fasting that's not sacrifice this is not going to do much for your odds of getting your prayers answered the way you want them answered this is what Jesus is telling don't be this person that just wants something but gives nothing is what Jesus is teaching us you know your life should be a living sacrifice in Romans chapter 12 so the Bible here is saying like pray properly pray in belief and look it's better it would have been better if that guy in John chapter 4 would have just believed that Jesus was the Messiah without seeing anything without Jesus even having to say verse number 48 but he had to show him a miracle that's why Jesus did the miracles because he knew that there's always going to be these secondary people that needed to see the miracles they needed to see these things in order to have that faith that he was the Messiah and look he was willing to do it but we get some nice application of how we should be bringing things to the Lord in prayer tonight when you pray to God look God can do anything it doesn't mean he's going to do anything for you it doesn't mean and I mean the Bible even says that the Holy Spirit when you pray for stupid things the Holy Spirit is going to like re-translate that to God and tell God what you really need so you may have some problem in your life this is such a beautiful thing about being saved you might have some problem in your life and you think oh I have the solution maybe it's just right for us to pray and tell God the problem and ask him if he can get us out of the problem instead of like coming up with this concocted you know cockamamie plan that we think is going to work that the Holy Spirit has to re-translate to God bring a problem to God believe that he can fix it live your life in obedience to him as a sacrifice to him and it's going to work out just fine that's what Jesus is telling us here so that's John chapter 4 we made it John chapter 5 back to Jerusalem next week let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer you