1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:04,040 Welcome to resurrection church if you're new here welcome my 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,840 name is Daniel I am the lead pastor here at res church have. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:13,360 You ever had a moment where you were you were face? 4 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,920 To face with someone and you were you were just like burying 5 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,800 your soul like you. I mean, you like that 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:22,440 excruciating moment where like you're getting? 7 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,640 Really vulnerable with someone. And and man there. 8 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,000 Is a potential that they're not. Going to return. 9 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:29,640 That, that, that. It's not going to. 10 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,680 Be reciprocated I I remember the moment. 11 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:34,160 That I. First looked. 12 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,200 In my wife's eyes when we were dating and said I love you. 13 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:46,160 And that pause. Is feels like it's never going 14 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:47,120 to end. You know you're going. 15 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:53,120 Do they feel the same way? And and and you're. 16 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,760 Face to face, you're kind of analyzing, you know, like, what 17 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:58,720 are they going to do looking at body language? 18 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:00,680 And do they feel the same way about me? 19 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,239 You ever felt that? Nobody. 20 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:06,800 Lord, some of y'all got married. I don't even know how. 21 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:13,440 You ever feel that? If you've ever felt that, what 22 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:14,680 is that? Scenario another one, but. 23 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:16,720 Where you're face to face in this conversation that was just 24 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:18,200 really. Intimate. 25 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:20,880 Really vulnerable. I would, I would. 26 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,560 And maybe in the moment. There was a possibility. 27 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,560 That you could be rejected. I I would say if you've ever. 28 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:29,520 Experienced that? Then you've experienced one of 29 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,240 the most primal, one of the most sort of central feelings that 30 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:38,880 makes us human, our need. To love and be loved. 31 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:46,520 To know and be fully known. In fact, the fear of rejection 32 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:49,560 is so great in our current culture that like there are 33 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:51,480 people that completely avoid this entire process. 34 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:53,240 Like I'm going. To have an online relationship. 35 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:55,240 Who's going to do this whole thing via text? 36 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,800 That way I can like. Because, man, there is a fear of 37 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,080 of rejection. Right there there is a man or am 38 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,360 I going to be accepted? I'm I'm looking at someone face 39 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,040 to face and I'm staring in their eyes and I'm and and it's almost 40 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:10,600 terrifying but but we also. Want it so much? 41 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:12,720 I do. I want to be. 42 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:17,000 Loved and accepted. Here's what I would tell you. 43 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:18,760 I would say that this is actually both. 44 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:23,680 One of our greatest human needs and one of our deepest, darkest 45 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,080 fears. It's this. 46 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:32,560 Question if someone fully. Knows me, Would they really love 47 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:39,160 me? We were created to love. 48 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,000 And be loved. To be known and be loved. 49 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:44,840 That's actually what sets. Humans apart from all of. 50 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:47,400 Creation. You know your dog wants. 51 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:49,640 To be loved, but if you rub its belly and give it treats, they 52 00:02:49,640 --> 00:02:50,760 don't care if they know it or not. 53 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:59,120 We do we care? Why do we care so much? 54 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:03,040 Do you ever wonder? The Bible says that we. 55 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:06,240 Care because we were actually created in such a way. 56 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,200 We were designed in such a way to love and be loved, to know 57 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:12,960 and be known. And the reason that it's so? 58 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,920 Difficult and there's so much angst around it is that we. 59 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:18,840 Live in this this fallen. World. 60 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,240 In which we can never eat like. We live in a distorted world in 61 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:24,920 which we. Can never really fully see it 62 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:28,120 the way it was intended to be. A Pastor Tim Keller, in his book 63 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,920 The Meaning of Marriage, actually says it this way. 64 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,080 He says to be loved. But not fully known is 65 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:37,680 comforting, but superficial. It's shallow. 66 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:46,400 To be known and not loved is our greatest fear, but to be fully 67 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:53,800 known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. 68 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,280 It is what we need more than anything. 69 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:04,000 It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self 70 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,360 righteousness, and fortifies us for any. 71 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:08,080 Difficulty that life can. Throw at us. 72 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,200 We're starting. Today a three-week series on 73 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:15,840 prayer. This series is called Teach Me 74 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:17,880 to Pray. And if right now you're thinking 75 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:19,959 like, if we're starting something on prayer, why are we 76 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:22,600 talking about like? Romance and and being loved. 77 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:24,200 I'm glad you're paying attention. 78 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,200 They're they're related and we're going to look at this. 79 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:32,800 So here's what we're going. To do over the next three weeks 80 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,080 today. We're going to talk about. 81 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,960 Why we pray like like, what is prayer like? 82 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:39,840 What is it really? Why are we doing this? 83 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:41,520 Or why are we supposed to be doing this? 84 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:44,440 And then next week we're going to actually. 85 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,280 Talk about how to do it. So kind of the logistics of 86 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:51,320 prayer and then in the third. Week of this series we're we're 87 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:52,920 going to practice. We're going to come in here and 88 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,840 we're going to do. Elder LED congregation 89 00:04:56,840 --> 00:05:02,680 participation, say yay, open mic like we're you're going to be 90 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:04,720 part of this. We're going to do a prayer and 91 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:06,120 worship service. There's not going to be a 92 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:09,120 sermon. Yeah, I know you're you're 93 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:10,000 disappointed. I am. 94 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:11,680 We're going to pray. We're. 95 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:13,200 Going to practice what we preach. 96 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,560 OK, so let's start today with what is prayer. 97 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:17,360 What is prayer? Why? 98 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:19,640 Why are we supposed to be doing this and and? 99 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:21,880 Maybe maybe you joined us today or you're you're you're. 100 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,120 Joining us online and you would, you would kind of consider 101 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,800 yourself maybe a skeptic, A skeptical about Christianity or 102 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,320 Jesus or, or or faith in general. 103 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:33,840 So first of all, welcome. I'm glad you're here or you're 104 00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:37,040 watching. I actually am really excited to 105 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:38,800 talk about prayer with you particularly. 106 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:41,520 Maybe we can clear up some things about this idea of 107 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:43,240 prayer. I'm excited you're here. 108 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,480 I'm excited you're joining us. So there's a really interesting. 109 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:48,000 Concept that runs all throughout. 110 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:49,800 Scripture. All throughout the Bible, in 111 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,000 fact. And it's this idea of. 112 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,560 Seeking God's face and I really want to talk about this idea of 113 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,760 seeking God's face today, what that means. 114 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:04,320 So we're going to start in Second Chronicles 714. 115 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:06,560 If you have your Bible, just turn there. 116 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,040 We're going to read that first. This is kind of our foundational 117 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:14,280 verse for the day if. My people. 118 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:20,440 Who are called by my name humble themselves and pray. 119 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:23,120 And these are the important three words. 120 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:28,200 You can underline this. Seek my face and. 121 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:30,920 Turn from their wicked. Ways then I will hear from 122 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,600 heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 123 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,680 A similar concept in Psalm 27, eight, there's a psalmist, he's 124 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:43,400 talking about this command from the Lord to seek his face, and 125 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:44,840 he says. This you have said, seek my 126 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:48,400 face, and my heart says to you, your face. 127 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:52,760 Lord do I seek. Over 100. 50 times in the. 128 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:56,320 Bible God tells us to. Seek his face, seek his presence 129 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,080 to seek. God, it's a proactive. 130 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,280 Command. We're supposed to seek him and 131 00:07:02,280 --> 00:07:04,400 and and whenever. The Bible is being specific. 132 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,520 It says more than just seek God, it says seek my face. 133 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:09,080 And so I really wanted to break down. 134 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:11,000 What does that mean? What does? 135 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,200 What does he? Mean seek my face. 136 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:17,360 And it's it's actually relatively. 137 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,600 Simple and yet you're going to find this kind of hard and that 138 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:21,880 is this that. Seeking God's face. 139 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:25,360 Means that I'm coming to him in. Prayer. 140 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:28,560 Not to get something from him, but to get God Himself. 141 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:31,960 So I'm not. After what's in his hand, what 142 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,280 he can give me, I'm after his face, I'm after him. 143 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:39,160 There's a Hebrew word that we see. 144 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:42,640 Throughout scripture called Panim, it is the Hebrew. 145 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:45,200 Word here that we're. Reading for face, but it 146 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:47,680 actually is translated two different ways depending on 147 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:49,520 where you're reading it. In Scripture, same word. 148 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:52,880 So not only does it mean face, it also means presence, 149 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,560 Presence. And this word, whether 150 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:01,680 translated as face or presence, is mentioned 2100 times in the 151 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:06,480 Hebrew Bible. So don't think about God's. 152 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,240 Face as like a physical face with eyes and a nose and a 153 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,120 mouth. The Bible is telling us to seek. 154 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:17,240 Being with God closely, not just wanting God to do something for 155 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:21,000 me, but to be with God. And so I want to I want to just 156 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,240 look through the texts. Today and look at some different 157 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:27,160 scriptures and, and I hope what it means is that maybe we 158 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:29,040 relearn some things about prayer. 159 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,120 Maybe we reset some misconceptions about it. 160 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,440 You know, almost every religion in the world. 161 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:40,200 Talks about prayer or. Or meditation or incantation in 162 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:44,039 some method or another. But Christian prayer is vastly 163 00:08:44,039 --> 00:08:45,680 different than almost every other religion. 164 00:08:45,680 --> 00:08:47,240 And the reason it's so different? 165 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:50,840 Is that only Christianity? Is built around an intimate, 166 00:08:51,360 --> 00:09:00,920 personal God of the universe, a God who knows us, excuse me, a 167 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:06,640 God who loves us so much that he would send his son to die for us 168 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:09,760 to make it possible for us to seek him and know him 169 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,640 personally. My earliest memories of prayer 170 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:16,680 are with my, my parents. They're, they're, they're 171 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:19,080 phenomenal memories. My mom and dad praying with me, 172 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,840 whether praying before bed or just praying at different times 173 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,640 and teaching me those things. But my earliest memories of 174 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,560 prayer at church are horrible because they were the Wednesday. 175 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:31,400 Night prayer meeting y'all? Y'all ever been to a small 176 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:33,960 Southern Baptist country church and then Wednesday night prayer 177 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:38,240 meeting? As a nine year old, I was pretty 178 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,200 sure it was medically possible to die from boredom. 179 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:48,200 I was sure I was at the verge. It's just that no one would show 180 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:50,920 up like most prayer meetings in, in conservative churches. 181 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:53,000 And there'd be a couple of people sitting around this big 182 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,040 list of, of people that were sick. 183 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,160 And then they would just sit and they would mumble over the same 184 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:00,080 sets of little words and blah, blah, blah, blah. 185 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,560 And we we'd be praying for so and so who's in the hospital and 186 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:11,360 so and so and Aunt Bertha's bunions, you know, what is this? 187 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,720 I don't get it. And so I grew up most of my 188 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:19,560 life. Even most of my Christian life, 189 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:22,800 not really knowing how to pray, not really knowing what to pray, 190 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,320 not really know why we pray. Like does this even work like? 191 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:27,480 Maybe maybe you can relate to that. 192 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,240 How come every time I sit down to pray? 193 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:36,080 My mind starts to wander. Anybody else? 194 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:38,240 Oh my gosh. And then I'm. 195 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:40,400 Then I start to get all like. Ashamed like this got ashamed of 196 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:42,760 me because I can't stay on track because I can't. 197 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:45,760 Pray the right way am I even saying the right words man, 198 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:47,680 just. Does this even do any good? 199 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:52,760 What am I doing? Yet the Bible would tell us to 200 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:58,040 pray without ceasing. James, 48, would say to draw 201 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:00,320 near to God, and he will draw near. 202 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:01,920 To you, that sounds pretty personal. 203 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:04,520 That sounds. Pretty intimate that does not. 204 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:05,880 Sound like Wednesday night prayer meeting? 205 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:12,880 Do you ever think? About that. 206 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:15,640 Most of us talk about prayer more than we actually pray. 207 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,240 Like, yeah, I'm going to pray about that. 208 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:21,600 You know, you get the text from your buddy who's like really 209 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:23,240 going through it and you're like, oh, that sounds terrible. 210 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:24,480 I'm going to pray for you, brother. 211 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,720 And like, that was the prayer, the text, and. 212 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:33,920 Then we just go on with. Life like you all realize that 213 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:35,760 the prayer. Emoji is not the actual. 214 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:43,400 Prayer. So so like. 215 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:50,400 For me, maybe if we understood prayer a little bit better, 216 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,800 maybe, maybe it would be. Easier. 217 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:55,200 Maybe we'd be more. More motivated to do. 218 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:56,960 It you know, a couple years ago I started to really wonder. 219 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:01,040 How? How come I say that I believe 220 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:03,400 that prayer is this incredibly powerful thing of talking to 221 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:08,480 God, bringing things to God, but my life doesn't look like I 222 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:12,360 believe that. Like it like if I if if I really 223 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:14,720 believed what I said. I believed I I would be praying 224 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:16,680 a lot harder and a lot more and I was just really. 225 00:12:16,680 --> 00:12:19,440 Convicted of like. Gosh, I need to take, I need to 226 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,080 take a better look at this. And then someone gave me a book. 227 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:23,600 Another pastor friend of mine gave me a book. 228 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:25,520 It sat on my night stand for like a year. 229 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:28,200 And I finally got to reading it. And it was about leading through 230 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:32,040 prayer, like leading a church in prayer and, and how all of 231 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:35,200 really Christian leadership is dependent on prayer. 232 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,960 And so as I begin to read that, and I begin to do the things in 233 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:41,880 that book, our elder room entirely changed. 234 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:44,960 Like like we started to. Build an elder room around 235 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:50,360 prayer and when we did the church begin to change, we begin 236 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,640 to see God move. We start. 237 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:55,200 Every Sunday morning, including this morning at 6:30 in the 238 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:58,640 morning, sitting around tables just pouring out our heart, 239 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:02,920 praying to God, asking for his presence, asking for him to show 240 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:04,480 up. We pray for churches 241 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:08,080 individually by name, by their pastors name for their kids, for 242 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:08,960 their prayer request. We. 243 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:13,920 Pray for you, you. Didn't show up here today not 244 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:16,840 having been first prayed for by a group of people this morning. 245 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,400 Going to the throne room of God with your name on their heart, 246 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:24,440 praying for you, praying for you. 247 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,760 And so let's let's dig a little on this idea. 248 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:30,960 We're going to jump around into some different scriptures today, 249 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:33,520 different quotes, different things to see. 250 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:35,960 If we can get a. Better maybe a more holistic 251 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:40,680 understanding of prayer, because prayer has been not only 252 00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:43,120 misunderstood. Now, in 2025, prayer has been 253 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:44,480 misunderstood. For a long time we. 254 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:48,280 We have some beautiful quotes from historians and church 255 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:52,040 fathers throughout the last few thousand years talking about 256 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:53,520 trying to understand prayer better. 257 00:13:56,440 --> 00:14:00,760 Mother Teresa said prayer is not asking. 258 00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:07,760 Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God at His disposition 259 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:11,920 and listening to His voice in the depths of our heart. 260 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:17,600 Henry Newman said to pray is to listen to the one who calls you 261 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:21,280 beloved child. To pray is to let that voice. 262 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:25,240 Speak to the center of your being, to your guts, and let 263 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:30,280 that voice resound in your whole being, Saint Therese, who was 264 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:33,400 born in 1873, said. This prayer is a surge. 265 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:35,800 Of the heart. It is a simple look toward 266 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:41,040 heaven, is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both 267 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:45,520 trial and joy. Been a lot of descriptions 268 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:49,120 written about prayer we're going to we're going to use this sort 269 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:52,360 of easy definition today and through our series it's also 270 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:53,520 going. To be our big idea today. 271 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:55,440 So if you don't, if you leave with nothing else, leave with 272 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:57,480 this concept. I want you to really wrestle on 273 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:03,480 this and chew on this today. Authentic prayer is encountering 274 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:08,960 God's astonishing presence. Authentic prayer is encountering 275 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:13,440 God's astonishing presence. Authentic meaning there are a 276 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:18,400 lot of cheap substitutes encountering because this is 277 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,840 meant to be a face to face relationship, like me staring 278 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:27,320 into my wife's eyes. And astonishing because every 279 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:32,480 time we are exposed to the presence of the God of the 280 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:36,440 universe, we are changed. And I want to show you. 281 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,440 What happens if if? You and I will will begin to do 282 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:43,280 this, begin to proactively seek God. 283 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:47,400 I want to show you what happens when we do that. 284 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:49,280 It happens throughout the Bible. We see it over and over again. 285 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:51,000 It's happened in my life for many of you, it's happened in 286 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,360 your life. Here's the first thing we have 287 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:58,840 to get an understanding that God actually cherishes our prayer. 288 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:01,760 He, he, man, He loves it when we talk to Him. 289 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,040 It's not just a command, it's not a duty, It's not a check 290 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:08,520 box. He actually desires US talking 291 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,000 with him and we see this. All throughout. 292 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,160 Scripture as prayer is described to us. 293 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:17,960 If if we turn to the story of the tax collector and the 294 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:20,720 Pharisee that Jesus tells we would, we would see that we're 295 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:21,840 going to look at that one next week. 296 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:26,320 If we look at David and Psalm 51 pouring his heart out to God, we 297 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:28,200 see this. But I just. 298 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:32,320 Want you to hear it? There's a story of Jesus in a 299 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:37,440 region called Samaria with a group of marginalized people, 300 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:40,880 and he's speaking to a woman who's who's very much the least 301 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:44,800 of these, very ostracized, and they're having a conversation. 302 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:50,640 And he begins to describe to her what is about to happen when he 303 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:53,600 goes to the cross, when he makes a way. 304 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:58,400 Here's what he says. He says in John 423 and 24. 305 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:03,200 But the hour is coming and is now here, when the true 306 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,400 worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. 307 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:13,000 For the Father is look at that Word, seeking such people to 308 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:19,560 worship Him. God is spirit and those who 309 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:21,680 worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. 310 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:29,640 God desires for you and I to seek His face in intimate 311 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:31,720 conversation with Him. That, that, that. 312 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,800 Means that a lot of the things that you've heard or been taught 313 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:41,200 about prayer. Are wrong because if. 314 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:43,680 If that's what God's desire. Really is. 315 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:46,320 Then prayer. Prayer is not a performance 316 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:48,640 because that's not what God's asking for. 317 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:50,520 It's not what he cherishes, not what he's looking for. 318 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:54,120 You don't have to pray good or pray Gooder. 319 00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:57,640 I don't know how's that work. You're just talking to God. 320 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:02,480 There are no magic words yet You wait too often. 321 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,200 You've heard somebody pray and you're like, oh, I can't pray. 322 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,160 I would mess it up like it's some sort of spell from 323 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:12,960 Hogwarts. Like man, if you may probably 324 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:14,200 not working because I said it wrong. 325 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:16,200 It's supposed to be like. Wingardium Leviosa. 326 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:23,680 No, you're just talking to the Heavenly Father. 327 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:29,200 Let me to get your head around what that means. 328 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,360 You got to go back to the very beginning of the Bible, the very 329 00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:33,960 beginning of the whole creation story. 330 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:37,480 God has created the first man, the first woman there. 331 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:38,800 There's a garden. There's no sin. 332 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:40,160 We haven't rebelled against God yet. 333 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:42,840 Everything's perfect. The Bible calls that Shalom. 334 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:46,480 Shalom, perfect peace. And here's what's happening in 335 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:47,880 that garden. Where everything's perfect. 336 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:52,600 Just the way it was designed. We're walking through the garden 337 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:57,480 with Jesus, just talking side by side, face to face 338 00:18:57,480 --> 00:18:59,360 conversations. That's. 339 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:03,640 Actually how we were created. That's what we were created to 340 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:09,520 do. The problem comes shortly after 341 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:13,800 when we rebel against God. When that rebellion happens, it 342 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:18,040 fractures that relationship, sin and death. 343 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:21,080 The the the curse of sin falls upon mankind. 344 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:24,000 Now all of a sudden, it's not so easy to just walk through the 345 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:25,240 garden with God. We can't. 346 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,960 And yet, and yet we were still created for that reason. 347 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:32,520 We were still created with that desire. 348 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:35,480 So so when you look around. And you go, man, something's not 349 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:36,960 right. Let me tell you why. 350 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:39,240 Because we were created to walk. With him and all. 351 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:44,200 Of a sudden, we're apart. From him and so the Bible 352 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:47,200 continues to lay out this framework, this instruction of 353 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,400 seek me, seek my face. Why? 354 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:51,120 Because you were designed to need it. 355 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,200 It's nothing's going to feel right until you find him. 356 00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:00,120 Seek my presence. Come find me. 357 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:05,560 So prayer is this conversation with God that he desires. 358 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:10,040 The The primary way that we speak to God is through prayer. 359 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:12,920 The primary way that God. Speaks to us is through His 360 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:14,640 word, the Bible. We'll talk. 361 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:18,440 A lot about that next week, and these aren't different things. 362 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:24,440 This is just the conversation. I just want you to consider that 363 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:27,240 God has always wanted us to seek His presence. 364 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:29,560 He's always wanted us to come and talk to Him. 365 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:34,440 He created us with that very need inside of us and so often. 366 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:38,760 Your dissatisfaction in life is that there's actually a need to 367 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,320 talk to him, and you're doing other things with that need and 368 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:42,880 wondering why it doesn't satisfy. 369 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:56,720 He desires this conversation when we step into that, when we. 370 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:58,120 Intentionally. Proactively. 371 00:20:58,120 --> 00:20:59,880 Begin to do that. Begin to seek his face. 372 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:01,240 Begin to talk. To him begin to have. 373 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:03,520 Those conversations, Here's what happens. 374 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:07,080 This is .2 in there that authentic prayer begins to 375 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:10,320 expose my heart. Now here's what I mean by that. 376 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:19,520 OK, I should define quickly God's presence. 377 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:23,000 So we're talking about seeking God's presence in the Bible. 378 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,600 There's actually three types of presence. 379 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:27,520 God. God is present in three ways in 380 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:29,160 the Bible. And, and, and I want to 381 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:30,520 articulate some of that difference so that you 382 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:31,960 understand which one we're talking about. 383 00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:36,800 It says that God is omnipresent and all that means is that. 384 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,880 God is everywhere all the. Time there's nowhere to hide 385 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:44,680 from God. Secondly, it says that because 386 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,000 of Christ, if we've given our life to Christ, we are what's 387 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:48,640 called indwelt with the Holy Spirit. 388 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:53,200 He's put his spirit inside of us and all the time Spirit doesn't 389 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,280 come and go, but but there's a third type and this is the type 390 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:57,480 we're going to be talking about today. 391 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:00,840 And it's this idea of the intimate presence of God that 392 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:02,880 the face to face conversations with God. 393 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:05,040 Now how? Can there be three types? 394 00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:06,640 That's a? That's a logical. 395 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:08,160 Question. And so I'm going to give you an 396 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:09,720 analogy. That I hope is helpful. 397 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:14,640 How many of you here have ever babysat a toddler or an infant? 398 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,240 OK, like literally some of you are parents and not raising your 399 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:22,240 hand. I'm just wondering what happens 400 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:26,160 with your kids. OK, most of us, yes, Now. 401 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:31,680 If you've ever babysat a kid, a. Small kid, you know that they 402 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:34,000 they could like sit in the living room floor and you could 403 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:35,760 be in the room with. Them kind of watching them. 404 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:37,400 And they could be. Oblivious to the fact that 405 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:40,040 you're there because there's some amazing thing that has 406 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:46,000 caught their attention like a. Cardboard box and they could 407 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,560 just be enthralled with that. Thing for like hours and have no 408 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,000 idea you were there and then but there's a moment right where 409 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,040 they turn and they see you and they make eye contact and 410 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:54,280 they're like and there's a spark of. 411 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,400 Recognition and they're like mom, y'all know what I'm talking 412 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,600 about right? For me, it's it's, that's not 413 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:05,040 mom, you know what I mean? Yes, everybody with me. 414 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:10,920 It wasn't that you weren't there the whole time, but something 415 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,240 different happens when they turn face. 416 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:17,600 To face and make eye contact with you, yes, that's. 417 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:19,400 The type of. Presence we're talking about so. 418 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:20,960 It's not that. God's missing. 419 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:23,920 It's that there's this moment we begin to turn and look. 420 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:26,040 For God. 'S face that everything changes. 421 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,240 I'll give you another example. How many people here are 422 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:33,760 married? OK. 423 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:36,320 That was not a hard question for some of you. 424 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:39,240 I hope you're not in trouble later anyways. 425 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,720 Now, men. Y'all know you're still 426 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:46,160 technically? Married when you're at work, 427 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:54,960 Yes. OK, yes, it's a weird crowd 428 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,560 today. You're still married. 429 00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:00,920 When you're at work, if you're at home and you're doing the 430 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,280 dishes and your spouse is in the other room, you know, cleaning 431 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:04,360 some floors, you're still married. 432 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:07,640 OK. Thank you. 433 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,480 But but don't but aren't. Everyone like a good date night? 434 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:15,040 Come on. Yeah. 435 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:19,440 Everyone like a good date? Night Yes, trying to grow this 436 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:25,800 shirts the old fashioned way. It wasn't that you weren't 437 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:28,120 married and you are married. But there's something about 438 00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:30,040 intentional time. We put our phones down, put the 439 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:31,320 distractions down. Some of you have. 440 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:33,120 Young kids. Are like, what's that like? 441 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,720 We turn toward one another, we're face to face. 442 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:42,480 I'm actually spending time in intimate conversation with my 443 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,120 spouse. Connecting, talking, listening, 444 00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:47,240 enjoying. I'm looking at those beautiful 445 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:54,120 brown eyes. What's different? 446 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:59,520 What's different? I'm face to face, man. 447 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:04,080 I'm I'm intentionally seeking the presence of that person into 448 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,240 an intimate conversation. Authentic prayer is seeking 449 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:12,440 God's manifest presence. In my life now, news flash, 450 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,800 buckle in, we're not in the Garden of Eden. 451 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:22,640 I know Bakersfield in the fall tricks some people as soon we 452 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:25,160 take all the photos as we invite all of our friends and they 453 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:26,800 think Bakersfield's amazing because they haven't been here 454 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:30,560 in August. We're not we're not in the we're 455 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:31,840 not in the Garden of Eden. And here's what I. 456 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:34,240 I mean by that like. Because we're not in the Garden 457 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,000 of Eden. We're not just walking with. 458 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:39,680 God, through the cool of the evening anymore. 459 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:44,720 And so to to to seek God. One means we have to be 460 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,960 intentional. 2 It means that. As we draw close to God, as we. 461 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,360 Begin to to turn. Face to face, we get to 462 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:53,840 experience his presence. Here's what's going to happen. 463 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:56,440 In the garden. It was perfection. 464 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:58,040 I could walk. With him with no big deal but 465 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,200 right now? We live in a fallen, distorted 466 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:06,360 world, so as I get close to a holy God every time I'm. 467 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,080 Going to go, oh, I'm not like that. 468 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:20,120 It's like the illumination of. Holiness on our life and every. 469 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:22,360 Time that happens, we're going to begin to. 470 00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:25,560 See. A gap between God's character 471 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:26,840 and my. Character between. 472 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:29,280 God's attitude and my attitude between God. 473 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:32,720 'S power and my weakness between his humility and my. 474 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:35,280 Pride and there's going to be a gap. 475 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,080 Amen. And it'll. 476 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:39,600 Be that moment, no matter where you're at. 477 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:41,200 When you get close to holy God, you go. 478 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:50,760 Oh, he's not like me. It exposes my heart when I begin 479 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:57,760 to interact with the perfection of God and so So what will 480 00:26:57,760 --> 00:26:59,920 happen is your heart. You know your. 481 00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:02,000 Circumstances. Your attitude like all. 482 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:03,880 Those things you're just going to all of a sudden you're going 483 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:07,120 to go, oh God, is so different than I am. 484 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:10,880 Now here's the thing. Not, not in shame. 485 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:18,320 Shame is not from God. Adam and Eve used to walk. 486 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:20,600 With God naked that. Shame is not from God. 487 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:24,960 We we did that. So as we draw close to God, we 488 00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:27,880 don't we don't get. Shame because we're not perfect. 489 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:32,240 Actually, there's this this gentle correction that is the 490 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,880 beauty of Christ, the standard of holiness where we go. 491 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,960 Oh, and the and the third. Thing will happen. 492 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:44,320 Which is that that exposing my heart to God in humility allows 493 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:48,800 him to work on it. Now I say in humility why? 494 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,920 Because the moment we begin to see a gap between God and. 495 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:57,800 Us, we have. To have a recognition I'm the 496 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,080 one that's wrong. We're not going God. 497 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:07,920 Come down here, get in line. We're going, oh, oh, I have some 498 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:12,280 things that are not right. There's there's a, there's a a. 499 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,520 Theological concept that we get from scripture called 500 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:19,960 immutability, immutability, say immutability, immutability, it 501 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:23,360 means that God does not change. There's no variation. 502 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,920 And and we get that from Malachi 36, from James 117, from a lot 503 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:32,320 of other verses. God does not change, but I do 504 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:34,640 Amen. You do. 505 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:36,880 Amen. You ever had a bad day? 506 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:41,560 God hasn't. You ever been wrong? 507 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:48,080 God in God doesn't change. So what happens is I take my. 508 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:54,360 Broken, warped, Emotional. Self and I seek the face of God, 509 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:57,240 and as I get closer and closer to a perfect. 510 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:03,480 God, I go, whoa, I'm not like that. 511 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:13,680 And that recognition allows him to begin to change me, to begin 512 00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:18,640 to transform my heart, to begin to refine my character moment by 513 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:22,160 moment, minute by minute, degree by degree, little bit by little 514 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:27,120 bit. Just like when you're doing 515 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:29,080 something with a little kid and they get to watch Dad do it. 516 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:31,280 They try to be like Dad. That's what's happening, right? 517 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,560 You're going, oh, I need to be more like Dad. 518 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:43,080 And that can be in conviction, that can be in encouragement. 519 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:46,680 That can be all kinds of different correction. 520 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:52,240 Let me give you an example. Wednesday night I had a 521 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:56,000 particularly rough night and and it's just been tough. 522 00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:04,960 And statistically, pastors have one of the loneliest jobs in the 523 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:09,160 world. 43% of all pastors who consider quitting sight, 524 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,240 loneliness, isolation is the reason they quit. 525 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,960 And I remember Pastor Ray Johnson said he was talking to a 526 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,840 group of pastors and he said be careful pastor because a a 527 00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,560 church will use you up and throw you out like a Kleenex and move 528 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:23,640 on to the next pastor. And I and I thought at the 529 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:25,200 moment, like, man, that's awfully cynical. 530 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:29,520 You know, like, and, and I actually, I think I know what he 531 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,440 was trying to say in that moment. 532 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:33,040 I think what he was saying is like, the churches aren't 533 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:35,680 malicious. It's just that they rarely 534 00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:37,600 realize the burden that they're putting, you know? 535 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:40,440 Pastors sit in the spot. Where everyone in their trauma, 536 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,600 in their hurt, in their pain, run to the pastor and when, when 537 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,280 you know when your nose is running, you're not thinking 538 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:46,120 about it right? You're grabbing the. 539 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,000 Kleenex or your sleeve if you're my kids or whatever, right? 540 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:55,880 And you just, you just use it. And so inherently pastors end up 541 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:58,400 with, with a lot of that. And I was just laying in bed 542 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,120 Wednesday night, like really kind of struggling with 543 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:04,400 isolation, loneliness and talking to God, just talking to 544 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,000 God in the middle of the night, just talking and talking and, 545 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,880 and just pouring out my heart and, and I, I just, I could feel 546 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:13,760 the Lord talk to me through that and just say, man, you're not 547 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:16,560 alone. I'm right here. 548 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,680 I have not hidden my face from you. 549 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,920 There are days for a pasture where no human is safe to relate 550 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,280 to. But he is. 551 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,280 He is. And so he's he's. 552 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:36,400 We're just in the middle of the night. 553 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:38,320 God is ministering to it. He's just reminding me. 554 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:40,520 Like, you know, Daniel, you might, you might be a little 555 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:41,520 emotional. Right now. 556 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:45,360 And as I draw close to the goodness of God, I'm like, oh, 557 00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:47,560 yeah, I think I'm a little emotional right now. 558 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:49,800 Not in the shameful way. In a way. 559 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:54,720 Oh man, God now can correct some of those things in my heart in 560 00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,040 the middle of the night, just in a conversation. 561 00:31:57,760 --> 00:31:59,920 Why? Because God, without any, 562 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:07,760 without any magic words or formal incantations, God can 563 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:12,480 change me simply by me drawing near and seeking His face and 564 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:16,720 getting closer to Him and realizing He's so good. 565 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:22,680 You can encounter God's presence face to face and that that 566 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:27,920 changes me every single time. That's what it does in this 567 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,000 life. You know all the circumstances 568 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,200 we're going to go through our, our emotions and, and our 569 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:35,600 reactions and our perspective. They're going to change wildly. 570 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:37,360 You're just going to go through some stuff. 571 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:42,160 And here's the thing, we have a heavenly Father who says he has 572 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:45,560 he Jesus came down and suffered so that he would have 573 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:50,240 experienced everything that we've experienced, suffered, 574 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:55,200 struggled, lived, died so that we could have confidence that 575 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:57,200 when we draw close to him, he's gone through. 576 00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:03,000 He knows exactly what you're going through and his word says 577 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:08,280 bring that to me. Seek my face, seek me with all 578 00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:10,920 of your heart. Bring that to me and I will give 579 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:21,040 you rest it in in the Bible, every time we see God, God speak 580 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,480 about his face, it's every time he blesses someone, it says he 581 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:27,720 shines his face upon them. Where where God's face where his 582 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:32,200 presence is his joy and satisfaction and peace and 583 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:33,960 comfort. And when like really horrible 584 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:37,600 stuff happens, it you'll see it says God hid his face from them 585 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,920 and he turns and and and and all of the evil and ills of the 586 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:51,080 world flood in and we actually have the choice to seek his face 587 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:55,680 again and again and again. He says, come talk to me, come 588 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:58,000 spend time with me. Come worship me. 589 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:00,600 Come and join me. Won't you come? 590 00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:12,960 That's prayer. That's prayer above and beyond 591 00:34:13,199 --> 00:34:14,800 anything else you understand about prayer. 592 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:19,520 That's what it is in any fashion. 593 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:24,040 It's seeking the face of God. And in those moments, in the 594 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:30,639 authentic, proactive, seeking God's face, He begins to 595 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:35,080 illuminate our life and our heart, our situation, our 596 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:39,280 circumstances, and change us in the process. 597 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,159 This is what's happening when we really pray, when we genuinely 598 00:34:44,159 --> 00:34:48,000 seek God's presence, because authentic prayer is encountering 599 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:52,000 God's astonishing presence. And every time this happens, it 600 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:56,199 changes us and and the. Ability. 601 00:34:56,199 --> 00:35:01,840 To do this, to just come to God at any moment, it is only 602 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:07,560 possible because Jesus came and went to the cross and broke down 603 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:11,480 this barrier between US and God that was fractured, and now we 604 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:15,880 can freely do this. In the Old Testament, when this 605 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:19,080 relationship was fractured, God's presence was in this one 606 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:21,680 little spot in the temple, in this one little place. 607 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:23,960 And nobody else could go. The high priest could go. 608 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:26,280 There's a big veil that. That, that, that that was. 609 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,040 A barrier no one could get in and one person once a year. 610 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:37,440 Could go in, but not anymore. Now you and I have access at any 611 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:41,440 time in the middle of the night, driving in your car on a walk, 612 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:43,520 at any point and listen, it doesn't. 613 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:48,840 Prayer is any moment from a short thought to dedicated hours 614 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:51,360 of intentionally trying to seek and experience God any moment 615 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:54,240 when you're seeking God's presence. 616 00:35:54,240 --> 00:35:55,840 And so that might be. Conversational. 617 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:59,720 I talk to God all the time. That might be angry. 618 00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:01,880 You can. You can be angry and yell at 619 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:02,720 God. He's a big boy. 620 00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:07,920 He can handle it. It could be a cry of 621 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:12,280 desperation. It can be a list of Thanksgiving 622 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,960 and things you're grateful for. He could be just worshipping and 623 00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:19,960 appreciating his good. It's all prayer because it's 624 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:25,360 seeking his presence. And so, you know, I always, I 625 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:27,480 always want to give you something to do with with the 626 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:29,160 truths that come out of. Scripture as we. 627 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:32,600 Preach on a Sunday morning and so here's my my my number one 628 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:35,800 goal today is actually that you would you would take this 629 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:39,760 concept, this idea and then it would reshape and refashion how 630 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,520 you consider and think about prayer. 631 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,360 Then it would change your perspective about what it is to 632 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:48,440 talk to God to seek God to look for his presence. 633 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,240 But let me give you something to do like. 634 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:53,040 Next week. We're going to actually spend 635 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:54,800 some real time on, on doing things right? 636 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,480 Like like here's some here's some concrete examples of, of 637 00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:01,240 ways to pray and how to pray. But let me give you give me one, 638 00:37:01,240 --> 00:37:04,160 one challenge for this week as we move into next week here, let 639 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:08,560 me just ask you this question. What would it look like to seek 640 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:12,800 God's face instead of his hand and any? 641 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:16,720 And what I mean by that is this, to seek God's hand is to say. 642 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:18,640 God, I need you to do something for me. 643 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:21,960 To seek God's face is. To say, man, I just want to be 644 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:24,920 near you and. The interesting part is that you 645 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,600 can seek God's hand and miss his face entirely. 646 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:32,760 We we, we can get into this thing where we treat God like a 647 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:34,360 like a genie in a bottle. And we do we. 648 00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:36,360 Figure if we rub it and we say the right things, we might get 3 649 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:40,520 wishes, but if you seek God's face you get the whole thing. 650 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:46,480 What would it look like in our life if our prayer life begin to 651 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:48,600 start with? And maybe at some point. 652 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:50,800 Centre around just wanting to experience. 653 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:55,280 The presence of God in our life. And, and here's the the crazy. 654 00:37:55,280 --> 00:38:02,840 Thing we were designed. For it, we were designed for it. 655 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:06,800 You're not actually going to feel real satisfaction until 656 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:07,600 you. Begin to do it. 657 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:12,760 What would it look like if every day this week? 658 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:15,520 You stopped. Before, you just rushed off into 659 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,080 the busyness of life and. You just said for 60 seconds, 660 00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:22,880 sit still in silence. Say God, will you show yourself 661 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:26,120 to me today? Will you show me more of you 662 00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:28,480 today? Maybe. 663 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:30,440 Maybe you're. So new to this that it all seems 664 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:32,440 intimidating. You could literally set an alarm 665 00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:34,600 on your phone and when it goes off, just say God, will you? 666 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:37,400 Will you show yourself to me today? 667 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:40,280 Will you show me more of your presence today? 668 00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:43,160 Will you help me to enjoy you more today? 669 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,600 I I just tell you from my own life, it will change everything 670 00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:50,440 about. The way you see God about the 671 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:54,160 way you approach life, if you will simply slow down and 672 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:58,720 attempt or just ask for God to show himself to you more deeply, 673 00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:00,760 He will. He's not embarrassed, you're 674 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:02,640 asking, he's actually. Waiting for you to ask. 675 00:39:03,240 --> 00:39:08,400 He wants to be wanted. Here's the crazy thing. 676 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:11,840 I. Think you already want to let? 677 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:13,360 Let me ask this question. How many? 678 00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:14,440 People, if I just asked you if I. 679 00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:17,080 Just came to you after service said hey would you like to 680 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,120 experience God more deeply in your life? 681 00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:20,200 How many people would raise your hand? 682 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:22,320 Man, like logically we're like, well, yeah, of. 683 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:23,520 Course. OK, cool. 684 00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:27,640 Let's ask for it every day this week. 685 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:28,520 Let's just say, hey guy, will you? 686 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:30,640 Will you help me to experience you more deeply this week? 687 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:39,480 Just ask now for some of you, maybe, maybe online, maybe you 688 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:41,840 just kind of got him hanging out listening, what have you. 689 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:45,040 You're hearing this and. And here's the thing to to ask 690 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:48,520 God for that to to ask a God to to show himself. 691 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:50,440 More deeply, to experience His presence you actually have to 692 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:55,640 know God and and for some. Of you, you've. 693 00:39:57,080 --> 00:39:59,560 You don't know Him, You know about him, you know of Him, you 694 00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:02,400 know somebody that knows him, but you don't know him. 695 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:07,400 As you see, we only come to God in relationship. 696 00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:12,600 Through belief in Jesus Christ. Without Christ we have no 697 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:14,920 access, we have no relationship. We have no Heavenly Father. 698 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:18,800 It takes a surrendered heart. To Jesus. 699 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:21,000 So if you've if. You've never. 700 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,400 Done that the Bible actually lays out an instruction. 701 00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,560 Of what that looks like. In Romans 10/9 and 10, it says 702 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:32,280 if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, I believe in 703 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:34,240 your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be 704 00:40:34,240 --> 00:40:35,920 saved. For with the heart 1 believes 705 00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:38,880 and is justified, and with the mouth 1 confesses and is saved. 706 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:43,600 And so if you've not done this before, but you're willing to 707 00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:45,960 surrender your life to God today, I want to give you an 708 00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,600 opportunity to do that. I want to invite you to do that. 709 00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,080 Will you please bow your heads and close your eyes as we wrap 710 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:54,600 up our service? Just a moment, for just a moment 711 00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:00,840 God is calling to you and if you're willing to ask him for 712 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:03,680 forgiveness and salvation. As we close our eyes and bow our 713 00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:07,080 head, I just want you to repeat this prayer after me. 714 00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:16,360 Jesus, I know I'm lost and I need you to save me. 715 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:24,320 I'm not satisfied and I need relationship with you, so I 716 00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:30,800 surrender everything to you and I receive your promise of 717 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:36,520 forgiveness, of adoption, of eternal life. 718 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:46,240 Be my Lord. Please Jesus, if you prayed that 719 00:41:46,240 --> 00:41:50,480 prayer moments ago, would you be brave and raise your hand for me 720 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:56,200 to see? Thank you, thank you. 721 00:41:56,200 --> 00:42:00,920 You put your hands down in Jesus name, Amen. 722 00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:07,240 Real quick, whether a moment ago or or maybe sometime in the last 723 00:42:07,240 --> 00:42:12,200 couple weeks, if you surrendered your heart to Christ to call him 724 00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:20,730 Lord. Welcome to the family in in just 725 00:42:20,730 --> 00:42:21,770 a moment. We're going to we're going to 726 00:42:21,770 --> 00:42:25,400 respond to this sermon. We're going to sing a song to 727 00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:27,120 close our service. And in the back there are 728 00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:29,000 tables. The banners say I raised my 729 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:29,920 hand. Whether you raise your. 730 00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:33,000 Hand or not, if you've. Made a decision to follow 731 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,480 Christ, to surrender to Christ. I want you to go back there 732 00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:36,680 during the song, and I want you to. 733 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:39,040 Tell someone what happened. We want to celebrate with you. 734 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:42,760 We're going to give you a Bible and a gift and follow up with 735 00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:44,440 you. We're going to talk about what 736 00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:47,920 it looks like to follow Christ. The rest of you, where you 737 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:49,000 stand. We're going to sing a song. 738 00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:51,600 Our prayer team is going to come up. 739 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:54,280 We, we, we love Fran with you and for you for all sorts of 740 00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:55,680 things. What a great time to. 741 00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:57,800 Be prayed for during a series on prayer. 742 00:43:03,620 --> 00:43:05,940 So don't miss an opportunity to have someone pray for you today. 743 00:43:07,020 --> 00:43:08,980 You move as the Lord leads you. We love you.