Praying in Jesus' Name: The Power of Direct Access to God

Show Notes

Episode 383: 
In this enlightening episode of The Bible Guys Podcast, we dive deep into the teachings of Jesus about prayer and using His name. We explore the significance of praying directly to the Father and the joy that comes with it. Plus, we share a good laugh over a satirical news piece from the Babylon Bee about Disneyland's claim to be the "happiest place on earth." Whether you're a Disney fan or just looking for a spiritual boost, this episode has something for everyone.

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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Well, today we're talking about how Jesus teaches us how to use his name in prayer. Yeah, which is really important. Absolutely, Yeah, you're in the Bible in all just for the Bible guys, we thought we'd talk about it. Well, it's really because I said it's really important and you're like, well, it's in the Bible, meaning everything in the Bible is important, Chris is how I read? So I think that, which is really And the podcasts, you know, got the Bible name. Yeah, in the name, yeah, of course. Sure. Well hey, just in case you're wondering, we love giving the best news, only the best news, the finest sources. Yes, and so we always introduced the Babylon B in this way because Babylon B. This is actually one of my favorite segments. Every single time that we go through one of these, I just think it is so funny. Yep, to have like a sophisticated here where they write it like it's a real article, which is really funny for me. Well, today it says I think I can literally hear like Tom Brokaw reading this or whatever, right, And I love Today's because I'm a big Disney guy. I love going for the experience, and I love a lot of things Disney does or stands for, especially recently. But I do like Disney and all the characters and all that. So anyway, this is how the headline reads. It says local dad sues Disneyland for misleading happiest place on Earth advertising. This takes place in Anaheim, California. Local father Daxton Colt, has fought a lawsuit against Disneyland after discovering it was not, in fact the happiest place on Earth. Oh nope, this is definitely not the happiest place I have ever felt, not even close, says Colt, surveying his surroundings. This isn't even the happiest place in Anaheim. I felt much much happier at Tony's Delhi just yesterday after eating a Ruben sandwich. False advertising It's so funny cult reportedly became suspicious that disney Land was not actually the happiest place on Earth shortly after arriving at the gates. These people look like they're having a decent time at best, muttered cold cheesh. I don't even like to look at the looks of these lines. I don't see us getting through attractions very efficiently. And I'm going to have an open mind, but I'm skeptical. He's like, he's really booving this slogan right. Unfortunately, Cold Spears were proved soon proved well founded, as beyond a few minor amusements, the park just suddenly did not live up to its billing. Happiest place on Earth. I only felt slightly but mediocre, says Cold. I'm sorry, but medieval Times is far, far happier, he says. Fresh turkey legs I can eat with my hands while watching nerds jous the more joyful. I'm calling a lawyer, calling a lawyer that publishing time, Cold had been spotted wearing a crown, drinking ale and shouting at a Disneyland employee to pick up a sword and fight like a man. It's so good. That's really good. You know, that's hysterical. So we actually abandoned Christmas. We did Christmas at the Cranks this year, and so my family, after all of our Christmas services, we actually flew on Christmas Day down to Disney and we only did Disney one day. We did Universal one day. But would you have guessed that flying on Christmas would be busier or not busier? I would have thought it would be not busier. Every single seat was full. Wow. It was extremely busy. Wow, And I thought, what in the world, man? But it sure was. But when I was there, though, I sort of felt that way because apparently everybody gets the idea. So we went the day after Christmas. We went the next day, so December twenty sixth. It was so packed. It was hard to be happy. Man. I loved it, but it was really hard to be happy. Hard to be happy. Yeah, I've only been to Disney twice in your whole life. Yeah. One time when I was a kid and one time with our kids. Yeah, that was it. Yeah. Anytimes you've been the Didyney, Disney World or Disneyland, Disney Disney parks, yes, either park realistically twenty twenty times probably twenty. Wow. Well, mister Disney, thanks you for almost single handedly funding his empire there, Yeah, no kidding, that's good for you. Well you know you know why though, because you love it. Well, here's the thing that's the happiest place on her I can't I can't financially just bring all my kids down. I've only done that twice in my whole life. Okay, so what ended up happening was we at my previous church, we had a campus in Orlando. Oh huh. So what happens is they would say, come speak and we'll pay for it. And then he had friends who worked at Disney who would give us free tickets. So what I would do is I would actually just choose one child and I'd say, hey, let's go down to Disney, and I would take that one kid, and then the next time i'd speak in Orlando, I would take another kid. It sounds like a pretty slick way for you to go lots and lots of times. Yeah. Well, you know how sometimes sometimes when you speaking to church, they'll give you like a little bit of an honorarium. So what I would do is I would forego my honorarium and I would say, hey, don't pay me anything, but if you can hook me up with a free ticket. Well he loved that because it was just favors as opposed to financial right. So it was a win win for all of us, which is the only reason why I've been like each of your kids have gone like three times, but you've gone twenty times. That's pretty good for you, Chris. Yeah, I see what you're doing there. Hey, kids, you want to go to Disney again. But you could argue, you could argue if it one for me, nobody would nobody would have gone. That's right, that's right. So yeah, no, I'm joking. Good for you. Yeah, so are you an agreement with Dexton Cold? It's not the happiest place Center. There was one time where I was like literally watching at nighttime this this parade that went through, and it was so unbelievably joyful for me that you know, I always get emotional, always cry right tears in my eyes. I looked over my wife in the moment as like Cinderella is waving, and I looked and I was I was a Memphis statement with my whole heart. I go, I really think this is the happiest place on earth. One time you peaked, you peaked waving at Cinderella. I'm I'm the happiest moment of you know, your kids being born almost as good as Cinderella waving at you. I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about everybody else, everybody around everybody. Yeah, I keep forgetting year on behalf of all the rest of us. I'm not kidding. Yeah, that's why I said it. I was looking at the joy of every everybody, thousands of kids through tears in your eyes, and I'm like and I'm like, this is unbelievable, through tears in my eyes. You know what you stink? You stink to come over this table, I'm smack in the back of the head. Okay, that's great, I'd love it. That's so funny. Okay, well, hey, just keep your ear to the ground. Maybe there's gonna be a class action lawsuit. Yeah, not just Colton or Dax and Colt, but maybe maybe it'll turn into like everybody who can sign on and say it's not the happiest place on earth and then yeah, maybe maybe get some of those gate Gate fees back. Well, I'll tell you what. Those fast passes you've paid fits the couse of Disney are ridiculous. So okay, So anyways, we set all that to say only the finest news for our listeners. That's that's what we're trying to do, right, A little fun Okay, Hey, we're going to give you a mission project to do would you like us follow us on Facebook? And would you then share us on Facebook with all of your friends and family, because we know Facebook needs Jesus. Facebook needs a little bit of the Bible, guys, So make sure you do that today. So Jesus teaches us about using his name in prayer in John chapter sixteen. So remember Jesus is walking with his disciples to the guard Niggassemone from the upper room. And so each of these days, for the last several days, has been Jesus continuing with like, have you ever watched a movie like a disaster? Yes, you watched that movie. It doesn't matter. I just say, have you watched the Yes? I have, so any disaster kind of movie. Parents are talking to their kids, or a husband's talking to his wife. Listen, if anything happens, you got to do this and do this and do this and meet me here, right. That's kind of the conversation that's happening here because they don't know you're gonna find out right now in this reading. They don't know that Jesus about ready to be arrested, right right. They don't realize what's happening, right, And so as they're walking, she's like oh, and I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit, and don't worry, they're gonna persecute you. But that's what was gonna happen. And right, he's kind of giving them this laundry list of things. Ohan, just go upstairs, lock the door, get out of the bed, and don't say a word for anything. That's right. That's right. He literally told them in one of the other days, he says, I want you to go to Galilee and wait for me. Right, So it's just that's what happens. Anyways, if you think of all of these days that we've been reading, as one common of him saying, Hey, disaster's coming, and don't forget these things. So he says in John sixteen, verse sixteen, in a little while, you won't see an see me anymore, but a little while after that you will see me again a little foreshadow. Yes, some of the disciples ask each other what does he mean when he says, in a little while, you won't see me, but then you will see me. And I'm going to the Father. What does he mean by a little while? We don't understand. Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, are you asking yourselves what I meant. I said, in a little while you won't see me. But a little while after that you will see me again. I tell you the truth. You will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly be turned to wonderful joy. It'll be like a woman suffering the pains of labor when her child is born. Her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. So you have sorrow now, But I will see you again, and then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. At that time, you won't need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth. You will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. You haven't done this before. Ask using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy. I have spoken of these matters and figures of speech, but soon I will stop speaking figuratively, will tell you plainly all about the Father. Then you will ask in my name. I'm not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you dearly, because you love me and believe that I came from God. Yes, I came from the Father into the world, and now I leave the world and return to the Father. Then his disciples said, at last, you're speaking plainly and not figuratively. Now we understand that you know everything, and there's no need to question you. From this. We believe that you came from God. Jesus asked, do you finally believe? But the time is coming. Indeed, it's here now when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth. You will have many trials sorrows, but take heart, because I've overcome the world. Such a great good phrase right there, right, it's a motto for all of us, isn't it. Yep, that's it. Yeah. So I love how Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, and he knew exactly what they were thinking. Right. It doesn't say that he overheard them, but it doesn't say he didn't either. But I often love the fact in these parts of the scripture where Jesus knows the thoughts of the pharisees, sure, or he knows the thoughts in this case of his disciples. Yes, and he knows you know, all of that. And also there's not too many times where we are given insight about why they're confused. It just says they didn't understand, right, But in this case they actually list their reasoning. Right, They're like, wait a minute, what does he mean in a little while, Because in a little while, for God, can mean in a thousand years, right, that's right, you know, in a little while. Right, they don't know. And again, just to their credit, there's things that Jesus says that you know, are sometimes a little hard to understand, right, And so if you take it literal, you know, we're able to do that because we look back at the cross and we know exactly what happened. So we we have a tendency to judge a little bit and say, well, how could they have not understood exactly what he meant? You know? And and and but you know he was he was pretty well. We have the luxury of being able to look back, we knew what he We know what he meant because we know how the story is. That's what I mean. Yeah, but they don't understand. Yeah, but he was. He was a little obscure about a lot of things, you know, and a lot of things had symbolism. And you know, well, that's one of those last verses. Oh, finally he's going to speak plainly, because for the last three and a half years, I barely understand what he's talking about. Right, it's so funny, but it is interesting. In a little while, you won't see any me anymore. Literally, Jesus is hours away from dying. Yeah, hours. Yeah, Now, he's not days now, that's what he means by a little while. Yeah, yeah, he's literally in a few hours, I'm going to be executed. You're going to be grieving, the world will be celebrating, and you're going to be in your worst moment at that point. So this would be what like Thursday night, Yeah, this would be Thursday night. Yeah. Yeah. And and so Jesus is going through and you know, he's he's about to enter like they're probably not in the garden, or maybe they are in the garden at this point. The garden besemine. Well, the very next verse says, after saying all these things Jesus looked up to heaven. Right, So tomorrow we're going to be reading as he's moving, he's praying for his disciples. Okay, so yeah, he's very likely in the garden, very likely in the garden. And and so yeah, let's let's talk about this idea that Jesus says, you're going to grieve, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but suddenly your grief will turn into wonderful joy. And then he uses comparison, which is, think about it, one of the best comparisons in the scripture. Oh absolutely. He says, it's just like a woman suffering the pains of labor when a child is born, her anguish gives way to the joy because she's brought a new baby into the world. So I did a message one time called labor and delivery. And if you think about that concept, labor and delivery, it applies to the woman giving birth, it applies to the cross, labor and delivery, It applies to our salvation, It applies to even obedience, right, it applies to our everyday lives. The concept of labor and delivery, paying now, rewarding later. And I remember I did this message and it was solely based on this right here, labor and delivery. And it was the idea that God says, hey, my grace is free, but some blessings are conditional, right, absolutelys are most Yeah, most of God's promises are if then, Yeah, if my people who will call by my name will humble themselves and pray seek my faith, turn from the wicked ways, then I'll hear from heaven. Right, it's those. Almost all of God's promises are if then promises together conditional. So so the idea that God says, hey, if you honor me in your marriage, then your marriage will be blessed like no other. Right, if you decide to honor me by giving generously with your finances, then you're going to experience me in a way that you wouldn't have experienced me otherwise. Right. If you decide to you know, do X, Y and Z, you know, then you're going to get life abundant. You're gonna get blessings in your life. And so it's that idea of labor and delivery. And so anyway, I just think it's a wonderful, wonderful concept. So every time that we find ourselves maybe saying goodness, gracious. Falling God is difficult, So falling God is, you know, sometimes a little bit challenging. And sometimes you know what, maybe it's not challenging, it's just not what I want to do all the time. I don't want to make the good choice all the time, you know, I want to make the bad choice or the unhealthy choice every once in a while. But it's it's, if you think about it, it's in a lot of ways, labor and delivery follows the concept of delayed gratification versus instant gratification. So we all know what it means to resist that bite of dessert, you know, of the chocolate cake, so that we can look better in the dress later, or in the suit later, in the shirt, right. We all know what it's like to put put something away in savings now so that we can benefit later. You know, it's it's it's a delayed gratification versus instant gratify. So, ladies, when you're having a when you're in labor and all the labor pains and you're pushing at that moment, in Chris's expert opinion, that's just delayed gratification. When you finally get that's all that God said it. That's a delay. I'm not sure if you know this, but the Bible says, I think Jesus is trying to reference here the pain of the struggle you're in will result in joy, which I don't think Jesus is saying about delayed gratification. But I can your no. But I'm just telling the ladies that pain it's just in your mind. Ladies, according to Chris's expert opinion, is just in your mind. Just learn to delay your gratification a little bit. I know you're making a joke, and it is a funny joke, but I'm sticking to my guns here. All of pregnancy is delayed gratification. Sure, right, because when you make the choice and say I want to have a child, you know what's coming. You know there's delivery coming, sure right, But you do it for the sake of the fact that you want a child. Yes, I would argue and say, you're signing up for delayed gratification. Okay, there you go, instead of instead of instant. Yeah, so there is instant is the story instant? That's right. So in the notes, you know, we love the life application study Bible, and in verse twenty. The note says, what a contrast between the disciples and the world. Any disciple, If you're a follower of Jesus, you're a disciple, right, that's right. The world rejoiced as the disciples wept, But the disciples would see Jesus again in three days and rejoice. The world's values are often the opposite of God's values. This can cause Christians to feel like misfits. But even if life is difficult now, one day we will rejoice. So keep your eye on the future and on God's promises. Isn't that a great a great note? Right? That the fact that our values and what we're looking for is almost one hundred and eighty degrees opposite from the world's values and what the world is looking for can make us feel like we're misfits. And then we become nervous about the consequences of not fitting in. We become nervous about what about my job, what about my future? What about all these things? And we get nervous, and oftentimes we're tempted to just go with the ways the way the world does things and the way the world lives so that we fit in. That it tends to be Hey, ask most Christians. They're terrified of being canceled, right, And I think you're dumb for getting canceled for dumb stuff, right, But when it comes to the things of God, I think, you know, we have to do what is most important to God, and that's where he's talking about. So there is pain, there's a lot of pain in choosing to follow God. But the payoff is just like that mother that has that little boy or that little girl in her arms and all the rest is gone. It never amazes me, It never amazes me more than when I find out a lady is expecting her second child and is excited about it. So the first one I get, I get how old ladies said, Oh, I'm gonna have a baby. Do you know what's about to happen? Right, Because I've been there. I've been in the hospital going no way, it was up to me, there'll be no more kids, right, that'd be. But the lady who already knows what's gonna happen, and then she's thrilled that another baby's coming, And it's because the joy and the delight of holding that baby after is so much greater than the struggle. But ma'am. For me, that's all I can think about would be the struggle, right, And I think for a lot of us as Christians, the struggle of being a Christian, of being a misfit, of having people harass us or cause us trouble or whatever, seems like it's unbearable. But you're gonna get through it, right, you will. And Jesus said, the reward on the other side is rejoicing, and it's going to be worth it. Yeah, And I love how that statement that God makes is only a statement that God can see in the future. So look at us, right, We're so thankful for the cross. We're obviously thankful for all of that. And he says, you'll grieve now, but the rest of the world's going to rejoice. So here we are thousands of years later. So in this moment, Jesus is looking ahead to you and me right now, and he's knowing that the whole world, whole world has rejoiced because of what he decided to go through. And then Jesus tells us, and this is the whole point behind the title, Jesus teaching us to pray in his name after his resurrection. He says, you'll be able to go directly to the Father. You haven't done this before, right, but you'll be able to go directly to the Father now, and he'll grant you your request because you use my name. Remember we've already talked about praying in Jesus name, praying like Jesus would pray. That's what he's saying. We're praying as if we were praying the words Jesus would pray. And he says, you go directly to God. You couldn't do that before, but now you can. Jesus changed everything. No longer is God at an address and is approached by a certain elite group that we all have to go through. Instead, now we have direct access to the throne, which is what the Book of Hebrews says, boldly before the throne. Yeah, Hebrews four, I think it's twelve or thirteen. It says, now you can come boldly before God's throne to you know, to find grace and mercy to help us in our time of need. So you know, we can be completely confident to be in front of God's throne. And that concept, that idea was unheard of, right, High Priest, going inside the Holy Holies, if he had one sinful thought, he would die right Literally, they had to tie a rope around his ankle because nobody could even go in and get the dead body. So you have a little bell on his on his garment, just to you know, for people to hear him. And if he and if he had a sinful thought entering into God's presence, he would die. That was that was That was that concept. And by the way, everybody knew that. And and a priest only went inside the Holy Holies once a year. And so for you know, the writer of Hebrews to say, now you can go boldly before the throne, It's like, what with confidence. In a couple days, we're going to talk about the exact mechanism that happens at the crucifixion that makes that possible. So I'm super excited about it. But he does say you'll have abundant joy. The idea that you and I can go before the Creator should be one of the greatest joys in our life. And yet we oftentimes miss out praying and talking to God because it feels like a burden. But the reality is it should be a great joy that we get to go in and into the throne room of God and be able to communicate with him. And he cares about us, and he wants to hear what's going on in our life, and he wants to answer our prayers when we go and pray in Jesus name. So he wants a relationship with us absolutely every day. All right, Well, that's a great place to end, so hopefully we will see you tomorrow on the Bible gus H.