¤ ¤ 00:00:01.06\00:00:30.09 Hello and welcome to another program, Issues and Answers. 00:00:30.12\00:00:34.28 Today we're going to be talking about something radical. That's 00:00:34.32\00:00:40.10 a strong word isn't it? Radical. And it really comes from 00:00:40.13\00:00:45.84 scripture from Luke 10 where Jesus is talking. The word of 00:00:45.88\00:00:51.21 God is so powerful and so personal. God is an intimate 00:00:51.24\00:00:56.51 God and he has a wonderful plan for your life. I want you to 00:00:56.54\00:01:00.60 meet my guests. Tim Garrison and Derek Morris. 00:01:00.64\00:01:04.61 Great to be here. Glad to be with you. 00:01:04.65\00:01:06.71 Tim Garrison you are from Camarillo, California. Yes. 00:01:06.75\00:01:11.10 And what do you do there? 00:01:11.14\00:01:12.17 I'm a church planter. I'm planting a church nearby in 00:01:12.20\00:01:16.50 Moorpark, California. 00:01:16.53\00:01:18.28 And Derek Morris is from Florida 00:01:18.31\00:01:21.99 I'm a pastor at Forest Lake Church and allowing God to throw 00:01:22.02\00:01:25.81 me out into his harvest. 00:01:25.85\00:01:27.02 And before you came to Apopka, Florida what were you doing? 00:01:27.05\00:01:31.14 Well half of my ministry has been a teaching ministry at 00:01:31.18\00:01:34.98 Southern Adventist University so I've been a teacher and a 00:01:35.02\00:01:38.79 pastor and now I'm a pastor and a teacher. 00:01:38.82\00:01:41.55 That's great. And Tim you have been a pastor and now you are a 00:01:41.59\00:01:47.18 church planter? Yes that's right. 00:01:47.21\00:01:48.24 What does that mean? Well it's a change from 00:01:48.27\00:01:52.08 established church pastoring in established churches to a whole 00:01:52.11\00:01:56.56 new understanding of the way in which we start a church and I 00:01:56.59\00:02:00.72 feel like you said Derek, I've been thrown out into the fields 00:02:00.76\00:02:06.08 so to speak and I've had to grow very dependent on God in my 00:02:06.11\00:02:10.87 church planting and learn what it's like to really experience 00:02:10.91\00:02:15.63 faith first hand. An established church can become 00:02:15.66\00:02:21.76 something that is even too easy, something that you can take for 00:02:21.79\00:02:25.93 granted. Not saying that pastors do that necessarily but you can 00:02:25.96\00:02:29.66 take that situation for granted because those people are going 00:02:29.70\00:02:33.36 be there every week. 00:02:33.40\00:02:34.43 Well yes and there's already an infrastructure in place. There 00:02:34.46\00:02:38.21 are buildings in place, there is a tradition in place and you 00:02:38.24\00:02:42.78 step in as a pastor, you preach good sermons, you enhance the 00:02:42.81\00:02:47.31 program there. But things are already established. 00:02:47.34\00:02:50.94 You're on a roll. Yes exactly and so yes there is 00:02:50.98\00:02:54.50 a tendency sometimes to just kind of go with that, to feel 00:02:54.54\00:02:58.54 somewhat complacent at certain points and say well I'm doing a 00:02:58.57\00:03:02.32 fine job, things are fine, people aren't complaining, they 00:03:02.35\00:03:06.85 love my sermons and so you don't have that sense of being 00:03:06.89\00:03:11.36 tossed out into a situation where everything is suddenly new 00:03:11.39\00:03:15.28 and you have to create and start something from scratch. 00:03:15.32\00:03:19.14 That's true. In an established church it may not be growing but 00:03:19.17\00:03:23.51 nobody is really complaining about it as long as everything 00:03:23.55\00:03:27.85 is going along smoothly. 00:03:27.89\00:03:29.04 You satisfy the saints, you know they're happy. You know you do 00:03:29.07\00:03:33.01 the essential pastoring work you that need to do. 00:03:33.04\00:03:34.54 Whatever's expected of you as a pastor. 00:03:34.57\00:03:36.23 But for the most part they won't complain. They'll be happy and 00:03:36.27\00:03:39.27 things will just continue as they have for years. 00:03:39.30\00:03:42.71 But a church planter is concerned about church growth 00:03:42.75\00:03:46.56 and new people and reaching a community in a way that an 00:03:46.60\00:03:50.37 established pastor may not be so concerned about. 00:03:50.41\00:03:53.73 Oh absolutely, absolutely and I know Derek is going to talk 00:03:53.76\00:03:57.42 about the radical prayer and being tossed out and suddenly 00:03:57.45\00:04:01.27 realizing that you have to have total dependence on God, and 00:04:01.30\00:04:05.08 when you're in those circumstances and situations 00:04:05.11\00:04:07.99 you talk about radical prayer. I mean, you go to your knees 00:04:08.02\00:04:11.44 real quick because you realize that you really need a source 00:04:11.47\00:04:14.86 beyond yourself. You know, the word radical is 00:04:14.89\00:04:20.64 itself a strong word. This is a strong word and yet we are 00:04:20.67\00:04:26.78 talking about something radical, extreme and Dr. Derek Morris 00:04:26.82\00:04:32.36 has written a wonderful little book called The Radical Prayer. 00:04:32.40\00:04:37.17 So do you want to hear about this? There are some wonderful 00:04:37.20\00:04:41.90 stories we want to hear. How did you write this book and how did 00:04:41.94\00:04:45.97 this just capture your thinking. 00:04:46.00\00:04:49.15 That's a very important question because actually it was a 00:04:49.18\00:04:52.77 process of over about nine years I was reading the Bible, a very 00:04:52.80\00:04:56.85 familiar text in Luke 10 where Jesus says the harvest is great 00:04:56.89\00:05:00.90 but the laborers are few. And the way it's translated in 00:05:00.93\00:05:04.58 English, it just says therefore pray the Lord of the harvest 00:05:04.61\00:05:09.25 to send out laborers and that's not very radical at all. What I 00:05:09.29\00:05:13.89 discovered is that I began to study in the Greek, in the 00:05:13.93\00:05:17.13 original language is that what Jesus says is far more radical 00:05:17.16\00:05:21.82 than that. And I think the translators, they were hesitant 00:05:21.85\00:05:26.74 to really say what Jesus said. Let me just give it to you very 00:05:26.77\00:05:31.38 simply, what Jesus said, literal translation: I want you to begin 00:05:31.42\00:05:36.08 to beg the Lord of the harvest, to pray like you've never prayed 00:05:36.12\00:05:41.07 before and even before we know what the prayer is, we've got a 00:05:41.11\00:05:46.03 clue, this is something very intense. It's the kind of 00:05:46.06\00:05:49.63 begging like the leper when he came to Jesus and said if you're 00:05:49.66\00:05:53.57 willing you can make me clean so we know it's intense and it's an 00:05:53.60\00:05:57.47 imperative, it's an urgent appeal to beg the Lord of the 00:05:57.50\00:06:00.80 harvest. But what's even more radical is when he asks us to 00:06:00.83\00:06:05.41 pray. It isn't to send out laborers. What Jesus says is I 00:06:05.45\00:06:10.76 want you to beg the Lord of the harvest, and he uses a verb, 00:06:10.79\00:06:15.43 ekballo and ballo means to throw like throwing out the nets 00:06:15.46\00:06:19.76 from the ship or when they wanted to throw rocks at Jesus. 00:06:19.80\00:06:23.80 The prefix ek means out. Ekballo means to throw out, to 00:06:23.83\00:06:29.41 cast out laborers. And you say wow that's dangerous, that's 00:06:29.45\00:06:34.96 radical. It's the kind of prayer that while you may not have used 00:06:34.99\00:06:38.49 the same words, Tim, that you prayed when you said Lord of the 00:06:38.53\00:06:42.25 harvest if there really are many people just wanting to hear the 00:06:42.28\00:06:45.97 good news about Jesus, the harvest is great and sometimes 00:06:46.01\00:06:49.47 we don't see that, but Lord open my eyes to see it, and the 00:06:49.51\00:06:53.43 laborers are few. They're playing it safe in their safe 00:06:53.47\00:06:58.16 settings. God, I give you permission to throw me out into 00:06:58.20\00:07:02.82 your harvest. Great men of God, great women of God down through 00:07:02.85\00:07:06.19 the ages, they prayed that in their own words and miracles 00:07:06.23\00:07:09.71 happen when we're willing to pray that radical prayer. 00:07:09.74\00:07:13.06 Let me identify with that a little bit and tell you my own 00:07:13.10\00:07:16.38 personal experience when it comes to that concept. When I 00:07:16.42\00:07:20.01 went over to Moorpark and I thought oh this is different 00:07:20.05\00:07:23.57 you know. I'm not going to an established church. I have to do 00:07:23.60\00:07:26.99 something from scratch and I drove around and I thought about 00:07:27.03\00:07:29.94 where are we going to meet, you know, how is this going to 00:07:29.97\00:07:32.81 happen and I went by Mesa Verde Middle School where we currently 00:07:32.85\00:07:36.02 are meeting and I thought wow the Lord just kind of impressed 00:07:36.06\00:07:39.60 me this was the place. I drove into the parking lot. School was 00:07:39.63\00:07:43.36 not in session, there was no one around and I knelt there at that 00:07:43.39\00:07:47.91 school and I identify with that prayer. You know, I said Lord 00:07:47.95\00:07:52.47 only you can make this happen and I felt like you said, tossed 00:07:52.50\00:07:56.98 out, you know, out into the field to where I had to be 00:07:57.02\00:08:01.65 dependent on God totally. 00:08:01.69\00:08:03.02 And you were, I believe, given a sense by the Lord himself and he 00:08:03.06\00:08:08.36 was saying, Tim, this is it but boy are you going to need me. 00:08:08.40\00:08:13.66 Yes. And so he was giving you a sense of the urgency. 00:08:13.70\00:08:19.03 But I'm convinced that the proportion of our faith is 00:08:19.07\00:08:24.33 really determined by the level of risk that we take and the 00:08:24.37\00:08:28.87 only way that we can really discover the level of our faith 00:08:28.90\00:08:33.36 is when we do go out on a limb for the Lord. 00:08:33.40\00:08:36.01 That's right. I believe the Lord himself can't bless us, can't 00:08:36.05\00:08:42.30 use us until we have a real deep seated sense of our need and the 00:08:42.34\00:08:48.55 Lord says OK now when you realize how much you need me I 00:08:48.59\00:08:53.58 can do something for you. 00:08:53.62\00:08:54.65 And yet we don't realize how much we need him until we allow 00:08:54.68\00:08:58.30 ourselves, the radical prayer, to be thrown out into a 00:08:58.34\00:09:01.99 circumstance where we are totally dependent on him. 00:09:02.02\00:09:05.60 And you know what happens, and you've shared what happened for 00:09:05.63\00:09:09.79 you, immediately the door didn't open for you. Jesus said you'll 00:09:09.82\00:09:13.94 feel I send you out as lambs, even if he didn't say among 00:09:13.98\00:09:18.45 wolves, which is even worse. Just being a lamb you say I'm 00:09:18.49\00:09:22.93 not that smart, I'm not that strong... 00:09:22.96\00:09:25.26 Pretty helpless little animal. 00:09:25.29\00:09:26.83 Right. I am going to need to radically depend on the Lord of 00:09:26.87\00:09:31.19 the harvest for this to happen. But that's where growth in faith 00:09:31.23\00:09:35.52 occurs and also joy occurs because when God joins you in 00:09:35.56\00:09:41.19 what may seem like an impossible situation you know it's God's 00:09:41.22\00:09:46.57 work. It's his miracle. 00:09:46.61\00:09:47.64 Let me tell you the rest of the story. I contacted the district, 00:09:47.67\00:09:51.45 the school district, about that particular location that I felt 00:09:51.49\00:09:54.83 impressed that was where the Lord wanted us and they said no. 00:09:54.87\00:09:58.92 They said we can't do it because we can't provide custodians to 00:09:58.96\00:10:02.88 be there to man the school while you're there. Well one of our 00:10:02.92\00:10:06.87 core group members happened to be a tax accountant and one of 00:10:06.91\00:10:11.27 her clients was a custodian, a custodian at that very school 00:10:11.30\00:10:15.34 and she talked to her client this custodian said, I will 00:10:15.38\00:10:19.47 personally come and open that school and be there for them. 00:10:19.51\00:10:23.57 Not a happenstance. 00:10:23.60\00:10:25.02 No not a happenstance. And when I called the school district 00:10:25.06\00:10:29.07 back I said I have great news. I have found a custodian that 00:10:29.11\00:10:32.63 will do it and so they had no choice but to open the school 00:10:32.67\00:10:36.16 to us. I just have to ask you, haven't 00:10:36.19\00:10:39.76 you discovered too that often with great opportunities there 00:10:39.80\00:10:45.24 are great obstacles and we have to keep pressing and this is why 00:10:45.27\00:10:50.68 the desperate prayer is so important, because the enemy 00:10:50.71\00:10:54.96 and our circumstances would cause us to step back and say 00:10:54.99\00:10:59.17 well maybe this really wasn't the thing for me and that's when 00:10:59.20\00:11:03.04 we're supposed to keep praying and pressing through. 00:11:03.08\00:11:06.57 Well I believe you're absolutely right. Determination really is 00:11:06.61\00:11:11.02 the thing that fuels our faith and keeps us at it and if it's 00:11:11.05\00:11:14.83 meant to be the Lord will provide the way, but we have to 00:11:14.87\00:11:18.58 continue pushing. And I found in church planting, boy, there are 00:11:18.61\00:11:23.20 all kinds of obstacles and things and constant stories. 00:11:23.24\00:11:26.59 But one thing I have to say is that when doors open and when 00:11:26.63\00:11:30.46 faith is demonstrated, the next time, you know, like it says 00:11:30.50\00:11:34.14 you look back on the way the Lord has led and you say the 00:11:34.18\00:11:37.78 Lord can do it again. Amen. 00:11:37.82\00:11:39.54 And when you come into this dependence what happens is if 00:11:39.58\00:11:44.04 you read in Luke 10, Jesus when he says give me permission, let 00:11:44.07\00:11:47.82 the Lord of the harvest throw you out into his harvest, he'll 00:11:47.85\00:11:52.01 put you exactly where he knows you're most effective, but he 00:11:52.04\00:11:55.95 says don't take any money with you, don't take a beggars bag 00:11:55.98\00:11:59.85 with you. I want you to be at a 00:11:59.89\00:12:01.88 disadvantage. Radically dependent upon me. 00:12:01.91\00:12:04.89 But here's the powerful piece. Luke mentions this later in Luke 00:12:04.92\00:12:08.87 22. He says when I send you out without money and without 00:12:08.91\00:12:12.97 beggars bag and without extra sandals, did you lack anything? 00:12:13.00\00:12:17.02 And they could say nothing. 00:12:17.06\00:12:19.44 Nothing Lord, but they had to be willing to pray that radical 00:12:19.47\00:12:23.76 prayer and so if you hadn't been willing to step out in this 00:12:23.79\00:12:27.54 church plant you'd never have experienced that, you'd never 00:12:27.58\00:12:31.42 be able to say he is Jehovah- Jireh, the Lord will provide. 00:12:31.46\00:12:35.24 I've learned that by experience. I mean just what they're saying. 00:12:35.27\00:12:38.38 That's right. Anyone who is willing to be thrown out can 00:12:38.41\00:12:41.95 step back and say, I've learned this by experience; it's mine. 00:12:41.99\00:12:46.34 Now it's more precious than ever Tell me about somebody in your 00:12:46.38\00:12:51.16 ministry that can say this, yes I prayed a desperate prayer, yes 00:12:51.20\00:12:55.51 I prayed the radical prayer. It changed my life and I can see 00:12:55.55\00:12:59.83 that God is faithful, he used me. Tell me a story. 00:12:59.87\00:13:03.53 Well I have a remarkable story of a lady names Evie. She grew 00:13:03.57\00:13:07.95 up in a Jewish family. She went to one of our Adventist high 00:13:07.99\00:13:11.80 schools, learned about Jesus but was not allowed to follow her 00:13:11.83\00:13:16.64 faith in Jesus as a young child, went her whole life without 00:13:16.68\00:13:21.47 Jesus being her Messiah. She got into prescription drugs and 00:13:21.50\00:13:26.14 various addictions. Just a few years ago she came back. She 00:13:26.17\00:13:30.00 said you know I have believed all of my life that Jesus is the 00:13:30.04\00:13:34.08 Messiah. She started attending our church on-line, has since 00:13:34.11\00:13:38.78 moved to the Orlando area, but here's the ekballo, being 00:13:38.81\00:13:43.41 thrown out. She said you know, I would like to lead a Christian 00:13:43.45\00:13:48.22 12-step program for people who struggle with addictions. She 00:13:48.26\00:13:53.34 said I believe now that Jesus is the Higher Power. Jesus is my 00:13:53.38\00:13:58.42 Messiah. And she was being obedient. 00:13:58.46\00:14:00.59 She said I want you to throw me out into your harvest. Now she 00:14:00.62\00:14:04.23 could easily say I don't want people to know that I've had 00:14:04.27\00:14:09.03 this addiction in the past. But she said no God knows my 00:14:09.06\00:14:13.97 journey, he knows me talents. She has started a regeneration 00:14:14.00\00:14:18.24 ministry, 12-step program. It started one night a week, then 00:14:18.27\00:14:22.47 it went to twice a week. Now it's three times a week. 00:14:22.51\00:14:24.93 How many people are involved in this? 00:14:24.96\00:14:26.54 They have a couple of leaders but what's amazing is it's a 00:14:26.57\00:14:30.68 small group, maybe eight, 10, 12 people come, but people are 00:14:30.71\00:14:34.76 walking in off of the street. They're pulling into the parking 00:14:34.79\00:14:38.80 lot... Because there's help. 00:14:38.84\00:14:40.32 Well they're seeing authenticity and you know what's happening 00:14:40.35\00:14:47.02 for Evie, right. She's experiencing joy. Because she 00:14:47.06\00:14:50.26 says you know she said now I know why God has called me back. 00:14:50.30\00:14:55.38 Jesus has work for me to do. And so she's experiencing radical 00:14:55.41\00:15:00.46 joy because she's given him permission to throw her out. 00:15:00.49\00:15:03.10 Now she'd be the first to tell you that she's facing challenges 00:15:03.14\00:15:06.97 She'd be the first to tell you that she has to radically depend 00:15:07.00\00:15:11.80 on the Lord. That's part of this teaching in Luke 10 and what 00:15:11.83\00:15:16.00 happens is other people now, God's not going to use them to 00:15:16.04\00:15:20.17 start a Christian 12-step program perhaps but they're 00:15:20.21\00:15:22.96 saying Lord I want to pray this radical prayer. I want to give 00:15:23.00\00:15:27.09 you permission to throw me out into your harvest. Our quilting 00:15:27.12\00:15:32.32 ministry, we've got 30-35 people making prayer quilts, (beautiful 00:15:32.35\00:15:37.46 quilts), yes, and giving them out to people in the community. 00:15:37.49\00:15:41.58 Just this week some people from the cancer center came. They 00:15:41.62\00:15:45.59 said, we need some quilts to be able to give so they're not 00:15:45.63\00:15:49.16 running a 12-step program, but they're sewing beautiful quilts 00:15:49.20\00:15:52.70 they're praying over those quilts and saying God let this 00:15:52.74\00:15:56.16 be a reminder. They're letting God throw them out into his 00:15:56.19\00:15:59.58 harvest. And the beautiful thing here is 00:15:59.62\00:16:01.66 that it's involving people in ministry and in a mission who 00:16:01.69\00:16:06.22 probably would not have any other involvement, but it fits 00:16:06.25\00:16:10.58 their gift, it fits their interest and the amazing thing 00:16:10.61\00:16:16.32 is that only God, only our creator, knows what you're best 00:16:16.35\00:16:21.99 suited for. I mean, there are a lot of retired people who don't 00:16:22.03\00:16:30.01 feel that their life is as productive as it once was and 00:16:30.04\00:16:35.11 they don't realize, if they were praying the radical prayer, the 00:16:35.14\00:16:39.58 Lord might say to them, oh just a minute. Maybe you're even a 00:16:39.61\00:16:44.00 shut-in, but you can do praying for your pastor, you can be 00:16:44.04\00:16:48.69 standing in the gap and your prayer is powerful. That's as 00:16:48.72\00:16:53.58 much a radical prayer because it fits their situation and God, 00:16:53.62\00:16:58.44 almighty God, is the one who makes things happen. 00:16:58.48\00:17:01.82 You know, Ruthie, too the beautiful thing about what 00:17:01.86\00:17:05.14 Derek's talking about and what we're doing in church planting 00:17:05.17\00:17:08.59 is that a church needs to be prepared for its members to 00:17:08.63\00:17:12.01 pray the radical prayer and when they do... 00:17:12.04\00:17:15.00 How do you prepare them to do that? 00:17:15.03\00:17:17.18 First you have to explain what the teaching of the Bible is. 00:17:17.22\00:17:20.96 And people go OK, I don't know what's going to happen but I can 00:17:21.00\00:17:24.70 do that. But you have to be prepared as a 00:17:24.74\00:17:27.02 church community for what happens too. 00:17:27.05\00:17:29.27 Because he's going to throw you out. Exactly. 00:17:29.30\00:17:31.40 OK now explain what you mean by that. 00:17:31.43\00:17:32.76 Well for example, if Derek's church had not been open to a 00:17:32.79\00:17:36.75 12-step group and hosting that group and to hosting that and to 00:17:36.78\00:17:40.33 allow this person to express her full gifts as she's prayed that 00:17:40.36\00:17:44.03 radical prayer, it could have unfortunately shut down what she 00:17:44.06\00:17:47.69 wanted to do. Or what God wanted to do through 00:17:47.73\00:17:50.15 her. What God wanted to do through 00:17:50.18\00:17:51.43 her, exactly and so the group has to be open. 00:17:51.47\00:17:55.49 That's right. There can be some well-meaning people who for lack 00:17:55.52\00:17:59.03 of understanding of what the Lord really wants to do can 00:17:59.07\00:18:04.91 discourage or point you in the wrong direction and that's when 00:18:04.94\00:18:09.10 you really have to keep your eyes on the Lord and say Lord I 00:18:09.13\00:18:13.13 heard this call from you and I want to be obedient. Take care 00:18:13.17\00:18:17.58 of the distracters and just get us through this, but I really 00:18:17.61\00:18:21.35 appreciate what you've just said because we as a church family 00:18:21.38\00:18:25.09 have a responsibility not only to be willing to pray the 00:18:25.12\00:18:29.49 radical prayer, but to encourage one another in radical ministry. 00:18:29.52\00:18:33.86 And if we as pastors teach this concept, which I think is just a 00:18:33.90\00:18:38.21 fabulous concept (I do too) then we need to prepare our 00:18:38.24\00:18:41.37 congregations for the fact that some really radical things are 00:18:41.41\00:18:46.15 going to happen. That's right. You know and the 00:18:46.18\00:18:48.59 beautiful thing is that we're not saying well am I supposed to 00:18:48.62\00:18:53.10 do the same thing that you're doing. No the whole function of 00:18:53.14\00:18:57.58 this prayer is to say Lord of the harvest, I believe the 00:18:57.62\00:19:00.73 harvest is great and the laborers are few. I give you 00:19:00.77\00:19:03.81 permission to throw me out and he'll put you just where he 00:19:03.85\00:19:08.13 wants you to be. You mentioned an elderly, maybe some older 00:19:08.16\00:19:11.90 people. I have a couple that live quite a distance from our 00:19:11.93\00:19:16.23 church, retired ministry couple, and they said we want to do 00:19:16.27\00:19:20.30 something and I said well we've got lots of people through our 00:19:20.33\00:19:23.93 media ministry writing from all around the world. Some have 00:19:23.97\00:19:27.50 Bible questions. You can do that from anywhere, right, as long as 00:19:27.53\00:19:31.00 you have a computer and a connection to the internet. 00:19:31.04\00:19:33.02 And they got the answer. 00:19:33.06\00:19:34.09 And you know their faces lit up and the lady was a teacher and 00:19:34.12\00:19:38.08 the man was a pastor and they lit up and they said there's 00:19:38.11\00:19:41.44 something we could do, we can do that. And they said God we 00:19:41.48\00:19:44.73 want to give you permission. You see they had prayed that prayer 00:19:44.77\00:19:48.99 and God gave them something that they can do even from 30 miles 00:19:49.03\00:19:53.22 away. But you can't measure the good 00:19:53.26\00:19:55.38 that can come from that. I mean there are all kinds of 00:19:55.41\00:19:58.88 advantages now and benefits that people are going to have as a 00:19:58.92\00:20:02.46 result of that information. I know the pastor who when he 00:20:02.50\00:20:05.68 baptizes somebody will say to them, I have two questions for 00:20:05.71\00:20:10.36 you. One is why do you really want to be a baptized church 00:20:10.40\00:20:14.95 member? Why do you really want to join this church. And the 00:20:14.99\00:20:19.47 second one is what are you going to do that may be radical, what 00:20:19.51\00:20:25.21 are you going to do in ministry for the Lord, because we don't 00:20:25.24\00:20:28.72 encourage our members to just come in and be part of our 00:20:28.75\00:20:33.49 fellowship and settle down to a complacent, useless life. 00:20:33.53\00:20:37.51 Let me give you an example of what happens when a group prays 00:20:37.54\00:20:41.33 the radical prayer. Because when our 20 core group members, we 00:20:41.36\00:20:45.12 went through a core group development process for six 00:20:45.15\00:20:47.74 months where we just met and prayed and talked about what we 00:20:47.78\00:20:51.76 wanted to do and we decided we wanted to reach the community. 00:20:51.79\00:20:55.48 We wanted to reach people who were not currently active in a 00:20:55.52\00:20:59.87 church. And we realized that a Saturday evening service would 00:20:59.90\00:21:03.94 be more friendly to community people and so our group had to 00:21:03.98\00:21:07.63 kind of get out of its comfort zone, you know, recognize that 00:21:07.66\00:21:11.51 maybe it needed to do something different. And when you pray a 00:21:11.54\00:21:14.67 radical prayer and when you're focused on genuinely reaching 00:21:14.70\00:21:18.04 out to people, you'll do some things that are radical and 00:21:18.08\00:21:21.38 different in order to accomplish that. 00:21:21.42\00:21:23.71 You know, this pastor was talking to a newly baptized 00:21:23.74\00:21:28.94 member, and she had just been baptized. She was wheel chair 00:21:28.97\00:21:33.80 bound, she weighed between 250 and 300 pounds. She had been 00:21:33.84\00:21:38.23 hospitalized I think it was something like 21 times in the 00:21:38.26\00:21:42.59 past year. She was diabetic, she had a lot of health issues, and 00:21:42.62\00:21:46.95 she said well I notice that our church doesn't have a community 00:21:46.99\00:21:51.28 service center so I'm going to do that. Well they kind of 00:21:51.32\00:21:55.56 looked at each other on the staff and said I don't think so. 00:21:55.59\00:21:59.90 This is not going to happen. And she said watch me. I've got a 00:21:59.94\00:22:04.21 group of teenagers who are going to go out and collect things 00:22:04.25\00:22:08.73 after yard sales and we're going to make this happen. She 00:22:08.77\00:22:14.26 contacted food stores and restaurants and the beautiful 00:22:14.29\00:22:19.71 thing of it is she is no longer wheel chair bound, she's taken 00:22:19.75\00:22:24.13 off about 100 pounds of weight. Her doctor came to the pastor 00:22:24.17\00:22:28.92 and he said what have you done to Bonnie? Her life is totally 00:22:28.95\00:22:33.80 changed. And now he is studying the Bible and there have been 00:22:33.84\00:22:38.55 many baptisms as a result of this community service center. 00:22:38.58\00:22:42.48 (Wow, wow.) And really it's because this pastor is saying 00:22:42.51\00:22:46.35 I know you want to be a Christian, tell me why. I know 00:22:46.38\00:22:50.18 you want to be involved, tell me how. 00:22:50.22\00:22:53.70 I want to respond to this Ruthie because sometimes I think it's 00:22:53.74\00:22:57.14 maybe a little unfair to say what do you want to do. Maybe 00:22:57.17\00:23:00.74 what we need to say to them is will you give God permission to 00:23:00.78\00:23:03.04 show you what he wants you to do. That God will put that in 00:23:03.08\00:23:06.78 your heart because a lot of times people rush out and they 00:23:06.81\00:23:10.40 say God I've got this project, please bless it and it may not 00:23:10.43\00:23:13.99 be something God's asking us to do at all. 00:23:14.02\00:23:16.25 That's important. So the radical prayer is not 00:23:16.29\00:23:18.45 saying God I've got this thing, will you help it work. It is 00:23:18.49\00:23:22.31 saying God I give you permission to throw me out where you want 00:23:22.34\00:23:25.80 me to be to do what you want me to do and you have different 00:23:25.84\00:23:29.39 people in your church plant who are not doing the same thing. 00:23:29.42\00:23:32.94 Right, right. And what I didn't say, thank you 00:23:32.97\00:23:34.68 I appreciate that, what I didn't say is that he has been 00:23:34.72\00:23:39.61 preparing them for that answer because he implants in their 00:23:39.64\00:23:43.81 heart a desire to want to be involved and to do things and 00:23:43.84\00:23:47.98 to pray for God's leadership. 00:23:48.01\00:23:49.75 He's just waiting for them to give him permission because it 00:23:49.79\00:23:53.14 is going to radically change your lives. It's not church as 00:23:53.17\00:23:58.11 usual. It's not Christianity as usual. It's radical. It will 00:23:58.14\00:24:01.80 have sometimes wolves. You know you talked about people who are 00:24:01.83\00:24:05.22 trying to say it won't work or discourage you. Jesus called 00:24:05.26\00:24:08.92 them wolves in sheep's clothing, right. You know, sometimes it 00:24:08.95\00:24:12.19 may be even church folks who will say that's not a good time 00:24:12.22\00:24:16.00 time to have your service or whatever, but as I come back 00:24:16.03\00:24:20.26 to the text, if I would just learn to radically depend on the 00:24:20.30\00:24:24.50 Lord of the harvest. 00:24:24.53\00:24:25.56 The Lord has radical answers. 00:24:25.59\00:24:27.38 There's joy that comes, a joy when we join the his work. 00:24:27.42\00:24:30.36 Let me ask you, Derek, for the people who are watching right 00:24:30.40\00:24:33.54 now. You know, they may be thinking, well how do I do this? 00:24:33.57\00:24:37.36 You know, what form does this take? You know, who would you 00:24:37.40\00:24:41.12 suggest somebody who's convicted to do a radical prayer go about 00:24:41.16\00:24:44.09 it? You know, I had a cocaine addict 00:24:44.12\00:24:46.48 come to my office back last September. Ruthie you met him. 00:24:46.52\00:24:49.63 Kevin. He's been walking with Jesus now 00:24:49.66\00:24:51.62 almost a year and what is so beautiful he's not only been set 00:24:51.66\00:24:56.37 free but when we pray, he prays this radical prayer. And you say 00:24:56.41\00:25:00.70 well you better not do that. You better just wait until your life 00:25:00.73\00:25:05.56 is all fixed. You know what? He is the associate leader of this 00:25:05.59\00:25:09.75 Christian 12-step program today. (Ah that's wonderful.) So God 00:25:09.78\00:25:13.51 knows what we're going to do. I would just say believe the 00:25:13.54\00:25:17.26 word of Jesus. The harvest is great. Lord open my eyes to see 00:25:17.30\00:25:21.24 that in Moorpark or wherever I am around the world and then 00:25:21.27\00:25:25.18 recognize that he wants laborers and just give him 00:25:25.21\00:25:29.07 permission and he's going to show you. He's going to teach 00:25:29.11\00:25:31.75 you to trust him like never before and he's going to fill 00:25:31.78\00:25:34.39 your heart with joy. 00:25:34.42\00:25:35.45 The beauty of that example is that you don't have to wait 00:25:35.48\00:25:39.15 until you're at a certain point, you know. You can pray this 00:25:39.19\00:25:43.30 prayer... God takes us right where we are. 00:25:43.33\00:25:44.94 Isn't that awesome. And you know, the scriptural 00:25:44.98\00:25:47.97 example that comes to my mind is the demoniac. 00:25:48.01\00:25:50.97 Go back to your people. 00:25:51.00\00:25:52.64 Yes. And he had just been in chains. He had just been totally 00:25:52.68\00:25:57.25 out of control, controlled by the enemy and what did he know 00:25:57.29\00:26:01.40 of Christ. It was just a very short encounter and yet the Lord 00:26:01.44\00:26:05.22 said no don't follow me now. Tell the people what you know. 00:26:05.25\00:26:09.32 And so I think that is a wonderful example of how Jesus 00:26:09.36\00:26:13.40 himself will equip those who are obedient. 00:26:13.43\00:26:17.04 He threw him back out. He said I wanted to be thrown into the 00:26:17.08\00:26:20.16 boat and Jesus says no. If you'll give me permission I'm 00:26:20.19\00:26:25.36 going to throw you back to your people and you tell them what 00:26:25.40\00:26:28.71 the Lord has done for you. I'm sure he had challenges. He had 00:26:28.74\00:26:32.06 to radically depend on the Lord but he experienced joy as he did 00:26:32.09\00:26:35.38 what the Lord of the harvest asked him to do. 00:26:35.41\00:26:37.09 OK, I have a quick question and we just have a few more seconds, 00:26:37.13\00:26:41.31 just a quick comment from each one of you. How would you 00:26:41.34\00:26:46.04 encourage the person who's watching and saying that's me, 00:26:46.08\00:26:50.01 I'd like to get in on some of this action. I'd like to get in 00:26:50.04\00:26:53.94 on some of the radical experiences. 00:26:53.97\00:26:57.32 I think that they need to get to a quiet place. They need to be 00:26:57.36\00:27:00.73 alone, they need to fall on their knees and simply pray that 00:27:00.77\00:27:04.69 radical prayer and invite the Lord to guide them in their life 00:27:04.72\00:27:08.61 and take them HE wants to take them. 00:27:08.64\00:27:10.38 Amen. And I would tell them to go to the website 00:27:10.42\00:27:12.71 theradicalprayer. com where they can learn more. Because once you 00:27:12.75\00:27:17.67 understand, I think there are many people just ready to pray 00:27:17.70\00:27:22.51 that prayer. Amen. Let's pray. 00:27:22.54\00:27:24.06 Father in heaven, thank you for the power of your word and for 00:27:24.10\00:27:28.02 the radical prayer and for each person watching. Change us, we 00:27:28.05\00:27:31.94 ask in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you so much for being 00:27:31.97\00:27:36.22 with us today. You know I have a question for you. Who says 00:27:36.26\00:27:40.62 this can't be fun? Who says this can't be wonderful and exciting 00:27:40.66\00:27:45.63 because of the people that God will bring into your life. 00:27:45.66\00:27:48.77 Thanks for joining us today. May you experience radical prayer. 00:27:48.81\00:27:56.41