1 00:00:00,940 --> 00:00:07,890 Good morning. Morning if hey, I wanna I wanna 2 00:00:07,900 --> 00:00:09,680 say welcome to all of you. If you're new, if you're 3 00:00:09,690 --> 00:00:12,590 visiting with U.S. special welcome to you. 4 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:15,810 My name is Grant and I'm one of the pastors here at the church. 5 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:19,390 And it is it's good to worship together. 6 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,150 So whether this feels like something you've been doing for 7 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:26,550 the entirety of your life or whether it's something that is 8 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,770 that's kind of brand new, I'm I'm glad that you're here. 9 00:00:29,820 --> 00:00:31,710 It's good. It's good to be together. 10 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:39,170 Thanks guys. Perfect. 11 00:00:43,540 --> 00:00:48,630 If so, we're going to be in Luke Chapter 11, and Luke Chapter 11 12 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:50,230 is most of the way through your Bibles. 13 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:52,670 And so I just want to say we're going to work our way through 14 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:53,770 it. I'm not going to read it at the 15 00:00:53,780 --> 00:00:55,940 beginning, but we're going to land in Luke. 16 00:00:55,950 --> 00:00:58,140 We've been working our way through the entirety of the 17 00:00:58,150 --> 00:01:01,760 Gospel of Luke and we're reading every single line, every single 18 00:01:01,770 --> 00:01:05,770 verse, every single word, and really trying to wrestle it out 19 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:10,390 for our own lives, both individually, maybe in your 20 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,360 household as a family, as a church, for us, as a community. 21 00:01:13,370 --> 00:01:16,040 What does this mean? What does it challenge us into 22 00:01:16,050 --> 00:01:18,700 and toward? And we're almost halfway 23 00:01:18,710 --> 00:01:21,040 through. So if you've been here since the 24 00:01:21,050 --> 00:01:23,000 beginning, you can do a little bit of math. 25 00:01:23,610 --> 00:01:26,940 We're almost halfway through. But I think the best thing for 26 00:01:26,950 --> 00:01:28,320 you to do is to get in front of you. 27 00:01:28,330 --> 00:01:32,320 I love as we gather, as we're able to worship together, to 28 00:01:32,330 --> 00:01:34,050 read together. And so I'd encourage you to do 29 00:01:34,060 --> 00:01:34,920 it. I'm going to have it up on the 30 00:01:34,930 --> 00:01:38,250 slides here. And if you would like a Bible, 31 00:01:38,260 --> 00:01:40,800 though, if you want like a real physical Bible, we do have those 32 00:01:40,930 --> 00:01:43,290 hanging at the back of the sanctuary over here. 33 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:46,450 And I feel more than welcome to get up and go grab one. 34 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:48,930 If you write all over it and want to take it home at the end 35 00:01:48,940 --> 00:01:52,010 of the day, that's fantastic. That's yours, our gift to you. 36 00:01:52,020 --> 00:01:55,880 Take it, please. I would love to one day realize 37 00:01:55,890 --> 00:01:59,370 that we need to buy more Bibles because all of our Bibles just 38 00:01:59,380 --> 00:02:02,970 walked out the door and that we had no more left on that 39 00:02:02,980 --> 00:02:05,380 trolley. So we love that for you. 40 00:02:05,390 --> 00:02:08,889 But Luke Chapter 11, find it on your phones, find it on a tablet 41 00:02:08,900 --> 00:02:11,770 or read along with us on the screens. 42 00:02:12,020 --> 00:02:19,530 But let me pray as we begin. God, thanks for your love. 43 00:02:19,580 --> 00:02:22,710 Thanks for your grace. Thank you that you're with us. 44 00:02:23,020 --> 00:02:26,010 Yeah, I'm grateful. I'm grateful that you in your 45 00:02:26,020 --> 00:02:30,770 wisdom, choose to call us into community, not into isolation, 46 00:02:30,780 --> 00:02:33,230 not into loneliness. We got into meaningful 47 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:36,090 relationship. And thanks to that, meaningful 48 00:02:36,100 --> 00:02:38,570 relationship is with you and with others. 49 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,230 So, yeah, as we look specifically about prayer today 50 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,680 and how it might change our relationship to you and our 51 00:02:45,690 --> 00:02:48,500 relationship with others, God, I do pray that you would challenge 52 00:02:48,510 --> 00:02:51,920 us, kind of break down anything inside of us that needs to be 53 00:02:51,930 --> 00:02:55,170 broken down, build up and encourage us in the places where 54 00:02:55,180 --> 00:02:58,000 we need to be encouraged. Yeah, we're gonna trust that 55 00:02:58,010 --> 00:03:03,270 you're gonna do this today as we wrestle out your word and what 56 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:05,880 it means for our lives. So God, thanks in advance for 57 00:03:05,890 --> 00:03:08,290 what you're going to do, what you've already done today in 58 00:03:08,300 --> 00:03:14,180 Jesus name, Amen. So today we are talking about 59 00:03:14,270 --> 00:03:17,640 prayer and I've shared this story a couple of times in 60 00:03:17,650 --> 00:03:21,500 different places and spaces. And so it may not be a new story 61 00:03:21,510 --> 00:03:25,040 for you and I think that's OK. But a few years ago, this was 62 00:03:25,050 --> 00:03:28,060 years, this was a few years before I landed here, I was 63 00:03:28,070 --> 00:03:33,200 asked by someone to meet and this is how that e-mail went. 64 00:03:33,210 --> 00:03:38,680 It usually how these emails go said, hey, Grant, can we meet? 65 00:03:38,810 --> 00:03:42,000 I need to talk to you about something period. 66 00:03:42,410 --> 00:03:45,420 And it gave a few times and suggestions about when we could 67 00:03:45,430 --> 00:03:48,840 meet and you know, location coffee shops that we could go, 68 00:03:48,850 --> 00:03:51,110 but that was it. And I gotta tell you, like when 69 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,660 you receive those emails, you know what that like that could 70 00:03:53,670 --> 00:03:56,660 be anything, right? Immediately you start thinking 71 00:03:56,670 --> 00:03:58,860 like, what is this about? What are we going to talk about? 72 00:03:58,870 --> 00:04:00,430 What we need to like, what did I say? 73 00:04:00,500 --> 00:04:04,990 What do we need to meet about? And so like I said, years ago, 74 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,870 had this request. And so we set a time and we met 75 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:11,590 at a local coffee shop and we sat down and we did the whole 76 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:13,170 small talk thing, like, how's it going? 77 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,050 How's your family? How are things in your life? 78 00:04:16,060 --> 00:04:18,850 And then we got to the point in the conversation where I said, I 79 00:04:18,860 --> 00:04:22,580 still don't know why we're here, so I gotta ask. 80 00:04:22,590 --> 00:04:27,660 And I just simply said, hey, what is it that you want to talk 81 00:04:27,770 --> 00:04:29,720 about? Like at some point in the 82 00:04:29,730 --> 00:04:32,800 conversation, you just have to name the thing, why are we here? 83 00:04:33,110 --> 00:04:35,630 And it's good. Like, let's talk about the real 84 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:38,160 thing. Let's not talk about the surface 85 00:04:38,170 --> 00:04:40,920 level things. Let's get to what really 86 00:04:40,990 --> 00:04:42,980 matters. And so this person that I was 87 00:04:42,990 --> 00:04:45,000 meeting with, he paused. And then he looked up and he 88 00:04:45,010 --> 00:04:49,460 said to me, after a few seconds of silence, he said, I, I don't 89 00:04:49,470 --> 00:04:54,840 think I know how to pray. And I went, hey, thanks for 90 00:04:54,910 --> 00:04:57,770 sharing that super vulnerable, honest thing. 91 00:04:58,710 --> 00:05:01,060 And you gotta keep in mind like this is somebody who was active 92 00:05:01,070 --> 00:05:05,030 in the church, like he was a follower of Jesus, grew up in 93 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:10,180 the church, spent many, many Sundays in the church worshiping 94 00:05:10,190 --> 00:05:14,360 alongside other faithful members of the church, praying and 95 00:05:14,370 --> 00:05:16,780 praying together, praying out loud and leading. 96 00:05:16,790 --> 00:05:20,640 And still got to a point in his life where he really sat down 97 00:05:20,650 --> 00:05:24,900 and thought about it and realized, like, I'm not sure 98 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:29,870 that I know how to pray. Or at least that I know how to 99 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:34,230 pray in the way I feel I should or need to. 100 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:37,150 Or I am called to or would like to and and want to. 101 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:43,560 And maybe that's not dissimilar to how you feel in certain 102 00:05:43,570 --> 00:05:48,870 seasons, maybe even in this season, like you don't know how 103 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:53,150 to do the thing that you want to do that you feel you ought to 104 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,230 need to are led and called to do. 105 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:01,350 Like you might not know how to pray prayer when you get to 106 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:07,310 simply like the base value heart of it is talking with God. 107 00:06:08,310 --> 00:06:12,050 That's it. Prayer is talking with God and 108 00:06:12,060 --> 00:06:15,350 we all do it or need to do it at some point or another in this 109 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:17,450 life. Like whether it's the daily 110 00:06:17,460 --> 00:06:21,330 prayers of the grandma who rises early to pray for her grandkids 111 00:06:21,340 --> 00:06:24,870 every single day. Or whether it's the urgent and 112 00:06:24,940 --> 00:06:28,510 unfamiliar kind of awkward prayers of the father whose kid 113 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,990 is sick in the hospital. He's not quite sure how to do 114 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:33,970 the thing that he knows he needs to do. 115 00:06:34,140 --> 00:06:38,170 Whether it's doubt filled, angry prayers that you pray after 116 00:06:38,220 --> 00:06:40,480 you've lost somebody significant to you. 117 00:06:40,550 --> 00:06:43,290 When a relationship goes sideways in a way that you can't 118 00:06:43,300 --> 00:06:48,240 now navigate and figure out, all of us come to a place where we 119 00:06:48,990 --> 00:06:52,640 need to pray and where we do pray. 120 00:06:54,060 --> 00:06:58,050 I think the problem is that for many of us, we resist for so 121 00:06:58,060 --> 00:07:00,350 long. This interior life, this 122 00:07:00,420 --> 00:07:05,170 contemplative life, this slowed down, introspective way of 123 00:07:05,220 --> 00:07:08,750 really wrestling with the deep things of our heart and our mind 124 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,870 and our soul and our body and our relationships with God and 125 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,340 with others. We push against it for so long 126 00:07:15,350 --> 00:07:19,990 that it takes a moment of crisis for us to be brought to a place 127 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,210 where we then need to pray. Something has to happen in order 128 00:07:24,220 --> 00:07:28,560 to push us into a place of vulnerability. 129 00:07:29,460 --> 00:07:31,600 Because I don't know about you, but I think like human beings 130 00:07:31,610 --> 00:07:37,080 were really good at running from vulnerability with ourselves and 131 00:07:37,090 --> 00:07:41,170 with others. And instead, we live these lives 132 00:07:41,180 --> 00:07:46,130 that are so busy or so numbed, which are often the same thing, 133 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:49,650 that it takes something catastrophic to push us to a 134 00:07:49,660 --> 00:07:54,770 place of prayer. When we live life this way, 135 00:07:54,780 --> 00:07:59,860 Ronald Rolheiser writes, we end up as good people, but as people 136 00:07:59,870 --> 00:08:04,920 who are not very deep, he says. Not bad, just busy. 137 00:08:05,850 --> 00:08:08,600 Not necessarily immoral, just distracted. 138 00:08:08,610 --> 00:08:11,800 Not lacking in soul, just preoccupied. 139 00:08:11,810 --> 00:08:17,260 Not disdaining depth, just lacking in practice. 140 00:08:18,790 --> 00:08:24,410 And prayer takes practice. So I Thomas Merton says if you 141 00:08:24,420 --> 00:08:30,220 want a life of prayer, the way to get it is to pray. 142 00:08:31,850 --> 00:08:35,630 There's there's no magic formula, there's no like if 143 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,700 this, then not say these words and all will be well. 144 00:08:38,710 --> 00:08:40,460 Absolutely you will understand it. 145 00:08:40,470 --> 00:08:44,670 The only way to do it is simply to do it. 146 00:08:46,190 --> 00:08:48,080 Jesus we see all throughout the Gospels. 147 00:08:48,090 --> 00:08:49,460 We've seen it already in the book of Luke. 148 00:08:49,470 --> 00:08:52,780 He lives a life of prayer. He goes into these moments and 149 00:08:52,790 --> 00:08:55,960 out of these moments. All of his ministry is filled 150 00:08:56,030 --> 00:08:59,960 with Jesus moving into quiet places in order to pray. 151 00:09:00,030 --> 00:09:03,520 And at the beginning of every single significant thing that we 152 00:09:03,530 --> 00:09:07,380 see happening in Jesus's life and in his ministry, we first 153 00:09:07,390 --> 00:09:09,580 see him moving into a time of prayer. 154 00:09:09,590 --> 00:09:14,260 He prays and then he goes because it's in prayer that I 155 00:09:14,270 --> 00:09:17,680 heard one person say Jesus gets his marching orders. 156 00:09:18,990 --> 00:09:21,730 Prayer keeps him close to the Father. 157 00:09:22,810 --> 00:09:26,580 Prayer for Jesus is where he spent time with his Father. 158 00:09:27,450 --> 00:09:30,680 It's where his own identity was confirmed as Son of God. 159 00:09:30,690 --> 00:09:36,940 It's where he steps into all of his life as it was directed by 160 00:09:36,950 --> 00:09:40,070 the Father, and that's how he stayed in step and aligned with 161 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:44,510 the will of God all throughout his life and his ministry. 162 00:09:44,580 --> 00:09:48,750 And so it's not surprising to me that we see Jesus's teaching on 163 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:53,470 prayer as rising out of his own moment of prayer. 164 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:58,590 It says now Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he 165 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,280 finished praying, so the ciples wait, one of his disciples said 166 00:10:02,290 --> 00:10:08,020 to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. 167 00:10:08,130 --> 00:10:12,200 It's out of Jesus's own prayer life, his own interior life, his 168 00:10:12,210 --> 00:10:16,520 own life of examining himself before God, that the disciples 169 00:10:16,530 --> 00:10:22,240 go, Hey Jesus, can you teach us to pray like that? 170 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:25,770 Can you teach us to pray like you pray? 171 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:28,450 There's something about the way in which Jesus is praying. 172 00:10:28,460 --> 00:10:31,100 For starters, the disciples see Jesus praying. 173 00:10:32,550 --> 00:10:36,640 They're witness to it. And when Jesus finishes praying, 174 00:10:36,650 --> 00:10:40,780 one of his disciples then says, Lord, teach us to pray. 175 00:10:40,790 --> 00:10:44,080 Give us the same language, Jesus, that you have. 176 00:10:44,090 --> 00:10:46,960 Give us the same posture that you have. 177 00:10:47,010 --> 00:10:50,620 Whatever it is, whatever this is that we just witness it 178 00:10:50,630 --> 00:10:55,240 witnessed, God would you give us that we want, whatever that is. 179 00:10:57,490 --> 00:11:01,200 I tried buying my shirts Blue Jays or my I tried buying my 180 00:11:01,210 --> 00:11:09,560 girls Blue Jays shirts this week and that wasn't possible or easy 181 00:11:10,110 --> 00:11:13,820 at all. And listen like that. 182 00:11:13,830 --> 00:11:19,110 Yeah, World Series. The week of the World Series is 183 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:22,900 not the right time to go out and try to buy a Blue Jay shirt for 184 00:11:22,910 --> 00:11:27,060 your kids. I looked online, I looked in 185 00:11:27,070 --> 00:11:29,640 stores. There were shirts available, but 186 00:11:29,650 --> 00:11:32,700 I wasn't willing to price there to pay the price that they that 187 00:11:32,710 --> 00:11:34,880 they cost. I couldn't, I couldn't find them 188 00:11:34,930 --> 00:11:36,580 for starters. I just couldn't find anything 189 00:11:36,590 --> 00:11:39,680 anywhere. And then when I found the the 190 00:11:39,690 --> 00:11:43,710 shirts, they were just, I wasn't willing to pay that price for 191 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:48,220 them. When you cheer for a team, you 192 00:11:48,230 --> 00:11:52,300 wear a shirt or a jersey. Or when you jump on a bandwagon, 193 00:11:52,310 --> 00:11:54,640 you go out to buy a shirt. Or at least you try to buy a 194 00:11:54,650 --> 00:11:59,390 shirt for your kids because at the end of the like, the shirt 195 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:01,930 is meant to identify you with something, right? 196 00:12:01,940 --> 00:12:06,350 As a fan of the team, with the team alongside the team. 197 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:09,310 Like, so there's something about sports where like fans, I don't 198 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,460 know why we do this, but we say when the sports team wins, like, 199 00:12:12,470 --> 00:12:13,970 well, we just, we did it. We did it. 200 00:12:13,980 --> 00:12:17,070 Like what? We, I wasn't involved. 201 00:12:18,090 --> 00:12:21,360 I'd like that's not the wheel I'm talking about, but the 202 00:12:21,420 --> 00:12:25,490 listen, the jersey identifies you with the team and, and 203 00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:28,270 really like at the end of the day, that's what Jesus is 204 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,470 disciples are asking him for. That's what I want us to see 205 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:33,410 here. When a person becomes a 206 00:12:33,420 --> 00:12:35,930 Christian, a person becomes a follower of Jesus, their entire 207 00:12:35,940 --> 00:12:39,800 life has changed. And it's not just on Sundays, 208 00:12:39,810 --> 00:12:43,140 and it's not just on some days. Like it's all the time. 209 00:12:43,150 --> 00:12:47,900 All of life has changed all of the time, and so this request, 210 00:12:47,910 --> 00:12:52,520 Lord teach us to pray is a very specific request because I hope 211 00:12:52,530 --> 00:12:56,160 you notice this. He says teach us to pray as John 212 00:12:56,170 --> 00:13:02,780 taught his disciples. So it's a very specific ask. 213 00:13:04,150 --> 00:13:07,270 They're not asking Jesus just to give us language of prayer. 214 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:09,600 They're asking for something very specific. 215 00:13:09,610 --> 00:13:13,020 Teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. 216 00:13:13,030 --> 00:13:14,870 They're asking for a team jersey. 217 00:13:15,850 --> 00:13:18,240 They're asking Jesus to give them a prayer that would 218 00:13:18,250 --> 00:13:21,600 identify them uniquely and specifically as Jesus's 219 00:13:21,610 --> 00:13:25,070 followers. They're not just asking for some 220 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:29,140 generic prayer that will maybe get them to a place that they're 221 00:13:29,150 --> 00:13:32,610 not already at. They are asking for Jesus to 222 00:13:32,620 --> 00:13:38,250 give them very specifically his prayer as their rabbi, as their 223 00:13:38,260 --> 00:13:42,370 teacher that they could then live into, and a prayer that 224 00:13:42,380 --> 00:13:46,350 would form them and shape them into a community. 225 00:13:46,420 --> 00:13:51,260 Jewish rabbis would teach their disciples specific prayers and 226 00:13:51,270 --> 00:13:54,480 it was common. You could tell which rabbi A 227 00:13:54,490 --> 00:13:58,430 disciple belonged to based on the prayers that they prayed. 228 00:13:59,170 --> 00:14:02,280 And so John taught his disciples to pray. 229 00:14:02,340 --> 00:14:05,880 People would know who's John who, who were John's disciples. 230 00:14:05,890 --> 00:14:10,400 They would know who they were following as a rabbi based on 231 00:14:10,410 --> 00:14:12,980 this prayer that John taught them. 232 00:14:13,170 --> 00:14:17,860 Specific prayers that linked students, disciples to rabbis, 233 00:14:18,050 --> 00:14:21,930 teachers. Something about the way that 234 00:14:21,940 --> 00:14:24,780 they prayed and the words that they use communicated as a 235 00:14:24,790 --> 00:14:28,750 disciple, who their teacher was. And so the disciples, what 236 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:31,980 they're really asking for is for Jesus to teach them to pray in a 237 00:14:31,990 --> 00:14:35,260 way that would identify them uniquely as Jesus's disciples. 238 00:14:35,510 --> 00:14:39,600 They're not asking Jesus to teach them to pray like John 239 00:14:39,610 --> 00:14:43,200 taught his disciples to pray, as in in the way John taught his 240 00:14:43,210 --> 00:14:46,660 disciples. They're saying, Jesus give us a 241 00:14:46,670 --> 00:14:52,300 unique voice and a unique prayer that will show people that we 242 00:14:52,310 --> 00:14:54,300 belong to you, that we are yours. 243 00:14:55,200 --> 00:15:01,270 That's what their ask is. They want to be identified as 244 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:09,080 Jesus Christians. You, Christian, are those who 245 00:15:09,090 --> 00:15:15,060 are formed by prayer. Christians are ones who are 246 00:15:15,110 --> 00:15:22,030 identified in the way they pray as individuals and even more as 247 00:15:22,100 --> 00:15:25,830 a community. We are a community that is and 248 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:30,690 needs to continually be shaped and formed by the way Jesus 249 00:15:30,700 --> 00:15:33,720 prayed and how he taught us to pray. 250 00:15:34,610 --> 00:15:37,780 Because it's through repetition of the prayer and its messages, 251 00:15:38,490 --> 00:15:41,980 they get ahold of our hearts and our minds and they shape the 252 00:15:41,990 --> 00:15:46,020 decisions we make and the lives that we live, the imprint 253 00:15:46,030 --> 00:15:50,740 themselves on us as a community. And so the prayer that Jesus 254 00:15:50,750 --> 00:15:53,340 taught his disciples to pray and the prayer that Christians have 255 00:15:53,350 --> 00:15:57,200 said now for centuries, the prayer that we continue to say 256 00:15:57,210 --> 00:16:03,040 as followers of Jesus, we become more of that prayer as we pray 257 00:16:03,050 --> 00:16:05,900 it. Henry Nowen calls prayer the 258 00:16:05,910 --> 00:16:12,140 breadth of your life. It is what gives you life. 259 00:16:14,990 --> 00:16:18,900 Again, I want us to notice that the entire conversation rises 260 00:16:18,910 --> 00:16:24,290 out of not Jesus deciding to teach about prayer, but out of 261 00:16:24,300 --> 00:16:31,480 Jesus is praying life. And so I think an honest 262 00:16:31,490 --> 00:16:34,840 question to ask yourself is simply, is prayer the breath of 263 00:16:34,850 --> 00:16:39,420 my life? Like what gives me life? 264 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:43,620 Jesus was praying in a certain place. 265 00:16:45,090 --> 00:16:49,140 Prayer is where God challenges you and where God convicts you. 266 00:16:50,010 --> 00:16:52,840 Prayer is where God heals and restores you. 267 00:16:52,910 --> 00:16:57,040 Prayer is where God longs to meet you in the midst of your 268 00:16:57,050 --> 00:17:00,970 hurt and your healing. It's where you can work out the 269 00:17:00,980 --> 00:17:03,530 deepest things of your heart and your soul. 270 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,329 It's where you workout the loss that you've experienced and the 271 00:17:06,339 --> 00:17:09,400 ongoing pain of sadness and sorrow and grief. 272 00:17:09,410 --> 00:17:12,349 It's where you work out and wrestle with the relationship 273 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:15,390 that is sideways and you don't quite know how it got there or 274 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:18,150 how to move forward. It's where you can wrestle out 275 00:17:18,220 --> 00:17:24,160 and experience forgiveness that you need to receive, and it's 276 00:17:24,170 --> 00:17:27,349 where you are challenged to give the forgiveness that you need to 277 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:31,240 go and hand out and live into. It's where we wrestle with. 278 00:17:31,250 --> 00:17:34,530 It's where we face the false sense of self that twists our 279 00:17:34,540 --> 00:17:39,240 understanding of who you are, who I am, and who God is. 280 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:41,700 That's how we understand who we are. 281 00:17:43,300 --> 00:17:46,170 And the wonderful thing about prayer is that Jesus gives us a 282 00:17:46,180 --> 00:17:50,200 pattern to follow. Anyone can do it. 283 00:17:51,210 --> 00:17:55,840 Anyone can pray at any moment and Jesus gives you words to 284 00:17:55,850 --> 00:17:57,700 utter when you don't know what to say. 285 00:17:57,710 --> 00:18:03,350 Jesus says start here. Pray these words, and so he said 286 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:06,610 to them. When you pray, say, Father 287 00:18:07,060 --> 00:18:12,160 hallowed, be your name, your Kingdom come give us each day 288 00:18:12,170 --> 00:18:16,910 Our Daily Bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves 289 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:21,270 forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into 290 00:18:22,010 --> 00:18:25,650 temptation. Now that prayer might be a 291 00:18:25,660 --> 00:18:28,910 little bit different then the prayer that you are used to 292 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:31,890 saying. Matthew's version is longer. 293 00:18:31,950 --> 00:18:36,090 If Matthew's version is like Jesus's master class on prayer, 294 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,800 this is like the Ted Talk version where it's like right to 295 00:18:39,810 --> 00:18:41,700 the point. He's gotta stay on time and he's 296 00:18:41,710 --> 00:18:48,110 quick, but I want us to see these same lines, he says. 297 00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:53,510 Father hallowed be your name, she says. 298 00:18:54,280 --> 00:19:02,090 Halo, make Holy Honor the name of God to how something simply 299 00:19:02,100 --> 00:19:06,330 means to declare that it is holy, to name it as holy. 300 00:19:06,380 --> 00:19:09,470 Now, I don't know about you, but God definitely doesn't need me 301 00:19:09,540 --> 00:19:13,580 to declare him holy. There's nothing like there's 302 00:19:13,590 --> 00:19:17,450 nothing changing about God when I decide to declare that Jesus 303 00:19:17,460 --> 00:19:19,230 is holy. I like, I'm not that great. 304 00:19:21,110 --> 00:19:25,580 What happens, though, when we pray this prayer is that I'm 305 00:19:25,590 --> 00:19:30,000 forced to speak for myself when I hallow the name of God. 306 00:19:30,010 --> 00:19:34,940 When I make God's name holy, I am forced to face the ways and 307 00:19:34,950 --> 00:19:40,380 places and times in my own life when I have not made God's name 308 00:19:40,470 --> 00:19:45,260 holy or when I have profaned the name of God. 309 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:52,260 My declaration changes nothing about who God is, but it does 310 00:19:52,270 --> 00:19:56,730 change how I approach God to pray. 311 00:19:56,740 --> 00:20:00,430 This prayer requires me to confront what is going on in my 312 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:04,030 heart and my mind and and the ways in my life that have not 313 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:07,600 honored God in His Holiness. And so we pray. 314 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:10,270 God, make me aware of your holiness. 315 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,290 Keep me open to your presence, which is all around me. 316 00:20:13,300 --> 00:20:16,130 Give me eyes to see you at work in the world. 317 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:19,010 Help me to remember the greatness of the greatness of 318 00:20:19,020 --> 00:20:23,560 who you are. And help me to forget a little 319 00:20:23,570 --> 00:20:29,240 bit the greatness I think I can claim to have and hold on to, he 320 00:20:29,250 --> 00:20:31,300 says. Father, hallowed be your name, 321 00:20:32,660 --> 00:20:38,100 your Kingdom come. To declare God's Kingdom come is 322 00:20:38,110 --> 00:20:42,930 to declare that my own Kingdom has to die, right? 323 00:20:42,940 --> 00:20:47,200 This is a prayer of surrender. This is a part of surrender into 324 00:20:47,210 --> 00:20:53,280 the hands of God and His coming Kingdom is to say I'm not gonna 325 00:20:53,290 --> 00:20:57,060 build my own little Kingdom. It's to say I'm not gonna pursue 326 00:20:57,070 --> 00:21:01,340 my own greatness in little ways. It's to say, God, your Kingdom 327 00:21:01,350 --> 00:21:06,580 come, I'm all in on your Kingdom. 328 00:21:07,820 --> 00:21:12,850 Help me to forget the ways I still try to claim and take hold 329 00:21:12,860 --> 00:21:17,450 of and put stake in my own little ways of brokenness in an 330 00:21:17,460 --> 00:21:22,160 attempt to make myself greater than I am or ought to be. 331 00:21:23,180 --> 00:21:30,140 Your Kingdom come, we pray. God, allow what I do today to be 332 00:21:30,150 --> 00:21:33,120 in line with your Kingdom and not mine. 333 00:21:33,190 --> 00:21:37,060 Allow people to experience more of who you are and how I am. 334 00:21:38,070 --> 00:21:43,340 Would people see me act not out of selfish ambition, but with 335 00:21:43,410 --> 00:21:51,010 humility and grace, like we pray God your Kingdom come give us 336 00:21:51,020 --> 00:21:54,590 this day, Our Daily Bread. Jesus continues. 337 00:21:54,660 --> 00:21:59,300 He says listen as you learn to surrender, you also learn what 338 00:21:59,310 --> 00:22:04,900 it means to depend on another. Jesus's prayer reminds his 339 00:22:04,910 --> 00:22:07,960 followers not to take an extra shirt or spare change for the 340 00:22:07,970 --> 00:22:13,280 road, but to go with urgency and to trust that God will provide 341 00:22:13,290 --> 00:22:17,740 what you need. This prayer prays every single 342 00:22:17,750 --> 00:22:22,700 day in words that I love. God, give me today what I need 343 00:22:23,010 --> 00:22:28,980 for today. Help me to stay present to 344 00:22:28,990 --> 00:22:31,940 myself and to others and to you. God. 345 00:22:31,950 --> 00:22:35,780 Would you give me what I need? Yes, like physically bred for my 346 00:22:35,790 --> 00:22:40,850 body but also for my soul. How would you speak to me? 347 00:22:40,860 --> 00:22:45,770 Would you meet me in the moment of this day and would you give 348 00:22:45,780 --> 00:22:50,690 me just what I need for today? He says. 349 00:22:50,700 --> 00:22:54,210 Forgive us our sins as we forgive everyone who is indebted 350 00:22:54,220 --> 00:22:58,430 to us and we pray. God, remind me of my need. 351 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:01,270 Remind me of my need to be forgiven. 352 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,470 Help me not to just keep forgiveness at arms length out 353 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,430 there with everybody who I need to go and forgive because 354 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:10,290 they've wronged me. Helped me to 1st recognize that 355 00:23:10,300 --> 00:23:17,430 I need to be forgiven and then help me to experience Your grace 356 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:20,730 and Your Mercy. Remind me of my forgiveness so 357 00:23:20,740 --> 00:23:25,630 that I can live out of that same place of grace and mercy and 358 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:30,660 forgive others. Help the way I am to be rooted 359 00:23:30,670 --> 00:23:35,420 in Your grace and not my own. Doling out of forgiveness over 360 00:23:35,430 --> 00:23:39,020 here but not over here and holding on to grudge here and 361 00:23:39,030 --> 00:23:43,550 then offering grace here. How would you remind me of how 362 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:47,710 badly I need to be forgiven? And then you concludes here, and 363 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:52,670 lead us not into temptation. Finally, says God, keep me in 364 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:57,090 step with your spirit, Keep me in step with your will, Keep me 365 00:23:57,100 --> 00:24:01,230 in step with your life and your love and not my own desire. 366 00:24:02,710 --> 00:24:05,950 Help me not to slip mindlessly into evil. 367 00:24:06,780 --> 00:24:12,540 Help me to be freed from fear. Help me to live released. 368 00:24:14,540 --> 00:24:22,550 Jesus says when you pray, when you pray, say pray like this. 369 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:27,700 And I gotta tell you, on the one hand, I I say, if you don't know 370 00:24:27,710 --> 00:24:31,360 where to pray or how to pray or where to start, pray these words 371 00:24:31,790 --> 00:24:36,760 verbatim. Start by reading them every 372 00:24:36,770 --> 00:24:40,740 single day. Try to do it today and then 373 00:24:40,750 --> 00:24:46,340 tomorrow try to do it today and the next day try to do it today. 374 00:24:47,270 --> 00:24:50,500 And she says pray this pattern. Live into this pattern of prayer 375 00:24:50,550 --> 00:24:52,650 and then eventually find your own words. 376 00:24:54,270 --> 00:24:57,480 Eventually make it such a part of who you are and how you are 377 00:24:57,490 --> 00:25:01,000 and how you are before God that your own words flow out of this 378 00:25:01,010 --> 00:25:07,230 same prayer. When you pray, pray this 379 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,670 pattern, pray like this. Follow these words. 380 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:13,410 Allow them to define you and to change you. 381 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:16,830 And one of the things that I don't ever want you or us to 382 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,280 forgive is this, he says. Give us. 383 00:25:21,460 --> 00:25:26,260 Forgive us for we ourselves. Forgive everyone who's in debt. 384 00:25:26,270 --> 00:25:29,930 Lead us not. This is a prayer that will 385 00:25:29,940 --> 00:25:33,310 forever link you and bind you and shape you and form you 386 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:37,570 inside of community. And it's a prayer that you pray 387 00:25:37,580 --> 00:25:41,400 alongside and with every other follower of Jesus who has ever 388 00:25:41,410 --> 00:25:46,640 prayed it. Give us, Forgive us. 389 00:25:47,380 --> 00:25:50,170 Jesus says when you pray, pray like this, follow this pattern, 390 00:25:50,180 --> 00:25:52,440 use these words. But then he continues because he 391 00:25:52,450 --> 00:25:56,310 doesn't just give the disciples words to memorize and recite. 392 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,570 It's not just a + b = C equation for Jesus. 393 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:02,870 It's not just when you get to the end. 394 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:04,840 Lead us not into temptation. Period. 395 00:26:04,850 --> 00:26:12,980 You will be a master of prayer. He gives them a posture with 396 00:26:12,990 --> 00:26:17,930 which to pray. He challenges them how they 397 00:26:17,940 --> 00:26:20,550 ought to be as they approach God. 398 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:23,260 When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, they're 399 00:26:23,270 --> 00:26:26,010 also asking them to teach them how to pray like Jesus prayed. 400 00:26:26,020 --> 00:26:30,380 As in, they see something in him that is different. 401 00:26:31,230 --> 00:26:34,460 And we have to remember the disciples weren't rookies at 402 00:26:34,470 --> 00:26:37,160 prayer. They're not like, this isn't 403 00:26:37,170 --> 00:26:39,610 like, oh, well, Jesus, we've been seeing you do this thing 404 00:26:39,620 --> 00:26:41,760 and you call that prayer for a little while now. 405 00:26:41,770 --> 00:26:44,260 Like, would you, could you just teach us how to do that? 406 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,740 Like the disciples have memorized Jewish prayers since 407 00:26:48,750 --> 00:26:52,560 their childhood, and they have been reciting those prayers 408 00:26:52,570 --> 00:26:55,920 since their childhood. They were in their own rights, 409 00:26:55,930 --> 00:27:01,180 masters of prayer, and yet they still see something in Jesus 410 00:27:01,190 --> 00:27:04,450 that is so different that they say, Jesus, teach us to pray 411 00:27:05,470 --> 00:27:08,200 like that. Give us that same posture, that 412 00:27:08,210 --> 00:27:10,220 same heart that you have, whatever that is. 413 00:27:11,730 --> 00:27:18,330 Would you show us that? And so maybe like you, maybe you 414 00:27:18,340 --> 00:27:22,940 feel to some sense like you've plateaued in your prayer life or 415 00:27:22,950 --> 00:27:25,720 that like you've peaked or that you've hit a rut or that you're, 416 00:27:25,730 --> 00:27:28,900 you know, you're doing the same thing, but it all just feels 417 00:27:28,910 --> 00:27:33,700 rote or like maybe at worst, you feel like you've mastered prayer 418 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:36,970 and you're not quite sure what to do next. 419 00:27:36,980 --> 00:27:39,710 Jesus continues. He says to them this Which of 420 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,940 you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 421 00:27:43,950 --> 00:27:47,250 Friend, lend ME3 loaves. For a friend of mine has arrived 422 00:27:47,260 --> 00:27:49,760 on a journey and I have nothing to set before him and he will 423 00:27:49,770 --> 00:27:51,660 answer from within. Do not bother me. 424 00:27:51,730 --> 00:27:54,720 The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. 425 00:27:54,970 --> 00:27:57,750 I cannot get up and give you anything. 426 00:27:57,930 --> 00:28:00,590 I tell you though, he will not get up and give him anything 427 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:03,020 because he is a friend. Yet because of your shameless 428 00:28:03,030 --> 00:28:09,320 audacity, he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 429 00:28:09,630 --> 00:28:14,840 And I tell you, ask and it will be given to you. 430 00:28:16,430 --> 00:28:22,980 Seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you. 431 00:28:23,740 --> 00:28:28,170 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks fines, and 432 00:28:28,180 --> 00:28:31,530 to the one who knocks, it will be opened. 433 00:28:33,290 --> 00:28:38,140 Jesus says more than a pattern, more than words to pray. 434 00:28:38,230 --> 00:28:42,820 The posture of prayer that we are to live into is 1 of 435 00:28:42,830 --> 00:28:49,780 boldness and persistent prayer. Jesus says pray boldly, and he 436 00:28:49,790 --> 00:28:54,480 says pray persistently. Shameless audacity. 437 00:28:56,230 --> 00:29:00,280 Now I've got to admit that I come to this line and I hear 2 438 00:29:00,290 --> 00:29:02,530 very different things echoing in my ears. 439 00:29:03,930 --> 00:29:08,540 I feel attention when I read this and when I really ask 440 00:29:08,550 --> 00:29:12,660 myself whether or not I pray in this way. 441 00:29:13,950 --> 00:29:18,420 And in the one year I hear echoing people like Kierkegaard 442 00:29:18,430 --> 00:29:21,680 who said the function of prayer is not to influence God, but 443 00:29:21,690 --> 00:29:24,220 rather to change the nature of the one who prays. 444 00:29:24,230 --> 00:29:28,630 And so I say thank you. It's not about influencing God. 445 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,270 It's about changing me. OK, God change me. 446 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,420 But then on the other side, in my other ear, I hear people like 447 00:29:34,430 --> 00:29:38,490 Karl Bart, who writes God is not Deaf, He listens. 448 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:42,930 More than that, he acts. He does not act in the same way. 449 00:29:42,940 --> 00:29:46,840 Whether we pray or not, prayer exerts an influence upon God's 450 00:29:46,850 --> 00:29:50,350 action, even upon his existence. That is what the word answer 451 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:55,940 means. And so I sit here and I go, 452 00:29:55,950 --> 00:29:59,970 Which is it? Is prayer about God exerting 453 00:29:59,980 --> 00:30:03,170 influence on me? Or when I pray, am I actually 454 00:30:03,180 --> 00:30:07,950 changing what God would do? Sometimes my prayers are 455 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,700 answered. Sometimes my prayers aren't 456 00:30:11,710 --> 00:30:15,670 answered, at least not in the way that I would have liked or 457 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:21,240 hoped or longed for. And I know that I don't need to 458 00:30:21,250 --> 00:30:24,030 ask you if you've ever had a prayer feel like it's gone 459 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:28,520 unanswered or if you know the pain of a prayer that's answered 460 00:30:28,530 --> 00:30:34,140 in the way that you didn't want. And so maybe you feel a little 461 00:30:34,150 --> 00:30:36,960 bit like me and you come back to this verse and you struggle to 462 00:30:36,970 --> 00:30:39,340 read this line. Ask and it will be given to you. 463 00:30:39,350 --> 00:30:42,320 Seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you because 464 00:30:42,330 --> 00:30:48,240 you say in your own prayer, God, you said, and I gotta tell you 465 00:30:48,250 --> 00:30:52,680 like I've prayed these spurs got you said that you give good 466 00:30:52,690 --> 00:30:57,110 things and good gifts like you. You're the one who does. 467 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:00,530 You said seek. You said breed persistent. 468 00:31:00,540 --> 00:31:03,330 You said that we will find. You said that doors were gonna 469 00:31:03,340 --> 00:31:07,880 be opened. God, you said ask and you'll 470 00:31:07,890 --> 00:31:14,050 receive and I'm asking over and over again and it feels like 471 00:31:14,060 --> 00:31:17,450 you're not answering it in the way that in the way that I'm 472 00:31:17,460 --> 00:31:24,660 hoping for. You said everyone does my 473 00:31:24,670 --> 00:31:26,290 prayer. Maybe this thought has gone 474 00:31:26,300 --> 00:31:28,460 through your mind. Does my prayer even matter to 475 00:31:28,470 --> 00:31:33,820 God? Like, why am I gonna pray if 476 00:31:33,830 --> 00:31:36,640 you're just gonna disappoint me and let me down anyway? 477 00:31:39,610 --> 00:31:44,860 And, and in some beautiful and complex way that I can't ever 478 00:31:44,870 --> 00:31:50,860 hope to explain to you, the answer to those questions are 479 00:31:50,870 --> 00:31:55,910 both yes. Does our prayer influence God? 480 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:01,510 Yeah, sometimes. Does it change me? 481 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:06,060 Hopefully all the time. Yeah, it does. 482 00:32:07,670 --> 00:32:12,720 And that's the tension that we are challenged to live into. 483 00:32:14,740 --> 00:32:17,550 That's what I need prayer to do in my life. 484 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:24,800 I need prayer to challenge me. I I need prayer to be the place 485 00:32:24,810 --> 00:32:28,170 where I surrender my will in favour of God's will. 486 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:30,940 I need prayer to be the place where I commit to building God's 487 00:32:30,950 --> 00:32:34,070 Kingdom and not my Kingdom, where I'm brought out of 488 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:38,250 alignment with my own desires and into alignment with God's 489 00:32:38,260 --> 00:32:40,420 heart for compassion and humanity. 490 00:32:40,460 --> 00:32:43,380 Humility. Like I need prayer to change me. 491 00:32:43,390 --> 00:32:46,650 And you need prayer to be the place where God confronts you 492 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:51,320 and changes you, and where you wrestle out the deepest things 493 00:32:51,330 --> 00:32:59,710 of your heart and your soul. And God's design is also that 494 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:01,490 you would be a coworker with him. 495 00:33:02,890 --> 00:33:09,080 God likes to be asked. God doesn't need our wisdom or 496 00:33:09,090 --> 00:33:12,040 knowledge or even the information that we bring to 497 00:33:12,050 --> 00:33:15,960 prayer as we pray, But God invites us into relationship. 498 00:33:15,970 --> 00:33:20,100 And that's the beautiful thing about prayer is God is inviting 499 00:33:20,110 --> 00:33:23,180 you into relationship. He's not waiting for you to ask. 500 00:33:23,190 --> 00:33:25,700 I'm like, well, I'm just gonna hold off and see what they do. 501 00:33:25,810 --> 00:33:30,560 God longs to have you drawn into a relationship of intimacy with 502 00:33:30,570 --> 00:33:35,240 Him, where you're known and where you know God. 503 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:39,540 And it's there. It's inside of that partnership 504 00:33:39,550 --> 00:33:43,570 that God draws you into, that he involves you in the coming of 505 00:33:43,580 --> 00:33:49,970 His Kingdom. And so we pray we watched a 506 00:33:49,980 --> 00:33:52,890 video about Alpha, which I would highly recommend anybody and 507 00:33:52,900 --> 00:33:55,610 everybody who can come out for those life groups. 508 00:33:55,620 --> 00:33:59,800 But Nikki Gumbel, I once heard say, and we were talking about 509 00:33:59,810 --> 00:34:03,730 this this week, say that essentially we we listen 510 00:34:03,740 --> 00:34:06,770 sometimes. Sometimes God answers our 511 00:34:06,780 --> 00:34:10,840 prayers in the way that we want, and sometimes He doesn't. 512 00:34:11,650 --> 00:34:13,860 Sometimes people are healed, sometimes they're not. 513 00:34:15,100 --> 00:34:17,690 Sometimes people are restored to life, sometimes they die. 514 00:34:18,590 --> 00:34:21,800 Sometimes God shows up exactly how you were longing for, and 515 00:34:21,810 --> 00:34:23,670 sometimes it feels like he's absent. 516 00:34:24,969 --> 00:34:28,400 But sometimes he does. And so we're gonna keep on 517 00:34:28,409 --> 00:34:30,940 asking. That's his line. 518 00:34:31,489 --> 00:34:36,489 Sometimes he does, and so we're gonna keep on asking. 519 00:34:37,500 --> 00:34:41,980 See a better translation of this line for the Everyone who asks 520 00:34:41,989 --> 00:34:44,670 receives and the one who seeks finds the one who knocks, it 521 00:34:44,679 --> 00:34:48,530 will be opened. And this I tell you, Ask, seek 522 00:34:48,630 --> 00:34:52,400 and knock. A better translation would 523 00:34:52,409 --> 00:34:57,430 actually be keep on asking, and there's a whole lot of great 524 00:34:57,440 --> 00:34:59,740 reasons why that's the case, and I'm not going to get into them 525 00:34:59,750 --> 00:35:05,520 because they're boring. But each of these verbs were 526 00:35:05,530 --> 00:35:10,420 meant to see not as a past action, not as something that is 527 00:35:10,430 --> 00:35:15,470 completed, not as a A + B = C K and you will find period. 528 00:35:16,150 --> 00:35:20,330 What Jesus is saying is keep on asking. 529 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:24,670 It's a present action that continues forever until 530 00:35:24,740 --> 00:35:26,850 Infinity. Keep on asking. 531 00:35:27,220 --> 00:35:30,000 Keep on seeking. Keep on knocking. 532 00:35:30,980 --> 00:35:33,700 God's not asking for you to say the right words and then you 533 00:35:33,710 --> 00:35:35,900 know, so that you can finally dole out the answer that you've 534 00:35:35,910 --> 00:35:39,550 been waiting for. God is inviting you to pursue a 535 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:44,110 relationship with Jesus, to continue to wrestle things out 536 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:46,940 in prayer, to do what Paul says when he writes pray without 537 00:35:46,950 --> 00:35:49,420 ceasing. To be persistent and to be bold, 538 00:35:49,490 --> 00:35:52,860 and to approach God and to continue to do it over and over 539 00:35:52,870 --> 00:35:54,940 and over again. And in the rhythms of life. 540 00:35:54,950 --> 00:35:58,640 As you are persistent and as you are bold and as you are asking 541 00:35:58,650 --> 00:36:01,490 and as you are seeking and as you are knocking. 542 00:36:01,670 --> 00:36:04,440 To determine whether God is changing you or whether God is 543 00:36:04,450 --> 00:36:06,700 answering your prayer. And in it to explore, to find 544 00:36:06,710 --> 00:36:10,260 out what you're being invited into and to see how God will 545 00:36:10,270 --> 00:36:14,870 change you and how God will answer your prayer. 546 00:36:16,950 --> 00:36:21,640 Last point, I promise as we wrap up Jesus ends like this. 547 00:36:21,650 --> 00:36:25,020 He says what father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will 548 00:36:25,030 --> 00:36:27,380 instead of a fish give him a serpent or snake? 549 00:36:27,390 --> 00:36:30,300 In some translations, if you ask for an egg, will you give him a 550 00:36:30,310 --> 00:36:33,260 scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know 551 00:36:33,270 --> 00:36:37,930 how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the 552 00:36:37,940 --> 00:36:44,040 Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? 553 00:36:45,610 --> 00:36:50,280 How much more? How much more will God? 554 00:36:51,720 --> 00:36:54,330 So what Jesus wants you to see is that the heart of God is 1 of 555 00:36:54,340 --> 00:36:59,120 generosity toward you. God is generous with you and 556 00:36:59,130 --> 00:37:04,080 longs to be and to continue to be generous with you. 557 00:37:04,470 --> 00:37:08,610 These sorts of thought experiments in the Bible, and 558 00:37:08,620 --> 00:37:10,580 especially when Jesus is playing with them. 559 00:37:10,590 --> 00:37:13,140 What Father among you? If a son asks for a fish like, 560 00:37:13,150 --> 00:37:15,040 of course not. That's the implication here. 561 00:37:15,050 --> 00:37:17,870 Of course not. Of course you would never do 562 00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:20,380 that. Of course the father's never 563 00:37:20,390 --> 00:37:25,040 gonna give a hungry kid a serpent instead of a fish like, 564 00:37:25,050 --> 00:37:27,890 or a scorpion instead of an egg like. 565 00:37:27,900 --> 00:37:33,830 Of course they're gonna give what the kid needs, and the turn 566 00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:41,420 is for you to wrestle with. How much more will God give you 567 00:37:41,510 --> 00:37:48,280 the Holy Spirit as you seek, as you ask, as you knock, as you 568 00:37:48,290 --> 00:37:51,180 pursue intimate intimacy with Jesus? 569 00:37:52,420 --> 00:37:55,760 The gift of the Holy Spirit is what connects us to Jesus. 570 00:37:56,780 --> 00:38:00,110 It's the Holy Spirit that leads and empowers Jesus in his 571 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:01,750 ministry. And it's the Holy Spirit that 572 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:05,590 leads and empowers you. And it takes us all the way back 573 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:07,170 to the beginning with the disciples. 574 00:38:07,180 --> 00:38:10,800 First, ask Jesus. Teach us to pray because they 575 00:38:10,810 --> 00:38:13,970 see Jesus praying in the power of the Holy Spirit. 576 00:38:15,910 --> 00:38:18,550 What is going to allow you to pray like Jesus? 577 00:38:19,650 --> 00:38:20,980 It's the gift of the Holy Spirit. 578 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:24,630 What should you ask of God in prayer and pursue? 579 00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:26,310 It's the gift of the Holy Spirit. 580 00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:29,530 And what is God gracious to give? 581 00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:34,020 How much more will God give the Holy Spirit? 582 00:38:36,410 --> 00:38:41,450 Fred Craddock says Without the Holy Spirit there was not there 583 00:38:41,460 --> 00:38:48,100 is not the Church. And so God is gracious, and he 584 00:38:48,110 --> 00:38:52,250 gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. 585 00:38:54,260 --> 00:38:56,910 We're going to do something different than we've done in my 586 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:01,560 time here, and we're gonna pray together at the end of this 587 00:39:01,570 --> 00:39:07,870 sermon, the Lord's Prayer. Only here's the awkwardness for 588 00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:12,110 you, you who has been in the church for many, many, many, 589 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:15,270 many, many a year and has prayed the Lord's Prayer many, many, 590 00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:18,640 many times. We're gonna pray Luke's version 591 00:39:18,810 --> 00:39:21,680 of the Lord's Prayer. And so whether this is the first 592 00:39:21,690 --> 00:39:24,700 time you're speaking these words out loud or wrestling them out 593 00:39:24,710 --> 00:39:27,380 in your heart and in your mind, or whether you have prayed this 594 00:39:27,450 --> 00:39:33,660 for many years in community and alone before God, I want us to 595 00:39:33,670 --> 00:39:36,590 just slow down and read these words together. 596 00:39:37,550 --> 00:39:40,730 And you're going to have to resist the the urge to continue 597 00:39:41,470 --> 00:39:45,140 and to finish it and to make it tidy like Matthew does. 598 00:39:45,210 --> 00:39:51,020 It hangs and it lingers, and that's OK because actually what 599 00:39:51,030 --> 00:39:53,840 I want it to do is hang and linger with you as you leave 600 00:39:53,850 --> 00:39:58,880 today and as you continue into tomorrow and the days ahead. 601 00:39:59,310 --> 00:40:03,680 My prayer is actually that it would feel so unfinished that 602 00:40:03,690 --> 00:40:07,720 you would continue to pray it. Over and over and over again. 603 00:40:08,500 --> 00:40:11,660 And so I'm gonna pray. And then during the prayer, I'm 604 00:40:11,670 --> 00:40:13,610 going to make it abundantly clear, we're going to pray this 605 00:40:13,620 --> 00:40:16,890 together and invite you to open your eyes, look at the screen. 606 00:40:16,900 --> 00:40:19,430 Please read this as we pray together. 607 00:40:19,500 --> 00:40:21,750 God, thank you for your love and your grace. 608 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:24,370 Thank you that you are gracious and generous with us. 609 00:40:24,380 --> 00:40:27,410 God, thanks that you have so much more for us than we could 610 00:40:27,420 --> 00:40:28,590 hope for. Imagine. 611 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:30,920 And yet we need to wrestle out exactly what that is. 612 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:37,950 And so God in prayer, I, I do pray for us as a community and 613 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:42,120 for each person here, that we would find ourselves drawn to a 614 00:40:42,130 --> 00:40:45,980 place of prayer. And in that place, we would find 615 00:40:45,990 --> 00:40:51,030 more of who you are and more of who you've called us to be. 616 00:40:52,850 --> 00:40:58,110 And so God, as we prayed these words, I pray, God, challenge 617 00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:01,770 us, encourage us, convict us, change us, shape us, make us 618 00:41:01,780 --> 00:41:10,660 yours for your namesake. And so we pray together these 619 00:41:10,670 --> 00:41:18,330 words, Father hallowed, be your name, your Kingdom come, give us 620 00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:24,430 each day Our Daily Bread, and forgive us our sins, for we 621 00:41:24,490 --> 00:41:30,050 ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us 622 00:41:30,060 --> 00:41:33,250 not into temptation. Amen. 623 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:34,320 Amen.