Today I want us to see...

... what we can learn from Daniel going to the upper room to pray. Daniel 6:10 (NLT) ^“But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.” He didn’t just pray when he had a bad day; he prayed every day. He didn’t just pray 911 prayers when he was facing the lion’s den, prayer was a vital part of the rhythm and routine of his life. 

Prayer was his life and his life was prayer. What about us? Are we just crisis Christians who only pray when opposition comes our way or do we pray today “just as we have always done”?  

I would be very unfair to leave out here that Daniel knew there was the potential for him to die if he continued to pray during this 30-day period. Remember the three Hebrew young men…Our God can deliver us but even if He doesn’t, we won’t bow down. When Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upper room. If we are going to be world changers, we have to make the upper room a priority…Daniel made it to his upper room three times a day. Daniel impacted his world by making it to the upper room. The twelve disciples changed the world by making it to the upper room and being there on the day of Pentecost. Holy Spirit fell and they turned their world upside down for Jesus. Elijah saw the resurrection power of God in the upper room when the widow’s son was raised from the dead. Tabitha was raised from the dead in the upper room when Peter prayed for her.

Maybe the reason we are not seeing revival or seeing the healings we want to see is because we are not making it to the upper room enough. The upper room is where we experience Holy Spirit power! Listen to me today…if you want Holy Spirit power, you don’t need people pulling on you or pushing on you or spitting on you or telling you to hang on or turn lose…get to the upper room…Jesus will fill you! Daniel’s upper room experience was just a foreshadowing of Holy Spirit power coming to the church. The dead are raised, the sick are healed, and the mouths of lions are shut…Get to the upper room!

Habakkuk 2:1 3 (NKJV) “I will stand my watch...

... And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected. Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.  For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.”  Today I want to continue to challenge you to pray with me about our church growing initially to one thousand. I have two important questions that I think we need to answer.

1. Did Jesus want to win the lost and see His Kingdom grow?  

Well, let’s look a Scripture and see what Jesus had to say about that. It is interesting to me to realize that what we are dreaming now is what Jesus was dreaming then. Luke 19:10 (NLT)  “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”  Obviously, Jesus wanted His Kingdom to grow and that is why He was seeking the lost.

2. What price was Jesus willing to pay to see His Kingdom (church) grow?  

Life Church will not grow without us being willing to do what Jesus did...deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.  Can I say that we have become very comfortable being saved and being safe in our little church on Picciola Road in Fruitland Park.  John 12:23 24 (NLT) Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.”  Wow, Pastor, growing to 1000 plus sounds serious...sounds sacrificial...sounds like being a servant for God instead of being served all the time. The days we live in demand us to be serious and sober about reaching the lost and building God’s Kingdom.

Jesus says in Matthew 10:37 39 (NKJV) ...

... “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”  It has been amazing to me as we have preached the portion of the New Testament that is in red (Jesus’ Words) that some have thought possibly we were a bit extreme.  Have we become so comfortable in the American church chasing after the American dream that we feel that Jesus’ words make us so uneasy.

Could it be possible that God would require everything of me?  Would Jesus really ask anyone to give up everything to follow Him?  Would He really expect me to love Him more than father, mother, son, or daughter?  Maybe the question is not whether He might require all of this of us but do we love Him enough to abandon it all if He asked us to do so?  Matthew Henry's Commentary: “A man cannot be Christ's disciple unless he loves Him more than father, and mother, and his own life.”  But, Lord, I have plans laid out and giving up everything does not fit into my future. Our lives have to be swallowed up in His...He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it!

We find it so strange that in 2014 we could be preaching a message to materialist Americans who are pursuing the American dream to accept Jesus’ offer to lay down our lives.  Maybe we should ask the disciples who (all but one) died a martyr’s death.  Pentecostals love this verse but really do not know what it means:  Acts 1:8 (NKJV) “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The word there “witnesses” is interpreted “martyrs”.  Bonhoeffer: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die.”  Come on, Life Church, it is time to die!