The After Sermon /// Where does prayer actually start?

Welcome to The After Sermon by Plum Creek Church.

This bite-sized discussion is where we get to sit down with our communicators and ask a few follow up questions connected to the weekend message, unpack it on a deeper level, and explore how it all relates to our journey of following Jesus more fully.

In this episode, Daniel sits down with Doug to unpack a simple shift that can reshape how we experience prayer.

Doug reflects on why the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray—and how that same tension still exists for many of us today. From there, the conversation moves into why this season isn’t meant to be a just a weekend series, but something we actually practice and grow into over time.

They explore how easy it is to treat prayer like a reaction to pressure, and why Jesus intentionally begins with adoration instead. Not as a rule to follow, but as a way to re-center our attention, reconnect our hearts, and remember what’s true before we bring what we need.

If you’ve ever felt unsure where to start in prayer—or found yourself defaulting to quick, reactive prayers—this conversation offers a simple, practical next step to begin again.

This conversation is also available on our YouTube channel along with the full message that this discussion is based on.

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@plumcreekchurch

You can learn more about Plum Creek Church by visiting our website as well.

Website: https://plumcreek.church/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the after sermon where we get to sit down with the communicator from the weekend and unpack the sermon a little bit more. We're joined with uh by Doug Miller. Thanks so much for being here.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Good. Hello, everyone.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

How are you doing? Great. Awesome. Awesome. All right. So part two of prayer. Yeah. What an amazing sermon. Can you like unpack it just a little bit for us? Tell us kind of like where you went, and then we've got a couple questions for you.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Yeah, I think the heart behind it is that um one of the most compelling things in the Gospels of Jesus' interaction with the disciples was this moment where having observed all the things, they say to him, Will you please teach us to pray? And so clearly there was something they saw in the way that Jesus had um exemplified this discipline and this practice of prayer that was uh compelling to them and they wanted to know more. Yeah. And I think it's important because I mean, I don't think I've ever talked to anyone that's working to follow Jesus that says, I 100% have this prayer thing nailed. Right. This is a journey for all of us to learn what it means to have a prayer life and to engage in the practice of praying. And so um, this first step that Jesus told us to do in what we affectionately call the Lord's prayer, I think it should be called our prayer, yeah, um, is that we would first move into a moment of adoration before we move to any other. And I think the order is important, right? And it will help us posture our hearts for the other movements, so to speak, in this prayer as well that we're gonna unpack in the subsequent weeks to come.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Yeah, no, absolutely. Okay, so before we dive into the adoration portion, because I've got a couple questions about that, but you talked about this not really being a series, or you don't want people to think of this as just a series, you wanted it them to think of it as a season. What's the heart behind that?

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Yeah. Well, I think we get pretty familiar with coming to church, listening to a sermon, and then going about our week. Anytime we engage in what we're calling these paths of formation, so we're working really hard to create uh these guides that people will walk through the follow guide and on topically begin to learn more about what Jesus did and how our lives can emulate the things that He did and said and cared about. We need to do more than just have head knowledge, and we talk about practices and we need to practice these things. And so I don't want it just to be a week uh of us thinking about for an hour adoration. I want it to begin to move into our everyday life. And so I'm excited about Tuesday and the opportunity we'll have to practice the prayers of adoration together corporately, which I think is beautiful. But we're gonna keep doing that throughout this series and the interactions with the guide itself and in continuing to let what we've talked about take its next steps in forming us as we walk through each of these week uh days of devotion. Right. I think it's gonna just bring us to a different place. Our heart is that we'll all be, you know, in a different spot. I just talked to a family on the way out of church today, and they were like, I I am so excited about this series. Oh, it's so good. Because when I think about I love Jesus, I just don't know how to pray very well. And I said, Well, walk with us for six weeks and don't just consume this material, but like really let God just form some things in you and start practicing what it looks like to do the things we're gonna talk about. So I hope everybody feels that way.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Yeah, no, absolutely. So, one thing, maybe just to give folks a quick peek behind the curtain. Obviously, like we had the follow guide come out and the follow-up to the follow guide is prayer. Why? Like, why do we start there? There's a million different practices we could have started with um to follow up that first guide. Why prayer?

SPEAKER_00 3:40

It's very intentional, and uh, I think it's easy for us to neglect times of prayer, but if we can engage in the practice of prayer and have it be more top of mind, it's something that can happen all throughout our day. So this is an ongoing connection to God. Um, I think it's very important we sit and reread scripture, but like that's gonna be a bit impractical in some moments, right? But for us, whether it's you know, in a situation at home, reacting with your spouse or with your kids or some kind of thing that happened at work or in a conversation with somebody or where your heart gets worked up about it in at the drop of a hat, we can pray. Yeah, and so if we begin to learn to practice this discipline of prayer and it becomes more top of mind, it's gonna help us be more connected to the Lord and um help us follow him better.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

I love that. Okay, so we talk about adoration today. Obviously, uh you said the order is really important, and yet most of the time, a lot of times, we uh you called it a spiritual 911 call. Yeah. Uh why do we get the order mixed up when we instead of starting with adoration, we kind of just go to, oh my gosh, like please help.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Yeah, I think first of all, um we don't um know about adoration and how important it is. And again, it's when the when the when the urgency of life circumstance get us worked up, it's m natural for us to just crowd to God and be like, hey, help me. And I like that Jesus said adoration first. And again, I believe it's very intentional because it take gives us a chance to take a deep breath and get our focus on him instead of our problems and our circumstances, our situations, whatever it is that's top of mind that we feel like we want to pray about. And I look, there's times where we're just gonna be it's the 911 call and it's just gonna hit, right? Like, yeah, um, but I could say personally, preparing this message was even one that brought some conviction to me because it's easy for me to pray about all the stuff that's going on in our lives and people we know and kids' stuff and grandkids stuff and all the things and forget that if I would first start with doing this the way Jesus said and the order Jesus said to do it, it's gonna change the way I think. My heart's gonna be connected in a different kind of way, I believe. Then I can step into prayer prepared differently because I'm so connected with who he really is. That's gonna change the way I pray.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

No, absolutely. Well, and you kind of just touched on it here, but I wonder if you could kind of like encapsulate it for us. We talk a lot about uh the rearrangement of our lives. What does what do these types of prayers starting with this adoration, what does it begin to rearrange in our lives and our hearts?

SPEAKER_00 6:24

So I think a lot, you know, scriptures are pretty cle pretty clear about talking about this renewal of our mind that God wants to do in us because I believe this is where the enemy attacks us first with our thought life and the things that we dwell on. And so when we talk about uh reorienting our lives using prayer as part of the practice of staying connected to him, and we do this adoration peace first, like we talked about this week. What I'm doing is connecting my head and my heart to the things that we know are true from scripture, the things that are true from our past that will give us a different perspective for what's coming in the future, and to help us to deal with our today. And too often I think we're, you know, in this state of sheer panic over things, sure. But we need to remember who's in control. And when we start there with these qualities and characteristics and truths and ways that we've seen God be faithful in the past, because it's all too easy to forget that stuff. Sure. And then our eyes are exclusively on this situation that we're that we're concerned about. So if we can get our attention there first, I think that's that's part of the key for it all.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

I love that. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it. You bet. All right. So you guys know the drill by now. If you want to hear the message that this whole conversation was based on, head to our YouTube channel or wherever you get your podcast, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

See you guys.