WEBVTT 00:00:00.542 --> 00:00:01.747 Amen, amen. 00:00:01.747 --> 00:00:03.728 We're going to be in Luke, chapter 11. 00:00:03.728 --> 00:00:05.347 Again, family, so good to see you guys. 00:00:05.347 --> 00:00:08.949 We are wrapping up a series entitled Deeper. 00:00:08.949 --> 00:00:12.246 The series is entitled Deeper and here's what we're doing, if you're new. 00:00:12.246 --> 00:00:20.329 We're looking at five rhythms, five decisions that we can make that allow us to grow deeper in our faith. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:31.821 And what I want to do is I want to catch up and remind us some of the rhythms we've been talking about, and I want to hear from you, I want to see how well you've been paying attention the last four weeks. 00:00:31.821 --> 00:00:35.712 But before we do, I want to talk about, like why are we talking about this? 00:00:35.712 --> 00:00:38.807 Here can be a reality in our life sometimes. 00:00:38.807 --> 00:00:43.588 Sometimes in our spiritual life, we can drift a little bit in our faith. 00:00:43.588 --> 00:00:51.204 In fact, he would be honest enough to say there's been a time or two in my Christian journey where I've drifted If that's you raise up your hand Absolutely so many of us. 00:00:51.204 --> 00:00:58.009 And in those times where we drift, what we can do is we can examine our lives and we can say, hey, are these five rhythms in my life? 00:00:58.009 --> 00:01:09.087 And if they're not, what we can do is we can say, oh, let me reincorporate this into my life and this will allow me to get back on track and go deeper in my faith. 00:01:09.087 --> 00:01:12.441 So, with that in mind, what is one of the first four rhythms that we've talked about? 00:01:12.441 --> 00:01:15.689 And a hint, you can see the icons right there. 00:01:15.689 --> 00:01:19.881 What's that Awesome, that's right. 00:01:19.960 --> 00:01:21.063 Meditating on Scripture. 00:01:21.063 --> 00:01:22.807 Spending time meditating on Scripture? 00:01:22.807 --> 00:01:23.167 That's great. 00:01:23.167 --> 00:01:24.590 In the front row, which I love. 00:01:24.590 --> 00:01:25.492 I love front row. 00:01:25.492 --> 00:01:26.513 Thank you, thank you, thank you. 00:01:26.513 --> 00:01:28.224 Some of y'all are allergic to the front row. 00:01:28.224 --> 00:01:29.165 Okay, that's okay. 00:01:30.510 --> 00:01:31.513 Meditating on Scripture. 00:01:31.513 --> 00:01:33.283 What's another one we've talked about? 00:01:33.283 --> 00:01:35.909 That's right, aaron. 00:01:35.909 --> 00:01:39.653 Community, having godly community in our life through the church. 00:01:39.653 --> 00:01:41.433 Who we walk with is who we'll be like. 00:01:41.433 --> 00:01:44.334 The importance of having community and real relationships in the church. 00:01:44.334 --> 00:01:45.034 What's the most? 00:01:45.034 --> 00:01:45.635 We've talked about? 00:01:45.635 --> 00:01:47.396 Service. 00:01:47.396 --> 00:01:47.915 That's right. 00:01:47.915 --> 00:01:48.436 Service. 00:01:48.436 --> 00:01:52.938 We said Jesus measured greatness not by being served, but by serving other people. 00:01:53.498 --> 00:01:55.019 And then what is the fourth one? 00:01:55.019 --> 00:01:56.563 What is that megaphone? 00:01:56.563 --> 00:01:57.605 Right there it is. 00:01:57.605 --> 00:02:00.432 Somebody tell me, that's right. 00:02:00.432 --> 00:02:02.644 Sharing the gospel, making Jesus known to others. 00:02:02.644 --> 00:02:05.831 You guys paid attention so well, in fact, give yourselves a hand. 00:02:05.831 --> 00:02:06.822 You guys have been. 00:02:06.822 --> 00:02:07.968 That's right, that's right. 00:02:10.640 --> 00:02:16.568 And I know you guys have just been waiting all week with eager anticipation, wanting to know what is the fifth rhythm. 00:02:16.568 --> 00:02:21.572 Last Sunday, you celebrated because the Kansas City Chiefs lost the Super Bowl. 00:02:21.572 --> 00:02:28.651 Wow, let's go 11-15 service. 00:02:28.651 --> 00:02:30.153 Y'all are my people, okay. 00:02:30.153 --> 00:02:40.986 And after you celebrated the loss and threw darts at a picture of Patrick Mahomes, you thought what is the fifth rhythm going to be in the deeper series? 00:02:40.986 --> 00:02:41.627 I have to know. 00:02:41.627 --> 00:02:53.150 Well, after all the anticipation and all the excitement, I'm here to reveal the fifth rhythm, and some of you already know what it is. 00:02:53.150 --> 00:02:54.540 At least you've guessed. 00:02:54.540 --> 00:02:55.984 Here's the fifth rhythm. 00:02:55.984 --> 00:02:58.187 The fifth rhythm is prayer. 00:02:59.751 --> 00:03:00.393 Now, what is prayer? 00:03:00.393 --> 00:03:01.093 What is prayer? 00:03:01.093 --> 00:03:04.227 Very simply, prayer is talking to God. 00:03:04.227 --> 00:03:09.108 Now, before you check out, before you check out and you're like I already know what prayer is, I know this. 00:03:09.108 --> 00:03:21.372 Okay, it's possible that there are powerful realities about prayer that you have not embraced, that are preventing you from experiencing the power of prayer in your life. 00:03:21.372 --> 00:03:24.143 And this is what we're going to do today. 00:03:24.143 --> 00:03:32.747 We're going to talk about the powerful realities of prayer that can allow prayer from going from just something you know about to something you actually live out. 00:03:34.221 --> 00:03:41.525 Now here's what's really interesting about prayer is people tend to pray no matter what they believe, when they go through hard times. 00:03:41.525 --> 00:03:51.602 I have friends that they're not really interested in spiritual things, but when they go through a hard, I have friends that they're not really interested in spiritual things, but when they go through a hard time they'll say something like can you pray for me? 00:03:51.602 --> 00:03:54.948 Like I need prayer. 00:03:54.948 --> 00:04:01.044 And it's almost like God has put something in our hearts that shows us that we need God. 00:04:01.044 --> 00:04:14.193 And it's in those moments when we're out of control, in those moments of vulnerability, in those moments when we don't have the answers, that we are like I need God. 00:04:14.193 --> 00:04:17.125 In fact, that might be what brought some of you here today. 00:04:17.125 --> 00:04:24.189 You might not be a church person, a Jesus person, but you just know there's something out there like you need something. 00:04:24.189 --> 00:04:31.487 And can I just say that is God at work in your heart, because God has put a God-shaped hole in everybody's heart. 00:04:31.487 --> 00:04:37.130 And interesting, the prayer people pray, even that don't even have all types of beliefs. 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:44.382 It's also interesting to me about prayer is when you think about the apostles that spent three years with Jesus. 00:04:44.382 --> 00:04:54.788 It's only recorded that they asked Jesus to teach them how to do one thing, and it wasn't walk on water. 00:04:54.788 --> 00:05:01.391 If I'm the apostles, I'm saying Jesus, teach me how to walk on water. 00:05:01.391 --> 00:05:04.240 I want to join the walk on water growth group teach me how to walk on water. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:10.500 I want to join the walk on water growth group. 00:05:10.500 --> 00:05:20.153 It wasn't teach me how to heal people, it was teach us to pray. 00:05:20.153 --> 00:05:24.298 Maybe that's because the apostles were like me and they struggled with prayer. 00:05:24.298 --> 00:05:35.882 Maybe it was because the apostles saw that prayer was such an integral part of the life of Jesus that they knew that Jesus knew something about prayer that they just didn't have. 00:05:35.882 --> 00:05:45.428 And this prayer life that Jesus had was so centering and so inspiring and so captivating that they said teach me to pray. 00:05:46.791 --> 00:05:48.963 When you look at the life of Jesus, he was always praying. 00:05:48.963 --> 00:05:50.767 I mean, think about this. 00:05:50.767 --> 00:05:53.480 Jesus prayed during the demands of life. 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:55.067 He prayed before important decisions. 00:05:55.067 --> 00:05:56.815 He prayed during a season of grief. 00:05:56.815 --> 00:05:58.240 He prayed while being busy. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:02.026 When I'm busy, I say I'm too busy to pray. 00:06:02.026 --> 00:06:06.894 Jesus said when he was busy, he was too busy not to pray. 00:06:06.894 --> 00:06:16.384 Jesus prayed before significant events and if there was anybody that could have done everything in his own strength, that literally could have been Jesus. 00:06:16.384 --> 00:06:25.632 But he prayed to God, his father, and the disciples in Luke 11 said teach us to pray. 00:06:25.632 --> 00:06:50.314 And he's going to share some powerful realities that I hope that you'll embrace, because my goal today is not just to deliver some sermon, some pep talk, but my goal today is that you will leave this place knowing how you can experience the power of prayer in your life, because it's possible that you can experience the power of prayer in your life, because it's possible that you can experience the power of prayer in your life if you'll embrace these realities. 00:06:50.314 --> 00:06:51.079 So let's learn about them. 00:06:51.119 --> 00:06:54.146 In Luke 11, verse number one, if you're ready for it, would you say amen? 00:06:54.146 --> 00:06:56.473 It says he was praying. 00:06:56.473 --> 00:06:58.862 Anybody want to take a guess who that he is? 00:06:58.862 --> 00:06:59.884 It starts with a J. 00:06:59.884 --> 00:07:03.509 Jesus was praying in a certain place. 00:07:03.509 --> 00:07:04.610 He finished. 00:07:04.610 --> 00:07:10.122 One of his disciples said to him Lord, here it is. 00:07:10.122 --> 00:07:11.805 What are those words? 00:07:11.805 --> 00:07:18.860 Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples. 00:07:18.860 --> 00:07:36.324 He's about to teach what's commonly known as the Lord's Prayer, and some of us know the tradition of the Lord's Prayer, but few of us have ever been taught and embraced and understand the power of what Jesus was teaching. 00:07:36.786 --> 00:07:45.333 In the Lord's Prayer he says whenever you pray to them, jesus said this is how you do it. 00:07:45.333 --> 00:07:53.422 Whenever you pray, say here's the word, say Father, now for us. 00:07:53.422 --> 00:07:59.327 We're like yeah, we're familiar with that word in church context and our relationship with God context. 00:07:59.327 --> 00:08:14.899 But to the Jewish listeners here, calling God the Father Father was revolutionary, because Father meant a personal relationship. 00:08:14.899 --> 00:08:22.495 Right, father meant a personal relationship. 00:08:22.495 --> 00:08:39.153 You see, they knew in the Old Testament that they knew that Jesus or God the Father had been called Father in relationship to the nation of Israel, in fact 14 different times, meaning that he was the one that had created the nation of Israel, he was the one that was in charge of the nation of Israel. 00:08:39.153 --> 00:08:45.388 They knew the word father in context, his relationship with the nation. 00:08:45.388 --> 00:08:49.918 But Jesus says no, no, no, it's not about the nation as a whole. 00:08:49.918 --> 00:08:50.865 This is what it's about. 00:08:50.865 --> 00:08:55.090 It's about you having a personal relationship with the father. 00:08:55.090 --> 00:08:58.394 And how do you pray? 00:08:58.394 --> 00:09:00.496 What's the first powerful reality about prayer? 00:09:00.496 --> 00:09:04.662 Is prayers about embracing a relationship. 00:09:04.662 --> 00:09:11.317 Prayer is embracing a relationship. 00:09:12.585 --> 00:09:25.239 Now, for some of us, the idea of calling God Father is hard because of, well, our relationship with our earthly father. 00:09:25.239 --> 00:09:34.099 Maybe that relationship with your earthly father was hard or distant or complicated. 00:09:34.099 --> 00:09:46.077 Can I just say that I empathize with you and can I also say that maybe your earthly father wasn't what he should have been. 00:09:46.077 --> 00:09:51.918 But when you look at your heavenly father, at our heavenly father. 00:09:51.918 --> 00:10:16.085 You see a picture of what your earthly father should have been and what a father should be, should be Loving, caring, compassionate, slow to anger, quick to mercy, unconditionally accepting. 00:10:16.085 --> 00:10:21.148 That's who the Father is. 00:10:21.148 --> 00:10:23.644 And Jesus says, when you pray, you pray based on this relationship, not based on this religious activity. 00:10:23.644 --> 00:10:26.062 Prayer is not about I got these. 00:10:26.062 --> 00:10:34.352 Okay, I need to pray these special prayers in this circumstance, because if I pray this special prayer in this certain way and I got to say all the words, then I'm good. 00:10:34.352 --> 00:10:35.831 No, no, that's not what prayer is. 00:10:35.831 --> 00:10:42.316 Jesus says it is father because you have a relationship with him. 00:10:42.316 --> 00:11:04.220 And the implications of this are incredible Because if he's our father, this means and he's a loving, caring, compassionate father, this means he wants to hear us and this means he wants us to come to him just as we are. 00:11:06.081 --> 00:11:14.886 Some of us have a hard time coming to God because our lives are messy, but the reality is that God wants the real you, messiness and all. 00:11:14.886 --> 00:11:26.538 Sometimes we think, man, if I really bring this before God, if I mean this happened to me or I did this, or I'm going through this right now, I can't truly be open to God. 00:11:26.538 --> 00:11:35.726 Friend, if God is your father, then he wants the real you, messiness and all In the gospel. 00:11:35.726 --> 00:11:46.490 One of the beautiful things of the gospel is that once we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we are God's children, despite how we feel or the junk in our lives. 00:11:46.490 --> 00:11:49.238 This is what Tim Keller says about this. 00:11:49.238 --> 00:12:18.192 If we know we're loved and accepted in spite of our flaws and faults, that makes it far easier to admit our flaws and faults and friends, tattoo that quote on your heart, because if I know that God, the Father, still accepts me in spite of those things, then I can admit those things. 00:12:19.927 --> 00:12:29.196 I don't have to be a self-righteous, pompous religious person or a self-righteous, pompous secular person and say no, no, like I'm good, no, no. 00:12:29.196 --> 00:12:33.808 We can be real with God when we pray. 00:12:33.808 --> 00:12:39.094 We pray calling him Father, based on the relationship he says. 00:12:39.094 --> 00:12:43.599 When you pray, say Father. 00:12:43.599 --> 00:12:46.261 When you pray, say your name be honored as holy. 00:12:46.261 --> 00:12:47.687 What does this mean? 00:12:47.687 --> 00:12:50.693 This means we just acknowledge God's greatness. 00:12:50.693 --> 00:12:58.216 That's all this means is we get an accurate view of God and we say we want to honor you for who you are. 00:12:59.426 --> 00:13:02.434 Now that brings up a question how do we know God? 00:13:02.434 --> 00:13:06.369 How do we know who God is? 00:13:06.369 --> 00:13:13.618 Maybe you watch the movie, or maybe you watch the social media reel, or maybe you watch videos and it's like how do I like know who God is? 00:13:13.618 --> 00:13:15.027 This is how we know who God is. 00:13:15.027 --> 00:13:17.610 We take God's book and we open up God's book. 00:13:17.610 --> 00:13:25.659 We take God's book and we open up God's book and we let God speak for himself about who he is. 00:13:32.544 --> 00:13:39.099 And we specifically read the gospels Matthew, mark, luke and John, because they're biographies about the life of Jesus and what Jesus was is Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God. 00:13:39.099 --> 00:13:43.313 He was the visible image of the invisible God. 00:13:43.313 --> 00:13:44.969 So some of you are wondering like, what is God like? 00:13:44.969 --> 00:13:45.630 Look at Jesus. 00:13:45.630 --> 00:13:49.048 Some of you are wondering what's the character of God, what is Jesus like? 00:13:49.048 --> 00:13:56.692 And watch out for anybody that they say, hey, let me tell you who God is, but make sure you close your Bible first and come here, let me interpret the Bible to you, let me teach you. 00:13:56.692 --> 00:13:57.909 No friend, you can do this for yourself. 00:13:57.909 --> 00:13:59.263 Look at what the scripture says. 00:13:59.263 --> 00:14:00.203 No friend, you can do this for yourself. 00:14:00.203 --> 00:14:04.330 Look at what the scripture says Jesus was the invisible. 00:14:04.330 --> 00:14:17.226 Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God, and we can see God accurately and this is what it causes us to do Lord, we want to honor you because you're holy. 00:14:17.226 --> 00:14:20.409 And then he says something else about this, about prayer. 00:14:20.409 --> 00:14:21.730 There's a last line. 00:14:21.730 --> 00:14:23.211 It's your kingdom come. 00:14:23.211 --> 00:14:24.452 And this one's hard for me. 00:14:24.452 --> 00:14:31.379 Can we all say that those bottom three words together Ready, your kingdom come, your kingdom come. 00:14:31.379 --> 00:14:33.120 You know what this is a prayer for? 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:47.506 This is a prayer that God's will would be advanced, that God's agenda would move forward. 00:14:47.527 --> 00:14:48.789 How many of you know that God has a plan? 00:14:48.789 --> 00:14:51.154 How many of you know that God has a way that he wants things to go? 00:14:51.154 --> 00:14:58.625 And how many also would admit that sometimes your desires and your plans are different than God's desires and God's plans? 00:14:58.625 --> 00:15:05.431 How many of you are honest enough to say honestly, nate, there's a lot of times where God has some different desires than I have. 00:15:05.431 --> 00:15:07.350 If that's you, would you raise up your hand? 00:15:07.350 --> 00:15:08.333 Me too. 00:15:08.333 --> 00:15:10.811 You know why, because sometimes I'm stubborn. 00:15:10.811 --> 00:15:14.173 You know any stubborn people Don't look around. 00:15:14.173 --> 00:15:25.831 Sometimes I say God, like this is what I want, god, this is what I think is best. 00:15:25.831 --> 00:15:29.472 Because I'm Nate, you know, I've lived on this earth for 35 years. 00:15:29.472 --> 00:15:30.355 I mean, I'm really smart. 00:15:30.355 --> 00:15:38.197 And what happens is God's will can come head to head with my will. 00:15:40.225 --> 00:15:45.910 And Jesus says, when it comes to prayer, this is what our prayer should be Lord, I want to advance your will, I want to advance your kingdom. 00:15:45.910 --> 00:15:50.351 Now that brings up a question what is the kingdom of God? 00:15:50.351 --> 00:15:59.793 Here's what the kingdom of God is in short, in a sentence the kingdom of God is God's reign, god's rule and God's ways. 00:15:59.793 --> 00:16:02.673 God's reign, god's rule and God's ways. 00:16:02.673 --> 00:16:03.804 God's reign, god's rule and God's way. 00:16:03.804 --> 00:16:06.514 So you read in the New Testament. 00:16:06.514 --> 00:16:11.072 Jesus would say in this world it's like this, but in the kingdom, what is he saying? 00:16:11.072 --> 00:16:13.472 When God is reigning, this is what it looks like. 00:16:13.472 --> 00:16:16.793 You've heard the Gentiles say this. 00:16:16.793 --> 00:16:19.427 But in God's kingdom, what's he talking about? 00:16:19.427 --> 00:16:20.687 God's ways. 00:16:20.687 --> 00:16:30.797 And Jesus says when we pray, we pray to advance God's ways, we pray to advance God's kingdom. 00:16:30.797 --> 00:16:32.398 Here's what I've learned. 00:16:32.398 --> 00:17:02.217 I've learned that when I do the hard thing, oh, the hard thing of submitting to God's will and God's ways above my ways, even when it's hard and it's really hard and I look back, I can see there were times that God had a plan, that I had no idea what his plan entailed, and when I stepped into submission to him, that he led me here. 00:17:02.217 --> 00:17:07.712 And now I say now I understand why Jesus says when you pray, this is what you do. 00:17:07.712 --> 00:17:11.236 You pray for the advancement of God's agenda. 00:17:12.246 --> 00:17:15.395 And then Jesus gets to verse number three and he starts talking about food. 00:17:15.395 --> 00:17:17.912 How many of you guys like to eat in this room? 00:17:17.912 --> 00:17:19.769 How many of you are hungry? 00:17:19.769 --> 00:17:23.066 Put your hands down, don't get out of here. 00:17:23.066 --> 00:17:33.513 We preaching, okay, I was studying out verse number three and I made a really holy observation in this text Very holy, very deep, very pastoral. 00:17:33.513 --> 00:17:36.159 I mean I was studying everything. 00:17:38.704 --> 00:17:44.135 Notice that Jesus used the word bread Give us each day our daily bread. 00:17:44.135 --> 00:17:44.938 Y'all notice? 00:17:44.938 --> 00:17:53.761 He didn't say give us this day our daily salad, he said. 00:17:53.761 --> 00:17:58.232 He didn't say give us this day our daily kale. 00:17:58.232 --> 00:18:00.967 I'm sorry, vegan friends out there, we still love you, he said. 00:18:00.967 --> 00:18:03.935 He said give us this day our daily bread. 00:18:03.935 --> 00:18:05.632 Are there any carb lovers in the house? 00:18:05.632 --> 00:18:07.510 Come on, let's go right. 00:18:07.510 --> 00:18:10.853 Jesus, give us this day our daily bread. 00:18:10.853 --> 00:18:16.613 Now, here's the thing In this time period, bread was part of the daily need, like this was the sustenance for their life. 00:18:17.125 --> 00:18:18.791 And this is what Jesus is telling them. 00:18:18.791 --> 00:18:25.875 He's saying when you, this is what you do. 00:18:25.875 --> 00:18:27.883 Pray for your needs, pray for your needs. 00:18:27.883 --> 00:18:33.219 Can I just say your needs matter. 00:18:33.219 --> 00:18:35.866 Your needs matter to God. 00:18:35.866 --> 00:18:37.950 Pray for your needs. 00:18:37.950 --> 00:18:40.271 Some of you have been told, like my needs don't matter, god doesn't care. 00:18:40.271 --> 00:18:40.792 God does care. 00:18:40.792 --> 00:18:44.517 He says pray for your needs. 00:18:44.517 --> 00:18:45.877 Nothing is off limits. 00:18:45.877 --> 00:18:48.000 Pray what's on your heart, pray. 00:18:48.080 --> 00:19:00.173 Verse 4, he says and pray and forgive us our sins, as we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. 00:19:00.173 --> 00:19:00.575 Forgive us our sin. 00:19:00.575 --> 00:19:01.096 Why does he pray this? 00:19:01.096 --> 00:19:11.166 Because because, although we are forgiven from the penalty of our sin, the power of our sin can still be in our lives and sin can murky the waters of our fellowship with God. 00:19:11.166 --> 00:19:14.576 So we pray and say Lord, I want to turn from this sin. 00:19:14.576 --> 00:19:15.518 Forgive me for this. 00:19:15.518 --> 00:19:22.875 I want to have all right communion with you and do not bring us into temptation. 00:19:22.875 --> 00:19:25.961 Don't bring us into temptation. 00:19:25.961 --> 00:19:27.567 Help us to overcome temptation. 00:19:27.567 --> 00:19:32.338 So, friend, what are the powerful realities about prayer? 00:19:32.338 --> 00:19:33.267 How do we pray? 00:19:33.267 --> 00:19:34.028 This is what we do. 00:19:34.028 --> 00:19:47.730 We embrace a relationship, we acknowledge God's greatness, we pray to advance God's agenda, we pray for our needs, we confess our sin and we pray to overcome temptation. 00:19:47.750 --> 00:19:56.531 Now, when you look at these things I don't know if you notice anything about this, but there's some things I noticed I noticed that none of these have to do with the posture of our body. 00:19:56.531 --> 00:20:06.076 When I was a kid, I thought that if you were gonna pray you had to have your hands together or the prayers didn't count. 00:20:06.076 --> 00:20:11.334 Now there was the option you could do fingers up or fingers interlocked. 00:20:11.334 --> 00:20:12.317 That was the two options. 00:20:12.317 --> 00:20:18.757 I also thought that when you prayed you have to close your eyes. 00:20:18.757 --> 00:20:23.049 If you don't close your eyes, them prayers are hitting the ceiling. 00:20:23.049 --> 00:20:23.612 They ain't going up. 00:20:23.612 --> 00:20:29.174 Gotta love that seven-year-old prayer theology. 00:20:30.727 --> 00:20:43.968 But in all of these, if you notice, these have nothing to do with the posture of your body, because prayer is not about the posture of your body, but the posture of your heart. 00:20:43.968 --> 00:20:47.676 Right, the posture of your heart. 00:20:47.676 --> 00:20:52.440 You know what this means that you can pray anytime you want. 00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:57.076 You can pray while you're driving, but please don't close your eyes while you do that. 00:20:57.076 --> 00:21:01.159 You can pray when you wake up in the middle of the night and you gotta go to the bathroom. 00:21:01.159 --> 00:21:01.579 You can pray. 00:21:01.579 --> 00:21:04.095 You can pray before you go to bed. 00:21:04.095 --> 00:21:04.857 You can pray in the shower. 00:21:04.857 --> 00:21:10.643 You can pray anytime you want, because prayer is not about the posture of your body. 00:21:10.643 --> 00:21:20.882 Prayer is about the posture of your heart of saying Lord, you're my father. 00:21:20.882 --> 00:21:23.345 So I want to cry out to you. 00:21:25.250 --> 00:21:28.375 And Jesus tells them this is how you pray. 00:21:28.375 --> 00:21:32.142 And then he gives them this powerful story about prayer. 00:21:32.142 --> 00:21:35.778 In the rest of these verses he says this and I want to walk through it with you. 00:21:35.778 --> 00:21:42.195 He says he said to them suppose one of you has a friend, how many of you have a friend in here? 00:21:42.195 --> 00:21:43.777 If you have a friend, raise your hand, you got a friend. 00:21:43.777 --> 00:21:46.077 If you don't have your friend, if you don't have a friend, I'll be your friend. 00:21:46.077 --> 00:21:57.953 All right, suppose one of you has a friend, I'm your friend and he goes to him at midnight. 00:21:57.953 --> 00:22:03.202 So you got a friend that goes to you at midnight and says, friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me. 00:22:03.202 --> 00:22:05.272 I don't have anything to offer him. 00:22:06.936 --> 00:22:08.681 First century hospitality is a big deal. 00:22:08.681 --> 00:22:09.343 It really matters. 00:22:09.343 --> 00:22:18.505 Also, this is midnight and Taco Bell is not open at midnight In the first century, no fast food places. 00:22:18.505 --> 00:22:23.789 So he comes to him at midnight, if we can put this in 2025 vernacular. 00:22:23.789 --> 00:22:27.670 He has a friend that Calls him or texts him at midnight. 00:22:27.670 --> 00:22:30.159 His friend calls him. 00:22:30.159 --> 00:22:31.315 Then he will answer. 00:22:31.315 --> 00:22:32.531 What's the response going to be? 00:22:32.531 --> 00:22:40.617 He will answer from the inside and say don't bother me, the door is already locked and my children and I have gone to bed. 00:22:40.617 --> 00:22:42.471 I can't get up to give you anything. 00:22:42.471 --> 00:22:45.978 Translation he is not picking up the phone and answering. 00:22:45.978 --> 00:22:54.751 He is not texting him back and answering. 00:22:54.751 --> 00:22:55.413 He is not texting him back. 00:22:55.413 --> 00:23:05.296 He says verse 8, but I tell you, even though he won't get up and give him anything, because he's his friend, yet because of his friend's shameless boldness, he'll get up and give him as much as he needs, verse 9,. 00:23:05.296 --> 00:23:05.957 Jesus says so. 00:23:05.957 --> 00:23:08.740 I say to you ask. 00:23:08.740 --> 00:23:13.546 Jesus says so. 00:23:13.546 --> 00:23:14.867 I say to you ask, ask, ask. 00:23:15.871 --> 00:23:21.997 All of Jesus's teachings on prayer could be summed up in one word guys, ask, so ask, and it will be given to you. 00:23:21.997 --> 00:23:23.461 Seek and you will find. 00:23:23.461 --> 00:23:28.457 Knock and the door will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds. 00:23:28.457 --> 00:23:31.032 And to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 00:23:31.032 --> 00:23:34.239 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish? 00:23:34.239 --> 00:23:34.778 Nobody. 00:23:34.778 --> 00:23:40.978 If he asks for an egg, he's going to give him a scorpion. 00:23:40.978 --> 00:23:59.809 If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, to your children, how much more will the heavenly father, give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. 00:24:02.130 --> 00:24:04.673 In other stories about prayer, jesus gives a picture of a widow that's persistently asking and asking and asking and asking. 00:24:04.673 --> 00:24:06.738 And the widow receives because she asks. 00:24:06.738 --> 00:24:09.342 Here's what Jesus is saying. 00:24:09.342 --> 00:24:15.412 He's saying this Shameless, consistent prayers make a difference. 00:24:15.412 --> 00:24:17.615 Think about this Earlier in the text, jesus said hey. 00:24:17.615 --> 00:24:21.618 Jesus said God is your father, he's your father. 00:24:21.618 --> 00:24:24.762 Okay, so God's your father. 00:24:24.762 --> 00:24:26.724 So that means you're God's child. 00:24:30.970 --> 00:24:33.154 Think about how shameless kids are when they ask for things. 00:24:33.154 --> 00:24:35.019 Think about how much kids ask for things. 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:36.481 They don't take no for an answer, do they? 00:24:36.481 --> 00:24:43.401 They ask and they ask and they ask and they just ask like it's like, did you really just ask for that? 00:24:43.401 --> 00:24:44.165 Like, come on, it's not going to happen. 00:24:44.165 --> 00:24:44.890 That's the picture Jesus gives here. 00:24:44.890 --> 00:24:53.364 And the picture in the story is the reason why the man got the bread is not because his friend was like I, like my friend, but because his friend had the boldness to ask him. 00:24:55.109 --> 00:25:08.682 And what we have to do is we have to be people that are bold enough to pray shamelessly and consistently to God and cry out to him and cry out to him. 00:25:08.682 --> 00:25:29.281 And one way that we can do this is through a spiritual rhythm and I would really call it a discipline called fasting. 00:25:29.281 --> 00:25:31.243 How many of it is? 00:25:31.243 --> 00:25:37.420 If prayer connects you to God, then fasting disconnects you from the world. 00:25:37.420 --> 00:25:42.057 So if prayer is Lord, I'm seeking you. 00:25:42.057 --> 00:25:46.432 What fasting does is fasting says this thing over here. 00:25:46.432 --> 00:25:50.223 I'm going to abstain from this so I can seek after you. 00:25:50.223 --> 00:25:52.230 And I don't know how to formulate it. 00:25:52.230 --> 00:26:07.160 I don't necessarily know how to explain it, but in seasons, for me, when I'm fasting, I am more aware of God's presence than other times in my life and I am more aware of God's power and what God can do and how a lot of these other things aren't nearly as important as I think. 00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:10.025 And what? 00:26:10.025 --> 00:26:14.557 Simply, this is what fasting is. 00:26:14.557 --> 00:26:20.462 It's fasting is saying no to something and seeking God about something. 00:26:20.462 --> 00:26:29.679 So this week, as we wrap up our 40 Days of Growing Deeper which about 230 of us are a part of that, which is amazing there's a spiritual assignment of fasting. 00:26:29.679 --> 00:26:31.739 And what fasting is saying? 00:26:31.739 --> 00:26:35.018 It's saying no to something and seeking God about something instead. 00:26:35.329 --> 00:26:37.974 And you can fast for everything, from anything. 00:26:37.974 --> 00:26:41.101 The most popular fast is you guys know, it's food. 00:26:41.101 --> 00:26:42.943 But you can fast from video games. 00:26:42.943 --> 00:26:48.093 You can fast. 00:26:48.093 --> 00:26:55.114 He can't fast for video games, guys From social media, all the rest of us from the news. 00:26:55.114 --> 00:27:03.395 But you can fast from something for a period of time so you can seek God about something. 00:27:03.395 --> 00:27:09.153 Fasting number two it's done for God's direction, intervention or revelation. 00:27:09.153 --> 00:27:12.849 Maybe you're in the midst of something in your life and you're like Lord. 00:27:12.849 --> 00:27:15.536 I need you to reveal something to me about yourself. 00:27:15.536 --> 00:27:17.159 Lord, teach me. 00:27:17.159 --> 00:27:21.336 Maybe you need a health breakthrough, maybe you need a relational breakthrough. 00:27:21.336 --> 00:27:22.694 Fasting is done for that. 00:27:22.694 --> 00:27:26.440 Fasting is done out of a heart of desperation and or submission. 00:27:26.440 --> 00:27:30.038 It's saying, god, I'm submitting this to you. 00:27:31.411 --> 00:27:36.076 When you fast, you pray instead of partaking in what you're fasting from. 00:27:36.076 --> 00:27:45.096 So the regular time that you would spend on video games, instead of doing that, what you would do is you would say I'm gonna pray. 00:27:45.096 --> 00:27:51.317 So if you're fasting from food let's say you fast from lunch on Thursday, from food from lunch, because you're praying for something. 00:27:51.317 --> 00:27:59.457 Instead of taking that 45 minutes and eating on your lunch break which you'll do maybe take a prayer walk and just walk around, listen to worship music, pray for 45 minutes. 00:27:59.457 --> 00:28:08.101 So what it is is it's a rhythm of saying I'm not gonna partake in this, but I'm gonna seek you about this God? 00:28:08.101 --> 00:28:11.398 And again, this is not some like hyper spiritual activity. 00:28:11.398 --> 00:28:40.003 This is not like, oh man, god loves me more because I didn't eat a hamburger at lunch, right, that's not the heart of that, but it's saying Lord, I want to seek after you, and what we want to be as a church is we want to be a church and we want to be individuals of prayer, because if we will be individuals of prayer in a church community of prayer, we will experience the power of prayer. 00:28:41.711 --> 00:28:52.644 We will experience what God can do in our lives and what God can do in our church community through people that pray and guys, we, all of us and my hand goes up. 00:28:52.644 --> 00:28:56.057 First, we have to take steps of growth in the area of prayer. 00:28:56.057 --> 00:29:01.074 We don't just gather here on Sundays because we got nothing better to do. 00:29:01.074 --> 00:29:17.798 Let me just tell you, church is not a very good hobby and I'm a pastor saying that we gather because we want to seek after God, because we want to worship God, because we want to hear the teaching of God's Word, because we want to come together as the church and we want to be people that are praying for each other. 00:29:17.798 --> 00:29:22.355 We want to be people that are seeing the hand of God work in our midst. 00:29:22.355 --> 00:29:23.779 And, by the way, look around you. 00:29:23.779 --> 00:29:28.121 We are seeing the hand of God work in our midst right, like, yeah, let me go get baptized next Sunday. 00:29:28.121 --> 00:29:39.998 But this is only the beginning of what God can do through people that seek after him, and we just have to be humble enough to say, lord, like I want to seek you. 00:29:41.830 --> 00:29:45.738 Some of us think our problem with prayer, our limitation, is that I'm not disciplined enough. 00:29:45.738 --> 00:29:49.057 Discipline is not the enemy of prayer. 00:29:49.057 --> 00:29:51.017 Self-reliance is the enemy of prayer. 00:29:51.017 --> 00:30:02.029 Our problem is not our discipline, our problem is our self-reliance, because we think we can do it without prayer and we're living our Christian life in default of relying on ourselves. 00:30:02.029 --> 00:30:04.578 When God says, no, seek me in prayer. 00:30:04.578 --> 00:30:06.217 Knock and it will be answered. 00:30:06.217 --> 00:30:08.176 Knock and I am here for you. 00:30:08.176 --> 00:30:13.378 Call unto me Jeremiah 33, three, and I will show you great and mighty things that you know not. 00:30:13.378 --> 00:30:16.459 Let me show you what I can do through people, that prayer. 00:30:16.459 --> 00:30:19.134 Let me show you what I can do through people, that prayer. 00:30:19.134 --> 00:30:27.611 Let me show you what I can do through people who are humble enough to realize they need me, and I will work in that person's life and I will work in that church community because they know who is the one that does the work. 00:30:27.611 --> 00:30:36.255 And so we got to do guys, as a church I raise my hand first is, as a church community, like we got to get better at this. 00:30:36.255 --> 00:30:48.689 Here's what I mean by that is like when's the last time you asked for somebody to pray for you in this church body? 00:30:48.689 --> 00:30:55.096 When's the last time you went to the prayer of next steps banners after service and was like, hey, can you pray for me? 00:30:58.471 --> 00:31:09.393 I was away for a weekend a couple months ago and I was visiting a church and that church had and I'll use this word, they had this culture of prayer that I hadn't been around before. 00:31:09.393 --> 00:31:14.712 You know, a lot of times like we pray if, like, we have like a really serious need or something which is important. 00:31:14.712 --> 00:31:21.711 But at the end of the service they had people just like standing around the auditorium and people were just going to them for prayer. 00:31:21.711 --> 00:31:26.201 People were praying for like all kinds of things Like, hey, pray for. 00:31:26.201 --> 00:31:27.673 This week I have a job interview. 00:31:27.673 --> 00:31:28.396 Would you pray for this? 00:31:28.396 --> 00:31:30.125 This week, would you pray for my child? 00:31:30.125 --> 00:31:31.431 They're going through something. 00:31:31.431 --> 00:31:34.394 Hey, would you just pray that God would give me wisdom in my life right here. 00:31:34.394 --> 00:31:37.740 Hey, would you just pray that God would help me to walk in purity this week? 00:31:37.740 --> 00:31:38.721 Hey, would you pray for the? 00:31:38.721 --> 00:31:51.617 It was just like this culture where it was like, wow, people actually prayed here and what's a God, we had that here, that we just be people that just pray. 00:31:51.657 --> 00:31:57.153 After the 845 service this morning we talked about this a little bit and it was amazing. 00:31:57.115 --> 00:32:06.421 After the 845 service, what happened is I looked around the room and literally people were like praying for each other Pastor Cody's praying, people in the back, people at the Next Steps, banners lined up. 00:32:06.421 --> 00:32:09.557 I was praying for somebody and people were praying with people at their seats. 00:32:09.557 --> 00:32:31.500 And here's what can happen, guys If we personally will decide that we'll be people of prayer and we'll take a step to be a community of prayer, we decide that as individuals, we, as a church body, will experience the power of prayer, you can experience the power of prayer in your life. 00:32:31.500 --> 00:32:40.344 So here's my ask and then I'm going to give you some time to reflect on it in your own heart and mind is how can you take a step in your prayer life personally with the Lord? 00:32:40.344 --> 00:32:44.861 And then how can you take a step in your prayer life, with your church family. 00:32:44.861 --> 00:32:48.016 We have this coming Thursday night. 00:32:48.016 --> 00:32:49.298 We have night of prayer and worship. 00:32:49.298 --> 00:32:51.478 Why we just want to cultivate this community of prayer. 00:32:51.478 --> 00:32:53.951 Let's all bow our heads and close our eyes right now.